You’ve seen her on stage as a busty blond (Dolly), a sexy redhead (Reba), or a vodka-soaked brunette (Liza). Those are just three of the faces of Vanity Fair, candidate for Empress of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose and a true Edmonton Queen.

In the mid-90s, a young gay boy named David moved from Vegreville to the big city and was caught up in the Edmonton club scene. One Saturday at the Roost, David was picked from the crowd by Amanda Cherish, and was told he was going to be a queen. “Drag really picked me. I don’t recall picking it,” Vanity says with a laugh. Those early years were a blur, but her first name didn’t really resonate with her. It wasn’t until she was watching the antics of a trailer park hooker named Vanity on the Jerry Springer show that she did the math. Cheap hooker + Fashion Magazine = Drag Queen, and Vanity Fair was born.

It wasn’t long after starting drag that Vanity was ushered into the world of the ISCWR, the “court”. It was Natasha Fedaz that first reached out to her and it was a rocky beginning. Vanity recalls that the queen scene was very cliquey back then and she had a few mean pranks pulled on her, like cutting her music in the middle of performing. But Vanity is “a tough cookie and stuck it out”. In the years since, she has been Mz Gay Edmonton 12 and 22, Entertainer of the Year 2000 and 2010, and the current reigning Princess of the ISCWR as well as candidate for Empress XXXVII.

To Vanity, The ISCWR “is a group of real individuals who genuinely care about Edmonton’s gay community and volunteer and give what they can to give back to their community. It is comprised of members acquired throughout the years who may or may not feel like they fit in in other aspects of the community. It is a group of real people who are individuals and have huge hearts.” She recalls fondly that the ISCWR was one of the first groups to embrace her and take her in in Edmonton and is proud that as an organization, they continue to do that to this day, “welcoming everyone and anyone who wants to belong to something, express themselves and give back to others”.

Her main reason for wanting to be Empress of this great city is to give back to a city and community that has done so much to support her and make her the person she is today. She recalls, “I moved to Edmonton at the age of 21 from a small town and didn’t know the slightest things about gay life. Edmonton embraced me and through friends, drag and the ISCWR, I have become a well respected member of the community. I am not looking for fame or a big crown on my head, I have learned over the years that those things mean very little in the grand scheme of things. Over the years I have gone from a shy, quiet individual with very little self esteem to someone full of life and comfortable on stage addressing small bar crowds or thousands of people in Churchill Square at Pride. I would simply not be the person I am today had it not been for my experiences in Edmonton and with`the ISCWR.”

Those experiences have been many and varied, and have included some true highlights. Some of those proudest drag accomplishments occurred when Vanity and Binki created the Stardust Lounge. “We had talked and were both unhappy with the way the drag scene was headed in Edmonton and both knew we had the talent and the queens in our corner to make it better. We all put so much time and effort in to those shows and the Pride shows and i think the crowds really appreciated the effort. We elevated drag to a higher level in Edmonton and that is something I will always be proud of.” Since then, Vanity has striven to show up at ever show with that same level of quality and effort. The pride that the Stardust Lounge created in her is still there, despite the shows not continuing.

“With that said,” Vanity goes on to add, “one of my biggest regrets is that those days are over. Friends change over the years and sometimes drift apart. While I wouldn’t trade my life or friends now for anything in the world I do regret that we could not find a way to work together for the fans, Edmonton supported and embraced Binki and I from day one and they deserve the best entertainment the city has to offer.”

It has been a city that has truly embraced drag as an artform, although Vanity is saddened that it currently seems at a low. “I have seen Edmonton’s drag scene decline from a vibrant, large group of enthusiastic queens to a small group of talented individuals who are struggling to keep the scene alive. Edmonton used to be able to pack any bar in town when there was a great show going on, whether it was the weekly sundays shows at the Roost to the Court shows to the shows at Buddys. Each show had a loyal following that would come out rain or shine, 40 below or not to see the shows. Alot of changes in the community such as the closing of the Roost and the way other bars have treated queens over the years seems to have sucked the enthusiasm right out of us. The Roost is missed greatly and nothing has really filled that void in the community. we have great clubs now but nothing is like the Roost. I think we struggle too because the younger gays today don’t feel the need to only support and go to gay bars. When i came out you went to the Roost or Buddy’s because it wasn’t safe to go anywhere else. Now kids party anywhere they want so we don’t have a captive audience like we once did.”

Drag is not a cheap hobby either, Vanity is quick to note, and queens don’t get paid in Edmonton to put on the kind of mind blowing shows that the kids and bars want. That level of entertainment involves “a lot of expense and most queens are just not willing to undertake those expenses to do it. Edmonton is full of so many talented and unappreciated queens, some of the best in the country (you know who you are ;)) and sadly alot of them feel the scene now is just not worth the effort.”

The expense is not the only drawback to drag. Not only is there difficulty in finding a man, there can also be a lot of petty catty fights behind the scenes (and sometimes right on stage!). Vanity has learned to not really get involved, unless it pertains to her particularly. “It is all childish and unnecessary and can usually be stopped in its tracks if people just choose to be the bigger person and rise above it. Part of being the bigger person comes from realizing that being a drag queen or having a drag title is not going to make you or your life amazing. Your hard work and effort make your life amazing.”

Not many people know this but drag quite literally saved Vanity’s life. “I suffered through most of my 20’s with severe depression and anxiety. I was an insecure, shy young man with no self esteem or confidence. Drag allowed me to be someone else, forget my problems for a while, paint on a smile and face the world head on.” Over the years Vanity’s confidence and strength rubbed off on David and gradually the two of them merged into one person. “In the early days David and Vanity were two totally different people. Today they are very much similar and equals.”

One thing Vanity is sure of is that she would not be here or the man she is today without the bitch in her closet. Drag is a very important part of her life, one she could not imagine giving up for any reason, including a man. She has gained strength and confidence and now she wants to take all she’s learned, and as Empress, share that with some of the newer queens. She says that lately she has watched a new queen come to the scene who is following much the same path, and “I see her strength and confidence grow each time I see her out.” Behind all the makeup and wigs is usually a hurt little boy who has a story to tell. Not many people know or understand that – they just choose to judge instead of asking questions and trying to understand. That isn’t what drag is about for Vanity, not drag, and not life.

Originally published on QMagazine

Onto a stage she slides, graceful and elegant, sequin-clad from head to toe. She sparkles in the spotlight, and she glows as the applause thunders. And then she crosses her eyes and makes a joke about pills and vertigo. She is Bianca.

In the Edmonton drag scene these past few years, there are some queens who truly stand out, whether for their looks, their talent, their humour, or their sheer pushiness. In Miss Bianca, Edmonton is blessed with a combination of all them. Known to most as simply Binki, Bianca has been doing drag since 1990, when her drag mother Molly Skidmark guided her onto stage at the Roost for a rendition of A Chorus Line’s “Dance 10, Looks 3”. Looking back, Binki says “it was a trainwreck. More like dance 3 looks 3”. She has come a long way since.

In her twenty-two years so far (and before that, even a five year old James was no stranger to his mom’s high heels), Binki has seen and accomplished much. From those first days at the Roost, through days at Fly Bar, 109 Discotheque, Buddys, Boots, Play, Flash, and Junction, this girl has made the rounds and paid her dues. For Binki, that drag career culminated with the Pride Celebration on the Square, the chance to not only give something back to the community as a whole, but also a sign that she had “made it”. Binki hosted Pride on the Square for six years, from 2005 with her Stardust-Lounge cohort Vanity Fair, and then the last few by herself.

Drag means a lot of things to a lot of people, freedom of expression, performance, a way to get people involved. To Binki, it’s magical at times. Drag has taught her what she can put up with, drag has taught her how to make people laugh. It has shaped who she is and what she stands for. “You are instantly known,” she says, “and people love you for something you created”.

Named after the Eva Gabor character from 1977’s “The Rescuers”, Bianca was nicknamed Binki by the infamous Kristy Krunt, who probably was too drunk to pronounce Bianca, Binki says. No one that has seen a Binki show would be surprised to learn that one of her role models is Diana Ross…the Boss. Ever since reading “All that Glitters” at twenty-three, Binki has seen Diana Ross as the ultimate in glamour, charisma, and versatility. With all the wigs, sequin gowns, false lashes and false tits that Diana Ross has worn since her days with the Supremes, she basically is a drag queen, Binki quips, and “one of the people that I try to be like.”

It hasn’t always been rosy though. It can also be very lonely. People that loved your last show don’t always want to give you a chance as boyfriend. There is a stigma surrounding drag queens, Binki notes, a stigma that they’re all drug addicts and crazy. “Sure I’m crazy,” she admits, “but in a fun way.” At times, James’ chance at love had to come before Binki’s chance at fame; at other times, the two were reversed. That lonely road that ended happily though; Binki and James have merged into someone who is now happily married, even if she did have to “mail order Terry from the mountains,” a place she hopes retire to in the next 10 years, just knitting on a houseboat in the Kootenays.

There have been other heartaches along the way, and hard lessons that had to be learned. Lessons about listening to other peoples’ opinions and simply “going with the flow” rather than speaking out and standing your ground. Lessons about the strength you need to survive all the shit that can go on in our community. Darker lessons, about losing friends along the way never having told them how much they matter to you. Frustrating lessons, about gay bars and their relationship with the queens who fill them.

This has frequently been a sore spot for Binki, who has hosted and starred in shows in so many past and current Edmonton clubs. She can get very frustrated with bars looking at queens in general as a dime a dozen, never seeming to acknowledge and accept the amount of work and money that goes into being a good queen, never seeming to appreciate fully that a packed club on a show night is due to the queens. Over the years, that attitude has persisted, but Binki and many of her generation of queens have outgrown it. They know their worth, and refuse to be degraded by bar owners that don’t have time for veteran, professional queens who have done so much in putting the Edmonton drag scene where it is today.

“I’d like to open up my own hole in the wall club,” Binki dreams, “a place where there is a little stage, some red velvet curtains and some candlelit tables where people, not just gay people, can come and enjoy a great little show!” Sadly, she goes on to admit that no one seems keen on doing anything about it, too content to complain, and to dream about a place, like the Roost, where we all really belong, queens and their audience.

The audience is one of the reasons Binki keeps coming back though, an audience that followed her from club to club these past years, as the Stardust Lounge created by her and Vanity relocated from Buddys to the Roost to Boots. Following a stint at Play with the Playgirls, the Stardust Lounge had a brief resurgence at Junction before the stars finally faded. Queens grow apart, and ego plays a part, Binki says, but the thing to remember is that we’re boys in dresses. Have fun with drag, and the audience will have fun with you. They will let you know when something works, and when something does not work. “They are the greatest learning resource,” she says, “without them, I wouldn’t know what I know today.”

If Binki today could pass back some of that wisdom to the Binki from years ago, she would tell her that “fame is fickle.. it’s very fleeting. You’re only as good as your last number. Sadly, that’s the way it is for a queen. It seems like yesterday that I first did “Baby Love”… I just don’t know when it all happened. I don’t know when I got older. Suddenly, it’s all new again, and I seem to have misplaced my tambourine.”

Her most significant piece of advice to her younger self is something she would also pass on to Edmonton’s gay community in general. “You will meet some pretty incredible people along the way,” she says. “Remember to keep those people in your life. Cherish them, because you never know how long they will be there for”.

Originally published on QMagazine