Toni James has spent nearly four decades working a room. James began performing drag professionally in 1988, first as Diana Ross, then as Miss Gay Seattle XXIX. In the 1990s, the entertainer moved into one of Las Vegas drag’s most coveted rooms, joining Kenny Kerr’s legendary Boy-Lesque at the Sahara. In 2021, James added another title to the resume: legal wedding officiant. More than 100 ceremonies later, that second act has become its own business, Drag ’Em Down the Aisle.
Here is a bit of numerology: James had been a working drag performer for more than 25 years before Clark County issued its first marriage license to a same-sex couple on Oct. 9, 2014. Twelve years later, Las Vegas Pride kicks off on that same date. Then, on Saturday, Oct. 17, James will stand on the Las Vegas PRIDE Festival main stage and officiate a group wedding at 6:15 p.m., helping couples make their marriages official.
It brings together two things Las Vegas knows particularly well: putting on a show and, as the world's wedding capital, getting people married.
Through the ceremony, couples can legally marry with the required Clark County paperwork or join for a symbolic commitment or vow renewal. Legal participants pay a $100 ceremony fee plus a separate $102 Clark County marriage license fee. Symbolic participation is free. James signs the paperwork and personally delivers the completed marriage certificate to the Clark County Clerk’s Office the next business day.
There’s plenty of spectacle, but there's also something to be truly proud of: People who once couldn’t legally marry in Nevada can now do it publicly at Pride, with a drag queen signing the paperwork.
