RuPaul Takes to Twitter to Apologize for Comments on Transgender Contestants
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RuPaul, longtime legendary drag queen and host of the increasingly popular and influential reality competition RuPaul’s Drag Race, has recently apologized for offending fans of the show with her recent comments that she would probably never allow a trans woman who had transitioned to compete on the series. Let’s see how RuPaul apologizes below.
In two Twitter messages published just moments ago, RuPaul wrote:
Each morning I pray to set aside everything I THINK I know, so I may have an open mind and a new experience. I understand and regret the hurt I have caused. The trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement. You are my teachers….
In the 10 years we’ve been casting Drag Race, the only thing we’ve ever screened for is charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent. And that will never change.
Each morning I pray to set aside everything I THINK I know, so I may have an open mind and a new experience. I understand and regret the hurt I have caused. The trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement. You are my teachers. pic.twitter.com/80Qi2halN2
— RuPaul (@RuPaul) March 5, 2018
In the 10 years we’ve been casting Drag Race, the only thing we've ever screened for is charisma uniqueness nerve and talent. And that will never change. pic.twitter.com/0jsyt6MRvO
— RuPaul (@RuPaul) March 5, 2018
RuPaul’s comment about forbidding fully transitioned trans women came out in an interview for the UK publication The Guardian. Her full comment, which included mention of openly transgender Season 9 competitor Peppermint, was as follows:
Peppermint didn’t get breast implants until after she left our show; she was identifying as a woman, but she hadn’t really transitioned. [Would I consider a contestant who had fully transitioned?] Probably not. You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body. … We’ve had some girls who’ve had some injections in the face and maybe a little bit in the butt here and there, but they haven’t transitioned.
RuPaul followed up this assertion with a tweet today stating, “You can take performance enhancing drugs and still be an athlete, just not in the Olympics.” Some interpreted the tweet as equating transitional hormone therapy with athletic doping, a form of cheating.
A handful of past contestants, including some of the seven past openly trans contestants, publicly opposed RuPaul’s statement.
A fully “transitioned” trans woman (or even one who has had “top surgery”) has yet to appear on RuPaul’s Drag Race.