This is what happens when HBO drag queens sashay into ruby-red Granbury, Texas
For a drag queen-themed television project to consider filming in the charming resort town of Granbury, an hour drive southwest of downtown Fort Worth, was to wade into the thickets of a culture war.
“[People were] saying that ‘we were going to have drag queens in [the Fourth of July parade] and kind of quote, unquote, desecrate it’,” said Peter LoGreco, director of “We’re Here” on HBO. “It really created this hostility that I have to say was mostly online.”
Granbury is a town of nearly 12,000 souls and is the seat of government for Hood County. It sits on a shore of Lake Granbury where, past the snags and groomed sand of City Beach, traffic on U.S. 377 can be both seen and heard. Its charming historic courthouse is a big draw for visitors from near and far.
It is also a proudly Christian conservative community. Word that drag queens were going to march in the town’s beloved Fourth of July parade rankled some of the residents and right-wing voices alike.
A Granbury welcome that was less than warm
When the production crew first arrived at their Granbury hotel, a 12- or 13-year-old kid taunted one of the show’s hairstylist with a slur “over and over again and laughed at them,” LoGreco said.
“We’re Here,” is a show on HBO that follows a trio of drag queens — Shangela, Eureka O’Hara and Bob the Drag Queen — as they visit small towns hoping to empower and inspire the community through the art of drag, LoGreco said. It returns for its third season Friday with the episode filmed in Granbury — with five more episodes running each Friday after that.
“It’s not just a show about drag queens, it’s in your face in small conservative towns,” former Republican State Rep. Mike Lang said on an episode of the Blue Shark Show on Youtube that aired earlier this summer. “It’s kind of like, you know, HBO saying: ‘The heck with you conservative towns we’re bringing this to you and in your face’.”
Lang’s co host and Republican activist, Nathan Criswell, agreed: “They’re doing it just to show everybody that they can because it’s almost like haha, we’re gonna do whatever we want … There’s nothing you can do to stop this. Or is there?”
As shops around the town square started hanging festive bunting and planting poles with U.S. flags ahead of Granbury’s Independence Day celebration, social media burned with comments from both ends of the debate.
“I don’t get why so many people in this town are so hateful? What is it bothering y’all if they do a show in Granbury?” Candace Ferguson wrote on Youtube. “You don’t have to watch it! Nobody is forcing you to watch the show. Don’t like it mind your business.”
Vic Wei responded on the same thread: “We need names and businesses. We need to cancel those who support this child abuse.”
As the cast and production crew of “We’re Here” rolled into town, the initial vitriol eased into more hospitable rhetoric.
“Once there, [talk] started to be slightly more open,” LoGreco said.
Many in Granbury took to social media after the Fourth of July parade to voice their glowing impressions of the visiting drag queens.
“Had a chance to sit down and visit for a few minutes with D.J. ‘Shangela’ Pierce,” Mickey Shearon wrote on his Facebook news feed. “What an incredibly warm, genuine, and nice person DJ is! In fact, everyone involved with this show that I’ve met have been the nicest, most courteous people I’ve met in a very long time! I’m so glad to have these beautiful people in our town!”
The visitors certainly projected a positive posture in town, eliciting comments such as this: “I have to admit that I had never heard of this show until all the hoopla courtesy of our little town. So I decided to watch it. I absolutely love the message of this show. Glad they got to meet some of the genuinely good people in our town,” wrote Priscilla Lumbreras on Facebook.
In LoGreco’s telling, it helped that the show producers met with local leaders beforehand to explain why the show was in town.
“I know that people felt like it was meaningful for us to be there, but at the same time a little on edge the whole time,” LoGreco said. “Fortunately, nothing happened, nothing serious anyway.”
‘Celebrating ... on a glamorous small town stage’
The Granbury episode of the television show follows Adrienne, a hairstylist and fiercely unapologetic ally; Lou, a nonbinary teen struggling to reclaim the safety and acceptance they felt in their former community; and Deshay, a minister of music recently removed from their church.
Casting is a major consideration in picking the communities the show features, co-creator Johnnie Ingram said. They are looking for places with people who have left for larger, more LGBTQ friendly, cities in search of acceptance.
Before Granbury, “We’re Here” dropped in on Del Rio, a town of 34,584 located a little over 150 miles west of San Antonio.
It’s not that the show is seeking to visit conservative towns or red communities, but mostly it is looking to find people who are fighting for their rights, Ingram said.
The idea for the documentary stems from Ingram’s and co-creator Steve Warren’s vision to find connections with people in a place it otherwise wouldn’t likely exist. In Granbury, they found exactly that.
“That’s really what the spirit of the show is about ... finding those [people] and giving them a little life, giving them support, sharing their stories and celebrating them on a glamorous small town stage,” Ingram said.
Adding to the show’s complex production challenge was the degree to which LGBTQ acceptance and drag had become political lighting rods, LoGreco said.
It was not hard for the crew of the HBO show to hear stories of culture battles around LGBTQ as they searched for suitable cities to feature. They read about Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, protesters and counter protesters showing up at drag events and LGBTQ books being banned in school libraries — including at Granbury Independent School District.
Days after LoGreco’s crew filmed the patriotic parade in Granbury, protesters and counter protesters squared off in front of a Roanoke restaurant that had advertised a “drag brunch” for Aug. 26. Video from outside Anderson Distillery and Grill shows two groups gathered on both sides of the street, shouting at each other, Fox4News reported at the time.
After researching and talking with Granbury residents, the show’s producers knew they had their town.
“The outreach was inspired by the story about [the Granbury school district] pulling books that were LGBTQ subject matter from school shelves,” LoGreco said. “And obviously, we tried to look for a variety of stories in the community.”
’More hysteria and definitely more open hostility’
Before anyone from the show stepped foot in Granbury, LoGreco and a couple of crew members visited the city to check things out — meeting with community leaders even before filming began.
People are more accepting when they are able to speak one-on-one without the cameras rolling, LoGreco said. People just seem reluctant to speak out under the glare of the lights.
“It was one of the places where there was definitely a little bit more hysteria and definitely more open hostility than we’ve experienced in other places,” LoGreco said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we’re going to run you out of town, point a gun at you.’ It was more, ‘We really rather you didn’t come here we don’t need this here’.”
Illustrating this point was Shangela’s attempt at hosting a book reading for children at a local coffee shop. Before the event, the coffee shop received several calls warning them that protesters will be disrupting the reading.
They were calling the cafe about defending their values, LoGreco said, threatening to carry guns to protect the children from a drag queen who only really wanted to read to the kids.
The shop decided to cancel the event. But that did not stop Shangela from holding another, much smaller, event elsewhere.
“Of course, the fear is that they would scare the crap out of them,” LoGreco said about the would-be armed protesters. “But I mean, that is something that we’ve experienced.”
The irony of it is that all the hostility and contention reinforces the mission of the show, LoGreco said, giving the cast and crew a reason to power through the noise.
There isn’t an episode that is more reflective of the bigger picture of the show than the Granbury episode, LoGreco noted.
“There isn’t really a reason to kind of put up a huge fight against the presence of LGBTQ people,” LoGreco said. “No one’s looking to change anyone else, they’re just looking to live their lives.”
“We’re Here” season 3 premieres Friday on HBO. The first two seasons of the show are also available on HBO Max.
This story was originally published November 23, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
