Todd's People - Gia, The Frat Boy Drag Queen

People in Chicago like to fight. Cyclists fight cars, footwork squads fight footwork squads and this guy has spent so much of his life fighting the police that I struggle to see how he’d have time to make a baby.

You might expect Gia to have been on the receiving end of more shit, given that ’she’ was born a ‘he’ called Neco. But even though she’s been wearing girl clothes since high school, the gang bangers on the corners in her neighbourhood leave Gia alone. The frat boys she hangs out with at college don’t suspect a thing, either. It’s her competitors on Chicago’s infamous Drag Ball Scene that she has to watch out for (if you don’t know what that is, this should get you up to speed).

Gia goes to straight clubs as Gia, too. If a guy hits on her at a straight club, she tells them: “I’m not what you think I am. I got the same things you’ve got between your legs.” One guy told her, “You’re still a badass bitch.”

VICE: So, you were telling me that people in Chicago like to fight.
Gia: I know how to fight, but I won’t fight. I do got mace and a taser. I’m too old now. I don’t even go to parties any more, you know how Chicago house parties are. Everyone trying to end the drama of their day by heading straight into it. Some bitches may wanna slay me over some bullshit. Maybe I was killing it with my ponytail and some bitches got upset.

Where are you from?
West Side of Chicago.

Did you have to fight because you were different growing up in the ‘hood?
I put my hair in braids a lot. I fit in. But that’s cause my uncles were gang bangers, so I had protection. I came out at fifteen and stopped messing with girls at seventeen. My uncles considered me their niece, so I was able to save my energy and I tried to stop fights. We all need to get together because we are not the favourites in society. I use my power to move people forward.

What’s your power?
That I am a girl and a boy at the same time. I am classy, snippy, feisty and edgy. That’s the epitome of a woman and that’s my power. My classmates and I talk about 2012. Let’s get it in before the world ends. You can be rich, you can be whatever, but you gonna die some time. That’s for sure.

Are you taking more chances and risks these days because of apocalypse 2012?
I do, but nothing dangerous like Naughty Karate.

Naughty Karate?
Yeah, that’s when you’re gay/trans and you hit on straight dudes in the hood. That’s Naughty Karate because you may instantly find yourself in a self-defence tutorial. But I am naughty, still. I’m in a college fraternity.

Do the frat boys know Gia? Or only Neco?
They only know Neco. It’s an all-black fraternity. I do everything black. I’m about bringing two cultures together to make my own subculture.

And what’s your subculture?
I’m famous for ponytails.

TODD DIEDERICH