Lucy Lawless is busy these days shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she is filming the second season of the TV show Salem.

Lucy Lawless told TV Guide that she has fun wherever she shoots because she gets to know the area by slipping into local courtrooms to hear what sort of issues everyday people are dealing with.

“Most people have never been here but it’s a very surprising place, not what you would expect – a very complex society,” Lucy Lawless says of Shreveport. “They call this place the buckle of the Bible Belt, so you have a lot of convention and religiosity but you also have a lot of libertarians and free-thinking people and an arts community.”

Lucy Lawless is from Auckland, New Zealand, so some of the issues of American society are a bit out of the norm for her. Even though she is seen as a feminist icon, that seems odd to her.

“I’m not saying it’s a totally equal society, because I’m sure wage-wise it doesn’t play out like that, but I never grew up thinking I was not equal thanks to my parents and their encouragement. I didn’t even realize I was a feminist because I never really needed to be.”

Another part of American society that claims Lucy Lawless as an icon is the gay community. While working in Shreveport, Lucy Lawless dropped in on a drag show. She had no intention of making a scene, but you can’t put Xena in a room full of drag queen and not have her be spotted, even in Shreveport. Lucy Lawless stopped the show.

lucy lawless has such beautiful eyes im gay and in tears

— trash daddy (@romanovnatalia) May 24, 2015

“I was dressed down. I was just sort of hiding but they picked me out (in the audience) and the drag queens would break from their act to come off stage and give me a hug. It’s amazing.”

Scale of 1 to 10, how creepy would I be if I met Lucy Lawless and immediately told her that she made me gay?

— Jack (@gen_stewart) December 3, 2012

#LucyLawless. Dragging me out of the closet since 1995. I think this woman actually made me realise I'm gay.

— Chris (@WifeOfKes) August 22, 2012