Talk:drag queen

etymology?

Homosexual?

Anonymous user 144.15.115.165 claims that "not all drag queens are homosexual" and modified the definition to be a synonyms of transvestite. It has been my understanding that the key difference between a drag queen and a transvestite is that the former is a homosexual and the latter may not be. --EncycloPetey 21:30, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

My understanding is that a transvestite is someone who dresses like a member of the opposite sex, typically a man dressing as a woman. A drag queen is specific type of male performance artist who dresses like a woman for their act; often dressing very extravagantly. For transvestites the reason they cross dress is not to perform, but because they like it, and they typically don't dress extravagantly or to shock, but like any non-cross-dressing person in the street. Neither term implies to me anything about homosexuality, although my gut feeling is there are more homosexual drag queens than straight drag queens, I can't back this up. RFV? Thryduulf 21:53, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea. --EncycloPetey 21:55, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

The OED has ‘male homosexual transvestite’, which is poor and we can certainly do better. I too though it implied homosexuality, but the Wikipedia article notes that "there are drag artists of all genders and sexualities". Certainly though it implies an element of performance, to me at least. Widsith 21:57, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

The word is used in different ways. As I understand it, one of the meanings is male homosexual transvestite, in an American context where "transvestite" usually refers to a straight transvestite who is probably not a part of the gay scene. The other meaning is a synonym to female impersonator, i.e. drag show performer. ~I suspect the lack of written sources for this kind of vocabulary is a problem. // 213.89.53.155 13:14, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

It's probably true that most drag queens are gay, and straight guys who wear drag (Milton Berle, Barry Humphries) are more likely to be called female impersonators than drag queens, but I wouldn't consider "homosexual" part of the definition of "drag queen". Some drag queens even object to the term female impersonator, e.g. RuPaul, who said, "I do not impersonate females! How many women do you know who wear seven-inch heels, four-foot wigs, and skintight dresses?" —Aɴɢʀ (talk) 22:16, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

In my comments above, I forgot about transgendered drag queens, who probably would not consider themselves gay since they don't consider themselves men. I think only a minority of drag queens are transgendered, but it's probably a larger minority than among the population at large. —Aɴɢʀ (talk) 22:28, 21 April 2014 (UTC)