Every queen who came out as trans after starring on 'Drag Race'

Happy Trans Awareness Week! 

November 13-19 is Trans Awareness Week and to celebrate this year, we’re taking a look at every RuPaul’s Drag Race star who has come out as trans since being on the show!

While Drag Race wasn’t always as inclusive as it is today, eventually, the reality TV juggernaut began embracing trans and nonbinary queens. But some contestants weren’t able to come out as transgender until they opened up on the show or until after they sashayed away.

So let's celebrate all of these drag queens who have unique and beautiful stories about embracing their most authentic selves and getting up the courage to make the bold step to share that with the world.

Jinkx Monsoon (Drag Race season 5, All Stars 7)

Jinkx Monsoon was catapulted to fame after becoming a two-time Drag Race winner. She has been booked and busy ever since, including starring in Chicago on Broadway and as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, and earlier this year as a high-camp villain on Doctor Who. Jinkx identified as nonbinary for 10 years before coming out as trans after starring on Drag Race, and back in April she announced that her chosen out-of-drag name is Hera Hoffer.

Adore Delano (Drag Race season 6, All Stars 2)

Drag Race star Adore Delano has known she was different since she was a kid, even living her life as a girl when she was a teenager, but when she competed on American Idol, she went back into the closet. It wasn't until after she competed on the reality TV show that she truly embraced her trans identity.

Eureka (Drag Race season 9 and 10, All Stars 6)

Eureka competed on Drag Race season 9 but had to leave due to an injury. Then she returned for season 10 and All Stars 6, but it wasn’t until she was filming the third season of her LGBTQ+ travel series We’re Here that she was inspired to come out. Eureka had previously lived as trans for five years starting at age 18 but detransitioned and lived as nonbinary, but meeting a woman who transitioned at age 70 inspired her to come out as trans.

Detox (Drag Race season 5, All Stars 2)

Back in August 2024, Drag Race fave Detox came out as trans by announcing the news to an audience at a Drag Night Chicago event.

Carmen Carrera (Drag Race season 2)

Carmen Carrera began her gender transition journey after filming of the second season of Drag Race ended. Carrera has gone on to become a transgender rights and AIDS awareness activist, even speaking out against RuPaul for using transphobic language.

Stacy Layne Mathews (Drag Race season 3)

Country queen Stacy Layne Mathews came out as trans after having made a name for herself on the third season of Drag Race by popularizing the word “Henny” and for winning Snatch Game by impersonating Mo’Nique as her character from the film Precious.

Lashauwn Beyond (Drag Race season 4)

Season four queen Lashauwn Beyond is probably best known for saying, “This is not RuPaul’s Best Friend Race” on an episode of Untucked, which quickly became a meme. She was one of three queens in season four to come out as trans after leaving the show, alongside Jiggly Caliente and Kenya Michaels.

Jiggly Caliente (Drag Race season 4, All Stars 6)

Jiggly Caliente came out as transgender after competing on the fourth season of Drag Race. She may not have taken home the crown or won when she appeared on All Stars 6, but despite that, her career has skyrocketed since she was first on the reality TV show. She has since co-hosted Translation, the first talk show on a major network to be hosted by an all-trans cast, and is one of the judges on Drag Race Philippines.

Kenya Michaels (Drag Race season 4)

Kenya Michaels came out as trans after leaving Drag Race season four — Lashauwn Beyond and Jiggly Caliente did the same — and since then, has left the world of drag behind.

Monica Beverly Hillz (Drag Race season 5)

When Monica Beverly Hillz competed on season five of Drag Race, she quickly became known as the meme queen with her iconic “Not a Soul Can Clock Number.” Sadly, she was asked to sashay away, but not before she movingly came out as trans on air.

Laganja Estranga (Drag Race season 6)

Season six star Laganja Estranja came out as trans in an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in 2021, long after she left the show. Last month, the queen underwent gender-affirming surgery and showed off the results to the fans on social media.

Gia Gunn (Drag Race season 6)

After starring in the sixth season of Drag Race, Gia Gunn came out as transgender in a moving Instagram video on International Transgender Day of Visibility back in 2017, where she announced that she had been on hormone replacement therapy for about a year.

Aja (Drag Race season 9, All Stars 3)

Drag Race star and ballroom performer Aja began living as nonbinary in 2018 but came out as trans to her Instagram followers in 2021 when she shared her crowdfunding site to help pay for the medical part of her transition.

Gigi Goode (Drag Race season 12)

While on Drag Race season 12, Gigi Goode came out as gender fluid, but then in 2021, she took to Instagram to announce that she is trans and was in the middle of recovering from facial feminization surgery.

Willow Pill (Drag Race season 14)

In an episode of Untucked, Willow Pill opened up about her complicated relationship with he gender identity in a moving talk about how her medical condition (cystinosis) impacted her ability to explore her transness. Then, Willow posted on x (formerly Twitter) that she is trans femme and that after the show finished filming, she underwent female feminization surgery.

Jasmine Kennedie (Drag Race season 13, All Stars 8)

Drag queen Jasmine Kennedie came out as trans on an episode on Untucked while competing on season 13 of Drag Race. Afterward she went on to become a lip-synch assassin in All Stars 8.

Farrah Moan (Drag Race season 9, All Stars 4)

After catching viewers' eyes on Drag Race season 9 and All Stars 4, Farrah Moan came out as Trans in 2023. In an interview for Give It to Me Straight with Maddy Morphosis, Farrah admitted that she suppressed her trans identity for years out of fear that it would ruin her career and her chance at being on Drag Race, but ultimately having a "male persona" began to feel like being in drag to her.

Amethyst (Drag Race season 15)

Season 15 star Amethyst came out as trans in July 2024 by posting a moving, hand-written note to Instagram. The comedy queen admitted she’s been “struggling severely with my gender dysphoria” and then announced she had begun HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and asked her followers to support her fundraiser to help pay for her facial feminization surgery.

Kornbread (Drag Race season 14)

Season 14 was full of trans contestants, but it wasn’t until after the show that Kornbread came out as trans. She had planned to come out while still on the Drag Race but ended up leaving the competition early due to an ankle injury, so she never got the chance. Instead, she talked about the experience at an Entertainment Weekly roundtable talk with Jasmine, Bosco, Kerri Colby, and Willow Pill.

Kylie Sonique Love (Drag Race season 2, All Stars 6)

Kylie Sonique Love didn’t just star on Drag Race; she made herstory! During the reunion episode for the second season of the show, she came out as trans, and would later go on to become the first trans woman to win a season of the U.S. version of the show and the first person to ever come out as transgender on any U.S. reality TV show.

Peppermint (Drag Race season 9)

While Peppermint came out to her close family and friends way back in 2012, it wasn’t until she announced she’s trans during the ninth season of Drag Race that she made the news public.

Kelly Mantle (Drag Race season 6)

Kelly Mantle was sadly eliminated on the first episode of season 6, but she has since starred in a slew of movies, appeared in many episodes of popular TV shows, and came out as transgender.

Bosco

Drag Race season 14 queen Bosco came out as trans in an X (formerly Twitter) post in 2022, where she wrote, “I can’t really think of a better time to tell y’all so here it goes: I’m straight too,” with trans flags emojis.

Amanda Tori Meeting (Drag Race season 16)

After filming season 16, Amanda Tori Meeting came out as trans in an interview with Entertainment Weekly’s Quick Drag podcast. Amanda had identified as nonbinary for years before making her trans experience public. She said that her “egg crack” moment came when she left the show, and everyone around her went from calling her Amanda and using she/her pronouns to using he/him pronouns again.

Dax ExclamationPoint (Drag Race season 8)

Dax ExclamationPoint competed in the eighth season of Drag Race but didn't come out as trans until three years later during Pride Month. In a heartfelt post on X (formerly Twitter), Dax wrote that she came out as trans/nonbinary to her mother, "She was as cool as she ever was when I first came out in high school. So all in all a great experience."

Trinity the Tuck (Drag Race season 9, All Stars 4 and 7)

Trinity Tuck is a three-time Drag Race star who came out as trans and nonbinary in 2022 but later deleted the announcement she posted on X (formerly Twitter). It wasn’t until two years later, when she was on All Stars 4, that Trinity took to Instagram to clarify that she is trans/nonbinary and asked people to stop asking her about her transition and possible surgeries and to not comment on her looks because she’s struggling with “major body dysmorphia as well as gender dysphoria.”

Jade Jolie (Drag Race season 5)

After competing on Drag Race season 5, Jade Jolie came out as trans in a post on x (formerly Twitter) in 2023, writing, “Deciding to choose myself and move forward with my transition.”

Valentina (Drag Race season 9, All Stars 4)

Drag Race star Valentina began rethinking her relationship to gender after her father’s death, and it was at that point she started embracing her femininity, explaining that she now identifies as being on the nonbinary spectrum but that “maybe one day I’ll be trans.”