Photo by Josh Pacheco
‘We will not go back in the closet’: New York nightlife takes a stand against anti-trans legislation
Scenes from Stand Up NYC, a drag benefit that featured more than 150 performers and raised over $25,000 last week
More than 1,000 people gathered under the disco ball at queer hotspot 3 Dollar Bill last week for Stand Up NYC, a drag benefit performance that sold out within the first 24 hours of the ticket release. Queens, kings, and all stripes of royalty in between flooded the dance floor, adorned in extravagant wigs, blooming headpieces and feathery trains, to show their support during this troubling chapter in the queer movement.
The show was the freedom dream of Mx Julie J, a Black trans Brooklyn drag artist, who wanted to put on a benefit as a way to support groups combatting anti-LGBT legislation. With the help of 3 Dollar Bill and her roommate, she brought the city’s nightlife community together at Stand Up NYC to raise more than $25,000, split evenly across three organizations: ACLU of Tennessee, The Transformations Project, and Black Trans Liberation.
Mx Julie J backstage (Josh Pacheco)
“I wanted to help a local organization doing grassroots work in New York City,” Julie tells Brooklyn Magazine. “Black Trans Liberation has not only connected people to necessary services, but also provides food and nourishment for our entire TGNC community.”
It all started when a drag ban in Tennessee made drag performance a misdemeanor offense with a fine up to $2,500 and a year in jail on the first violation; additional violations lead to a felony charge punishable by up to six years. Julie woke up to that news in early March knowing more anti-LGBT legislation would surely come, so she took action.
“I made an Instagram story: ‘Are you somebody in nightlife interested in being part of a benefit to help raise funds? Share this far and wide.’ It became almost bigger than we could manage,” she says. More than 300 people responded to her Instagram story, of which she enlisted around 150.
The resulting fundraiser, Stand Up NYC, ran for a total of five sets, featuring seven DJs, drop-in speakers, raffles for each set, and a whopping 45 drag numbers.
Meanwhile, Julie’s premonition came true days later.
A dangerous wave
As of this writing, a federal judge has put a temporary halt to the Tennessee bill. Still, there are 434 anti-LGBT bills in process. More than 200 of those bills were introduced in the first three months of 2023 alone. It seems that each day, we open our phones to a new notification of impending legislation from an increasingly violent conservative agenda, as embodied by fringe commentator Michael Knowles, a speaker at last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference, who called for the eradication of LGBTQIA+ existence.
On March 17, Kentucky lawmakers blitzed through 13 actions, including a slew of last-minute provisions added during a surprise House Education Committee meeting. The main bill, SB150, would cut trans-related healthcare for minors and would force teachers and faculty to out trans youth to their parents. Performing in drag and providing trans-centered care would become a felony offense in the bill, touted as “one of the cruelest” according to ACLU of Kentucky. Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, vetoed the bill, but was overridden by a majority vote on March 29, which the ACLU promised to contest in court.
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‘Fascists must be mercilessly destroyed!’
Back in Brooklyn, 3 Dollar Bill was packed with stage performers and attendees long before Stand Up NYC began. At 8 p.m. Julie kicked things off. She walked onstage accompanied by sign language interpreters and addressed the audience.
“It is up to each and every single one of us to make sure that our queer family across the country is taken care of.” Local drag performer Mariyea kicked off the benefit with explosive flirtatious energy while nightlife performers walked around with large bins to collect cash tips throughout the night.
Mariyea (Josh Pacheco)
It wasn’t all queen classics and drag crowd favorites on the stage. Some artists performed politically charged acts and included messages related to climate change, police brutality, and queer revolution. A show-stopping performance by Untitled Queen, accompanied by Jessamess, opened the third set. She performed in front of a projected video by Haoh Sangli that included slides from news articles about the Willow Project approval, the proposed massive oil drilling venture on Alaska’s North Slope. Other slides included the ACLU’s anti-LGBT bill tracking page, and images from political uprisings, including the 2020 Black Trans Liberation March in Brooklyn.
Anne Tifa (Josh Pacheco)
Performer Anne Tifa came wrapped in flame-colored tulle and chained to a fold out playpen for toddlers designed to resemble a police car. She began her number with a personal recording criticizing respectability politics and combating fascism: “Self-titled ‘anti-racists’ of the left continue on with their infantile fixation on the Klan, Nazis, and right-wing militias,” she said. “Both the police and the fascists must be mercilessly destroyed!’”
Chinese trans drag artist Angel Au gave a heart rending performance that started with visuals from Knowles’ infamous CPAC speech. The video stopped, and a eep silence fell over the room as Angel looked beyond the audience with a commanding gaze: “You don’t have to love me, you don’t have to like me, but you do have to respect me.”
When you have a sold out audience, what is an artist to do, but take advantage? Archie Ham from Haus of Quench surfed the crowd during their group performance. Drag Race stars including Marcia Marcia Marcia and Luxx Noir London of season 15 and Olivia Lux of season 13 stunted onstage. Costume reveals, death drops, back flips and lifts: Brooklyn’s nightlife left it all on the stage.
The final set opened with drag celebrity Marti Gould Cummings, whose invitation by the White House for the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act became an online focus of anti-trans hate. “As anti-LGBTQ bills sweep the nation, largely targeting our Trans community, it is our duty to speak up and stay loud in the face of hate and bigotry,” she tells Brooklyn Magazine. “Julie J gathered our community together in solidarity to help bring awareness and raise money, and this is just the beginning. We will not go back in the closet.”
Samy Olivares, former candidate for New York State Assembly 54, took to the stage in a black and white striped dress with messages of love, hope, and action written on the white stripes. They invoked the crowd to chant, “Trans lives matter!”
“I want to start by acknowledging, calling the presence of the founding mothers of our LGBTQ movement, Sylvia Rivera, and Marsha P Johnson,” Olivares announced. “We need to do everything in our power to fight back.”
The crowd at 3 Dollar Bill (Josh Pacheco)
In the end, the amount raised for the night surpassed $25,000, doubling ticket sales with donations for local organizations and drag performers in Tennessee. Julie announced she will be donating $8,335.92 each to Black Trans Liberation, Trans Formations Project, and the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU.
Stand Up NYC’s next fundraiser event at 3 Dollar Bill will be held during Pride Month in June, which she tells Brooklyn Magazine will be “much larger, with twice as many performers.”
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