With more people in the LGBTQ community needing mental health resources, local Vancouver drag performers are coming together to put on a show to raise funds and awareness for mental health.
Organized by Dayne Tank (aka drag performer Dee Blew), QUEENMUNITY is a drag show taking place at Celebrities Nightclub on Thursday, March 23. According to Tank, the event was inspired by the growing need for accessible mental health and well-being resources in the LGBTQ community. The show will be hosted by Tank and David Thompson (also known as Dust), and feature over 20 drag performers. Admission is by a minimum donation of $7, and all proceeds go to QMUNITY – a queer, trans, and two-spirit resource centre in Vancouver.
Tank’s inspiration for the show came from wanting to help those living in fear after Donald Trump’s election, as well as the death of actress Carrie Fisher, who was a prominent mental-health advocate.
"When Trump got elected, I think that was a really scary thing,” Tank says. “It was really disheartening, and I felt like there was such a pride behind the hatred people had towards others, and it's slowly creeping up here.”
“[Fisher’s death] was really the cherry on top,” he adds. “She had done so much for mental health in general, and she was so open about it. She had a steel gut stomach when it came to talking about her own issues."
The idea to approach these issues using drag was important to Tank, as he sees drag as a vehicle for working out mental health issues.
"Drag is such an interesting outlet,” he says. “I feel like a lot of people who commit to it have often gone through something traumatic in their past and, whether they know it or not, [are] working through it in performance."
Tank began by reaching out to drag performers who he knew had used mental health resources in the past, or may have something important to say about mental health.
"Everyone was really on board,” he said. “Everyone I put it out to said yes. Then, when we launched it, I probably had eight other people ask to do it."
So many people wanted to perform that Tank had to cap the number of performers more than a week before the event. He thinks that the subject matter is something a lot of people in the LGBTQ community care about, and the fact that it’s hosted at Celebrities also makes people want to perform.
“It’s such an amazing opportunity to perform on that stage,” Tank says.
For its part, Celebrities offered to cover the costs of the show, help with promoting, and staff the club for the night.
But while mental health is the beneficiary, it’s not necessarily the theme: Tank says he considered requesting mental health-themed performances, but in the end, decided to leave the theme open so that performers could take their own angle on the issue.
"Everyone's picked very different songs. Some of them are celebratory, some of them are funny, and some are interpretive, so it's an interesting range,” Tank explains.
QUEENMUNITY performer Matthew James Boubille, who goes by the persona Poison Apple, is hoping that this show helps reduce the stigma of seeking help for mental health issues.
“That's kind of our job as drag queens in the community, I think, to get people together and get a conversation started,” they say.
Boubille believes that there are a lot of changes that need to happen in terms of talking about mental health, especially in the LGBTQ community.
“One thing that comes to mind would be more awareness in high schools. Even elementary schools,” they say. "A lot of mental health issues that members of the LGBTQ community face are born in those high school years. So I think it would be good to have more accessibility for youth, and just removing the stigma in general around asking for help."
Boubille advises people struggling with their mental health to reach out and find the help they need.
Tank echoes those sentiments.
"If anyone needs those resources, just reach out,” he says. “Even if it's not QMUNITY. Search it up online, I think no matter how big or small you think your problem is, reach out and find those resources that you're comfortable using, because they're there, and if they don't get used, they won’t be there.”
