Jason Walker is an LGBTQ organiser who works on HIV policy in New York City and serves as a member of the House of Garcon. He is concerned that mainstream interest has the potential to popularise ballroom culture, and only that. He isn’t convinced that audiences will be as enraptured by “systemic issues like HIV and homelessness and employment,” that run just as deep for these groups, he told me. And he has a reason to worry. History has shown us how elements of marginalised culture are extracted, appropriated, and commodified, often without context by dominant groups. Hip-hop culture has made its way around the globe, with millions embracing its stylistic elements but not the spirit of resistance and struggle from which it was born Technology has made it even easier to selectively participate in elements of someone else’s culture. Today, gifs allow white internet users to engage in digital Blackface . Cis heterosexual artists like Drake are being called out for using the voice of queer New Orleans artist Big Freedia in their songs while refusing to feature her alongside them in their videos or present themselves in solidarity with LGBTQ issues.