Maebe A. Girl Becomes First Drag Queen Elected to Office in California

If we are in a golden age of drag, with queens popping up all over pop culture, wouldn't the next logical step be for queens to be elected to public office?

Los Angeles-based drag performer Maebe A. Girl, who identifies as genderqueer and nonbinary, has been elected to the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, The Advocate reports. The news makes Girl, who goes by she/her pronouns as well as they/them pronouns, the first drag performer to be voted into public office in the state.

"I'm honored to be the first drag queen elected official here in L.A. and, I believe, in all of California and the West Coast," Girl said. "I can't wait to use my new platform to advance the LGBTQ community and provide visibility for those that have historically been kept in the shadows of society. I hope my successful run inspires others to do the same in their own communities."

Girl joins a long line of queens running for public office that actually got its start in California. In 1961, Jose Sarria became the first drag queen and first openly gay candidate to run for public office in America with his San Francisco Board of Supervisors bid. Sarria, who went on to establish the Imperial Court System, one of the oldest LGBTQ+ organizations in the world, was followed in political aspirations by queens like Joan Jett Blakk, a black drag queen who ran for president in 1992. Blakk's run has been turned into a stage play by Moonlight's Tarell Alvin McCraney and will debut at Steppenwolf in Chicago in May.

Internationally, Drag Race Thailand debut season winner Natalie Pliacam just finished a run for Parliament in Thailand. She lost the bid to Tanwarin Sukkhapisit who became Thailand's first trans member of Parliament.

Girl will be sworn in on May 1.

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