Updated – April 12, 2023

University of Arizona Professor Harris Kornstein performs as a drag queen named “Lil Miss Hot Mess.” His recent appearance at a gay bar in Texas included a drag story hour with elementary-aged minors. Kornstein’s performance caught the attention of a reporter from Turning Point USA’s Frontlines w/Drew Hernandez (see below). Despite multiple opportunities to explain why he believes drag shows for underaged children should be normalized, Kornstein refused to respond and proceeded to contact campus security.

I confronted Harris Kornstein Assistant professor of LGBTQ+ studies at University of Arizona about his bizarre obsession with performing in drag in front of children as well as some of his books and papers about exposing children to this lifestyle. Kornstein refused to answer… pic.twitter.com/oDOyOvicSb

— Kalen D’Almeida (@fromkalen) April 12, 2023

Updated – March 22, 2023

Campus Reform featured Harris Kornstein/Lil Miss Hot Mess in an article titled, “University of Arizona prof performs drag for kids.”

The Reform said, “[Kornstein] performed drag for children at Cheer up Charlies, a Texas gay bar…The performance was hosted by drag queen Brigette Bandit and Drag Story Hour, an organization that regularly hosts drag queen ‘storytellers’ that use ‘the art of drag to read books to kids in libraries, schools, and bookstores.’”

Campus Reform also stated that Kornstein’s “history with child drag shows has previously been the subject of criticism for several children’s books he’s written…” On his alter-ego’s website, Kornstein is donned in drag while posing with children:

Published – January 20, 2023

Harris Kornstein is an Assistant Professor for the Institute for LGBTQ+ Studies at the University of Arizona.

On his website, Kornstein says that “By night, I’m a drag queen, and have performed at venues ranging from San Francisco’s legendary Stud bar to SFMOMA, and Stanford University to Saturday Night Live.” When in drag, Kornstein goes by the drag name of “Lil Miss Hot Mess.”

Kornstein has written children’s storybooks about drag queens. One of these books (published in 2020) is titled “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.” The book’s description states:

“Playing off “The Wheels on the Bus,” this nursery rhyme book from a founder of Drag Queen Story Hour is a fun, freewheeling celebration of being your most fabulous self.

“The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish encourages readers to boldly be exactly who they are. Written by a founding member of the nationally recognized Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH), this playful picture book offers a quirky twist on a classic nursery rhyme by illustrating all of the ways to “work it”. The story plays off “The Wheels on the Bus” as it follows a drag queen who performs her routine in front of an awestruck audience. A fun frenzy of fierceness, this book will appeal to readers of all ages.”

In 2022, Kornstein also published a similar-themed book titled “If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It.” The book’s description states the following:

“Strike a pose. Blow a kiss. Mouth the words. A fun, sing-along book with a drag twist that encourage kids to embrace all the playfulness of drag culture written by a founding member of Drag Queen Story Hour.”

“If you’re a drag queen and you know it, let it show by winking, shaking your bum, laughing real big, twirling around, and more! Join a cast of fabulous drag queens as you sing along to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” in this playful celebration of expressing your brightest and boldest self. A perfect companion to The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish written by a board member of Drag Queen Story Hour.”

In 2020, Kornstein and Professor Harper Keenan of the University of British Columbia wrote an article titled, “Drag pedagogy: The playful practice of queer imagination in early childhood.”

Kornstein and Keenan claim that, “To the unimaginative adult (which – sigh – describes most of us), it might seem that the world of drag and the world of children are impossibly distant from one another.”

The authors also “propose that DQSH [Drag Queen Story Hour] offers a particular kind of queer framework – what we call drag pedagogy – for teaching and learning that extends beyond traditional approaches to LGBT curricular inclusion.”

Concerning traditional gender roles and sexuality, the authors state their opposition in the following manner:

“In the USA, for example, many people learn that the most valued boy will be white, engage in rough-and-tumble play with other boys that will toughen him up and straighten him out, allowing him to mature into a man who wears a suit and tie, makes a lot of money, enters into a sexually monogamous marriage with a woman, buys a home, and has enough but not too many children. In other words, a script that may begin with gender shapes how individuals are taught to understand their expected roles in society in ways that extend far beyond gender alone. Almost no one can fully conform to the script of gender all of the time.”

The authors think that “Drag Queen Story Hour” (DQSH) “publicly positions its impact in “help[ing] children develop empathy, learn about gender diversity and difference, and tap into their own creativity.”

They also expounded on what they claim is the definition of a drag queen, along with their hopes for the future of DQSH.

“As an art form, drag is all about bending and breaking the rules, and so its aims are totally different from a normative classroom. When a drag queen enters a (class)room, she [sic] generally intends to draw attention to herself – whether through shock, admiration, or envy of her embodied performance. There is a premium on standing out, on artfully desecrating the sacred.”

In writing the article, the authors wrote that they “are guided by the following question: what might Drag Queen Story Hour offer educators as a way of bringing queer ways of knowing and being into the the education of young children?”

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