Pride Edition: The Intersection of Queer Liberation and Disability Justice - Part 1

In part one of the initial interview for The Politics of Disability Pride series, Mary sits down with Season 12 contestant of RuPaul's Drag Race and the national co-chair of Drag Out The Vote, Brita Filter.

The two discuss mental health, advocacy, voting, voting rights, Pride, the lack of accessibility when it comes to Pride events, and more.

Drag Out The Vote is a nonpartisan, nonprofit that works with drag performers to promote participation in democracy. You can learn more about it here.

The Politics of Disability was named Best Interview Podcast at the Astoria Film Festival in both October 2022 and again in June 2023.

Transcript

[music playing as Mary: speaks]

Mary: Hello everyone and welcome to season 2 of the award-winning podcast The Politics of Disability. 

My name is Mary Fashik. I am your host and founder of the Disability Justice movement Upgrade Accessibility. We’re still navigating that bumpy road, but there are lots of potholes along the way. 

You’ll want to make sure you’re buckled up really tight. 

All set? Here we go. 

[music playing]

Mary: Hello everyone and welcome to a very special Pride edition of The Politics of Disability. I am so excited to be talking to today’s guest. Would you please introduce yourself?

Brita Filter: Yes. Hello everyone. My name is Brita Filter and I am a New York City international drag queen superstar who was lucky enough to be on RuPaul's Drag Race. But I'm also an incredible a advocate. And I am the national co-chair of Drag Out the Vote. And I use my arts and my activism of drag to really you know, change people's lives for the better. And to, I'm, I'm a real, a really good ad advocate for mental health as well. And so I try to use my platform to really get the message of all of that, of how to take care of yourself and also how to participate in our democracy, which is incredibly important.

Mary: Brita, I want to thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join me today. So thank you.

Brita Filter: Yes, of course. Mary, I'm so happy to be here with you.

Mary: I'm so happy to have you. So I noticed that... I've been following you on Instagram for a while, and I notice that shift in what you were posting, of course you're posting about your drag shows and all of that, but now you are talking more about advocacy and like voting, like you said, mental health. What fuels your passion and what fuels that advocacy? What keeps you going?

Brita Filter: I think it's because, you know I've always been involved with advocacy and I've always been involved with the arts and somehow, and, you know, especially during the pandemic when it first started, I kind of had to pick a route of which way to go with my drag. And the thing that helped me to get out of I I was in a very big long, I mean, I'm still going through it at times. I, I suffered from severe depression and anxiety and, you know, I didn't really realize how severe it was until the pandemic hit. And I, the thing that got me out of my severe depression was really lending a hand to others and helping others. And so by me really focusing on the election really helped me to get out of my, my deep dark depression by helping others and talking about mental health because it has such a, a huge stigma around it and people don't talk about it because they're afraid that they're the only one or that they're alone.

And so I'm doing so much work on, on my off days from performing to, to really shape that and not make it a stigma anymore, but also like to use my social media to get the word out to people. A a about voting, about elections, about our democracy. You know, there's so much that I didn't know about you know, our country alone, [laughs] when, when, when all of this stuff went down, when, you know, when our election when Trump got elected, it was you know, I, I didn't care until he got elected because that's when our rights started to get taken away. And I just thought, you know when I started one out of five   L G B T Q individuals were not registered to vote. And that is a huge number. And truly the way that we have our voice heard is through voting.

And it's how we have our voice heard at the local level is through voting. That's why all these, these anti drag, anti-trans bills are going through is because we voted these people into office at the local level. People kept on saying that the election doesn't matter at their local level. We only vote in the presidential election, and that is not true. And that is totally being shown right now. So it's so important for me to, to use my platform to try and, and, and help others because, you know, there's so many things that I was afraid to ask that I had to realize that like, if I'm afraid to ask them, there's so many other people in our country that are afraid to ask it. And as a drag queen, I'm willing to embarrass myself to ask the silly questions that people might think that are dumb, but they're not. There are no stupid questions.

Mary: Yeah. You said a lot of things here and I want to touch on the mental health part.

Brita Filter: Yeah.

I think the reason, why people are afraid to talk about it is because we, at least those of us in the disabled and chronically ill community, mental health, falls under that umbrella of disability. And I think that because disability is viewed so negatively, people are like, well, I'm not disabled. I only have a mental health issue as if, you know, being disabled is this horrible it's not. And when we talk about mental health we don't talk about the mental health of the disabled and chronically ill community during the pandemic, which is still ongoing. I think it's important to mention that the pandemic is still ongoing despite what the administration says or whoever says the pandemic has not ended.

Brita Filter: Yeah.

Mary: There are people like myself who still cannot go out safely into this world. So it's really important what you're doing, what you're saying, bringing mental health to the forefront. It is really, really important.

And it's interesting to me that you said it wasn't until Donald Trump was elected president, that rights got taken away and it's, again it's ironic to me, because I say, oh, this comes from a more non-disabled lens. Right? Because the disabled and chronically ill community has always had rights took away from them, no matter who was in office. So I think it's a very, very interesting, like, juxtaposition, like they're saying well, this is what caused, you know, the beginning of the unraveling and the disabled and chronically ill community is like not really you know, like this always happen to us. And while we are talking about disability. There's a huge intersection between the disabled and chronically ill community and the LGBTQIA+ community. Yet the disabled community and chronically ill community are excluded from vital conversations. When we talk about trans rights, we talk about marriage equality, why you think we are left out when we talk about the queer community. Like why are we left out of these conversations when there's such intersection between the two communities?

Brita Filter: Yeah. You know, there's so many people right now that are making decisions in Congress without asking any of our opinions because they're affecting us directly. It's actually wild to me that there are there that there is like even just what happened in Montana the other day of them silencing that representative of it, there, there was one queer trans individual in, in the representation in Montana. And they, they wouldn't let them actively vote on it on this bill that was about to pass. And it's insane to me that they don't, that they, they, they like to pass things about our bodies without asking us how we live with this every single day. Being, being trans, being disabled, being a person of color you know, all all of these different things that makes us so special, incredibly special from one another and also makes us so, so unique and so valued in a way.

And I, and I think it's so important for us for them to ask us. So many people like did pass things through Congress... Congress without asking the people of how it affects them directly. And and that's what, and that's what really needs to change. A lot of it is a bunch of, to be honest, a bunch of white you know, straight cis individuals that just want to pass things according to them. And it's, and it's unfair and it's, it's not how our democracy works. And that's why there is becoming such an uprising. And it's honestly very scary to me. It's very scary to me all this stuff that's happening. But you know what, I, it's important for me, even though it is scary to put myself out there in the front of all of this and to also make sure that my voice is being heard because there's so many other people like me that are sometimes afraid to have their voice being heard.

And, you know, if I'm afraid, then I, I know that I'm, I'm probably doing good. And when it comes down to it, and, you know, if, if I'm afraid, then if you see a a myself, a a six foot tall man looking gorgeous in a dress and a big wig with a beautiful painted face screaming at the top of my lungs, then maybe that will give someone who feels comfortable in their own skin to also go out there and to, you know, go against the social norm and to make sure that their voices are being heard. Because our voices matter. And that's what everyone needs to know.

Mary: Our voices do matter. And I think what you said is like, it's so amazing. Like, exactly that. Like, you know, I always say like, we have to be, for us, unapologetically disabled. Like take up that space. And one of the things I always say is the hardest and most necessary thing that a disabled person can do is take up space that is traditionally non-disabled. Like, just take up that space and that is what you and other drag artists are doing. You're taking up that space that is traditionally cis, white, straight, you know, and I think it's important to take up that space and let them know that we're not... Yes, we're afraid, but we won't show that we are afraid of what is going on. I wanna tie my next question back to this one, as we head into Pride season, why events are frequently inaccessible, they, along with drag shows, became accessible early on in the pandemic. Many artists do not care for virtual drag shows.

Um, what are your thoughts? Because again, like, we're left out of this conversation, right? Like, we, you know, there are many...I have many, many friends in the disabled and chronically ill community that love Drag Race. We love, we love drag artists. We DM each other, "Oh did you watch Drag Race last night? Oh my God, did you see what happened?" We love Drag Race, we love drag. But we're left out of this, we left out the shows, we're left out Pride, which is why I created Pride Our Way because we're never... Even prior to the pandemic, Pride events are not accessible and not just to those with physical disabilities, but if you have processing disorders, if you're neurodivergent, anything like that, then they're not accessible. What are your thoughts about drag artists that are like, "Oh I hating doing shows in my living room. I never wanna do that again?" When what that does, it excludes a whole segment of a population.

Brita Filter: Yeah, yeah. No, it's, it's super important and you know, I'm so, I'm so like, I.. I'm so grateful for you for saying that because it is so important. It's so important for people to know that that it, it, it was helping such a, a, a different population of people during the pandemic. I mean, you know, I, I, I think I think, you know, we, enough people just don't know each other's stories and to understand what they were going through. I know that a lot of people were hurting during the pandemic just like people with disabilities were, not being able to go out and whatnot. And so I think the, there was just a, a, a big realization from others and they didn't have have an an idea of how others were feeling. Actually, Mary, with you saying that, I, I would honestly love to donate my time to you for, for your your Pride.

I, I think, and I would love to help you in a way to get more drag performers to, to come on and, and, and, and do that. I think it's so important. I mean, I'm always donating my time to Drag Out The Vote and for text banks too, for me to come and perform and for them to get you know, a text bank is so boring, but so necessary, so necessary. And something that we do with Drag Out The Vote is I donate my time to certain text banks and perform and DJ while, while this is going on, to make sure that, that people are entertained while they're, they're texting these individuals and their constituents. Soyou, I I promise you right now on air on your podcast, that I will, I will gladly help you and I would love to perform at, at this Pride to make it more accessible for others because I know how important it is.

It, it's so important. And for others to see drag and to get that uplifting feeling that we get when we go to a drag show or when we see Drag Race on television, it's, it's so important. And, you know, it's so amazing to be able to reach people through their screen and that we have this technology like Zoom to make sure that we can be brought together. Because honestly, that's what helped us all during the pandemic to really have relationships with others was, was Zoom. Like that's honestly all we had. That's the only thing we had. So it's an amazing thing, you know, even though the pandemic is still going on and it sucks, it's beautiful that we were able to get these types of technologies, to really bring us together in a safe way.

Mary: You heard it here first. Brita Filter will be at 2023 Pride Our Way. And I am ecstatic and over the moon. Um, cannot wait. Details to come. I did not know this prior to recording. So stay tuned for more details. And I want to publicly thank you for making that promise. So thank you so much.

Brita Filter: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Honestly, it's it with all the advocacy work that you do and you speaking up and saying that how important it is and how it's, it, it really affects you. And you know, I, I know that for me, my mental health and having someone in my corner really it's, it, it's just, it's a beautiful thing to know that there's someone else that's there who's willing to, to help better their community. So I'm getting all emotional because I just think, I think what you do, Mary, is so beautiful and I'm so, I'm honestly so grateful for you. People I'm sure from all over this country are so honestly grateful for you. And so I just want express that to you. I'm proud of you and you're doing amazing work.

Mary: I wanna thank you because, you know, again, I have reached out to several drag performers to interview them and they have told me no. They just don't, they're not comfortable with discussing disability or discussing how that overlap, that intersection of the queer community and disabled and chronically ill community. And let me tell you that I reached out to Brita's team and they were welcoming and they were amazing. And I wish more people understood that there is an intersection there. And I spoke at a conference yesterday and I said, until we meet people at their intersection, we will never move forward as a society. So until, because disability intersects at every identity. So until we meet people at their intersection, we cannot move forward. So thank you for meeting me and my community at our intersection. We appreciate you. And also we want you to know that you are also part of our community. And when you, when you ready to identify, in that way, we'll welcome you with open arms.

Brita Filter: Thank you so much, Mary.

Mary: Of course. Um, you mentioned that you are the national co-chair of Drag Out The Vote. Tell the folks what it is, how and why they should get how you get involved and how and why they should get involved. And before you answer that question, I do want to point out in the 2020 election, the disabled community was a pivotal group. We were a pivotal, leading demographic, which is why they are trying to put more stringent voting laws in place cause we swung that election.

Brita Filter: Yeah.

Mary: And they know we did. So talk about Drag Out The Vote. What is it, how and why did you get involved? And how can we get, how can we get involved and why?

Brita Filter: Of course. So Drag Out The Vote is a a nonpartisan non-profit organization that uses the art and advocacy of drag to get out the vote. So I joined actually during Drag Race, during my season. It was the first gig that I did as a, and, and I donated my, my time. Everyone donated their time for this big fundraiser and I hosted it alongside Jaremi Carey, formerly known as Phi Phi O'Hara. And we did this giant event, and I, you know, it was so important for me because the reason why I got involved is because I found out that one out of five, as I said in the beginning, L G B T Q individuals were not registered to vote. And it really, it really hit me. And it really, you know, us voting is such a pivotal point, like you were saying in the election.

The disabled vote was so important, was so important to this election. And, you know, I wanted people to realize and to know how, how to get involved and, and you know, there's a lot of people that are angry. There's a lot of people that would go to protests. There's a lot of people that would, that would, you know, scream from the rooftops. But the thing that they wouldn't do, the simplest thing that they would not do is to go out and vote. To go out and vote in your primaries, to go out and vote in your general elections, in your local elections, because they affect your quality of life every single day. When you go to the voting poll, it affects your quality of life.

Mary: Oh no, we aren’t done yet. Come back for part two to find out where this goes.

[music playing while Mary speaks] Thank you for joining me for this episode of the Politics of Disability Podcast. As you navigate your journey, remember: disability is political; disability is messy; disability is not palatable--nor does it have to be.

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