One of the first performers ever to read to kids at a Drag Queen Story Hour event has been named San Franciscos new Drag Laureate. As the San Francisco Chronicle notes, performer and educator Per Sia is also the first transgender woman to be appointed to the role.Im visibly trans, Im brown, Im Mexican, Im a product of immigrant parents. Im also an educator who works with kids, and Im a drag performer, Per Sia told the paper ahead of the Wednesday announcement, adding that Everything that is me is on the line in the current political climate. Related San Francisco names DArcy Drollinger the nations first-ever drag laureate Per Sia takes over as the citys second Drag Laureate, following LGBTQ+ nightclub owner and performer DArcy Drollinger. The role was created in 2023 by the office of former Mayor London Breed in conjunction with the citys Human Rights Commission and the San Francisco Public Library, which also oversees the citys poet laureate position.According to the Chronicle, the San Francisco Drag Laureates term was originally intended to last 18 months and came with a $55,000 stipend, funded by the library. Drollingers term ultimately lasted two and a half years. The role will now last three years and comes with a $35,000 stipend. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today As drag laureate, Per Sias duties will include participating in San Franciscos Pride celebrations, acting as a spokesperson for the citys LGBTQ+ community, and promoting the art of drag in the city.As San Franciscos 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, current mayor Daniel Lurie said, according to the Chronicle. 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. Drollinger, who was part of the selection committee to find the citys second Drag Laureate, noted the significance of Lurie choosing Per Sia for the role.I think it is a bold message, selecting a trans woman of color who is also a drag performer and works with children, Drollinger told the Chronicle. All those things are scary to the right wing, but it shows that San Francisco is not catering to those people.There is no city like San Francisco, Per Sia said during Wednesdays announcement of her selection at Rooftop School, where she has worked as the head teacher for the first grade at Childrens After School Arts (CASA) for over a decade. Despite the current chaos of the world, I promise you this: I will keep bringing my joy, my brown joy, my queer joy, all the joy! View this post on Instagram A post shared by San Francisco Public Library (@sfpubliclibrary) It felt really important to have the announcement at Rooftop to have my students, friends and supporters there, Per Sia told the Chronicle. Ive been working at CASA since my mid 20s. Theyve seen me from being this young queer person to then transitioning and becoming who I am now.Per Sia said that participating in the first Drag Queen Story Hour at San Franciscos Eureka Valley / Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library in 2015 was her first experience of merging my nightlife, my drag life, with my classroom life.I felt very exposed and vulnerable, but I remember leaving the Eureka branch library and feeling a sense of relief that I was no longer hiding, that everything I do was in one room. It was kind of like coming out, she told the Chronicle. Per Sia said she intends to use her platform as drag laureate to promote literacy and fight against censorship. I realized during those really heightened times of anti-drag sentiment that I dont know at what age we forget that we like to be read to, she said. Childrens books are so simple, and yet theyre so important because they teach you about self-acceptance, love, and empathy, and thats universal.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.