STEM education has never been more glamorous.
In the age of social media, drag queens have become some of the most vibrant and influential STEM educators, both online and on stage. Behind the costumes and the makeup are queer scientists, mathematicians, and other STEM professionals.
The LGBTQ+ community remains underrepresented in STEM. For queer people who are working in STEM, they are than their peers to experience discrimination at work, with transgender professionals encountering it at the highest rates.
While LGBTQ+ people and allies continue to improve STEM workplaces, drag queens are encouraging more queer people to pursue STEM. Kyne Santos and Angelico Obille combine their passions to spread queer joy and show that STEM is for everyone.
A Viral Drag Queen and Mathematician
Unlike most kids, grew up loving math. In college, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, he started a account to share his mathematical expertise. Today, he has an audience of 1.5 million and counting.
“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I started talking about my math homework while I was in drag?’ not thinking that anybody was even going to watch it,” tells Built By Girls.
The response was overwhelmingly positive.
“I just got so many encouraging comments from people saying, ‘Oh my gosh. I wish all of my math teachers were drag queens,’ so I kept going.”
His unique approach led to his own book, , which was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2024. “What makes it so different,” he explains, “is that in each chapter, I also explain the math using anecdotes from my own life, from growing up as a gay boy, from having a career as a drag queen.”
Santos has started a master’s degree program at Toronto Metropolitan University. And loves being able to show the next generation that scientists look many different ways.
“I think that it is important to talk about visibility and representation in STEM [for] little kids who may feel different [or] a little bit too effeminate to become a scientist,” he says. “I don’t want that to be a reason for anybody to not become a scientist or not become a mathematician.”
Kwaga Musselle, Offstage
On stage, Kwaga Musselle is a fierce drag queen and sparkly science communicator.
Angelico Obille is a scientist and PhD student. On stage, he’s known as drag queen Kwaga Muselle, named after the animal he studies in the lab.
Offstage, people know her as , a scientist and PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. His drag persona, Kwaga Musselle, is a reference to the animal they study in the lab, .
“When I attended [a Science is a Drag event], I saw other people that had similar experiences as me, where they felt like they weren’t welcome in science spaces,” shares with Built By Girls. “That’s what motivated me to apply the next year.”
His application was accepted, and Obille launched his drag persona and started performing with .
Science is a Drag is a Canada-based initiative that hosts in-person shows featuring drag queens who work in STEM fields. Featured drag queens like Obille build their performance around the work they do in STEM. Founded in 2019, Science is a Drag is the first and longest-running science-themed drag show. Santos has also performed with the initiative.
“For so many years, I felt like I couldn’t express my queer self in science spaces, like I didn’t even bring my boyfriend to a lab barbecue…because I was afraid that [colleagues] would not accept me, despite the fact that I do great science,” Obille recalls.
Studies show that are out in the workplace.
Becoming a drag queen has made Obille feel more welcomed as a queer person in science, and given them an opportunity to empower the next generation of LGBTQ+ scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and beyond.
“[There’s] that core message of creativity that’s common in both science and drag. And I think having that core message allows people to be like, ‘Oh, maybe I can do science too.’”
How Drag Is Diversifying STEM
Online and on stage, drag queens like Santos and Obille are making a positive impact teaching STEM education and who belongs in it.
“Math and drag may seem like they’re totally opposite, but the thing that unites them is this element of creativity, of breaking down boundaries,” Santos asserts.
“Science is innovative,” Obille adds. “In science, we draw boxes and redraw boxes all the time. So why not…redraw the boxes of gender through drag?”
If he could go back, Obille says he’d remind his younger self that his perspective matters.
“Don’t try to conform too much,” they assert. “Your insights [and] your perspective…will be your scientific voice, and that will lead you towards asking and answering those innovative questions.”
Santos says it’s all about finding your community.
“There are folks out there who are in your corner…it’s all about finding your people,” he asserts.
“In this day and age, drag isn’t just for the nightclubs, and it’s not even just for the TV screens,” Santos emphasizes. “It can be on social media. You can have it in the bookstores. And I think that drag encourages people to just live as authentically as they can be.”
“Your work, in whatever you do, will be better if you can be your full authentic self,” Obille states.
Hailey Dickinson (she/her) is a freelance writer for Built By Girls and has been writing for the publication since January 2023. She is a creator passionate about using digital platforms to build community, make connections, and ignite positive social change. Outside of writing for Built By Girls, she is a communications professional for multiple non-profit organizations.