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Per Sia, at the ceremony announcing her new role as the city’s Drag Laureate.
SAN FRANCISCO – A San Francisco-based drag queen who has been performing in the city for nearly 20 years has been named the city’s second Drag Laureate.
Per Sia (pronounced like the empire) will be the city’s ambassador for the art of drag performance, as well as the city’s LGBTQ culture and community, and the city’s nightlife and entertainment scene, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced on Wednesday.
“As a trans educator and drag performer, I’ve faced many challenges, but this city has given me the freedom to be fully myself,” Per Sia said at a Wednesday ceremony honoring her new title. “Despite the chaos in the world, I promise to keep bringing joy, queer joy, all the joy, through drag and storytelling. I want to celebrate the drag community that has uplifted, inspired, and carried me. Can’t wait to get to work! Just wait and see!”
San Francisco’s Drag Laureate position grew out of the city’s LGBTQ cultural heritage strategy, a community-driven effort to honor legacy, nurture well-being, promote economic opportunity and ensure the longevity of the city’s LGBTQ community.
Who is Per Sia?
Dig deeper:
Per Sia’s career as a drag performer began in 2007, in the Castro. She said she considers San Francisco to be the city that shaped her.
Outside of drag performance, Per Sia works as a teacher in a children’s after-school arts program at the San Francisco Unified School District’s Rooftop Elementary School. She is also a founding member of Drag Story Hour, which takes place in public libraries, schools and museums throughout the city and the greater Bay Area.
“Per Sia’s selection as San Francisco’s Drag Laureate is an incredible recognition of her transformative impact on our city’s LGBTQ community. As an educator, artist, and advocate, Per Sia has championed the power of storytelling and visibility, using drag as a platform for connection and empowerment. Her work bridges generations, fostering meaningful intergenerational relationships that ensure both younger and older members of the LGBTQ community feel seen, valued and inspired,” Vinny Eng, the former CEO of Openhouse SF said in a press release.
“Per Sia’s artistry, dedication to inclusivity and commitment to building stronger, more connected communities truly embody the spirit of San Francisco.”
Per Sia is the second person named to the position, following Oasis club owner D’Arcy Drollinger, who was named in May 2023 as the city’s inaugural Drag Laureate.
“It is thrilling that Per Sia will be San Francisco’s next drag laureate. She has qualifications that far exceed what is necessary to represent drag within our LGBTQIA+ community,” Juanita More!, a San Francisco LGBTQ community advocate said. “I am beyond proud of my Latina sister and look forward to supporting her adventures. And I would like to thank D’Arcy Drollinger for taking the lead. She did a fantastic job creating the Drag Laureate playbook.”
Chosen by committee
The backstory:
San Francisco and West Hollywood are the only cities in the country that have a Drag Laureate position.
As the new Drag Laureate, Per Sia will be included in the city’s Pride celebrations in June, and will help build relationships between the drag and LGBTQ communities and city agencies, create new drag events for the city, and be a spokesperson for San Francisco’s LGBTQ community, and help preserve and promote the act of drag performance.
Per Sia was selected by a committee that included outgoing Drag Laureate Drollinger as well as Sister Shalita Corndog and Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; Carolina Osoria and Breonna McCree from the Transgender District; drag performers Khmera Rouge and Grace Towers; Alexandre Fellous, a member of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District; Christina Mitra, the manager of the San Francisco Public Library Hormel LGBTQIA Center; and Shane Zaldivar from the city’s office of Transgender Initiatives.
Mayor Lurie made the final selection.
“As San Francisco’s Drag Laureate, Per Sia will lead the way for new representation that uplifts and highlights the storied drag history of our city and the significant contributions of the trans and entire LGBTQ+ community to San Francisco,” Lurie said. “Our city is known all over the world as a place where people are allowed to be who they want to be, love who they want to love, and live the lives they choose without fear of persecution. I look forward to working with Per Sia to support and celebrate our LGBTQ+ community.”