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Everything You Need to Know About Drag Queen Bingo

Wednesday November 14, 2018

The past 10 years have been groundbreaking for the LGBT community. The Western world has celebrated milestone after milestone as many countries have taken steps towards greater freedoms of expression and identity. That's seen waves of LGBT events crop up here, there and everywhere — everything from festivals, to marches and other events celebrating an era of increasing acceptance and equality in society.

Among these hundreds (if not thousands) of activities promoting the values of the LGBT community, is drag queen bingo — a craze that's sweeping the gaming world. Read on to see what it's all about.

The Origins of Drag Queen Bingo

Drag queen bingo is in many ways a natural partnership — pairing one of the world's most popular games with one of its most eclectic communities.

It all came about in the 1990s, when a group of gay men decided to inject some fun into traditional bingo halls. Judy Werle was the director of the Chicken Soup Brigade in the early 1990s, a charity group raising funds for people with AIDS. Werle was looking for new, innovative ways to raise money for the group — and one day she had a lightbulb moment. Werle pinpointed bingo halls as a lucrative place to raise funds.

After all, bingo halls had remained unchanged for decades and were due an overhaul. They were packed with people who didn't mind parting with their cash to stand a chance of winning a jackpot — and Werle figured that these punters would welcome an injection of gay-friendly entertainment, as would the gay community. She was right.

Werle chose the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — drag queens who dressed as nuns — to host the Chicken Soup Brigade's first ever gay bingo night. The success was unparalleled, with queues streaming around the block.

Ever since that day, drag queen bingo events have gone from strength to strength, to the extent that they now no longer solely attract a gay crowd — but a universal audience.

The Impact of Gay Bingo

In 2001, TV director Glenn Holsten released the documentary "Gay Bingo" after attending a bingo event. Holsten was moved by a family who were attending to celebrate the life of a son they had lost to AIDS — and that inspired him to get out his camera lens and make the film.

"Gay Bingo" highlighted the inclusive diversity of the event, illustrating the fact that people from all sexualities, races and age demographics could take part in the game. The publicity that came from the documentary led to similar events cropping up across the US in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Drag Queen Bingo Events Across the World


Today there are dozens of iterations of drag queen bingo throughout the world — with many of them raising money and awareness for a range of LGBT causes.

  • In Canada, contestants from "RuPaul's Drag Race" — a hit show on Netflix — host Cosmic Drag Queen Bingo in Halifax. The event managed to raise over $65,000 for AIDS charities in its first year alone.

  • In the USA, Shirli Stevenz and her harem of girls take to the stage in Guildford to stage Green Queen Bingo, where they entertain punters with their sequin-filled hilarity to raise money for the Guilford Green Foundation. Based in Greensboro, NC, the foundation is mainly focused on striving for equality for its LGBT members, but also for helping those that have been marginalised for any reason.

  • In the Netherlands, Amsterdam plays host to one of the most well attended drag queen bingo events in the world. Every Tuesday night some of the biggest drag queen's in the city as well as special guests from around the world host an evening of fun and bingo in the Queen's Head — Amsterdam's oldest gay bar.

  • In the UK, Cara Melle and Tayce hosted London's first drag queen bingo event at Tonkotsu Ramen, a Japanese restaurant. The events were a huge success and have since become a regular and lucrative feature at the restaurant.

    The Most Fabulous Names in Drag Bingo

    Chad Michaels. The larger-than-life, gregarious Michaels was the winner of the first season of "RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars." Now he continues his association with RuPaul by co-hosting the Cosmic Drag Queen event alongside Lady Bunny in Halifax,

    Canada.

    Cara Melle and Tayce. This eccentric duo play host to the drag queen bingo in Tonkotsu Ramen Soho and they are two of the biggest talents in the industry. Their inimitable blend of comedy, glamour and dry wit make them a hit with guests — and both have been tipped to go on to bigger and better things.

    Miss Tabitha. Not only is this perfect name for your cat, but it's also the name of the host in chief at the Queen's Head in central Amsterdam. Her act is almost an homage to Dame Edna but her biggest skill is transcending humor in both English and Dutch at her live events.

    Summary

    While the past 10 years have seen widespread progress, there's still a lot of work to do to protect LGBT rights across the world. This is particularly an issue in the U.S., where President Trump recently suggested he was "looking at" the issue of transgender rights.

    Drag queen bingo is just one way the LGBT community is coming together to unite people of all persuasions around values of acceptance, identity and equality. We look forward to seeing how it continuing to develop as it has over the past 10 years, over which time it's played a key role in representing the LGBT community in mainstream society.