Like any big city, Dallas has its share of nightlife and a distinct entertainment scene, including drag shows.
The Dallas Express attended a drag show event on Saturday at the Oak Lawn area bar Mr. Misster, which previously hosted “kid-friendly” shows. Back in 2022, the shows prompted considerable controversy and protests, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“These shows are definitely geared toward a more open-minded crowd,” Nora Ryes told The Dallas Express at Saturday’s “drag brunch.”
The show marked Ryes’ third time attending a drag performance but her first at Mr. Missters, which was billed for people 21 and older.
“If you’ve never attended a drag show, you don’t know what you’re missing,” Ryes said. “My friends and I always have a blast, the performers are always funny and positive, and everyone is just very accepting,” she said.
When asked if any minors had attended the other drag show events she had attended, Ryes said, “Not at any of the shows I’ve been to, but I know they have in the past.”
“I personally think drag shows should be an 18 and up kind of event,” she added.
Another local that believes drag shows are not a place for kids is local activist Kelly Neidert, executive director of Protect Texas Kids — a non-profit organization that organizes protests against “kid-friendly” drag shows.
In a previous statement to The Dallas Express, Neidert claimed that anyone who approves of children going to drag shows is “okay with children being sexualized … and exposing children to extremely sexual content.”
In June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill “restricting certain sexually oriented performances on public property” or “in the presence of a child.” The new law will come into effect on September 1.
The bill’s definition of sexually oriented performance includes “a male performer exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male, who uses clothing, makeup, or other similar physical markers and who sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience.”
While some, like Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler, see drag shows as degrading and demoralizing toward women, as previously reported by The Dallas Express, the vast majority of attendees during the Mr. Misster drag brunch were women in their 20s and 30s.
“Drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood,” wrote Wendler in an email explaining why he shut down a drag show at the university. “Drag shows are derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent.”
From the loud music, the club-like atmosphere, and the attendees handing the performers wads of cash, Saturday’s event came off like a toned-down scene from Magic Mike, but with performers in drag.
Considering the packed house during Saturday’s show, hosting drag shows seems to be a lucrative way to get customers with loose wallets through the door.
During a previous drag brunch attended by The Dallas Express, the owner of a Bishop Arts area venue, T.J. Gonzalez, told the publication that drag brunches had become so popular that many of the venue’s shows have sold out.
