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= Drag Houses = Drag houses or "drag families" are social support groups within the LGBTQ+ community. They function as the alternative families, where each member participates and competes in drag. As part of drag culture, drag queens are adopted by “mothers” or “fathers” and the family grows as more queens join. Mothers and fathers teach their "children", or newer queens, how to do drag and how to perform on a stage. Similar to traditional families, each member’s last name is the same, however not every queen takes upon the house name.

During 1940s Harlem, drag houses served a greater purpose than only to compete at the ball. Many LGBTQ+ youth and adults were disowned by their biological families. The history of drag houses can be traced back to the 1970s when the ballroom culture emerged in the African-American and Latino communities in New York City. Since then, drag houses have become an integral part of the drag community, providing a platform for performers to showcase their talent and express themselves creatively.

Origins of Drag Balls
In 1967, Crystal LaBeija created the first drag house in New York City, called the House of LaBeija. Crystal LaBeija was one of the few Black queens to be awarded a “Queen of the Ball” title at a White-organized ball, and she grew increasingly frustrated with the anti-black bias of the balls. The house’s name not only signifies LaBeija’s ownership, but the house’s purpose in supporting the LGBTQ+ community with LaBeija acting as the “mother” of the house. LaBeija founded the house to provide a safe, nurturing space for LGBTQ+ people of color who faced discrimination in mainstream society and within the LGBTQ+ community.

LaBeija’s legacy lives on as she is joined by others who support the mission of the house and further advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. The rise in popularity of drag culture continues today, with the success of shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race. The competition show has allowed millions to raise awareness on the importance of drag houses and drag balls in LGBTQ+ history.

Drag balls have a lengthy history in the United States, dating back to the early 20th century. One of the earliest recorded and most notable was the Hamilton Lodge Ball held in 1869 in Harlem, New York. The ball was organized at a Black fraternal organization, the Hamilton Lodge, and featured men dressed in women’s clothing, later to be known as “drag”. The events were extravagant and organized, consisting of dressing categories such as “realness’, “butch queen”, and “femme queen”. The category of “realness” means the ability to pass as a gender different from one’s assigned sex, with “butch queen” referring to masculine-presenting and “femme queen” referring to feminine-presenting drag queens. With its rising popularity, this ball has become an annual tradition in New York.

As a response to the rise in drag ball attendance and societal backlash around homosexual relations, the New York state legislature criminalized ‘homosexual solicitation’ in 1923. Despite this, drag ball organizers continued to stage events by having neighbourhood organizations apply for official police sponsorship on their behalf. Moving into the United State's Prohibition era, New York officers began to target the city’s queer community and drag balls, causing many of the balls to be held in secret, underground locations to avoid attention from law enforcement. Officers responded by intensifying their regulation and cases of entrapment (whereby police officers would ‘entrap’ gay men through sexual solicitation before producing their badge).

Drag Houses
Drag houses greatly influenced drag balls, as the fabrication of these houses dictated the host for the balls. In fact, it was popular for drag families to host their own drag balls to compete with other houses.

Non-biological queer families on the ballroom circuit were called “drag houses” or “drag families”. In LGBTQ+ culture, having families that aren't biological is very common as most queer individuals find themselves being scorned and disowned by their biological families. In Harlem during the 1940's, houses were mostly made our of gay, gender-nonconforming, genderqueer or transgendered people who had nowhere else to turn. Today houses are much more diverse as they can also house non-LGBTQ+ performers.

Houses are run by "mothers" and/or "fathers" who are usually drag queens, queer, or transgender. These parents are the ones who usually lead the house and act as the main financer for the drag balls. Under the parents are the “children” – to whom the house mother or father provides wisdom, guidance and care. Performers who establish themselves as a house have often worked on the same gig-circuit, and whether performing with their house or solo, often represent their drag-family. In addition, some artists even go as far as to take the surname of their houseparent, for example, Pepper La Beija, changed her last name to represent the House of LaBeija.

With the rise of the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay liberation Movement, there was a rising popularity of all-Black and all-Latino houses. Queer people of color recognized the importance of finding community and organizing themselves to combat anti-gay, anti-trans, and anti-drag sentiment that permeated much of the society around them. Crystal LaBejia’s house became one of the most prominent in Harlem, and hers along with the House of Xtravaganza, the first Latinx house, and others became known as “The Terrible Five".

Ball Culture
Ball culture (or the Ballroom Scene) is a subculture that emerged in the African-American and Latino communities in New York City in the 1980s. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latino drag queens began to organize their own pageants in opposition to racism experienced in established drag queen pageant circuits. Harlem’s Hamilton Lodge No. 710 hosted regular drag balls during the post-Civil War era. As more houses were created, so did the balls, because each house aspired to host its own ball. Attendees varied in race, gender and sex—with some women taking part by wearing men’s clothes (known to be as "drag kings")— but the main attractions were female impersonators who showed off their gowns and bodies to a panel of judges in typical pageant fashion.

The ball culture was essentially a competition where individuals would compete in categories such as drag, voguing, and runway. The categories were judged by a panel of judges, and the winner was awarded a trophy or cash prize. The ball culture provided a platform for individuals to express their gender and sexual identity freely. The ball culture was particularly significant for the transgender community, providing a space for them to express their gender identity and compete in categories such as "realness" and "face".

The ball culture has also had an impact on pop culture, particularly with the rise of voguing. Voguing is a dance form that originated in ball culture, and it has been popularized in mainstream culture through music videos and movies such as Madonna's "Vogue" and the documentary Paris is Burning. The ball culture has also been popularized through the television series Pose, which portrays the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals in the ballroom scene in New York City in the 1980s.

Drag Queen
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender cues and roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and have been a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Earliest drag practices may be the cross-dressings (the act of wearing clothes that are designated as belonging to the opposite sex) in ancient Greece, in Europe during the middle ages, or in Japan in the 17th century. Women were banned from participating in acting performances, so men had to play both roles, getting dressed as a woman. In the 20th century when gay men gradually came out of closet, drag became associated with homosexuality; thus, it transformed into an underground art form. In these underground clubs, drag has gradually developed. In the public eye, cross-dressing was portrayed in TV and films such as Some Like It Hot(1959) or Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Through the end of the 20th century, some of the first drag queens emerged due to the experimental East Village performance scene and its creations like the Pyramid Club and Wigstock Drag Festival. In the 1990s, documentaries were released about drag and homosexuality. Paris is Burning, a documentary focusing on drag queens in NYC and their drag house culture, was shot in 1990. With the broadcasting of Rupaul’s Drag Race in 2009, drag queens could show themselves on a more exposed and popularized platform.

== Notable Drag Houses ==

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