Drag Race star Robin Fierce has made herstory with her recent Drag Queen Story Hour event.
If you’ve been keeping up with the 15th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, then chances are you’ve heard of the Conneticut-based talent.
While her time on the series was cut short, Robin has wasted no time using her elevated platform to spearhead LGBTQ+ inclusivity around the U.S.
On 28 February, the beloved talent made herstory as the first drag entertainer to be a guest speaker at Yale University.
During the event, Robin held a Drag Queen Story Hour – which featured her reading Anti-Racist Baby by Ibram X Kendi, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell, and an excerpt from All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M Johnson.
All three of the aforementioned books have recently faced pushback from conservative lawmakers in the US, with some states even banning the books from school libraries.
“Did I do a drag queen story hour at @Yale today… I did, indeed lol,” Robin tweeted alongside a clip from the event.
The talented performer also held an open forum regarding the importance of drag and the rise of legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
“To be drag is art… it is expression [and] it is a release of a feminine side that is oftentimes suppressed by family members or the world,” she explained (per Yale Daily News).
“How are you banning art when there are so many different forms of art out there?”
Did I do a drag queen story hour at @Yale today… I did, indeed lol pic.twitter.com/Hr0INMh88e
— Robin Fierce (@TheRobinFierce) March 1, 2023
Robin went on to say that the real purpose of drag storytelling and performances is to “bridge the gap between the different queer and non-queer communities through empathy”.
“[It’s] not to push ‘transitioning’ propaganda or ideologies or sexual orientation on children as anti-trans and anti-drag extremists suggest,” she added.
In a statement to Yale Daily News, the event’s host AJ Hudson praised Robin for breaking boundaries and history.
“Many of the queer students at the law school do not feel safe there or want to spend any extra time in that building,” Hudson said.
“To pay a drag queen to come speak – a directly system-impacted person whose expertise is just as valuable as a heterosexual cisgender white man, lawyer or judge, it’s historic.”
The co-chair of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Graduate School Senate also expressed their hopes of Robin’s event “breaking boundaries”.
“I would honestly say that although in a somewhat fringe way, drag and in turn, queer politics have permeated most of Yale,” Hudson added.
“I hope that [tonight] broke some of the boundaries, real and imagined, that our audience members and classmates held.”
Robin’s Drag Queen Story Hour came a few days before Tennessee’s Republican governor Bill Lee officially banned public drag performances.
The new legislation, which was signed into law on 2 March, now restricts drag performances from taking place on public property or anywhere where minors could be present.
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