The audience at the family-friendly drag show held in the Gerald C. Wilson auditorium was small but supportive, as they watched seven performers dance and lip-sync to pop music and showtunes.
Kodiak celebrated Pride Month with a week of events recognizing the LGBTQ+ community – including three drag shows. It’s the third year in a row Kodiak has hosted them as part of its Pride Month celebrations.
Several of this year’s performers were flown in from Anchorage and the Lower 48. That included Sonova, who came to the island from Texas, but grew up on the archipelago.
“I’m proud that my community has been able to grow to love, to support, and have somewhere that people can actually grow up and feel safe and feel like they can be themselves and seeing that now is – it’s remarkable,” she said.
Pride is celebrated nationwide each June to remember the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969. Since then, the riots have sparked a new wave of support for LGBTQ+ groups across the country.
Now, celebrations like drag shows are held in even some of the most rural places in Alaska. In Kodiak, performers wore makeup, wigs, fake beards, and colorful clothing.
Sonova said she started doing drag about a decade ago when she moved off-island, but it’s since become a huge part of her identity. She now openly identifies as trans, and discovered the persona she took on for shows was who she wanted to become.
“I’m legally getting my name changed to Sonova,” she said. “So those bigger than life characters can give you the strength that you need to actually see that that’s what you want to do.”
The show’s MC, Hank Van Dickerson, is a drag king from Anchorage. He said when he started, Pride celebrations used to only be in the city.
“I’ve been doing drag for over 10 years – I never would have thought I’d be going to Kodiak for Pride,” he said. “I’ve been to Valdez for Pride, I’ve been to Skagway for Pride, Ketchikan asked me to come.”
He said he wants to travel even more as support for the LGBTQ+ community continues to grow.
“I think it’s very cute and amazing how Alaska has grown just as a whole state,” he said. “And seeing that everybody in their own community starts something and it just grows bigger and bigger and more accepting and I love that.”
Drag shows can be controversial though.
A bomb threat was called in ahead of a drag story time for kids in Seward on June 8.
It turned out to be a hoax, but Golden Delicious, one of the performers at the Kodiak show, was in Seward when it happened. She said the storytime was moved to the Alaska Sea Life Center just in case.
“Even through that threat – even through that violence directly towards them as performers – they still went and performed,” she said.
The family-friendly show in Kodiak over the weekend went off without a hitch though.
Another performer, Indigo Maddix, said family friendly shows are about helping kids build confidence in themselves – whether or not they identify with the LGBTQ+ community later.
“The mission is to show that little person that you’re able to be whoever you want to be in this world,” she said. “Shine your light and do what you need to do.”
But the family-friendly show was just the first one of the day. Attendees said the adult show in Bernie’s Bar downtown on Saturday night was packed.
Sonova said she didn’t have any Pride representation growing up and loves being able to perform in her hometown.
“It’s overwhelming – it’s humbling,” Sonova said. “And I’m proud that one small thing can blossom and change.”
The local nonprofit Kodiak Pride will host a rainbow run and walk with prizes at the Kodiak High School parking lot June 29. Pride Month ends on June 30.
