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Gia Gunn, Sasha Velour, Willam & More Drag RuPaul for Transphobic Comments

Gia Gunn, Sasha Velour, Willam & More Drag RuPaul for Transphobic Comments

Gia Gunn, Sasha Velour, Willam & More Drag RuPaul for Transphobic Comments

"How you gonna openly discriminate in your own community?"

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RuPaul shocked the drag community this weekend when he told The Guardian that he wouldn't allow transgender women who've begun gender-affirming transition surgeries to compete on RuPaul's Drag Race—and implied that previous trans competitors (specifically Peppermint) were still men dressing up as women because they hadn't yet physically transitioned.

Drag Race has featured a handful of transgender and nonbinary queens, including Peppermint, Gia Gunn, Jinkx Monsoon, Jiggly Caliente, Carmen Carrera, Monica Beverly Hillz, Sonique, and Kenya Michaels. RuPaul's comments aren't only transphobic, they're incredibly disrespectful and invalidating to the very queens who helped build his empire.

After doubling down on his comments this morning, likening transitional surgeries to "performance enhancing drugs," several Drag Race queens have spoken out on the matter, pointing out the importance of trans drag performers in Herstory—and Ru's hypocrisy.

Alexandra Billings, the first openly transgender women to play a transgender character on television, also had some words for RuPaul.

Season 5 contestant Monica Beverly Hillz, who was the first to come out as a trans woman on the show, shared her thoughts with INTO.

"Our bodies do not equate our identity," she explained. "I've always been a woman, so what I've done to my body or that I hadn't started hormones while on the show doesn't take away my identity."

"Everybody should be given the opportunity to compete." 

30 Years of Out100Out / Advocate Magazine - Jonathan Groff and Wayne Brady

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Taylor Henderson

Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one! 

Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!