Ashley Davenport Samore is this week’s Dragaholic Drag Queen of the Week! Find out how drag helped her through depression, how her family has handled her being a drag queen and much more!
“There’s this illusion that homosexuals have sex and heterosexuals fall in love. That’s completely untrue. Everybody wants to be loved.”
This quote defines the way I live my life 100%! Everyday I wake up and thank God for giving me the opportunity to live the life I have lived for the past year!
Growing up I knew that I was gay, and when I first set my eyes on a female impersonator I knew immediately that it was what I wanted to do! I started doing drag at Splash Bar Florida on Wednesday nights for ammature night. From then on I continued performing and was asked to come perform on Saturdays. I began performing every weekend and ended up where I am right now on cast. Additionally, I’m on cast at the District Ultra Lounge in Dothan, AL and I’ve also been a cast member of Nightown Destin, which is one of the hottest spring break clubs in the US!
I’m a very versatile queen: I’m a comedy queen, I can pull of a fierce Beyonce number, and I can death drop and do the splits like Laganja! Plus, I have a history of cheerleading and was a professional allstar cheerleader for 4 years. Cheerleading was one of the most entertaining and passionate things I have ever done in my life. Hearing the music blaring, the crowd, the horns! It was all so amazing! I think that’s why I love hearing the crowd when performing in drag.
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I have grown as a person and entertainer over this past year because of one thing: my nana who passed away at the beginning of my drag career. Her passing was the most devastating event in my life and it killed me. I went through a stage of depression and thought I couldn’t live life without her, but drag helped me though it. Later, I auditioned for the Austin International Drag Festival and made it through the first round of auditions! As a newcomer, I take so much pride in my work and love drag with all my heart! I was taught very well by my drag mom, Raven Samore Holiday!
For my birthday celebration at Splash Bar Florida, I was performing and ended up breaking my foot during the show. I couldn’t perform for 6 weeks and had to wear a boot for 6 months. I was in excruciating pain but, when I was able to, I performed with my boot on! Some people tipped me in it, while others laughed, but drag is what I love doing.
My family has come around to accepting me being a drag queen and they have really gained a passion for watching me grow as an entertainer. My mom loves seeing all of my looks and my dad actually agreed to come to one of my shows in Pensacola at Emerald City. I won’t let my mom come yet because I’m a little vulgar on the mic.
Most people don’t know exactly what it’s like to live as a drag queen, and it’s more difficult than you might think. The makeup, the wigs, the costumes, the love life. Its VERY DIFFICULT! I have only found one guy who can handle me being a drag queen. It really sucks sometimes because being a drag queen does not define me as a person, it’s just a form of art. I guess I can understand where guys come from saying that they want to date a man, but the funny thing is, when the makeup comes off and the boy comes out, guys get hungry for Ashley. It’s funny how that works! I 
respect a guy’s decisions to not date me, but at the same time it’s hard to cope with.
Drag can be a difficult thing to deal with, but I’ve learned from my family not to put up with three things: foolishness, fukery and faggotry. The gay community has such a diverse belief in who should do what and act like what, but none of that matters! I don’t look at someone differently by their skin color, sexual orientation, religious bliefs of HIV status – I love everyone for who they really are. People need to open their eyes and realize that this is our community; we need to come together and work together to fight for freedom! Let’s fight together so that one day we can all get legally married to the person of our dreams!
XOXO,
Ashley Davenport Samore
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sharon husbands
lovely article, fabulous artist