Fearing Trump, LGBTQ Americans out in force for vote
"This is the real DNC!" says Chicago drag queen Lucy Stoole, sporting a gold dress, heels and blond wig, offset with a thick beard.
Moments later another performer dressed as Yoda from the "Star Wars" films and sporting a red sparkly "Harris-Walz" bustier vanquishes two "Trump-Vance" stormtroopers with a lightsaber.
The drag event at a Chicago music hall, on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention, is one of a number of efforts across the United States to promote LGBTQ voter turnout and political volunteering.
Alongside stripteases and lip syncing on stage, Democratic activists did a steady trade helping audience members register to vote in November's polls.
"Many of these young individuals literally didn't know how to vote," said 59-year-old James Eidel, communications director of DragPAC, which seeks to promote political engagement among "Gen Z" voters using the reach of famous drag queens.
"It's very exciting to see... the kind of attention they can generate based on their social media platforms."
Democratic-aligned campaign groups say that up to 75 million voters identify as LGBTQ or prioritize the issue -- more than enough to swing November's presidential election, currently on a knife-edge.
As queens including Sheeza Woman and Dusty Bahls captivated the crowd, clipboard-wielding activists worked through the packed crowd signing up volunteers to campaign for candidates and policies that protect the LGBTQ community.
"(We are) an organization of LGBTQ+ Chicagoans... who actually go and knock on doors in (swing states) Michigan and Ohio," said 37-year-old Jin-Soo Huh, co-chair of grassroots LGBTQ campaign group QForce.
"We already saw what Donald Trump can do in four years, we cannot afford another four years of that."
As president, Trump, of the socially conservative Republican Party, banned transgender people from serving in the military, opposed workplace protections for the LGBTQ community, and ended Obama-era non-discrimination protections, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
But Harris's campaign will need to shell out cash to reach -- and turn out -- LGBTQ voters, who could be the "the difference between winning and losing," said Guy Cecil, president of Miles Strategies. "Remember, we barely lost in 2016 and we barely won in 2020."
- 'Shiniest thing in the room' -
Despite the party atmosphere at the drag event and high spirits at the Democratic convention itself, there are real fears among queer campaigners about what Trump might do if reelected.
"What's at stake in this election for the LGBTQ community are not only our civil rights, but the very basic idea that we have a place not only in society, but in the halls of power as well," said Virginia state senator Danica Roem, 39, the first openly transgender state senator elected in the US south.
Roem, a Democrat, said that it was not enough just to get Harris into office.
She said she would do "whatever it takes to make sure our Democratic candidates downballot are being supported. We have significantly more mobilization than we have had before."
Vitriol around trans people, especially athletes, has been a feature at Trump rallies, where the ex-president whips up his crowds on the issue.
And Republican lawmakers have passed a slew of laws targeting the trans community, particularly young people in schools and sports.
Hostility to trans people from Trump's movement has come in tandem with Republicans campaigning against drag artists, seeking to ban them from performing in some public spaces, with laws passed in Texas and Montana among others.
"Drag's link to (queer) visibility is a big part of why this is necessary," said drag queen BenDeLaCreme who took to the stage at the Chicago event and was a contestant on "RuPaul's Drag Race."
All year, the hit TV show has publicized the vote.org registration site, and staged a contest in which drag queens engaged with political issues and reflected on their motivations to vote.
"In drag, I'm the shiniest thing in the room, and if I can make you stop scrolling on your phone, and I can point you toward the people you should be listening to, to educate yourself, that is my power and that is what I will do."