Talking with Timothy French about Stefani Victoria Spears

Like many other queens, Timothy’s drag experience began as a Halloween costume at the request of friends. Living in Chicago at the time, Timothy was friends with many drag and gender performers in the community, and often did choreography work for their shows. They convinced him to try doing drag one year for Halloween, and Timothy thus created a costume based after one of his many idols, Lady Gaga. Timothy discusses his opportunity to meet Gaga, as well as the influence of drag and gender artistry in her own work, during our (Image of Stephani at the 2016 Mermaid Parade). Timothy is currently employed by The Gap and credits their inclusive support for him and LGBTQ issues as an important turning point in his self acceptance. Timothy Timothy includes some comments about the recent popularity of shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race, which act as a sort of double-edged sword for the drag and gender performance communities.This popularization has created a shift in the drag world, in which certain forms of gender performance are now seen as more legitimate in a mainstream view than others. This interesting contradiction is discussed by Timothy in light of his recent experience auditioning for the show. Be sure to follow Harry and Austin on Twitter at @hhawk and @rainbowsquirtle, respectively. And be sure to follow Talking About Everything and The Draggedy Project on Stitcher Radio and iTunes! Keep checking back to www.draggedy.com for more episodes, pictures of gender performers, and links to more information about the artists we cover.