Portland elementary school to host BIPOC drag show to help students 'explore gender'

An elementary school counselor in the Portland Public School district is hosting a drag show for students featuring BIPOC drag queens with activities centered around the “exploration of gender.”

The event, organized by counselor Madi Bourdon, will take place at Atkinson Elementary School on May 19th. It is set to include a drag show, drag queen story time, makeup and nail polish stations, as well as a self-defense demo presentation. For parents, there will be a “gender-affirming Q & A.”

Earlier this year, Bourdon put out a call for sponsors for the drag show, which she advertised as “featuring BIPOC Drag Queens and a King” with “activities centered around the exploration of gender.” Bourdon hoped the event would be “empowering” to those “within and outside the Queer community to value their identity and build a safer more inclusive world.” 

The gender-affirming Q & A session for parents will be held by “Miss Madi” and Elliott Hinkle of Unicorn Solutions. Hinkle, who goes by they/them pronouns, holds a degree in Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Queer studies, and boasts of having over a decade of experience working on “LGBTQI2S+” community projects.

In 2021, Bourdon set up a GoFundMe page for Atkinson’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA). She described herself as the leader of the GSA, which “is one of the most loud and proud, queer-affirming groups I have ever known, and has even paved the way to help other GSA's establish!”

“Atkinson's GSA started in October of 2021 and has quickly become one of the coolest and most incredible things to be a part of and help lead in my lifetime,” said Atkinson.

GSAs are common in middle and high schools, but less so in elementary schools. Initially, GSA stood for Gay Straight Alliance, but over time the meaning has shifted to Gender and Sexuality Alliance, as gender ideology has become more widespread in American schools.

Atkinson describes the elementary school students who are members of her Gender and Sexuality club as being not only “socially aware,” but also “empathetic, supportive, loving, and all-round wild advocates for themselves and their community."

In 2022, Bourdon set up a second fundraiser, this time for the GSA she had set up at Glencoe Elementary, where she also works as a counselor.

“I am a school counselor at two elementary schools in Portland, OR,” she explains on the GoFundMe page. “Last year, I created a GSA at my other home site, but this year I could not wait to get Glencoe on the inclusion train too!”