今日吃瓜

A Gold Coast drag queen has launched a new initiative this week with Drag Queens For Dignity kicking off on the Gold Coast.

The initiative is calling for members of the public to help support Sisters On The Inside by providing sanitary products to people in prison.

Drag Queens For Dignity

Dustin Lowrey is best known for his stage persona Cady Deville a well known drag performer on the Gold Coast.

Originally hailing from Arkansas in the United States Dustin now calls the Gold Coast home but remembers the struggles his family faced growing up.

From a young age Dustin’s mother was incarcerated leaving him to be raised by his grandmother.

“She was incarcerated for most of my life” he said.

“I would spend time with her in the rehab facilities and halfway houses while my grandmother took care of me.”

“Although my birth mother struggled with addiction, incarceration, and mental illness (bipolar), she wasn鈥檛 a bad person. She was a product of the circumstances and systems that existed around her.”

“I don鈥檛 believe in bad people, I believe in the bad circumstances around them. And I believe all people deserve dignity!”

After losing his mother to Covid during the onset of the Delta Wave Dustin is determined to help honour his mothers memory and help others stuck within the system by creating Drag Queens for Dignity.

“We are funnelling the hygiene products to Sisters Inside but are also looking for practical items such as essential toiletries and clothing” he told the Star Observer.

“I began it as a campaign to unite our community with practical action, as a way to share my mums story and funnel the grief of her loss into a place of healing and productivity.”

Dustin and his supporters are calling on people to donate these protects to pass on to Sisters On The Inside to help provide them with the dignity of having access to these essential items.

The decision to launch the program via his alter ego Cady Deville was an homage to the women who have fought for the queer community for decades.

“The drag queens tie in because the women in our community have always been incredible protectors of the men, serving us in incredible ways such as the Dykes on Bykes who patrolled the cliffs in Sydney or the Trans Starlets who paraded through the HIV / AIDS wards to bring morale to our vulnerable and to bring dignity back to the indignified” he stated.

“So it鈥檚 time for us to step up once again, for the men to work for the women, and for us all to work for each other with the same tenacity the women have always possessed in our community.”

“Together we can be better allies – because the better allies we are to each other, the better we can teach the other side how to be allies back. It鈥檚 a call out for unity, support, and action- one tampon at a time.”

The Drags Queens For Dignity initiative is now live with donations readily being accepted.

“We kicked off with a sequin clad high kick on Feb 1 and are running all the way through International Women鈥檚 Day on March 8th with events at Hairy Mary鈥檚 in Mermaid and Mr. PP鈥檚 in Southport” donations can be dropped at these locations to help support the cause.

“We are specifically collecting items such as maxi pads and tampons and other essential hygiene or continence products for impacted women, intersex, and trans masculine individuals with periods” he said.

Dustin has plans for many events along the way to help bring awareness to the cause, including a cheeky event at Hairy Mary’s on March 2 which will include drag queen jelly wrestling and a sausage sizzle fundraiser.

For more information follow the QR link on the poster below or contact @cadydeville on Instagram.