The old drag queen is dead; long live the new drag queen. As Jason Donovan dons a frock this week in the stage version of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, cabarets and clubs across Britain are dispensing with “old school” drag artists in their thick make-up, grandiose wigs and extravagant outfits. They are being replaced by a new generation of sassy and sophisticated young men in make-up who are rejecting the “misogyny” of the grotesque female impersonator.

It is a trend paralleled in the mainstream: Paul O’Grady, who gave life to the caustic Liverpudlian Lily Savage, has doffed his wig; Danny La Rue is long gone, and no one seems to be in the wings to take up their mantle.

And while wearing make-up and women’s clothes has been a springboard for a number of entertainers, they have tended to scale back their cross-dressing once established. Eddie Izzard, well known as a transvestite, now rarely appears publicly in women’s clothes and is increasingly known for his straight acting. Julian Clary, who used to perform as the drag artist Gillian Pie-Face, is these days much more likely to be seen in a sharp men’s suit and tie.

See End of the road for old-school drag queens

An artist known for her gay-themed work has inspired controversy for having made a $1,000 contribution to proponents of California’s Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that put the rights of gay and lesbian families up to popular vote and saw those rights taken away last November by a slim majority at the ballot box.

LoHud.com reported in a Feb. 5 article that Chappaqua, NY artist Maureen Mullarkey, whose paintings have drawn on Pride events and cross-dressing performers as subject material, had made the contribution to the anti-gay side of the ballot initiative, shocking and angering many in the GLBT community.

Said David Juhren of GLBT group LOFT, “There’s something very duplicitous in making money through depiction of the LGBT community through her art [which then is donated to an anti-gay cause],” the article reported.

Added Juhren, who serves as LOFT’s director of communications, “She’s relatively well-known, and that’s why it’s kind of a slap in the face.” See Artist Known for Gay Subjects ’Outed’ As Prop. 8 Supporter
EDGE Boston, MA Illustration: Porp. 8 supporter Maureen Mullarkey’s art draws on gay Pride and drag artists