Pride Month

Drag: How Performance Art Turns the Scene into Protest in Cebu

by Edge Javier

A distinct kind of thunder was heard rolling from a performance on stage at From Here in the Haus of Rena1ssance, Cebu’s boldest drag collective, celebrating its second anniversary with Act V: Revel, a concert of glitter, grit, and grounded rebellion. With Pride Month currently on, this moment feels more resonant. But to understand what this night actually meant, one looks far beyond the lights and lashes. Drag has always been more than costume—it’s a centuries-old conversation on gender, power, and art.

The earliest incarnations of drag trace back to classical theater. In ancient Greece and Shakespearean England, women were barred from performing on stage, so men took on female roles in “drag,” a term believed to have originated from stage directions noting actors “dragging” their skirts. But while these performances were rooted in necessity, they also planted the seed for gender as performance.

William Dorsey Swann, born into slavery, was the first known person in the U.S. to call himself a “queen of drag” and to lead a queer resistance group.

It wasn’t until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that drag began its journey as a form of queer resistance. In underground speakeasies and vaudeville halls, particularly in liberal cities like New York, drag flourished not just as entertainment but also as defiance. The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s brought black drag queens into cultural consciousness, while the post-war era introduced performers like José Sarria—daring to run for public office and reminding the community that drag wasn’t just entertainment, it was political as well.

“United we stand, divided they catch us one by one.”
—José Sarria, political activist

José Sarria

The watershed moment came in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn. Sparked by a police raid, the ensuing riots were led by trans and drag icons Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, marking a pivotal chapter in LGBTQIA+ activism. Pride Month, observed every June in remembrance of Stonewall, exists because of the uprising. The movement created a potent cocktail mix of protest, pride, and power—all stitched into sequins.

By the 1980s and 1990s, drag culture was still evolving, now as a cultural phenomenon. Film documentaries like Paris Is Burning, directed by Jennie Livingston, spotlighted the vibrancy and pain behind the New York drag balls, where performers invented the language of vogueing and the concept of “realness”—later picked up by pop performer and gay icon Madonna. When RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered in 2009, it catapulted drag into mainstream television, birthing global franchises and turning drag queens into household names. Its roots in activism, identity, and community were amplified but still remained marginalized.

American gay liberation activist Marsha P. Johnson (1945 – 1992, center left, in dark outfit and black hair), along with unidentified others, on the corner of Christopher Street and 7th Avenue during the Pride March (later the LGBT Pride March), New York, June 27, 1982.

Iconic poster from the groundbreaking documentary Paris is Burning.

“You don’t have to bend the whole world; it’s better to enjoy it. Pay your dues and just enjoy it. If you shoot an arrow and it goes real high, hooray for you.”
—Paris Is Burning

Philippine drag culture has long existed in the margins—visible and misunderstood—but that landscape began to shift in the 2010s. Social media and global content created groundbreaking drag queens. Manila Luzon and Precious Paula Nicole brought the consciousness into the limelight. Drag Race Philippines further legitimized the performance art form, inviting audiences to witness the narrative of its own national identity.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race franchise.

All eyes on @mizjorja as she owns the stage.

In Cebu in 2023, a combined group of performers bonded by friendship, “queerness,” and a shared vision formed the Haus of Rena1ssance. The goal wasn’t simply entertainment—it was to reimagine drag as an act of cultural narrative in reclaiming queer joy, wherein safe spaces are continuously being carved out in the community. In its second-year anniversary concert, the performances became an enthronement of identity as well as an intersection of art and activism.

This movement, characterized by pushing boundaries and challenging traditional norms, also celebrates survival.