The glitter and the grit: Inside Nigeria’s queer ballroom subculture

 | 
07/29/2024

When Countess Sasha Seduction, a Nigerian non-binary drag queen, got to attend their first ballroom experience, a 2022 Halloween ball in Lagos, Nigeria, it felt like a dream. This year, they got to attend two and were excited about how amazing the underground community was and the warmth that the space provided. “As a drag queen, it gives me somewhere to be, to inspire people, to perform. As a queer person, it gives me a family and a safe space. We’re almost forced to live in fear all the time and the ballroom is just a fantasy island where everything doesn’t matter but the people you are with, who are [also] queer! [This] is important because we don’t have that in Nigeria.” The global ballroom scene can be traced back to the 1960s in the United States. It was a form of refuge for African American and Latino drag queens, and trans-women who were often ostracised from mainstream society due to their gender identity and sexuality. They also faced racial discrimination within white-dominated balls – so much so that they had to wear pale make-up to make them look lighter-skinned and increase their chances of winning competitions. These minorities eventually found refuge in Harlem, where they gathered in ballrooms to organise and compete as a way to express their identities and find acceptance. The ballroom competitions were a way for the participants to showcase their talents in various categories, including modelling, voguing, and dance.

Regions: ,

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 11/04/2024
11/03/2024
The West African nation of Mali, which has been ruled by a military junta for more than three years, has voted for a new …
Added on: 11/04/2024
11/03/2024
On 22 October, Chinese host and dancer Jin Xing sparked an online uproar with a lengthy post on Weibo charging that her performance application …
Added on: 11/04/2024
11/03/2024
Japan’s Tokyo High Court ruled that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional during a hearing on Wednesday. The Tokyo court ruled that the …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Other News from ,

Added on: 11/04/2024
The West African nation of Mali, which has been ruled by a military junta for more than three years, has voted for a new …
Added on: 11/02/2024
Mali’s de facto parliament has passed a law criminalising same-sex acts in the junta-led country, the latest in Africa to adopt legislation targeting LGBTQ …
Added on: 11/02/2024
A landslide election victory has set the stage for LGBTQ rights supporter Duma Boko to become the next president of Botswana, where homosexuality was …