Four Queens

Watching this video and looking at the Vh1 logo in the corner, I have to wonder how many kids, like me, learned most of the gay canon of popular culture via that particular network's programming? I was raised on Vh1 in the '90s with Cher, Bette Midler, Tina Turner, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, and so many others as fodder for my imagination. I know this helped develop an absolute lust for those campy divas that infuses my performances (in daily life and on stage) every day. These queens, like my own mother, taught me how to stand up and be an individual, how to embrace my own personality (a particularly outrageous and often femmy one), and never make excuses for it. It's likely no coincidence that I am now preparing for a dissertation on drag- this clip alone showcases four people who are connected to that genre of performance art in huge way. Bette Midler- she was performing in gay bath houses in her early days and went on to inspire many a queen with her outrageous looks, quick-witted comedy routines, and her draggier-than-drag sophie tucker jokes; Elton John- came out as bi, later married, divorced, came out as gay, and eventually entered into a civil partnership with long-time partner David Furnish, Elton has appeared in drag a number of times and has also recorded with RuPaul; Flip Wilson of course had the Geraldine character; finally Cher- possibly the draggiest of all the above figures who even in the monologue of her Farewell Tour refers to herself as a drag queen ("I was up there like some kind of drag queen pinata") not to mention her transgendered son Chaz who she supported in his transition (though there was that extremely unfortunate period when Cher rejected Chastity for being a lesbian);Last but not least, the costumes were all made by the sultan of sequins himself: Bob Mackie. Thank you Vh1 for introducing all of us '90s kids to the extravagance of many a diva!