Drag is relevant to politics because of what queens and kings have represented historically, and for what these communities do for activism in social movements.
From the creation of the drag theatre role, the identity of drag as a gender and sexuality category had implications for broader social elements. In an examination of the role for ancient Greek plays, Case (1985) states that “art is not distinct from politics”. This idea can be supported by a claim that drag is an art form and represents political rebellion among other purposes. “The classical acting practice [of men in drag and women banned from the stage] reveals the construction of the fictional gender created by the patriarchy” (Case, 1985) This is why men playing women (drag queens) serves to disrupt gender and sexuality as essential and lays bare the obvious construction of identity categories. The practice served to silence women according to Case (1985), which furthered the ideals of “Woman” which patriarchy values.
Drag in Greek theatre also supported the political creation of gender through “feminine” coded visual and performance elements, which are historically linked to the social gender standards of “civic privileges and restrictions,” emphasizing the barriers of “actual women” to economic status and legal privileges (Case, 1985). These historic realities for representation of women on stage have been sustained as the reality for women throughout time. The emphasized characteristics of women which were marked as desired, correct, and legally regulatory, continue to affect the standards for all groups of women on and off the stage in modernity. Case (1985) writes that women are not intended to relate to the “Women” of classical theatre roles because this new gender category is socially, politically, economically, and legally “Other” than men (and actual women) because “these roles should be played by men as fantasies of “Woman”. This means that although the standards of men in drag as women were intended to translate equally as the standards for real women, the standards are unattainable because drag represents “correct womanhood (Case, 1985).
Drag queens have been essential to modern LGBTQ movements. BenDeLeCreme (Ben Putnam) said in an NBC interview article "“Drag queens have always been community leaders, rebels and rabble-rousers" (Ramsey, 2019). Another article begins with the undeniable statement "drag and activism have always gone hand in hand," which truly does stretch back through time. Queens of the Civil Rights Movement and Gay Liberation Movement were more variant in gender and sexuality than today - as heard in the videos below, many drag queens were trans* individuals. Two well-known and well-heard trans* activists who fought for LGBTQ community rights were Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, both of whom have left legacies of liberatory activism. With the increasing popularity of drag shows, especially the TV series RuPaul's Drag Race, today's drag queens are making waves in society, even finding their way into children's lives, such as one drag troupe's mentor program with an elementary school (Wafai, 2019).