Austin Pride Welcomes Its First Female Drag Queen to the Stage

Boredom with her corporate job and a recently failed relationship lead a then 47-year-old Jackie Huba at a loss for what to do next with her life. In a nutshell, she felt stuck and knew she needed to reinvent herself, regain her confidence and get back out there. While watching an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, lightning struck: Drag isn't just staged performances, she realized, in fact, we are all doing drag every day. Drag isn't just about dressing up but how we act, what we say and how we say it.

Jackie was so inspired by these ideas, that she created her own drag persona, Lady Trinity, and wrote a book called Fiercely You: Be Fabulous and Confident by Thinking Like a Drag Queen. She's also given a TEDx talk on the matter. 

This weekend (August 27), Lady Trinity will perform at Austin Pride, a first for a cis female drag queen. Luckily we caught up with her before she takes off to the Lone Star state to talk transformation and Trinity:
 

OutTraveler: How did you discover your alter ego, Lady Trinity?
Lady Trinity: In creating my alter ego, I first thought about women and female characters I admired for their fearlessness. My last book was about Lady Gaga, so I knew how Stefani Joanne Angelina Germonatta had created a fierce, bold persona to help her feel powerful when starting out so young in the male-dominated, misogynistic recording industry. I also love Trinity from the Matrix movies, who is a badass leather and vinyl-wearing female character who holds her own alongside male hackers fighting against the machines. So I put the two names together to create Lady Trinity, a bold dominatrix-styled vixen who can rock a pair of thigh-high boots and command her backup dancers as her playthings.

OT: What does performing as a drag queen allow you to do that just being a woman does not?
LT: As women, society judges us, often harshly, on our appearance, our strong personalities and our ambition. So in turn, many of us women, myself included, tone ourselves down and conform to the roles that society demands so we won't stand out and draw this criticism. As Lady Trinity, I am not afraid to be bold and outspoken. I’m also not afraid to assert my sexuality through my costuming. Jackie is 51-years old and still gets uncomfortable showing cleavage or wearing short dresses. Lady Trinity is sexy as hell, and she isn’t afraid to flaunt it.

OT: How have you been received by the rest of the drag community?
LT: I’ve found the drag community to be extremely accepting of women who do drag. They’ve told me they love seeing anyone love the art form as much as they do. My drag mother, Kelly Kline, a twenty-five year drag veteran here in Austin, Texas, has been my biggest mentor and cheerleader. My drag sisters in Austin and San Antonio have also been extremely supportive, offering tips on costuming, wig styling, etc. And I’m so honored to have the support of RuPaul, who so kindly endorsed my new book, Fiercely You: Be Fabulous and Confident by Thinking Like a Drag Queen, with a quote for the cover. 

OT. What about your friends and family?
LT: Many of my friends in Austin are LBGT and have supported me from day one. In fact, several of them have been in my performances as backup dancers! I think my family back in Pittsburgh is still not sure what the heck I am doing. The first time I told my mom I was going to become a drag queen, she just nonchalantly said “that’s nice” and directed the conversation to the weather in Austin. 

OT: How do you respond to your detractors?
LT: I don’t. To paraphrase Mama Ru, unless the haters are paying my bills, I pay them bitches no mind.

OT: A multi-part question: Where did you first perform as Lady Trinity? What did you perform? What were you feeling before, during and after?
LT: I first performed as Lady Trinity at Oil Can Harry’s, a gay club here in Austin. My drag mother, Kelly Kine, is the host of Sunday night drag shows there, which always feature a queen from RuPaul’s Drag Race. I performed “Amazing” by Hi Fashion with two male backup dancers. I had never seen a woman do drag at this club before, so I wasn’t sure how the crowd would react to me. The club was absolutely packed and we decided to enter the stage from the front instead of back and almost couldn’t make it through the crowd. I was already really nervous and I started panicking because the lyrics had started and we weren’t even close to getting on the stage. But somehow we worked it out. The energy of the crowd was electric and it gave me such confidence! After we finished, it all seemed like a blur, but I felt like I had just tackled something that was terrifying and made it though. I was proud of myself!

OT: If you're willing to divulge, what will you be performing in Austin?
LT: I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but it is unlike any performance I’ve ever done. I decided to do a topical theme, given we are right in the middle of a political season. So just imagine a pantsuit-wearing badass showing an orange-faced character who’s boss.
 

To find out more about Jackie and her alter-ego, Lady Trinity, visit her website EnterTheQueendom.com.