When veteran drag queen KymmBerlei takes to the stage in her floor-length sequin gown, glamorous wig, and sky-high heels, she in many ways embodies the enormous transformation rural communities have undergone. In the space of six decades, KymmBerlei has gone from being a boy who was tortured with conversion therapy for wearing dresses in rural Australia to someone who is celebrated for their drag. The 62-year-old drag queen, whose real name is Kymm Apostolides, is one-half of a regional drag act that harnesses the identities they were once punished for to fundraise for rural communities. When he was growing up in the 1960s in the tiny outback town of Cockburn, 47 kilometres from Broken Hill, it was a very different story.