Interview with Gilda Wabbit (Sam Themer), April 5, 2017

POSTON: So--painting with broad strokes--tell us about yourself and early memories. What are your connections to the Commonwealth of Kentucky?

WABBIT (THEMER): Broad strokes and early memories-- Um, so I was, I was born in Fern Creek in Louisville and then moved to Frankfurt when I was really young. I think I was, I was just starting first grade, um, and growing up, I was, I was strange. You know, I was a little, I was a weird duck. I was artsy. My parents called it artsy. Um, I painted a lot. Uh, I was pretty introverted. I sang--not very well--but I sang. I remember (laughs) when I was in elementary school, I sang "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" for a, a talent competition, and did, like, a little choreographed dance to it, uh, which is really silly. Uh, yeah, but I was like the weird artsy kid growing up. And that was sort of how I connected to the Commonwealth, was the, was the art scene in, in Kentucky. I was always surrounded by fabulous music, whether it was in church or, 00:01:00like, listening to bluegrass bands. Um, I was always surrounded by great art. There's so many great fiber artists and sculptors and mosaic artists and painters and photographers here in Kentucky, and, um, I interacted with, with music and art so much because I felt so out of place. But, I, I understood visual and musical arts, and so it was like the thing that was like my rock, you know what I mean--I could grasp onto when I felt confused or lost or a, or unsure of myself. Yeah, and I think that's still how I connect to Kentucky. Uh, I studied, I studied opera at the University of Kentucky, uh, so a lot of my roots here are with the classical music scene. Um, I sang in the choir at the First Presbyterian Church here in Lexington, and so I know Marlena, I know, you know, the, the music makers. They're just wonderful. Um, and I've worked with, like, the orchestra and um--what is the orchestra called? Lexington 00:02:00Philharmonic, okay. I've worked at the, the orchestra before. So, yeah, that's, and that's still, why I'm coming back. Now I'm coming back because I'm a drag queen, which is an art form of its own, um, but it's keeping me back here during--I mean, and, and, um--I think eventually my fiance and I--we're getting married October--um, want to return to Kentucky because there's so much work to be done here. You know, there's so much work. And we have the blessing of the privilege right now of living in New York City and learning about ourselves so that we can come back fully formed humans and get to work, making Kentucky a brighter place.

POSTON: Fabulous.

WABBIT: Yeah.

POSTON: I recognize in asking that, that, uh, I haven't sort of asked you to do an intro yourself. Oh, who you are. And, and, you know, that sort of general statement that I think would be helpful in this. So--

WABBIT: -- yeah--

POSTON: --backtracking and, and do a little bit of that.

WABBIT: Um, I'm Gilda Wabbit. I'm also known as Sam Themer. I am a Kentucky born and raised little queer boy who went to New York City to pursue opera and ended up a drag queen, and I am now an opera singing drag queen, which is great.

POSTON: It's a pretty unique combination.

WABBIT: Yeah. Yeah.

POSTON: So we know that many LGBTQ individuals, um, have this really significant life moment in coming out--in the first time you publicly come out--so what can you tell us about your coming out experience and how your understandings of yourself and articulation of your doing you, have changed over time?

WABBIT: Yeah. Coming out was a multi-layered process for me. I came out first to some really close friends and then later to the larger group in my high school, and then eventually to my family. Um, and I, I came out as bisexual and a lot of people were like, "Girl, bi is just the pathway to gay," which it's not. Bisexual people are real. Like, I hate that sort of erasure. For me, though, from my experience, it sort of allowed me to, like, dip my toe in, and I was still dating women, you know. So it allowed me to continue the life that I built while also exploring a new side of myself, if you will. Um, and then 00:04:00I came out to, in high school, to like, the high school at large, which actually went really well. Blessings. Like, some people were cruel. But, but I'm so overwhelmingly nice, I'm so very charming, that I think people were just like, "Oh, whatever." Like, "She's a theater kid, of course, we knew that" like, you know, "He was gay, and that's fine." Like, "Whatever." Um, but I started dating this young man in high school and he really broke my heart, girl, broke my heart. And, the day we broke up was the night before I had my deviated septum corrected. So I had, um, a surgery, uh, like a, a medical procedure and then rhinoplasty, to fix how my nose caved in after they removed the deviated septum, and I woke up from the surgery high as balls on anesthetic. Crying my eyes out. And the nurse was like, "Are you in pain? Do we need to give you more anesthetic? Do we need to give you more medicine?" And I was like, "No, no, I'm not in pain. I'm not in pain." My mom came over and she was like, 00:05:00"What's wrong?" I was like, "Mom, Terry is not just my friend. He's my boyfriend. But now he's not my boyfriend. I'm really sad about it." And that was like my coming out, was like high on anesthetic after a surgery, like bawling, telling my mom that I've broken up with this boy who I kept spending the night with. Do you know what I mean? Like, stupid. So she took me home, woke me up from the medicine, and she is like, "Tell your father." And I was like, "Dad, I'm gay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you." I went right back to sleep. And then three days later, all the drugs wore off and we started to have the conversation. Um, and it was a blessing that they had three days to, like, process it. While I was just like-- And during those three days, they were like, had to take care of me. Do you know? They had to, like, change my bandages and give me medicine. So it was like, it's like a softening effect, a dampening effect of the announcement, if you will. Yeah.

POSTON: That's a pretty unique damn thing. I don't think I've heard it. No coming out story is the same. Right. But that's a pretty unique one.

WABBIT: Yeah.

POSTON: Um, so you've alluded to this a bit already. Um, but tell us 00:06:00more about your experience at the University of Kentucky.

WABBIT: Yeah. Um, so I studied opera. I studied in the vocal music program, got my bachelors here, um, under the under the education of Dr. Angelique Clay. Um, and I had a really wonderful experience. Even, even in the opera world, I was a little out of place. You know, I, um, I didn't quite fit in. I, I loved it. People loved me. But there was like, still, like a, a barrier, you know, which I think was more about me realizing my true self, which happened later. Um, but I was like, I was like the weird theater kid in the opera world. Like, I studied a lot of acting and I was into obscure music, like I loved like weird polyphony from the 15th century. And I loved strange modern arias. And I loved to, like, do crazy things. And so they always cast me as like rapists and murderers in the shows because I had like a weird sensibility, which I think is interesting because there's, um, there's a trope of villains being queer. And I 00:07:00think they cast me as villains because my queerness read like that to a, to an audience. Um, it didn't read as, as off putting. It read as villainous. They were used to that. You know what I mean? Um, Corella de Ville in the live action "101 Dalmatians" film is essentially a drag queen. Ursula is based off of Divine the drag queen. You know, we have, um--Captain Hook is often portrayed as a fop, which is, which is, you know, now-days doesn't read as dainty, just reads as like homosexual. Um, and blessings for them for using my queerness for their shows because it gave me lots of opportunities to, um, explore these characters and to learn about acting. And it was wonderful. Um, I made a lot of friends who I'm still really close with. There's like, uh, Jack Dempseys is a bar in New York that people go to, to like, watch UK games, and a lot of us still congregate there. I have like fifteen people who I'm really close with still who I met at UK. Um, I learned, I mean, I'm an opera singing drag queen. I had to learn somewhere. Do you know what? I learned so much from my voice and so much from my instrument--while I was still figuring out my mind they were like preparing my body to do the things that I do now. Just amazing.

POSTON: Fabulous.

WABBIT: Yeah.

POSTON: So. So expanding beyond UK and your time, uh, in Lexington and, sort of, the broader community that's not university specific-- What were your experiences living in those spaces and what are both the spaces and thinking about that, that you found most welcoming and the ones you found maybe most problematic?

WABBIT: Yeah. Um, I have an interesting relationship with Kentucky, the space. When I fly in I still, like, get tense. Do you know, like, when I'm late, when the plane's landing, I still get really tense because I--part of it was I didn't have the courage to be my fullest self when I lived here. A part of it was that I also felt discouraged from being my fullest self. Um, I remember while, while in high school and college, I started to grasp onto my queerness as, 00:09:00like, a strength. People still discouraged that, you know, they discouraged me embracing that, um, and especially, especially here at college. In my fine arts classes, um, it was expected. Um, but there were, there were, but in non fine arts classes I read as weird and I read as uncomfortable to some people. Um, and there were also students in the Fine Arts college who I'm still really close with. But, because of how conservative--how, how religious conservatism is like part of the bread and butter of Kentucky--these people who knew me and who love me really discouraged me from embracing my sexuality because, you know, they thought it was the sinner. They thought it was going to send me to hell. I mean, I actually spent the first year and a half of the first year of college wildly depressed, um, about my sexuality, and then the second year I spent researching the Bible in Greek and Aramaic and, um, Hebrew and English 00:10:00translations, figuring out how to reconcile my faith with my sexuality. Um, and so the church was for a long time, probably the most problematic space for me. Um, I grew up in a wonderful, loving church, um, in Shelbyville, Kentucky, but that was very conservative, um, and I think my presence there has changed a lot of things. I know a lot of people who know me growing up ask about Gilda now. They ask about my drag career. Um, I even wrote, after I spent a year studying the Bible, I wrote an essay about homosexuality and the Bible, published it, sent it to my pastor. And, um, two years ago my mom called me and she was like, "You were brought up in church today." And I was like, "Oh, Jesus Christ, why?" And she was like, "We were talking about homosexuality in the Bible, and someone said something, and Pastor quoted your essay and, um, quoted what you taught, how you spoke about this passage or that passage and said your name," um, which is great. You--if you are in a space, feel free to clear it while 00:11:00you're there. Um, but then when I'm, when I reconciled my religion with my sexuality, I started going to First with Jerry in Lexington here, um, which was probably one of the safest spaces for me ever and, um, in Lexington, because I was allowed to be as spiritual as I wanted to be, but I was also allowed to be as queer as I wanted to be. Um, I wouldn't necessarily say the congregation is the most liberal, but the, the ministry there is very welcoming and is very open. And I sang in the church choir there, um, and I, I, I , sang with queer people and the straight people and with old people and young people who all like love me and accept me for who I was. And so that really is, um, is a space that I felt really safe in, um, the space that I felt very encouraged to grow in. I'm getting married in October, and Mark Davis, the pastor there, is is doing the, um, the ceremony for me and my fiancé`. And we're like, we're thrilled. You know, that that relationship is continued, um. I also, I mean, I'm a 00:12:00drag queen, and I think part of why I'm a drag queen is that I found safe space in the bars here in Lexington. Specifically, um, Old Hookers, Sound Bar, and the Bar Complex, um, were where I would, like, go to experience other gay people. Um, once I was 21 and--never had a fake I.D., I missed that boat. I drank, but I didn't go to bars, um, you know, and I, I really found a kinship there, especially with older queer people. When I was in those spaces, like--the young gays--I was not cute enough and I was not rich enough to, like, hang out with them. Um, but the, the older queer people were so interesting and had so many stories to share and were willing to talk to them and really ask me questions, um, which is why I love the Bar Complex. So, so much history at the Bar Complex and people are so friendly and so open. Um, and of course, there's drag queens who I loved. Um, yeah, I became really good friends of Jenna ----(??), a local drag queen. And I know Scott Robinson, Cadillac Seville, who's a 00:13:00local drag queen. Um, Yeah. So those spaces were really wonderful places for me to explore what it meant to be queer in Kentucky, to get to know people who had lived their lives in Kentucky as queer people and what that meant and what, what my future might look like, you know?

POSTON: Yeah.

WABBIT: Yeah.

POSTON: All places I certainly know.

WABBIT: Yeah.

POSTON: You come up in so many, so many queer stories from Lexington. Um, okay. So certainly Gilda's clearly here with us today.

WABBIT: Yes. Hi. Hello.

POSTON: Hello, Gilda.

POSTON: So tell us a bit about Gilda's birth and development and how she came to be who she is and, and how that connects to your experiences with drag.

WABBIT: Yeah. Um, I graduated college and I moved to New York to pursue an opera performance career, um, and, I had the privilege of working with six opera company--or doing six operas with four upper companies, debuting five roles. I wasn't making money, but I was working and I was wildly unhappy. I 00:14:00was like, what--I'm in New York. I'm singing for like, not for a living, but I'm singing, in these like semiprofessional companies. Why am I so unhappy? And that was because I felt really boxed in. You know, like, once again, my queerness was either used for effect in a villain's role or I was asked to expunge it to play a role, um, which was really difficult for me. Um, and it was not fun. It's not fun to, like, deny yourself . You like, I like, to play a character, but I want to bring myself to that character, you know? Um, so I, I had been interested in drag for a long time. I loved drag. My first time out in drag was Halloween here in Kentucky. Um, my fiancé` went as JFK and I went as Jackie O--Jackie Kennedy, and we went post ----(??) film, so he was, like, whited out with, like, a big wound in his head. And I was like, covered in blood. I still have that faux Chanel suit, um, not tasteful, but very fun. And, um, I knew that I 00:15:00was interested in it. And I knew that I had ideas that I could pull off in drag. And so I strapped on some heels and I bought a dress at a thrift store. And I brought a cheap ass wig that I, like, curled, kind of--not very well. I do my makeup. And I went out and performed at this bar called the West End in New York City. And I sang "Getting Married Today" from Company, which is a trio. And I sang all three parts at once. It's stupid. Don't try that at home, kids. Um, and the applause that I got was amazing. And I was like, this is it. This is where I belong. Um, and it, like it was, it was like fire in a dry forest, you know, on the West Coast. Like, I just I couldn't get it. I, it consumed me. Drag consumed me. I didn't want to be doing anything else. Um, and so I started doing all these competitions, um, and I started working at a bar called Albatross that's near my house. And slowly but surely it was building. I was building 00:16:00up. And at that time, I was Beverley Leslie Sills. I was not Gilda Wabbit, but I was under a different, um, stage name, if you will. Um, and I did this competition called "So You Think You Can Drag." I didn't win. But the producer of the competition said to me, she was like, "Listen, some people win competitions and some people build careers, and that's not necessarily--they're not necessarily the same thing." Um, and I was like, you know what? Fuck, yeah. I like to call myself New York's favorite loser because I lose all my competitions, but I work a lot. I work a lot. So I worked hard and I started building a career. And in January, I turned to my fiancé` and I was like, "I want to quit my day job. I want to make drag my job-job. Because I, I like, I love it." You know what I mean? There's no--there's nothing. Someone once told me--I think was my voice teacher, Dr. Clay, she was like, "If you can see yourself doing anything but performing, do something else. Don't perform." And I, I can't. I know that I physically can. I managed a restaurant, 00:17:00which is really hard to do, when I was 23 years old. Like, I can do it, but I can't mentally and emotionally do it. You know, I mean, I can't bring myself to do it forever. I have to perform. And my fiancé` was like, "I'm making good money right now. You go try out your dream. If it doesn't work, I'll catch you until you get back on your feet." Um, and so I did. And I started working and I was working two gigs at the time, which, once a week--that means I was making like $250 a week, which is barely enough to cover my rent. I, like, certainly wasn't buying food or paying the rest my bills. Um, but then after I quit--the week after I quit my day job--I got a third gig. So I was making $400 a week, which meant that I could pay my bills. And then I changed my name to Gilda Wabbit. I'd been sitting on this name for about six months. I was like, I'm going to be Gilda Wabbit when I do children's shows, because Beverly Leslie Sills was like, raunchy, and, you know, not children's appropriate. Um, but I was starting to gain some notoriety in New York, and I was at this point where, I was like, I can, you know, keep my name or I can change it now. And 00:18:00Beverly Leslie Sills is really complicated. It's hard for even me to say. Like when I say it I go -----(??) because it's so many, you know.

POSTON: Yeah.

WABBIT: So Gilda Wabbit, um, who'd been setting in my brain--I was like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to make the leap. Um, and I did. And right after I made the change was when "the future that liberals want" meme happened and it was like the universe saying, like--I quit my day job and the universe was like, here's another gig, so, you can pay your bills. It was like, yes, you're making the right decision. And then I changed my name. And the universe was like, here is some recognition now that your name has changed. Yes. You're making the right decision.

Um, and I've never felt like I was on the right track, really. I was always, I always worked hard, so I got opportunities, but I never felt like I was on the right track for me. And suddenly life was saying, Yes. Like, thank 00:19:00you for doing this. Here's, here's--welcome. Take these opportunities. You know, and it's a privilege--was a blessing. Yeah.

POSTON: So, so you, allude, eh, or you just alluded to, eh, this photo "the future the liberals want"--

WABBIT: --yeah--

POSTON: --eh, and you certainly gained some national attention with that photo. Gilda, you know, her image was, it was across social media and across the country, and so tell us about that photo and the experience during and after.

WABBIT: Yeah, um, I mean, it was a week after I changed my name. I was on my way to my brunch gig at -----(??) Oyster Company on Sundays. I was in my very first costume that I ever made, actually, um, which was like this tiny, like, green holographic dance number with like a little 10-inch skirt, sitting on the subway, like this, texting my co-host who was running late. And there was a woman next to me in full modesty garb. And we weren't really paying attention to each other because in New York, you're just like, existing next to 00:20:00people of all different sorts. And like, that's okay. Um, and this guy across from us--Buba Barry, is his name--he's like an, an immigrant and a photographer--saw us and he saw how special it was that we were just existing next to each other--that like the two of us had somehow sat next to each other and there were no problems--that a drag queen and a, and a woman who were... So we--I think the media has assumed she's Muslim because she's wearing full modesty garb, but a woman in full modesty garb, um, could exist--get on the train. He took a picture of us. Um, it was picked up by "Subway Creatures", which is like a big Instagram account. And so, when, by the first time I saw the picture because I was not aware it was being taken. The first time I saw the picture, it had 20000 likes already, um, and I was not tagged in it, and neither was the photographer who took it originally. So both of us, without knowing it--I saw his comment. He was like, "Oh, I took this picture," and right under it and I said, "And I'm the drag queen in the picture." Um, and so they tagged us. And so he and I got connected. And it started to gain momentum on 00:21:00Instagram. And then much like viral stuff happens, like a cold, it came and it went. There was, like, the attention died down. And I was like, wow, okay. And then, two a week later, um, it was picked up on Twitter by a conservative, like, troll account that like, essentially makes funs, makes funs--can't speak anymore--that makes fun of the left wing, you know, and it it's very conservative. A lot of people have been calling it alt-right or, like, neo-fascist, um, and they picked it up and they were like, "This is the future liberals want." And I retweeted that tweet because I was like, oh, it is. Yes, thank you. But then I learned that they were being really sarcastic and they're actually making fun of us because how horrifying to a to an alt-right person that a Muslim woman and a drag queen are existing on a train together, you know. Um, and as that started to gain popularity in the conservative Twitter sphere, the liberal Twitter sphere took it and was like, "You know what? No, that is the future that we want. We want a future that that's diverse. We want a 00:22:00future that is, is full of people living their, like, authentic lives and not being bothered by each other." The privilege to exist without fear of, of being judged is huge. And we were existing without being judged in that picture. And we weren't judging each other. And so they started to fire back with, like, memes, you know, like making fun of the original tweet, like "This is the future liberals want to have, like, six power rangers on the subway," or like, "This is the future liberals want," and having like--I don't know--like a, like a meerkat and a bird like fighting in the Amazon. You know what I mean? Like, not the Amazon--I think the meerkat's a desert animal--whatever. It doesn't matter. Um you know, and so and I was like, oh, this is so funny. This is great. And then Buzz Feed picked it up because Buzz Feed, like, loves the Internet. And they're like, "Look at all these memes." And I was like, oh, shit, I'm in Buzz Feed. And my friend, Hal Rohr, who went to high school with me in Frankfurt, works for Buzz Feed now as an article writer. He does mostly food videos and food articles. And he was like, "Hey, I saw that you were in Buzz Feed. I 00:23:00know the woman who wrote this. Do you want me to connect you with her?" And I was like, "Yes, please! Absolutely! Like anything for fame. Thank you." Um, and she connected with me and she did, like, a little interview. And so now on the article, my comments are at the bottom talking about it. And then people saw my voice in the story and start picking it up. And I got interviewed by BBC, I got interviewed by Jon Gaunt, um, who is part of BBC 4, I think, which is like a--no--"TAPS Talk Live", which is like a radio channel--um, but also in Britain--by Wired, by Media--(??), by ----(??) Plus which is like a Facebook video group. They all like picked it up and, um, were really interested. And it was challenging because um--oh, and also WLEX interviewed me. Thank you. And, um, it was challenging because people were asking all these questions and asking me to speak about representation and religion um and immigration and all these political issues when I was just a drag queen in a picture, you know? Now, luckily, I'm a very politically minded person, so I had opinions. And 00:24:00I think that's not--my legs wouldn't, apparently. Um I think that I represented myself well and spoke well. But sometimes it was really hard. Jon Gaunt, who interviewed me for TAPS Talk Live Radio, was an asshole. He was like, "So, um, the woman next to you wants you to burn in hell, right?" And I was like, "You're assuming a lot about that girl that you don't know and she hasn't come forward, so you should not put words in her mouth." He was like, "Well, obviously, like, the Muslim culture--" I was like, "No, no, no. There are Muslim extremists and there is Muslim culture, and like, there's two different things. There are Christian extremists and there's Christian culture. There's atheist extremism and there's atheist culture." And I was like, "You don't get to put words in her mouth because you want her to look extreme." And then, he was like, "oh," and so I talked about my growing up. And he was like, "Oh, so you being a transvestite?" "I'm not a transvestite. I'm a drag queen. There are differences that are important to talk about." He was like, "You being a transvestite is because of your conservative upbringing." And I was like, "No, it's not a reaction to my conservative upbringing. It's because it's who I am. I'm someone who wants to do drag. And that's wonderful. And I still am close to people who are from a conservative upbringing." He was, like, trying to push all my buttons and the whole time I was like--listen, butthole, you don't 00:25:00get this. You don't get--you don't get some weird trashy story out of me because I'm a drag queen. You get to hear me talk eloquently about diversity and people's rights, you know, and how--and how that Muslim woman needs to be represented wholly. And she hasn't come forward. So you don't get to put words in her mouth because she hasn't-- You don't talk for her. She gets talk for herself." Um, and that's sort of what I've been able to do now is, like, talk about representation. Talk about diversity. Talk about living an authentic life in the face of a country that doesn't necessarily want you to live your authentic life. If you're a drag queen, if you're a trans person, if you're LGBT, if you're a person of color, if you're an immigrant, if you're poor, you're under attack in this country right now. Do you know? Whether you realize it or not. And I think most people are aware, but some people aren't. And so there is power in being your fullest self and resisting, like, you're resisting the, the political narrative right now just by existing fully, you know? And I have the privilege to talk about that now, which is a blessing.

POSTON: For sure.

WABBIT: Yeah.

POSTON: So, what are you up to now and what do you think, uh, excites 00:26:00you most about the future?

WABBIT: Yeah. I mean, right now I'm working a lot. Um, I still am not--I don't get paid super well--to do drag so I do drag all the time. Um, I'm in drag at least four days a week. Plus, while I'm not working, I'm working on new numbers, I'm working on new outfits, I'm working on new hair, um, because I'm not only a performer, I'm also a visual medium. You know? If I was just a performer, I wouldn't do drag, like I would just perform in like my regular clothes. But part of the point is that I get to do this visual thing. So I'm working probably like 60 to 80 hours a week on drag. Um, and I'm really blessed and really privileged to that. I--I have four regular shows. I get to host a drag race viewing party, which is so much fun. I love that television show. It's really influential for me actually, because, um, it influenced a lot of--I saw, the diversity of drag--I saw it. Like here in Kentucky there's, there's sort of like a specific niche, especially, that happens in Lexington. I think Louisville is a 00:27:00bit wider of a drag circuit. But I wasn't in the Louisville scene when I was here. Um, so I saw, you know, what the girls in the Bar Complex did and what the audience there liked and the drag race exposed me to what the wider world could see--and there's so many facets--which means that I'm allowed to be myself in drag and to explore my truest desires as an artist. Which is amazing. Um Yeah. So I'm working a lot and um, I'm trying to expand beyond New York. Um, I'm talking right now about getting booked in Connecticut. Um, I was brought here today by Outlaw,by--and by the LGBT Resource Center to, um, to speak, which is amazing. I'm talking to Daniel Cole of Hard Candy Kentucky, about performing at--playing before me at the Bar Complex and performing at Sound Bar. I'm talking to the original owners of the Connection. I know they're working on a new space, so I want to perform there as well. So hopefully I'm expanding out of Kentucky. Um, but I'm also, I'm working a lot at speaking engagements. I spoke today. I spoke to, um, high schoolers on Friday last week. Um, 00:28:00Franklin County High School. What? What? Um, they were in New York for their choir trip, and I got to speak to them, um, and I'm actually really enjoying that aspect of what I'm doing. I really like being able to speak on these issues because when I'm performing I can talk about them, but my job is mostly to sing songs and sell alcohol, you know? So this allows me to explore another side of myself, a more serious side of myself. But because I am who I am, I get to present it in a way that's entertaining and fun and accessible, but still talk about, like, you know, politics--the politics of gender, the politics of drag, the politics of, of, of, um, being unique and being queer in a world that doesn't want you to. And that's what I'm most excited about, about the future, is the opportunities to do that, because the message that I want to get across is a message of empathy--it's a message of understanding. It's a message that I learned when I was little. My, when I was 10 years old in Frankfurt, my father came home one day and he said, "There's a family on the side of the 00:29:00road. Their car's broken down. They don't have anyone in the area to reach out to." He looked at my mom. He said, "Make 10 sandwiches. I'm going to get some drinks and some snacks together and we're going to take them food for the day." He didn't know them. He didn't even have to stop his car and talk to them. You know what I mean? But he did. And that was a great lesson in empathy for me, that he looked across the highway, saw these people and was like, "you're human beings, I'm a human being, I'm going to take care of you right now." Um, and now I have the privilege to talk about taking care of each other and encouraging each other to, to live our most authentic lives, uh, and all because I started doing drag, you know, like that's the real shit. You know, like telling a dick joke and taking a shot is fun. It's great, you know? I don't, I definitely don't want to give that up. But like the fact that I get to talk about 00:30:00creating empathy and living an authentic life and finding who your true self is and expressing that to the fullest is--is my favorite thing about this job. And it's my favorite thing to continue working on.

POSTON: Beautiful.

WABBIT: Yeah.

POSTON: Well, in all of this, is there anything we haven't asked that you wanted us to or anything you want to talk about that we haven't already?

WABBIT: You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Gilda Wabbit. You can also Venmo me at Gilda Wabbit. Um, I mean, other than like schticky stuff, like my little like--look, I'm a drag queen. Here's a joke. I think we got to a lot of things that I think are important to say. Um, yeah, I'm just really grateful. I'm really grateful, and I hope that comes across when I'm speaking, um, because what I'm experiencing is a privilege and a joy. Um, and I think that 00:31:00it's important when you're given an opportunity, um, to always be grateful. And I think as a queer person, sometimes gratefulness is difficult because the world will push you down a lot. And so, when you reach on, when you grab onto something, you feel like, "I did this." Do you know what I mean? "I earned this." And there's, is-- there's a sense of entitlement to it, which I think is, is understandable. Do you know what I mean? Um, I know a lot of drag queens like that who like fought their way to the top and now are entitled to it. Um, and I don't want anyone to feel ashamed about that, but I think that gratefulness is important, and I think that gratefulness is--allows you to experience the roller coaster that you're on with the most joy. You know?

POSTON: Yeah.

WABBIT: Yeah.

POSTON: That's a wonderful perspective to have.

WABBIT: Great.

POSTON: So this is all the questions we have.

WABBIT: Brilliant.