The Drag Kingdom has come !

MISSION

This website was created to showcase the extensive history of performers from breeches roles to en travesti, variety to vaudeville, male impersonation to drag kings, and drag kings to gender free. It is our sincerest hopes that this site serves to preserve these art forms and to create community and unity. We hope you find this site informative, empowering and enlightening. This is our gift to all of the courageous performers who came before us and to those who will come after so they too may weave their influence onto the stages, films and literature for all to enjoy.

DISCLAIMER

We do our best to portray these performers in the context of their time,
not through the lens of our modern experience.

By no means does this site encompass every person who donned male attire for performative purposes, however our team will make our best efforts to do so. If you know of a person that is not represented on this historical site, please let us know by emailing us at info@dragkinghistory.com. This site is for educational purposes.

To our knowledge, 1972* marks the first time the term Drag King was in print in The Queen’s Vernacular: A Gay Lexicon by Bruce Rogers.

*Oxford English Dictionary cites Rogers, Bruce (1972), The Queen’s Vernacular: A Gay Lexicon, Straight Arrow Books