An Irish drag queen is now proud to call Liverpool her home.
Skarlett Skandal, known as Karl Milligan out of drag, has shared her story with the ECHO in light of St Patrick’s Day. While thousands – adorned in green – will be taking to the streets to celebrate, the 25-year-old will be hosting a gig as a drag performer – something she said wouldn’t have been possible if she never moved to Liverpool.
The Junkyard Golf Club worker came to the city with her best friend just over five years ago to study. Having polished off her education last year, Skarlett, who lives in the city centre, set her sights on making a name for herself throughout the Pride Quarter.
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The Zoology graduate told the ECHO: “Coming to Liverpool was a real eye opener for me, it allowed me to see a much bigger community that at the time was so much more diverse than anything I had experienced back home.
“I needed to come here to find an extra level of independence so I could truly figure out who I was, with a focus on really finding my place within the queer community and I quickly found that when starting a bar job at Heaven only one week into moving here.
“I instantly felt a sense of relief. I could finally relax and express myself as nobody knew me here so this was a fresh start with no prejudice and although homophobia is everywhere I instantly felt safer here, especially when in queer spaces.”
The former Liverpool John Moores University student struggled to find out who she was as a person back home in Carrickfergus as for a long time the question she got asked most wasn’t about her sexuality but about her religion.
The self-proclaimed "bearded Bratz doll" said: “There was a lot of trouble that came alongside the whole Protestant and Catholic divide. Coming from a mixed family I was always brought up to be very neutral and non-religious and so I always got mad at the level of hatred spread around simply just from something as little as where someone was from.”
It was here and with the help of Liverpool queens Shania Pain and Brenda LaBeau, Skarlett was able to find her drag persona. Skarlett initially dabbled with drag but only as a “novelty” for Halloween. Now, Skarlett embraces her dual nationality – Irish and Northern Irish – and incorporates tendencies of it into her alter ego’s personality and looks.
She added: “If I had stayed at home, I wouldn’t have gained the confidence I have in myself as a gay man and would never have had the confidence to do drag. Moving here allowed me to flourish without the fear of embarrassing myself or family members hearing about me. Thanks to that independence I now have a great relationship with my family and don’t feel the need to hide any aspects of my life with them as a queer person.
“Although I have some bad memories from home, at the end of the day I am still proud of where I come from and even more so of the way I have been raised. I grew up in a single-parent home from the age of three, so really have been taught everything I know by my mum and I couldn’t be more proud of that. I really think Skarlett is just an extension of my mum and when I get the chance to wear ginger hair in drag I always feel it’s a love letter to the exceptional work she has done raising me.”
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Skarlett is just one of the thousands of Irish people who have settled in Liverpool and become “adoptive scousers”. She believes it's because Scousers are "loyal and protect their own" similar to the Irish and because of this "the two communities just get each other".
She added: “It feels like a home away from home so kind of instantly puts you at ease. I have been to other queer scenes outside of Liverpool but none has been as welcoming as this city. There is a real sense of comradery between venues and between the Queens who work here which is what the queer community should be about.
“There is a lot of hatred and misinformation being spread at the minute so to see so much love and uplifting happening is really nice to see. As queer people we get to choose our family and the community in Liverpool is really accepting and we all really have each other's backs.”
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