00:00Peace in the Middle East.
00:01You want to be a drag queen.
00:02You want to be a drag queen.
00:04You're like a drag queen.
00:07Backstage at a gay nightclub in Israel,
00:09some of the most provocative performers in the Middle East
00:11are getting ready to take the stage.
00:13They're part of a thriving LGBTQ community here in Tel Aviv.
00:17And they have something to say.
00:20Lanotte, girls, ladies, all who's in between.
00:23Hi, hello.
00:24Do you want them to see the ancient secret of tucking?
00:27I don't know if we need that, actually.
00:29If the idea of progressive drag in a state defined by religion
00:32surprises you, it should.
00:34In a region where you can be jailed or killed for being gay,
00:38Israel, and specifically Tel Aviv, stands out as an oasis.
00:42But it's still a place filled with conflict and contradiction.
00:48How does putting on a wig and lip-syncing to Rihanna solve anything?
00:54Cue the queens who are about to school us all.
01:00Nona Shalat, drag mother of the avant-garde.
01:05I really feel I'm a part of progress in the country.
01:08I think a drag will save the world.
01:11Moksha, the religious idol.
01:13I don't always observe everything the way that I know I've been taught to.
01:17A cease d'aranj, radical pacifist.
01:21My goal is a non-violent revolution.
01:25And a young man hoping to join their ranks.
01:29German is a soldier who wants to be a queen.
01:33A year into his compulsory service, he spends most of his time on bass.
01:37But when he's not in uniform, he does makeup.
01:42It's not just a hobby.
01:43It's a passion through which he fell in love with the idea of drag.
01:50In one week, he's hoping to perform for the first time.
01:54But he's never even been to a show until tonight.
01:58German!
01:59Hi!
02:01It's nice to meet you.
02:02Can I give you a hug?
02:07You're going to not get any sleep tonight.
02:09My goal is to make it so you are so hungover tomorrow morning.
02:12Watch me work!
02:22Traditionally, drag means presenting as a classic feminine woman,
02:26which, in and of itself, is subversive.
02:29Performance as a tool of resistance against gender norms.
02:39But the pageantry presenting as female is no longer the only goal.
02:44The new generation of queens has expanded what drag can do and say.
02:50Freedom of speech is an understatement.
03:04When I'm still trying to parse the political messages, the fashion is something I connect to.
03:09And so does German.
03:16It's Nona Shalant that he's here to see.
03:19It's Nona Shalant that he's here to see.
03:22Honey, don't look like a look-alike.
03:26They began corresponding online five years ago.
03:30Nona is his idol.
03:31But he's hoping she'll become his mentor.
03:33I'm happy to see him in real life.
03:35He's like my son.
03:36Did you see drag potential in German?
03:39Of course.
03:39He have great aesthetics.
03:41When do you think German's going to do drag?
03:42Are you priming him?
03:44Well, it depends on him.
03:45Did you see anything that you were like, oh, this isn't something I want to do?
03:48Yeah, I saw a number that Aziz were doing with, like, the flag.
03:53To do naughty things with a flag, I want to do.
03:56Every time we put the lashes on and get out to the street, it's political.
04:01It's very political.
04:02To be us, it's political.
04:04Good morning.
04:05I slept four hours after getting home from the drag show last night.
04:10A lot of these numbers relied on, you know, being very attuned to, you know, cultural specifics.
04:17I needed to know more about the guy with the pink paint.
04:20Meet Aziz D'Orange.
04:22His whole life is a statement.
04:25He's gender fluid.
04:26He dumpster dives to curb food waste.
04:28He thinks meat is murder, so he went fruitarian.
04:32He went to jail for refusing to serve in the military.
04:37This is great.
04:39Oh, my gosh.
04:40Let me try this on.
04:41Yeah, let's do it.
04:41You're going to just...
04:42Okay.
04:43Well, you are not one to follow rules.
04:45We're dressing rooms, apparently.
04:47So, let's talk about last night in the show.
04:50I'm not Israeli, but even for me, I was like, oh, this is something that is very pointed and very
04:56provocative.
04:57Israel is an LGBTQ-friendly place, and, of course, if you compare it to Syria,
05:04it is, but we still have a lot to go through.
05:08There are a lot of LGBTQ people living in Palestine, in occupied territories, under Israeli government.
05:15All of us deserve to live in freedom.
05:17Aziz uses the drag stage to put social injustice on notice.
05:21I say that a conflict is a gate to come closer and to understand one another and to connect.
05:28As I head into Jerusalem, the complexity of this notion is palpable.
05:33At the intersection of the world's major religions, progress is hard won.
05:39Here, Al-Aqsa, one of the holiest sites in Islam, sits directly above one of the holiest sites in Judaism,
05:45the Western Wall.
05:48For many, conflict comes back to one thing.
05:52Religion.
05:53Orthodox Judaism has very binary views on gender.
05:57Here at the Western Wall, you can see it.
05:59There's a woman's side, and there's a men's side.
06:03Moisha, or Moksha, walks the line.
06:06He is gay and dresses in drag, while practicing religion that, technically, forbids both.
06:11I don't think there is a reconciliation.
06:14You sort of stay in that conflict.
06:16You just sort of live with it.
06:17It's a constant.
06:19There seems like there's a very big difference between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
06:22Right.
06:22Tel Aviv, you have more of the framework to maybe dress in maybe more of a gender-fluid manner.
06:29And in Jerusalem, it's a more conservative city.
06:32Do you do drag in Jerusalem?
06:34I do drag in Jerusalem, yeah.
06:35Yeah.
06:38Moksha performs with the modesty of a conservative Jewish woman, at the only gay bar in this ancient city.
06:48It's the same club where German will take the stage for the first time, under the guidance of his new
06:53mentor, Nona.
06:56I brought all my things to the show on Monday, so I wanted to show you, and you tell me
07:02if it's something to air.
07:04Show me, of course.
07:07My costume is very black and white.
07:08Gender blender a little bit.
07:10Very Grace Jones.
07:11Revealing.
07:12Revealing.
07:13Yeah.
07:13That's the wig.
07:14That her.
07:15That's her.
07:16All right.
07:17And how are you going to style it?
07:18I will see.
07:19I don't know.
07:20I don't want to be too much.
07:22More stuff.
07:23If it's not too much, no one will remember.
07:25That's the look.
07:26Oh my goodness.
07:27That's the wig.
07:28It's great.
07:29You can hair flip it like this.
07:31You could even wear, what are those called, the stockings, but write a word on it or something.
07:36I don't know what word it would be.
07:38What word?
07:38Peace in the Middle East.
07:39You want to be a drag queen.
07:41You want to be a drag queen.
07:42You're my Grace.
07:44Maybe I do want to be a queen.
07:46To challenge the idea of what people say you can and can't be.
07:49Who you can and can't love.
07:51How you can practice your faith.
07:53To put that out there in the world while making way for others to do the same.
07:57That is noble work.
07:59I don't know the first thing about voguing.
08:01It's about looking at yourself in the mirror and loving yourself.
08:05You can just walk in the club with a face and your vogue.
08:13Yes.
08:14Where am I going?
08:15I'm going this way.
08:16If we walk, we walk.
08:18If we fall, we fall.
08:22Everybody wants peace in the Middle East, but no one agrees on how to achieve it.
08:27In a place where conflict is the norm and issues of identity create deep lines in the sand,
08:33it almost seems impossible.
08:36That's it.
08:38Like a pose.
08:40But here, the drag community has figured it out.
08:44People with different ideas not only coexist, they support each other.
08:49And they do it in six inch heels.
08:51So how do you feel before the show?
08:53I was just like showgirl half of the moment.
08:55We will see.
08:56Remember that everyone wants to be that diva that you are on the stage.
09:01So you need to be full of yourself.
09:02This is our tip.
09:03I've come here today for one reason only.
09:06To show off.
09:10What's your drag name?
09:11Diamond.
09:12My drag name is Diamond.
09:14I'm going to call you Diamond for the rest of the night, okay?
09:16Congratulations, honey.
09:17Ready?
09:20Diamond.
09:24Diamond.
09:26Diamond.
09:29Diamond.
09:35Diamond.
09:38Diamond.
09:41Diamond.
09:41Diamond.
09:41Diamond.
09:43Diamond.
09:44Diamond.
09:44Diamond.
09:45Diamond.
