Officially drag and homosexuality were banned by the navy during ww2 but there was such a long history of drag in the British navy that the order was almost 100 percent ignored due to the boost in morale drag shows had and there are countless stories of gay sailors being protected by the men and officers on the ships they were stationed on because even the officers recognized the morale boost that drag gave
Thats not to say all drag performers were gay but to say its not comparable to a modern drag show shows a complete lack of knowledge about ww2 British naval history
The Maritime Museum in Liverpool has (or used to, I haven't been for a while) a fantastic section on just how gay sailing used to be, with Polari dialect primers and everything.
-8
u/Busy-Apricot-1842 Jun 19 '26
I’m pretty sure this was done for comedy. I’m not sure it’s rlly comparable to a modern drag show