From moderate Republicans to MAGAs, the GOP touts itself as
pro-business. Job creation, economic prosperity, and fiscal conservatism
are cornerstones of the party. At the same time, lawmakers from the
right have been laser-focused on limiting a significant economy within
the state’s food and restaurant business: drag. 

The economy of
drag isn’t well known, but there is no questioning the money that goes
into it: Drag performers buy expensive stagewear, wigs that cost
hundreds of dollars, makeup and other accessories. The hosting venue has
to hire staff, from servers and bartenders to DJs and security. They
purchase more liquor for drag shows, many of which are held on slower
nights or during the day when business owners said the club or bar
otherwise would be empty. 

Patrons often pay for parking, ride
shares and dinners out before the show. Multiply this by the number of
shows statewide and throughout the year — drag has become a cash cow.

Demonizing drag and trying to eradicate it would seem to fly in the face of a core value of the right wing.

Still,
drag shows continue to be frequent targets of far-right lawmakers in
Arizona—a state with a strong history of championing small business. 

Senators
Anthony Kern (R-Glendale) and John Kavanaugh (R-Fountain Hills) have
introduced bills that would limit drag to specific venues only, while
the entire party over the past two sessions has signed off on other
bills to try and criminalize performers at venues where minors are
present. 

LGBTQ+ groups have shined a light on these legislative
efforts as part of the greater retaliation against a wide range of
gender expression. But amid the deluge of hypocrisy delivered daily by
right-wing politicians lies another, less-explored facet of drag: This
artistic genre has become a thriving mainstream industry. Local bar and
restaurant owners told LOOKOUT that attempts to stomp it out would have dire consequences both for the performers and the ancillary businesses they support.

A tapped market

No
one has gathered data on drag’s economic impact in Arizona. However,
the Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce is laying plans to
collect it over time. 

In January, it formed a Drag Coalition to
help performers learn skills including marketing, bookkeeping, taxes and
more. Through that, it wants to collect sample data.

“I’m hoping
we’ll be able to at least come up with enough data that we can
extrapolate what the economic impact is; what drag performers are
creating in the greater Phoenix area,” said Michele White, executive
director of GPECC. “I think it’s going to be through organizations like
ours, not a tax designation or state agency.”

In the greater
Phoenix area, White estimates, about 20 full-time and 400 part-time drag
performers earn money from their craft and another 500 pursue it as a
hobby. They’re not just drag queens, either: They run the gamut from
straight men sashaying in as a popular female actress to a lesbian woman
pulling off an act as a straight male country singer

One of Phoenix’s best-known full-time performers is Barbra Seville, the persona performed by Richard Stevens.

Twenty-five years ago,“There were maybe two or three bars, and Sunday
was their drag night, or Friday, or every Tuesday or once a month,” he
said. “I’ll say there were 10 shows a week.”

Those shows were
confined mainly to “the gayborhood,” Seville added. Now, drag has spread
beyond places like Kobalt, YUMBAR and The Rock to spaces that don’t
specifically target LGBTQ+ demographics. He estimates there are at least
three or four shows each day or night somewhere, whether it’s a drag
show, drag bingo or a drag queen hosting karaoke.

Stevens said one of his regular bingo gigs is at The Playa II Bar and
Grill in north Phoenix, where the crowd is “older, straight and
probably leaning conservative.”

He also hosts bingo every
Wednesday at the Hot Chick in Scottsdale, which attracts 250 to 400
people, among other regular gigs. In addition, he does a handful of
private events monthly, including corporate, bachelorette, birthday and
graduation parties, and even weddings—he’s an ordained minister.

On
top of that, comedy clubs from Stand Up Live in Phoenix to Mic Drop
Mania in Chandler host drag bingo and drag shows. Bigger venues like the
Celebrity Theater, Dodge Theater, Tempe Center for the Arts and the Van
Buren have had shows. 

Outside of the metro area, drag shows can
be found regularly in Flagstaff and Tucson, and occasionally in smaller
communities. For example, over Bisbee Pride weekend this past June,
Gene’s Place packed the house with a “Dragasaurus” revue featuring older
performers.

Christopher Hall, who performs as Miss Nature, organizes an annual
family-friendly drag tour to places like Ajo, Cottonwood, Florence, Lake
Havasu, Safford and Show Low. He said that over the past five years,
about 10,000 people have attended.

These are just a few examples of how prevalent drag has become and the swells of audiences that keep it afloat.

Dragenomics

Given the popularity of drag, it’s difficult to imagine what would happen if free speech was dismantled and drag was shut down.

Venue operators say it would not be an insignificant hit to the bars, restaurants and clubs that host drag events.

Mike
Fornelli, who owned the popular BS West in Scottsdale for 35 years
until it shuttered earlier this year due to a landlord dispute, said the
club’s premier drag show, “Elements” (which is now at Walter Studios in
Phoenix) tripled his Friday night revenue. It was a big draw for
bachelorette parties and other straight groups, he said.

BS West also hosted drag shows on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as pageant preliminaries on slow nights like Sundays.

“If
you’re doing the math, we’re increasing the revenue by at least 50
percent on a slow night,” Fornelli said. “The impact for the bars and
businesses hosting these prelims is pretty beneficial.”

The bar
employed a staff of roughly 32 to 35, he recalled, including bartenders,
servers, a DJ and security. If not for drag, he said, he might only
have needed eight or ten workers.

Mic Drop Mania in downtown Chandler also sees a bump in business from
its monthly Sunday drag bingo, which began shortly after it opened in
January 2023. 

Shannon Villavicencio, talent coordinator for
parent company Mic Drop Comedy, said drag brunches were going so well at
the San Diego location that they offered them here. The employees
“really look forward to drag brunches because they’re one of our busiest
shows every week,” she said.

She added, “If we were to look at
spending per person [on] average, any brunch show is significantly
higher than [an evening] show, and drag is even higher.”

Ivey
Rapp, business development manager for Walter Productions, said since
Elements move to Walter Studios in May, the crowd on First Fridays has
increased tenfold. A drag brunch on the third Saturday also brings in 50
to 100 people.

“To staff these events, we need an extra person in
the kitchen and two to three extra bartenders,” Rapp said. “Not only
are they excited for the event, but they’re also making good money.”

Drag has wide-ranging implications beyond boosting income for venues that host shows.

“I know performers who, during a pageant season, will spend $100,000 on dresses and wigs,” said White from GPECC.

Performers
also buy specially made costumes, larger-than-average shoes and boots,
and specially designed jewelry. They hire makeup artists, choreographers
and other backstage workers.

The spillover extends to the vendors for the venues, too. 

Villavicencio
of Mic Drop Comedy said on a typical weekend night, they’ll sell five
bottles of sparkling wine but for a Sunday drag bingo, they’ll sell two
cases. Rapp of Walter Productions said the margin of liquor during drag
events is “incredible.”

Fornelli, the former BS West owner, said
customers often went out before the drag shows started, so they
supported other area restaurants and bars. People also used the golf
cart shuttles and pedicabs that roamed the streets.

Beyond the
brick-and-mortar venues, drag is a main attraction at the Rainbows
Festival each spring at Heritage Square and Phoenix Pride in the fall at
Steele Indian School Park. Rainbows’ attendance was 32,000 in 2024 and
Pride saw 34,000 at the park (not including the parade).

Landen
C.L. Smith, who performs as Kristofer Inez Onyx, said those festivals
are money-makers for food and merchandise vendors and also, through the
Phoenix Community Pride Foundation, give back about $120,000 a year in
grants and scholarships.

Also, Smith noted, “Just being in the
park itself is a cost.” The city charges to use the park and for the
permits and liquor license. Organizers also pay for booths, tents,
stages, portable toilets, ATMs, point-of-service systems and security.

He
added that some bars survived the steep drop in business during COVID
due to drag: “There’s definitely a couple bars that wouldn’t be here
because drag was one of the only things they could still have.”

Good for business

On
a more holistic note, drag encourages diversity and inclusivity, which
business owners said drives people to spend more on different kinds of
art and entertainment.

Villavicencio of Mic Drop Comedy said comedy clubs aren’t known for being “super welcoming” to all types of talent.

But
when word gets out that their venues host drag, they get electronic
press kits from a wider range of comedians, allowing them to pull from a
deeper talent pool. That translates to higher ticket sales for their
weekend night shows.

Hall, the performer Miss Nature, said that in addition to paying
thousands of dollars to rent venues, drag shows in smaller cities and
towns can have long-term ramifications for those areas. Places that
welcome diversity could attract more tourism, he said.

Beyond
that, those smaller communities that create an inclusive environment
have a better chance of keeping and nurturing their people. Those locals
might then stay and set up businesses, Hall said. 

Hall knows this firsthand: He grew up in Florence but left because of a lack of LGBTQ+ resources.

“People
shouldn’t have to leave a place that they call home that they love to
feel safe; to feel seen, heard, validated,” he said. “There’s a lot of
talent within the LGBTQ community and it would be a waste to see that
talent go somewhere else because of [a lack of] acceptance.”

Fringe appeal

Of
course, drag is more than a money engine: It’s an art form that
deserves to exist regardless of who profits, performers said. And judges have ruled that the performance is protected speech under the First Amendment. 

“I
don’t like justifying my existence through profitability,” Stevens
said, adding that he doesn’t believe most Republicans are “that worked
up about it,” but use it as a “talking point, fundraising opportunity,
appealing to fringe nuts.”

He should know: Kari Lake, a former
Phoenix television anchor turned right-wing politician whom he
considered a friend and who had him perform in her home in front of her
kids, slammed drag queens on social media in 2022 when stumping for the
governor’s seat.

“I think it’s hypocritical, like so much we see in extreme sides of politics—and I would apply that to both sides,” he said.

He
continued, “Pick a fight with the LGBTQ community, it’s going to get
you on Fox News, it’s going to get you mentioned. Republicans can’t run
on economics, they can’t run on job creation, they can’t run on truly
protecting children or they’d do something about school shootings. This
is their area of expertise.”