RuPaul has lifted hearts everywhere with the beautiful and passionate speech he made at Monday night's Emmys.
The TV star spoke on stage after RuPaul's Drag Race was announced as the winner in the reality competition program category, making it RuPaul's eighth consecutive win as host of his eponymous show. Drag Race beat out The Amazing Race, Survivor, Top Chef, and The Voice.
The legendary drag queen and reality TV host told an upstanding audience, "We are so honored to have this award. Listen, you guys are just pure lovely for honoring our show and recognizing all these queens. We have released into the wild hundreds of drag queens, and they're beautiful. On behalf of all of them, we thank you."
He added, "And listen, if a drag queen wants to read you a story at a library, listen to her, because knowledge is power, and if someone tries to restrict your access to power, they are trying to scare you. So listen to a drag queen! We love you, thank you."
The last part of RuPaul's speech was in reference to the many Drag Queen Story Hours that have been hosted in countries around the U.S. recently. As the American Library Association put it, "A few [of these libraries] have experienced pushback from some members of their community."
This, of course, is in line with much of the fear-mongering and restrictive legislation that has surrounded drag performances in recent years. As such, the power of RuPaul's Drag Race feels like a huge force for good at this time, and it's awesome that it's being recognized as such at the Emmys.
