Drag Queen Flamy Grant Finds Fans in Queer and Christian People (Exclusive)

Grant's 'Bible Belt Baby' hit No. 1 on the iTunes Christian albums chart this week after a conservative musician criticized her religious affiliation

Flamy Grant

Currently sitting pretty at No. 1 on the iTunes Christian albums chart is Bible Belt Baby by Flamy Grant, a drag performer who gained much exposure this week after conservative ex-worship leader Sean Feucht criticized the queer musician's religious affiliation. For the singer-songwriter, however, the success is more of a gratifying development in her complex spiritual journey than a mere response to hatred.

After growing up as a "deeply fundamentalist evangelical" in western North Carolina, Grant (whose real name is Matthew Blake) spent decades dedicated to church before coming out in her young adulthood and launching into drag in 2020. She built a fanbase on TikTok before releasing Bible Belt Baby nearly a year ago, completely unaware of the bump in success it'd later receive.

"I think it was actually really great that it took a minute for this moment to happen because I was ready," Grant tells PEOPLE. "I had already chosen to release a record in the Christian genre. It was sitting there, just literally waiting for someone like Sean Feucht to give it a golden platter to fly off on."

Feucht, a fellow performer, shared a clip of Grant's "Boys Will Be Girls" collaboration with fellow Christian musician Derek Webb to social media earlier this week. Utilizing harmful rhetoric that's fueled recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation throughout the United States, Feucht called the video "sick" and "twisted."

Grant, who'd previously gone viral on TikTok with a sermon delivered in drag, decided to show naysayers like Feucht the power and positivity of queer community by taking to the platform. "I was like, 'OK, this is a risk, y'all, but here's what this conservative worship leader is goading me with. Can we rise to the challenge?'" she recalled. "I was like, 'This is probably going to flop, and I'm going to look like a big dummy.' but I woke up the next morning, and it had not flopped."

Bible Belt Baby, a collection of songs reflecting on Grant's relationship to the church and journey to living their truth as a drag performer, soon topped the Christian chart on iTunes — making them one of the first out, queer musicians to ever do so. The achievement is quite significant to the musician, especially as the album was released as many conservatives are targeting the drag community.

"The most visibly queer people are the ones who are most being vilified right now, and so to have a drag queen occupying space in something that has traditionally been seen as belonging to those right wing folks, it's something people want to talk about," she says. "I get it, and I'm really grateful for it. It's f---ing cool."

A bit of pushback isn't going to take Grant down. She grew up deeply religious, spent over two decades as a worship leader and even ran her own church before coming out and ultimately losing the support of her longtime Christian community, who believed LGBTQ+ people would be punished for eternity.

"I stayed so much longer than I should have, unfortunately, but it was because I was afraid," says the singer-songwriter. "That fear tactic worked on me for a really long time, and I think the fear is still working very strongly in this country, especially in conservative, evangelical places."

Now, Grant lives a happy and empowered life with her husband. She still dips into churches every now and then — specifically "open and affirming congregations" — but her faith is more spiritual than religious these days. "I gave the first half of my life to church, and I think I want to give the second half to something else," she says.

When it came to putting together her debut project, Grant decided to create music within the Christian genre after watching other queer artists such as collaborator Semler's music make likeminded individuals feel "safe" and "seen."

"My record is about my spiritual journey just as much as it is my gender journey or anything else," she says of Bible Belt Baby, noting that she hoped to connect with queer people who also experience religious trauma.

Flamy Grant

"We have to navigate other people's fear, and sometimes that includes guiding those people through their fear and representing the queer community to those people and being like, 'Hey, you actually don't have anything to be afraid of. I'm a human just like you,'" continues Grant. "I feel like that's a ministry in and of itself."

Her message has already connected with audiences around the country, including nearly 90,000 followers on TikTok. But after topping the iTunes Christian albums chart, she's bound to share her music with many more listeners in the near future.

"My email inbox for the first time is full of people inviting me to play gigs. I'm always the one who has to go book my gigs. I have to sell myself and convince people that a drag queen who sings songs about religious trauma is worth their time — which is a hard sell," quips Grant. "I'm definitely seeing that little bump, and it's greatly appreciated. Thank you, Sean Feucht."