A bridge too fab

New Hampshire photographer Andre Rosa combines two fabulous things


I’m originally from New Brunswick, a wholesome East Coast boy through and through, and I don’t mean to brag, but we have the longest covered bridge in the world.

I know, I know — it’s not about the length of the bridge, it’s how hardy it is.

The Hartland Bridge, just a few hours north of my hometown, measures in at 391 metres (1,283 feet) long. New Brunswick’s famous for its covered bridges, actually, as there are a total of 61 of them spread out over the province.

So now, take three of my favourite things — drag queens, the eastern seaboard and covered bridges — add them together, and you have one fabulous calendar.

The Advocate shared the work of photographer Andre Rosa, who set out to create a calendar of drag queens posing in front of New Hampshire’s covered bridges. What Rosa experienced was a tale of beauty, bigotry and redemption:

“The owners of the only bridge with a railroad in New Hampshire, Clark’s Trading Post Bridge, the one I wanted to use, changed their minds on allowing me to shoot on their property, when I told them the model would be a drag queen. When another owner, owner of the Barlett Bridge, denied me permission because his bridge was a ‘wholesome place,’ I drove away weeping; I didn’t know those two words could strike so hard. I wasn’t expecting these kind of reactions when I first started.”

Brought a tear to my covered-bridge-loving eye.

As a sidenote, there’s a drag queen name in there somewhere . . . Clove Eyre D’Britches? I’ll work on it.

Michael Lyons is a queer-identified, chaotic neutral writer, activist, misanthrope, sapiosexual, and feline enthusiast. He is a columnist, blogger and regular contributor with Xtra and has contributed to Plenitude Magazine, KAPSULA Magazine, Crew Magazine, Memory Insufficient e-zine, The Ryersonian, Buddies Theatre blog, Toronto Is Awesome blog and Fab Magazine and more.

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Culture, Canada, Vancouver, Drag, Ottawa, Toronto

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