Dragging Out the Vote
With the approach of the 2024 presidential election, Billy Winter ’18 has found a fabulous way to encourage people to vote.
Winter is an ambassador for Drag Out the Vote, “a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works with drag performers to promote participation in democracy.” Founded in 2017, Drag Out the Vote organizes events across the country and uses the power of drag to encourage voter participation.
Winter, who has been performing actively as the drag queen Zella Cullatore for three years in Hartford, Connecticut, is using his platform to fundraise, raise awareness about the power of voting, and register people to vote.
“A lot of being an ambassador involves speaking at events, talking about how to get registered, why it’s important to be registered to vote and participate in the elections,” he explains.
“There’s a large social media component, too, sharing things like, ‘We’ve got a municipal election today. If you’re in one of these towns, make sure you get out and vote.’”
Billy Winter ’18 (right) performing in drag for the first time as David in Skidmore’s 2017 rendition of "Balm in Gilead."
The Skidmore theater major and studio art minor first appeared in drag during a 2017 campus performance of Balm in Gilead, a play set in a 1970s diner in New York’s Upper West Side. (As part of the production, the cast even did a on Broadway in Saratoga Springs.) Winter was cast as David, a drag queen and hustler. In preparation for the role, one of the play’s directing professors introduced him to RuPaul’s Drag Race. He was hooked and described the experience as liberating.
For me, drag is an extension of my theater and artist sides. When I go on stage, I’m performing a piece of theater, a one-woman show. I figure out the music, the dancing, the costume, the makeup, the hair — every aspect of this production I’m putting on by myself. It’s so freeing to be in control of everything.Billy Winter '18Drag Out the Vote Ambassador
Winter remains actively involved with his local community theater and began performing regularly in drag a few years after graduation. He credits Skidmore with inspiring in him an enduring passion for social justice that imbues his performances as Zella Cullatore.
“The classes and community at Skidmore really instilled the sense of social justice in me. They taught me more about how the world works — about its power imbalances and inequalities,” Winter says. “I’ve taken that sense of ‘let’s push for change, let’s make the world a better place’ into my life beyond Skidmore.”
Zella Cullatore’s last name also pays tribute to Winter’s time at Skidmore. Cullatore is derived from alumnae Laura McCullagh ’17 and Megan Muratore ’19, who helped put Winter into drag for the first time.
A version of this article first appeared in the fall 2024 issue of .