.the_symonee for Billboard's Pride issue 💎🏳️🌈 Read her interview:
While the regressive laws aren’t exactly quashing expression in queer meccas like WeHo, Symone knows that other communities aren’t so lucky. “It was very strange. I felt like there’s a contention there,” Symone says of a recent visit to her home state. “It’s heavier, much more than it was when I was growing up… I felt safe enough to go to prom in drag 10 years ago, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I could do that now.’ It feels more conservative than it did even 10 years ago.
The queen is quick to clarify that the change in the atmosphere isn’t affecting her itinerary: “Is that going to deter me from going home and doing drag or going to the South and doing drag? Absolutely not.” Still, she notes that several of her sisters have begun avoiding drag performances in certain parts of the country because they don’t want to risk their safety by becoming “a focal point” for outraged — and perhaps even violent — people.
“That’s warranted, that’s very valid,” she says. “I just feel like, ‘We can’t let them do that to us.’ But it’s a very hard time. It’s a very difficult time.”champ is aware that the privilege of expression afforded to her by her platform doesn’t apply to everyone. To queer kids living in states that are passing laws targeting their freedoms, she urges, “Find your family and find people who support you.
“Also, I will say: vote. We can have all the community and all the allyship that we want, but if we’re not voting into office the people that are going to look out for our interests, it doesn’t help. We have these laws coming down the pike because [anti-LGBTQ candidates] are being voted in, and so they feel like they can pass these laws. It’s going to keep happening. So go out in the local elections, midterms — it’s not just the presidential elections [that matter].
As for where she finds solace these days, it turns out that one of the world’s most fashion-forward and inventive drag queens isn’t all that different from the rest of us. “When I feel bad, TV has always been my respite, my rescue and my solace. It’s how I found out about drag and pop culture, growing up where I did,” she says. “It’s my happy place.”
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