While RuPaul's Drag Race is a pioneer in it comes to LGBQ+ representation on television, the show has had a...rocky relationship with the transgender community over the years.
Longtime host and drag legend RuPaul has long made it known that he wanted his reality competition series to embrace the "punk" idea of a man dressing up as a woman, but this principle has intentionally and unintentionally excluded (and even derided) genderqueer and transgender identities. Between the old "you've got she-male" catchphrase, producers seemingly engineering transgender contestants to come out on the show even if they were already out in real life, and refusing to allow drag kings to compete, there are plenty of valid critiques out there when it comes to trans representation on the show.
But season 13 premiered just last week, and after years of fans asking for inclusion, Drag Race now features the franchise's first transgender male contestant, Gottmik, a herstory-making move for the show.
RuPaul recently appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who asked the supermodel of the world for the biggest lesson he's learned in all his years of doing Drag Race.
"It’s to keep an open mind," said Ru. "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, I keep moving with what the kids are doing."
The first episode of the season premiered last Friday and fans noted that RuPaul's runway introduction slogan has changed from "Gentlemen, start your engines and may the best woman win" to "Racers, start your engines and may the best drag queen win."
Watch the clip below.
