Performer: Audria Byrd
Queen: TeQui’la Mockingbird
Last semester, Audria Byrd was crowned Ms. Gaymecock at the annual amateur drag performance hosted by Individuals Respecting Identities and Sexualites. The main prize for the winners of Mr. and Ms. Gaymecock was an invitation to perform in Birdcage, a formal drag show, among a group of professional drag queens in the spring.
Byrd is a student leader at USC. She is a member of IRIS, FemCo and is involved with the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs. For the past two years, she has been an LGBTQ peer advocate and is a discussion leader for the group “Being an LGBTQ Person of Color.” As a LGBTQ peer leader, she gives information sessions to University101 courses, sorority chapters and women and gender studies courses.
She attended the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference last weekend with FemCo in Washington, D.C. At the event, she spoke on a panel and led a caucus space.
“I got to inject a lot of my experiences as a black, trans woman into that space, which was generally pretty white, cis and hetero-centric,” Byrd said.
Byrd, a fourth-year media arts and African American history student, is also a transgender woman. She is passionate about correcting the lack diversity in mass media today.
“I really like being able to make my own media. Something I’ve gotten really into throughout my time in college and growing up is recognizing how messed up and few and far between media representation of minority groups are,” she said.
Byrd grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and started performing at an early age.
“I was a very shy kid, but then I would get onstage and be totally comfortable,” Byrd said. Her performance debut was in an elementary school play. She eventually became involved with community theatre, and as she entered high school started working with a talent agent.
She noted the impact that performance has had on her life.
“It has brought me out of myself. It has helped contribute to my confidence, because performance and public speaking and interacting with other people is a part of life, and there’s no way around that,” Byrd said.
She addressed the fact that drag culture can sometimes be misogynistic or transphobic, but also acknowledged that for some, drag is a safe outlet to express their gender identity.
“Since coming out as trans, this has been an interesting and a little bit contentious way to express my gender identity and to express gender nonconformity,” she said. Byrd also addressed that although Birdcage is a dynamic and fun event, but it could be improved through LGBTQ education.
She emphasized the difference between transgender women and drag queens, and commented on the occasional problematic undertones that can be present in drag culture.
“I recognize that there is a lot of the heterosexual, cis gaze involved in drag performances, in 'RuPaul’s Drag Race' and the Lady Gaga halftime performance. I can’t confidently say that those people are going to walk any more accepting or understanding of the LGBTQ community,” Byrd said. “But I also recognize that drag and that music is a very important part of LGBTQ+ culture, and it is a very important way to express ourselves and stand up against cis, hetero norms of society.”
Byrd became exposed to drag culture as soon as she got to USC. It had always piqued her interest, but she had never formally performed in drag until last fall. TeQui’la Mockingbird, Byrd’s on-stage drag persona, was self-characterized as very confident and cocky.
“When I’m about to go onstage to perform for theatre, a lot of what helps combat any nervousness or anxiety that I feel is that I am not going on stage as myself, but as a character. And so drag is just another character,” Byrd said.
Regarding TeQui’la’s appearance, Byrd mentioned her reluctance to perform with long, straight hair. “Something that I like to do in my daily life and in my appearance and in my performance is to affirm and celebrate my blackness, my ethnic identity. This is another small way to do that,” she said.
A host of local drag queens will perform at Birdcage, with the headliner Manila Luzon, who was featured on the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. You can see Byrd perform at USC’s 20th annual Birdcage on April 4 in the Russell House Ballroom at 7 p.m.