{"id":289,"date":"2025-03-11T13:55:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T17:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/dragaroundtheworld\/?post_type=chapter&p=289"},"modified":"2025-05-14T17:15:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T21:15:58","slug":"title-jules-kyi","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/dragaroundtheworld\/chapter\/title-jules-kyi\/","title":{"raw":"Drag as Anti-Authoritarian Resistance","rendered":"Drag as Anti-Authoritarian Resistance"},"content":{"raw":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nAs the music begins, Emi Grate looks out at the audience, coming into the light to reveal a traditional Burmese outfit, bedazzled. She takes a deep breath before beginning to sing, her live vocals debuting with the line \u201cit won\u2019t be easy\u201d. Her performance toes the line between emotional and satirical as she performs her take on \u201cDon\u2019t Cry for Me Argentina\u201d, instead coining it \u201cDon\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma\u201d (Grate 2024). She plays with the original lyrics, singing \u201call you will see is the boy you once knew, although he\u2019s dressed up as a girl - and don\u2019t I look good?\u201d She raises her arms in the air as she proclaims that she chose freedom. Emi is a drag artist from Mandalay, Myanmar[footnote] this piece, the terms Myanmar\/Burma, Myanmar\/Burmese may be used interchangeably, to reflect the language used by Myanmar people.[\/footnote], now active in the drag scene in Brooklyn, USA. Her choice of freedo\r\n\r\nm is evident in her playful drag name, her \u201cchoice\u201d was to migrate, or to leave. Moving forwards, Emi alters the lyric \u201cmy mad existence\u201d to \u201cmy queer existence\u201d, proclaiming that her love for Burma persists beyond the barriers presented by her queerness within the state. She closes with her hands to the air and spotlight, surrounded by trumpeting music and uproarious applause.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_447\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\"]\"\" Figure 1 - Grate, Emi. Don\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma (2024).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThis moving piece, first introduced in 2016, was performed again when Emi appeared at Dragistan, her work reflecting upon the past several years of post-coup violence throughout the state of Myanmar. This piece, and its growth throughout Emi\u2019s performances in 2016, 2019, and 2024, will be explored with the aim of further understanding of how Emi merges identity and performance through this emotional work. Considering Richard Schechner\u2019s seven functions of performance, I want to focus on Emi\u2019s work as created to heal and to make or foster community (Schechner 2020), specifically within the unique authoritarian political environment of Myanmar.\r\n\r\nIn Myanmar, discussions and experiences of gender performance are fraught with prejudice and suppression. Still, Myanmar people hold their own language of defining and situating queerness, as well as a long history of community activism. In 2021, democratic leadership was overthrown in a violent coup (Ratcliffe 2024). Since then, freedom of expression and gathering has been extremely limited, and LGBTQ+ persecution has been further solidified (Poore 2021). This background leads to the key question of to what extent does drag\u00a0performance play a role in anti-authoritarian sociopolitical movements in Myanmar? Here, it will be asserted that Myanmar drag exists as anti-authoritarian political resistance with the capacity to build community and inspire protest amongst repressive military violence.\r\n\r\nDragistan - Emi Grate 2024<\/a>\r\n\r\nTo establish my own positionality in relation to this subject, I am a queer Burmese-Canadian undergraduate student. I was born in Canada, to a father born and raised in Yangon, Myanmar. In my early youth, I visited Myanmar, where many of my family members and loved ones still reside. Since the military coup, I have not been able to return. This research therefore exists from an insider-outsider standpoint. Additionally, my research compiles both direct testimony from interviewing and corresponding with Emi Grate, alongside additional literature.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_450\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"\" Figure 2 - Sun, Maung. LGBT Protestors in front of Cityhall roadblock Yangon. 2021.[\/caption]\r\n

Literature Review<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nExisting literature surrounding LGBTQ+ people in Myanmar highlights the role of queer people in political activism. The Politics of Love in Myanmar introduces and defines key terms used to identify LGBTQ+ people in the State, while also identifying queer political mobilizations (Chua 2018). Similarly, Gender Construction, Inequality, and LGBT Participation in the Politics of Myanmar discusses the blockades to political participation for LGBTQ+ people, while also aiming to understand gender as a performance within Myanmar (Nant Mu Say 2024).\r\n\r\nIn Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Minorities in Transition, the dichotomous language of non-normative identity in Myanmar is unpacked, asserting that the status you are accorded is greatly dependent on your perception as what Western notions would refer to as \u201ctop\u201d or \u201cbottom\u201d (Chua and Gilbert 2015).\r\n\r\nFurther repositioning drag outside of normative Western understandings, Rafael Ramirez (2024) identifies the importance of drag as anticolonial, engaging in research within the Filipino drag scene. This analysis evidences how drag has been co-opted in the West for profit, without consideration of its political and revolutionary power. In a similar vein of anticolonial scholarship, Winter Han (2023) contributes that Asian drag queens experience intersecting forms of oppression, but also argues that drag presents a valuable opening for performers to feel \u201cattractive and desirable within a context that defines them as neither\u201d.\r\n\r\nOnce again considering comparable projects, Yue et al. (2010) discuss the situation of Asian drag queens in Australia - a physical border-crossing that can provide relevant insights on Emi Grate\u2019s positionality as a Myanmar performer now living in the Global North. Yue et al. identify that the traversing of boundaries by Asian drag queens is often both concrete and metaphorical, a shift in physical positioning and outside of enforced norms.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_451\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"\" Figure 3 - Ninjastrikers. Protest against military coup. 2021.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile there is evidently existing (albeit limited) literature regarding LGBTQ+ existence in Myanmar, this can not be equated with Myanmar drag research. There are present academic discussions taking place concerning political movements and activism in the LGBTQ+ sphere, but there is a notable gap where I wish to situate my work, surrounding the capacity of drag to play a meaningful role in political resistance and constructing hope amongst authoritarianism. In particular, discourse on Myanmar drag in academia is virtually nonexistent, an absence that is concerning due to the large population of people that this conversation is relevant to. Therefore, this research aims to build upon investigations of queer Myanmar politics to establish a direct dialogue around Myanmar drag and political empowerment.\r\n
\r\n

Queer Terminology in Myanmar<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn understanding dynamics of queerness and political engagement in Myanmar, it is important to decenter Western notions of LGBTQ+ terminology. Instead, labels often used in Burma to denote non-normative expression of gender\/sexuality include apwint, ap\u00f4n, and thu nge. Apwint, meaning open, indicates an individual assigned male at birth who presents feminine (this term is often applied to drag performers). Alternatively, an ap\u00f4n, or \u201chider\u201d is someone who is both assigned male and presents masculine, but has an emotional association with femininity. Thu nge, or \u201cguy\u201d, holds a dual meaning, implying heterosexuality but also the perceived \u2018male\u2019 role in sexuality; a penetrating-penetrated dynamic is evident in Burmese LGBTQ+ vocabulary. Each of these terms implicates gender\/sexuality (a united concept in Myanmar) as a performed role. This can be considered alongside Judith Butler\u2019s (2015) assertion that \u201cgender is prompted by obligatory norms [...] gender is thus always a negotiation with power\u201d. Linking these ideas to drag, gender and performance are linked in Burmese linguistics, and experimenting\/playing with gender holds capacity to challenge dominant power structures.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Queer Political Engagement in Myanmar\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nFrontier Myanmar, an anti-junta publication, called LGBTQ+ revolutionaries Myanmar\u2019s \u201crainbow heroes\u201d (Frontier 2023). In the aftermath of the 2021 military coup, queer folks experienced abuse and torture while fighting for the restoration of democracy. In Burmese, terms of gender and sexuality are more intertwined than in English, and the community is tirelessly advocating for basic rights, without the space to consider LGBTQ+ discourses that may exist in Western contexts. In light of this, it is important to recognize that while \u201cis drag queer?\u201d may be a fraught question in other sociopolitical contexts, the answer within Myanmar is a definitive yes. For Emi, queerness, being Burmese, and performance are intertwined: \u201c[My drag] stories sooner or later involve Burma because that\u2019s who I am\u201d (Grate 2025).\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[audio mp3=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/dragaroundtheworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2361\/2025\/03\/RPReplay_Final1744593827.mp3\"][\/audio]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_452\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"295\"]\"\" Figure 4 - Grate, Emi. Don\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma. 2019.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nEmi immigrated before the coup, first to study theatre in America, then remaining in America through seeking asylum. Her drag is often connected to politics and engagement, with Emi stating \u201cI\u2019ve been able to perform within Burmese circles, and I\u2019ve also been performing in Burmese outside Burmese circles. The way I\u2019ve gotten involved with political revolutionary activism is that this time, it\u2019s all hands on deck. [...] So I feel like this love letter act I\u2019ve created has been seen and heard a little more\u201d (Grate 2025). Don\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma, the love letter Emi makes reference to, evidences the kinship of queer and Burmese identity.\r\n\r\nUnder the junta, queer folks and drag performers are subject to isolation and repression. In an interview with XXJudgement (2021), Emi Grate says that before immigrating, she \u201cknew of crossdressers. [She] knew that they were a social class that we don\u2019t interact with\u201d. Today, internet connection and international communication is expensive and difficult to come by. Therefore, drag performers within Myanmar face challenges in building a platform, or finding safe spaces for expression. It is important to consider the role of queer populations in Myanmar political activism to emphasize the community\u2019s desire for community and justice. Prior to the coup, activists felt hopeful about a future progressive LGBTQ+ legislation, and in 2019 the city of Yangon hosted a \u201cDrag Queen Olympics\u201d (Thet Su 2019). Post-coup, however, discussing or disseminating drag performances\u00a0 is not only difficult, it is dangerous.\r\n\r\nHere, we can establish that the queer community as a whole in Myanmar plays a key role in countering the ongoing violence occurring in the military state. Further, we can then question the specific role of drag in opposing oppressive regimes.\r\n

Drag Revolution in Authoritarian Contexts\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\u201cDrag performers should be of interest to political science because they are community leaders, activists, issue leaders, celebrities, and often the target of significant political backlash\u201d (Kammerer Jr., Michelson & Harrison 2025). Looking at Myanmar politics, drag by Myanmar performers or within Myanmar can be situated as an act of resistance against authoritarian governance. Under the military dictatorship, to be visibly queer is to risk imprisonment. Further, Burmese bodies engaging in drag are challenging colonial boundaries of drag: \u201cdrag becomes a moment to turn these violent projects on their heads, to wield these imperial histories for small, but not inconsequential gain\u201d (Khubchandani 2023, 64). Performing drag of colour is a defiant act in opposition to wider global frameworks of injustice and Western-centrism which perpetuate Myanmar\u2019s crises.\r\n\r\nStudying drag in the Myanmar context is far from simple, as media rarely flows in or out, amongst heavy and arbitrary censorship. However, comparable political contexts can offer insight into the anti-authoritarian potential of drag. Castellano, Rios, and Ferreirinho (2022) present applicable evidence to how, within the Brazilian context, conservative governments take advantage of the highly visible performances of drag to engage in fear-mongering surrounding LGBTQ+ populations.\r\n\r\nMoreover, Emi uses elements of Burmese culture in her drag performance as a revolutionary assertion of healing and comfort, in opposition to authoritarianism. Examining Emi\u2019s performances, elements of Burmese fashion can be found.\u00a0Emi speaks on this choice, saying \u201cMy gender exploration started with comfort seeking behaviour, like there\u2019s a specific sense to my mother\u2019s vanity with Thanaka (Burmese cosmetic cream shown in Figure 5) and the L\u2019Oreal and Olay that she uses [...] We think of drag\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_453\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"\" Figure 5 - BrainIndependent, Thanaka Cosmetic Paste. 2018.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nas, like hair, makeup, fashion because those are the clearest markers of gender. I also like to think of scent and texture as part of the gender experience.\u201d Whilst authoritarianism \u201cpositively predicts antagonism toward rights for minority groups\u201d (Miller et. al 2017), we can assert through the framework of Schechner (2020), that drag performance has the capacity to facilitate healing.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[audio mp3=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/dragaroundtheworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2361\/2025\/03\/RPReplay_Final1744594363.mp3\"][\/audio]\r\n

Imagining Myanmar Drag Futures<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nIn Emi Grate\u2019s performance, a desire to reconnect with Myanmar, and for the country to feel her persevering love for the culture and people is evident. After leaving Myanmar, Emi has had the ability to connect with and ignite passion in queer Southeast Asian communities across geographical zones. The potential of drag and performance to foster community is evidenced in her biography written by Tamar Sella, which states that Emi utilizes \u201cher own upbringing and cultural background to validate and celebrate queerness\u201d (Sella 2020).\r\n\r\nEnvisioning a future of anti-authoritarian drag in relation to Myanmar, drag can destabilize the future of colonial governance and oppression. Per Khubchandani (2023, 151), \u201cdrag can mobilize the aesthetics of gender, race, Indigeniety, class, and disability to recall and speak back to multiple and overlapping legacies of colonialism.\u201d Drag is artful and adaptive, meaning it can morph to recognize and address the context its enactments operate in. Khubchandani (2023) further emphasizes that the play of decolonial drag makes evident the possibilities of a world beyond violence or injustice.\r\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nLGBTQ+ folks play a pivotal role in political movements within Myanmar\u2019s military state, countering authoritarian violence and fighting for progressive policy and restoration of democratic governance. Further, Myanmar drag and drag within authoritarian states stands as performed acts of resistance, visibly refusing to be silenced. In the case of Emi Grate, since coming to the U.S. in 2011 and seeking asylum (Sella 2020), she continues to perform her calls for justice for Burma. Moreover, drag in\/in relation to Myanmar has a future filled with potential for further community, unity, and justice-seeking. Ultimately, this research aims to express the capacity of drag to play a meaningful role in political resistance and constructing hope amongst authoritarianism.\r\n\r\n \r\n

References<\/h1>\r\n\u20182021 Myanmar Crisis: Implications for LGBTQ People | Outright International\u2019. Accessed 13 April 2025. https:\/\/outrightinternational.org\/insights\/2021-myanmar-crisis-implications-lgbtq-people.\r\n\r\nAnonymous. \u2018Introducing Emi Grate\u2019. Insight Myanmar (blog), n.d. https:\/\/insightmyanmar.org\/insight-myanmar-blog\/2022\/1\/15\/introducing-emi-grate.\r\n\r\nButler, Judith. Notes towards a Performative Theory of Assembly. The Mary Flexner Lectures of Bryn Mawr College. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard university press, 2015.\r\n\r\nChua, Lynette J. The Politics of Love in Myanmar: LGBT Mobilization and Human Rights as a Way of Life. Stanford Studies in Human Rights. Stanford, California: Stanford University press, 2019.\r\n\r\nChua, Lynette J., and David Gilbert. \u2018Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Minorities in Transition: LGBT Rights and Activism in Myanmar\u2019. Human Rights Quarterly 37, no. 1 (2015): 1\u201328. https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/pub\/1\/article\/569666.\r\n\r\nEmi Grate Sings \u2018Don\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma\u2019 \u2014 Live at Dragistan, 2024. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-K6m_LQUSCo.\r\n\r\nFerreirinho, Gabriel, Daniel Rios, and Mayka Castellano. \u2018\u201cBoys Wear Blue, Girls Wear Pink\u201d: Drag Queens, Fake News and Gender Controversies in a Conservative Brazil\u2019. In Drag in the Global Digital Public Sphere, 2023.\r\n\r\nFrontier. \u2018Myanmar\u2019s \u201cRainbow Heroes\u201d Demand Democracy and Acceptance\u2019. Frontier Myanmar (blog), 24 June 2023. https:\/\/www.frontiermyanmar.net\/en\/myanmars-rainbow-heroes-demand-democracy-and-acceptance\/.\r\n\r\nGrate, Emi. Interview by Author, 23 March 2025.\r\n\r\nHan, C. Winter. \u201815. The Fierce World of Gay Asian Drag\u2019. In Male Femininities, edited by Dana Berkowitz, Elroi J. Windsor, and C. Winter Han, 210\u201325. New York University Press, 2023. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.18574\/nyu\/9781479870585.003.0018.\r\n\r\nHlaing, Kyaw Hsan, and Emily Fishbein. \u2018How Myanmar\u2019s Pro-Democracy Protests Are Giving a Voice to LGBTQ+ People\u2019. TIME, 5 March 2021. https:\/\/time.com\/5944407\/myanmar-democracy-protests-lgbtq\/.\r\n\r\n\u2018Interview with Emi Grate, New York City, New York - Media Collections Online\u2019. Accessed 13 April 2025. https:\/\/media.dlib.indiana.edu\/media_objects\/cf95jw25w\/section\/6969zk11j.\r\n\r\nJr, Edward F. Kammerer, Melissa R. Michelson, and Brian F. Harrison. \u2018Politics Should Be a Drag: Why Political Science Needs to Take Drag Seriously\u2019. PS: Political Science & Politics, 20 January 2025, 1\u20136. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S1049096524001100.\r\n\r\nJUDGEMENT. \u2018Burmese Drag Artist Emi Grate Discusses Myanmar Military Coup \u2014 And Getting Naked At Bushwig\u2019. Substack newsletter. JUDGEMENT (blog), 10 November 2021. https:\/\/judgement.substack.com\/p\/drag-artist-emi-grate-reflects-on.\r\n\r\nKcmmaung. \u2018Out In The Open: Emi Grate, Drag Queen\u2019. YANGON LITERARY MAGAZINE (blog), 14 February 2017. https:\/\/ygnlitmag.wordpress.com\/2017\/02\/14\/out-in-the-open-emi-grate-drag-queen\/.\r\n\r\nKhaleim, Nant Mu Say. \u2018Gender Construction, Inequality, And Lgbt Participation In The Politics Of Myanmar\u2019. Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024), 1 May 2024. https:\/\/scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu\/legacy-etd\/3329.\r\n\r\nKhubchandani, Kareem. Decolonize Drag. First printing. Decolonize That! New York London: OR Books, 2023.\r\n\r\nMiller, Patrick R., Andrew R. Flores, Donald P. Haider-Markel, Daniel C. Lewis, Barry L. Tadlock, and Jami K. Taylor. \u2018Transgender Politics as Body Politics: Effects of Disgust Sensitivity and Authoritarianism on Transgender Rights Attitudes\u2019. Politics, Groups, and Identities 5, no. 1 (2 January 2017): 4\u201324. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/21565503.2016.1260482.\r\n\r\nRamirez, Ian Rafael. \u2018Provincial Drag in the Philippine Tropics: Towards a Decolonial Queer Tropical Aesthetics\u2019. eTropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics 23, no. 2 (15 October 2024): 100\u2013123. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.25120\/etropic.23.2.2024.4031.\r\n\r\nRatcliffe, Rebecca. \u2018Four Years after the Coup, Chaos Reigns as Myanmar\u2019s Military Struggles\u2019. The Guardian, 31 January 2025, sec. Global development. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2025\/jan\/31\/myanmar-military-coup-anniversary.\r\n\r\nSchechner, Richard. Performance Studies: An Introduction. Fourth edition. London New York: Routledge, 2020.\r\n\r\nSu, Eaint Thet. \u2018Cross-Dressing in Myanmar: From Mystical Brides to Lip-Synching Queens\u2019. Frontier Myanmar (blog), 22 September 2019. https:\/\/www.frontiermyanmar.net\/en\/cross-dressing-in-myanmar-from-mystical-brides-to-lip-synching-queens\/.\r\n\r\nThotyssey. \u2018On Point With: Emi Grate\u2019, 13 September 2016. https:\/\/thotyssey.com\/2016\/09\/13\/on-point-with-emi-grate\/.\r\n\r\nYue, Audrey, Fran Martin, Peter Jackson, and Mark McLelland. \u2018King Victoria: Asian Drag Kings, Postcolonial Female Masculinity, and Hybrid Sexuality in Australia\u2019. In AsiaPacifiQueer. University of Illinois Press, 2010.\r\n\r\n ","rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As the music begins, Emi Grate looks out at the audience, coming into the light to reveal a traditional Burmese outfit, bedazzled. She takes a deep breath before beginning to sing, her live vocals debuting with the line \u201cit won\u2019t be easy\u201d. Her performance toes the line between emotional and satirical as she performs her take on \u201cDon\u2019t Cry for Me Argentina\u201d, instead coining it \u201cDon\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma\u201d (Grate 2024). She plays with the original lyrics, singing \u201call you will see is the boy you once knew, although he\u2019s dressed up as a girl – and don\u2019t I look good?\u201d She raises her arms in the air as she proclaims that she chose freedom. Emi is a drag artist from Mandalay, Myanmar[1]<\/sup><\/a>, now active in the drag scene in Brooklyn, USA. Her choice of freedo<\/p>\n

m is evident in her playful drag name, her \u201cchoice\u201d was to migrate, or to leave. Moving forwards, Emi alters the lyric \u201cmy mad existence\u201d to \u201cmy queer existence\u201d, proclaiming that her love for Burma persists beyond the barriers presented by her queerness within the state. She closes with her hands to the air and spotlight, surrounded by trumpeting music and uproarious applause.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 1 – Grate, Emi. Don\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma (2024).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This moving piece, first introduced in 2016, was performed again when Emi appeared at Dragistan, her work reflecting upon the past several years of post-coup violence throughout the state of Myanmar. This piece, and its growth throughout Emi\u2019s performances in 2016, 2019, and 2024, will be explored with the aim of further understanding of how Emi merges identity and performance through this emotional work. Considering Richard Schechner\u2019s seven functions of performance, I want to focus on Emi\u2019s work as created to heal and to make or foster community (Schechner 2020), specifically within the unique authoritarian political environment of Myanmar.<\/p>\n

In Myanmar, discussions and experiences of gender performance are fraught with prejudice and suppression. Still, Myanmar people hold their own language of defining and situating queerness, as well as a long history of community activism. In 2021, democratic leadership was overthrown in a violent coup (Ratcliffe 2024). Since then, freedom of expression and gathering has been extremely limited, and LGBTQ+ persecution has been further solidified (Poore 2021). This background leads to the key question of to what extent does drag\u00a0performance play a role in anti-authoritarian sociopolitical movements in Myanmar? Here, it will be asserted that Myanmar drag exists as anti-authoritarian political resistance with the capacity to build community and inspire protest amongst repressive military violence.<\/p>\n

Dragistan – Emi Grate 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

To establish my own positionality in relation to this subject, I am a queer Burmese-Canadian undergraduate student. I was born in Canada, to a father born and raised in Yangon, Myanmar. In my early youth, I visited Myanmar, where many of my family members and loved ones still reside. Since the military coup, I have not been able to return. This research therefore exists from an insider-outsider standpoint. Additionally, my research compiles both direct testimony from interviewing and corresponding with Emi Grate, alongside additional literature.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 2 – Sun, Maung. LGBT Protestors in front of Cityhall roadblock Yangon. 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Literature Review<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Existing literature surrounding LGBTQ+ people in Myanmar highlights the role of queer people in political activism. The Politics of Love in Myanmar introduces and defines key terms used to identify LGBTQ+ people in the State, while also identifying queer political mobilizations (Chua 2018). Similarly, Gender Construction, Inequality, and LGBT Participation in the Politics of Myanmar discusses the blockades to political participation for LGBTQ+ people, while also aiming to understand gender as a performance within Myanmar (Nant Mu Say 2024).<\/p>\n

In Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Minorities in Transition, the dichotomous language of non-normative identity in Myanmar is unpacked, asserting that the status you are accorded is greatly dependent on your perception as what Western notions would refer to as \u201ctop\u201d or \u201cbottom\u201d (Chua and Gilbert 2015).<\/p>\n

Further repositioning drag outside of normative Western understandings, Rafael Ramirez (2024) identifies the importance of drag as anticolonial, engaging in research within the Filipino drag scene. This analysis evidences how drag has been co-opted in the West for profit, without consideration of its political and revolutionary power. In a similar vein of anticolonial scholarship, Winter Han (2023) contributes that Asian drag queens experience intersecting forms of oppression, but also argues that drag presents a valuable opening for performers to feel \u201cattractive and desirable within a context that defines them as neither\u201d.<\/p>\n

Once again considering comparable projects, Yue et al. (2010) discuss the situation of Asian drag queens in Australia – a physical border-crossing that can provide relevant insights on Emi Grate\u2019s positionality as a Myanmar performer now living in the Global North. Yue et al. identify that the traversing of boundaries by Asian drag queens is often both concrete and metaphorical, a shift in physical positioning and outside of enforced norms.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 3 – Ninjastrikers. Protest against military coup. 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While there is evidently existing (albeit limited) literature regarding LGBTQ+ existence in Myanmar, this can not be equated with Myanmar drag research. There are present academic discussions taking place concerning political movements and activism in the LGBTQ+ sphere, but there is a notable gap where I wish to situate my work, surrounding the capacity of drag to play a meaningful role in political resistance and constructing hope amongst authoritarianism. In particular, discourse on Myanmar drag in academia is virtually nonexistent, an absence that is concerning due to the large population of people that this conversation is relevant to. Therefore, this research aims to build upon investigations of queer Myanmar politics to establish a direct dialogue around Myanmar drag and political empowerment.<\/p>\n

\n

Queer Terminology in Myanmar<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In understanding dynamics of queerness and political engagement in Myanmar, it is important to decenter Western notions of LGBTQ+ terminology. Instead, labels often used in Burma to denote non-normative expression of gender\/sexuality include apwint, ap\u00f4n, and thu nge. Apwint, meaning open, indicates an individual assigned male at birth who presents feminine (this term is often applied to drag performers). Alternatively, an ap\u00f4n, or \u201chider\u201d is someone who is both assigned male and presents masculine, but has an emotional association with femininity. Thu nge, or \u201cguy\u201d, holds a dual meaning, implying heterosexuality but also the perceived \u2018male\u2019 role in sexuality; a penetrating-penetrated dynamic is evident in Burmese LGBTQ+ vocabulary. Each of these terms implicates gender\/sexuality (a united concept in Myanmar) as a performed role. This can be considered alongside Judith Butler\u2019s (2015) assertion that \u201cgender is prompted by obligatory norms […] gender is thus always a negotiation with power\u201d. Linking these ideas to drag, gender and performance are linked in Burmese linguistics, and experimenting\/playing with gender holds capacity to challenge dominant power structures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Queer Political Engagement in Myanmar\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Frontier Myanmar, an anti-junta publication, called LGBTQ+ revolutionaries Myanmar\u2019s \u201crainbow heroes\u201d (Frontier 2023). In the aftermath of the 2021 military coup, queer folks experienced abuse and torture while fighting for the restoration of democracy. In Burmese, terms of gender and sexuality are more intertwined than in English, and the community is tirelessly advocating for basic rights, without the space to consider LGBTQ+ discourses that may exist in Western contexts. In light of this, it is important to recognize that while \u201cis drag queer?\u201d may be a fraught question in other sociopolitical contexts, the answer within Myanmar is a definitive yes. For Emi, queerness, being Burmese, and performance are intertwined: \u201c[My drag] stories sooner or later involve Burma because that\u2019s who I am\u201d (Grate 2025).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 4 – Grate, Emi. Don\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma. 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Emi immigrated before the coup, first to study theatre in America, then remaining in America through seeking asylum. Her drag is often connected to politics and engagement, with Emi stating \u201cI\u2019ve been able to perform within Burmese circles, and I\u2019ve also been performing in Burmese outside Burmese circles. The way I\u2019ve gotten involved with political revolutionary activism is that this time, it\u2019s all hands on deck. […] So I feel like this love letter act I\u2019ve created has been seen and heard a little more\u201d (Grate 2025). Don\u2019t Cry for Me, My Dear Burma, the love letter Emi makes reference to, evidences the kinship of queer and Burmese identity.<\/p>\n

Under the junta, queer folks and drag performers are subject to isolation and repression. In an interview with XXJudgement (2021), Emi Grate says that before immigrating, she \u201cknew of crossdressers. [She] knew that they were a social class that we don\u2019t interact with\u201d. Today, internet connection and international communication is expensive and difficult to come by. Therefore, drag performers within Myanmar face challenges in building a platform, or finding safe spaces for expression. It is important to consider the role of queer populations in Myanmar political activism to emphasize the community\u2019s desire for community and justice. Prior to the coup, activists felt hopeful about a future progressive LGBTQ+ legislation, and in 2019 the city of Yangon hosted a \u201cDrag Queen Olympics\u201d (Thet Su 2019). Post-coup, however, discussing or disseminating drag performances\u00a0 is not only difficult, it is dangerous.<\/p>\n

Here, we can establish that the queer community as a whole in Myanmar plays a key role in countering the ongoing violence occurring in the military state. Further, we can then question the specific role of drag in opposing oppressive regimes.<\/p>\n

Drag Revolution in Authoritarian Contexts\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cDrag performers should be of interest to political science because they are community leaders, activists, issue leaders, celebrities, and often the target of significant political backlash\u201d (Kammerer Jr., Michelson & Harrison 2025). Looking at Myanmar politics, drag by Myanmar performers or within Myanmar can be situated as an act of resistance against authoritarian governance. Under the military dictatorship, to be visibly queer is to risk imprisonment. Further, Burmese bodies engaging in drag are challenging colonial boundaries of drag: \u201cdrag becomes a moment to turn these violent projects on their heads, to wield these imperial histories for small, but not inconsequential gain\u201d (Khubchandani 2023, 64). Performing drag of colour is a defiant act in opposition to wider global frameworks of injustice and Western-centrism which perpetuate Myanmar\u2019s crises.<\/p>\n

Studying drag in the Myanmar context is far from simple, as media rarely flows in or out, amongst heavy and arbitrary censorship. However, comparable political contexts can offer insight into the anti-authoritarian potential of drag. Castellano, Rios, and Ferreirinho (2022) present applicable evidence to how, within the Brazilian context, conservative governments take advantage of the highly visible performances of drag to engage in fear-mongering surrounding LGBTQ+ populations.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Emi uses elements of Burmese culture in her drag performance as a revolutionary assertion of healing and comfort, in opposition to authoritarianism. Examining Emi\u2019s performances, elements of Burmese fashion can be found.\u00a0Emi speaks on this choice, saying \u201cMy gender exploration started with comfort seeking behaviour, like there\u2019s a specific sense to my mother\u2019s vanity with Thanaka (Burmese cosmetic cream shown in Figure 5) and the L\u2019Oreal and Olay that she uses […] We think of drag<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 5 – BrainIndependent, Thanaka Cosmetic Paste. 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

as, like hair, makeup, fashion because those are the clearest markers of gender. I also like to think of scent and texture as part of the gender experience.\u201d Whilst authoritarianism \u201cpositively predicts antagonism toward rights for minority groups\u201d (Miller et. al 2017), we can assert through the framework of Schechner (2020), that drag performance has the capacity to facilitate healing.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/dragaroundtheworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2361\/2025\/03\/RPReplay_Final1744594363.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/p>\n

Imagining Myanmar Drag Futures<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In Emi Grate\u2019s performance, a desire to reconnect with Myanmar, and for the country to feel her persevering love for the culture and people is evident. After leaving Myanmar, Emi has had the ability to connect with and ignite passion in queer Southeast Asian communities across geographical zones. The potential of drag and performance to foster community is evidenced in her biography written by Tamar Sella, which states that Emi utilizes \u201cher own upbringing and cultural background to validate and celebrate queerness\u201d (Sella 2020).<\/p>\n

Envisioning a future of anti-authoritarian drag in relation to Myanmar, drag can destabilize the future of colonial governance and oppression. Per Khubchandani (2023, 151), \u201cdrag can mobilize the aesthetics of gender, race, Indigeniety, class, and disability to recall and speak back to multiple and overlapping legacies of colonialism.\u201d Drag is artful and adaptive, meaning it can morph to recognize and address the context its enactments operate in. Khubchandani (2023) further emphasizes that the play of decolonial drag makes evident the possibilities of a world beyond violence or injustice.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

LGBTQ+ folks play a pivotal role in political movements within Myanmar\u2019s military state, countering authoritarian violence and fighting for progressive policy and restoration of democratic governance. Further, Myanmar drag and drag within authoritarian states stands as performed acts of resistance, visibly refusing to be silenced. In the case of Emi Grate, since coming to the U.S. in 2011 and seeking asylum (Sella 2020), she continues to perform her calls for justice for Burma. Moreover, drag in\/in relation to Myanmar has a future filled with potential for further community, unity, and justice-seeking. Ultimately, this research aims to express the capacity of drag to play a meaningful role in political resistance and constructing hope amongst authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/h1>\n

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Media Attributions<\/h2>