Faces of Pride: Drag Queen

CHARLOTTE — “I’m Emory Sloan; I’m a Christian, I’m a son, I’m a friend.”

“And I’m a drag queen!”

“Drag is just basically performance art. It’s just, you know, someone dressing up in character or getting on a stage or, you know, wherever they are in becoming like a different character,” Emory told Channel 9 Reporter Hunter Sáenz.

“Drag just gives me such a boost of confidence that I don’t have when I’m not in drag,” Emory said.

“I always do my eyebrows first,” Emory said, now in the process of becoming their character.

“I used to tell my friends I thought drag was just a little too gay for me at the time. I wasn’t that feminine, quote-unquote,” Emory said. “But then I ended up loving it, and for the last four years, I’ve been doing it professionally. So now I’ve made it a career and a business of mine. I used to work for a bank, and I quit my corporate job to do drag full time.”

“I remember when I came out and my mom was like, OK whatever, she’s fine with it, but she was like, just don’t dress up like a woman.”

“And now, all these years later, my mom and my family are my biggest supporters. My mom comes to every show that I have. She’s on Facebook Live for recording me, she buys me like outfits and wigs, and we go makeup shopping,” Emory said. “She’s always said that the love of her child is the only thing that matters. So my mom truly does love and support me, and I just think it takes time for people, especially like parents, to just educate themselves a little bit on it.”

“So now I am carving out my cheek to make my cheekbones look like I got some surgery done,” Emory said with a laugh while applying makeup.

“Drag is for anybody, it doesn’t matter what color you are, what sexual identity or how big, how tall; drag is for everybody. It’s literally a form of art,” Emory said before finishing up the makeup routine. “I’m pretty much done; I just have to put my lips on.”

“I’m Erica Chanel; I’m a son, I’m a Christian, I’m a friend, I’m gay.”

“And I’m a drag queen!”

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