Drag Race winner on Manchester Pride joy, supporting trans rights and Fringe
Ru Paul's Drag Race season four winner Danny Beard is loud and proud with their opinions, and the outspoken 31-year-old star has made their feelings more than clear about why Pride is still so important, why support for trans people is vital, and why Manchester Pride specifically means so much to them.
On a high after five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and a sold our tour with their band, the drag performer and vocalist shared that they feel "really f**king lucky" to have "a lot of doors opening" for them. It's not all luck though, as they've been grafting for 10 years to get to where they are today.
Danny Beard hosted a stage at Manchester Pride 2023, and they describe themselves as 'lucky' for the opportunities (Getty Images)Not only did Danny close the stage at this year's Manchester Pride, but they also helped to curate the acts on it themselves, as when they were travelling around the country on tour, they saw many acts that "needed to be on this level of stage", describing the experience of giving others a platform as "heartwarming" and "emotional." "It's my first Manchester Pride since I won Drag Race, so there's a lot of almost, loose ends being tied up tonight", they said.
And their performance was phenomenal, opening the show seductively with Nancy Sinatra's 'Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), which segwayed into Sam Smith's 'Unholy', an artist whom they vehemently defend amongst the sea of critics. The drag performer also treated Pride-goers to their impressive vocal range with huge songs such as Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and Adele's 'Rolling In the Deep'.
Danny Beard's performance at Manchester Pride was exceptional (Danielle Kate Wroe)"Manchester was my people", Danny Told the Mirror, sharing that "like most gay kids" they didn't really grow up until they moved out at 18. Danny said that they learned drag in the city, and "a lot of performance skills", describing themselves as "nestled into Manchester Pride's bosom."
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Life after Drag Race has involved a whole lot of hard work for Danny so they can continue doing what they love. They said: "People might not know who I am in a year so I need to work my t**s off now. The top of one mountain is definitely the bottom of another. I'm just hungry for more, 'I can do that, I can do that' is what I always say, so it's been amazing. Life has changed so much in a short amount of time, but it is also my job so I should be happy - I am happy."
Speaking about why Pride is so important, Danny shared that it "does what it says on the tin" as the LGBTQ+ community "needs to be proud, stick together, and be with our trans brothers and sisters." Danny is passionate that we support trans people, pointing out that "their lives are being debated as if it's someone else's decision to make and it's not." They said: "I think trans people are going through what gay people went through in the 90s, and it's weirdly trickling into drag culture, for example, someone wrote 'p*do' on one of my posters in Edinburgh, and I laughed at first and then I got a bit upset and I thought this is the time now to be proud, and have pride, and let the younger generations know it's okay to be you.
Danny is passionate about supporting our Trans brothers and sisters (Danielle Kate Wroe)"I think the minority that are against queer people and trans people are a minority, they're just very vocal, so pride is important now more than ever. Queer people are the first people that others come to for a bit of entertainment, but they also seem to be the first people that people come to when they want to pit people against one another.
"Most people don't know a trans person, but have an opinion on a trans person, and I think my biggest thing would be to get to know someone trans because as soon as you've got a face to something you don't really know about, I feel like your opinions start to change. I feel like we're given a lot of misinformation, and most people I know who are trans just want to live their lives and get on with it."
Danny's overarching message is that we need to "support queer people", sharing: "I'm super proud to be queer, and I'm so proud to be on a line-up with so many queer artists, and most of these people [in the audience] are queer or allies and I love that."
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