RuPaul Discussed Transgender Inclusion On “Drag Race”
The latest season of Rupaul’s Drag Race premiered last week, featuring a twist where every single queen had to lip-sync for their life. That shit got… repetitive. Especially with the knife slicing and pig squeal sound effect. But thanks to the show diversifying their audience (simulcasting on a bunch of different networks like the CW and MTV), the thirteenth premiere was the most-watched episode in Drag Race history.
On Tuesday night, RuPaul went on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to plug the show, and addressed trans inclusion on the show. In the past, Ru has had to apologize for saying he wouldn’t let trans women who’d had gender-affirming surgery compete. He once tweeted that it would be like letting athletes on performance-enhancing drugs compete in the Olympics. Woof. Now, there have been trans contestants on the show (including Peppermint, Sonique, Monica Beverly Hillz, and the brainless Gia Gunn), but none of these queens had originally gone on Drag Race having had gender affirming surgery (as far as I know).
Trans activists and former contestants like Aquaria had a lot to say about this fuckery. And I guess they finally got through to Ru (or he realized it wasn’t a good look to be on the wrong side of history), because this season features Gottmik, the show’s first trans contestant (Gottmik is a trans man).
Here’s what Ru said about trans inclusion in his Late Show interview, when Stephen asked the biggest lesson he’s learned from hosting the show (via Out):
“It’s to keep an open mind,” the star said. “I walked into this thing with an idea of what drag is and the kids have a different idea. They keep changing it. This season we have a trans man who is on our show who is competing with the other drag queens and this man is fantastic. Fantastic!” “So, you know,” Ru continued. “I keep moving with what the kids are doing.”
Here’s the clip:
Out Magazine pointed out that Ru’s implication that trans drag is a new development is totally false:
It is important to note here that while Ru’s statement seems to infer a notion that drag has changed, making way for trans or otherwise gender variant individuals in the years since his ascent that didn’t exist before, that’s untrue. Trans folks have long been integral to drag communities, and it was arguably trans women who established the form. That RuPaul only wishes to acknowledge this now is not an indictment on the form.
To this I say:
Pic: YouTube