Taiwan’s President Personally Congratulated Drag Race Season 16 Winner Nymphia Wind

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Taiwanese drag queen Nymphia Wind has earned plenty of fans after becoming the first competitor of East Asian descent to win RuPaul’s Drag Race — including the country’s president, Tsai Ing-wen.

Wind snatched the Season 16 crown in the reality show’s April 19 finale, taking time to shout out her home country during her acceptance speech. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and have courage to live your truth,” she said, adding, “And Taiwan, this is for you!”

President Tsai Ing-wen returned the favor, taking to X to personally congratulate Drag Race’s newest victor.

“Congratulations to you, Nymphia Wind, for being so accomplished in the difficult art form of drag, and for being the first Taiwanese to take the stage and win on RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Ing-wen wrote. “Right after being crowned queen, you said, ‘Taiwan, this is for you.’ Taiwan thanks you for living fearlessly.”

Ing-wen, who is a member of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, has voiced her support for LGBTQ+ rights during her tenure. Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize full marriage equality in 2019. Although trans people in Taiwan currently can’t change their legal gender markers without providing proof of having undergone gender-affirming surgery, LGBTQ+ advocates hope that a recent court ruling in favor of a trans woman who appealed for legal recognition without such proof could set a groundbreaking legal precedent.

The presidential shout-out caps off a season of Wind proudly centering her Taiwanese and East Asian heritage on screen. Affectionately nicknamed the “Banana Buddha” by her fans at home, the queen told the Washington Post that she largely wears yellow in hopes of “[raising] more Asian awareness and appreciation.”

“Yellow represents the color of my skin,” she said. According to the Post, Wind has also incorporated elements of East Asian culture into her drag performances, from traditional Chinese knots to Taiwanese opera.

In an April 21 Instagram post, Wind admitted that winning Drag Race “still hasn’t sunk in yet.”

“But I’m sure one day I’ll wake up screaming out of joy to have been able to achieve a goal of mine, which was to be the first east asian queen to win drag race,” she wrote. “At the time when I had this thought it was still very unreachable… But mama stay on the path that excites you the most and continue to live courageously and passionately, and you never know, anything can happen 😉.”

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Originally Appeared on them.