We're Here is one of the most joyous and celebratory shows on television, providing a safe space for LGBTQ+ people to express themselves, support one another and convey to the world exactly what the community stands together for.
But for all its technicolour beauty and messages of love, the voice of those that would wish to hurt the drag community (and by extension the queer community as a whole) has been getting louder.
Rights and laws are under threat, and talking heads continuously put ratings ahead of lives by attempting to debate the very existence of trans, non-binary and queer folk on air.
It is against this backdrop that sees the welcome return of the award-winning HBO series, We're Here: a show that states unapologetically, even if you don't want us to be, we're here and we're queer.
Episode one opens in Granbury, Texas – a 'sundown town', unsafe after dark for Black and queer people. Shangela, Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka O'Hara rock up, in all their gem-stoned rodeo realness, to a particularly hostile reception.
The predominantly right-leaning population of the city, which gets its name from a Confederate General, has caught wind of their arrival and has already launched an online hate campaign. But ever the picture of resilience, Shangela, Bob and Eureka are determined that the drag show must go on.
While in town, Shangela decides to put on a storytime for some local children. But when word gets out, the venue becomes a target of "aggressive" threats from a faceless local and Shangela is ultimately told that it's not safe to go ahead.
"I just didn't expect that something so innocent as reading a children's book to children would get people so riled up that they would call and make threats against the store," Shangela explained during an interview to camera.
In the end she is offered a change of setting, and Shangela was able to interact with an enthusiastic audience of youngsters. But the earlier ignorant response still hangs in the air.
"My purpose here is to represent who I am, to bring the light, the energy, the entertainment, and also the heart," Shangela later reflected. "Sadly people are trying to instil fear in us, and fear in those who support the gays, to push us down. The fact that people are so vocal about not wanting visibility for the drag community, also speaks to their disdain for the gay community."
Of course, what happened in Granbury didn't occur in a vacuum. It is sadly representative of a discourse that's been gaining more and more traction.
One talking point that has been repeatedly pushed on conservative talk shows is the appropriateness of drag shows for children, feeding into a fabricated moral panic that's fuelled by a very particular brand of homophobia.
Drag Race US and Celebrity Big Brother star Courtney Act recently sat on the sofa for Play School Story Time in Australia – a move which prompted Liberal Senator Alex Antic to ask ABC's managing director David Anderson: "Why is the ABC grooming children with this sort of adult content?"
Courtney responded in an op-ed for the Sydney Morning Herald, highlighting that "showing queer kids straight content won't turn them straight" and "showing straight kids queer content won't turn them queer".
"Your queer kids will be queer regardless of whether you show them examples or talk to them about it," she continued. "It just depends on how much shame you want them to carry into their lives."
"A vocal minority say kids are too young to learn about sexuality and gender, that they are adult concepts, but kids learn about heterosexual relationships and binary gender roles from the moment they are born," Courtney continued, before questioning whether they really mean to say that children "are too young to learn about queer identities?"
But doesn't all this sound exasperatingly familiar?
In the late '80s, under a Thatcher-lead Conservative government, Section 28 was introduced, effectively erasing queer identities from schools in the UK.
This law was actually partly inspired by a children's book, this one called 'Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin'. Its intention was nothing more than to showcase the different ways that a family could look – after all, some children have two daddys, some two mummys, others may only have one mum or one dad, or even be raised by grandparents or in foster care.
Yet it was used as a vessel to perpetuate homophobic hysteria all under the guise of 'protecting' the children. We know the lasting impact and harm that Section 28 inflicted on an entire generation, and yet we're still seeing the same rhetoric on our streets and TV screens in 2022?
Let's not forget that Florida's "don't say gay" bill (as it is colloquially known) – which tells school teachers not to encourage "classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels" – came into effect earlier this year.
And this brings us back, full circle, to We're Here.
The drag queens' Texas takeover introduced us to Lou, a local high schooler set to take part in Granbury's drag showcase. They are bringing awareness to the Krause List (comprising 850 books which have been removed from schools, many for containing queer content), an issue that's woven seamlessly into Lou's defiant performance.
In season three, We're Here is on the front line, quite literally facing down LGBTQ+ hate on the streets. Shangela herself noted that the experience of filming this season was "different than any other experience we've had in the history of doing this show".
But countering this increasing adversity, We're Here remains a beacon of hope and celebration. It's always been a cathartic watch, and it's one we really need right now.
We're Here season 3 is available on HBO in the US and launches on NOW in the UK on November 29.
