Looking at the media, there are few literary works that have achieved the significant success and lasting resonance with the LGBTQ community that “The Great Wizard of Oz” possesses.
From the messages of radical acceptance, home and belonging to the subversion of gender norms and its memorable, fluid gender characters, The Wizard of Oz has remained a strange cultural Touchstone more than 125 years after its first publication.
The book itself provided many LGBTQ readers with one of the world’s first imps to celebrate differences that may be considered “strange.” The adaptation of the 1939 MGM film starring gay icon Judy Garland further solidified Dorothy, strengthened ounces into LGBTQ culture, contributed to the origins of the term “Dorothy’s friend” as an up-song representation of LGBTQ individuals, and helped establish the rainbow as a symbol of Quay.
The story also influenced the highly popular musical “Wicked.” This rethinks the Witch of Oz and is rich in LGBTQ subtext.
Given all this, it makes perfect sense for the adult LGBTQ book club to choose to begin their journey in the fantastic world of L. Frankbaum created in Oz.
Strange Visitora book club, made for LGBTQIA+ adults and named after comic strip L. Frankbaum, published in 1904, was created by Drug Story Hour, a national nonprofit organization that includes “celebrating storytelling, celebrating the dynamic art of drug performance.”
Washington Blade had the opportunity to talk with Jonathan Hamilt, co-founder of Drag Queen Story Hour, about what the LGBTQ Adult Book Club entails, why and why it entails Oz.
When asked about the option of starting an adult LGBTQ book club, Hamilt explained that the club has been spending a long time.
“Drug Story Hour celebrates stories over the past 10 years this year. We always read open books to our families and children. But we wanted to expand our book club programming, which is basically just adults-only drug story hour,” Hamilt said.
For years, the organization has worked to inspire children and promote diversity across the United States and around the world. Now they are challenging adult territory beyond the rainbow.
“It’s like Oprah’s book club, but at gay, there’s a monthly book club. There’s a virtual experience with drug artists and book subject matter experts.”
Queer visitors went with Nana Tacky, a drag queen (and a queer visitor’s face) in Portland, Oregon, and Nana Tacky, a drag queen (and a queer visitor’s face), an LGBTQ alliance known on social media as “The Historian of Oz” and “The Vlog of Oz.”
“Nana Tuckitt brings truly enjoyable energy to the space… And Tori is an Oz historian and can tell us everything about that world,” Hamilt said when he explained his choice to go to Tuckitt and Karamito. “I think they’ll be a really great powerhouse where they can chat about this book.”
Karamito and Tacky sat with both. blade To discuss why they chose to partner with Drag Queen Story Hour and queer visitors, they details why “The Wizard of Oz” is the perfect match for the Book Club’s first meeting, explaining that LGBTQ people can see themselves in the story.
“The Wizard of Oz is at its heart and is a story about self-realization and achievement of self-realization along with the discovered family,” Trikaramito told Blade. “And I think these are topics that the LGBTQIA+ community can really relate to.”
She sees The Wizard of Oz as a universally resonating story. “I think it’s a story that everyone knows. So, where you come from, where you live in the country, where you live, everyone can go and hear Oz.
“The strange people are naturally drawn to the stories in which funny, strange characters are accepted, welcomed, present and celebrated,” Nana Tuckitt said. “I feel that it’s important to tell people’s stories to understand different perspectives. There’s this huge range of lives that people live in.”
“The Wizard of Oz is a very interesting cultural hat… All generations know about the Wizard of Oz to some extent… There are a lot of original books and when you read them between the lines, I think they are inherently odd,” Hamilt said. “One way to see it: it’s so campy, so colorful and so fun…and this idea of a strange diaspora… like Dorothy is evacuated or finding her chosen family in a new land…it’s like an all-talk of the whole queer experience.”
Karamito echoed Hamirt’s point and said her LGBTQ followers (over 375,000 on Instagram and Tiktok) were showing it to her.
“You know, when I first read Oz Books, the original series of L. Frank Baum, I didn’t pick up any very strange coded themes and gender themes. “But I’m interacting with a wider audience. [Oz] Fandom turned to how obvious those themes were. ”
“When I heard about these types of people [queer]and they’re not the villains of the story – they’re not the people who are being scrutinized and blamed or separated for their own aspects – I think that’s something that excites people very much,” Tuckitt told Blade. We can be all good things, magical things. ”
Hamilt also said that, like a child, he believes that Oz’s books and stories could have been able to offer people for more than a century.
“Queer adults have to heal many inner children… excitement can go back to the book magic that first happened for you… It brings a lot of joy at face value with this book club that makes you feel like a child of the heart,” Hamilt said.
While shunning the family coming out, Tuckit continued to emphasize the sense of a community that has saved lives for LGBTQ people.
“Even at the end of the book, the lion, the scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman will all become their king… People have chosen you to become this figure for them.
The community could help readers find what Dorothy was looking for when her home landed in Oz, she explained.
“If you think about what feels like home to me, it’s not necessarily a physical place, but it’s about who I am with and the people I created the community.”
Hamilt also saw the opportunity for book club members to use the club as a goal to create real-world connections.
“It’s really easy to be sucked into your phone or social media as an adult… My hope is that this book club will get a physical book in your hands… You can meet other people who are excited about a really awful topic… Get back to this real community idea.”
Drug acts have long been a maker of community and family in the LGBTQ world. From the family in the ballroom to the unique sense of love you get when you see truly moving drugs, the artform is woven into history that adds an additional layer to the complexity of LGBTQ relationships.
“Drugs are just reflecting what we do as people and are beginning to represent a wide range of people and experiences…it’s all the same,” Tuckitt said. “Drug artists are just expressing something that they want to go out and show the rest of the world.”
“I love Drug Story Hour. I take my own daughter. I go to the Drug Branch. I love the drag queen of this family. I’m going back to classic theatres and pantomimes in Shakespeare’s time,” the Oz historian emphasized that the drug has been around for centuries despite what anti-Lgbtq conservatives say.
“The opposition to drug story hour is nothing new. We’ve been around for 10 years and there’s always been decline and flow,” explained Hamilt. “One common comment I’ve heard from homophobic or transphobic people is, “Why do you only read it to children? Why don’t you read it to adults?” The truth is, we become elderly.
When asked what queer visitors want to bring to OZ, LGBTQ members or all fans in their allies, Karamito said he hopes it will help members of the LGBTQ community generate good feelings during difficult times.
“I hope this will foster safe spaces for people to have good community outreach,” she said. “I hope this will be a place where we can dispel fear.”
For Hamilt, the goal is playful and proud. “The story is for everyone… The goal is to celebrate self-expression and imagination through odd role models that are charming, playful, proud.
Visit us for more information on joining the Book Club, where to get copies, and how to join. www.dragstoryhour.org/queer-visitors.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
