Shangela participated as a speaker at Kamala Harris’ Pride Month event
D.J. Pierce, AKA Shangela, was invited by Vice President Kamala Harris to speak as his drag persona on Tuesday evening at an event she hosted at her home to close Pride Month. According to the media, not only was Shagela was the first drag queen to be invited as a speaker at a VP event, also the evening itself marked the first time a Vice President has hosted a Pride event at the residence.
On Wednesday morning, Shangela posted on Instagram about her evening with the Vice President, writing, “I woke up today asking myself ‘did that really just happen?’ … Thank you Madame @vp for being an authentic ally and for not only holding this LGBTQ event at ur residence, but for also inviting me to make a few welcoming remarks.”
Shangela wrote more about her evening at the Vice President residence:
“After laughing and sobbing on the phone with my Mom this morning, I took a sec to take this in. Me — the lil, country gay kid from Paris, TX just helped introduce the highest ranking female leader ever elected in our Country. And I did it standing in my Truth. Proudly representing my community. Here’s to all the dreamers. I’m doing it, and so can YOU.”
Shangela delivered the welcoming speech in the grace that is characterizes her, and describing her outfit as ‘channeling Olivia Pope’. “This is a celebration of who we are, LGBTQAI+ people and allys,” she said, “and this celebration tonight is important because so many things in this country need to be fixed, women’s rights are under attack, in Florida you can’t say gay, across the country there are anti trans legislations, and in my home country of Texas there are different conversations about trying to ban drag queens in front of children.” See the full speech.