When Michael Dalton was preparing to perform for children earlier this year, he was scared.
The gig was at Mount Gambier's library in South Australia, where his alter ego Dolly Diamond was booked to read a story to children.
Despite his fear after a death threat was made, Dalton still performed.
But he said his apprehension was real because of the "fear of the unknown".
"There's always someone out there that believes it's their right to take it to the next level and do something physical," Dalton told The Conversation Hour on ABC Radio Melbourne.
Threats cancel community events
In Victoria, Monash City Council cancelled a drag queen story time event after allegedly receiving threats against the performers, councillors and staff.
The all-ages sold-out event was meant to take place on May 17 — celebrating International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
It was one of a string of events forced to cancel as a result of protests and threats.
Overseas, the US state of Tennessee passed legislation banning male or female impersonators from performing in public, and/or in the presence of children.
Mr Dalton says there is, and should be, a significant difference in approach to a performance in a nightclub and an all-ages event, such as the one in Mount Gambier.
"It shouldn't really matter whether it's a man in a dress or a man dressed as a banana, or as a kangaroo," he said.
"What is delivered to a younger audience must always be age appropriate."
The Dame Edna factor
Mr Dalton said he believed a lot of people had an issue with the drag queen label.
"I've never really viewed Dolly as a drag queen in the [same] sense that Dame Edna was always just Dame Edna," he says.
He said that was because Barry Humphries was so skilled at building the character up over the years as a woman, not just a man in drag.
And author and former editor of The Melbourne Community Voice, Rachel Cook, said she believed there was a simple reason why Dame Edna was accepted by most Australians.
"Barry Humphries was a heterosexual man," Ms Cook told The Conversation Hour.
"I think the argument around drag story time is homophobia … [people oppose it] because they think gay equals bad.
"What worries me most about the people who are pushing this argument is … if they have children themselves who might be questioning their sexuality, and knowing how hard that is, how tough they're making life for their own children."
Not such a new trend
Curator of the Australian Queer Archives Nick Henderson said drag performances in Australia could be tracked back to the settlement of the country's first colonies when men would dress up as women as they undertook female roles in theatre productions.
"They're putting back into community, building community and creating safe spaces," he said.
While the popularity of shows like RuPaul's Drag Race was formed from the ball culture of 1920s Harlem, Mr Henderson said the tradition also found a home in Australia.
"We had our own ball traditions, from the arts balls to the professional organisations that would do balls in spaces like The Palais in San Remo," Mr Henderson said.
"Those spaces were generally a place where you were allowed to cross-dress for a night, you were allowed to dress up and interact."
'Incredible joy and life'
Macquarie University post-doctoral research fellow Geraldine Fela said drag queens also played a vital role during the HIV-AIDS epidemic.
"They were visitors, they were nurses, and they were unfortunately patients, as well, on those wards," she said.
"I don't think it's a stretch to say that they played a really crucial role in HIV and AIDS care — they made sure that despite the terrible illness and deaths that were occurring in those places, they were not miserable places to be."
Ms Fela spoke to Melbourne hospital staff during the crisis as part of her PhD research and said nurses remembered drag queens coming in and putting on performances.
"They'd make clothes and costumes for the other patients, and for nurses, and they brought incredible joy, life, and queer community culture to the ward in Melbourne.
"Drag means that people actually get to have really joyful experiences."
For Mr Dalton and Dolly Diamond, the only option is to keep performing, despite the protests and the threats.
"I know what I'm doing is drag, and I love it," he said.
"I'm not going to back down on this, because there is no reason to back down."
