MY PRONOUNS ARE “TRY ME”

“My pronouns are ‘try me’” is a mini-reportage about the Lebanese drag queen “Zuhal” (@kawkabzuhal) with whom I had the pleasure to meet and work on a personal trip to Beirut.

Zuhal, who he describes as glamorous and beautiful, perceptive and sarcastic – is a focus on Arab culture and what he calls “Arab drag” and has become one of the most influential personas in the Arab Drag World.

When I ask Ziad if drag is a way for him to escape some of the problems he faces every
day, he replies “It’s like pouring ‘gas on fire.” In a country prone to exaggeration, with exaggerated problems, doing something exaggerated is not an easy path. “But,” says Ziad, “I have the confidence that is needed if you want to create change in a place like this and I feel that it is my responsibility to do so.”