{"id":3443,"date":"2021-08-08T22:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T22:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/2021\/08\/beirut-drag-queens-lead-the-way-lgbtq-visibility\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T13:01:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T11:01:23","slug":"beirut-drag-queens-lead-the-way-lgbtq-visibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/beirut-drag-queens-lead-the-way-lgbtq-visibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Beirut Drag Queens Lead the Way for Arab LGBTQ+ Visibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h4>\n

One evening in the mid-1990s, as tradition went, families in Lebanon gathered around their TV sets and mindlessly scrolled through the limited channels they had on offer. Little did they know, they were about to witness an episode in drag history \u2014 Alam El Fan (Art World)<\/em>, a famous talent show on the popular Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), was about to see celebrity impersonator Bassem Fegahli take to its stage, unknowingly trailblazing what has slowly grown to become a shining beacon of hope for all LGBTQ+ Arabs, Beirut\u2019s drag scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrag as an art form, particularly female impersonation, has been in Lebanon for so long, in movies and arts,\u201d says 26-year-old Hoedy Saad<\/a>, a known veterinarian by day and a vogueing and drag mastermind by night.<\/p>\n

\"Female
Female and celebrity impersonator Bassem Feghali.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBassem Feghali is the one we grew up watching, but he never came out as a drag queen. He would say he\u2019s a female impersonator or a celebrity impersonator,\u201d recounts Saad. \u201cOf course he did do drag, but he couldn\u2019t say it back then so that he\u2019s not labeled as gay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much has changed since; Lebanese drag queens and LGBTQ+ figures are now as visible and out as they can be, birthing what is arguably the Arab world\u2019s only active drag scene. And while Feghali served as a main inspiration, the current scene came to life much later.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegendary queens Anya Kneez and Evitta Kedavra were the pioneers of the current drag scene,\u201d says Saad. \u201cIt started with a few shows they did in clubs some 11 years ago, and up until four years ago, they were the only two on the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today there are between 40 and 60 queens comprising the city\u2019s vibrant drag community, with the real take off happening some four years ago, according to Saad, when he brought a Brooklyn drag tradition to Beirut, drag balls. In addition to serving looks and walking the runway, vogue dancing, a highly stylized modern house dance which was also pioneered in New York City\u2019s drag scene in the 1980s, made its way to Beirut. Saad, being a dancer, pioneered vogeuing in the city, becoming the foremost vogue instructor until today.<\/p>\n

\"Hoedy
Hoedy Saad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Organizing the first Beirut Ball back in 2017 brought unprecedented visibility and vitality to the scene, ushering in a new era of what\u2019s been dubbed by Vogue magazine \u201cthe Beirut Dragissance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere you can find every drag in the book; from comedy queens, dancing divas, look queens, club kidz, biological females \u2014 you can find anything. This is why Beirut\u2019s drag scene is very unique and diverse,\u201d says 25-year-old Moustafa Dakdouk, AKA queen Latiza Bombe.<\/p>\n

Dakdouk, who in 2019 was featured in Vogue, took her first steps in the drag world some seven years ago, being embraced and taught the craft of drag by some members of Beirut\u2019s trans community. An operational manager is her day job, but by night, a spooky queen comes to life. Unlike Saad, whose family struggled to understand but eventually embraced him, Dakdouk isn\u2019t as fortunate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not out to my parents as gay, let alone if they knew about drag; they would literally kill me,\u201d exclaims Dakdouk. \u201cI come from a very conservative family who I left at 17 to pursue my own independent life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The queens generally live in relative safety in one of the region\u2019s most open-minded cities, however their lives are anything but void of fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hustle to go out in drag to reach the venue, you can\u2019t imagine the amount of stress and fear I live each time,\u201d says Dakdouk. \u201cAnd that\u2019s just with my makeup on; no outfit or wig. We usually perform in very underground places that are kept on the down low, but after the explosion that happened on August 4 we lost them all,\u201d adds Dakdouk, referring to the Beirut port explosion that shattered the city last summer.<\/p>\n

The explosion was the final straw for a nation-wide economic and social crisis. Since the onset of the Lebanese revolution in 2019, the country\u2019s volatile political situation intensified a severe economic crisis that sent the Lebanese pound plummeting to less than 90% of its pre-revolution value. This has impacted every Lebanese citizen as basic goods and services in the import-reliant country vanished off the shelves, and whatever remained became costlier than what the average citizen could afford. It\u2019s easy then to imagine that seemingly secondary purchases like drag supplies were no longer easily attainable or remotely affordable.<\/p>\n

\"Beirut
Beirut drag star Anya Kneez<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe economic crisis had a huge impact on the drag scene,\u201d says Dakdouk. \u201cWe get paid in Lebanese pounds, yet we import most of our drag supplies from abroad. So suddenly everything cost 20 times what it used to. However this also made me reuse things I had before or try to modify them and create something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

This resilience and reinvention has always been a feature of drag communities in Beirut and elsewhere, and despite the political and social turmoil, the drag scene in Beirut continues to flourish and its members continue to bring much visibility and hope to Arab queer and drag communities. Unlike the 1990s, little gay kids from across the Arab world now grow up with many role models to look up to, not just western pop icons and gay figures, but rather Arab queens that share their heritage, culture and fierceness. To the Beiruti queens, this is what makes the hardships they encounter on a daily basis worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Sadly, however, many queens, similar to the bulk of Arab youth, queer or otherwise, are looking for a way out of the country, risking bringing the vibrant scene to ground zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a love-hate relationship with Lebanon, but honestly I\u2019d love to just travel outside the country,\u201d concludes Dakdouk.<\/p>\n

\u2014Anonymous<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our writer goes to Beirut to talk to leaders in Lebanon\u2019s creative and LBGTQ community about the drag queen 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