Readers of The Sick Times often share that one of their biggest heartbreaks in having Long COVID and related diseases and disabilities is losing access to in-person events, especially events they previously considered inclusive. For LGBTQIA+ people, being forced out of Pride gatherings because of a lack of masking is particularly devastating. Pride started out — we are constantly reminded in June — as a protest.
So this year, The Sick Times hosted a virtual variety show for Pride, giving queer and trans people with Long COVID the option to celebrate together, from home.
Freelance journalist and poet Khalil Dennis (she/they) hosted The Sick Times’ virtual Pride, which included pre-recorded performances from five queer artists with Long COVID and related diseases, followed by a live Q&A.
Khalil was joined by Taipei Queen (she/her), a disabled drag artist and content creator who loves all things vintage; King LOTUS BOY (ze/zir/he/they), an unapologetically disabled, neurospicy, immunocompromised and chronically illUSTRIOUS Chinese-American drag king; Katie Drackert (she/her), aka “KD,” aka “Glamorous Menace,” performer and co-founder of Clear the Air ATX; Mondo Millions (he/him), a DeafBlackTrans disabled drag king and former Mr. Gay Sacramento; and Ginger Ail (he/they), a butch transexual tattooist, performer, and photographer. (All quoting from the performers’ bios provided to The Sick Times.)
Despite the fact that the audience was viewing The Sick Times’ virtual Pride on Zoom, on mute, from the comfort of their own beds and living rooms, the chat was energetic, affirming, empowering, and constant throughout the performances. Emoji hearts and clapping hands exploded like silent fireworks across the screen during every act, with hundreds of readers expressing joy, relief, and gratitude to be celebrating Pride safely, with like-minded and like-hearted queer and trans people.
The dynamic audience participation continued into the Q&A, in which artists shared their thoughts on riding the wave of LGBTQIA+ Pride month into Disability Pride month, how Long COVID has changed their artistic processes, where they find joy and hope, how they continue to fight fascism, and more.
Below are some of the most memorable moments from the Q&A; you can also listen to the full conversation on our podcast, Still Here. (These answers have been edited and condensed for space and clarity.)
On the mentors and ancestors who inform their advocacy and artistry:
Ginger Ail: Andrea Gibson’s work really encapsulates what queer grief, specifically, feels like for me. I hope to encapsulate it in how I perform and also how I move through nightlife spaces, and also just my life in general.
And my mom. I grew up seeing her deal with a lot of really scary health complications surrounding multiple sclerosis. She was my first introduction to disability and also mobility aids because she used several throughout my life. So when I was starting to become more disabled, I really leaned on her for advice on how to navigate it. Her input coupled with literature from queer disabled folks has really, I think, been pivotal in the way that I navigate queerness and disability.
King LOTUS BOY: Last year we lost two revolutionary disability justice oracles and leaders, and they’ve been on my heart and mind almost every day since. The first is Patty Berne, who was the co-founder of Sins Invalid, which is a revolutionary arts organization that centers disabled QTBIPOC people. It has really been kind of like my North Star for my values, my politics, my artistic work.
And of course, we also lost Alice Wong, a writer, organizer, and founder of the Disability Visibility Project. She is someone who I’m really honored to have called a friend in this lifetime. She really embodied disabled joy, whether it was through hosting really fun and generous parties, or creating spaces for disabled people — but also she embodied disabled rage, especially around the ongoing pandemic. She never stopped advocating for masking, even as someone who could not mask.
Top tips on organizing COVID-safer events:
Katie Drackert: Don’t neglect your local library! At least in Austin, we have rooms that we can rent for free. Libraries are very ADA accessible. It doesn’t cost you anything to use the venue, and it’s been really, really great when we host workshops and things like that.
Also, when it comes to what venue we wanted to pick for a variety show I hosted, we asked: What access needs are already built into the space and how flexible were the venue owners with discussing accessibility? How did they react when we brought it up? Were they defensive, or were they like, “Yeah, we’ll try to work on that.” Don’t pick a space based on clout. Pick a space based on what is truly going to bring the most joy through accessibility.
Mondo Millions: Start with building support around you, making sure that you have what you need, making sure that you have people who are genuinely willing to change what they’re doing, who are willing to navigate the discomfort that comes with pushing back against the current paradigm. And there are also a lot of people who really appreciate making spaces where we don’t have to go anywhere.
When the doors close, find a window. When people push back, be like, “Okay, so you don’t want access. You are not for liberation. I can spend more of my time trying to fight you on that, or I can try and find that window.”
Don’t pick a space based on clout. Pick a space based on what is truly going to bring the most joy through accessibility.
Katie Drackert
On Long COVID changing artistic process:
Mondo Millions: It sucks navigating the change in your own ability and the change in your own capacity, but it also made the ableism of the world impossible to ignore. It was becoming a constant process of: “Do I want to choose me and my own needs, my own accommodations, my own access, or do I wanna choose being welcomed? And included? Do I wanna choose being included, or do I wanna choose myself?”
It really forced me to stand up for myself and also realize that, just because things change, doesn’t mean you have to stop creating. You’ll find a new way. I have friends who can’t handle light. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t sing, that they can’t figure out new ways to spotlight their area, to find creative ways to light their space, to bring beauty in, to create beautiful shadows, you know? There’s lots of options, and having Long COVID doesn’t stop any of them.
On educating people on complex and often overlooked diseases:
Taipei: It’s been a huge privilege to be able to use the platform that I’ve been lucky enough to build to raise awareness about Long COVID and [myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)]. One thing that has really struck me is the connection between how our queer ancestors navigated the AIDS epidemic and how we are now navigating COVID-19, and other illnesses. Queer people and their allies navigated government indifference and mismanagement of the AIDS epidemic, at the institutional level, and they built their own systems to protect them, and they protested, and fiercely advocated that AIDS get the attention and the research funding and the management that it needed.
Whether it’s the healthcare system or the government, they’re all fair weather friends of the community, or sometimes not even friends ever at all. We need to continually hold them accountable and continue to make noise.
On camp, absurdism, and other performance themes exposing and confronting the COVID-19 denial and fascism we’re seeing today in the U.S.:
Katie Drackert: When we use absurdism, we can really allow ourselves to visualize a better reality and a different reality — and the last thing that these overlords want is us imagining a different reality. They want us to feel stuck and scared and gridlocked in this hellscape. My best friend, Devin Harris, who also has Long COVID, consistently brings up the concept and importance of imagination, so I think that also play a really important role for me in my art..
Absurdism can be inherently jestery and jokey, and the trope of the jester historically has been one that has been strategically used by marginalized people, to get around, to pull a fast one on these people causing harm. Embodying the trope of the jester, I think, is really important for us these days, and is also why I think culturally it’s becoming more relevant in pop culture.
Tips for COVID-aware people who want to get into performing in their own communities:
Mondo Millions: Learn to make space for people who have different accommodation needs. If you can’t do an indoor event, maybe you can find a park. You probably don’t even need a permit. You can require masking, even if it’s not popular. Why can’t we ask our community, who cares about us, to wear a mask for four hours one time a year? I don’t think that’s too much to ask. Tell people to put their money where their mouth is, to put their actions where their words are. And don’t take no for an answer.
To quote Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin: “Too long have we been held under these unjust and unholy charges.” So, yeah, push back. There are at least 300 people on this Zoom call to support you.
Tell people to put their money where their mouth is, to put their actions where their words are. And don’t take no for an answer.
Mondo Millions
You can listen to the full Sick Times virtual Pride Q&A on this week’s episode of our podcast, Still Here. The full event recording will be emailed to everyone who registered to attend.
All articles by The Sick Times are available for other outlets to republish free of charge. We request that you credit us and link back to our website.
