Sudbury, Ont. drag queen talks LGBTQ issues and allyship in new TV show

A new community television talk show in Sudbury, Ont. stars drag queen Stacy Woods as she talks about issues important to the LGBTQ community and allyship.

Queens and Conversation airs Monday nights on Eastlink Community Television, and features interviews with politicians, like Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre and MPP Jamie West, along with prominent members of the region's LGBTQ community.

Drag performer Garrett Carr was inspired by the movie Legally Blonde when they developed the Woods character.

"I just started creating this character who was like the cousin of Elle Woods, just maybe with a little less class but just as a, you know, smart, dumb blonde kind of thing."

In the movie, people underestimate Elle Woods because she does not look, or act, like a typical Harvard law student.

Carr said it's similar for Stacy Woods.

"My whole thing with Stacy is she's fun, she's flirty, but you know, she's sharp as a tack."

Before jumping into television, Carr co-hosted a community radio show on CKLU in Sudbury called Queerly Beloved.

"We spoke about queer issues, topics relating to the queer community, whether it's arts and culture to politics to literally anything," they said.

After the show ended, Carr said a friend who works at Eastlink said they should bring a version of the show to community television, and host it in character.

"Well initially, I just liked the idea of being on TV, so I was just happy with that," Carr said.

But the show also had a more important purpose to them.

That was to represent drag on a platform that can reach more general audiences.

"It's a drag queen on community television talking with people about queer things, about politics, about real issues, and about fun things," Carr said.