[TV static drones]
[bright tone]
[bright music]
- Great news for Oklahoma:
people are moving to the state in record numbers.
♪ ♪
- If you want to see America, you got to see Oklahoma.
♪ ♪
- Southern hospitality is a way of life in Oklahoma.
- We greet each other warmly,
and we say please and thank you.
- Our public schools offer quality education,
and crime rates are moderate.
- You'll find an ideal place to put down roots.
♪ ♪
- This is just a place where you can have
a really great life.
♪ ♪
- Baby, let me tell you. [laughs]
If we were straight.
[dramatic music]
- We are here to judge you by the Word of God.
You're an abomination in his sight.
♪ ♪
- No other state has seen
more anti-LGBT legislation introduced.
The battleground is right here in Oklahoma.
♪ ♪
- Drag performers could become felons
for performing anywhere kids could be around.
- Now, it's been stated by numerous Christians
and conservatives that the LGBT
are coming for your children.
I disagree.
They're already here.
♪ ♪
[Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory"]
- ♪ There ain't a reason you and me ♪
♪ Should be alone tonight, yeah, baby ♪
♪ Tonight, yeah, baby ♪
- Hey. Ooh. - ♪ But I got a reason ♪
♪ That you should take me home tonight ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I'm gonna run back to, to the edge with you ♪
♪ Where we can both fall far in love ♪
- Let's go!
- ♪ I'm on the edge of glory ♪
♪ And I'm hangin' on a moment of truth ♪
♪ Out on the edge of glory ♪
♪ And I'm hangin' on a moment with you ♪
♪ I'm on the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge ♪
♪ The edge, the edge, the edge ♪
♪ I'm on the edge of glory ♪
♪ And I'm hangin' on a moment with you ♪
♪ I'm on the edge with you ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ Put on your shades ♪
♪ 'Cause I'll be dancing in the flames ♪
♪ Tonight, yeah, baby ♪
♪ It isn't hell if everybody knows my name tonight ♪
♪ All right, all right ♪
♪ I'm on the edge of glory ♪
- Come on! Come on! Let's fucking go!
- ♪ Out on the edge of glory ♪
♪ And I'm hangin' on a moment with you ♪
♪ I'm on the edge ♪
- Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
- ♪ The edge, the edge, the edge ♪
♪ I'm on the edge of glory ♪
♪ And I'm hangin' on a moment with you ♪
♪ I'm on the edge with you ♪
[cheers and applause]
[dramatic music]
- Drag is incredibly disarming for people.
They see the beauty
and the smiles and the laughter.
- Did you ever think you'd see drag on the sidewalk like that?
- No! [shouts] - [shouts]
- That's the main message that I want to share with people,
to let that spirit of community
give you the strength
to put yourself on the front lines
and to resist.
- Drag is not a crime!
all: Drag is not a crime!
[cheers and applause]
- ♪ Work and pop ♪
♪ Work and pop ♪
- I haven't skipped in forever.
Ooh, the skirt.
What do you have on under there?
- Nothing. [laughter]
Gays in the wild.
- In Tennessee...
- Well, it's a man and a horse.
- Working with Jaida Essence Hall,
it was a life-changing experience.
And here in Oklahoma...
- Are we early? - Open your store. I'm gay.
- Bringing in more voices,
introducing people to many different types of drag...
- Well, hello, Latrice Royale. - Aw.
- Is essential.
- I'm so excited that Latrice Royale is here.
She is a queen that's not gonna take no for an answer,
not put up with anybody's shit.
When Latrice is around, we know the queen has arrived.
- ♪ Ooh, you like me ♪
♪ Yeah, I know you feel me ♪
- I am Latrice Royale.
My pronouns are bitch, honey bitch, girl.
And don't call me late for dinner.
- ♪ Work and pop ♪ - Hoo!
- ♪ Work and pop ♪
- He waved.
- Latrice is buying us coffee?
Oh, my God, Latrice. - I mean!
- New girl's responsibility.
- Oklahoma is one of the most
conservative states. - Yeah.
- Like, when you drive in, you see all the churches.
- Everywhere. They're beautiful.
- They're so nice. - But...
- There's a church on every single corner.
And that, to me, is telling for how religion
is so infused into day-to-day culture here.
- As the authority that I have as governor,
I claim Oklahoma for the name of Jesus.
- Amen. - "My bill is not anti-anyone.
"It simply helps protect those who have
"strong religious beliefs
with moral opposition to gay marriage."
- It would be nice if there wasn't so many
hard lines drawn in the sand
between religion and queer people.
- Yeah, I came up in the church.
My mother was a minister.
As I started getting into my sexuality,
and once I started realizing that I was being ostracized
and being told that I was doomed to hell,
it changed my perspective,
and I was like, this is not the God that I love.
- Mm.
- It's so wild to me, the, like, hypocrisy of it all,
the close-minded of it all.
- Every single homosexual in our country,
they should be lined up against the wall
and shot in the back of the head.
- That's right! - That's what God teaches.
- Weaponizing religion to fuel hate,
it's really dangerous.
- We're doing a drag show. Would you like to come?
- Drag show.
- Wanted to invite you all out. - Thank you.
- Scrapbooking?
- Damn.
- Oklahoma is an incredibly diverse place,
and it has a troubled history too.
Black Wall Street.
- This is a place where Black entrepreneurs were thriving,
and the whole Greenwood massacre happened here.
- The Greenwood district was burned to the ground
by white supremacists.
- Do you feel like a lot of people remember
what happened in the '20s here?
- There are people that live here
that have no clue because it's been hidden for so long.
- There were so many rich people of color,
and then they just destroyed them all.
- Well, one thing about it, we are resilient.
You can't keep us down, so...
- I mean, they can try, but, you know, we still rebuild.
We still do our thing.
- The Greenwood massacre happened
over a hundred years ago, and...
it's still impacting the community right now.
- The oppression of people for being different
is all over this state.
And it feels like the backlash against trans people,
against queer people is engaging with those themes
all over again.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[glass shatters]
- Vandals hit a Tulsa doughnut shop
after the store hosted an event
involving drag queens.
- You can see the man hang up a letter.
- Investigators say that paper referenced Bible verses
and had anti-gay statements on it.
[siren wailing]
♪ ♪
- The evidence is right below you.
- Oh, my God. - What?
- Yeah, that's where it landed.
- This is unsafe, 'cause this is her business.
- Every little sound scares me and stuff, so--
it was nerve-racking.
- So sad.
It was just a fun event.
- Yeah.
- Who doesn't love drag queens and doughnuts?
- You know, the queens that I had,
they went into hiding for a couple months.
It was really bad.
I've never experienced hate like that in my entire life.
- Y'all are amazing.
- You are surviving and that these doughnuts are real.
- Should we get some doughnuts? - They smell so good.
- Can we get ourselves some delicious doughnuts?
- Yeah, do you want some? There you go.
- These are gonna be good.
- Visibility is everything.
We have to pop up. We have to show up.
We have to be in these places that are being challenged.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
We're gonna be loud and proud.
We're gonna be doing lots of shows.
There's no way we're leaving
without them getting some full drag, honey.
♪ ♪
[upbeat electronic music]
- ♪ Hey, hey ♪
♪ Skrr ♪
[alarm ringing]
- [groans]
[country rock music]
- My name is Kris Sipe,
and I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
I like my hunting stuff, my fishing stuff.
Just a normal guy.
♪ ♪
I have a gay son.
When he came out, I said, I support you, son.
And I made a video about it.
Want y'all to meet my son, Lane.
You know, as a father, I learned a lot of things.
One thing I learned is,
I cannot tell my kid who to love.
If my child is gay, that's OK.
I was just being a dad.
[upbeat percussive music]
- Hey, bitch. Hey, boo. - Hi. Hi.
- I recognize you from TikTok.
- From TikTok? - Yes.
- Oh, my God. - You've come up
on my For You page all the time.
And I saw your dad had viral TikTok.
- Oh, yeah. - Dad hug.
- Oh, my G--oh!
I want a dad hug. - Yes.
- I'll tell you what I do. I give the hug.
- Uh-huh.
- And I say, you been checking your oil?
You got change in your pocket?
- Oh, my God. No, I don't. Empty.
- You're a dad. - I'm a dad.
I have a gay son who's 22 years old.
- When did he come out to you?
- 15. - Wow.
- Well--
- It's amazing you made him comfortable enough to do that.
- I supported my son 100%.
I didn't say nothing to him... - Mm-hmm.
- 'Cause I seen too many stories
of people pushing their kids away.
- Yeah. - And--
[somber music]
- I get it.
Well, hey, we don't got to cry yet.
- No, not yet.
My son was 12, and I knew he was gay.
If he'd have told me he was straight, I'd have said, no.
- You're not doing that. - We're dating men.
- I didn't know any gay people. - Wow.
- I went to a gay bar and tried to find out
about the community.
And I found out that it was fucking just like me.
And every time I'd ask them a question,
they'd, like, tear up, and I was like,
OK, maybe I'm doing something here.
My message about TikToks--
love your children how they are,
and that was my main motivation.
I didn't really know the impact that it was making on people.
Well, they're protesting.
I kind of shook things up a little bit.
[laughs]
Wanting us all to repent.
We give dad hugs.
Got a bunch of followers from that,
and it's like, the path just went right in front of me
and I just walked down the damn thing.
- I love it.
Obsessed with you-- I'm obsessed with you.
- I'm loud, and I'm proud. - Yeah.
- I ain't gay, but I'm proud as hell.
- Yeah. I love that.
So would you ever do drag?
- Yes. - 100%?
- 100%, I'd do it right now.
- Would you be down if we just go inside on the dance floor
and just kind of see what you got a little bit?
Would you be down? - Yeah.
[dance music]
- Whenever I perform, I like to dance.
I like to be very sexy.
Can you do these things?
- I can rip this shit off right now.
- Oh! - OK!
- ♪ Slay, play ♪
- Oh, so horny, so sexual.
- I am so here for this.
- Yes. Yes. - What are you holding?
- What are you holding, a purse?
- I don't know. - Was that a purse?
- I just seen that shit up there, I don't know.
- Oh! - Yes.
It's, like, arms up, like, down your head.
Yes. Work.
- Yes, baby! - Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yeah.
Over the shoulder to the camera.
Make it strong. Beyoncé. Bam.
Yes.
Wow.
[laughter]
Oh, my God, you're amazing.
- Yes, queen.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
[door clicks open]
- Hello. - Hi. Oh, my gosh.
Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- I'm sitting here, having a cocktail.
Would you like one? - Sure.
Let's dive right in. - OK, OK, yeah.
This is my boyfriend, Clifton.
- Nice to meet you. - Clifton, Sasha.
- This is my assistant, Diana. - Hi, I'm Diana.
- Hi, Diana.
Someone here is a painter.
Oh, my God, it's signed with your name.
- Yeah.
- He's a really wonderful artist.
- It's incredible.
- Yeah, I'll prop him up since he won't do it.
I'm his assistant. [laughs]
- I'm a real estate broker.
She is my assistant in real estate.
But also, we were best friends
before she started working for me.
She's definitely part of my chosen family.
I don't have very good parents at all.
I'm very close to my siblings.
Our parents are just not-- yeah.
- Were you able to tell them that you were gay?
- Eventually.
I'm from a town-- a little suburb
in Oklahoma City called Bethany.
- Mm-hmm.
- And it's, like, run by the Nazarene Church,
the whole town is, and so-- - OK.
Which is a pretty conservative church, right?
- Yes, ma'am.
[laughs] Yes.
Yeah, one might say, yeah.
The Nazarene Church really instills in you
that if you are not basically a white heterosexual person
that you are going to burn in hell for all eternity.
I was struggling so hard with admitting to myself
that I was gay,
admitting to anyone else that I was gay.
- Yeah.
I heard the story about the horrible attack
that you experienced a few years ago.
It's heartbreaking.
Do you carry that with you still?
- I did sue those people.
- You sued the people who attacked you?
- Mm-hmm, yeah, and unfortunately,
I have to respond
that it was resolved to both parties'
mutual satisfaction.
- There was four people that brutally attacked him
and were kicking him, broke teeth, broke ribs.
They were yelling homophobic slurs.
He was unconscious.
He had to go to the hospital multiple times
over the next few weeks.
The settlement was nothing that was life-changing at all.
It was a matter of his peace of mind.
He talks to me often about remembering
what it felt like to be punched and beaten
while he lay on the ground.
I feel like he pulled back into himself a lot.
It's just heartbreaking.
- And what was the institutional response
from police or the hospital?
- Misdemeanor, didn't really happen,
not that serious.
- It's a familiar story.
Like, we hear about anti-gay,
anti-trans attacks all the time.
But to really see those photos of his beaten face,
to hear about how he was left unconscious
is really, really tough.
I wonder if there will be a day where
we can feel safe, not afraid.
So what does the prospect of getting into drag
here in Oklahoma mean to you?
- I'm excited and scared.
I'm definitely gonna need a few pep talks
before I'm actually, you know, up onstage.
- I got you. I got you. You're in good hands.
- [groans]
I feel like when my incident happened,
it fractured my life.
There was who I was before, and there's who I am after.
So I'm still dealing with the effects of it.
I'll deal with the effects of it for the rest of my life.
- Once you are focused on the job of drag,
as soon as you're out there, you're like,
I have a story to tell.
And you just focus on that and step out of your nerves,
and it truly is so empowering.
I don't expect a night of drag
to turn everything around for him,
and I have no idea what Christian is gonna make
of his drag alter ego.
But my hope is that our drag show
just can be a space where he can talk about it.
♪ ♪
[singers vocalizing]
♪ ♪
- [ululating]
[plucky music]
Welcome to my home.
[laughs]
My name is
John Waako Hawk Ferris Co-Cke'.
[smooching]
I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and it's home.
It's home.
These are my babies, and I just love them.
Can you say hello?
[smooching] She talks to me a lot.
You know, when you live by yourself,
it's just kind of fun.
[light music]
I am a government member
of the Osages and the Peoria tribes.
I identify as transgender two-spirit.
I identify as he, she, they/them.
I know the male world, and I know the female world.
Getting in touch with my culture and my native way,
it saved me.
It saved me.
It gave me a tool
to be free.
♪ ♪
- O75.
O75.
[indistinct chatter]
I16.
N39.
- Oh, my God.
Hello. - Oh, gracious.
- Bingo! - All right, let's see.
- How are you, beautiful?
Look at you. Oh, my God.
- We need the full introduction.
- My drag name is Splenda Lee Delight.
- You have a drag name already? We just sat down for bingo.
- All right, are y'all ready to see some drag?
[cheers and applause]
Oh, I love the energy.
[plucky music]
- I have to ask you a question.
Are you the glam team?
- Huh? - Are you the glam?
- We're the drag queens.
♪ ♪
I'm a jokester. - Oh, my God.
♪ ♪
- Let me just share with you.
1955, I was born.
I came out in 1976.
I was going to University of Oklahoma.
I have a penis, and I love it.
- I do too. - We've all been there.
[laughter]
- I've never met somebody like John.
[cheers and applause]
John is the most flamboyant, effervescent,
confident, loud person
that I've ever met in my whole life,
so much that they won't stop talking.
- This is Southern. This is moonshine.
No, I'm just kidding.
- I thought I was bad.
- Oh, God.
OK.
- Can you tell us what is going on here and how--
- Oh, gee. - You know, what it's like
to be gay here, a trans person, queer person?
- There's nothing in the rural area for gay people, nothing.
- At all.
- That's what I'm saying, baby.
- I have a question for you. - Go, go, go, go, go, go.
- In the last couple years, I've been trying
to educate myself on queer history
and drag history, and it's been really moving,
learning about how many Indigenous nations
celebrated queer and trans people
and saw us as, it's like a spiritual blessing.
- The tribe culturally, years ago,
embraced the two-spirit.
They loved us.
They wanted us.
Two-spirit nowadays, they're condemning it.
The church has taken over the tribes.
- Wow.
- Our tribes won't even bring us in.
- Really? - The tribes won't.
- I'm honestly shocked
the two-spirit community was celebrated
and now, because of a religion,
it's like they don't exist anymore.
You can't just silence something
that you used to believe in.
- It is this conservative wave that's coming through.
- It started when-- you know what happened,
the orange turd. - Mm-hmm.
- When he won, they called me up here
at the transgender support group.
People were crying.
People were freaking out.
People were--they thought it was the end.
- Yeah.
- They thought they were gonna be killed.
- It's scary. - It's scary as hell!
We've been so splintered, and that's something
I want to happen in our community
is bring people together.
- It's the only way it's gonna work.
- The only way, baby. - It's the only way.
- I can't do it by myself. I tried.
- It's the only way. - But it nearly killed me.
I need people like you, you, you, everybody here.
- John just feels like a special person.
I'm curious about John's life,
and there's a lot to get to know here.
- I can't tell you how fun I am,
and I think we're gonna go out--
- We know how fun you are. - Well--
- I want you to know. - Oh, thanks.
- We know.
You're fascinating.
I love your energy.
You're chaotic.
John could be a really cool drag kid,
and it's gonna be very challenging.
So wish me luck. [chuckles]
- So I got into Julia Child's cookbook.
Oh, you're gonna love this story.
[twangy music]
- Drag has become very political,
and I have a very strong faith.
And I'm at the crossroads of all three.
- Hello.
- Hi. - Hi.
- How are you? I'm Priyanka.
- Charity. - Nice to meet you, Charity.
- I want to sit down with someone who's in politics
who uses their religious beliefs
to fuel or guide them
through their political platform,
and I want to understand why.
♪ ♪
- So we've heard just a little bit
about what you do here in Tulsa.
Can you give us the highlights?
- I'm a Black Republican,
and I am on the party leadership
here in Tulsa County.
So I focus in political consulting,
so I help people run for office.
So I'm usually the brains behind a campaign.
And as a Christian, of course,
I'm always going to advocate that our laws
are based in Christianity.
Here in Tulsa, you guys have come
into a very volatile time period.
One of the things that we have been looking at
is education and this topic of transgender students
and bathrooms and even the pronouns.
- Can I press you for-- yeah, for your thoughts
about the opposition to health care
for young trans people?
- I think where the issue comes in is the sex changes,
going in and claiming to change their gender,
because they're not.
You're not actually changing-- their gender's not changing.
If it's a boy, they're still going to be a male by DNA.
You can't change the DNA.
And I do think that those surgeries like that
should be reserved for an adult,
but I don't think that parents should be making--
choosing to say, I want my little girl to be a boy,
and doing surgeries for that.
- Well, it's never that. I can promise you that.
There are different kinds of hormone blockers,
the kinds that they already prescribe
to many cisgender kids,
that help people not feel suicidal
about their bodies as they go through adolescence.
I mean, the suicide rates among young trans people
are so high because they don't want to live in the body
in the world as they know it.
And this helps them.
- I just don't agree with it.
- People in the party are really--
it's like, all they care about
is taking away rights from trans people
and drag queens, which is, like, why?
- Yeah. - Why do you think?
- There's videos of drag shows.
There are children present.
Private parts are being shown.
They're encouraging sexual type of activity
in front of children.
If there is going to be a drag show,
it should be adult only.
- What makes it adult only?
- Well, I've never been to a drag show, so I don't know.
- This is really-- - We can tell.
- Yeah. [laughs]
- This is really my argument with the whole thing.
It's the people who have never went to a show.
You have no clue what it entails.
It's about celebrating diversity.
It's about owning yourself.
It's about feeling good,
and you carry that over into your day-to-day.
This is exactly what the problem is.
It's these people and lawmakers
that are pushing these bills that are baseless,
and you have no clue what you're talking about.
And exposing ourselves to children?
Do you know how many pairs of tights drag queens wear?
Do you know how many bras and girdles and corsets?
There is nothing to expose but cotton and polyester blend.
- My take on being gay is that it's a choice.
- Really?
No one would choose to be ostracized.
I struggled so much, listening to my pastor
tell me that I was an abomination
and how much hatred that God had
for people like me.
[dramatic music]
When someone lets you know that you're never
gonna be good enough, you kind of just say,
well, what's the point?
That is horrible, because I was that kid.
I was that kid.
And no one could help me.
I couldn't tell anybody.
♪ ♪
I left the church because it didn't make sense to me.
Why would this all-knowing, all-loving God
hate us, just specifically just us?
♪ ♪
And I knew I was a good person,
and I knew I was trying to live my life right.
♪ ♪
- You know, you follow your government.
But of course, there are some caveats to that.
If I don't agree with it,
then it's my choice at that time to say,
I'm going to push to have more people in office
that are going to make laws that I agree with.
- By the same token, like, I don't think we want
to be forced to have less rights
just because that's some people's view.
Because we can't all agree on what religion says
or what morality should be,
there has to be a separation
between our personal spiritual beliefs
and the laws that are put in place
to represent all of us.
- Thank you so much for chatting with us today.
We would love to extend an invitation to you
to come to our drag show.
I feel so uncomfortable in this situation.
I feel scared for the future by talking to this woman
because this is one Republican that's telling us this,
but this is how they all think.
Having that conversation with Charity
is something that, like, I will remember forever
'cause it bothered me so much.
- Thank you so much. - Yes, yes.
- Thank you. - Bye.
- Oh, wow.
[mellow country music]
♪ ♪
- Hi. My name is Carrie.
I'm a documentary producer.
Would it be possible for us to sit down in here
and film a brief conversation?
♪ ♪
- Yes.
- OK.
- We've been having a lot of trouble finding
an area around the town that will let us in.
It's unfortunate, though, that no one's--
- OK.
♪ ♪
- We were scouting out this other little town
called Bartlesville, outside of Tulsa.
We had some potential drag kids
that were interested in doing this,
and one by one, they started dropping out.
And upon further investigation,
we just find out they were scared.
Something's going on, and so...
we definitely got to find out why.
- Bartlesville, everyone.
- This is it. This is it. - Ooh.
Pretty quiet. - Hello.
- Hi there.
- How are you? I'm Priyanka.
- Priyanka, I'm Andy. - Hello.
- After asking around,
we finally get this one journalist
who's willing to talk to us
and give us some tea on Bartlesville.
- Drag shows have really been
a hot-topic issue in Bartlesville.
- Wow. - Yikes.
- Now, when we tried to figure out a place to film,
not a single place would let us film inside
because they thought it would be bad for business.
- We've basically been told that we can't film anywhere.
- Anywhere. - Yeah.
- That's why we're sitting outside on a random-ass bench.
- Picnic table. [laughs] - Yeah.
You got to know that last year's drag performance
caused quite a stir.
- A family-friendly gay Pride event in Bartlesville
got heated at times as protesters tried
to also make their voices heard.
- A crowd gathered behind a barrier
with signs and megaphones, protesting.
- They're exposing these adult subjects
to little children.
- Following the event last September,
a petition began circulating online,
asking the city council to prohibit
adult-oriented activity
from happening in a public area.
[dramatic music]
- The organizers of the event, OKEQ, Oklahomans for Equality,
they felt really blindsided
when the outrage started, for sure.
- Totally. - Mm.
- You know, when I've talked to them, they're very scared.
They're very shell-shocked.
People are very hurt.
- So is there anyone in town
that might be interested in being a drag child?
- You might want to give Randy White a call.
Reach out to him.
- OK. - Tell us about Randy.
- Yeah. - Well--[laughs]
- Who's Randy?
- I only know him by reputation, actually.
- Oh. His reputation.
- He's been outspoken about--
- He's outspoken, and he has a farm.
- OK. - Yeah.
So you get a little taste of Oklahoma, rural Oklahoma.
- And he came up with one name.
Randy is openly gay and is well-liked by the community,
so this could be our in.
♪ ♪
[engine revving]
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- Oh, my God.
- Drag queens are so controversial in Oklahoma.
Maybe it would be more acceptable
if we wore traditionally masculine attire.
But of course, I just can't help but give it
a little drag spin.
♪ ♪
- This is a biker bar that we're at.
There's, like, turf wars typically at these bars.
- Coming in, I was like, oh, Lord, here we go.
- Bud Light.
- Bud Light? - Bud Light.
All right, well, cheers. - Cheers.
- This is the butchest thing I've ever done.
- I really thought that we would look
like three butch guys going into a bar,
but I don't think we were fooling anyone.
- Hi there.
- I'm Sasha. What's your name?
- I am Gimpy. Pleasure to meet you.
- Hello. - And you are?
- I'm Priyanka. - Priyanka.
Gimpy. Pleasure to meet you.
And you, big dog? - Latrice.
- Latrice, are you going fucking hunting or what?
- [laughs] - What's your name?
- Chili Dog. - Chili Dog!
- Chili Dog? - My kind of man.
- Whoo!
- My man.
- We're just trying to get the full lay of the land,
learn all about all the amazing people who live here.
- Oh, you couldn't have picked a better town, man.
This is the coolest town.
- It's super cool.
- I can't help it.
I just ooze coolness.
[laughter]
- It's kind of cool up in here.
I feel like I met my tribe.
- ♪ I like that, I like that ♪
♪ I like--I like that ♪ - ♪ Yeah, you walking home ♪
- ♪ I like that, I like that, I like that ♪
♪ I like--I like that ♪ - ♪ Yeah, you walking home ♪
♪ Yeah, I know you want a big boy ♪
- My son is bisexual... - Wow.
- And he dresses in drag.
- Oh, my God.
- When he dresses in drag, he looks just like me.
- Oh, yeah? - Oh, of course.
- What do you think about seeing drag in these parts?
- It's different for me. - OK.
- I don't have anything against it.
- That's good. - But it's new to me.
- What do you think of our drag today?
- I don't care.
- You mean you don't like it?
- The muscles.
- You like that? - You like the muscles.
[laughter]
What do you think of us?
- Very pretty. - Pretty?
- Pretty. Thank you. - OK.
I was going for, like, butch.
- Rugged. - Man.
Do I look like that?
- Yes. [laughter]
- Look at them muscles. - Whoo!
- Yeah. See?
I was gonna say, do you dance?
- I should.
- I have some very good friends of mine that are gay.
- Oh. - I have no problem with that.
- Wow. - I have been to gay bars.
I have no problem with that.
- I bet they love you in the gay bar.
- They love you in the gay bar, Bill.
- He's very handsome. - They love you.
- This is definitely a "don't judge a book
by its cover" moment for me.
We couldn't even find anywhere to sit in drag in Bartlesville.
But here are these bikers... [laughs]
Who are accepting.
- We're at the town pub. Cheers.
- We're gonna drink at the town pub.
- Cheers to the town pub, everybody.
- They put on drag too.
Their thing is leather and jeans.
My thing is dresses and rhinestones.
I mean, you know, whatever your gig is.
- Whoo!
- I'm not that much of a man.
Ooh, mm-mm.
[light music]
♪ ♪
[cow moos]
- There's so many things about Bartlesville that I love.
We're out in the country, small-town atmosphere.
But it's, you know, 30,000 people.
♪ ♪
I can't go grocery shopping
without running into ten people.
♪ ♪
You need a bath, stinky boy.
[horse chuffs] You need a bath.
[cow moos]
Kevin and I have been together since 1998,
and we've been married since 2011.
Do you want me to take the milk in?
- Yeah, if you want to help milk.
- OK.
He's just one of the best people I've ever met.
[cow moos]
♪ ♪
- Grab Izzy.
- In this area, politically,
it tends to lead more conservative.
Being a gay male living here, I've always just tried to say,
hey, you know me.
Kevin and I, we work.
We make food. We grocery shop.
We watch TV at night.
We do the same thing everybody else does.
[laughter] - Good night.
- My life is just like anybody else's life.
You don't have a problem with me.
Why do you have a problem with the LGBTQ community?
♪ ♪
- Things in Bartlesville are so intense.
To even meet Randy with his husband,
we got to go over to Dewey.
We got to hit it over to the next town.
- Welcome to Dewey. - We're here.
- We have just crossed Bartlesville to Dewey.
And the people in Bartlesville are like,
I don't want to drive all the way to Dewey.
- All the way? - I know.
- So you said that there are drag shows here in Dewey.
- Yep.
- So literally, that was three minutes--
- Why the difference? - Yeah.
- 'Cause they don't care.
It's like, you drive in your lane.
I'll drive in my lane.
- They have this live-and-let-live philosophy
that they're living by.
It ain't none of my business.
[mimics explosion]
Mind blown.
- And this is my favorite place...
- Yeah? - The Scissortail Brewery.
- Well, hey, Kevin. - Hey there.
I went ahead and ordered some beer for y'all.
- Oh, you already getting started.
- I already got started. - OK, well, good for you.
- Here you go.
- Ooh. - Thank you.
- I guess it's not butch to ask for a straw, huh?
[laughter]
Such a lady.
Well, can we talk about Bartlesville?
'Cause there's a feeling of, people know who you are.
- Yeah. - Oh, yeah.
- My family's been here a long time,
and I live my life, you know.
We don't go buy gay groceries.
We just go to the grocery store, you know.
- Yeah. - They know him.
They know me. It's just us.
I mean, Bartlesville's, like, closed-minded in some ways.
- There was a time when drag shows and people
of the LGBTQ community were not an issue
because it was never talked about.
For some of them, I think they're having to be confronted
with it for the first time... - Mm-hmm.
- And they don't quite know how to handle it,
so they just kind of slink back in the shadows
and just let the loud people...
- Be loud.
- Be loud and do what they do.
♪ ♪
- Being from a small town and being from the hood
are not entirely separate.
The closed-minded mentality is still the same.
The bigotry is still the same.
I'm originally from Compton, California.
We have thugs, doing drugs.
We're in the military.
And there was no place
for a little queer kid like me.
And that's why I left where I left,
but not everybody can do that.
My question to you is, like,
would you ever consider, like, doing drag?
- Since I was young, I always wanted to be
not necessarily an activist.
But doing drag, for me, it would be
a great platform to be able to show people
that, hey, I got a beard.
I got a farm.
If I can do it, anybody can do it.
- Now, more than ever, just the fact
that you are stepping into this...
- Yeah. - Is a political statement.
And I think we can do something real special and real powerful
and wake these people up.
The hope and dream is to have a show in Bartlesville.
Randy, I don't think that he has grasped
the importance of what he's doing.
You are leading the charge in your community.
Kevin, what do you think about this?
- It's gonna take a lot of spackling.
- [laughs] We got that.
- Did anybody bring divorce papers?
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- I like you. You're sassy.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- My queen, I've come to the castle.
Shall we go see the house? - Oh, girl.
- Yes. - Let me get you a beverage.
- OK, great.
- Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
- [laughs]
It's a bordello.
Doesn't it look like one?
Look at the couch.
So I have to show you--
- I cannot believe this house. - I have to show you--
do you know who that is? - No.
- Oh, honey, you've never seen him before?
- That is--
- That is John Holmes, the famous porn star
who died of HIV complications.
- OK. - I'm in the prevention field.
- OK.
- I worked with HIV and hep C for years.
- OK.
- And he's a great conversation when I have dinner--
little small dinner parties.
- I love that although, like, your home is quite chaotic,
it's almost, like, just, like, homage
to people in our community.
- It's an homage to so many people in our community.
- That's really interesting.
- And plus, it represents my personality.
- Right.
♪ ♪
- You have to--you have to see the bedroom.
- Look at that vanity. Oh, my God.
- [laughs]
- This is beautiful. Look at this doll.
- Sit down. Sit down.
There I am in the skirt.
- [chuckles]
- I was four there.
- You were wearing a skirt at four years old?
- Four years old.
I knew who I was, and they thought it was cute.
- OK, 'cause you're younger.
- I'm younger, and my grandmother would say,
let him alone.
My grandmother ruled me.
She knew who I was.
But then she got feeble,
and they started shaming me out of it.
- Shit.
- And I gave it up, and I hated it.
- Right, you're miserable.
- I hated drag queens and feminine people
when I first came out. - Wow, me too.
- So until I learned to love myself...
- Right.
- I started to learn to love the female side.
♪ ♪
- I feel like I relate to you in a lot of ways,
hearing how femininity made you feel growing up
and how you kind of had a hate towards it.
Like, I felt the exact same way, like, not--
like, as simple as, like, not wearing pink.
And then, like-- - Oh. And you love pink.
- I love pink.
- I had a drag time.
And then we went to the bar in drag,
and then we were just ridiculed.
Gay guys at that time in the '80s,
they weren't real drag supportive...
- Mm-mm. - At all.
- No. - So you were a freak.
They looked at you like you were some kind of freak.
But the neat thing about my culture,
two-spirited culture, is, you don't have to choose.
- That's amazing. - We can be.
- You can just be whatever you want to be.
- That's what it's all about.
- I guess, like, here in Oklahoma
and you being two-spirit,
is there a two-spirit community?
- Oh, yeah.
They're having a two-spirited meeting,
and I don't know how many people are gonna be there.
- OK.
- I quit going because I needed a break.
- OK. - I started the group.
- Oh, wow.
- I love them, and I love what they're doing.
But it brings some--
it brings some memories back that really kind of hurt.
- Yeah.
- 'Cause I used to do this for Creek Nation,
and they ran me off.
I'm passionate about educating,
so I created programs through Creek Nation
that were helping my people.
We had HIV prevention programs.
I was down in the schools.
I was teaching seventh and eighth graders
how to take care of each other.
It was called The Courage to Care,
and it was a curriculum that I learned
and became a leader with.
But as soon as I brought up LGBT two-spirited people,
they shut it down
because the church also controls Creek Nation.
They're influenced by the right-wing
mega-Christian fanatics.
And so they stopped me from doing it
and started treating me terribly.
I couldn't come out.
They said, do not mention who you are.
Oh, God, they followed me.
They wrote me up.
They garnished my checks.
How that really fucks with you...
- It does.
- Knowing that they're gonna witch hunt you.
And it just was too much, and I had to retire.
I had to get away from that for a while.
And I'm still healing.
- In talking to John, it's becoming even clearer
that Christianity has really affected
the Indigenous community.
Tribes that are supposed to be inclusive
are finding ways to push their own people out.
I feel like this is, like, your calling.
Like, when you think of your life mission and purpose...
- Yeah. - What is it?
- Helping our people learn,
passing my talents down... - Uh-huh.
- Teaching the young ones what gifts I have.
- Yeah. - That's our culture.
- Yeah.
- That's what we're supposed to do.
But I'm not ready, because I'll start giving
and giving and giving,
and then I'll feel depleted.
- Right. - Mama needs a nap.
- When you sift through all the chaos,
you start to see the real John come out.
She really cares about people,
and she cares about the wellness of people.
And it's exciting because there's a person
that wants to be healed
and a person that wants to get back
to what they think that their purpose is.
Let me get out of your house. - Can I have a hug?
- Of course. - Thank you so--
- You're the best. You are the best.
I love your energy. - Oh!
You are welcome anytime. - Yes.
- And then we can have a chocolate martini seance.
- Aha!
Love a chocolate martini seance, never had one.
- I had a chocolate-- oh, you haven't tasted--
- I would do it.
[light music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs] So, OK, this whole drag thing--
- Yeah.
- Someone who has never done a drag performance before,
what are, like, the top three things you would tell them
so they don't make a total fool of themselves?
- First of all, don't be afraid of making a fool of yourself,
because that's the greatest joy of being onstage.
And kind of the best part of drag
is watching someone just be free like that.
- [sighs]
♪ ♪
In Oklahoma, 95% of the time,
I'm able to live my life as myself.
But growing up in the Nazarene Church,
I suppressed a lot.
[dramatic music]
- There are destructive individuals who press
a very militant LGBTQ agenda.
- Homosexuals, they just need to get saved,
and it will take care of everything.
- You must repent.
♪ ♪
- We are here at the Bethany First Church...
- Oh, this is...
- Of the Nazarene. - Your childhood church?
- Yes. I hate it.
I see these big pointed windows,
and I get, like, a...
- Of course. - Like, trauma response.
♪ ♪
I would sob myself to sleep
because they had taught me
that if you have a homosexual experience,
you are an absolute abomination in God's eyes
and you are going to live eternity burning in hell.
That church messed with me in the head
more than I think they will ever know, ever.
- It's heartbreaking to think about being a little child
and hearing that you will be damned forever if you are gay.
And I feel like that--
that is a kind of trauma and abuse.
- My dad is also a devoted Nazarene.
One time when I was a young kid,
and we were at some chain restaurant, having dinner,
and I look over at this gay couple
who is just laughing and enjoying each other's company
and having martinis. - [laughs]
- I didn't really know what I was feeling,
but I knew it was just, like, a happy feeling, you know?
And when I looked back over at my dad, he goes,
look at those two fucking faggots over there.
♪ ♪
- There's no excuse for that.
♪ ♪
- I've always had such a horrible relationship
with my dad because I think, you know,
deep down, he's always known that I was gay.
One night when my little siblings were over,
the movie "Hot Chick" was on.
And my dad comes in the room, and he sees
the male character in the pink crop top.
And he lunges over to my bed, and he says,
don't you ever expose my kids
to that faggot shit ever again.
That was the moment when I knew my dad
will never accept me for being gay, ever.
♪ ♪
- It's--it's amazing that you are the strong,
clearheaded person that I see in front of me right now.
- Thank you.
- You come from being treated like that
to be this incredible person?
That's fucking incredible.
[upbeat country music]
- It's fishing day.
- I'm excited for this.
- How long does a fish take to catch?
Don't they just come immediately?
- No. - No?
- We may sit here an hour and not catch nothing.
- An hour?
- Fishing's fun. - Fishing's fun.
- I can sit here all day and fish.
- OK, here we go.
You can do it.
Oh, my God.
[grunting]
Holy shit.
Are we manifesting a catch?
- Yup. - Should we hold hands?
- We can.
- OK.
Dear Arkansas River--
- You want to hear my catfish call?
- Catfish-- what's a catfish call?
- Cat! - What?
- Cat! - Cat!
- Catfish! - Catfish!
- Pachoo! - Kachoo!
- Hold your pose, boys. Here they come.
- Did it work?
- It never works. - Oh.
So why'd you make me do it?
- I don't know, 'cause I think it's funny.
- [laughs]
So you come here alone all the time?
- Mm-hmm. I'll be here for hours.
- You'll just sit here all day?
- Mm-hmm.
Sit here, go live on TikTok, and just talk to people.
Another threat. [chuckles]
I get threats all the time.
- What do they say?
- Giving the finger doesn't stop that flag
or possibly your house burning down.
- Jesus.
- Bring it, motherfucker.
- So when people are saying these things to you online,
doesn't it eat away at you?
- Not gonna do anything.
Just mouthing off.
- But I mean, there's also, though--
like, there is the yous that are, like, protecting us.
- Mm-hmm. - But then there's, like,
people like me who walk around the streets of Oklahoma
and don't feel that safe.
So is the threat our rights being taken away here,
or is the threat actual violence here, or is it both?
- Both.
I can see actual violence happening,
and there'll be other people that won't stop them.
And that's why I'm trying to get ahold of the people
that are quiet and say,
speak up, man. - Right.
- Say something. - Right.
- Let them know they're outnumbered.
- Right. - They don't know it.
They're the loudest right now. - Uh-huh.
- The LGBTQ community, they're up against hate.
So I am trying to be the loudest now.
I'm your everyday dude.
I have my beard, my gut, my size.
I can talk to anybody.
If I'm standing there, they're not gonna
run their mouth as much as they would
if I'm not standing there.
- Right. - Let's be the fucking loudest.
I want a whole freaking army of people like me.
- Yeah, same.
Same.
How do you feel about potentially putting a wig on?
- I love drag.
I love it.
I don't like to intrude, but I just--
I love to be part of it.
What does dressing up as drag make you feel like?
Is it an extension of who you wanted to be,
or is it a character, or is it part of you?
- It's like, it's part of me.
At first, I was unclear of, like, what it was.
The more and more I kept doing it,
it became more of an extension of me
and ended up being the person I wish I was as a kid.
Like, all the things that I did in my bedroom as a kid--
like, you lock the door, you turn on some pop songs,
and you, like, dance around and turn on the fan
and, like, put a towel over your head 'cause, like,
you want to have long hair 'cause, like, beauty.
- Mm-hmm.
- This is what doing drag is for me, for sure.
It's like, it became an escape of, like, the realities
of not knowing who I am,
and then it became, like, who I am.
It's amazing.
- When it comes to drag,
I think I could learn from the experiences
they've been through,
the things they've struggled with,
because people see me talk.
This is gonna walk the walk.
I think I could do this,
but I've always thought I could be a male stripper too,
so I don't know.
[laughs]
- Oh! - Oh.
What's happening?
[upbeat banjo music]
Oh, my God.
Are we catching a fish?
[screams] - You want to reel it in?
- Yes. What am I doing? What am I doing?
- You're gonna reel it with your left hand.
- [grunts] Come to Mother.
[grunts]
Is it coming? - Yup.
- What kind of fish do you think is it?
- It's a catfish.
- Come on.
It's gonna come right behind you.
Yes!
- Get it up here. - Come to Mama!
- Get it up here. - [grunts]
Oh, my God.
It's so heavy.
[grunting] - [laughs]
Look at you.
- Yay!
Oh, my God.
Holy shit, that's a big fish.
- You want to hold it? - No. Yes.
No. Yes.
I'm so country. - [chuckles]
- I don't like it! I don't like it!
Oh, my God.
♪ ♪
We're iconic.
That's drag magic right there.
[somber music]
"Drag show puts Bartlesville business owner in crossfire."
♪ ♪
"Culture war, trying to solve an argument
over drag shows in public spaces."
- The more we find out about Bartlesville,
the more we realize the struggle is real
and has been very real for them over these last couple years.
- So this last year at Pride in Bartlesville,
protesters held signs saying,
"That rainbow flag is a symbol of your hatred of God."
- Oh, my God. - Really?
- Oh, my God, that's heartbreaking.
- Meeting Randy has actually given me
a little glimmer of hope,
like there's a possibility of some change
that can happen.
My wish is that people are willing
to have a conversation for real.
But we got an email from OK Equality.
- "I'm writing on behalf of Oklahomans for Equality
"Bartlesville, the only organization in our community
"focused on human rights and equality
"for LGBTQIA+ individuals.
"We wish to express our concerns
"regarding the potential filming
"of one or more episodes of HBO's 'We're Here'
"in our community.
"Over the past year, tensions in our community
"have heightened in response to our 2022
"Pride celebration, which included drag performances.
"We are very concerned that the presence
"of a television crew and the production activities
"associated with the show will exacerbate these divisions
"and serve as the flashpoint that may inevitably erupt
"in increased threats, harassment, and violence
in our community."
- "We kindly request that you reconsider
"your decision to film 'We're Here'
in Bartlesville at this time."
- Whoa.
- It's like, what? What do you mean?
I thought we're all in this together.
- This is the people who are supposed to be
fighting and helping visibility
and a safe place for the community.
And you're scared.
- Yeah, there's so much fear. - You're scared.
- There's so much fear.
♪ ♪
- They can't speak for everyone in the community.
Even though they are an organization and they--
they are doing good work,
there are people in that town who probably do want
their stories out there. - Yeah.
- And just like the church can't speak for all people,
neither can a Pride organization.
- Correct. - Yeah.
I think a lot of queer people forget that being queer period
is always a fight every single day.
- It pissed me off.
You are supposed to be the torch that ignites
the fire in this community, and you are saying...
[mimics embers sizzling]
We need some water.
♪ ♪
No letter's gonna stop us from trying to do a show.
♪ ♪
[upbeat music]
- There's stars next to my favorites.
- Thank you for your input.
♪ ♪
- Make it dramatic.
I'm a drag queen, God damn it.
- Whoo!
- That's gorgeous!
- This is your moment!
- [ululating]
- Oh, my goodness.
[cheers and applause]
- We show up, and we show out.
What if we had a drag show in the church?
- Oh, wow. Yes.
- We put out a full-page ad.
- "Three properly placed bullets
would put a quick stop to this pedo porn BS."
- Good morning. Please be seated.
- Hearing the priest took me to a place
that I wasn't prepared for.
- I woke up in a puddle of blood.
- God!
How can you feel safe ever?
- So do all of you feel safe?
- I'm terrified.
- We have homo demons.
- This is a wake-up call.
We are worried for our safety.
Here we go.
[bright tone]