Robin Fierce Makes History With Drag Queen Story Hour At Yale

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 star Robin Fierce has become the first drag queen to guest speak at Yale University after appearing at a drag queen story hour on Monday.

Fierce was invited by AJ Hudson, the host of the event and co-chairman of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Graduate School Senate, to read three children’s books that had previously been banned from some US libraries. The books were Anti-Racist Baby, by Ibram X Kendi, And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell,and an excerpt from George M Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue.

The Drag Race star then led a discussion about art, the importance of storytelling, and the current political landscape that is failing to protect drag and LGBTQ+ culture. “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. How are you banning art when there are so many different forms of art out there?” she asked the audience.

Fierce's appearance coincides with the news of Tennessee becoming the first US state to ban public drag performances, which could have larger consequences for Pride events and more.

“[The] real purpose of drag storytelling and vocal performances is to bridge the gap between the different queer and non-queer communities through empathy… not to push ‘transitioning’ propaganda or ideologies of sexual orientation on children, as anti-trans and anti-drag extremists suggest.”

The native Connecticut queen's speech was praised by Hudson. “To pay a drag queen to speak, a directly system-impacted person whose expertise is just as valuable as a heterosexual cisgender white man, lawyer or judge, it’s historic," he said. “I hope [tonight] broke some of the boundaries, real and imagined, that our audience members and classmates held.”

Now, everybody say love!