More WE'RE HERE on HBO

 This show is one of my favorite offerings on HBO. There's a lot of empathy, good will and surprise on WE'RE HERE. Three drag queens, all graduates of RuPAUL'S DRAG RACE, travel across the country, meet people, get to know neighborhoods and put on a drag show at the end of each episode. Performing with them in the drag shows are some of the folks they've met along the way, folks willing to step out of their comfort zones.

There was a long hiatus after the show premiered. I'm sure that was because of the pandemic. Also, a member of the trio --Shangela -- became the most recent winner on ABC's DANCING WITH THE STARS. Shangela, Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka O'Hara are the host/queens. I knew about Shangela and Bob the Drag Queen for years when I lived in New York. They are popular drag queens and serious entertainers. Polished performers.

This show is highly entertaining. It can also break your heart. It always makes you think. It's different from other shows that highlighted openly gay men going into neighborhoods, meeting folks and introducing them to new things. I'll use QUEER EYE as an example. That show, in its first incarnation, was basically about pushing product. You had the all-white Queer Eye crew -- featuring Carson Kressley with his pre-written ad libs -- going into homes and recommending cosmetics, clothing, home furnishings, kitchenware and such to improve your life. WE'RE HERE is pushing tolerance, acceptance, compassion -- and fabulous drag performances.

This week, WE'RE HERE presented a one-hour episode, part one of a two-part presentation. That hour-long part one, airing this week, is perhaps the most moving edition of WE'RE HERE I've seen. The trio goes to Florida and immediately shows us the irony of being accepted in places of entertainment -- like DisneyWorld -- but places outside of that have residents holding up anti-LGBTQ signs, wearing Trump shirts and they have a governor pushing a "Don't Say Gay" agenda.

The trio introduces us to a schoolteacher who has a trans daughter. The teacher was always a straight ally for LGBTQ people but was never one to speak at rallies or march holding a supportive sign because, understandably, she feared for her job. But now things are different. Her little girl could be denied health care. We meet this huggable family. The brawny, working class dad broke my heart when he started to cry as he talked about how "loving" and "confident" his daughter is and how she has to face discrimination.

We meet a man (a handsome man) in his late 50s who lives alone. His longtime partner died. His mother is very Catholic and feels that her son, who once played football and dated women, made his gayness a "choice" versus him living his authentic self.

Shangela visits a young Puerto Rican fellow who survived the horrible Pulse gay nightclub shooting of 2016. I dare you not be moved by that interview. 49 people were killed in that mass shooting in Orlando. Being a survivor of that nightmare changed his attitude towards being *out* in his city.

Also, we learn more about Eureka and her personal journey that was riddled with pain. 

If you can, look for that one-hour edition of WE'RE HERE on HBO. Here's a trailer for the series.

Part 2 airs this coming Friday night at 10:00. I'll be watching,.