Arts & Entertainment
Local queens on Facebook name flap
Site’s new policy a hardship for some
From left, Birdie LaCage, Heidi Glum and BaNaka (Washington Blade photo of LaCage by Blake Bergen; Blade photos of Glum and Ba’Naka by Michael Key)
Despite meeting with drag queens in San Francisco last week, Facebook is still declining to change its policy of requiring people use their real names on the site. The company has been deleting accounts with fake names after investigating user complaints, as many news agencies have reported.
Although having or starting fan pages is a viable alternative, many queens who have long-established profiles under their drag names and fans accustomed to getting performance information that way, the sudden enforcement is a hardship, some say.
Opinions vary among local queens.
“This witch hunt for drag queens is really ridiculous,” says Dustin Michael Schaad, who performs full-time as Ba’Naka, a multiple winner of Blade Best of Gay D.C. awards and a Town headliner. “There are much bigger fish to fry. Why are they not looking into some of the bullying reports they’ve had and targeting those accounts? I don’t get the need to target drag queens specifically.”
Miles DeNiro, also a former Blade winner as Heidi Glum, says the policy has more serious ramifications for others and says it’s not a big deal for drag queens.
“I don’t live full time as Heidi,” he says. “I’ve always done mine with my name, then Heidi in parenthesis. … I’ve been getting work out of state, other places. I actually feel more sorry for my trans people but for a drag queen, it’s preposterous. I have my own fan page and Miles is my Facebook profile so I just tag my fan page and cross promote that way and it’s never been a problem.”
Collin Ranney, who performs locally as Birdie LaCage, has heard that argument but doesn’t buy it.
“My question is why should I have to (create a fan page instead of a profile)?,” he says. “It’s a different type of interaction. If I’m allowed to portray myself the way I want within the real wordl, why can’t in the cyber world. I don’t see Instagram or Twitter or Tumblr or even Grindr for that matter forcing me to do so,” he wrote in an e-mail. “This new policy does not only affect drag queens, it affects DJs, entertainers, some celebrities and anyone else who prefers to keep their personal life and their public life separate.”
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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