Drag Queens Traverse Trademark Law: ‘I Don’t Think We’re Safe’

Peaches Christ stepped onto stage as a drag queen for the first time in the 1990s, and walked into a profession that was shunned.

“We weren’t even something people thought about unless it was a freak show on daytime television or something,” said Joshua Grannell, the actor and writer who performs as Peaches Christ and has trademarked the stage name. “Even the gay community,” Grannell said, “didn’t want us in their parades, didn’t want us representing them.”

Today, drag has gone mainstream, the landscape shifting from underground shows to sold-out performances and even brunch, due in large part to ...