“I have to reclaim it because my ancestors didn’t have that right.”
“I always describe drag as a microphone,” says Chelazon Leroux over a video call. “It’s something that amplifies your voice.” Leroux, whose offstage name is Layten Byhette, is calling from Vancouver the day after attending British Columbia’s second-annual Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQIA+ Celebration and Awareness Day. “It was a long day and a lot of hard work, but it was the best — celebrating with a bunch of Two-Spirit people.” “Two-Spirit” refers to an Indigenous person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit. “It’s like the bridge between the two worlds,” explains Leroux.
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Growing up in Saskatchewan, Leroux moved around a lot due to her parents’ teaching jobs. “We lived on different reserves and in different communities, but none of them were my home reserve, so I never really had a connection to what my identity was supposed to be as an Indigenous person,” she says. Simultaneously, when it came to gender identity, Leroux was taught from a young age that boys should stay away from traits and hobbies that could be perceived as “feminine,” like dressing up or speaking in a high voice. “Even dressed in a Halloween costume at four years old, I saw that disapproval from my dad,” she recalls.
So when it came to exploring her own identity, Leroux had her “aha” moment after watching season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2014. “I grew up in small towns and on small reserves, so I don’t think I had an understanding of queerness,” she says. “Even if there were Two-Spirit people on reserves, it wasn’t openly talked about, so Drag Race was the first time I saw someone I could identify with; I saw people who were unafraid of being themselves and expressing…
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