Explore: Drag Balls

Gay balls, cross-dressing balls, pansy balls, or drag balls were (depending on the place, time, and type) public or private balls that were celebrated

Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture. The scene traces its origins to the drag balls of the mid-19th century United States, such as those hosted by William

A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for

the Grand Marshals, who traditionally are drag queens. The first known drag balls in the United States were in Harlem in the 1920s, at the Rockland Palace

14, 2003) was an American drag queen and fashion designer. She was known as "the last remaining queen of the Harlem drag balls". Born in the Bronx in 1948

specialized in voguing and was a fixture of ball culture at Harlem's drag balls who took inspiration from sources as far-flung as Fred Astaire and the

Drag is a performance of exaggerated femininity, masculinity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. Drag usually involves

the political efficacy of the drag balls themselves, citing her own experiments with drag, and suggesting that the balls themselves lack political, artistic

first drag balls were held. These balls were held in secret, but news grew of their existence as a safe place for gay men to congregate. The balls were

1880s and 1890s, Swann organized a series of drag balls in Washington, D.C. He called himself the "queen of drag". Most of the attendees of Swann's gatherings