Celebrating Drag with 2026 Miss Gay America Tracy La Louisianne
- Elizabeth Gracen
- 11 minutes ago
- 9 min read
By Elizabeth Gracen:
This past January, I had the distinct honor to be asked to sit on a judges' panel in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the annual Miss Gay America pageant and the Miss Gay America Femme pageant. Since I've been deeply entrenched in the drag community for the past couple of years filming interviews and performances for Natural State of Drag—an upcoming documentary feature film about the history of drag in my home state of Arkansas—I was made to feel right at home by my fellow judges, Mad Angel Entertainment/Halo Vision Films and current MGA owners Michael Dutzer and Rob Mansman, future MGA owner Monica Mitchells, and the queer community at large. It was a life-changing event for me to meet and interview 70 queens vying for the two crowns. The authenticity, open-hearted honesty, courage, and sheer creative talent of these contestants infused my spirit with a tender hope and renewed my certainty that human beings are capable of the most extraordinary achievements. It is an experience that touched my heart, and I will never forget it.
A pageant that has celebrated the art of female impersonation since 1972 when Arkansan Norma Kristie (Norman Jones) was selected as the very first Miss Gay America, MGA continues to be the longest-running pageant system to honor the art form, adhering to the requirements that no contestant use female hormones or undergo feminizing surgery below the neck.
It's all smoke and mirrors, folks . . . and a whole lot fabulous!
For me, personally, choosing just one queen as the winner for each of the pageants was beyond daunting. With two preliminary days of interviews and two nights of prelim competition, we judged each contestant in five categories (personal interview, talent, evening gown, and on-stage question) with a scoring system ranging from 0–25 divided into five sub-categories. With the instruction to simply be as consistent as possible with our scores, our panel narrowed it down to a top 10 by Saturday evening. At that point, all scores were wiped clean to begin again, with only the interview scores carrying forward into the final night's competition.
The top 10 gave it their all that night, wowing the audience through a live-stream broadcast and a rip-roaring in-person stage show at Robinson Center. The final scores were close, but there was no denying who would be crowned the 2026 Miss Gay America—the incomparable Tracy La Louisianne!
Tracy La Louisianne, a.k.a. Travis Guillory, is a born performer who hits the stage with hutzpah and charm, serving up everything necessary to get the laughs and entertain her audience. I attended MGA in 2025 to work on the documentary film, so I had seen Tracy compete once before, but to see her return to the stage with polish and a glowing confidence was a thrill. There is nothing like witnessing a performer firing on all pistons, and Tracy "slayed the house down boots" that night.
I reached out to Tracy to talk about her victory, her passions, and what she hopes are for the exciting year ahead.
Please meet the one and only Tracy La Louisianne!
Elizabeth Gracen: Tracy, first of all, congratulations on winning 2026 Miss Gay America! It was such an honor to sit on the panel of judges for both the Miss Gay America and Miss Gay America Femme competitions this year. It was a real highlight of my life to be a part of it all and to meet so many incredible human beings, both contestants and all the behind-the-scenes people who make it happen. You were more than awesome, and I am thrilled that you won. Would you tell our readers a little bit about yourself and how you ended up in the world of drag?
Tracy La Louisianne: I’m originally from South Louisiana and currently live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been performing since the age of 9 in community theatre, and by day, I’m the Executive Director of Theatre Tulsa—the oldest and largest nonprofit theatre company in Oklahoma. I started doing drag about 3 years ago after playing a drag queen in a play. I had never done drag before and basically had to teach myself how to do drag. I got the bug and started getting booked at clubs and bars around the region and, after dabbling in drag pageantry, quickly snowballed into Miss Gay America.
EG: I recently perused your Instagram feed and noticed one of your posts from the 2025 MGAR competition. In it you mention that you had only been doing drag for two years prior to coming to the national pageant the first time. That’s amazing! I’ve interviewed a lot of queens over the past couple of years for a documentary film that I’ve been working on, and I don’t think I’ve met anyone who has moved quite as quickly up the ladder to drag stardom as Tracy La Louisianne. That tells me a lot about your determination, focus, and discipline. Why did you decide that being Miss Gay America was the goal you simply had to achieve? What does wearing the “hat” of MGA mean to you, and what are your goals for the upcoming year?
TLL: The Miss Gay America system is the only pageant system I’ve ever competed in because I knew it was the right fit for me from the start. A lot of drag queens I looked up to kept pushing me toward the America system. The idea of individuality, authenticity, and uniqueness was very attractive and comforting to me. I liked that the America system didn’t have a mold or a box to fit into. I could do my art the way I want to and, with some polishing and refining, I could succeed in a major pageant system. I still can’t really answer the question “What does being MGA mean to me?” Achieving this was something I never even thought was possible for me, and I still haven’t wrapped my head around the breadth of this title and what a privilege it truly is to hold this title.
My goal for this year is to try to be a source of inspiration for other Tracies out there who may not have necessarily been doing drag very long but who have a spark to grow and have a light to shine. The world desperately needs to see that right now.
EG: Am I correct in assuming that you identify with the label of “comedy queen”? Have you always been funny and over-the-top? Were you the class clown in school? Are you always high energy, or is there a whole other side to Travis Guillory that no one sees?
TLL: This question made me laugh! I think, if you look at my overall drag, it’s fair to say I’m a “comedy queen.” I’ve always been an over-the-top, flamboyant person, and humor has always been a big part of who I am. Some queens are incredible dancers. Others are great singers. Some are very gifted at sewing or makeup. While I can do a little bit of everything, I learned that talking is actually my main talent. I have a degree in PR, and I used to be a news anchor and reporter as well. I’ve also consistently won the Personal Interview category and even won Best Overall Interview my first year at MGA. Something clicked for me last year after my regional preliminary to qualify for Miss Gay America that my talent was talking, and that was really fun to play around with. What if I just stopped and talked to the judges on stage? It was a risk that paid off because, at the end of the day, Tracy is a talker, and she was doing what she does best and what Travis has done his whole life: talking and making people laugh.
EG: After you won, you spoke briefly about bringing “queer joy” to the world, and I thought it was a brilliant description of the art of drag in general. It also encapsulates your own shining personality and warmth. We’re living in such troubled times. The world is a scary place, especially for the queer community. How do you plan on spreading some of that lovely queer joy this year? Why do you think drag is a relevant art form with something valuable to offer?
TLL: I’m so excited to experience queer joy around the country. Everyone has something that brings them joy and that they pour their own joy into. It’s a two-way street. We all pour our passion into something and gift that passion to the world to present something beautiful and unique. Being a proud queer person is such a personal thing, but it’s also something that is very much a shared experience as a queer community.
Pride isn’t just a month; pride is a lifestyle. I think as drag entertainers, we are the mascots of queer joy. We are the sparkly, bold, beautiful patron saints of queer joy. As queer people, when you see unapologetic, authentic, genuine queerness and joy, it’s transformative. That’s what I believe is the power of drag and what I hope to be as Miss Gay America.
EG: During your judges interview, you talked about your work with the non-profit theatre company in Oklahoma. Will you stay active with that theatre? What are your goals after the tornado of a year that you are about the embark on? I have a feeling that it will always involve the stage in some capacity.
TLL: I am still remaining full time in my day job. Yes, it will definitely be a very challenging year with a lot to juggle. It’s a lot of pressure and responsibility, but the work that Theatre Tulsa does and the community it serves is so much a part of me. I can’t just stop. I’ve got an amazing, loyal, hardworking staff who will help carry the torch as I’m traveling the country this year. The entire community is wildly excited about this opportunity for me, and I have no doubt they will soar even in my absence. Beyond MGA, who knows what’s next?! I’ll cross that bridge when I get there, and I’ll tackle whatever comes my way the same way I tackled MGA.
EG: Not to get too serious, but I’m curious what you think about the current political climate and how it is impacting the LGBTQIA+ community. What are some of the most important issues facing the community, and what are some of the best organizations to support and donate to? How can Miss Gay America make a difference this year?
TLL: In my opinion, the most important issues facing the LGBTQIA+ community are trans rights and sustaining queer spaces. Trans rights have been under attack from day one of the current administration. Legislation is relentlessly introduced at the local, state, and federal levels to limit trans people’s rights, eliminate their health care, and erase their existence. Trans people have been around since the dawn of time, and they will be around for the rest of human existence.
The other main issue is the loss of queer spaces. Safe gathering places are shuttering for queer people nationwide. Clubs are closing. Centers are shutting down. I sit on the board of Oklahomans for Equality—the largest and ONLY LGBTQIA+ center in Oklahoma and the region. OKEQ provides health care, advocacy, education, and community programs that are vital and life-changing to queer people in our area. These types of spaces are far and few between. As Miss Gay America, I hope to highlight these types of organizations in each state I travel to.
EG: Even though drag is currently everywhere in our culture, there are still so many people out there who don’t understand it. They think that there is something inherently wrong with any man who would want to put on women’s clothes or any woman who wants to dress as a man. If you could sit down and talk to those people and try to explain the art form, what would you say?
TLL: Christopher Reeve put on a bodysuit and a cape and became Superman. Carrie Fisher put on a robe and a wig with two buns and became Princess Leia. Travis puts on a sparkly dress and a blonde wig and becomes Tracy. There’s no difference.
In the 1500s, it was mandated and enforced that men played women on stages. And drag existed for centuries before that. Drag is gender expression, but it’s also the absence of gender. Gender doesn’t matter. We’re all just human beings. And we’re all just playing dress up.
EG: Tracy, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. I’m wishing you all the best for a successful, fun, and inspiring year! Please tell our readers where they can find out more about you and the Miss Gay America pageant system.
TLL: You can find me on Facebook and Instagram as Tracy La Louisianne. You can also follow the Miss Gay America pages on FB and IG and learn more about the pageant system at missgayamerica.com.
Elizabeth Gracen is the owner of Flapper Press & Flapper Films.
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