What was is like growing up in Milwaukee?

I came out as a Junior in high school, our school was very sports oriented. Me and my friend Donte were the only gay kids. I got bullied a lot. I had stuff thrown at me when I got off the bus. At one point I was going to drop out of school, I didn’t see the point of it.

As far as being a gay student, being safe is the most important thing to us. We want to feel we can go somewhere and not have to worry about our well being. Even growing up, I was always sort of an outcast. I was too weird, too gay, not good enough.

Photo by Kyle Pfister

My religious upbringing was my biggest influence to rebel. I was never religious, I never bought it. Even a kid. They tell you about heaven and where it is, and I was like but there’s space there. There is a hole in this theory already. I felt like I was too smart for it. I could never get into it. That kind of child isn’t welcome in a Catholic school setting. I found myself very isolated from other kids: misunderstood.

Were your parents supportive?

My parents are great role models for me because they’re everything I’m not. They’re very conservative Republicans who raised me to be a proper, well behaved Catholic boy. And that didn’t turn out the way they thought it would. But they loved me, they were accepting, and they kept me safe. Which is all a parent can do: make sure their child is taken care of and happy. They never once got in the way of my happiness.

Were they thrilled that I became a drag queen? Absolutely not. Would they rather I had been a football star? I’m pretty sure. But this is what made their kid happy. — Ms. Mansfield on parenting 💋

They’ve been nothing but loving and supportive since. My mom is actually my biggest fan. She knows more about Ru Paul’s Drag Race than I do, I think. She’ll constantly badger me with trivia about the show. And I’m like: mom I don’t remember, I have no clue what you’re talking about!

Photo by Selma Aly

My dad was very silent but loving. He wasn’t the type who go out of his way to show affection. But you always knew that he cared about you. He had moments where he would let the wall down and let you you in. When I got hit by a car, that’s where I really saw a genuine raw emotion in my father’s eyes. It really shook him and it was a breaking moment for him. I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about ever wanting or needing to find validation and love from him. Because I knew then he loved me.

One day I was sitting on the couch and didn’t realize my father was having a heart attack. He as just kind of sitting there. I was watching Jesus is Magic, while my father is having a heart attack, and I’m wondering why he’s not laughing. I still think to this day it was Sarah Silverman’s fault.

I was in high school, and that was a rush of mortality I wasn’t wanting to deal with in my life. It didn’t really register with me. I was in a state of shock. I just sat there quietly processing before I could even start to scream and freak out. That was a really dark time for me.

Everyone in my immediate family smoked — dad, mom, sisters. My mom had quit first, after she had me. My father didn’t quit after he had his heart attack, under the guise of this Doctors. They finally told him he had to quit.

How did your dad’s heart attack affect you?

When I was growing up, I was totally a DARE kid. I believed the Truth ads. I was scared shitless by the guy with no lung on TV. They scared me straight. I was too afraid to try smoking or any of that stuff. I never saw the point of it, never saw the glamour in it, never saw how it helped with any stress. There are other ways to channel that then puffing on a poisonous stick. Not to mention the damage you’re doing to your body.

You’re going to have terrible teeth, it’s going to screw up your skin, you get bad nails. These are all things you’re going to have to keep repairing over time because of this stupid habit. — Ms. Mansfield on tobacco 💋

Listen, I perform in bars. Some of the straight bars still have smoking in them, they weren’t supposed to, but people still smoked in them. It sucks if you have to be in an area where smoking is allowed. It hurts your eyes. It makes your stuff stink. If you have to do live singing, you’re screwed. That smoke is going to screw you up. It distracts you from your performance when people are always stealing away to smoke.

After it’s all over, after Drag Race has folded, will always have bars. We’ll always find a place to go. If they’re selling liquor there’s going to be a drag queen performing. Our spaces bring us together. Places like DIX and LaCage and This Is It, they are places we go to feel safe. Places us gay people go to have a sense of home.

The only person who should be harken down on you for anything is the drag queen asking for a tip. And that’s the way it should be. The minute outsiders come in and invade, it’s a problem. Like cigarette companies coming into our spaces now to advertise to gay people exclusively. It’s not the fifties anymore, we can tell when someone is trying to sell us something. Honey, I don’t want it. Back off.