that took part in the documentary
were Muslims and didn’t fit the
stereotype of the bearded man and
the woman in the niqab or the
hijab - the demonised image that
is put out there. However I do
believe that people who live side
by side know what it’s really, really
like. Gay Muslims have existed for
centuries; gay Muslims in London
and in the UK have existed for
decades. That image really isn’t
the right image.
When the
documentary
went out, I think
the reason people
were so struck by
it was it started
with me revealing
my death threats.
As soon as it
went out, on
Twitter and on
social medias it
was like, “it’s
about time ISIS
got her”.
JH: How can it be changed?
AL: Wow, that’s the million-dollar
question. All that I know is right
for me is being visible, if
something is invisible it doesn’t
matter or it doesn’t exist, it’s not
wort hy enough or it’s not real.
Now I know that the issues that
affect my life are totally real. I am
real, I exist, I am gay, I am
Muslim, I am a drag queen, I’m
British and for many people these
labels don’t fit well together, but
I’ve always said, “here I am”. I
refused to denounce one over the
other. For me it’s about visibility.
It’s about discussing, it’s about
being free to be yourself, especially
in a country where you can be. To be honest I don’t
think I would have been a successful drag queen
had I been in Iran or Pakistan. To a certain degree, I
don’t even know if I would be successful if I was in
America. I think that Britain has given me freedom
for me to be myself that’s why I really do take pride
in being British.
JH: How important is being a drag queen to
change society, your community?
AL: I’ve always said drag is the way forward for the
community and that’s not just for the Gay/Asian
community but the entire community, because it’s
going against the status quo. Let me bring it down
to you. I’m a boy in a dress. When you do drag and
you do it properly you have power. People want to
talk to you, people want to know about you, people
want to see if you’ll fall flat on your face and that’s
84 THEGAYUK | ISSUE 16 | NOV 2015
really the power drag has. I’ve
used it to my personal advantage
and I’ve used it to really shed light
on the issues that wouldn’t have
come to the forefront had I not
questioned it. I actually love the
activism part of it, because I think
in 2015 we’ve forgotten that when
it comes to drag.
JH: Do you think that’s
because we’ve not got
something to be activist
about? Maybe the politics of
drag have gone out of it?
AL: If you’re talking about the
Titti La Camps and the Lily
Savages they have done a lot of
activism. When I look at my
generation of drag, the twenty
somethings, it’s literally just party
party party, club hosting, door
whore and I do really think there’s
a waste there because I think drag
could be used better. I don’t want
to get into this area where we’re so
relaxed being LGBT, there’s so
much more that needs to be done.
I still think in terms of
transgender visibility and intersex
visibility, we’re still not there. I
still think education in school is
still not there. If we go into any public school, I still
don’t think that education is there in terms of LGBT
sex education or education in itself. Since the
documentary I’ve been invited to numerous
schools….
JH: So sex ed by drag queens?
AL: Yeah! I do think that is something that we
could do. I refuse to believe now twenty something
drag queens are just party party party – what’s the
point? You can do that as a boy!
JH: Drag queens have a lot of power, even
over straight men! Does that roll over into
Muslim men? Would you have power over a
straight Muslim man?
AL: Interesting question, drag and the transgender
community have totally different connotations from