Hay River gets dragged: Pride celebration highlights gender diversity

It's not everyday that fabulous drag queens donning stilettos, lipstick and wigs come to Hay River, N.W.T, but this weekend a troupe of performers from Edmonton visited as part of this year's Pride celebration. 

Three queens — Sister Mary Clarence, Lilith Fair and Bambi Dextrous — and one drag king, Duke Carson, read children's books to a crowd outside the Hay River Centennial Library. The stories featured LGBTQ themes and included Families, Families, Families about the many different kinds of families that exist, This Day in June about Pride celebrations and 10,000 Dresses about a gender-variant youth who dreams of magical dresses. 

Sister Mary Clarence — the stage name of Martin Flanagan, who's a hairdresser when not performing — said the event was meant to promote inclusion, gender diversity and acceptance among families.

"I think it shows more the adults and the families that children don't really see the gender and the dress up as anything strange or unusual because what kids love is like costumes and bright colours and things like that. So they're already accepting of us," Sister Mary Clarence said, in character at the event.

"Dress up is real and it's fun and everybody likes it. There's a reason Halloween is one of the biggest holidays of the year, because everyone likes to put on a costume."

For many of the performers, it was their first time visiting the territory, and many community members said it was the first time they had seen drag performers in Hay River. 

Sister Mary Clarence, who grew up in Seaforth, Ontario, said in small towns there can be misconceptions with events like these that they're trying to influence children.

"We're just trying to put on a good show for children because that's what we do as drag queens is we entertain people and we can entertain young children as young as zero all the way up to seniors."

Moriah Hoyles attended the reading with her daughter Keltie Frauts. She works at the local elementary school and said it was a good opportunity to learn about new books that encourage diversity.

"I think it's important for our community to embrace the diversity and to show our young people as well that any which way you come is good enough," she said.

It's just a really great... message for kids to see that like you can be anybody, you can present your gender identity any way you want.- Storm Larocque, Hay River Pride 

Hay River Pride coordinator Storm Larocque said she was 'ecstatic' about the turnout, with about 50 people in attendance at the Pride barbecue and book reading. 

"It's just a really great message for kids to see that like you can be anybody, you can present your gender identity any way you want," she said. "It's like a less scary clown, it's all the fun colours and the big hair, kids love it. They've been so excited about the drag queens being here." 

Larocque, who identifies as two-spirited, noted it wasn't always easy growing up in Hay River. She said she heard 'horror stories' from her parent's generation and came out two years after marriage equality was legalized in Canada in 2005, when it was still a relatively new concept to the northern town. 

But since then, Larocque said acceptance of the LGBTQ community has grown.

"I've had the privilege of in growing up, getting to see our community of Hay River just become more accepting and learning and really trying their best to be inclusive," she said. "We still have a ways to go but I'm really excited for the future of this community."