Eindhoven councilor Rik Thijs surprised friend and foe this weekend with a daring performance in which he was transformed into a drag queen. In a high-cut suit and bright pink over-the-knee boots, he appeared on Sunday as Miss Polly Emerald at a brunch at The Social Hub hotel. For once, to make a statement. “The world is already gray enough,” Thijs responded on Monday.
The GroenLinks councilor was the big surprise at the Drag Brunch on Sunday. This is an event that is organized once every two months by the Queer 040 foundation. While he mimed the song ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ in a performance by Céline Dion, Thijs danced sexily among the eating audience.
Thijs’ mystery performance was inspired by the RTL program Make Up Your Mind, in which celebrities transform into drag queens. The organization wanted to stunt by having a well-known Eindhoven resident participate and asked the councilor to step out of his comfort zone for once.
“Because of my role as a councilor, I realized that there could be many negative reactions.”
“I doubted that for a long time,” says Thijs. “Because of my role as a councilor, I also realized that there could be many negative reactions. Especially at a time when hatred towards various people is clearly present,” says the councilor. He is homosexual himself and has already been verbally abused once while walking down the street with his boyfriend.
Still, the councilor decided to do it. With his performance, Thijs wants to support the LGBTQ+ community in Eindhoven. After his performance, he emphasized once again how important this support is because of the persistent aggression against people with a different orientation. A rainbow flag was recently burned by football supporters in Eindhoven. And people were attacked in the building of interest group COC.
“If I let the negative reactions stop me, that is exactly the reason to do it,” says Thijs. “So at one point I thought, let’s do it. As a statement to the community. The world is gray enough already.”
“I’ve only had positive reactions so far.”
When Miss Polly’s true identity was revealed, there was great surprise. Even the thirteen friends of Rick Thijs who were in the audience had no idea that the councilor was behind that disguise. “I had told them beforehand that I would be a little late and would see them halfway through the show,” the councilor laughs. “One friend thought she recognized me and told the rest, but the others didn’t believe it.”
So far, Thijs has only had positive reactions. “About how cool it is and how important it is that someone in my position does this. I was afraid that colleagues might think differently about that, but luckily I haven’t heard that yet.”
By the way, we won’t see Rik Thijs perform as Miss Polly Emerald again. “It was fun to do once, but this is not a hobby of mine,” he says. “It’s also more than just putting on a wig and tights, it really takes a lot of time. And this is not something you do every now and then for fun. That would be doing the art form a disservice.”