HBO ‘We’re Here’ TV series concert in St. George encourages people to be who they want to be

ST. GEORGE — A sea of smiles and pride flags greeted the “We’re Here” concert Friday night at Town Square. The HBO series filmed an episode in St. George despite controversy about the concert’s location.

Performers from the HBO show “We’re Here” thank St. George concert goers for the warm welcome, pictured Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela Laquifa Wadley, St. George, Utah, June 3, 2022 | Photo by Stephanie DeGraw, St. George News

At Friday night’s concert, close to 2,000 people expressed love and acceptance for the show, its participants and the LGBTQ+ community. The audience was all ages. The program performers thanked the attendees for making them welcome that evening and throughout the week leading up to the concert.

“We’re Here” is a reality television series on HBO featuring former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela Laquifa Wadley. In the series, the drag queens travel across the United States to recruit small-town residents to participate in one-night-only drag shows. One of St. George’s residents who participated on stage said the experience in the concert really helped them accept who they are.

“It’s hard,” said one of the local show participants, Toniliciois. “There will be days where you stand in front of the mirror crying because who you want to be is someone you feel like you cannot be. You can be who you want to be; please be who you want to be.”

Another performer, Eureka O’Hara, said their message is for people to own all the parts of who they are, no matter where they are in their journey of self-discovery.

“Just know that there is love in the world for you,” O’Hara said.

St. George City Councilwoman Michelle Tanner questioned holding the event next to the Children’s Museum in a letter to City Manager Adam Lenhard. Thursday evening, many people showed up to the City Council meeting expressing support for the event to take place still.

Tanner opposed the HBO, rated TV-MA, drag show being held outside the public children’s museum and children’s play area in Town Square. She noted that a mature program like “We’re Here” should be held in an “appropriate mature venue.”

Audience members enjoying the concert presented by the HBO show “We’re Here” in downtown St. George on Friday, St. George, Utah, June 3, 2022 | Photo by Stephanie DeGraw, St. George News

Tanner said on Facebook that she thinks the location is not appropriate but that she still accepts LGBTQ people.

“Contrary to some of the messages I have been receiving labeling me a ‘bigot’ etc. for requesting that a TV-MA HBO show be held in an appropriate mature venue (not a children’s area), I actually support individual rights to live how you want to live,” Tanner wrote in the Facebook post. “My brother is gay; I have friends who I love dearly who are gay and I have always supported them. Let’s not confuse the issues here.”

The show creators, Stephen Warren and Johnnie Ingram stated that so many people showed up for the meeting and the concert illustrates how important it was for a drag show to happen in a public place.

“There were a number of speakers (at the city council meeting) that said it will literally save lives,” Stephen Warren, co-creator and executive producer, said. “You don’t think that a drag show will save lives. But actually, the reality is that the presence of people out in celebrating life openly does save lives.”

When the producers were thinking of creating the show, they wanted to highlight what was missing from the television landscape. They wanted to shine a light in small conservative towns where people feel marginalized as members, closeted or otherwise, of the LGTBQ+ community.

Concert goers at the

The program usually faces hurdles when they first arrive in an area. Often opposition is called “parental rights” and that “somehow you can take away the First Amendment like you can ban books in the name of parental rights,” he said.

“It’s disguised as ‘I don’t want to have any expression other than the expression of men wearing men’s clothes, women wearing women’s clothes in front of my kids in a public space,'” Warren said.

In each area the crew travels, they seek venues to shoot the show. Sometimes residents are thrilled an HBO show is coming to their city, but when they discover that it’s a drag show or has LGBTQ themes, suddenly there’s an excuse, he said. For example, the locations will say they are undergoing renovation or are afraid of losing business. Warren said after they did a show at an opera house in South Dakota, a significant donor yanked the location’s funds.

“It’s easy to say ‘I don’t want to deal with it. We are just trying to protect the kids.’ Protect them from what?” Warren said.

Another reason the program chooses public venues is the theme of “We’re Here” which focuses on visibility for those who may feel marginalized by society, Co-creator Ingram said.

“The name of the show itself is about our existence, and it’s about being visible, it’s about being in the center,” Ingram said. “We’ve been forced to exist in the more hidden places. And I think having the show in town and being openly visible during Pride Month in the center of a town is urgently needed. We need visibility for the LGBTQ community, allies and supporters to come out and see each other.”

Ingram said that celebrating in the center of town is powerful, meaningful, and very progressive. He is very proud and happy to have that privilege.

“We’re so happy to do it in this beautiful, majestic community,” Ingram said. “We have been here in St. George for a week. We have met some of the most open-minded, incredibly nurturing, supportive people in this beautiful physical setting. There is a spirit of community and togetherness that I’ve been very, very impressed with.”

In addition to the drag show, the D on the Back Hill was light up with rotating rainbow colors from 9-10 p.m.

Jyl Hall, director of public relations for Utah Tech University – which owns and maintains the hillside D – told St. George News that city officials approached the university about lighting up the site in recognition of the drag show. University officials agreed and it was done.

ED. note: Clarification from Utah Tech University added regarding the rainbow lighting of the D on the Black Hill during the We’re Here drag show.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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