The origin of DRAG started in the 16th century, with Shakespeare casting beautiful young boys whose voices had not broken yet as the female roles in his stage productions. Females were not allowed on stage back then. The boys were dressed in drag and literally “DRAGGED” on stage to perform as female impersonators. Hence the origin of “DRAG”.
In the west village of Manhattan in 1969 gay men who wanted to dress in drag had to do so in underground gay clubs to perform cabaret, but these clubs were often raided by the police and drags had to have male underwear on under their drag clothes. It was there where the first retaliation of a Drag Queen against police brutality started. Which we now know as “Stonewall”.
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