The disco ball was spinning at the Hopland Tap on Saturday night as drag queens sparkled and strutted. They were capping off the second annual Mendo Pride in Hopland, and the bar was packed with locals as well as visitors from around the state.
Terracotta Clay is a drag queen from Willits. She was the only performer last year, but this time around, she got to snap her fan at some colleagues. She described her reddish-brown neutral colors as, “really gorgeous, like the Terracotta Army, like pottery.” She uses her drag to “morph myself into this entity that I see in myself, like a sculpture. I want to be like a masterpiece.” Under a sheer black negligee, she wore a bodysuit covered with pictures of brightly manicured hands. “I want to be the star of the show,” she declared. “I want to shine brighter.”
Manny Santos, also known as Mr. SF Bear 2024, came up from the Bay Area to MC the event, which he did with the requisite lightly lewd wit and live singing. He’s also something of an educational ambassador for gay culture. “You have your classifications,” he said, listing the categories of twinks, otters, and daddies. “And one of the categories is bears,” he explained. “Something that I think is very interesting about the bear community is that they’re very cuddly and nurturing. They tend to be very accepting of just about everybody. Most people will find that at any events that are geared towards bears, anybody’s pretty much welcome. And that is why I really felt like running for Mr. Bear was something that I could definitely support. Because I’m like that. I have that need to just include everybody.”
Santos reigned with Vicki Sparkletits as the Duke and Duchess of the Alameda and Contra Costa County Grand Ducal Council, raising money for various charities during the pandemic. Sparkletits is seven years’ sober, and got her start in drag at Mascara, a sober drag group in San Francisco, which is sponsored by the Castro Country Club.
And, with drag enjoying a cultural moment, Sparkletits is ready to meet a voracious new demand for big glittery gowns. A recent fashion school graduate, she was premiering her final project, a ball gown inspired by the Bear flag, in brown, yellow, gold and orange. “I’m a bigger girl,” she noted; “and you can’t find ready-to-wear costumes. You have to alter them or have somebody make them special.” Instead of paying “an arm and a leg” for custom-made costumes, she decided to be the one making the gowns for other drag queens and “just about anybody.”
The Duke and Duchess emeritus ran through a dizzying array of numbers, including a duet of the scene from the animated film Beauty and the Beast, where Gaston proposes to Belle. (That’s not the one where Santos wore a T-shirt that read, “I made your dad a bottom,” or the one where he vamped in a huge green silk bathrobe.)
The surprise number of the night was Katalina St. James, a trans woman from Merced who just happened to stop by in a tight red dress with matching lipstick and platinum blond hair. By the time she got to her second number, screaming fans were practically begging her to take their money.
She had traveled to Ukiah for a conference on HIV in rural communities. She and her companion were looking around for something fun to do afterwards, “and we saw this, and we were like, let’s go do it. As soon as we walked in, they go, do you perform? And I said yes! Let’s go for it.”
While St. James may have been ready for an impromptu performance on a Saturday night, she does not in fact walk around at all times ready to take the stage. “Don’t ask me to perform at 6:00 in the morning,” she commanded. “I barely have eyebrows on.” Growing up trans in a small town, she recalled, “I was always an outcast;” but her drag mother gave her some advice she’ll never forget: “If you’re going to be a woman, you’re going to be the best-looking woman in the room….On top of that, why not walk into a place and just be stunning? It’s a good thing.”
Sparkle and strut? Yeah right, more like Sodom and Gomorrah 🤮
I am so tired of bigots imposing their beliefs on others. Don’t like it? Stay home.
And hide your kids from groomers, good idea!
stay away from my family, kids and grandkids.
Don’t shop in Hopland, especially with children.
How is this worse than Taylor Swift?
Don’t care about Taylor Swift… at least she’s not a sad middle aged man playing dress up and make believe , prancing around like a little girl. Drag can be fun, was better before the tranny peep shows at the Whitehouse. That seriously drew the line for me. this event seemed questionable. After reading that article, ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!! More twisted than I expected
Taylor Swift dances on the black cube of Saturn. Not a good look
I have a feeling that Taylor Swift would be surprised to learn that.
Taylor Swift is delusional too. She’s a grown woman acting like a perpetual teenager wearing glittering body suits and jumping around on stage with a hyperbolic performance-face screwed on tight. They’re cut from the same cloth.
It’s called performance art, it’s supposed to make you react.
And is it just me or are most audience members at drag shows and Taylor concerts women? It’s almost as if women are looking for venues where they’re not getting leered at, hit on, groped or worse. Like you know, places to have fun and be silly no matter how dumb you look.
I learned about (the deadly sin) pride parades, gay love, otters and bears from Blue’s Clues, the show for preschooler.
https://youtu.be/d4vHegf3WPU?feature=shared
Blue’s Clues. That is exactly what I’m talking about. Indoctrination as preschoolers. Brain washing at age 4. No thank you. DEI at its pinnacle. This should be a crime. China, Iran and Russia love it. Instead of raising men and women as leaders, soldiers, doctors, scientists, scholars, entrepreneurs and business men and women as they do, instead we are raising drag queens. And we start at preschool. Look at what we teach our children here in Mendocino County. We are doomed as a nation if this continues. America will fall in the next 50 years because we raised 3 generations of cross dressing pussies. Instead of leaders and soldiers. Good god what has happened. It is leftist politics. That’s what happened. The beginning of every failed culture in human history began with leftist/liberal values. Read a history book for God’s sake. Not TikTok or twitter or Facebook but an actual hard bound book made of paper. One written by an actual historian or scholar. History repeats itself. Look to our history and you can see where our culture-not just as a nation-but as a society-is headed. Through American history we have been protected by geography. The Atlantic to the east and the Pacific to the west. Separated from our enemies by massive oceans. And a large military force as a deterrence. Deterrence through fear. This no longer exists. We are raising a generation of pussies. Cross-dressing drag queens. And its being exploited by those that would wish to see us overthrown. Thank God there are 350,000,000 firearms in private hands in this country. That is the only deterrence now. One day the anti-gun crowd will be glad they have access to guns. Wake up. Look at America through synoptic eyes. Study history and you should be scared for what awaits your grandkids. Sorry for my rant but I can’t remain silent while keeping my sanity. They don’t go together.
Here there be ignorant bigots.
Yeah but wouldn’t life be a real Drag if we were all the same?
You should consider edifying yourself to the concept of false equivalence, which is exactly what your question is and implies.
As a stand alone concept, yes, of course, human diversity is a definitive positive.
But, derisive, defamatory, spurious, false claims, and breathing life into age old unfounded bullshit tropes is not a sign of diversity nor intelligence. It clearly shows that you are a danger to people who are not a danger to you….said another way, you are a bully and provide no benefit.
Diversity of thought does not require you to attack people who live differently than you or in ways you don’t understand.
Only you can truly decide if you suffer from Ignorance, which is correctable, or stupidity, which is not.
My opinion of you, and this present group of small and weakly minded fools who spew this garbage, is currently leaning strongly towards the later.
While your pursuit of happiness is clearly not the same as the pursuit of many others, there is absolutley no basis for you to attempt to deny them of their pursuit.
To attempt to do so is antithetical to the Constitution and despicably lame, at best.
Get a life
Ah there we go Johnny contrary lashes out and strikes again.
There is a great deal of gratification for me in pissing of a pseudo intellectual like yourself and causing you to lose your shit.
Take a double dose of whatever meds you’re currently consuming and sleep with your Trump doll and you should be as good as new in the morning.
There you go with the same MO, unrelenting presumption, as usual. As if it’s a brand.
So much for critical thinking.
I always knew you were incapable of getting off without, at least, “thinking” that you hurt someone.
No shit lost by me. I sleep fine.
You should rebrand as Mendo Sadist, as there’s nothing “maverick” there, just a poor, sad, little bully who clearly doesn’t like getting bullied.
Only you can truly decide if you suffer from Ignorance, which is correctable, or stupidity, which is not.
It must be painful living in that skin.
Someone pray for this man child.
I don’t give a rats ass about a single one of these comments. But I’m keeping my child away from exposure to these pride events. No thanks. Call it what you want. DEI, intersectionality, whatever. I get to choose what my kid is exposed to. And I’m trying to get my family out of California as fast as possible. The definition of family values has been so distorted by the left. To each his own but keep this perversion where it belongs. Behind closed doors. Not celebrated in public and promoted by State government and pushed on our children as part of their curriculum in the name of diversity. I don’t go around forcing the details of my love life on total strangers. Private means private. It is between you and your partner. Gay or straight. Doesn’t matter. Just don’t force exposure to this lifestyle on my child. This Pride Event was advertised as a family friendly event. Try that shit 30 years ago. And don’t try and correct me calling it progress. This is the decline of our society happening right in front of our eyes. Pushed upon us by a leftist government. California government. I don’t know what else to say. I’m disgusted that “Pride” events are being normalized. And only 1 commenter so far had the courage to use their real name. Just goes to show. Have some guts and stand up for what you believe.
Are people being forced to attend this function? Because it sounds like the homophobia bunch commenting on this post with their disdain for this event feel forced to see this. Lol It’s okay fella’s come dressed like real men and you might leave with a new found buddy!
hey leave em with your kids
I would leave my children with a drag queen before I would leave them with a ignorant bigot.
Drag has been practiced from the beginning of civilization by both Gay and Straight Men (and women) too If you have a problem with drag maybe you need to go back to the time before man evolved but you may find that the primates did it too. Does Kabuki disgust you. Better stay away from Japan as well. Oh and you will have to give up on Shakespeare too men played the woman’s rolls.
Forgot the best. Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. And Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon in “Some Like It Hot”. Keep these guys (?) away from our precious children. In fact if your children express talent of any kind be sure to suppress it before they become pariahs of the worst kind.
What a dull world it would be if everyone was like Bradley. And please leave California ASAP with my blessing. And who is forcing you to watch anything?
I’m try to leave CA ASAP
Personally I wish you the best of luck Bradley but I’m not sure where you can go where there is any sanity and traditional values left in this country.
Maybe Florida or Tennessee but hey just about anywhere is better than California.
When I was your age southern Oregon was going to be my way out of here but it has since become overrun with ultra Liberal and progressive lefties mostly Californians so there’s that.
La Cage Aux Folles should be required viewing for all high school students. Renato and Alban stay in love after decades of trials and tribulations. Most straight couples don’t. The songs “I am What I Am” and “A little Mascara” are difficult to hear performed without “understanding”.
I always liked drag. …but now that it is state sponsored, it is 100% not to be trusted.. we are headed to war and it’s just another propaganda tool. I’m sorry if you don’t see it. I do. A lot of us do.
This event in Hopland was NOT state “sponsored”.
It was a private event, on private property, and funded with private citizen monies.
You seem confused about how things actually work vs how many people “assume” they do.
Can you find even 1 single Pride “Event” or Drag show that has ever been produced and/or funded by any level of government (city, county, state, fed)?
Good luck, you’re gonna need it.
Ask and you shall receive…
“Long Beach, CA – The City of Long Beach will serve as the official host and funder for the 2024 Long Beach Pride Parade. This news comes following the Feb. 13 mid-year budget review by the Long Beach City Council, which approved $80,000 in one-time FUNDS from the City’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget to fund this year’s Long Beach Pride Parade. This one-time action ensures the longstanding and cherished event continues for 2024 while Long Beach Pride, the nonprofit that traditionally produces the parade, restructures its organization. ”
https://www.longbeach.gov/press-releases/city-to-host-fund-2024-long-beach-pride-parade/
This was such a wonderful day!! Thank you to all the volunteers, vendors, and performers that showed up for our community!!
Fentynal isnt a problem its the cure for california lefty pervs. Gid bkess ipen cartel trafgicking.
Es sphincter says what