At times like this we remember why drag is important

It's so true. I think Drag Queens are one of the few acts who truly carry a message of peace, tolerance, hope and love. Maybe the message is in the form of a shady queen, or a hot mess, or a pageant girl but it's there and that's beautiful. It's so refreshing to know there's people out there who still carry on with this beautiful art that paved the way for us and at the same time it's so damn sad to think that there's still raging homophobes who do so much damage to other people because of the ingrained homophobia in our society.

For me, the queens mean a lot mainly because they really spread the love. But I'm not talking about the regular love, I'm talking about the best kind of love: self love. They helped me; a boy who grew up in a rural ass town with a super toxic environment to not only accept and love myself but to stay strong and hang in there when I heard slurs on the streets, when I heard the awful rumors about our community, when I had nightmares because of the stress of having to put up with everybody's bullshit or was bullied by my classmates, relatives and even by my direct family. I don't wanna think how I'd be right now if it wasn't for Ru and her show. Maybe I'd be yet another closeted guy with a beard and zero self-esteem. Maybe I would've said fuck it and commit suicide.

Living in Mexico, I've realized that the worst part of frequent violence isn't the violence itself but the way it changes people's minds. My friends and family here live in fear, are getting awfully used to the violence, some became super religious, others stopped giving a fuck and searched for comfort in drugs and alcohol and there's even the people who romanticize traffickers and hitmen. Don't ever let that happen to you, because if you do this means they took your life too.

You're all in my thoughts. Please stay safe and don't let this change you.

/r/rupaulsdragrace Thread