Belfast’s first drag king – Dick Von Dyke – on the rise in popularity of drag and the importance of challenging gender stereotypes Gemma Hutton, aka drag king Dick Von Dyke. Picture: Aodhan Roberts. The inspirational rise of drag kings across Northern Ireland has taken the region by storm, offering a masculine-dress equivalent to the now seemingly “normalised” drag queen scene.
After Blu Hydrangea’s big win on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World back in 2022, the Northern Irish drag queen shot to stardom – and with it the world looked to the local LGBTQ+ community here and how far it’s come over the years, especially after the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2020..
