The Vivienne was a defender of LGBTQ+ rights and a protector of queer joy – they will be missed
- Written by Looi van Kessel, Assistant Professor in Literary Studies and Gender Studies, Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), Leiden University
On Sunday, January 5, it was reported that James Lee Williams, better known as the British drag performer The Vivienne, had died at the age of 32. For fans and followers of British and international drag performers, this news has come as a shock. Not just because of the young age at which the drag artist passed away, but because the queer community has lost an important voice in the fight for LGBTIQ+ equality.
Williams’s death was announced by their publicist Simon Jones in a statement that read: “James was an incredibly loved, warm-hearted, and amazing person. Their family are heartbroken at the loss of their son, brother, and uncle. They are so proud of the wonderful things James achieved in their life and career.” No cause of death has yet been confirmed.
The Vivienne rose to international fame by winning the first series of reality television competition RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019. They subsequently participated in the spin-off show RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season seven in 2022.
In the few years since their first appearance on Drag Race, The Vivienne could often be seen as a guest in various other televised game shows. They were a finalist on the 2023 season of Dancing on Ice and just a few days before their passing, they appeared on the Christmas special episode of quiz show Blankety Blank.
This transformation, however, also had its downsides. While they rose to more mainstream fame, they increasingly became the target of negative and homophobic comments, both online and in person.
People took to social media to express their disgust with a drag queen performing on national television and on one occasion they were assaulted. News outlets report that their most recent television appearance on Blankety Blank also received an onslaught of online hate.
Sadly, their experiences were not unique. In the Netherlands, for example, news outlets often report on assaults of drag performers and protests against drag queen story hours.
This increased hostility against drag performers cannot be seen in isolation. Research shows that increased negative attitudes towards the LGBTIQ+ community are spreading across Europe, in particular against transgender people. While many drag performers identify as transgender, people can perform drag regardless of their gender identity. The Vivienne, for example, did not identify as transgender.
While both transgender people and drag performers only make up a small part of the LGBTIQ+ community, they receive a disproportionately large share of the hate targeted at the community.
In 2023, investigative journalists of the Dutch magazine De Groene Amsterdammer reported a surge in hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community, and transgender people in particular, on social media platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter), YouTube and Instagram since 2020.
Dutch news outlets also frequently report physical assaults on drag performers and protest against so-called drag queen story hours. In that same year, the political advocacy think tank the Institute for Strategic Dialogue published reports that linked anti-drag mobilisation in the UK and in France to political campaigns against the LGBTIQ+ community at large.
Researchers of the public reception of drag artists suggest that drag performers seem to be a particularly popular target of political forces that claim to defend traditional values. This is partially explained by to their increased popularity on mainstream television and because of their theatrical skirting of gender norms. People who target drag performers tend to be from the extreme right or rightwing Christians – people who favour traditional roles for men and women.
In their attacks on drag performers, European rightwing pundits and politicians take a page out of the playbook of American politics. While 2020 marks the year that anti-drag sentiments began to move more and more into European mainstream politics, this movement had by then amassed already quite some momentum in the US. In 2019, the Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy reported protests against drag queen story hours in over 30 cities across the US.
That such protest can have very real political consequences is shown by the state of Tennessee, which was the first state to pass a bill banning drag performances in 2023. And even though this bill has since been repealed in court, 13 other states have also tried to introduce laws censoring drag performances.
In Europe too, the rising tide of rightwing politics might have severe consequences for LGBTIQ+ rights, as shown by the Italian and Hungarian governments’ legislative attacks on their queer communities.
This is not to say that The Vivienne’s passing is the direct result of the online vitriol they received or the growing hostility against the queer community across Europe. Their family has not disclosed the cause of death, so there is no way of telling in what way these are connected, if at all.
But their passing is a reminder of the fragility of queer lives, especially of those who are in the public eye and bear the brunt of rising homophobia in Europe.
Their death also marks the loss of a queer public figure who spoke up against the hostilities they continuously received, and an entertainer who showed the public that queerness can be a source of joy. Two qualities that the European LGBTIQ+ community might need now, more than ever.
Authors: Looi van Kessel, Assistant Professor in Literary Studies and Gender Studies, Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), Leiden University
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