Barbie Monroe

Best New Drag Queen
Best Promoter

Barbie Monroe (she/her) is absolutely delighted and surprised to be voted as Houston’s Best New Drag Queen in this year’s OutSmart Gayest & Greatest Awards. “The people I was up against, they were in drag for at least a year to two years,” she explains. “I probably did a total of four shows, and then people nominated me. It was so crazy, but I loved it. It just shows me I actually have a purpose to do drag. If people are noticing it right now, I want to make it a career.”

Interestingly, the nightlife scene was not a prominent part of Monroe’s life before she started doing drag. “When I graduated high school, I entered corporate America,” she says. But a major breakup shook up her life, leading her to go out and enjoy Houston’s vibrant and diverse nighttime offerings. “I started to discover drag shows, and I really fell in love with it because it offered me an escape, while also feeling connected with the community,” Monroe says. “I felt like drag allowed me to express myself more and connect with different people.

“Honestly, winning this is solidifying. After my breakup and just feeling alone from that, I know I am actually loved in my community. It’s a beautiful thing,” she says. “Also, I would have not been successful without the help of my drag mother, Edna Anderson.”

Monroe believes winning this award will have a positive impact on her career. “I feel like it’s going to really help me because, as a trans woman living every single day, it opens a door for us trans women. It says that it is okay for us to be in drag. There’s no discrimination whatsoever. So if I can do it, they can do it, as well.”

To appreciate the power of that, recall that RuPaul’s Drag Race, which has made drag extremely accessible and mainstream as it beams into living rooms across the nation and globe, didn’t have its first openly trans woman compete until 2017, when Peppermint entered the competition for Season 9.

Each of these Gayest & Greatest awards is a testament to how a recipient has positively impacted Houston, and it makes others wonder how their own impact could be recognized. “Always just be authentically yourself, first and foremost. That’s really what people will notice the most,” Monroe advises. “Drag is an alternative personality for yourself. However, you cannot lose yourself in your drag. That’s something I’m learning as I make Barbie my own version of myself.”

As a newer drag queen, Barbie doesn’t have many bookings yet. But there are multiple opportunities to see her this month. “I am doing a competition in October with Queen Persephone at South Beach,” she says. “It’s a four-week competition where the community can come out and support me.” The competition, “Persephone’s Race to the Moon,” will be held at 10 p.m. on ​​Sundays, October 6, 20, and 27, with the finale on November 3. Notably, there will be no eliminations in this competition, so Barbie will perform  at each show.

Follow Barbie Monroe on Instagram @barbie_princess0996