Activist and performer Terence Smith has an alter ego. Legendary drag artist and queer activist Joan Jett Blakk.
Blakk has been a pillar for the queer rights movement for over 50 years. She was a member of radical groups such as the Detroit Gay Liberation Front. In 1990, she helped found the Chicago chapter of Queer Nation. Two years later she would be famous for being the first drag queen to run for president.
In 1992, she ran against George H. W. Bush with on of her go-to slogans, “Lick Bush in ‘92!”
During her campaign, she said, “You can watch the news and never hear the word ‘gay’ mentioned—That unnerves me. But with this campaign, they’ll have to say the word; I’ll make them.”
While of course her run was out of satire, no one can deny the politics behind it are very serious. Blakk ran to bring attention to issues such as the AIDS crisis and violence against LGBTQ+ communities. These where issues neither the Democrats nor the Republicans were wanting or willing to discuss. Her run forced these conversations to be had by skewing U.S. election politics, with her “Create Your Own Scandal” stunts.
One of which she was posing on a bed on a Chicago sidewalk inviting passers by near to take pictures. “If a bad actor can be elected president, why not a good drag queen?” She once asked—rhetorical, of course.
Last year Joan Jett Blakk suffered from a stroke, causing her to require lifelong medical care. Though she has already received aid through her own official GoFundMe fundraiser, Willie Norris Workshop and Legends of Drag partnered to release until January 30, 2026, Blakk’s presidential campaign poster as a T-shirt.
The front features a picture of her taken by photographer Marc Geller with text reading “Joan Jett Blakk for President—By Any Means Necessary,” while the back displays another of her slogans: “A Vote For Joan Jett Blakk Is a Vote for Total Anarchy.”
According to the organizers all proceeds from T-shirt sales are to help with Blakk’s medical costs, storage unit fees, and outing from her rehab facility.
Photo courtesy of social media
