November 25, 2025 • 45 mins
Why is drag being mainstreamed? To find the answer, we tell the story of Blake Howard – author of From Mascara to Manhood. Blake is a former drag queen that gives a unique insight into the twisted phenomenon sweeping the nation. The mainstream media loves a gender transition story – but they’ll never air Blake’s transformation…because it brings to the surface perhaps one of the most-taboo subjects in modern American culture. Special Note: Contains some adult subject matter.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Red Pilled America.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
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I think you're going to love it, and be sure
to share, like, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you're
listening to it. We need you guys support. Tell a
friend about the show. This is how people hear about
it is through word of mouth, and now on with
the show. This episode was originally broadcast on February tenth,
twenty twenty three. No matter where you turn, you can't
(00:47):
avoid seeing a man wearing a dress. It's on our
TV shows.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm somewhere I never expected to be as a scrappy
dive bar drag queen.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
In movies You make me a woman. It's even at
your local library.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Queen's Story Hour.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
You might have seen flyers for it at your local library.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Men wearing mescera have even brought their strip club style
act into all ages events.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Family Friendly Drag Show in Denver is ruffling some feathers.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So called all ages drag shows are popping up all
over the country, drag shows for kids.
Speaker 6 (01:20):
One of them was held the other day in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
With all these guys and gowns, it's got to make
you wonder why is drag being mainstreamed.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I'm Patrick Carrelci and I'm Adrianna Cortez, and.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
This is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
This is not another talk show covering the day's news.
We are all about telling stories.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Stories. Hollywood doesn't want you to hear stories.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The media marks stories about everyday Americans. If the globalist ignore.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
You could think of Red Pilled America as audio documentaries.
And we've promised only one thing, the truth.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Welcome to Red Pilled America.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Who would have guessed that all age drag shows would
become a trend? Drag queens are being mainstreamed in America?
But why? To find the answer, we tell the story
of Blake Howard, author of From Mescuera to Manhood. Blake
is a former drag queen that gives a unique insight
into the twisted art form sweeping the country. The mainstream
(02:36):
media loves a gender transition story but they'll never air
Blake's transformation because it brings to the surface perhaps one
of the most taboo subjects in modern American culture.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Come on, Blake Howard's early upbringing doesn't exactly scream future
drag queen.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I grew up in a smaller town in North Georgia,
the suburbs of Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
That's Blake.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
My parents raised me and my brother both on very
traditional values.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Blake's brother is fourteen years older than.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Him, just kind of that good old boy Southern type mentality.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
The family joined a megachurch in their town.
Speaker 7 (03:24):
And was a part of that.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
On Sunday Wednesday, Basis and I called that home. It
was very, very simple life, the slow Southern life.
Speaker 7 (03:34):
I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
By Blake's account, in his younger years he was a spoiled,
rotten kid that lived the cushy suburban lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
We had just about everything we wanted and everything we needed.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
But his relationship with his father was a bit lacking.
Speaker 7 (03:50):
My dad worked really hard for the money.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
He made, so it wasn't around much.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I may not have had the best relationship for the
closest relationship with my father, but he was always working,
always trying to progress our family.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Blake could feel the absence. Now everyone knows that there's
been a decades long debate on whether people are born homosexuals. Well,
Blake is a data point in favor of the born
this Way camp, but he has a twist on the
argument that doesn't make it into the media.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
I always had a higher voice.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
I dressed pretty preppy and wild colors as well, so
I did.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
Get teased a lot, I got bullied a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I started realizing that there was something different about me
when I was about.
Speaker 7 (04:32):
Six or seven years old.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I realized that when some of the girls in my
class would talk about how they thought certain guys were
cute and whatever, I found myself feeling the exact same way.
But it was never something I ever mentioned or talked
about because I felt like there was something wrong.
Speaker 7 (04:49):
Like I was like, Okay, I shouldn't feel these feelings.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
But young Blake hadn't learned that having the same sex
attraction was wrong at his megachurch. You see, by the
time Blake was sitting in the pews, churches all across
the country had gone through somewhat of a sh shift.
Ministers had just been through an over a decade long
confrontation with the LGBTQ community, and in many enclaves of America,
it changed the fabric of the pulpit.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
By the mid nineteen seventies, an effort to normalize homosexuality
was in full swing in Hollywood. The campaign was progressing,
but by the early eighties a new development hindered the project.
Speaker 8 (05:32):
Scientists at the National Centers for Disease Control and at
LATA today released the results of a study which shows
that the lifestyle of some male homosexuals has triggered an
epidemic of a rare form of cancer.
Speaker 9 (05:46):
More than eight hundred cases nationwide, three hundred plus of
those fatal, and every day three more cases are identified.
And yet still surprisingly few people are familiar with the
Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome, or the acronym by which it's
frequently identified AIDS. When AIDS first cropped up about eighteen
(06:12):
months ago, almost all its victims were homosexual males who
frequently changed sexual partners.
Speaker 10 (06:18):
Investigators have examined the habits of homosexuals for CREWS.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I was in the fast lane at one time in
terms of the way that I lived my life and
now an.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
The AIDS epidemic put the sexual habits of homosexuals, especially
gay men, under scrutiny. By nineteen ninety, many pro family
Christian organizations attempted to combat the spread of their lifestyle.
Speaker 6 (06:45):
Larry Lee, he is leading an army of three hundred
thousand prayer warriors into daily spiritual combat, and he's challenging
you to make your home God's alter. The doors are
opening to the nations of the earth for this prayer message,
which will change your life. God is going to raise
up a new power of Christian When we go into battle,
we lock it.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
We have declared war against the enemy, and there's no
al turning back the spirit of witch crowd.
Speaker 11 (07:11):
We just needed someone to pull us together and go
to war.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
On October thirty first, nineteen ninety, televangelist Larry Lee looked
to bring his congregation to the epicenter of the gay community,
San Francisco.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
It is a televangelist's assault on San Francisco, but the
so called sinners, including gays and pro choice advocates, say
they'll fight it.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Lee in a group of other pastors planned to hold
a prayer meeting at San Francisco's Civic Center on Halloween night.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
We got himself and his karma into trouble when he
announced his visit to exercise the city of its spirit
of perversion. Lee intends that spirit runs wild in San Francisco,
not just on Halloween, but every night of the year.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We believe in in traditional value, so Judeo Christian value,
so that our country was founded apart. The city's gay
populace was outraged that Lee and his congregation would enter
the Bay Area community promoting their Christian morals.
Speaker 11 (08:03):
And I don't feel that he should come to San
Francisco and try to mess with our lifestyle. He's calling
people perverts, he's calling the community of San Francisco devil worshipers.
Speaker 12 (08:12):
And it's not something that can be taken lightly or
ignored because what his language.
Speaker 7 (08:17):
Does is it fosters physical attacks.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I think they're Nazis.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
I think that they need an agenda to keep their
political thing going.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
You know those dollars rolling in. He's nuts.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
He's a dangerous nuts Christian.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
He's criticizing gay people and saying that San Francisco is perverse.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
We know it is, but we like it that way.
Speaker 9 (08:38):
A group called Ghost for Grand Homosexual outrage at sickening
televangelists lands a protest rally outside the prayer service.
Speaker 12 (08:46):
We are going out there and we're saying no to
some very evil people.
Speaker 13 (08:50):
And they're evil because they're they're bigots, they're homophobes, and
they want everyone to believe like they believe.
Speaker 9 (08:54):
And we're just going out to say.
Speaker 14 (08:56):
No, thank you.
Speaker 13 (08:57):
We're alive, we like our lives. We're going to party
and uh, we say no to you.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Hundreds of gays, lesbian's, nudists, and drag queens gathered outside
the San Francisco Civic Center.
Speaker 13 (09:07):
The demonstrators arrived at the same time as the churchgoers.
At first, everyone kept their distance, protesters chanting on one
side of the street, worshippers praying and healing people on
the other as they waited for the hall to open.
Speaker 7 (09:25):
I'll tell you where the real love is.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
It is when you make a commitment and you get
married to a woman.
Speaker 15 (09:30):
Soon, most of the two thousand chanting demonstrators crossed Grogue Street,
approaching the worshippers, and police moved in to try to
create a protective barrier between the two sides. Bus loads
of churchgoers, meantime, refused to get out because of demonstrators
who circled the exit.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
You should have people out here protecting the right of
law by the citizens.
Speaker 9 (09:50):
One thousand co homosexual protesters blocked the entrance to the auditorium.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
The Christians had to fight their way into the building
and fight to be heard.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
The LGBT community was outraged that the Christians came to
their backyard, so they decided to return the favor. A
militant gay organization affiliated with the San Francisco protesters, a
group called Queer Nation, began targeting churches, claiming that their
congregations were hateful homophobes.
Speaker 11 (10:26):
Two groups come together formon church members gathering for their
annual conference Homosexuals and Lesbians, a group called Queer Nation
gathering to challenge the church.
Speaker 8 (10:37):
The group called Queer Nation is angry about a speech
given by General Authority Boyd k Packer.
Speaker 10 (10:43):
Queer Nation is a local group with ties to the
national organization known for its radical protests across the country.
The Salt Lake chapter is angry about what it says
are anti gay messages from LDS church leaders. Three of
the group's members told KUTV they're demonstrating tomorrow against statements
about gays.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Well today the LDS Church reiterated did it stand on homosexuality.
In a written statement, the church says, quote, we believe
in the worth of each individual, that each is loved
and valued by God. We do not condone the homosexual act,
just as we do not condone any sexual relations outside
of marriage. However, we do care about and love each individual.
Speaker 12 (11:21):
There was a Christian rally going on in the steps
of City Hall at the same time, Queer Nation with
having what they call a kiss in to demonstrate their sexuality.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
For the next decade, gay groups and the media targeted
Christian organizations, branding their beliefs as bigoted, homophobic, and hateful.
By the time young Blake Howard began sitting in the
pews in the early two thousands, many churches shied away
from directly addressing the Bible's teachings on homosexuality, including his megachurch. Again,
(12:01):
Blake Howard, it's like.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Very very clear in the Bible what the Biblical views are.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
Now people don't preach.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
About it or talk about it because they're afraid to
start a riot and get people all mad and have
the LGBTQ community coming after them.
Speaker 7 (12:18):
Because they decided to preach about it in the full pit.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So Blake was left to make his own assessment of
the gay lifestyle, but his father's sentiment didn't leave much
to the imagination.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I remember we were at a dinner and my dad
so we had been talking.
Speaker 7 (12:34):
About American Idol, and I remember.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
There was one particular singer that I really like. Of course,
at the end of the day, I thought it was attractive.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Blake's mom said that he'd recently mentioned in an interview
that he was.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Gay, and the moment that my mom said that, my
dad was like, well, we don't talk about bags.
Speaker 7 (12:52):
So honestly, I had the notion that it was not okay,
that it was bad, but I just didn't know why.
I knew about Jesus.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
And I knew that he loved me and this kind
of basic things, but I didn't understand why this was wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Today, Blake believes in the born this Way notion, but
he has an interesting take on the debate.
Speaker 7 (13:13):
I agree with the same menia.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I was born this way because again, like I was
one of those people that had those feelings very early,
very young.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
When you are six and seven years old and you're
feeling these feelings, towards the same sex.
Speaker 7 (13:28):
It's like, what else do you really and truly blame
it on.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
I mean, you can blame it on the media you watch,
or you can blame it on this, that, and the other.
But just as the Bible says we're born into sin,
the Bible also says that we have to be born again.
I mean, I really believe that the Word of God
just tells us directly like everyone's born into sin.
Speaker 7 (13:49):
Period. The Bible says we're all born into sin.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
In other words, Blake actually sees born this way homosexuality
as original sin. So Blake recognized his same sex attraction
at a young age, but then something happened that broke
the barrier of his resistance.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Fast forward towards like the end of the my age
of seven, I actually ended up getting molested. And at
first it was presented to me by like a game
essentially and involved like a kid that was like about
my age, that I was really close friends with, and
we hung out all the time, we rode bikes and
we played and then like later other adult, like another
(14:30):
adult got involved. His older brother got involved in it.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Blake says, the older brother was fourteen.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
It was never really like, oh, you can't talk about this,
and they tried to like shut me up. I just
didn't ever talk about it because I honestly I didn't
want to not be able to hang out with my
friends anymore.
Speaker 7 (14:46):
But at the same time, like I didn't want to
get into trouble.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I never really like had the idea that they did
anything wrong. I was like I mentally, for me, it
was all like I did something wrong and I didn't
want to get in trouble for it.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
I was already feeling these feelings and then I I
went through.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
This like sexual experience, and I say that that kind
of like sealed the deal, like that really like it
harvested the seed, like the seed was there, and that
was really what solidified it, because now I had some
sort of like physical idea to put with the way
I was feeling.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
The event led Blake down a wormhole.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
And that was like the time of iPod touches, so
I had got one of those. I was googling different
things trying to understand what was happening to me, like
why I liked it, why was different, like why it
made sense to the way.
Speaker 7 (15:41):
I was feeling.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
And I mean, of course my very first sexual experience
was it was with another guy. So it was like
this crazy and just weird mindset was put inside of
me that marriage is for men and women and sex
is for men and men. And although that sounds like
very silly and kind of alandish, just for that's that's
(16:06):
what my child mind was thinking.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
By the time Blake reached high school, he was into
just about everything the girls were into, including theater.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So I was like this theater kid eventually just finding
a place where I kind of belonged in this like
theater type world. That way I could like express myself
and be who I wanted or I thought I could be.
And I had friends tell me that I would make
a really good gay best friend, and a lot of
people were just like, you should just be gay already,
and I was like, I'm not gay, Like I don't
(16:58):
like guys, And it was really just because like I again,
for whatever reason, and I knew it was wrong, I
just didn't know why.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
During his sophomore year, Blake recalled that a gay boy
in as theater class began to befriend him.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Then I ended up telling him like, I know you
like me, and I just want to tell you like,
I don't like you back, I don't like guys, and
I'm sorry. And I think that it was really about
senior year that I was kind of like, okay, like
maybe I like guys.
Speaker 7 (17:23):
Maybe I'm just going to kind of go into this
and go for it.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And just as Blake came to this realization, a part
came up in his theater program that would eventually turn
his world upside down.
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while Blake Howard was in his senior year of high school,
(18:57):
he finally started to warm up to the idea that
he was gay.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Maybe I like ours, Maybe I'm just I kind of
go into this and go for it.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Right around this time, his school's theater program announced that
they be producing an adaptation of Hairspray. The original nineteen
eighty eight movie, written and directed by John Waters, included
a role played by a drag queen. The role was
a pivotal one within the gay community.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
You see.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
John Waters, who was openly gay, had been one of
the earliest filmmakers to insert drag queens into his work.
In his first full length film, the nineteen sixty nine
Mondo Trash Show, mister Waters based the film around a
drag queen that went by the stage name Divine. In
the years that followed, drag queens would slowly begin to
make their way onto the big screen. The nineteen seventy
(19:43):
five cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show featured actor Tim
Curry as a colorful drag queen. Skirt wearing men began
trickling onto the little screen as well. In nineteen seventy six,
Charles Pearce, a drag queen, appeared on the MERV Griffin Show.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
I had to tip the driver with my bottle a
La Guy Amy Jane Joe.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
The following year, mister Pierce made a brief appearance on
Starskan Hutch dressed in drag. Later that same year, TV
producer Norman Lear put a drag queen on the wildly
famous sitcom All in the Family.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Don't Beverly Look Beautiful?
Speaker 9 (20:23):
Holy?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Oh Yeah?
Speaker 14 (20:26):
Oh yeah, look beautiful Beverly. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
By the early nineteen eighties, drag queens were making regular
appearances in Hollywood, Fair.
Speaker 16 (20:35):
Higery, Welcome Back in the Show, and Gentleman. John Waters
is the man responsible for making Divine a movie star.
He has been in his movies Female, Trouble of Pink, Flamingos,
Polyester in Multiple Maniacs.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
By the mid nineteen eighties, just as the AIDS epidemic
was in full swing, UK pop Sensation Culture Club grabbed
the Best New Artist Award the Grammys, and the group's
popular lead singer, Boy George gave drag Queen's mainstream credibility.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Thank you, America, You've got tys style.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
And you know a good drag free when you say so.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
By the time John Waters began producing his film Hairspray,
the damn he helped crack broke open enough for him
to include a drag queen into a primary role in
his mainstream big screen picture.
Speaker 14 (21:27):
Could you turn that Racket down? I'm trying to iron
in here.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
The character's name was Edna Turnblad and it was played
by mister Waters's original drag queen star, Divine. The part
became iconic to the gay community. So when Blake's high
school theater program announced they'd be doing Hairspray. He knew
which role he'd be auditioning for.
Speaker 7 (21:48):
It was Edna Turnblad in Hairspray.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
And when they announced that we were going to be
doing Hairspray, I was like, I knew exactly what I.
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Wanted because I knew I'd like I knew that I wanted.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
To play that role and it was like a traditional
like drag role, and they were going to cast a
guy for this particular role anyway, and I was like,
I want to do it.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Blake spoke to his mother telling her he wanted to
go out for the part, but he played it down
so she wouldn't suspect anything. You see, Blake still hadn't
come out to his friends and family. Sure flares were
going off like the finale of a centennial Fourth of
July fireworks show, but Blake stidn't openly cop up to it.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
I auditioned, did everything, and successfully got the role, and
I kind of like dove into that. Literally after every show,
I would just get like just raving reviews. People were
just like literally obsessed with it, the whole production and
the role. They were like, oh my god, she did
an incredible job. Like I thought they hired a forty
(22:50):
year old woman to be that. I had no idea
that was you. I had no idea that was a
guy like you did it amazing. That was probably the
best role I've ever seen you in. And you know,
you're so talented. And it was just like all the
stuff and growing up like bullied the way I was,
and then also at the same time, like I just
honestly never felt like I was enough. I never felt
like I was enough for my dad. I never felt
(23:11):
like I was enough for my brother. I had this
like measuring stick next to me all the time that
was completely self created. That was nothing that anyone really
ever held me to. It was just something that I
was like, I'm never going to measure up. I'm never
going to be like my brother, I'm never going to
be like my dad, you know, all these kind of things.
So when everyone started giving me these compliments, all of
(23:34):
these years of feeling like not being enough just disappearing
in a moment, I was like, this is where it's at.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Blake graduated high school in twenty fourteen. He began dating
a guy, but he still didn't want to come out
of the closet.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
I didn't want to tell people really that I was gay,
So that was our biggest argument.
Speaker 7 (23:59):
That was the biggest thing. So we just split ways.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
And at the time, I was like broken hearted and
I thought that I had lost love and I thought
I had lost like the best thing that ever happened
to me. So I just started getting really promiscuous and
I started like sleeping around with different people and different guys,
and I wasn't being safe.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Blake was a big young man two hundred and fifty pounds,
but he would meet guys on dating apps in locations
that left HI vulnerable to shady characters, all for fifteen
minutes of perceived pleasure. The interactions felt hollow to him.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I still had this like empty space even after like
losing him and then starting hooking up with tons of
different guys. I was kind of like, I still have
this weird hole in my heart, Like I don't know
what the heck to do, Like I just don't feel
completely satisfied.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
To fill the void, Blake started thinking about the one
thing that made him feel good.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Then I was like, you know what, Like what if
I just started doing drag again? Like what if I
did I actually became a drag queen and not just
like left it as that one role.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
At that time, makeup tutorials were starting to be huge
on YouTube. Blake began watching them.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
I had no idea where to even begin or how
to get myself into the drag scene because the reality
is it's really hard to even get yourself in there
without any like connections or like knowing people.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
So I was kind of going into a completely blind Just.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
As Blake had this epiphany, the mother of a high
school friend reached out to him. The mother had seen
his performance in Hairspray.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
She called me up and was like, Hey, I know
this is random, this out of the blue, but I
am doing like this charity thing and tons of companies
have gone together and we're raising money for said charity.
And at the end of today's event, like all of
the companies are supposed to send a drag queen to
the stage and.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
They're going to do a show and people are going
to give.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
You money while you're performing, and then like whoever raises
the much money and has the best performance.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
When Blake immediately accepted, so.
Speaker 7 (26:05):
Then I was like, yes, I'll totally do it all.
I'm there I'm down.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Blake began piecing together a costume, a wig, address, some
high heels. He put what he learned from the YouTube
makeup tatorials into practice, and he was off and running.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
I got there to the event and the mom was like, okay,
I need a name, like who what is your name
going to be? And the first thing that came to
my head was Velma, And so that was when she
kind of became real.
Speaker 7 (26:37):
She was born.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Velma was a nineteen sixties housewife, big blonde hair, a
very chic fashionista.
Speaker 7 (26:45):
So I did the performance and everyone loved it. Everyone
had such a good time. Tons of money was given
to me.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Just like his hairspray performance. Blake was showered with compliments.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
And I was like pumped with all of that and
immediate like just affection and people are just like obsessed
and they wanted more. And I kind of finally felt
like there was a place for me to step out
of my own shoes and jump into this whole different
character that didn't have the same problems as me. Everybody
(27:19):
loved her like she didn't have problems with people, she
didn't get bullied, she was just.
Speaker 7 (27:23):
Her and everyone loved her and That's why I.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Really considered it a whole person that she's born, because
it's like she didn't have the same set of issues
I did, and when I became her, it was like
completely different. I didn't have to hold back or like
be secretive or you know, like keep everything down low anymore.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Blake wanted to keep it going. He sought out some
drag clubs to go to, but the problem was Blake
was still living with his parents, who still didn't know
he was gay, so he began to sneak out late
at night.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
So a lot of the times, I would like go
to friends' houses and then get ready and then we
would go to a bar, we'd go to something, or
if I had a performance or whatever.
Speaker 7 (28:02):
Put the reality is like even when I was there,
you know, I wasn't old enough to be in these clubs.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
He was eighteen and nineteen years old going to twenty
one and over clubs.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
But when you show up and drag, no one really
like questions your age or you know who you are
or what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Blake's promise huity continued.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Like I was hooking up with thirty forty year old
men and they were either married or like secretly closeted gay.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
I was looking for acceptance from another dude.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I heard this minister talk about the subject one time,
and he used to struggle with homosexuality. He was saying
that one day he realized that homosexuality is just perverted lust.
It all boils down to just lust, but it also
boils down to jealousy.
Speaker 7 (28:56):
And you are so jealous of this other person. You
are looking for another person and that has everything that
you are not.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
This explanation resonated with.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Blake, And when I looked at my life and I realized,
I was like, that makes so much sense. You're sitting
there and you are already craving attention from a guy
because you didn't really get it from your father, you
didn't really get it from your older brother, you didn't
really have male role models. But as a boy, that
is something very natural that boys yearn for, is to
(29:31):
be like close with another man, to teach.
Speaker 7 (29:34):
Them how to be a boy, teach them how to
be a man, show them how to hunt.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
It's just our natural instincts kicking in as children. And
then you bring that in with this idea of like
he has everything I don't have, Like he's skinny, he's
better looking, he has great parents, And instead of like
feeling hatred toward that person, your mind begins to just
develop a love and a lust for that person. And
(30:00):
so it's like people begin to completely disconnect themselves from
the truth and begin to chase after something that they've
never had. And I think that my malestation it played
a huge role in that, because it gave me the
physical language to kind of put with the way I
(30:22):
was feeling. And then Okay, this is what happens when
you get close to guys, and this is what happened
when you get close to men. And then it was
just like, you know, it all started from just needing
a hug from your father.
Speaker 7 (30:36):
Every once in a while.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Too. Now you're sleeping in a bed with a man,
And is it just I didn't get hugged by my
bed my dad. No, But I mean it begins to
really like solidify that when you're already struggling with all
these things and then you end up having a sexual experience,
it's like everything shifts.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
The problem mbscuity didn't make Blake hole. So he began
self medicating. He started drinking heavily. He picked up a
cocaine habit. Then one night he almost overdosed.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
I felt my heart racing, I felt my body doing
a lot of things that my body's never done before.
And I was actually watching one of my friends puking,
and I was just like, Lord, like, if you give
me through this, like I will stop doing drug.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Blake survived the night, and he wanted to go clean.
As he came out of his drug filled haze, Blake
started to become disillusioned by the whole drag spectacle.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I was realizing that everyone was just so obsessed with
this character and not of me, Like they would give
me instant gratification when I was this person, this bell
my character, But when I was Blake, like no one
cared about me, no one noticed me I was anything special.
It was like, I don't want to do this anymore,
because like why would I want to have to be
(31:57):
somebody else just for people to like me? Like this
is getting exhausting, Blake.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I started contemplating hanging up his wig. He applied for
a role at the disney World Theme Park in Orlando.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Florida, and I was like planning on moving down there
and doing that, and that was going to be my
escape from getting away from all the drugs and all
the craziness, and it was going to give me some
time to think about whether or not I wanted to
continue doing drag.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
And my mom.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Was like, well, like, what do you think about going
to this ministry school that's in Alabama.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Blake's cousin was attending the ministry school as well, but
Blake wasn't interested.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
It was in the middle of nowhere and at the time,
like all I really had was like a Walmart and
a Taco Bell.
Speaker 7 (32:39):
So I was like, I'm not not going there, and
my mom was like, well, just go.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
And try it. If you hate it, in November when
you come back for Thanksgiving, you can leave and I'll
help him move to Orlando.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Blake decided to give it a try. He applied and
got in. He still wasn't sure that he wanted to
quit doing drag, but he reluctantly went to Alabama, and
when he did, he had an experience that shifted his
entire perspective on life. Do you want to hear red
(33:12):
Pilled America stories ad free then become a backstage subscriber.
Just log onto Redpilled America dot com and click join
in the top menu. Join today and help us save
America one story at a time. Come on, Welcome back
to red Pilled America. Whoa so Blake Howard decided to
(33:37):
listen to his mom and give an Alabama ministry school
a try. He arrived a few days before orientation and
he was in a bit of a mood. He didn't
want to be there. He didn't want to talk to anyone,
didn't want anyone to know anything about him. The first
thing he did was connect with his cousin. They decided
to go to a church service at the school.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
So we went to the just like the regular Wednesday service.
That wasn't very many people there because the school. Everybody
from the school was there yet, and I remember like
everybody was moving towards the front to like start worship.
Church was about to start, and I was like what
is everybody doing? And my cousin was like, just come,
like let's go worship.
Speaker 7 (34:15):
And I was like okay.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Church wasn't new to Blake. He knew what to do
and began just going through the motions.
Speaker 7 (34:21):
So music started. Everybody's like jumping throwing their arms around,
and I was.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Like, okay, all these people are crazy.
Speaker 7 (34:29):
But I just decided to.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Join in because I was like, I don't want to
look like the weird.
Speaker 7 (34:32):
One not doing this.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
And I started losing myself in this worship. I didn't
understand what was happening. I started feeling joy. I started
feeling happiness, Like I was like, why am I so
like happy right now?
Speaker 7 (34:46):
Like I had just never felt it like this before.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Then the music transitioned to a slower.
Speaker 7 (34:52):
Song, and all of a sudden, this presence entered the room.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
It just brought this peace and this freedom, and it
was just like a the love of God just filled
the room in one moment, and I just I felt
so free. I didn't know how to like even articulate it,
because I never felt a presence that tangible before.
Speaker 7 (35:15):
In my entire life. I had grown up in church, and.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
This was kind of the same, but just like a
little bit more old and southern, and so I was
just kind of like, what is going on? And then
I remember just like I felt the presence of the
Lord in such a way that I was like, I
don't want to do any of this anymore, Like I
don't want this.
Speaker 14 (35:36):
You are strong, you are brave, you are all human
to be everything you ever changed came.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
I let go of the drugs and the alcohol and
all that kind of stuff at the altar, and then
the same weekend I decided like I was going to
follow Jesus for real.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
But he still had one internal conflict.
Speaker 7 (35:56):
The one thing I was like, I'm still I mean,
I'm still gay.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Like yay, I'm sober and I'm a good person again,
but I'm still gay.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
After orientation, he had to follow through on a commitment
he'd already made. He'd agreed to perform drag at a
cabaret type show in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
And I remember getting ready for that role and before
when I had been putting on the makeup and putting
on the facade and I slipped on my wigs and.
Speaker 7 (36:22):
All that kind of stuff, I felt different. I felt free.
I felt like, oh, I can be a different person.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
And no one has to know that Blake has all
these problems and all these insecurities. If he wants to kill.
Speaker 7 (36:31):
Himself, Velma just gets to be someone that new.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
And this time, when I was putting on my makeup,
I was putting on everything.
Speaker 7 (36:39):
I was like, I really don't want to do this anymore.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Blake did his performance, but when he stepped off the stage,
something was different.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
And I just remember having that moment of just like
I don't want to do this anymore, and letting go
of this drag persona and letting go of this like
false identity of like playing pretend all the time to
get away from my problems. It was like I tried
to find freedom in it, and then I only found
bondage in it.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
In seventy two hours, Blake says he had a transformation.
Speaker 7 (37:10):
Yeah, I just had an encounter with Jesus, and that's
all it took.
Speaker 14 (37:14):
You are strong, you are brave. You are only meant
to me. Everything you ever changed game true when you left.
When we cry, I'll be always on your side. And
thank God for you and me. Thank God for.
Speaker 13 (37:41):
You and me.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Blake left the drag Queen's charade behind him. He went
back to ministry school and finished out the year, but
when he went home to Atlanta, he began to revert
a bit to his old lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
I wasn't in my church bubble anymore, and I was alone,
and I started like messing up and sleeping with dudes.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
And then I would get back and I would feel
like hell. I would feel like crap.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
I felt like I'd disappointed God or I disappointed my
leaders or whatever.
Speaker 7 (38:12):
And it was probably the roughest.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Year of my life. And then my second year of
ministry school came around and I got a job at
Olive Garden.
Speaker 7 (38:24):
As a server.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
A bunch of the servers were students at his ministry school,
including a young lady.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
We realized like we had a lot in common. We
started carpboards together with another friend and this girl was like, oh, yeah,
I used to be gay.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
She was actually engaged at one point to another woman.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
She ended up coming to a conference at the ministry
school and completely got wrecked by God, and we.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
Kind of realized that we kind of had the same story.
We were like pot heads.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
We did drugs, We drink a lot, and we got
crazy and partied, and then we also.
Speaker 7 (38:57):
Were struggle with homosexuality.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
And so it was like finding someone that I could
find on like talked to about everything, and they just understood.
Speaker 7 (39:06):
We were such best friends that we were able.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
To talk about our sexual histories that that was the
biggest thing. Is like, when you have been through everything
I've been through and you slept with the amount of
guys I slept with like you have this idea already
in your head.
Speaker 7 (39:19):
Like, what girl is ever gonna want to be with me?
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Because I literally sup with other dudes. Like that's not
something that a girl would want to be proud of
her husband. We told each other everything completely, and.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
His friendship with his Olive Garden co worker blossomed, but
Blake was actually dating another girl.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
We ended up breaking it off, and then she told me, like,
after I broke up with this girl.
Speaker 7 (39:41):
She was like, so I like you, And I was
like okay.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
And it was funny because like before any of this,
I had actually kind of like started to like her
in a sense like we were just always together, we
were always she was just my person and before that
would have just been my best friend. But it was
just like something was different about her, and I just
never underst just what it was. And I remember like
(40:05):
there was a time where we were I turned on
the radio. We were just listening to worship music, and
I was like, let's I was like, let's just pray,
let's just worship, Let's see what the Lord has to say,
Let's just listen to the Lord. And I remember like
she just got lost and she started just like bawling.
The Lord was moving her life, and I kind of
like looked over her, and I remember thinking I could
(40:25):
do this with her forever. And I actually like freaked
out because I was like, uh, do I like a
girl right now? Like is a real life? Like I
actually like find a girl attractive? Like this is freaking crazy.
Like I was like mind boggled because that never really
happened for me.
Speaker 7 (40:41):
I had like made.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Myself believe like you're just gonna have to like be celibate.
And it was like when the Lord just gave me
this person and actually, like just I formed this attraction
to her, it was like everything in me and changed.
Speaker 7 (40:56):
It was completely different.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
And so we ended up dating and we realized that
you're running towards God at the same speed and going
for the same reasons, and it just made sense to
run together.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
They got married in twenty eighteen. They moved to San Antonio,
Texas to be close to her family, and the two
are on a spiritual journey together.
Speaker 7 (41:18):
And her dad is a.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Pastor here in San Antonio, and so we came under
his ministry and we're youth pastors for a while, and
now we're associate pastors and where the church administrators as well.
Speaker 7 (41:32):
Then we have a one year old.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Almost about to be a two year old in people,
and then in September we were expecting our second run.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
In today's climate, it's hard for people to believe that
a man that was effectively born gay can turn away
from that desire to live a traditional marriage. You may
even have a hard time believing Blake's story now has
a message for anyone that'll listen.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
I didn't just all of a sudden one one day
wake up and I could walk into a bar and
be like, dang, I could do that, chick. You know.
Speaker 7 (42:12):
It was like it was never that kind of situation.
It was just like a.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Journey of trying to find my identity and who God's
called me to be and also like denying myself and
at the same time like realizing that God was never going.
Speaker 7 (42:25):
To make me straight.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
God was going to make me whole. And the Lord
spoke to me one day and he was like, is
not gay to straight. It's from broken the hole. And
when you start like chasing wholeness in me is when
you finally find deliverance and you finally find freedom.
Speaker 7 (42:41):
And that was what it took.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
It's like not trying to define it by human terms,
but really defining it by what God says about us,
and then realizing that everything else is easy after that.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Which brings us back to the question why is drag
being mainstreamed In this case, I think it's best for
a former drag queen to give the answer.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
People are using drag queens as this vehicle almost to
normalize the LGBTQ community starting from the sixties. Like, over time,
this people group has begun to kind of ease their
way into society, and they're like inventing pretty colorful characters
(43:34):
to introduce to your children. So then that way it
doesn't look the same. It's just packaged in a different package.
But I definitely think grooming is an appropriate term because
essentially what I see is they're trying to make it
so normal that eventually, like the Christians are the ones
that look crazy, and now they're just trying to make
(43:55):
it so normal that any person that is an opposition
to their narrative is wrong, is crazy, is hateful, is
complete opposite of the reality of truth.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
And if there's anyone out there that is living the
life that Blake once lived, he wants you to know
if there is another way.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
What people are not talking about is there is a
way to get out of the LGBTQ community.
Speaker 7 (44:21):
There's a possibility of like letting go of these.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
Unwanted same sex attraction thoughts, Like it's not conversion therapy
or electric shocks, or you can take this pill and
pray the gay away. It's like there's really a relationship
with Jesus that can actually take these things away and
give you like an identity that it's like solid.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Red Pilled America is an iHeartRadio original podcast. It's owned
and produced by Patrick Carrelci and me Adrianna Cortez of
Informed Ventures. Now. You can get ad free access to
our entire archive of episodes by becoming a backstage subscriber.
To subscribe, visit Redpilled America dot com and click join
in the top menu. That's redpieled America dot com and
(45:05):
click join in the top MEENU, thanks for listening.
This is Red Pilled America.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You guys were working really hard here behind the scenes
to bring you, guys the best stories possible. If you
want to listen to Red Pilled America ad free, then
please become a backstage subscriber. So visit Redpilldamerica dot com
click join in the topmenu.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I think you're going to love it, and be sure
to share, like, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you're
listening to it. We need you guys support. Tell a
friend about the show. This is how people hear about
it is through word of mouth, and now on with
the show. This episode was originally broadcast on February tenth,
twenty twenty three. No matter where you turn, you can't
(00:47):
avoid seeing a man wearing a dress. It's on our
TV shows.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm somewhere I never expected to be as a scrappy
dive bar drag queen.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
In movies You make me a woman. It's even at
your local library.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Queen's Story Hour.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
You might have seen flyers for it at your local library.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Men wearing mescera have even brought their strip club style
act into all ages events.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Family Friendly Drag Show in Denver is ruffling some feathers.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So called all ages drag shows are popping up all
over the country, drag shows for kids.
Speaker 6 (01:20):
One of them was held the other day in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
With all these guys and gowns, it's got to make
you wonder why is drag being mainstreamed.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I'm Patrick Carrelci and I'm Adrianna Cortez, and.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
This is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
This is not another talk show covering the day's news.
We are all about telling stories.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Stories. Hollywood doesn't want you to hear stories.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The media marks stories about everyday Americans. If the globalist ignore.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
You could think of Red Pilled America as audio documentaries.
And we've promised only one thing, the truth.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Welcome to Red Pilled America.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Who would have guessed that all age drag shows would
become a trend? Drag queens are being mainstreamed in America?
But why? To find the answer, we tell the story
of Blake Howard, author of From Mescuera to Manhood. Blake
is a former drag queen that gives a unique insight
into the twisted art form sweeping the country. The mainstream
(02:36):
media loves a gender transition story but they'll never air
Blake's transformation because it brings to the surface perhaps one
of the most taboo subjects in modern American culture.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Come on, Blake Howard's early upbringing doesn't exactly scream future
drag queen.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I grew up in a smaller town in North Georgia,
the suburbs of Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
That's Blake.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
My parents raised me and my brother both on very
traditional values.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Blake's brother is fourteen years older than.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Him, just kind of that good old boy Southern type mentality.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
The family joined a megachurch in their town.
Speaker 7 (03:24):
And was a part of that.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
On Sunday Wednesday, Basis and I called that home. It
was very, very simple life, the slow Southern life.
Speaker 7 (03:34):
I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
By Blake's account, in his younger years he was a spoiled,
rotten kid that lived the cushy suburban lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
We had just about everything we wanted and everything we needed.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
But his relationship with his father was a bit lacking.
Speaker 7 (03:50):
My dad worked really hard for the money.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
He made, so it wasn't around much.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I may not have had the best relationship for the
closest relationship with my father, but he was always working,
always trying to progress our family.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Blake could feel the absence. Now everyone knows that there's
been a decades long debate on whether people are born homosexuals. Well,
Blake is a data point in favor of the born
this Way camp, but he has a twist on the
argument that doesn't make it into the media.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
I always had a higher voice.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
I dressed pretty preppy and wild colors as well, so
I did.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
Get teased a lot, I got bullied a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I started realizing that there was something different about me
when I was about.
Speaker 7 (04:32):
Six or seven years old.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I realized that when some of the girls in my
class would talk about how they thought certain guys were
cute and whatever, I found myself feeling the exact same way.
But it was never something I ever mentioned or talked
about because I felt like there was something wrong.
Speaker 7 (04:49):
Like I was like, Okay, I shouldn't feel these feelings.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
But young Blake hadn't learned that having the same sex
attraction was wrong at his megachurch. You see, by the
time Blake was sitting in the pews, churches all across
the country had gone through somewhat of a sh shift.
Ministers had just been through an over a decade long
confrontation with the LGBTQ community, and in many enclaves of America,
it changed the fabric of the pulpit.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
By the mid nineteen seventies, an effort to normalize homosexuality
was in full swing in Hollywood. The campaign was progressing,
but by the early eighties a new development hindered the project.
Speaker 8 (05:32):
Scientists at the National Centers for Disease Control and at
LATA today released the results of a study which shows
that the lifestyle of some male homosexuals has triggered an
epidemic of a rare form of cancer.
Speaker 9 (05:46):
More than eight hundred cases nationwide, three hundred plus of
those fatal, and every day three more cases are identified.
And yet still surprisingly few people are familiar with the
Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome, or the acronym by which it's
frequently identified AIDS. When AIDS first cropped up about eighteen
(06:12):
months ago, almost all its victims were homosexual males who
frequently changed sexual partners.
Speaker 10 (06:18):
Investigators have examined the habits of homosexuals for CREWS.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I was in the fast lane at one time in
terms of the way that I lived my life and
now an.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
The AIDS epidemic put the sexual habits of homosexuals, especially
gay men, under scrutiny. By nineteen ninety, many pro family
Christian organizations attempted to combat the spread of their lifestyle.
Speaker 6 (06:45):
Larry Lee, he is leading an army of three hundred
thousand prayer warriors into daily spiritual combat, and he's challenging
you to make your home God's alter. The doors are
opening to the nations of the earth for this prayer message,
which will change your life. God is going to raise
up a new power of Christian When we go into battle,
we lock it.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
We have declared war against the enemy, and there's no
al turning back the spirit of witch crowd.
Speaker 11 (07:11):
We just needed someone to pull us together and go
to war.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
On October thirty first, nineteen ninety, televangelist Larry Lee looked
to bring his congregation to the epicenter of the gay community,
San Francisco.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
It is a televangelist's assault on San Francisco, but the
so called sinners, including gays and pro choice advocates, say
they'll fight it.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Lee in a group of other pastors planned to hold
a prayer meeting at San Francisco's Civic Center on Halloween night.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
We got himself and his karma into trouble when he
announced his visit to exercise the city of its spirit
of perversion. Lee intends that spirit runs wild in San Francisco,
not just on Halloween, but every night of the year.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We believe in in traditional value, so Judeo Christian value,
so that our country was founded apart. The city's gay
populace was outraged that Lee and his congregation would enter
the Bay Area community promoting their Christian morals.
Speaker 11 (08:03):
And I don't feel that he should come to San
Francisco and try to mess with our lifestyle. He's calling
people perverts, he's calling the community of San Francisco devil worshipers.
Speaker 12 (08:12):
And it's not something that can be taken lightly or
ignored because what his language.
Speaker 7 (08:17):
Does is it fosters physical attacks.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I think they're Nazis.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
I think that they need an agenda to keep their
political thing going.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
You know those dollars rolling in. He's nuts.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
He's a dangerous nuts Christian.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
He's criticizing gay people and saying that San Francisco is perverse.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
We know it is, but we like it that way.
Speaker 9 (08:38):
A group called Ghost for Grand Homosexual outrage at sickening
televangelists lands a protest rally outside the prayer service.
Speaker 12 (08:46):
We are going out there and we're saying no to
some very evil people.
Speaker 13 (08:50):
And they're evil because they're they're bigots, they're homophobes, and
they want everyone to believe like they believe.
Speaker 9 (08:54):
And we're just going out to say.
Speaker 14 (08:56):
No, thank you.
Speaker 13 (08:57):
We're alive, we like our lives. We're going to party
and uh, we say no to you.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Hundreds of gays, lesbian's, nudists, and drag queens gathered outside
the San Francisco Civic Center.
Speaker 13 (09:07):
The demonstrators arrived at the same time as the churchgoers.
At first, everyone kept their distance, protesters chanting on one
side of the street, worshippers praying and healing people on
the other as they waited for the hall to open.
Speaker 7 (09:25):
I'll tell you where the real love is.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
It is when you make a commitment and you get
married to a woman.
Speaker 15 (09:30):
Soon, most of the two thousand chanting demonstrators crossed Grogue Street,
approaching the worshippers, and police moved in to try to
create a protective barrier between the two sides. Bus loads
of churchgoers, meantime, refused to get out because of demonstrators
who circled the exit.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
You should have people out here protecting the right of
law by the citizens.
Speaker 9 (09:50):
One thousand co homosexual protesters blocked the entrance to the auditorium.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
The Christians had to fight their way into the building
and fight to be heard.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
The LGBT community was outraged that the Christians came to
their backyard, so they decided to return the favor. A
militant gay organization affiliated with the San Francisco protesters, a
group called Queer Nation, began targeting churches, claiming that their
congregations were hateful homophobes.
Speaker 11 (10:26):
Two groups come together formon church members gathering for their
annual conference Homosexuals and Lesbians, a group called Queer Nation
gathering to challenge the church.
Speaker 8 (10:37):
The group called Queer Nation is angry about a speech
given by General Authority Boyd k Packer.
Speaker 10 (10:43):
Queer Nation is a local group with ties to the
national organization known for its radical protests across the country.
The Salt Lake chapter is angry about what it says
are anti gay messages from LDS church leaders. Three of
the group's members told KUTV they're demonstrating tomorrow against statements
about gays.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Well today the LDS Church reiterated did it stand on homosexuality.
In a written statement, the church says, quote, we believe
in the worth of each individual, that each is loved
and valued by God. We do not condone the homosexual act,
just as we do not condone any sexual relations outside
of marriage. However, we do care about and love each individual.
Speaker 12 (11:21):
There was a Christian rally going on in the steps
of City Hall at the same time, Queer Nation with
having what they call a kiss in to demonstrate their sexuality.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
For the next decade, gay groups and the media targeted
Christian organizations, branding their beliefs as bigoted, homophobic, and hateful.
By the time young Blake Howard began sitting in the
pews in the early two thousands, many churches shied away
from directly addressing the Bible's teachings on homosexuality, including his megachurch. Again,
(12:01):
Blake Howard, it's like.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Very very clear in the Bible what the Biblical views are.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
Now people don't preach.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
About it or talk about it because they're afraid to
start a riot and get people all mad and have
the LGBTQ community coming after them.
Speaker 7 (12:18):
Because they decided to preach about it in the full pit.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So Blake was left to make his own assessment of
the gay lifestyle, but his father's sentiment didn't leave much
to the imagination.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I remember we were at a dinner and my dad
so we had been talking.
Speaker 7 (12:34):
About American Idol, and I remember.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
There was one particular singer that I really like. Of course,
at the end of the day, I thought it was attractive.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Blake's mom said that he'd recently mentioned in an interview
that he was.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Gay, and the moment that my mom said that, my
dad was like, well, we don't talk about bags.
Speaker 7 (12:52):
So honestly, I had the notion that it was not okay,
that it was bad, but I just didn't know why.
I knew about Jesus.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
And I knew that he loved me and this kind
of basic things, but I didn't understand why this was wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Today, Blake believes in the born this Way notion, but
he has an interesting take on the debate.
Speaker 7 (13:13):
I agree with the same menia.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I was born this way because again, like I was
one of those people that had those feelings very early,
very young.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
When you are six and seven years old and you're
feeling these feelings, towards the same sex.
Speaker 7 (13:28):
It's like, what else do you really and truly blame
it on.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
I mean, you can blame it on the media you watch,
or you can blame it on this, that, and the other.
But just as the Bible says we're born into sin,
the Bible also says that we have to be born again.
I mean, I really believe that the Word of God
just tells us directly like everyone's born into sin.
Speaker 7 (13:49):
Period. The Bible says we're all born into sin.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
In other words, Blake actually sees born this way homosexuality
as original sin. So Blake recognized his same sex attraction
at a young age, but then something happened that broke
the barrier of his resistance.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Fast forward towards like the end of the my age
of seven, I actually ended up getting molested. And at
first it was presented to me by like a game
essentially and involved like a kid that was like about
my age, that I was really close friends with, and
we hung out all the time, we rode bikes and
we played and then like later other adult, like another
(14:30):
adult got involved. His older brother got involved in it.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Blake says, the older brother was fourteen.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
It was never really like, oh, you can't talk about this,
and they tried to like shut me up. I just
didn't ever talk about it because I honestly I didn't
want to not be able to hang out with my
friends anymore.
Speaker 7 (14:46):
But at the same time, like I didn't want to
get into trouble.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I never really like had the idea that they did
anything wrong. I was like I mentally, for me, it
was all like I did something wrong and I didn't
want to get in trouble for it.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
I was already feeling these feelings and then I I
went through.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
This like sexual experience, and I say that that kind
of like sealed the deal, like that really like it
harvested the seed, like the seed was there, and that
was really what solidified it, because now I had some
sort of like physical idea to put with the way
I was feeling.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
The event led Blake down a wormhole.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
And that was like the time of iPod touches, so
I had got one of those. I was googling different
things trying to understand what was happening to me, like
why I liked it, why was different, like why it
made sense to the way.
Speaker 7 (15:41):
I was feeling.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
And I mean, of course my very first sexual experience
was it was with another guy. So it was like
this crazy and just weird mindset was put inside of
me that marriage is for men and women and sex
is for men and men. And although that sounds like
very silly and kind of alandish, just for that's that's
(16:06):
what my child mind was thinking.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
By the time Blake reached high school, he was into
just about everything the girls were into, including theater.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So I was like this theater kid eventually just finding
a place where I kind of belonged in this like
theater type world. That way I could like express myself
and be who I wanted or I thought I could be.
And I had friends tell me that I would make
a really good gay best friend, and a lot of
people were just like, you should just be gay already,
and I was like, I'm not gay, Like I don't
(16:58):
like guys, And it was really just because like I again,
for whatever reason, and I knew it was wrong, I
just didn't know why.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
During his sophomore year, Blake recalled that a gay boy
in as theater class began to befriend him.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Then I ended up telling him like, I know you
like me, and I just want to tell you like,
I don't like you back, I don't like guys, and
I'm sorry. And I think that it was really about
senior year that I was kind of like, okay, like
maybe I like guys.
Speaker 7 (17:23):
Maybe I'm just going to kind of go into this
and go for it.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And just as Blake came to this realization, a part
came up in his theater program that would eventually turn
his world upside down.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
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(17:56):
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(18:16):
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(18:37):
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Guy and taste the difference. Welcome back to Red Pilled America. So,
while Blake Howard was in his senior year of high school,
(18:57):
he finally started to warm up to the idea that
he was gay.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Maybe I like ours, Maybe I'm just I kind of
go into this and go for it.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Right around this time, his school's theater program announced that
they be producing an adaptation of Hairspray. The original nineteen
eighty eight movie, written and directed by John Waters, included
a role played by a drag queen. The role was
a pivotal one within the gay community.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
You see.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
John Waters, who was openly gay, had been one of
the earliest filmmakers to insert drag queens into his work.
In his first full length film, the nineteen sixty nine
Mondo Trash Show, mister Waters based the film around a
drag queen that went by the stage name Divine. In
the years that followed, drag queens would slowly begin to
make their way onto the big screen. The nineteen seventy
(19:43):
five cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show featured actor Tim
Curry as a colorful drag queen. Skirt wearing men began
trickling onto the little screen as well. In nineteen seventy six,
Charles Pearce, a drag queen, appeared on the MERV Griffin Show.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
I had to tip the driver with my bottle a
La Guy Amy Jane Joe.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
The following year, mister Pierce made a brief appearance on
Starskan Hutch dressed in drag. Later that same year, TV
producer Norman Lear put a drag queen on the wildly
famous sitcom All in the Family.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Don't Beverly Look Beautiful?
Speaker 9 (20:23):
Holy?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Oh Yeah?
Speaker 14 (20:26):
Oh yeah, look beautiful Beverly. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
By the early nineteen eighties, drag queens were making regular
appearances in Hollywood, Fair.
Speaker 16 (20:35):
Higery, Welcome Back in the Show, and Gentleman. John Waters
is the man responsible for making Divine a movie star.
He has been in his movies Female, Trouble of Pink, Flamingos,
Polyester in Multiple Maniacs.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
By the mid nineteen eighties, just as the AIDS epidemic
was in full swing, UK pop Sensation Culture Club grabbed
the Best New Artist Award the Grammys, and the group's
popular lead singer, Boy George gave drag Queen's mainstream credibility.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Thank you, America, You've got tys style.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
And you know a good drag free when you say so.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
By the time John Waters began producing his film Hairspray,
the damn he helped crack broke open enough for him
to include a drag queen into a primary role in
his mainstream big screen picture.
Speaker 14 (21:27):
Could you turn that Racket down? I'm trying to iron
in here.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
The character's name was Edna Turnblad and it was played
by mister Waters's original drag queen star, Divine. The part
became iconic to the gay community. So when Blake's high
school theater program announced they'd be doing Hairspray. He knew
which role he'd be auditioning for.
Speaker 7 (21:48):
It was Edna Turnblad in Hairspray.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
And when they announced that we were going to be
doing Hairspray, I was like, I knew exactly what I.
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Wanted because I knew I'd like I knew that I wanted.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
To play that role and it was like a traditional
like drag role, and they were going to cast a
guy for this particular role anyway, and I was like,
I want to do it.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Blake spoke to his mother telling her he wanted to
go out for the part, but he played it down
so she wouldn't suspect anything. You see, Blake still hadn't
come out to his friends and family. Sure flares were
going off like the finale of a centennial Fourth of
July fireworks show, but Blake stidn't openly cop up to it.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
I auditioned, did everything, and successfully got the role, and
I kind of like dove into that. Literally after every show,
I would just get like just raving reviews. People were
just like literally obsessed with it, the whole production and
the role. They were like, oh my god, she did
an incredible job. Like I thought they hired a forty
(22:50):
year old woman to be that. I had no idea
that was you. I had no idea that was a
guy like you did it amazing. That was probably the
best role I've ever seen you in. And you know,
you're so talented. And it was just like all the
stuff and growing up like bullied the way I was,
and then also at the same time, like I just
honestly never felt like I was enough. I never felt
like I was enough for my dad. I never felt
(23:11):
like I was enough for my brother. I had this
like measuring stick next to me all the time that
was completely self created. That was nothing that anyone really
ever held me to. It was just something that I
was like, I'm never going to measure up. I'm never
going to be like my brother, I'm never going to
be like my dad, you know, all these kind of things.
So when everyone started giving me these compliments, all of
(23:34):
these years of feeling like not being enough just disappearing
in a moment, I was like, this is where it's at.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Blake graduated high school in twenty fourteen. He began dating
a guy, but he still didn't want to come out
of the closet.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
I didn't want to tell people really that I was gay,
So that was our biggest argument.
Speaker 7 (23:59):
That was the biggest thing. So we just split ways.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
And at the time, I was like broken hearted and
I thought that I had lost love and I thought
I had lost like the best thing that ever happened
to me. So I just started getting really promiscuous and
I started like sleeping around with different people and different guys,
and I wasn't being safe.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Blake was a big young man two hundred and fifty pounds,
but he would meet guys on dating apps in locations
that left HI vulnerable to shady characters, all for fifteen
minutes of perceived pleasure. The interactions felt hollow to him.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I still had this like empty space even after like
losing him and then starting hooking up with tons of
different guys. I was kind of like, I still have
this weird hole in my heart, Like I don't know
what the heck to do, Like I just don't feel
completely satisfied.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
To fill the void, Blake started thinking about the one
thing that made him feel good.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Then I was like, you know what, Like what if
I just started doing drag again? Like what if I
did I actually became a drag queen and not just
like left it as that one role.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
At that time, makeup tutorials were starting to be huge
on YouTube. Blake began watching them.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
I had no idea where to even begin or how
to get myself into the drag scene because the reality
is it's really hard to even get yourself in there
without any like connections or like knowing people.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
So I was kind of going into a completely blind Just.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
As Blake had this epiphany, the mother of a high
school friend reached out to him. The mother had seen
his performance in Hairspray.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
She called me up and was like, Hey, I know
this is random, this out of the blue, but I
am doing like this charity thing and tons of companies
have gone together and we're raising money for said charity.
And at the end of today's event, like all of
the companies are supposed to send a drag queen to
the stage and.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
They're going to do a show and people are going
to give.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
You money while you're performing, and then like whoever raises
the much money and has the best performance.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
When Blake immediately accepted, so.
Speaker 7 (26:05):
Then I was like, yes, I'll totally do it all.
I'm there I'm down.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Blake began piecing together a costume, a wig, address, some
high heels. He put what he learned from the YouTube
makeup tatorials into practice, and he was off and running.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
I got there to the event and the mom was like, okay,
I need a name, like who what is your name
going to be? And the first thing that came to
my head was Velma, And so that was when she
kind of became real.
Speaker 7 (26:37):
She was born.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Velma was a nineteen sixties housewife, big blonde hair, a
very chic fashionista.
Speaker 7 (26:45):
So I did the performance and everyone loved it. Everyone
had such a good time. Tons of money was given
to me.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Just like his hairspray performance. Blake was showered with compliments.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
And I was like pumped with all of that and
immediate like just affection and people are just like obsessed
and they wanted more. And I kind of finally felt
like there was a place for me to step out
of my own shoes and jump into this whole different
character that didn't have the same problems as me. Everybody
(27:19):
loved her like she didn't have problems with people, she
didn't get bullied, she was just.
Speaker 7 (27:23):
Her and everyone loved her and That's why I.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Really considered it a whole person that she's born, because
it's like she didn't have the same set of issues
I did, and when I became her, it was like
completely different. I didn't have to hold back or like
be secretive or you know, like keep everything down low anymore.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Blake wanted to keep it going. He sought out some
drag clubs to go to, but the problem was Blake
was still living with his parents, who still didn't know
he was gay, so he began to sneak out late
at night.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
So a lot of the times, I would like go
to friends' houses and then get ready and then we
would go to a bar, we'd go to something, or
if I had a performance or whatever.
Speaker 7 (28:02):
Put the reality is like even when I was there,
you know, I wasn't old enough to be in these clubs.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
He was eighteen and nineteen years old going to twenty
one and over clubs.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
But when you show up and drag, no one really
like questions your age or you know who you are
or what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Blake's promise huity continued.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Like I was hooking up with thirty forty year old
men and they were either married or like secretly closeted gay.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
I was looking for acceptance from another dude.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I heard this minister talk about the subject one time,
and he used to struggle with homosexuality. He was saying
that one day he realized that homosexuality is just perverted lust.
It all boils down to just lust, but it also
boils down to jealousy.
Speaker 7 (28:56):
And you are so jealous of this other person. You
are looking for another person and that has everything that
you are not.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
This explanation resonated with.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Blake, And when I looked at my life and I realized,
I was like, that makes so much sense. You're sitting
there and you are already craving attention from a guy
because you didn't really get it from your father, you
didn't really get it from your older brother, you didn't
really have male role models. But as a boy, that
is something very natural that boys yearn for, is to
(29:31):
be like close with another man, to teach.
Speaker 7 (29:34):
Them how to be a boy, teach them how to
be a man, show them how to hunt.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
It's just our natural instincts kicking in as children. And
then you bring that in with this idea of like
he has everything I don't have, Like he's skinny, he's
better looking, he has great parents, And instead of like
feeling hatred toward that person, your mind begins to just
develop a love and a lust for that person. And
(30:00):
so it's like people begin to completely disconnect themselves from
the truth and begin to chase after something that they've
never had. And I think that my malestation it played
a huge role in that, because it gave me the
physical language to kind of put with the way I
(30:22):
was feeling. And then Okay, this is what happens when
you get close to guys, and this is what happened
when you get close to men. And then it was
just like, you know, it all started from just needing
a hug from your father.
Speaker 7 (30:36):
Every once in a while.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Too. Now you're sleeping in a bed with a man,
And is it just I didn't get hugged by my
bed my dad. No, But I mean it begins to
really like solidify that when you're already struggling with all
these things and then you end up having a sexual experience,
it's like everything shifts.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
The problem mbscuity didn't make Blake hole. So he began
self medicating. He started drinking heavily. He picked up a
cocaine habit. Then one night he almost overdosed.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
I felt my heart racing, I felt my body doing
a lot of things that my body's never done before.
And I was actually watching one of my friends puking,
and I was just like, Lord, like, if you give
me through this, like I will stop doing drug.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Blake survived the night, and he wanted to go clean.
As he came out of his drug filled haze, Blake
started to become disillusioned by the whole drag spectacle.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I was realizing that everyone was just so obsessed with
this character and not of me, Like they would give
me instant gratification when I was this person, this bell
my character, But when I was Blake, like no one
cared about me, no one noticed me I was anything special.
It was like, I don't want to do this anymore,
because like why would I want to have to be
(31:57):
somebody else just for people to like me? Like this
is getting exhausting, Blake.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I started contemplating hanging up his wig. He applied for
a role at the disney World Theme Park in Orlando.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Florida, and I was like planning on moving down there
and doing that, and that was going to be my
escape from getting away from all the drugs and all
the craziness, and it was going to give me some
time to think about whether or not I wanted to
continue doing drag.
Speaker 7 (32:22):
And my mom.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Was like, well, like, what do you think about going
to this ministry school that's in Alabama.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Blake's cousin was attending the ministry school as well, but
Blake wasn't interested.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
It was in the middle of nowhere and at the time,
like all I really had was like a Walmart and
a Taco Bell.
Speaker 7 (32:39):
So I was like, I'm not not going there, and
my mom was like, well, just go.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
And try it. If you hate it, in November when
you come back for Thanksgiving, you can leave and I'll
help him move to Orlando.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Blake decided to give it a try. He applied and
got in. He still wasn't sure that he wanted to
quit doing drag, but he reluctantly went to Alabama, and
when he did, he had an experience that shifted his
entire perspective on life. Do you want to hear red
(33:12):
Pilled America stories ad free then become a backstage subscriber.
Just log onto Redpilled America dot com and click join
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America one story at a time. Come on, Welcome back
to red Pilled America. Whoa so Blake Howard decided to
(33:37):
listen to his mom and give an Alabama ministry school
a try. He arrived a few days before orientation and
he was in a bit of a mood. He didn't
want to be there. He didn't want to talk to anyone,
didn't want anyone to know anything about him. The first
thing he did was connect with his cousin. They decided
to go to a church service at the school.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
So we went to the just like the regular Wednesday service.
That wasn't very many people there because the school. Everybody
from the school was there yet, and I remember like
everybody was moving towards the front to like start worship.
Church was about to start, and I was like what
is everybody doing? And my cousin was like, just come,
like let's go worship.
Speaker 7 (34:15):
And I was like okay.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Church wasn't new to Blake. He knew what to do
and began just going through the motions.
Speaker 7 (34:21):
So music started. Everybody's like jumping throwing their arms around,
and I was.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Like, okay, all these people are crazy.
Speaker 7 (34:29):
But I just decided to.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Join in because I was like, I don't want to
look like the weird.
Speaker 7 (34:32):
One not doing this.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
And I started losing myself in this worship. I didn't
understand what was happening. I started feeling joy. I started
feeling happiness, Like I was like, why am I so
like happy right now?
Speaker 7 (34:46):
Like I had just never felt it like this before.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Then the music transitioned to a slower.
Speaker 7 (34:52):
Song, and all of a sudden, this presence entered the room.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
It just brought this peace and this freedom, and it
was just like a the love of God just filled
the room in one moment, and I just I felt
so free. I didn't know how to like even articulate it,
because I never felt a presence that tangible before.
Speaker 7 (35:15):
In my entire life. I had grown up in church, and.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
This was kind of the same, but just like a
little bit more old and southern, and so I was
just kind of like, what is going on? And then
I remember just like I felt the presence of the
Lord in such a way that I was like, I
don't want to do any of this anymore, Like I
don't want this.
Speaker 14 (35:36):
You are strong, you are brave, you are all human
to be everything you ever changed came.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
I let go of the drugs and the alcohol and
all that kind of stuff at the altar, and then
the same weekend I decided like I was going to
follow Jesus for real.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
But he still had one internal conflict.
Speaker 7 (35:56):
The one thing I was like, I'm still I mean,
I'm still gay.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Like yay, I'm sober and I'm a good person again,
but I'm still gay.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
After orientation, he had to follow through on a commitment
he'd already made. He'd agreed to perform drag at a
cabaret type show in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
And I remember getting ready for that role and before
when I had been putting on the makeup and putting
on the facade and I slipped on my wigs and.
Speaker 7 (36:22):
All that kind of stuff, I felt different. I felt free.
I felt like, oh, I can be a different person.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
And no one has to know that Blake has all
these problems and all these insecurities. If he wants to kill.
Speaker 7 (36:31):
Himself, Velma just gets to be someone that new.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
And this time, when I was putting on my makeup,
I was putting on everything.
Speaker 7 (36:39):
I was like, I really don't want to do this anymore.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Blake did his performance, but when he stepped off the stage,
something was different.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
And I just remember having that moment of just like
I don't want to do this anymore, and letting go
of this drag persona and letting go of this like
false identity of like playing pretend all the time to
get away from my problems. It was like I tried
to find freedom in it, and then I only found
bondage in it.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
In seventy two hours, Blake says he had a transformation.
Speaker 7 (37:10):
Yeah, I just had an encounter with Jesus, and that's
all it took.
Speaker 14 (37:14):
You are strong, you are brave. You are only meant
to me. Everything you ever changed game true when you left.
When we cry, I'll be always on your side. And
thank God for you and me. Thank God for.
Speaker 13 (37:41):
You and me.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Blake left the drag Queen's charade behind him. He went
back to ministry school and finished out the year, but
when he went home to Atlanta, he began to revert
a bit to his old lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
I wasn't in my church bubble anymore, and I was alone,
and I started like messing up and sleeping with dudes.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
And then I would get back and I would feel
like hell. I would feel like crap.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
I felt like I'd disappointed God or I disappointed my
leaders or whatever.
Speaker 7 (38:12):
And it was probably the roughest.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Year of my life. And then my second year of
ministry school came around and I got a job at
Olive Garden.
Speaker 7 (38:24):
As a server.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
A bunch of the servers were students at his ministry school,
including a young lady.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
We realized like we had a lot in common. We
started carpboards together with another friend and this girl was like, oh, yeah,
I used to be gay.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
She was actually engaged at one point to another woman.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
She ended up coming to a conference at the ministry
school and completely got wrecked by God, and we.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
Kind of realized that we kind of had the same story.
We were like pot heads.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
We did drugs, We drink a lot, and we got
crazy and partied, and then we also.
Speaker 7 (38:57):
Were struggle with homosexuality.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
And so it was like finding someone that I could
find on like talked to about everything, and they just understood.
Speaker 7 (39:06):
We were such best friends that we were able.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
To talk about our sexual histories that that was the
biggest thing. Is like, when you have been through everything
I've been through and you slept with the amount of
guys I slept with like you have this idea already
in your head.
Speaker 7 (39:19):
Like, what girl is ever gonna want to be with me?
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Because I literally sup with other dudes. Like that's not
something that a girl would want to be proud of
her husband. We told each other everything completely, and.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
His friendship with his Olive Garden co worker blossomed, but
Blake was actually dating another girl.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
We ended up breaking it off, and then she told me, like,
after I broke up with this girl.
Speaker 7 (39:41):
She was like, so I like you, And I was
like okay.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
And it was funny because like before any of this,
I had actually kind of like started to like her
in a sense like we were just always together, we
were always she was just my person and before that
would have just been my best friend. But it was
just like something was different about her, and I just
never underst just what it was. And I remember like
(40:05):
there was a time where we were I turned on
the radio. We were just listening to worship music, and
I was like, let's I was like, let's just pray,
let's just worship, Let's see what the Lord has to say,
Let's just listen to the Lord. And I remember like
she just got lost and she started just like bawling.
The Lord was moving her life, and I kind of
like looked over her, and I remember thinking I could
(40:25):
do this with her forever. And I actually like freaked
out because I was like, uh, do I like a
girl right now? Like is a real life? Like I
actually like find a girl attractive? Like this is freaking crazy.
Like I was like mind boggled because that never really
happened for me.
Speaker 7 (40:41):
I had like made.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Myself believe like you're just gonna have to like be celibate.
And it was like when the Lord just gave me
this person and actually, like just I formed this attraction
to her, it was like everything in me and changed.
Speaker 7 (40:56):
It was completely different.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
And so we ended up dating and we realized that
you're running towards God at the same speed and going
for the same reasons, and it just made sense to
run together.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
They got married in twenty eighteen. They moved to San Antonio,
Texas to be close to her family, and the two
are on a spiritual journey together.
Speaker 7 (41:18):
And her dad is a.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Pastor here in San Antonio, and so we came under
his ministry and we're youth pastors for a while, and
now we're associate pastors and where the church administrators as well.
Speaker 7 (41:32):
Then we have a one year old.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Almost about to be a two year old in people,
and then in September we were expecting our second run.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
In today's climate, it's hard for people to believe that
a man that was effectively born gay can turn away
from that desire to live a traditional marriage. You may
even have a hard time believing Blake's story now has
a message for anyone that'll listen.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
I didn't just all of a sudden one one day
wake up and I could walk into a bar and
be like, dang, I could do that, chick. You know.
Speaker 7 (42:12):
It was like it was never that kind of situation.
It was just like a.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Journey of trying to find my identity and who God's
called me to be and also like denying myself and
at the same time like realizing that God was never going.
Speaker 7 (42:25):
To make me straight.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
God was going to make me whole. And the Lord
spoke to me one day and he was like, is
not gay to straight. It's from broken the hole. And
when you start like chasing wholeness in me is when
you finally find deliverance and you finally find freedom.
Speaker 7 (42:41):
And that was what it took.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
It's like not trying to define it by human terms,
but really defining it by what God says about us,
and then realizing that everything else is easy after that.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Which brings us back to the question why is drag
being mainstreamed In this case, I think it's best for
a former drag queen to give the answer.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
People are using drag queens as this vehicle almost to
normalize the LGBTQ community starting from the sixties. Like, over time,
this people group has begun to kind of ease their
way into society, and they're like inventing pretty colorful characters
(43:34):
to introduce to your children. So then that way it
doesn't look the same. It's just packaged in a different package.
But I definitely think grooming is an appropriate term because
essentially what I see is they're trying to make it
so normal that eventually, like the Christians are the ones
that look crazy, and now they're just trying to make
(43:55):
it so normal that any person that is an opposition
to their narrative is wrong, is crazy, is hateful, is
complete opposite of the reality of truth.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
And if there's anyone out there that is living the
life that Blake once lived, he wants you to know
if there is another way.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
What people are not talking about is there is a
way to get out of the LGBTQ community.
Speaker 7 (44:21):
There's a possibility of like letting go of these.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
Unwanted same sex attraction thoughts, Like it's not conversion therapy
or electric shocks, or you can take this pill and
pray the gay away. It's like there's really a relationship
with Jesus that can actually take these things away and
give you like an identity that it's like solid.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
Red Pilled America is an iHeartRadio original podcast. It's owned
and produced by Patrick Carrelci and me Adrianna Cortez of
Informed Ventures. Now. You can get ad free access to
our entire archive of episodes by becoming a backstage subscriber.
To subscribe, visit Redpilled America dot com and click join
in the top menu. That's redpieled America dot com and
(45:05):
click join in the top MEENU, thanks for listening.
Hosts And Creators
Adryana Cortez
Patrick Courrielche
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