Claire Voyant is a Chicago-based drag artist with a unique style of drag that highlights horror and darkness in the most breathtaking way.
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Transcription of podcast above
Interview with Claire Voyant
Temko, Ezra. 2021. Student Delaney interview with Claire Voyant. Sociology of Drag, SIUE. March 22nd.
Transcript:
Interviewer: When did you first hear about drag and what was your initial reaction to it
Claire Voyant: Okay this is kind of I almost have two experiences with this because my first introduction to drag was very young very very young and it was Divine um and so I was like introduced to like Divine through like John Waters movies and like things like that and that’s like really heavy to like fist introduce someone to drag through Divine because Divine has like either they’re messy and it’s like it’s like there’s this this quality about Divine that like makes you uncomfortable but like that’s kind of like the art about it. And so, when I saw Divine and when that was my first introduction to drag, I’m like oh wow so if this is drag, I don’t want anything to do with drag because this is just too weird, makes me too uncomfortable I don’t like it and it wasn’t the fact that like devine was like dressed up as a woman it was more so devine is really nasty and really messy and like that made me uncomfortable. And so that was like one of my first experience being like introduced to drag. Um but then when I was like older and when I was in college everyone was talking about RuPaul’s Drag Race which I’m sure is going to come up a plethora of times um and I sat down with one of my friends and I watched it and I’m like wow this so incredible like people really like showcasing like themselves and their art and that’s like really cool to see on national television. So yeah, as a kid it was through Divine but like as an older adult it was definitely through Drag Race.
Interviewer: Yeah, that’s awesome, um when did you start preforming as a drag artist and why did you start preforming?
Claire Voyant: Interesting okay, um well I studied acting at ISU um and so I had like a lot of like theater training and like we were doing a lot of like gender bent roles and like scripts and like things like that um so that was like kind of a point where I started like like like dabbling in it you could say um so like I would do like certain characters for shows but like I also was like dressing up like as a women to like to like go out and like stuff like that and so like that was kind of like fun and like a way for me to like like get my feet wet without like actually getting my feet wet um and so then when I moved to college when I moved from college to Chicago um that’s when I started doing drag in the city and I consider my first time preforming in drag to really be like when I started doing drag because I started that was almost like kind of like a commitment for me in a way um does that make sense?
Interviewer: Yeah absolutely! Yes!
Claire Voyant: okay um so uh that was just like a really cool it was like that was probably when I started so that was let’s see god, I’m so bad at days um that had to be October of 2015 2016 I wanna say so I’ve been doing drag for almost like five or six years so it’s not maybe not 6 maybe like 5 years but it’s like been a while um and the other question was like got me into it or what?
Interviewer: Yeah, why did you start
Claire Voyant: Why did I start?
Interviewer: Yeah
Claire Voyant: Um I suppose it was an amazing way for me to really express myself I loved I loved acting I thought it was really cool but um one of the things that like really appealed to me about drag was that I’m a very like controlling person I like like my hands in the pot and so um I wanna be in charge of my own makeup I wanna be in charge of my costumes I wanna be in charge of like the material I’m preforming I wanna be in charge ya know what I mean? And with like theater you really can’t do that you’re kind of like like given a script and you’re like this is your part and this is the role that you play and so I think wit drag that was like kind of really appealing to me that I’m like woah you’re telling me I get to make all of the decisions like I’m responsible for myself and like that sounds awesome that sounds incredible um and so that’s what I think like really got me started into it and that’s kind of when I started like really um like exploring with like not only like my sexual orientation but also my gender identity and it kind of like snowballed from there.
Interviewer: Yeah absolutely! Um how did your family, friends and other loved ones receive you becoming a drag artist
Claire Voyant: That’s a good question, um I’ve always had an incredibly supportive like family uh and a group of friends as well and um which is really odd because I had a really difficult time coming out in life, it took me like until my third year of college so what’s odd is that I literally came out junior year which was probably 2014 I wanna say um and then I started dabbling in drag immediately after that and so I think what was so challenging for me to come out was like not only like I’m gay but like I’m gay I’m a drag queen ya know what I mean or like I’m gay and this is like really interesting like I really wanna explore like this aspect of our culture of like my culture as a gay man um and like that’s sort of aspect to it um and so I think my family there were always fine with me being gay but they were never quite fine with the drag aspect to it. And so that’s what I think they had trouble understanding was like they’re viewing gay as just literally being physically attracted to the same like sex but um it was more so that there was a lot of other strings attached to that there’s the culture and like they didn’t they don’t understand the culture they don’t know the culture and so its its challenging to to express that to them. And so they were they weren’t quite cool with the whole drag thing but when I started like doing it and when I started like becoming more active on social media and om Facebook and like Instagram and like things like that my friends were seeing it and their parents were seeing it and they started really enjoying it and really liking it and that’s when my parents started like coming around to it and there like well you know maybe we should be supportive blah blah blah blah blah um and my dad always been always had a harder time with it than my mom um my mom came on to it pretty quick after that but my dad still takes like a little bit of like a push every so often. But he’s still like um he knows like I love to make things and things like that and so I go um I got this package in the mail (Laughing) I was from my dad and he was like bird feeder tops like the tops of bird feeders and he was like he put it in a zip lock bag and he wrote tittie armor on it. And like I just think that’s like a funny story because like it he still has an issue or he still he still feels uncomfortable with the fact that I do drag but like it’s like those moments that like show that he’s like working on it and like I think that’s really cool
Interviewer: Yeah, the fact that he saw that he was like yeah, he needs that, that’s useful
Claire Voyant: Yeah exactly so that’s like really cool and then you know he’s also trying to understand to is like when I explain like the business aspect to him or like the scene aspect to him he’s like way more intrigued because I think he views drag as a very surface level thing, like prancing around and like just not doing anything or accomplishing anything but when I explain to him like the dynamics of it um and what its like to work with bars and what it’s like to make money and then like he’s also like really into science so when I explain makeup and why makeup works the way that it does and things like that he likes understanding the whys ya know what I mean? And so, he’s slowly slowly slowly coming aboard um which is really cool but my mom’s been really supportive
Interviewer: That’s awesome! Yes! Where did your drag name come from?
Claire Voyant: Ooo um I am a really, I am like super spiritual um I like astrology and everything like that um And so I’m a Scorpio And Scorpios are like deemed as one of the most intuitive signs of the zodiac um and so I like wanted to really like represent that in my drag name insulate Clairvoyant as someone who like sees the future like is very intuitive like that’s kind of where that dynamic comes from
Interviewer: yeah, did you have to like go through did you have other things in mind or was it just that immediately and you ran with it
Claire Voyant: No uh I went through this is a horrible name you better not put this in your paper (laughing) no uh I originally had the name crisma light and I like sat with it I think for literally like maybe a week and I’m like this is trash this is horrible I’m not using this and so then what sod2 is Claire just kind of popped up in my mind like people asking this question a lot and I know the intuitive side is how I like got to that name but it almost feels like the name was kind of handed to me from something just a little bit bigger I don’t know I’ve just always kind of felt that way it was kind of like supposed to be meant to be kind of thing and then I honestly to two years into my drug I should think about changing it to um Styx s-t-y-x which is the name of the river in hell and the underworld I like the band um I’m always like you know a really obsessed with really the darker things in life and like cults and still like that kind of I really likes like the sound of that it felt right so I never did it but I was very very close to doing it
Interviewer: okay um there are a lot of terms for the types drag from drag queen to drag King the Glamour male impersonator comedy Queen beauty queen beauty queen queer artist bio–Queen Camp Queen and others. are there any particular labels you use to characterize your drag and what kind of drug you do in the style of it?
Claire Voyant: wow that’s a big question well it’s interesting to is I think that drag is such a new art form you know when I look at other art forms like dance theater like music like like performance right they’ve they’ve originated like over like thousands of years right dragons like newer like considerably newer and because of that because it’s so new I feel like it’s still fluctuating and it’s still like growing and I think people I think people all have a different definition of what drug is great some people are like when you impersonate a woman like that’s obviously like the big one but for me at least and like all so people will say like like it’s when you impersonate a woman or they say it’s all based on gender or they say it’s not based in gender or it’s like they go back and forth and everyone has their own definition of drag so that questions kind of difficult to answer but for me I like to think that drug is self-expression like bottom-line self-expression like it’s an art I really don’t think gender is involved because sometimes you know it’s it’s more you’re taking what’s there and amplifying it it’s exaggeration right it’s scraping the bottom of the barrel and making it somewhat Larger than Life That’s dragged so like I wouldn’t identify like Kiss the band like the makeup that’s drag I would identify Circus Olay like that’s drag like a lot of things are larger than life so it doesn’t necessarily have to be like gender performance a lot of people wanted to be and I think it can be if that’s what you want to do but I think it’s more so like way more General than that um but going back to it so I really don’t feel like I identify with a particular title so like sometimes I’ll use drag queen because I feel like it’s easy for people to understand do you know what I mean like I’m not going to sit down and have this 5-minute conversation with everyone that I meet saying well I would drag performer but like I’m not drag queen and I’ll be like for what do you mean like it feels like I say that to make things easier to make the conversation easier do I really identify with it? probably not I probably identify more with just a drag performer something that’s like doesn’t really suggest gender but it does suggest drag and it suggests performance you know what I mean I feel like there’s a lot of tags that go along with drag queen that I don’t always identify with it but that’s the term that people know the most so I use it
Interviewer: Gotcha, um who or what has influenced your drag?
Claire Voyant: Let’s see um I’ve always been influenced by like I love fashion I like like Alexander McQueen I think is like so cool Iris Van Herpen like they’re like unbelievably like abstract creative artists that like use materials so that’s like that’s a physical thing which I really liked so I generally like artists who use like physical materials but I don’t know what I’m trying to say there but like in that same vein though I really like dolly and surrealism and things like that and so I kind of feel like that kind of fits and that Alexander McQueen box you know I really like Tim Burton I really like darker things I really like astrology it’s a huge influence to me tarot is a huge influence to me I love animals like animals play kind of big role in my work I like really like Prosthetics and things like that so I almost like when it’s like you put a prosthetic on and you’re a monster and you’re really taking the ginger out of it like completely like you’re no longer a man or woman or Justice this thing you know so like I think that’s why animals are really interesting to me because for some reason I really don’t identify a gender to an animal like I’ll never say like oh that’s a female dog it’s a dog yes like that’s a big part of my art textures and colors and like things like that things in nature I’m really inspired by I’m so like I would say things and that thing do you think that’s a good enough answer for you?
Interviewer: Oh yes absolutely! do you consider drag political or your Drag political?
Claire Voyant: I see you like to go to answer for a lot of people would be yes like if it’s political but you are making a credible statement by like stepping out of your house and like expressing who you are and like what you are so I think and that’s it like drag is radical self-expression that’s the best way to put it and so if you’re displaying that in public you know I would think that would make a political statement but do like I actively go out with the intention of being like I’m making a political statement No I’m just going to go out and really Express who I am and if that makes you comfortable great if that makes you uncomfortable great like I don’t care so like I feel like it’s less for me about the political expression and more about the internal yeah
Interviewer: Yeah, um so can we just take a minute to talk about what your life is like as a drag artist where you perform how many times all of that kind of stuff?
Claire Voyant: Oh, okay I well it’s odd right now because of covid obviously but if covid wasn’t a thing I work at Berlin I work at Splash I work at replay and I look at Scott I work at Scarlet. those are like for my major bars I’ve also worked at like Bosko’s Charlie’s and things like that so I didn’t really work in the area of North Halsted that used to be called Boys Town but they changed the name to Halsted because it’s more inclusive which is really great to see but like you might recognize the area or the neighborhood better if you heard Boys Town so that’s like where I work at Berlin I have a show called slay it’s like a horror show and that’s where that cult and darkness comes from and at Splash I have a show called Belladonno which is a witchcraft theme show so those are really cool and I’m at replay, replay the very like it’s a very like it’s it’s I wouldn’t consider a drag bar but there’s drag their it’s more like a place for people to relax and chill and have a drink vs. go out and party so I do host like an American Horror Story like viewing party there that a lot of people really enjoy and then at Scarlet I am used to do it was a Lady Gaga night because Lady Gaga is one of my favorite people but I know just submitted a show that’s going to happen called On The Rocks which is going to be like a celebration of like classic rock and roll so like that’ll be really cool to I’m trying to think I have a show in Geneva which is kind of fun that’s more like we try to do a like choicer kind of seasonally and that’s called diamonds in the Rough too and it’s a really cool opportunity because very similar to how how you came to the drag workshop at ISU I really like to take drag and kind of make it accessible to people who don’t normally have the accessibility you know whether you are not 21 yet and you can’t get in the club or where drag primarily takes place Or maybe like you maybe don’t know where to go to look for a drag or that sort of thing so I really like to take drag to places where it feels like it doesn’t have a lot of representation so like the suburbs is aware that show is and that’s a really great opportunity because no one’s really seen a drag performer before and no one really understands that drag can be many different things I kind of like branching out of that bubble as well
Interviewer: Yeah! when covid wasn’t happening how often were you performing
Claire Voyant: I was probably performing I keep a I just got my new one you’re in here as well under interview section but I probably was performing by performing October I perform a lot like a lot I think last year I try to take as many cakes as I could in October and I did like 32 gigs in 31 days there are some days where I was doubling up and it was a lot but normally like on a normal month, I’ll probably perform like 68 times a month which is like maybe twice a week once or twice a week
Interviewer: How long does it usually take for you to get ready for your shows
Claire Voyant: depends on what I’m doing so if I’m doing like a normal face it’ll take maybe two and a half hours maybe 3 hours it’s kind of weird because you know you have to like you have to get makeup and have to pack a bag and then you have to take it there and get dressed there so it’s all these little stages so you’re not really like doing everything at once you’re doing it all and set the pieces that is probably about two and a half to three hours
Interviewer: yeah um, what are the biggest challenges and doing drag and being a drag artist
Claire Voyant: that’s a really good question I don’t think I’ve ever heard that I think some of the biggest challenges are it’s like you remember you know how sometimes people’s like biggest love is also their biggest hate you know what I mean so for me it’s it’s it’s the scene and by the scene I mean the people that I work with sometimes they drive me absolutely crazy and sometimes I absolutely love them but one of those things I think I’m running about drag scenes especially the drag scene here in Chicago is that actually had this conversation with someone last night so it’s kind of interesting I think as like gay people we really we don’t experience a childhood in the normal sense of a heterosexual straight person would likely come out so late in life or a come out later in life and all of the time before that like we were forced to be something that we’re not so it’s almost like we’re living a very falsified lifestyle and then we come out what’s really interesting is that I think we kind of experience this like Renaissance where we’re growing up again but we’re doing it as our authentic selves. so I found that this relationship is your question because I found out like sometimes the attitudes in the drag scene can be very high school lie does that make sense so you know there’s groups of people there’s a cheerleaders in the jocks in the nerds in the alternative people you know what I mean like that’s kind of very much the dynamic of this scene and when you have high schools like that you know there’s drama there’s chitchat there’s gossip you know there’s pointing fingers there’s doing things so I think that’s probably one of the biggest challenges for me at least is trying to keep the professionalism where it needs to be because sometimes this is a job for some people you know it’s partially is probably a part-time job for me it’s not a full-time job it’s a part-time job and for other people it’s just a hobby you know so people try to put various levels of like dedication towards it and I think that kind of messes with people when it comes to when it comes to like how you should treat this as a career versus how you should treat this as a hobby some people just sometime so take it seriously enough and that becomes bothersome hopefully that makes sense and answers your question
Interviewer: Yeah, I just yeah so, it’s just really clickie?
Claire Voyant: it can get really clickie you know especially when you go to like New York there’s Clicks in New York it’s Generally when you go to bigger populated places You’ll experience more clickieness you know and it’s not fun it’s not fun and so I think one thing that we really try to do here in Chicago is one of the coolest things about Chicago is we have drugs of all types literally we have a huge pageant scene we have a huge club scene we have people that are like more alternative more like Beauty base do you know there’s a drag of all different types and there are clicks but I think sometimes some people try to make an effort to get outside of their click and go support other art forms and other forms of drag that we don’t really see and I think that’s kind of cool thing about Chicago but the clicks are definitely there
Interviewer: is there anything other than that that you sink is like you think is unique to Chicago when it comes to the drag scene
Claire Voyant: I’m sorry can you repeat that
Interviewer: like with what you were just saying about the different types of dragon people trying to come out of there clicks more is there anything like also use sink is unique to Chicago you wouldn’t necessarily see and other places
Claire Voyant: yeah I do I think Chicago is and earlier your question was do you think drag is politically like if it’s political ya do you think dragons political and I would say a lot of people a lot of people if they’re interviewing other Chicago performers they’re going to say yes to that question but I think Chicago especially because there’s a huge like social justice presents here that is really awesome to see like really really awesome where I think we don’t see it and other scenes in places like LA and New York so during you know the main core of the black lives matter protests over the summer a lot of it was being like run by drag queens and like that’s awesome to me like that so cool and so I would say that drag is like political and that way and I would say that’s what makes Chicago very unique to because I don’t think we saw that from other dry communities around the country so I would say that’s another reason that Chicago is unique I think we have all different types of drag I think we’re very diverse in that and I think we really focus on social justice and that’s like super cool and I think one thing to there’s a lot of drama and the seen this summer and so there’s this thing where people are holding people accountable more for their actions and what they do and what they say and I think again other places people just kind of get away with things so Chicago I do think is a very very special place for drag it’s Unique in so many ways
Interviewer: Absolutely, what has covid-19 meant for your life as a drag artist
Claire Voyant: this is a good question these are good questions you did a good job on this no this one I think there’s There’s the drug scene you have a lot of people coming and going like coming and going like you have people that do drug for one night there at you have people that do drag for 6 months you have people that do drag for years you know it’s constantly evolving constantly shifting constantly changing people coming from out of town people leaving town so it’s always different always different but one of the big things that’s like recognizable is that all these people or they get distracted by the flashing lights right they get distracted by the beautiful hair in the gorgeous costumes and the makeup and the attention and the money and there’s like there’s like a lot of the glitz and glamour that really draws people in right and it’s an issue because I’ve learned over the years that I really was so focused on drag so focus on my art and what I wanted to put out into the world that I really lost sight of Nick you know like me because I’ve you clear as kind of an extension of myself I don’t view clear as like a character I play I view Clara as a side to Showcase to the almost a side of me that wanted to be expressed just for I like came out right that’s really what Claire is at the core and so people get distracted by this Glitz and glamour that they really lose sight of who they are as people because drug will slowly kind of eat away at you over the course of like two three four years and it’s really really really important to make sure you are in tune with who you are at the core not just your persona not just your act but who you are and so covid-19 really great because for an entire year I wasn’t doing anything I like I’ve always had issues with my body and soul like it was a really cool year for me because I started caring for my body more and that so much for me and I really got into it with myself and my legs are my dislikes and I feel like I’m not a robot anymore I feel like I was a robot for a really long time because drag kind of does that to you covid has been really great because it’s almost like take me back to my roots in a way which I really like and then on top of that once I once I like sat down and really and really like came to terms with like who I am and what I want and I started caring for myself like that’s when drag actually started coming back and like that’s when I started noticing a shift in myself and how I do drag and I still want to do drag, I don’t want to do drag as much and you know it’s a balance and I’ve been able to find my balance so when it comes to more so the question was about less about me and more about my drag my Jack has shifted over the past because I think we’re moving into a very digital age and now the fact that resume calling the fact that like people are ordering things through like skin codes and so I think that like digital drag is going to take off and it’s really going to it’s going to change how we see it one thing that like doing the whole digital drag performances and numbers it’s a lot of fucking work and I really don’t want to invest all that time in it but I loved doing shoots because I think a photo is worth like a thousand words and I am you can really creative moment that like Burns and people’s memories and so why I think that’s kind of cool is the digital is starting to take over so now you start to have drag performers you aren’t just doing like a photoshoot like they’re making themselves fly or they’re like you know they’re making themselves appear underwater and so did they shoot that in the air did they shoot down the water probably not but the digital aspect to it is really becoming accepted and encouraged when it used to not be and people are now like well that’s fake you didn’t do that for real it’s like the digital is almost making the fantasy even bigger you know which I think is neat
Interviewer: Yes! Um, so next are some more personal questions how do you identify in terms of sex gender identity and gender expression out of drag
Claire Voyant: cool very similar to the question before where you were like how do you identify do you identify as like a drag queen or a drag performer so I identify as a gay man because I think that’s what makes the most sense to people you know I identify as a drag queen because it makes the most sense to people internally I feel like I’m probably more so gender-fluid you know there’s some days I really embrace that masculine energy I have and there are some days that I really Embrace that feminine aspect I have and so I really don’t feel like I’m either one but I’m more so both so I would identify as gender-fluid but I’d also say that I’m a gay man just because that’s generally where I am on the scale like I generally go more towards gay man And I feel like I’m not about to have a five minute conversation 10-minute conversation of where I feel gender fluid with someone who doesn’t understand gender fluidity you know what I mean does that kind of is there more that question
Interviewer: Yeah, there are more, so has… um Sorry I’m just trying to sync of what you said and eliminate some of these questions I think we’ve already covered. Do you think drag has influenced your sex and gender identity at all or was that kind of separate from everything?
Claire Voyant: That’s a great question I would say probably yes you know I would say like one thing that Claire has taught me as a person is my confidence I always had a lot of issues with self-confidence growing up and as soon as I started drag I started understanding that I have power and so like as like the longer I did it the more confidence I started developing so now I feel like really calm comfortable in my own body and my own skin and how I can I see people and how I relate to people and so I feel like it’s not necessarily Claire affecting my gender identity or sexuality but I feel like confidence does play a key part and an affecting your gender identity and sexuality and coming to terms with who you are authentically so I mean before if I were not doing drag and I were doing something completely different I would say that I probably would not identify as gender-fluid and I think that dragged has impacted that but I think it’s more so Claire has given me the confidence to like reflect on that and express that
Interviewer: That’s awesome! so how has Drag impacted or changed you
Claire Voyant: wow I feel like we answered that (laughing)
Interviewer: (laughing) yes, I know
Claire Voyant: Um I haven’t booked by Magnus Hastings I don’t know like I don’t know what you’re like physically doing for this paper if you’re like writing a paper if you’re just like interviews but this book is really cool if you can find it it’s right here okay Magnus Hastings is a really big photographer in LA and so he wrote this book called why drag its incredible check it out and there’s this one page where he he takes all these photos of these performers and ask them why drag and they literally give an explanation of why they do to Rag and some of the some of the answers are really short and some of them are really long but it’s like a really cool like if you’re looking for more information or anything there’s almost like an interview with a bunch of different people so like that’s kind of cool and I don’t know if you need it for your projects but the reason I bring it up is because there’s a page in here at these Queens from Africa and he asked them why drag and they say I can’t even find the page so see this is this is horrible they say something along the lines of like doing drag makes you a more rounded person and it makes you more self-accepting of others and I would 100% agree with that it’s like I’ve learned so much about myself and so much about other people and it’s really like shaved my perspective of like social dynamics political Dynamics everything like that I feel like I wouldn’t have that experience if I hadn’t done drag
Interviewer: Yeah absolutely! Let’s see, I feel like we’ve covered a lot already so I don’t want to just keep asking the same things over and over again and different ways of saying it okay so we’re just going to skip that. What do you think the purpose of drag is?
Claire Voyant: I think everyone has a different purpose and drag for me I think it was a lot more to do with myself and like coming to terms with my sexual orientation and sexual identity and drug was a way for me to do that but I think for other people it’s about you know activism and giving back and doing something for the world and so I think everyone has a different purpose when it comes to drag
Interviewer: Yeah! do you think drag is sexual?
Claire Voyant: like it can be sexual I don’t think I’ll drag is sexual that’s really interesting I feel like is Claire like sex is one of the three words I would use to describe Claire and I think sex is very important very important because I think it’s something that everyone relates to and I am of the belief that you can have a concept I really really really wild or weird concept and if you sell it sexy people will buy it and that goes for literally anything and so like I do believe I suppose yeah I would say drag a sexual I feel like you are selling sex to sell something else you know what I mean I do numbers but a caged on my head and I filled with mice right and that’s weird but if you can sell it in a way people can relate to they buy it and they want more of it right so there’s that Dynamic when I think it comes to sex and drag so like over really over-the-top is it always about sex now but I do think it’s the art of selling something
Interviewer: yeah, um how do you feel about RuPaul’s Drag Race
Claire Voyant: well, this is a big question I think drag race has done a lot a lot of people would discredit drag race saying it’s it’s absolutely terrible XYZ blah blah blah blah blah blah blah RuPaul’s Drag Race has put drag on the map all over the world if we did not have RuPaul’s Drag Race we would not have a plethora of other things that are drag-related today and that’s kind of its period. I do think that RuPaul is not a good person I do think that he is probably has a little bit of internalized racism where he does not like to put a lot of black queens on the show and he’s gotten yelled at for that before I think he has an issue with transphobia and every other season the big reason why is you watching the season of drag race
Interviewer: No
Claire Voyant: okay well there’s this contestant name Dominic this season and it’s a very big deal because Dominic was a woman who transitioned into a man and that’s really cool because in the past any trans contestants we’ve seen are all been men who are transitioning into women right so that’s kind of a role reversal and that’s a really big deal to have someone like that and that kind of representation on the show and I think to be honest I think you know how some people say you have a token black friend or something like that I think Mick is kind of the token trans man sorry my computer is making noise I think Mick is kind of a token transman for drag race and that’s not a good thing to say you know what I mean but it’s a step in the right direction because they have some sort of representation you know it’s a stepping stone but I almost feel like they’re kind of like you know y’all did us for transfer be in the past so we’re going to do this for you and I can’t say that anymore you know that’s kind of how it feels like to me so I don’t think through positive person but I think drag race has done a lot for the world for people’s careers you know for the perception of drag it’s more so do I like drag race I like drag race do I like RuPaul I do not like RuPaul you know that’s how it answer that ( laughing)
Interviewer: (laughing) if you could change one thing about drag the drag scene or the drag Community what would it be
Claire Voyant: the drama I would change the drama hands-down it’s way too much way too much it’s constantly like bigger and bigger and bigger and going back and forth you know pointing fingers like it is way too dramatic like and it’s funny I’m trying to drag queens not to be dramatic I feel like that’s in a job description but at the same time I feel like dry could be so much more Progressive and so much more successful if there was less drama yeah
Interviewer: for sure, what do you think are misconceptions people have about drag
Claire Voyant: I think that drag people view drag as men dressing as women I think that’s the biggest misconception if not just that obviously gender does play a big role in it for some people but I don’t think that like I think that would be the biggest misconception I would also consider a bit another misconception to be like I feel like I should have people view as an art form that people don’t do as a liable career and I do think it’s a liable career so that would probably be another misconception yeah probably those two
Interviewer: if you choose one thing if you could choose one thing you want people to know or learn about drag what would it be
Claire Voyant: that’s a tough one to know or learn about drag I feel like again I probably answered this in some facet can we come back to this one?
Interviewer: This is actually the last question but you can take as much time as you’d like! if there’s more than one you can just explain those!
Claire Voyant: Yeah, could you actually repeat the question
Interviewer: if you could choose one thing you want people to know or learn about drag what would it be
Claire Voyant: to know or learn about drag I’m like kind of drawing a blank on this one I feel like like part of me like my gut reaction says that like going back to a previous conversation I’d want people to know that drug makes you more human you know drag being all about like stuff expression really allows you to feel comfortable with your own mind your own body your own skin and I would say that it also allows you to understand people and relate to The Human Experience and the very different way that a lot of other careers can’t do for you one of the coolest things about drag is that like I get to work with some of the coolest and weirdest people I’ve ever met my life and I guarantee that I couldn’t do that in any other field and so having that different experiences and different diversity has made me really real well-rounded human being and I think that’s what I’d really want other people to know is like it just so much for the expansion that is you it’s a very big answer
Interviewer: no that was perfect and that is all the questions I have thank you so much