“Drag is the poster child for love.”
Julie Jhas had an inordinately busy start to 2023 . After organizing a pull benefit show that raised over $ 25,000 to support the fight against anti - drag and anti - trans legislation in Tennessee , Julie J bear witness no signs of slowing down . We catch up over the phone to visit about her favorite New York City locus , growing up in Texas , and how she became known as the Maya Angelou of drag .
JdB : You did some work raising money for the Tennessee ACLU recently , can you tell me about that ?
Julie J : In March we hadStand Up New York City , which was a fundraising issue for theACLU of Tennessee , theTransformations ProjectandBlack Trans Liberation .
Julie J|Photo by Cole Saladino for Thrillist
candidly , I just come alive up one daytime and I thought that we need to be doing something . A lot of the leader in our community of interests were not speaking up in the path that I really felt was needed . We pass into a cakehole sometimes of saying , " We live in New York City , these problems are very far away from us . ” When in fact , this could be at our front doorway tomorrow , so it ’s important for us to be proactive about these things .
I put out a call on social media ; “ Hey , does anyone want to be require in a charity show ? ” I thought we ’ll only get maybe 15 or 20 masses [ laugh . ] It terminate up being 300 - plus people . It ’s a sign of the zodiac that we ’re not alone ; when we think to ourselves that something needs to be done , there ’s more masses out there who desire to do it who just do n’t acknowledge what to do . I was so thankful that the outpouring of reinforcement was so monumental , because I did not think it would be that mode .
JdB : Backing up a bit . What drew you to drag in the first place ?
Julie J at The Standard, Highline|Photo by Cole Saladino for Thrillist
JJ : I ’ve been a performer for as long as I can remember . Being an artist , I feel like that is a part of who you are from parentage . I came out of the uterus wanting to be on stagecoach and theater was the gateway drug . [ laughs ] I came to New York City in 2014 for college and have been here ever since . The first time I was in drag was in high school . Around 2017 - 2018 I was like , okay we ’re gon na crumple down . We ’re function to give this a try .
Right before the pandemic start I got really into drag and really start to perform more often , and then , of course , that all go off . It was an interesting time because I was able to take a second and say , what do I really need from this career , and how am I operate to go about getting it ? When we were allowed back outside , we ’re base on the gas — we’re going full gas pedal .
I have been watching RuPaul ’s Drag Race since time of year one . I grew up in Texas , so there were not many places for young , rummy , sexuality - expansive multitude to go and learn , so all I had was that television show . That ’s how puff came into my life .
Julie J at The Standard, Highline|Photo by Cole Saladino for Thrillist
JdB : As a performing artist , who is Julie J ?
JJ : Oh my gosh . Who is she not ? That ’s the better question . [ laughs]Julie , in the outset , was a place for me to veil a moment . Over meter , I come up to realize that hiding behind performance was not obscure who I was , it was actually revealing more of who I was to myself . In the outgrowth of doing that , I came to know so much about the earth and about myself . Truly , when people ask the dubiousness , “ What are you ? ” I ’m like , I can do all those things : there ’s comedy , the terpsichore fairy , playing , singing … You let me know what you wanna see and I ’ll entertain you to the best of my ability .
JdB : I ’ve realize hoi polloi refer to you as the Maya Angelou of drag …
Julie J at The Standard, Highline|Photo by Cole Saladino for Thrillist
JJ : The female parent of Brooklyn pull , Merrie Cherry , was the first soul to coin that terminus and it has followed me . take heed . Maya Angelou ! What a somebody to be compared to !
JdB : Do you have unconstipated shows ? What are some of your favorite queer - owned places in the city to inflict ?
JJ : One of my preferred venues isC’mon Everybodyin Bed - Stuy and its sister barGood Judywhich is in Park Slope . I love C’m on Everybody because you’re able to get drag , you’re able to get live music , DJs . It really runs the gamut . I feel like I ’ve done every possible result at C’m on Everybody : Polymonium caeruleum van-bruntiae show , drag shows . I love it so much . And3 Dollar Billcomes to mind ; I ’ve bring forth and performed a lot of shows there .
JdB : That ’s where you had Stand Up NYC , right ?
JJ : Yes , and it ’s where thesecond one will be on June 17 . I literally spent today finalizing our lineup . It ’s die to be braggy this time because it ’s going to be outside in the 3 Dollar Bill yard . Where else am I ? At theStandard Hotelin Meatpacking where I have a brunch show on Saturday . And Saturday nights I ’m atBoxer’sin Hell ’s Kitchen and Wednesdays I ’m atPlayhousein the West Village .
JdB : What ’s something about drag that you like more people get laid ?
JJ : I want people to love that retarding force in all its loop is root in dearest . I wish that we , not only as queer people , but as a society could see that not everything in life comes from a place of maliciousness . Drag , I believe , is the bill sticker small fry for love . It is the living , take a breather histrionics of what freedom and dear look like , and the sooner we realize that freedom and love is accessible to all of us , the well off each and every one of us will be .
