Bella Caruso

Editor’s note: The Maroon-News is aware of the charges against Barr-Longo. We are actively gathering facts for this developing story.

Travis Barr-Longo, the first drag performer elected to public office in the U.S., discussed how his stage experience as the drag queen Anita Buffem prepared him for service as vice president of the Board of Education for the Cazenovia Central School District during a Tuesday, Nov. 11 event at Colgate University’s Center for Women’s Studies. 

After introducing Anita Buffem, Barr-Longo began to trace his story, connecting his background in drag and performance to his election to the Cazenovia school board. After growing up in Cazenovia, N.Y., and attending the very schools he now serves, Barr-Longo moved to New York City to pursue a record deal and began podcasting in his free time. On his early 2000s podcast, he would take on the voice of various characters embodying the Astoria neighborhood in Queens, N.Y. Anita Buffem quickly became his most popular persona, and he began performing gigs as Anita, blending singing with comedy. 

At the outbreak of COVID-19, Barr-Longo left the city and returned to Central New York. After undergoing a back surgery, Barr-Longo knew that he wouldn’t be able to continue performing on the strenuous schedule that had previously defined his life in the city. He recalled a moment where he questioned whether a more sustainable but equally fulfilling path existed.

“There must be something that will give me as much joy as performing does,” Barr-Longo said. “There must be something that lets me touch all of the things I touch with my performance career.”

Barr-Longo said that his post-performance life was made meaningful by his co-ownership role in H. Grey Supply Co., a boutique and café in Cazenovia. Through H. Grey, Barr-Longo was able to build connections within his community while simultaneously cultivating a safe space. Barr-Longo said that ultimately, the community he found through his position in H. Grey, as well as the confidence he built up through drag, was what led him to run for the Cazenovia school board in 2024. 

“Drag is all about tearing down social norms,” Barr-Longo said. “None of it is real. We are subscribing to these things, and I find such joy in doing that.” 

Barr-Longo said that some of his joy comes from serving as people’s introduction to the world of drag, and, in some cases, the LGBTQ community as a whole. He believes in teaching by way of experiencing and takes pride in serving as people’s introductory experience to this form of expression. 

“I like to think that by me just living my life openly and authentically is giving our youth and other people that might not feel supported in a way where they can speak up for themselves, that might give them the courage they might need to do that for themselves,” Barr-Longo said.

Barr-Longo said that his authenticity was what carried him through an adjustment period in his first political position on the Cazenovia school board. He described the imposter syndrome he felt during his first months of service, and how he initially felt unsure of his most effective mode of purpose in comparison to his other board members.

He discovered his intersectionality as a member of the LGBTQ community, as someone with ADHD and as a drag queen, which allowed him to combine and form a unique sense of communication that he now views as a superpower. 

“I’ve realized these things, being LGBTQ, being ADHD, these things about me my whole life that have been something that makes me feel like I don’t have value, are what make me so valuable,” Barr-Longo said. “I implore younger people to lean into who [they] are.” 

Junior and audience member Holly O’Brien shared what she felt was most powerful from Barr-Longo’s presentation. 

“I found the way Travis connected what he learned from drag to the way he conducts himself on the Cazenovia School board very inspirational,” O’Brien said. “He is proof that intersectionality can be the bridge that cultivates new ideas and perspectives.”

Anna Hooper, program coordinator for the Center for Women’s Studies, shared what she believed made Barr-Longo a particularly unique guest speaker for the Brown Bag series. 

“[Barr-Longo] speaks to the importance of providing representation, care and community for LGBT youth in rural communities,” Hooper said. “Travis’s efforts are transcendent and extensive — from serving as the VP of Cazenovia’s school board to creating safe spaces through H. Grey Supply Co. and Cazenovia Pride, his impact cannot be measured. We were honored to have him here at the Center, and I hope audience members were left feeling the power of queer joy and community-building as an act of resistance.”