Cridersville drag queen likes to be different

LIMA - Wrapping clear tape around his upper body, Josh McKinley squeezed skin together to form a cleavage like crease on his chest. Beneath a strapless black bra, he stuffed birdseed-filled stockings over his chest. Mckinley, 27, of Cridersville, pulled a white sweater over his head and body, then, fit a black and red wig over his short brown hair.

He was no longer Josh. He was now drag queen Jameson Brooks.

Josh's involvement in the gay community came to a head in 1999 while attending his first drag queen show in Fort Wayne, Ind.

"I was in awe," he said. "To look at someone and say that's a boy and actually see them as a girl is awesome. I compare it to like they're movie stars, it's that whole persona."

Shortly after attending that 1999 drag show, Josh dressed as a woman for the first time on Halloween of the same year. But it wasn't until 2005 that Josh would perform as a drag queen in front of an audience.

It was at Somewhere In Time, a nightclub in Lima, that Josh met drag queen and show director Tyra Brooks. The two became friends and Tyra asked Josh to perform in a show under the name of Jameson Brooks.

"She painted me up and I did a number with her," Josh said. "I've been doing it ever since."

McKinley said his interest in performing as a drag queen was not because of identity problems or for the attention he gained.

"I strictly like it for the entertainment value," he said. "I get to become a different person. It's almost like you're putting on a role. You're acting out a role."

Josh said that some people in the drag world go so far as to have their bodies surgically altered to look like the opposite sex.

"There are people in the industry that are taking those steps," he said. "I would never ever do that. I was born a male."

Since entering the drag queen community, Josh said his view of the lifestyle has changed.

"It's still glamorous," Josh said. "I still get that thrill, that little flitter in your stomach where you get excited to watch a show, but I've gone a little more on the inside. It's a lot of work."

David Schmidt, a guest lecturer on drag queens for the sociology department at The Ohio State University, studied psychology as an undergrad and has been performing regularly as a drag queen for the past four years. He said that dressing as the opposite sex is not just a homosexual activity, but also a heterosexual one.

"Most (drag queens) are gay," he said. "There are straight men that cross dress. That would be considered transvestitism."

He said there are many reasons why people choose to perform in drag.

"For most people it's less for entertainment and more for the attention," Schmidt said. "It's a way for them to stand out, to get out of their shell."

Tom Ritchey, owner of Somewhere In Time, said he also notices different reasons for doing drag.

"There are drag queens who simply do it for the entertainment value and then there are some who live as the opposite gender," he said. "Perhaps it has something to do with gender identity."

Schmidt can relate to the issue of gender identity. He said his lack of personal identity was what drove him to perform as a drag queen

"I think that's why a lot of people go into it, that's why I went into it," he said. "I wasn't sure at the time who I wanted to be, what I wanted to be."

With drag, this lack of a personal identity can become a much larger problem, Schmidt said.

"One of the biggest problems with drag is it becomes their identity," he said. "When they attempt to quit drag they have an identity crisis."

Josh's mother, Kathy McKinley, has never attended Josh's shows but knows her son and understands his drag ambitions.

"He doesn't want to be a girl, he likes being a man," Kathy said. "But he likes being different."

Kathy said she disapproves of Josh's drag performances not because of what it is, but because of where they take place.

"I don't like where he goes to do drag shows because he's in bars," she said. "They drink. I don't like that as a mother."

Kathy does however, approve of his look.

"The make up is awesome, the hair is awesome," Kathy said. "I'm a hair stylist so I look at things like that."

Even beneath the female exterior when dressed in drag, Kathy still sees her son.

"I see Josh," she said. "He's always Josh to me."