RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Nymphia Wind performs for Taiwan’s president
Nymphia Wind celebrated her Drag Race win. (presidentialoffice/YouTube)
RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Nymphia Wind has performed for Taiwan’s president to mark her momentous win on the series.
The Taiwan-born, New York-based drag queen led a performance to celebrate pride and diversity at Taiwan’s presidential office on 15 May. Nymphia performed in front of the Taiwanese president and LGBTQ+ advocate Tsai Ing-wen, among other guests.
Taiwan’s President and her Democratic Progressive Party have been fervent LGBTQ+ advocates, making the country one of the most friendly places for LGBTQ+ travellers to visit. In fact, under President Ing-wen’s run, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage in 2019.
Marking her win as the first person from East Asia to win the coveted RuPaul’s Drag Race crown, Nymphia headed up a series of performances at the Taiwanese Presidential Office. She performed Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night”, and Taiwanese singer Huang Fei’s “Chase, Chase, Chase,” according to Reuters.
Wearing a bright yellow outfit, the star proceeded to deliver a compelling version of Jolin Tsai’s gender progressive anthem “Womxnly”, alongside five other drag queens.
The performance was live-streamed on the Taiwanese Presidential Office’s official YouTube channel, with Nymphia saying following the event: “This is probably the first presidential office in the world to host a drag show.”
The drag queen also offered her thanks to the president for advocating for same-sex marriage and her dedication to the queer community.
She said: “Thank you for your contributions to this country so that I could grow up to be like this today. Thank you for your eight years of dedication, becoming our Taiwan mother.”
Ing-wen recently extended a message of congratulations to the artist after she was officially crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar by none other than RuPaul Charles. “Shantay, you stay,” she said to the performer, quoting RuPaul’s iconic phrase.
