[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRATULATING SASHA COLBY OF WAIMANALO, RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE SEASON 15 
                                 WINNER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JILL N. TOKUDA

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 26, 2023

  Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Hawaii-born 
Sasha Kekauoha, more famously known as Sasha Colby, on being crowned 
the winner of ``RuPaul's Drag Race'' Season 15. I am so proud that a 
fellow Windward girl, hailing from the homesteads of Waimanalo, has 
earned the title of America's Next Drag Superstar.
  With her historic win, Sasha became the first person of Native 
Hawaiian ancestry to compete and win the competition, the fourth trans 
contestant to ever win Drag Race U.S., and the first American Drag Race 
winner to have also won the annual Miss Continental drag pageant. 
RuPaul herself even referred to Sasha as, ``the kind of talent that 
comes around once in a generation.''
  Born and raised in Waimanalo, Hawaii, Sasha is the youngest of seven 
children and attended Kailua High School. Her drag journey began when 
she started taking dance classes at a local studio. Having grown up in 
a very religious household, Sasha spent much of her youth as a closeted 
trans person, living in constant fear of being found out. However, 
dance gave her the opportunity to be herself and meet and be with 
others that identified as LGBTQ+.
  Through that dance studio, Sasha met her drag mom and made friends 
who would become her second family. Together, they showed her what life 
could be like living as a trans woman and helped introduce Sasha to the 
drag performance scene.
  Sasha, a seasoned drag legend with 20 years of experience, had one of 
the most accomplished runs on RuPaul's Drag Race. She showed an 
undeniable confidence in her approach to nearly every challenge. Sasha 
came into the finale with the strongest track record of any of her 
competitors--along with never landing in the bottom in any of the 
show's challenges, she also racked up four challenge wins over the 
course of the season, more than any other queen on the show.
  From the very start of the 15-week-long competition, Sasha put her 
vulnerabilities front and center for the world to see, often drawing 
upon her Native Hawaiian and Irish heritage and childhood trauma as 
sources of inspiration for her performances.
  Throughout Drag Race, she authentically represented her Hawaiian 
culture both in her looks and interviews, talking about the legacy 
she's building for her home state and about being mahu. Mahu are 
``third gender'' individuals who fulfill spiritual and social roles in 
traditional Hawaiian culture. Centuries ago, four large stones were 
placed on Waikiki Beach to honor four mahu, ``extraordinary individuals 
of both male and female spirit,'' who brought their healing powers to 
O`ahu from Tahiti. Today, trans people are still among the most revered 
members in the Hawaiian community.
  Sasha also used her platform to share with the nation and the rest of 
the world the stories of Hawaii, Polynesian culture, and the trans 
experience in America. For example, on the show, she introduced 
audiences to the history of Honolulu nightclubs like The Glades 
Nightclub in the 1950s and 1960s. The Glades would get raided weekly by 
police and for ``misrepresenting'' themselves as female drag queens and 
trans women would have to wear a button that read, ``I'm a Boy,'' or 
face the possibility of being arrested and paying a hefty fine.
  Seventy years later, we are seeing increasing attacks on LGBTQ+ 
rights that particularly target trans people and drag queens including 
state laws banning drag queen performances and gender affirming care. 
In her own words, Sasha says, ``I am literally the living embodiment of 
what they [state legislators] want to eradicate.'' But these anti-trans 
attacks have not deterred Sasha at all. She said it best during the 
Drag Race finale: ``This goes to every trans person, past, present and 
future,'' she said. ``Because we are not going anywhere.'' Sasha's win 
is not only well deserved; it gives us hope.
  I look forward to all that Sasha will accomplish as a leader, a proud 
mahu, and an activist, and I know that she will continue to serve as a 
beacon of light and hope to so many people across the country and 
around the world who are afraid or unable to be fully themselves.
  Congratulations to Sasha Colby. She is truly every drag queen's 
favorite drag queen.

                          ____________________