I started OutFAU because I was tired of watching our community lose things.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s push to defund diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives led to the closure of FAU’s DEI center. For me, that loss was personal. As a bisexual student, I wanted to know there was a place for us at the university. Seeing that space close made me wonder what would be taken away next.
I couldn’t reverse what had happened to the center. But I could help build something where LGBTQ+ students could tell their stories, find one another and see their lives reflected on the page. That was why I started OutFAU.
Then we lost the drag show, too.
After years of performances, the show did not happen in fall 2025. I had covered its changes and the efforts to keep it going. Watching it disappear was painful because it felt familiar: another part of LGBTQ+ life at FAU that students could no longer count on.
There is an exhaustion that comes with having to keep asking for space. I wish we could put on a show without its existence becoming a question. I wish students could simply look forward to a night with their friends, watch performers they love and enjoy being part of this community.
That is what I wanted to help bring back.
OutFAU rented space - like anyone else - at the university to bring the show back, with funding from SPJ Florida, the state chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. I’m grateful that we had people willing to help make it happen.
“SPJ Florida supports all journalism, and that includes LGBTQ newsrooms like OutFAU and OutSFL. Sometimes that’s as simple as a webinar. Sometimes it’s as intricate as co-hosting an event,” SPJ Florida President Michael Koretzky said.
When I started a publication, I didn’t imagine that its work would include helping bring a drag show back to campus. But I understand why we ended up here. I care about the people whose stories fill these pages, and I care about whether they have somewhere to gather when they finish reading.
I want the students who come after me to have things they can look forward to. I want them to have traditions, performers they recognize and memories they can carry beyond graduation. I don’t want their experience of being LGBTQ+ at FAU to be defined by a list of things that used to exist.
Bringing back one show doesn’t undo the loss of the center. I still feel that loss. But being able to help make this night happen gives me hope for what we can build together.
To the performers coming back, the people helping us put this on and the students who will be in the audience: thank you.
In my opening letter to the editor in the first issue of OutFAU, I wrote: “FAU’s annual drag show in the fall faced uncertainty until it changed its name, and restricted who was allowed to attend.”
Well. It appears those changes weren’t enough. Appeasement will never be good enough. I said at the time the very idea of OutFAU is an act of defiance. Now the OutFAU Drag Show is yet another act of defiance.
We will continue to defy the powers that be as long as we are here. As the old chant goes, “we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.”
I started OutFAU because I wanted us to have a place. I’m proud that, this time, we can help open the doors.
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