Hurricane Season: Bianca Del Rio Takes on Employment Discrimination

With dim legislative prospects and support waning for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), could America's reigning drag superstar keep the issue of discrimination alive?

Watch out, America! There's a storm brewing in the form a pissed-off drag queen with a cause. And anyone who's ever seen even a single episode of the sixth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race," or witnessed a live sampling of Bianca Del Rio's infamous "Rolodex of hate," knows there are only two options when Hurricane Bianca is released - run and take cover, or sit back at a safe distance and enjoy the show.

That moniker is even the title of a feature-length comedy film in its planning stages. Hurricane Bianca is the story of a gay New York teacher who moves to a small Bible Belt town, where he is outed and fired; seeking revenge, he returns as a "mean lady" to wreak havoc on those that have done him wrong. Press notes call the film "Tootsie meets Revenge of the Nerds, or Mrs. Doubtfire for the Jackass generation."

The impetus for the film came out of Del Rio's outrage over the lack of LGBT nondiscrimination laws throughout most of the country. "A lot of people don't know this," Del Rio notes, "but in 29 states, you can be fired just for being gay. But because I don't think drag queens should be 'preachy,' " Del Rio says, "the movie is my way of dealing with a topic that's pretty serious in a comedic, non preachy, in-your-face kind of way. I try not to be too political about things. The last thing I want to be is Barbra Streisand, who sings a song and then tells you who you should vote for."

And although Del Rio may be a reluctant revolutionary of sorts, she asserts: "I'm for all things that are equal and fair and right. We're usually fighting with each other about things that aren't important. There are people who are questioning things that I said in a bar as a joke, when there are things far more serious than what I'm saying at 2 a.m. at the Ritz. "

The message picture in sheep's drag will naturally star Del Rio (aka Roy Haylock), and although she's being tight-lipped about additional casting, her recent win on "Drag Race" has brought the film to the attention of some "names." "The amazing thing about the platform of 'Drag Race' is that several people who are celebrities have come up to me and asked questions about it [the film]. Which makes me beyond grateful for the show. I think it's only going to be a better movie because of it. There are some surprises coming up that I can't discuss." ?One bit of casting that Del Rio will discuss is the inclusion of one of her fellow Season 6 castmates. "Jocelyn Fox, who I love, is joining the cast. She's going to play a high school student," Del Rio revealed. "I figured if people can believe me as a woman, they can believe that Jocelyn is a teen."

Like many others in this digital age, Del Rio took to crowd-sourcing to finance the film, with funding incentives that ran from social media shout-outs from Bianca for a $10 donation to a personalized episode on the web series Bianca Hates You at a cost of $1,000. But the first crowd-sourcing campaign had an abrupt end due to a phone call.

"We started crowd-funding before 'Drag Race.' In the midst of it, I got the call from the show." Because of her contractual agreement, the film's crowd-sourcing campaign was put on hold. "So it was 10 months of being quiet. At this point, several people had donated money, and of course I'm sure they thought I'd taken the money and bought a hooker. We just did another campaign, which has ended."

Hurricane Bianca is the brainchild of Matt Kugelman, an editor with CBS This Morning. "We've done a lot of small projects together," Del Rio says. "He gets my sense of humor and is brilliant at editing me. He's a writer. I am not. I improv my lines, he documents it and makes magic."

And while improv is clearly this insult comic's strong suit, Del Rio admits to being completely self-taught. "I've never taken a class. Experience has been the key to all of it." While stating that her quick-on-the-feet skill can also be a hindrance as a performer, she admits, "it can be difficult in scripted roles. For me, when I'm on stage in makeup, my instinct is to go off on my own. Luckily for those particular roles that I've done, it's worked out."

As an actor, Del Rio has appeared in numerous regional theater productions around her native Louisiana, performing roles that have included the surfer sex kitten Marvel Ann in "Psycho Beach Party," the "bump it with a trumpet" stripper Miss Mazeppa in "Gypsy," and Consuela Manuela Rafaella Lopez, Miss Industrial Northeast, in the musical "Pageant." It was while performing in "Pageant" that the character Bianca Del Rio was born.

"I always did theater either on stage or through costuming, and the opportunity came up with a show called 'Pageant, 'which turned into a guest spot at a bar," Del Rio explains. "One night turned into two nights, which turned into five nights, which turned into an 18-year career."

It was during that time, while honing her nearly peerless skills as a drag insult comic, that Del Rio developed an endless collection of quips and putdowns that she's affectionately named the "Rolodex of hate."

"I've done this particular style of comedy for a very long time. Any comedian will tell you there is an arsenal of things that you have as tools." Del Rio says of the "Rolodex," "I deal constantly with people in the audience, and you never know what they're going to say, which is something that I live for. You're an armed soldier in a verbal war. You've got to be prepared."

"There are things that are standard that always work. But for me, in the style of what I do, it's not so much joke telling, it's more about observation. Sometimes it lands and it's funny, sometimes it doesn't," Del Rio says, further explaining her style of comedy. "For me, all comedy comes from truth. I see something and it isn't always pretty or positive, and through the years of doing it, I've come to realize that other people feel the same way - they just don't speak up or have the platform that I have to do it."

After nearly a decade working in New Orleans, Del Rio left the Big Easy for the Big Apple, where her mild-mannered daytime alter-ego, Roy Haylock, took a job sewing costumes for Broadway shows and the Metropolitan Opera for the world-renowned stage atelier Barbara Matera. Haylock continued to work in costuming during the day while performing as Bianca at night up until "Drag Race" started filming.

Del Rio's comic chops and sewing skills made her a quick favorite with the audience and judges on "Drag Race" and kept her from the dreaded "lip-synch for your life challenge," something she is thrilled she never had to do.

"I've definitely lip-synched, twirled, danced, all that bullshit. It's like going to the Olympics. You can't show up for the swim team and say, 'Oh, now I have to go in water?' But it's not my cup of tea, it's not what I enjoy doing," Del Rio says. "The only way you avoid lip-synching is if you do well in everything else. For most of the queens who were on there, they couldn't wait to lip-synch. For me I was like, 'Uh-uh.' I don't have a problem with lip-synching. I have a problem being in the bottom two."

As they say, "the rest is history." After winning "Drag Race," the career of the already busy Del Rio has exploded. She recently returned from engagements in England, Ireland, Scotland and Amsterdam, where since the show isn't broadcast on any television channel, people watch the show illegally. "They're downloading it and watching it. It's become a cult favorite," Del Rio boasts. "So it's changed my whole perspective on the world. How small the world is, and how amazing this opportunity is."

One of the opportunities is an upcoming one-person show that Del Rio is in the process of developing for Live Nation. It has already sold out both shows scheduled to take place the week of Thanksgiving at New York's Gramercy Theatre.

"It all came to me at a really good time in my life. Initially I thought, I'm a little too old and a little too set in my ways. After years of working in the business, I thought this was it. I thought I would end drag at 40. But it happened to me at 38, and I'm far more appreciative because of it," Del Rio says.

"Back in the day, when I was younger, you had to go to a gay bar to see a drag queen. Now you're in someone's living room for 12 weeks with tons of people watching the show and rooting for you. And also humanizing you as a performer, which I don't think has ever happened. And I don't think the show is given credit for that. Especially this particular season. Outside of the fact that there was a collection of some of the most talented queens I've ever seen, they showed that we're all human beings. We're not a bunch of queens who live in a room who lip-synch, twirl and dance like some horrible version of 'West Side Story.' A lot of us have substance and talents."

When asked what the best thing she got out of her "Drag Race" experience, Del Rio says: "It made me shift my thinking of the world. The sky really is the limit."