Drag Out the Vote

Sashaying to the Polls with Drag Out The Vote

by Jacqueline DiMera

Conceived in 2017, Drag Out The Vote was born out of one woman’s determination to get the LGBTQ+ and allied communities engaged in voting. After realizing 100 million people did not vote in 2016, including many in the LGBTQ+ community, Founder & Executive Director Jackie Huba set out to find a solution.

Drag Out The Vote is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that works with drag performers to promote participation in democracy. They educate and register voters at drag events online and offline, by organizing local and national voter activations. Led by fierce drag kings and queens across the nation, they advocate for increased voter access and engagement in 2020 and beyond.

Jacqueline DiMera

A few months ago, Drag Out The Vote launched their national Drag Ambassador program. Why Drag Ambassadors? Since its earliest inception, drag has blended art and activism. On stage and online, drag performers command attention, speak their minds, and make a statement with every move. Drag queens and trans women of color gave us the Stonewall uprising in 1969. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence organized and educated the queer community during the HIV/ AIDS crisis of the 80s. Drag artists not only headline Pride main stages, but also challenge our perceptions of gender and speak their minds every day. This national, first-of-its-kind program will be used to assemble Drag Ambassadors across America to drag out the vote in November.

One in five LGBTQ+ people are not registered to vote, and youth turnout continues to be a challenge, election cycle after election cycle. The power of these two groups has the potential to change the future of our country – for trans rights, queer workplace protections, access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, for access to genderaffirming healthcare, and more. These issues, and so many others, matter to the audiences of drag performers, be they television stars or local nightclub legends.

As one of the first Drag Out The Vote Drag Ambassadors and the first to represent Rhode Island, I could not be more excited to be working with the incredible team at Drag Out The Vote. They are a small, but extremely mighty and determined band of individuals who have been working day and night for the past several months. Shout-outs go out to Executive Director Huba and her Five Senses Reeling (the agency of record) team, stationed across America. This team provides the tools and resources to harness love of politics and individual brands of drag to make a difference in this election. Together, we are determined to ensure that the voices of all LGBTQ+ individuals across the United States are amplified from coast to coast this election season.

This August, a partnership was formed among Drag Out The Vote, Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, and yours truly to make Rhode Island the second state (after California) to endorse the mission of Drag Out the Vote. This partnership will include public awareness campaigns conducted through traditional and social media and will provide Rhode Islanders with vital information on how to register to vote, ways to cast a ballot and important election deadlines.

The national Drag Ambassador program is now over 300 drag artists strong and is led by three national cochairs, who set the blueprint for this program via their personal activism. They include Brita Filter of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12, Jaremi Carey (also known as Phi Phi O’Hara) of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 4 and All-Stars 2, and Marti G. Cummings, prominent drag performer, activist, and passionate organizer in NYC.

To register to vote, check your voter registration, make a donation, or learn more about Drag Out The Vote, please visit their Facebook page (Drag Out The Vote) or their website at https://www.dragoutthevote2020. org/.

Election day may be November 3, but why delay!? Request your mail ballot from your Secretary of State as soon as possible, or sashay your way to the polls for early voting in Rhode Island from October 14 through November 2, and October 17-30 in Massachusetts.