Courtney Act says ‘conflating queerness with grooming is gross’ after senator’s accusation
Courtney Act #CourtneyAct
Drag Race star Courtney Act, 40, on confronting bigotry, coming ‘from a place of privilege’ and the alliance against the patriarchy.
How are you, lovely?
Well, I’ve got Covid, so not great. I tested positive this morning so I’m lying in bed. Which is the best!
At least you’ve got it out of the way before Sydney Mardi Gras/World Pride.
Exactly! I’m hosting the opening ceremony, which is a televised event and Kylie Minogue is headlining that.
Do you know Kylie?
Yeah. I don’t go round to her house and drink Kylie Minogue Rosé with her but she did invite me to her 50th birthday party and I’ve met her a bunch of times. But she’s an absolute delight!
The opening ceremony is going to be massive but there are lots of things – the Bondi Beach Party [with Nicole Scherzinger] is going to be epic…
I did! It was a very similar experience. And I see Neighbours is coming back! They wanted the big hoorah, say goodbye and then get everyone back.
You’ve been involved with Mardi Gras before, haven’t you?
My first was 2001. I’ve always been in the parade and last year I hosted the parade on ABC [Australian TV]. What I wear to Mardi Gras is like a visual bookend to my year.
I haven’t. I’m doing a big performance at Sydney Opera House for New Year’s Eve with ABC and a big World Pride celebration on TV and it’s what I would have worn for Mardi Gras so I’ll have to get a whole new thing.
You’ve been in the news for reading a children’s story on Play School…
I read a lovely little story called The Spectacular Suit about a little girl who didn’t want to wear a dress to her birthday party and while I was away on a meditation retreat a senator held up a photo of me and said, ‘Why is ABC using government money to groom children?’
That’s straight out of that extreme playbook of conflating queer identities with grooming and it’s completely gross so I wrote an opinion piece on it for The Sydney Morning Herald.
I guess we’re the privileged bunch of the queer community. A friend of mine works in a school and there was this kid who was being bullied for being queer in some way and I was like, ‘Really?’ In my mind it’s ‘kids today, they have it so easy’ but kids are still bullied in school.
You had it out with Ann Widdecombe on Celebrity Big Brother, didn’t you? And were so reasonable it made her look unreasonable…
I think that comes from the place of privilege that I approach it from. I know who I am, I’ve lived a life of knowing who I am and finding confidence in that and understanding that my self-worth isn’t contingent on someone else’s opinion.
A lot of queer people have trauma just below the surface so when someone criticises that, it’s really easy to react from past conditioning, whether that’s getting emotional, flying off the handle, retreating, whatever it is. Anne is a 75-year-old lady who’s intelligent and insightful but views the world from a completely different place and with a different set of facts.
First Nations people have been put front and centre at Mardi Gras/WorldPride. That’s got to be a good thing…
First Nations people [Australia’s Aboriginal population] have been getting more pride of place in our culture and it feels like it’s reached a tipping point. And there’s this genuine alliance because there are a lot of queer First Nations people. This is the first time that World Pride has been in the southern hemisphere so it’s great to shine a light on the whole Pacific region and talk about these issues.
And now there’s a Miss First Nations drag pageant!
Oh, yeah. I was the judge of that a couple of years ago when a bunch of the queens got stuck in the elevator and filmed a video from inside and AirDropped it to the event and it felt like an act: eight drag queens stuck in the elevator… but it was real!
How do trans women feel about drag queens?
I don’t think you can assume opinions of all trans women at once but I think there’s a lot of respect in the Australian community. Trans women and drag performers and cis women are all working against the same force, which is the patriarchy. The same force that tells me I shouldn’t dress a certain way is the same one that tells a woman that she shouldn’t wear pants or a trans woman how she should dress. So it’s about how we can lift each other up.
Sydney World Pride is from February 17 to March 5
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