It is a known fact that a lady do carry an evening bag at dinnertime — a known fact that is well known among the ladyboys of OutServe-SLDN, the U.S. Military’s premier network of LGBT actively-serving military personnel.
On Saturday, a half dozen troops of the OutServe-SLDN Okinawa chapter achieved a historic ‘first’ by performing in what may well be the first official drag show hosted on a military base, though organizers of the event “agreed to avoid the term ‘drag show.'”
Stars and Strips reports both drag queens and kings performed in the variety show at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, which was a fundraiser for the recently-formed Okinawa chapter of OutServe-SLDN.
Navy Lt. Marissa Greene co-chapter leader of OutServe Okinawa was surprised by the event’s raging success — organizers had initially hoped to sell around 75 tickets but quickly “ended up selling 400 tickets in 10 days,” an achievement that packed the venue to capacity for hours of pure OPULENCE. O-P-U-L-E-N-C-E.
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According to the video below, some queens made their drag debut for the event. Participants also note the importance of such an event, one that would have called for a dishonorable discharge a decade ago.
Can anyone tell us where one gets a proper lace front in Okinawa?
UPDATE: Queerty reader grampastu has alerted us to the awesome vintage clip below, showing WWII soldiers of Fort Slocum in a drag revue of “Swing Fever” in 1942. According to Bookworm Room, it wasn’t all that uncommon for WWII soldiers to dress in drag for the theater — early performances of South Pacific featured military men in female roles.
None were half as fierce as the queens above, though. All tea all shade.
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grampastu
Military-sanctioned drag was all over the place in WWII, on both sides of the European conflict. Here’s just one example, video of a film from 1942: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/ww2-us-soldier-drag-show/
JennyFromdabloc
LOVE the Paris is Burning references. Not sure how I feel about American servicemen in drag. That seems way beyond the pale of soldiers serving openly.
gauty
Aww this is fantastic!! They all look great, especially that first guy they interview, she’s gorgeous! But it seems like some right-wing bigots found their way to the video because it has more dislikes than likes 🙁
christineisalesbian
@gauty: seriously. I was very annoyed about that