October is LGBTQ Her Story Month and to celebrate, PEOPLE exclusively caught up with six prominent people from RuPaul’s Drag Race.
This year, Asian drag excellence is in the spotlight, with Asian/Pacific Island queens Jujubee, Kahmora Hall, Nymphia Wind, Plastique Tiara, Priyanka and Raja wearing red (an auspicious and celebratory color in many AAPI cultures) for Erik Carter’s historic photo shoot .
Throughout the month, this article will be updated with individual photos and interviews from the shoot.
But to kick off LGBTQ Her Story Month, each queen shared her performance experience. Drag queens often talk about a double coming out, first as queer and later as a drag artist. Read their stories below:
Jujubee (3rd place, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 2, All stars season 1)
“I have never been able to hide the fact that I am gay,” said the Lao drag artist. “I consider it a great blessing because I had no choice. When I came out it was Thanksgiving and I was 15. Now I’m 40 — I know I don’t look like that — Asian is not a raisin!”
“There was an assimilation of Lao culture and American culture, so it was papaya salad, turkey and stuffing. And I just said, ‘Hey, I’m gay.’ And my aunt looked at me and said: ‘Just bring the food, we already know.’ ” Juju recalled. “And when I went out as a drag queen, I think they just saw me coming home one night [in drag] and they said, ‘Wow, you look great.’ And that was it.”
“Maybe my family is not a stereotypical family, but it is mine and I enjoy it. My grandmother loves my dear. She watches Drag Race random; I’ll show up at the house and she’s watching me. I don’t know if I’m her favorite [queen] but I’m her favorite grandson!”
Kahmora Hall (13th Place, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13)
“As a queer Asian person, growing up feminine was looked down upon so it was very difficult for me to come out in front of my parents,” said the Vietnamese-American queen. “But when I did, I was relieved.”
“But when I had to go out as a drag queen again [at 28]because I was much older and my parents were much older, they honestly accepted it well. They said, ‘Okay, you’re an adult now. Just be safe and make the right decisions.’ ”
“That really impressed me because when they immigrated here in the 80s, all they knew about homosexuals was HIV and AIDS,” she explained. “And so it was when I first came out as gay that they were so worried about me. They thought I was going to get sick.”
“At the time I came out – I was 20 – I didn’t understand why they felt that way. But as I’ve gotten older, now I understand. So now, when I’m angry at my parents, I take a step back and think about where they’re coming from, what their experiences and what they know about LGBT history.”
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Plastique Tiara (8th Place, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11)
“I’m the only queer person in my family,” said the Vietnamese-American immigrant. “I was the black sheep in the family. I grew up very alone. It was very difficult because I knew I was different. It was a leap of faith for me to come out and continue Drag Race.”
“When I came out to my parents, it was not well received,” she admitted. “It’s definitely a generational thing; I don’t expect them to understand everything I do like I don’t understand what they do. But we love each other because we’re family and we’re related by blood.”
“I went on stage one Thursday night at a local bar,” the makeup artist recalled. “I bought two wigs on Amazon, cut them and layered them because I was a hair girl. The prize for winning the competition that night was that you could come back the next week and perform three songs for advice. And since I We’ve continued to do that and now we’re doing this! If Jeff Bezos didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be working [laughs].”
This month, Plastique embarks on her first solo tour of Asia, including Bangkok, Singapore and Manila.
Priyanka (winner, Canadian Drag Race season 1)
“You never think you have to go out twice in your life,” explained the South Asian queen of Indo-Caribbean descent.
“The first time, my mom said, ‘Okay, this makes sense. It doesn’t mean you dress like a woman, does it?’ I was 21 or 22 at the time. Her first response was, ‘Cool, whatever, but how do we hide it from other people’ — that immigrant family, sweep it under the rug. [mentality]. She is such a solutions-based thinker. She said, ‘Okay if you have a boyfriend we can just tell your dad he’s a friend.’ ”
“Then I started doing jewelry and my mom supported me – she doesn’t judge, she came to the show, she came to the elections. And then when I saw the audition for Drag RaceI thought, I’m going to do this and I’m going to beat this. I love dear so much; it means everyone must know my truth.”
“I auditioned, got in and won. Then there’s that waiting period,” Priyanka continued. “Then the pandemic hit and I called my mom and said, ‘People are going to watch the show because everyone is at home and there’s no filming. Dad is going to see it.’ ”
“That’s when we really had to ask ourselves, what are we so afraid of? And when I walked up to my dad, saying, ‘Hey, Dad, I quit my job, decided to start drag, and maybe I’ll win $100,000.’ You could see him not getting mad or angry; you could see him just being quiet.”
“I could never understand that silence until recently. Imagine your child hiding something like that. It’s bullshit. I know we need to encourage parents to accept their children, but it’s also very important for us to understand our parents more,” she said. explained. “I asked him recently if he’d ever seen me do drag, because he hasn’t. And he said, ‘I don’t know,’ and he started crying. And that’s when I realized that we’d been hiding it from him for so long that he didn’t feel connected to it. .”
Luckily, Priyanka says her dad will “absolutely” see her perform at some point. “He’s so proud of me, he plays my music for his friends, he sees my lovely face,” she added. “But that’s what double-disclosure does to people, you hide the first, but there’s still the truth you’re hiding.”
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Nymphia Wind (winner, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16)
“Luckily, I have a lot of family support, and my mom and brother welcomed me with open arms when I came out,” recalls Nymphia, the reigning Drag Race winner. The first time my mom saw me in the jersey, she felt that it gave me the confidence to come out of my shell, so she was very happy to see that.”
Nymphia made history as the first East Asian winner Drag Raceand she was honored in her native Taiwan by President Tsai Ing-wen after she was crowned back in April.
“This is probably the first presidential office in the world to host a drag show,” said Nymphia Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legalized same-sex marriage in 2019. “Thank you for your contribution to this country, so that I could grow up to be here today “, she said crying.
Raja (winner, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 3)
“I never had an outlet, more pushing and repression,” said Raja, who is of Indonesian and Dutch descent. “I have always been bright, creative, emotional, queer. It was not an option for me not to express everything in myself! Drag was my hand that led the welcome to the queer community. I think my religious parents had a harder time than I did, I found information and the people I needed to shine and flourish.”
“My family became more and more supportive as I found my confidence and a love-it-or-leave-it attitude towards everyone, including my family. We (my family) are intensely close because of our own journeys, our connection in culture and spirituality. I am Happy that I have my biological and chosen family who love me deeply.”
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See more from the recording below:
Previous seasons RuPaul’s Drag Race currently airing on Paramount+.
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Source: HIS Education