Law's a drag
A NETWORK TO DISCOVER AND IMPROVE DRAG ARTISTS' LIVED EXPERIENCES OF LAW
Our Research
We are a network of drag artists and legal academics, of all genders and levels of experience, who want to research and fight against the injustices faced by the drag community.
Get Involved
We make sure we pay artists for their time and expertise at our collaborative events. The more drag artists we speak to, the more representative our research can be. Join us!
Our Events
Take a look at our events, read about future plans, and learn about how we’re working together to make research that can lead to positive change in the lives of drag artists.
Speak to us
Meet one of our drag artists, Pop Tart, and meet some of our academics: James, Rosie, and JoyOr reach out via our contact form
Our Research
Law’s a Drag is a network of over 80 drag artists and academics, mostly in the UK but with a growing overseas presence. We’re working together to discover more about the injustices that drag artists face, and how we can collaborate to fight for real change.Some artists are put off when they read about “law.” Negative experiences, or connotations with police and crime, can deter some artists from feeling that Law’s a Drag is “for them.” But we talk about drag and law in all sorts of different contexts: venues not paying on time, safety at gigs, getting legal advice, copyright of music and images, discrimination based on race or gender status, and many other issues that affect artists. What’s more, our events aim to be fun, inclusive, and enlightening experiences for all artists who attend!We don’t want to define what “drag” means. It’s up to artists (drag kings, drag queens, and nonbinary artists of all ages and levels of experience) to live, perform, and experience “drag.” We welcome artists regardless of race, age, gender, disability, socio-economic status, nationality, or faith. We protect the trust that drag performers place in us, allowing for anonymous input from them, and making our research processes as transparent as we can.We place artists in the driving seat. We don’t want our legal academics to be telling artists what research they need, or how to go about it. We’ve run several events in which we’ve asked drag performers to share the areas of law they want to discuss, the methods they want us to take, and how they finally want that research to be shared. We operate strongly on the principle: “Nothing about us, without us.”We want to grow our network, to be as inclusive and representative as possible, so that more artists can have their say on what research they want us to undertake. Then, we can use that research to make a case to policymakers and lawmakers to seek positive change - we ultimately want our work to have real impact for drag artists.
Get Involved
As well as research events, where we pay artists to come and chat to us about their thoughts on law and injustice, we also run community hangouts where we can chat informally about these topics, and about what Law’s a Drag can do to help artists. We also run cabaret events, to showcase our artists' work and to share important legal info to the LGBTQ+ community.Our drag artists have raised so many interesting areas of law that they encounter in their working lives, including contracts, access to justice, privacy, freedom of speech, insurance, discrimination, policing, harassment, safeguarding, defamation, copyright, dispute resolution, and many other issues.Artists we have worked with in the network include:
Angel
Witch Blair
King Little
China
Tyrone John
De Castro
Just Jack
Miss Dee Licious
Miss Mindy Pendent
Pop Tart
Ginger Slice
AJ-47
Tommy Gun
China
Vee Dagger
Cory Ander
Sue Pertrouper
Vita Boheme
Dan Glibits
Rose Quartz
Donna the Domme
Pembo
and more…
Our Events
Community hangouts
We also have informal gatherings in Leeds city centre to meet other drag artists, talk about what we do, catch up with old friends, and chat about future plans for Law’s a Drag. It’s nice just to meet with some friendly drag artists and some academics from the team outside of the university campus. If you want to join one of our community hangouts, just get in touch!
Previous events: 2024 - Research Principles Lab
We received Socio-Legal Studies Association funding for an event in April 2025, in which we worked with artists and discussed principles for future research. We talked about a) what areas of law need investigating, b) what research methods our artists want us to use, and c) how we can guarantee drag artists have oversight over the entire research process, for maximum transparency. We also hosted a session, run by drag artist and forum theatre expert AJ-47, to learn about how to do research in ways that empower drag artists as participants.Contact us if you would like to be emailed with more information about this and future events!
Previous research events
Cabarets and live gigs!
We have also hosted live shows featuring amazing performances from our artists, whilst also sharing our legal research and important information with the queer community. In 2025, we hosted a cabaret to inform people about the changes to the law about trans rights following the For Women Scotland judgment. In 2026, we put on a LGBT+ History Month show, telling the story of legal changes to the rights of LGBT people in the UK over the centuries. Keep an eye out on our social media for information about upcoming shows - and if you are interested in joining in, let us know!
Speak to us!
Reach out directly to one of our amazing drag artists or academics below, or get in touch via our contact form.
Contact Us
If you want to join the network, have topics you want to discuss, have ideas about how LAD should conduct its research, or anything else on your mind, please let us know here!