If you haven’t been watching the HBO documentary series “We’re Here,” you’ve been missing out on a significant representation of Four Corners-area people and places.
The show follows former “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestants Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara, and Shangela as they travel across the United States recruiting people to participate in one-night-only drag shows.
The fourth episode, of six in the series first season, took place in and around Farmington and Shiprock and originally aired on May 16. In the episode, the stars work with four members of the local LGBTQ community facing challenges ranging from misgendering and nonacceptance to the loss of a family member to suicide.
“We want to try to represent the diversity of America and became aware there’s a strong, if small, presence of LGBTQ Indigenous people, and Farmington was one of the places where that definitely became evident,” showrunner Peter LoGreco told the Farmington Daily Times.
While telling the story of Nate, a photographer from Shiprock who is working toward making a deeper connection with the Navajo people, viewers also briefly see his friend, resident drag queen and winner of the 2016 Miss New Mexico Pride pageant, Lady Shug.
[image:2]The final episode of the season returns to Farmington, at least in part. As originally planned, the episode would have focused on Spartanburg, South Carolina – but production on that episode had to stop because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the producers pivoted and dove deeper into the background of three stars and also showed previously unreleased performances captured during the filming of earlier episodes.
These performances include one by Lady Shug, filmed Feb. 13 as part of a drag show at Farmington’s Lauter Haus Brewing Co. that ends the San Juan County-centric episode.
“I’m so happy that ‘We’re Here’ did an episode really close to the Navajo Nation, because, like I was telling Bob the Drag Queen, there’s no representation for gay indigenous people in the media,” Lady Shug told The Queer Review.
The show has been renewed for a second season. The entire first season of “We’re Here” is currently streaming on HBO Go, HBO Now, and HBO Max.
Nick Gonzales
