COLLEGIAN TIMES
10
2021 SPRING-SUMMER
THIS IDEA OF INCREMENTAL CHANGE IS GETTING US NOWHERE. —MAEBE A. GIRL
Unconventional times may call for unconventional candidates, and Maebe A. Girl could be the sort of person that causes voters to rally in the 2022 midterm elections.
MAEBE A. GIRL
TRAILBLAZES PATH TO CONGRESS BY MATTHEW RODRIGUEZ
PHOTO BY WHITNEY GIBSON
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he holds the distinction of first drag queen ever elected to public office in America two years ago, and she won reelection to the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in April where she serves as treasurer and Region 5 Representative. Meet Maebe A. Girl – a 34-year-old trans non-binary – someone who does not identify as exclusively male or female. She often wears a body conscious dress, topped with a tailored jacket and three-strand pearl necklace. She may opt for black platform boots or pumps with matching tights. A photo of the neighborhood councilperson in a sleeveless green blouse exposes a series of wristto-shoulder tattoos. She alters her hair color from jet black with soft body waves, to platinum-blond tresses depending on her mood that day. Meticulous. From the sweep of black eyeliner to a soft contrast of pinkish lipstick. Maebe is more than
6 feet tall. She prefers the pronouns she, her and they. And when work on behalf of her constituents is over, she “hosts, produces and performs in drag shows around Los Angeles,” according to her website. “For decades, drag queens have been a vital part of the LGBTQ community and are often pillars of the community when things go wrong,” she says. “And, I carry that over into my political world. Whether or not drag is trying to be political, it’s an involuntary act against what our society says are how things should be.” Voters swept Maebe and her progressive agenda into office with a slate of like-minded neighborhood public servants in 2019. A year later, she placed third with more than 20,000 votes in a bid to unseat Adam Schiff, the prominent democrat from the 28th Congressional District in California. “L.A. is such a progressive city, or at least we think it is. But, if you look at our representation it
