Last December, Drag Race and We’re Here star Eureka O’Hara came out as a trans woman. Less than three months later, she is celebrating International Women’s Day by getting her legal name and gender change finalized.
“In the eyes of God and Now the Law! I’m a woman!” she shared in an Instagram post, sharing a selfie and a photo of her legal documents.
Her comments were flooded with congratulations from fellow Drag Race stars, including Michelle Visage, Gia Gunn, Ginger Minj, Gottmilk, Kerri Colby and Manila Luzon.
Eureka came out as trans in an interview with People on December 22. “I’m blessed now because I know who I am without question,” she said.
She went on to describe how filming the reality series We’re Here inspired her coming out journey. We’re Here follows Eureka, Bob the Drag Queen and Shangela as they travel to small towns across America, helping locals put on a drag performance. Along the way, they talk to LGBTQ+ folks and their sometimes estranged friends and family members, spreading tolerance and understanding.
It was while filming the third season of We’re Here that Eureka met Mandy, a trans woman who had come out at 70. “Hearing the story of Mandy regretting losing all that time — and all the regret and the pain that she was going through during the time of not fully being herself — was really important to me,” she recalled. “When I left Mandy’s house that day, I started spiraling. It just had me searching my mind, ‘What is happening, what is going on?’ Then I just answered myself: ‘I’m trans. I’m a trans woman.’ It just clicked.”
Eureka grew up in Tennessee, where the nation’s first law banning public drag performances was passed last week. The bill makes a first offense a misdemeanor and subsequent offenses a Class E felony, which can carry a six year prison sentence.
Writing for Metro ahead of the bill’s signing, Eureka said, “Lawmakers like Representative Todd (the bill’s sponsor) unfairly equate the lives of LGBTQ+ people with sex. But we shouldn’t be reduced to that – we’re made up of love, compassion, friendship and acceptance. Banning our expression of that in public spaces only severs important connections with each other.”
“Drag is going to survive,” she concluded. “It was alive even when it was illegal many years ago – and it must continue to thrive in the future.”
Eureka began her essay by stating, “I want to be that representation that I didn’t really have growing up.” Now an out and proud trans woman, publicly fighting for LGBTQ+ rights, it’s safe to say that she already is.
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