The Stonewall Museum + Library in Fort Lauderdale is hosting a must-see event for all lovers of the art of drag.  The timing couldn’t be more perfect with Florida’s rampantly homophobic Governor who has been trying to score cheap political points in targeting the State’s vibrant drag community.

Journalist and drag historian Elyssa Maxx Goodman has written an intimate, evocative history of drag in New York City exploring its dynamic role, from the Jazz Age to Drag Race, in queer liberation and urban life.  It makes for such a great read, particularly for those in our community who think that Ru Paul started the whole art of drag !!

Goodman takes us back to the lush feather boas that adorned early female impersonators to the sequined lip-syncs of barroom queens to the drag kings that have us laughing in stitches, drag has played a vital role in the creative life of New York City.   For the first time, the dramatic, provocative untold story of drag in New York City in all its glistening glory is revealed. Goodman’s fascinating book Ducks Beneath the Velvet Ropes of Harlem Renaissance Balls examines drag’s crucial role in the Stonewall Uprising, traces drag’s influence on disco and punk rock as well as its unifying power during the AIDS crisis and 9/11, and eventually culminates with the modern-day drag queen in the era of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

On Tuesday 16th January 2024 at a STONEWALL “MEET THE AUTHOR” FREE LIVE EVENT Elyssa Maxx Goodman 
will be talking about her book “Glitter and Concrete: A History of Drag in New York City”.