RuPaul Wants to Make Voting ‘Sexy’ For Young People

RuPaul Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

With the midterm elections only a month away, RuPaul entered Saturday’s DragCon NYC interview with New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow ready to chat politics. While discussing the Kavanaugh hearings, inequality, social justice and other issues, RuPaul asked the pundit what it would take to make more people involved in politics. Blow’s answer, unsurprisingly, involved convincing more Americans to participate in democracy even when their party is in power.

“When people win they get lazy, and when they lose they get angry. And it is only after people have lost that they actually show up because they’re angry,” Blow told the crowd at New York’s Javits Center. “You can’t just participate when you’re pissed off. You have to participate because you believe that you want a future where you don’t have to go through these cycles of anger and depression every decade.”

RuPaul seemed to see this as a challenge. “It’s very sad,” the Drag Race host said. “It’s our job to somehow make voting sexy for young people. I don’t know what else to do really. Attach it to Grindr? We’re open to suggestions.”

Shortly afterward, RuPaul was able to make politics at least a bit more sexy by lending Blow his bright pink jacket. Judging from the applause of the crowd, it was a successful campaign.