Meet Courtney Act: the activist drag queen who took on Ann Widdecombe and won Celebrity Big Brother When Celebrity Big Brother launched in 2018 under the auspicious branding of “the year of the woman”, I did not […]

When Celebrity Big Brother launched in 2018 under the auspicious branding of “the year of the woman”, I did not expect to watch it. Not because I don’t fully support women’s equality, but because I was not convinced that CBB – which planned to introduce men in week 2 – was the best place to discuss subtle issues of equality.

“Ultimately we want straight married men with children appreciating queer culture”

Then, on the seventh day, came Shane Jenek dolled up as his drag persona Courtney Act. The vegan, genderqueer Australian entered the house with a wardrobe malfunction that left her in nothing but pants and a top.

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Courtney Act is a known singer, a famous drag queen, and an important part of how Jenek explores his own gender, and in their stint in Elstree Studios, Courtney Act turned Big Brother into a referendum on everything Britain thinks about LGBTQ+ equality. What’s more? She won.

Jenek and I have spoken once before- also for this paper– when he was known almost entirely as Courtney. The conversation became one in which he discussed the future of LGBTQ+ activism and what role Shane and Courtney played in that. “Ultimately we want straight married men with children appreciating queer culture,” he told me, saying that a conventionally pretty queen like Courtney is a crucial gateway drug for introducing straight people to gay culture. This chat, he said when we met again, was a precursor for everything Jenek went on to explore in the Big Brother House.

Winning the emotional lottery

“I won the moral and emotional lottery,” he told me a few days after his win. “It’s so magical to now have the world, certainly the UK, have seen me, know who I am and like me.” He was living off barely any sleep, having been rocketed between press junkets, breakfast TV interviews and Sunday night tequila shots with fellow housemate Andrew Brady. Nonetheless, it was clear that he was as aware of what his victory meant as every queer person in Britain was.

Courtney had read up on fellow housemate Ann Widdecombe’s policies before flashing her upon meeting in the Big Brother House. Their war of words became one of the show’s central narratives: the young activist Courtney Act versus the elderly former stateswoman who staunchly opposed LGBT equality and once pushed for pregnant prisoners to be shackled.

Within a few days of Courtney’s arrival, sat at breakfast, the two scrapped over women’s equality and the #metoo movement. It was the mark of how all their conversations would go. “I think she listened to what I said but I don’t think she heard any of it,” said Shane.

“I think that is a fundamental human quality that you need to be able to connect, to be able to feel like you’ve been heard and understood and then the response incorporates what has just been heard with one’s own beliefs and then argument back. I don’t think that ever happened with Ann.”

These arguments – which covered everything from climate change to the Roman Catholic church – were always the same: Shane’s calm explanations trying to chip away at Ann’s adamantium rhetoric. What’s more, the two of them warred it out for the top spot in the bookies, and as time went on it became clear it was a two horse race for the top.

If Widdecombe wins…

“I’ve been naked and just covered in glitter and I thought it was fabulous. But just one person made me question and feel guilt about what I was wearing.”

But would people vote for Courtney’s calm progressivism, or would the British public retreat into a homophobic, Widdecombe cocoon? Not a conversation with a fellow gay went by where we didn’t talk about the show, and it always came down to the same thing: if Ann Widdecombe wins, it’s a sign we’re not as welcome as we thought we were.

It’s something Shane was equally aware of: that this was never about changing Ann’s mind, but about making sure other people didn’t see her viewpoint as the only one. Widdecombe’s presence meant housemates were reticent to swear, and several female housemates were ashamed of wearing slightly more revealing outfits.

It even impacted Courtney. “I’ve been naked and just covered in glitter and I thought it was fabulous. But just one person made me question and feel guilt about what I was wearing.”

Yet on Shane persevered. In one of my favourite clips from the show, Courtney sat down with Wayne Sleep- who was desperate for her to be less of an activist- and refused to let Widdecombe’s remarks go unchallenged.

“Imagine if you were some young gay boy who’s fourteen years old, who hasn’t told anybody that he likes boys, and then he sees Ann. Think about that. Think about the message that sends out,” Courtney told Wayne, who eventually relented that this was, indeed, perhaps more important than calm around the breakfast table.

“I kept reminding myself I didn’t need to change her opinion,” Jenek told me. “But people were watching the conversation and hopefully their opinion would be changed.”

Jenek’s calm and eloquent approach sits at odds with that of India Willoughby, the trans newsreader who was in the house from Day 1. India had to face a lot – including deliberate misgendering and general animosity – but instead of challenging it, “she just wouldn’t let them in and so they couldn’t learn,” Jenek explained.

He was perhaps her most fierce advocate. In one scene – the one that got me hooked on this season – Jenek explains to the boys that India Willoughby is not afraid of drag queens, but afraid that people will mistake drag queens and trans women as the same thing. Based on some of the questions from male housemates, India’s fears were not unreasonable.

Doing the heavy lifting

Jenek took a similar approach in trying to make Willoughby feel comfortable with his presence in the house. Sat in the bedroom, he tried to explain why India – who identifies as a straight woman – should see how the LGBTQ+ community’s activism has benefitted her.

“We know a lot of people just see us the same and we both know that’s completely incorrect,” he told her.

Where India fled from others – often understandably – Shane was willing to do the heavy lifting to explain where they all sat on spectrums of gender and sexuality. This is heady stuff for anywhere, but it’s certainly not what you expect from a creaking reality TV franchise.

While Ann reigned supreme over the show like a cross between Aunt Lydia and Bowser, the older LGBT housemates Wayne Sleep and Amanda Barrie often acted as obstinate mini-bosses in Shane’s quest to be understood. In one moment, Wayne Sleep and Amanda Barrie take a turn about the garden, saying Courtney Act’s wardrobe malfunction entrance was far from a mistake (Shane clarified that it most certainly was).

“I’d worked with so many good drag queens, starting from Danny LaRue. They are perfectionists. And I’ve never seen one drop his props,” growled Amanda Barrie.

“It doesn’t wash with me,” purrs Wayne, while Shane sits meditatively in the bedroom.

Too radical

While an elderly straight woman tearing down a young gay activist may seem standard, watching other members of the LGBT community turn on Shane for being too radical was just as depressing. In one exhausting moment, Amanda Barrie said that she had no issue with Widdecombe’s opposition of civil partnerships now because she was very happily in one, seemingly ignoring the fact that this was in spite of Ann and not because of her.

“They have made their contributions in their own way, in their own generation,” said Jenek, “[but] it’s a privileged situation to not know how you came to have your rights.”

The one ray of light, then, was the straight men of the house. While John Barnes came under flak for making what some saw as homophobic remarks, Jenek says he absolutely loved talking to the ex-footballer. “He always talked about how he holds these views because he grew up in a world and a generation where he was socialised that way,” said Jenek, “acknowledging that is the first step to moving through it.”

But the other boys were perhaps Courtney’s biggest advocates. Even the rampantly misogynist Dapper Laughs became an ally for her, let alone the former Apprentice candidate Andrew Brady who, flirtatious and coy as he was, is a long-term advocate for LGBT equality due to his best friend and sister both being gay.

It’s the morning after the night before and @itsandrewbrady and @dapperlaughs have only one thing to talk about… Shane J @courtneyAct. #CBB pic.twitter.com/LKoiGObiqg — Big Brother UK (@bbuk) January 14, 2018

“I think that touched [Shane] more,” Andrew explained at one point to Dapper, “the fact that we’re like ‘yeah you’re just one of the fucking lads, you’re wearing fucking six inch heels, bum implants, fake tits, and a face full of makeup and a wig but you’re one of the lads.”

It was these allies – who were willing to bring out the light side of Jenek as much as sit down and talk about gender identity – that he really appreciated in the house.

“It’s one thing to be an activist inside your own community, but having an ally on the outside just then takes it to a whole new level,” said Jenek, “taking the conversation beyond the echo chamber, and doing it in a way that’s accessible and palatable.”

Before Big Brother, Jenek was pretty much exclusively known as Courtney. She was the pretty and deadpan one, but now people are interested in both sides of Shane, and especially in what they have to say. Jenek is touring the UK and Australia over the next few months but is already in meetings to discuss further projects.

“They’re all interested and there’s a level of interest and respect. People want to hear what I have to say and how I say it. It’s kinda fascinating to experience that,” said Jenek, with an undefeatable smile spread across his face.

Perhaps, then, for all its faults, Big Brother’s format has merit when it comes to showing the multitudes and the subtleties in arguments of equality and representation. Which makes sense: it may have just given birth to the Commonwealth’s most prominent LGBT activist.

“We’ve had enough of sensational polarisation,” said Jenek. “People are interested in the conversation again.”