Early in the morning on Oct. 30, students got a chance to see drag queen, Doctor Maze, perform in front of Corbett Center Student Union, or perhaps later in the day at the intersection of Locust St. and University Ave.
This is not the first appearance Doctor Maze has made. She said she started performing drag in June of 2024 in El Paso at the San Jacinto Plaza. Doctor Maze also performs at the University of Texas in El Paso.
“The reason I perform near campuses to do drag is because I was an NMSU alumnus.” Doctor Maze said, “It brings back memories, and I enjoy showing drag to a new generation.”
Doctor Maze has an often-unthinkable trait for a drag queen. She identifies as a straight male and said doing drag has nothing to do with her sexuality; performing, instead, brings her empowerment.
“Some citizens think that all drag queens are gay, bisexual, queer, or transexual,” Doctor Maze said. “However, all drag queens are diverse when it comes to their sexual orientation.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race, a show NBC News referred to as “the Olympics of Drag”, cast its first cisgender straight male contestant during season 14, which aired in 2022.
The casting of Maddy Morphosis caused lots of controversy around whether or not it was okay to allow a cisgender straight male into a space made for queer people by queer people, according to an NBC News article.
“The people I met, and the experiences I had helped me understand more about gender and sexuality, what it meant to me, and where I fit in with everything,” Maddy Morphosis said on X. “If there’s a message that I hope to convey to people, it’s that you don’t have [to] inhabit the box society puts you in just to be comfortable in your own sexuality.”
Doctor Maze has her own statement regarding the topic.
“Drag queens have been around for thousands of years, and it’s a fun way to put a smile on someone’s face and brighten their day,” Doctor Maze said. “I want to show that Drag art is not a crime or felony.”
Doctor Maze said that sometimes it can be scary performing, and that people have called the police and threatened her with violence.
“But I still perform, regardless of death threats,” Doctor Maze said.
As a historian, Doctor Maze said drag from the Greek Empire, Roman Empire, and Babylonian Empire took part in inspiring her performances.
“I was appalled by the attempts in Texas trying to outlaw and ban drag performances in public,” Doctor Maze said. “I wanted to do my part and show that drag art should not be feared or prosecuted but appreciated and celebrated.
In 2023, Texas lawmakers enacted a bill that didn’t specifically mention banning drag shows but would have greatly affected drag performances, according to ABC News.
According to the ABC News article, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the bill would prohibit “sexualized performances and drag shows in the presence of a minor.”
Doctor Maze said that performing as a drag queen is redeeming when she can bring smiles and joy to the public. It means a lot to her when she can brighten the days of parents, soldiers, police officers, and students.
She recalls a time when she performed in front of American Soldiers and a group of Arab women, and said it brought big smiles to their faces; they even tipped her.
While students at NMSU may not understand the true meaning behind the performances, for the most part, commenters seem to enjoy the performances.
An Instagram post from barstoolnmsu showed a video of when Doctor Maze performed at the intersection between University Ave. and Locust St. with the caption “Campus celeb spotting: the NMSU stripper is back just in time for Halloween!”
The comments are a mix of sparking questions about what the purpose of the appearances is, and one saying, “My role model.”
A post about Doctor Maze was also posted on Yik Yak, a pseudonymous social media platform allowing users to post and view messages within a 5-mile radius.
In the NMSU community page on Yik Yak, Doctor Maze was referred to as the NMSU diva.
Doctor Maze said she’s received mostly positive reactions at NMSU, but is no stranger to being called slurs on and off campus. Regardless, she said she will continue to perform and stand in her belief that drag is an art to be shared and normalized, not prosecuted.
