Why Drag Still Matters: The History of Drag, Gay Culture and Queer Protest

Drag has never been only about dressing up.

It is performance, comedy, glamour, exaggeration and self-expression. But throughout the history of drag, it has also been a way for LGBTQ+ people to challenge shame, take up public space and turn visibility into power.

That history still feels relevant today.

Berlin recently held its first dedicated drag march, bringing drag queens, drag kings, performers and allies into the streets as part of the city’s Pride celebrations. It was colourful and theatrical, but it was also a protest.

That combination explains why drag culture still matters.

The History of Drag Is Also a History of Survival

People have played with gender through theatre and performance for centuries. However, the modern history of drag is closely connected to LGBTQ+ communities that created their own stages when mainstream society offered them very little acceptance.

Gay bars, underground clubs, cabaret venues and private parties gave performers somewhere to experiment with gender, humour and identity.

Drag allowed people to become louder, stranger, more glamorous and more fearless than society expected them to be.

For audiences, it offered more than entertainment. It created a room where queer people could recognise one another, laugh at the rules imposed on them and imagine a freer version of life.

Drag Culture and the Birth of Modern Pride

The Stonewall uprising of 1969 became a defining moment in modern LGBTQ+ history. Drag performers and gender-nonconforming activists were part of the wider community resisting police harassment and demanding the right to exist openly.

Marsha P. Johnson, who described herself as a drag queen, became one of the most recognisable figures associated with the gay liberation movement. Alongside Sylvia Rivera, she later helped establish STAR, an organisation supporting homeless transgender and gender-nonconforming young people.

Drag did not single-handedly create Pride, but drag performers have remained highly visible within marches, protests, fundraisers and LGBTQ+ activism ever since.

They understood something important: being seen can itself become political when society would rather you remain hidden.

Why Drag and Queer Protest Still Belong Together

Modern Pride events can sometimes feel separated from their political origins.

There are parties, brand campaigns, colourful merchandise and large stages. Those things can be enjoyable, but LGBTQ+ visibility did not begin as a marketing opportunity.

It began as resistance.

Drag keeps some of that rebellious energy alive. It deliberately breaks rules about how masculinity, femininity and respectability are supposed to look.

A performer can use a wig, beard, gown, suit, makeup or exaggerated character to expose how much of everyday gender is already a performance.

Drag does not need to deliver a political speech to make a point. Sometimes simply appearing confidently in public is enough.

Berlin’s Drag March and Joyful Resistance

Berlin’s first drag march brought this tradition into the present.

Around 500 participants reportedly travelled through central Berlin in elaborate costumes, with performances, music and messages of LGBTQ+ resistance. The march was led by a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an international activist movement known for combining drag, religious satire, charity work and sexual-health education.

The march showed that protest does not always have to look serious or sombre.

It can be funny.

It can be glamorous.

It can involve music, makeup and a crowd refusing to be embarrassed by its own visibility.

Joy can be resistance too.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Drag Activism

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence began in San Francisco in 1979, when gay men wearing nun-inspired outfits appeared publicly in the Castro district.

Their style was intentionally provocative, but their work had a serious purpose.

The Sisters became known for LGBTQ+ advocacy, fundraising, HIV and sexual-health education, and challenging religious and political movements that attempted to shame queer people.

Their approach became known as “dragtivism”: using drag, camp and public performance as tools for activism.

They demonstrated that community work does not need to appear respectable or conventional to be valuable.

Sometimes humour reaches people more effectively than a lecture.

Drag Queens, Drag Kings and a Wider Culture

Mainstream discussions often focus primarily on drag queens, but drag culture is much broader.

Drag kings explore and exaggerate masculinity. Non-binary performers may move between different forms of gender expression. Some performers create characters that do not fit neatly into male or female categories at all.

Modern drag can include comedy, lip-syncing, live singing, dance, theatre, spoken word, fashion and political commentary.

There is no single correct way to do it.

That variety is part of why drag remains important. It gives performers control over how they present themselves and allows audiences to see gender from new angles.

Gay Culture Would Look Different Without Drag

Drag performers have helped shape gay nightlife, Pride events, fundraising, fashion, slang, music and comedy.

They often host the nights where people first enter a queer venue. They raise money for community causes. They help nervous audiences relax. They create spaces where people can celebrate themselves without needing to behave quietly.

For some LGBTQ+ people, seeing a drag performer confidently command a room can be transformative.

The message is not that everyone should dress or behave the same way.

It is that there is more than one way to be visible.

Has Mainstream Drag Lost Its Political Edge?

Drag is now more commercially successful and visible than it was in previous decades.

That progress matters. Performers can reach international audiences, build careers and appear in venues that once might have excluded them.

But mainstream visibility can also soften the history.

Drag becomes easier to celebrate when it is presented only as polished entertainment. The more difficult parts—protest, sexual expression, anti-establishment humour and resistance to respectability—can be pushed aside.

Commercial success is not automatically a problem. The risk comes when audiences enjoy drag while ignoring the LGBTQ+ people and political struggles that created the culture around it.

Drag can be entertaining and political at the same time.

It usually has been.

Supporting Drag Culture in Real Life

Watching drag online can introduce people to performers, but local venues remain essential.

Gay bars, independent clubs, theatres and Pride events give performers somewhere to develop their work and build an audience. Attending a local show, tipping performers, buying tickets and following their work can help keep that culture alive.

Digital spaces can support that process too.

Apps and social platforms can help people discover drag nights, connect with others who are attending and turn an online conversation into a real plan. Brodar’s wider focus on gay connection and events fits naturally into that idea: technology should help people find queer culture, not replace the physical spaces where it happens.

Why the History of Drag Still Matters

Drag has survived censorship, police harassment, changing nightlife, political hostility and repeated attempts to dismiss it as meaningless entertainment.

It survives because it gives people something they still need.

A way to experiment.

A way to laugh.

A way to challenge power.

A way to find community.

The wigs, costumes and makeup may change, but the purpose remains familiar.

Drag creates visibility in places where queer people have been told to disappear.

That is why drag still matters.

Associated Press — Berlin’s First Drag Marchhttps://apnews.com/article/ae19e8d8152e0034fcc520bdaadcc37b

Smithsonian — Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and the History of Pridehttps://www.si.edu/stories/marsha-johnson-sylvia-rivera-and-history-pride-month

Library of Congress — The Stonewall Uprisinghttps://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/stonewall-era

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — Official Historyhttps://www.thesisters.org/sistory

Berlin Pride — Official Events and Partieshttps://csd-berlin.de/en/official-parties-2026