Project Runway winner Christian Siriano went from being gay media darling to GLBT nemesis in an instant after he compared transsexuals – the butt of his signature “hot tranny mess” line – and drag queens to the “white trash” of the straight community.
This week’s Time Out New York asked Siriano: “Drag has always been part of our experience and always will be. What is its everlasting appeal? Why won’t it ever die?”
He replied: “If you think of heterosexuals, they have white-trash women and trailer parks, and we have drag queens and trannies. I don’t know if I’m the one who can explain it. It’s, like, drag queens are just there. These answers are hard!”
GLAAD, as it’s wont to do, got upset. So Siriano clarified: “I wish that my words were not taken in that way. When I was speaking, some comments that I made were not used in the article. I completely support the fabulousness and amazing fashion inspiration that most transgender people provide.”
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So, is all forgiven? Should he stop using the “hot tranny mess” line? Or are some people overreacting?
Amber LeMay
Of the two, I’d say it was us, the drag queens, that should get his “support for “the fabulousness and amazing fashion inspiration” that is provided. Have you seen how most trannies dress? Send all flames to me at The Hot Damn Trailer Park.
TalkingAboutTheMadGAy
I am so sick of GLAAD, not only are their award shows and everything else about them is whitewashed, but they refuse to target vile homophobic comments from countless places in the media. But when Siriano, a gay male, says something insensitive, GlAAD’s knickers get in a twist. You can’t pick and choose GLAAD. But let’s face it, GLAAD is passive and afraid to pick the battles for us when it really matters.
As long as GLAAD is a pussy organization that sucks cock for any celebrity to be affiliated with it and takes no relevant/strong actions for the gay community, I do not care or want any of its fucking help. Thank you very much.
I hope that all of the people from GLAAD die of AIDS. There I said it.
Darth Paul
Not cool.
Still, he’s hardly the spokesperson for an entire demographic…not even for all dweeby, callow colostomy bags like him.
May a gossip of drag queens acid attack him!
CitizenGeek
I think he probably just means transvestites (as in: another word for drag queens) instead of transgender when he says ‘tranny’; but, I agree, it’s kind of mean-spirited.
Al
God, get over yourselves. I sometimes think the same damn thing!
Crucify someone else on your cross instead of the kid, okay?
Stenar
I was attacked by GLAAD once, so I know they love to attack their fellow gays.
Bitch Republic
If I were a tranny, I’d probably take it as a compliment to be called a “hot tranny mess,” especially since most trannies are a tranny mess minus the hot.
http://www.BitchRepublic.net
Tim
It’s a joke people. Get over it. Lighten up. How insulted could anyone possibly be by anything this little effiminate man has to say? Who cares?
BobP
Geez, leave him alone. Are you saying that there aren’t millions of people saying much, much worse things about us, and meaning every word of it? He’s a talented guy and he’s young, so cut him some slack.
Lena Dahlstrom
For all of those who think it’s no big deal, I assume you’ve got no problems with clueless straight kids using “that’s so gay” as a put-down, yes? Would it be OK is I start using “hot faggot mess”?
Yes, some of us trans people do use the word “tranny.” But there’s a difference when a term that’s often been an epithet gets reclaimed by members of the stigmatized group as a way of saying “yeah I am a [insert derogatory term here], wanna make something of it” — and quite another when someone outside that group decides to fling it around carelessly.
I realize he probably doesn’t mean it as a slur. But the thing is, usually when most of us trans people hear the term “tranny” it’s said by someone taunting us, threatening to beat us up, or even kill us. (Trans people face a hate crime rate as much as 16 times that of gays.) Or when it’s used in the same mean-spirited ways as in this very thread.
If you really want to keep using the word “tranny,” why not use it describe something worth admiring — I’ve even got a new catch-phrase for you: “hot tranny fabuliciousness.”
DownTheLine
Fully in support of Lena’s response.
While I believe the remark was innocent, it is still hurtful. I think we as GLBT people forget to remember the “T” all too often- which kind of weakens our ability to fight oppression.
I think the kid needed someone to tell him that was out of line. Innocent remarks add up.
Veronica Trash
This from a guy who looks like a cross between Edith Head and Wendy Pepper.
Jason
Christian is a stereotypical queeny fag. It makes me sick that people think he represents the gay community.
Dan
The only thing wrong with his statement is saying that trannies provide “amazing fashion inspiration” to the masses.
He’s being a little too nice.
TalkingAboutTheMadGAy
Dear JASON
If it weren’t for us stereotypical “fags” who refused to stay in the closet and fought for the gay rights movement because of our undeniable difference from normal masculinity, your straight acting self would be cruzing in a run down bathroom getting AIDS, without any rights, gay clubs, or even a queer blog to comment on.
So lets appreciate the extreme feminine gay men.
And let me tell you something, feminine “stereotypical” gay men are stronger than masculine men due to their consistent resilience and survival in a world where not even their own community accepts them.
“Queeny fag men” are the reason why there is a gay resistance movement. Do not bite the hand that fed you motherfucker.
Kt Vogt
Christian Siriano,…? BURN IT WITH FIRE!
I think a lot of faggots don’t realize how offensive it is to be casually and nonchalantly referred to by slurs.
hisurfer
Siriano, overall, needs to learn to speak without catchphrases. He is starting to sound like a poorly written SNL character. “Hot tranny mess” was only funny once.
Miss Understood
Oh, stop the nitpicking. She’s practically a trannie herself. Drag queens as well as high end fashion designers often draw inspiration from white trash trailer parks. I’m so over GLAAD. Choose your battles more carefully!
ILOVEZ
He needs money! So he does his publicity! Don’t be cruel to him! He is very talented designer!
http://www.ilovezeren.com/
RPCV
I agree with what he said!! But, he such a little faggot himself he SHOULD be the one in drag…….
gravy
I don’t understand the phrase “hot tranny mess”. I understand hot mess, but I don’t get why the tranny is in there.
Does not compute. Yes he should stop using that particular phrase, mainly because it’s dumb.
He said something stupid and acknowledges it as such. Get over it.
Chad
No big deal to me.
i see it in the same way as I can happily call my friends ‘fags’ without any ill-will. It’s when the word is used outside the community with the intention to hurt that we should be offended.
fredo777
I’m at least as (possibly more) offended by his use of the phrase “white trash”. I despise that phrase.
Rex
well I can take or leave Ms Thing…tho very talented for sure..but HUMBLE..I think he doesn’t know the meaning of the word. Tho- AMY POLER(SNL)does a great Impression of him..lol
Hephaestion
the phrase “hot tranny mess” dehumanizes transexual people and i can’t believe it took so long for someone to call him on it. it is not acceptable.
cambel
He is an out gay man, that not only won the show, but also won the “Favorite Contestant” contest with the viewers. He was out of the closet at an age when most, including the “Worshipped” drag queens were still pretending they just hadn’t met the right girl yet. Give the kid a break. He’s done more for Gay visibility than GLAAD has in the last 10 years.
Dom
It takes a helluva lot more balls for a 6’2″ 195 lb. drag queen to get dolled up in a prom dress, Farrah Fawcett wig and a pair of Joan Crawford come-fuck me-pumps and go out proudly and defiantly walking down the street than for Christian “you’ll-never-see-any-woman-with-half-a-brain-wearing-my-designs” Siriano to do a cameo appearance on “Ugly Betty”.
G
Christian himself has done drag… there’s pictures of it on his MySpace. So I really, really doubt he has problems with drag queens.
michaelm677
He is not bashing TVs they love to bash themselves and he looks like a drag queen anyway. I love ya Christian. Although the Sex and the City shirt kind of sucked……
michaelm677
I love gay white trash….
Snoodle
I don’t see this as a huge problem…sure what he was trying to say came out a bit wrong but it’s not the end of the world…o.O
M Shane
Hephaestion ; You’re right on “the phrase “hot tranny mess†dehumanizes an important part of our community; it’s fucked up behavior.
I don’t know that a little turd like him is in any place to be making social judgements.
Qjersey
Anybody who has a problem with what Christian said should spend half and hour up against the wall at a bar or club with lots of trans girls listening to how they talk to each other. He didn’t say anything the girls don’t say to each other.
And don’t get the feminists started on how trans girls and drag queens call each other “fish” and “cunt” as a compliment for “realness.”
I suppose this raises the obvious question…who is allowed to use what words, phrases, sayings that emanated within another group, and who is to say what words people can’t use within a group among themselves
Bitch Republic
#10 Lena…
I wouldn’t be at all offended if someone called me a “hot faggot mess,” especially if it was from someone who didn’t mean it as an attack like Christian Siriano. If they were using it as a slur to attack me, I’d just laugh at them. I guess that’s called inner strength. Learn it.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
Lane
“I think we as GLBT people forget to remember the “T†all too often- which kind of weakens our ability to fight oppression. ”
Uhhh… I don’t really have anything in common with the “T” people. I don’t think they should be lumped together with gay people. I used to go to NGLTF’s “Creating Change” conference every year and all these people would get up and bitch and moan that we were forgetting the “T” in GLBT. If y’all feel like you’re not getting enough attention, go start your own damn organizations and it’ll be “T” all the time for you. Stop riding on the coattails of gay people who created all the GAY rights organizations that exist.
CHURCHILL-Y
No. 10 · Lena Dahlstrom, I’m not Transgendered but I couldn’t agree with you more, there are words that can be considered as epithets or diminishing to a group when they are not said by the members of such. And in an atmosphere were many times transgender people are being kept separate from legislations that help the GLBT community there’s nothing cute or funny about using those type of phrases whether it comes from SNL or an insignificant mice as Siriano.
Mr. HotMess
I think we should replace “Hot Tranny Mess” with just “Hot Hot Mess”
OMG! I even have a web site and blog!!
http://WWW.HOTHOTMESS.COM
see you all there!
xoxo,
Mr. HotMess
michaelm677
I agree with no 35…there not really gay and they usually appeal to “straight” men anyway not gay men so why is it that gay men and lesbians are in the same group as transgendered….confuses me. And every one else I would imagine. Especially those haters that are trying to at least figure out the gays and lesbians to some degree…You get what I mean
WhiteTrashFag
C’mon, everyone knows that he’s right, and better yet funny in his rightness. I love the rare cases of inward directed anti-pc statements. His willingness to say things homo’s say to one another in a bar over a drink is refreshing.
Here are a few suggestions (Minus the funny):
If Harvey Milk had lived he would have been a total sellout by now.
Gay males with babies are BORING
Lesbians with babies are BORING
Lefty gays that hate boojie gays are POOR and BITTER
Barack’s biggest sexy factor is that he’s hot and SMOKES
emb
I hate to say it, but I agree with MichaelM677 and Lane: I’m tired of being constantly hounded about my failure to properly appreciate T people. Hooray for T people, says I, but quit muddying the already difficult issues faced by gay men and lesbians. Trans issues are, as MichaelM677 mentions, frequenly far afield from those the rest of us grapple with, and more often than not have more to do with straight society and heterosexual relationships. Only when we rise up to some lofty heights of generalization do we have common cause in “outcast status”, and there ain’t no policy decisions being made at those altitudes.
Hell, I’ll send money to the new Trans orgs, and applaud their legislative victories–if I don’t have to keep embracing defeat and failure as “moral victory” every time legislation fails to include everybody and his uncle (or auntie, as the case may be).
Eggshells is what I’m tired of walking on.
CitizenGeek
I agree, too. Transfolks really have little in common with us homosexuals. The LGBT movement is funded by gay people, run by gay people, the reason a bill like ENDA, or the legalisation of gay marriage in California could pass was because of the hard, hard work of gays and lesbians becoming more visible in the media etc., but yet there’s this perceived responsibility to the transgender community and I really don’t get it.
Why should gays feel that we owe anything to transgender people? I know it sounds harsh, mean-spirited even, but I’m getting a little fed up of trans people hijacking the success of the gay movement and in some cases hindering it (like with ENDA).
Polyester Pantsuits R U
To #27 Don.
If I’m not mistaken, and I’m not, most transvestites are straight men who have an overwhelming compulsion to wear women’s clothes. So, for the most part, it doesn’t take “balls” to get “dolled” up,” it just takes a breeder with a mental disorder. And you’re right, you won’t see any half-brained women wearing Christian’s designs — like you, they’re shopping the Jaclyn Smith collection on EBay.
KB
I’m tired of hearing “hot tranny mess.” It’s so played out and not fierce. Woody Woodpecker’s 15 minutes of fame are over.
Qjersey
on one hand, transgender should be included…gays and lesbians are often target for not acting “as they should” for their birth gender, so inclusion has some merit
on the other hand, everytime, I hear tranny say “i’m not a faggot, I’m a woman” I cringe, guess everybody needs to feel better than someone else….
Lastly there is a HUGE issue that everyone overlooks, the trans people who fight for inclusion and criticize LGB organizations are usually white and middle class. Very little racial/ethnic diversity among ‘trans activists”
Many trans women of color will refer to themselves as “trans” and/or “gay” and consider themselves part of the LGB community, whereas middle class trans women…usually consider themselves straight white women…or as feminists have pointed out….are persons who transitioned in mid-life (again mostly white) who are outraged at their loss of male privilege.
trannie's mess
Use it! They are what they are and we love ’em! We love our “hot tranny messes”!
Midtowner
OMG..cant believe he said that, so insensitve..he should DIE..seriously we should find him and go to his place with torches and Kill him…
Seriously you idoits get over yourselves…
Mark
i just can’t stand that little pansy fuckwad, his existence is what’s offensive. any reason to bash christian siriano is fine by me.
Femme
Ya funny twerp.
I see this guy and I think, wow there goes the poster child for the self hating transgender organisation.
Come on he’s the complete definition of the term transgender. He swishes around, speaks with his whiny voice and has a quarter of fashion style of most drag queens I’ve ever seen. As for women who are transexual, funny most times you’d never even have the slightest idea they had a transexual history.
Yep queen of the trailer park he is. I think I read a book that was about him, J. Michael Bailey wrote it.
And give him a break? Or get over it?
Sure thing when those of you get over anything which you feel is discriminatory to you, be it your gender, orientation, culture etc. Bashing is bashing no matter who it’s coming from.
rayrayj
All this over an expression some new 10 minute celebrity threw out in an interview? Yes words have power and words hurt, but the more we censor speech the more power they have. I’d much rather someone just call me faggot or cock sucker to my face, than stumble around “the F word.” Since when is being a faggot or a tranny or even a “hot tranny mess” a bad thing?
This is all a great reminder not to take myself so seriously.
jim
Well… when the president of GLAAD will do anything in a steam room what do you expect..
Veronica Trash
And gay men have a lot in common with lesbians, I mean come on. Why don’t the haters say what they really think, that they’re ashamed of transgendered people, who, by the way suffer more prejudice than gays and lesbians put together.
I don’t think that Christian was being mean on purpose, he’s just bitchy by nature.
Midtowner
We dont hate Tranny’s just so tired of their uppitiness, good god relax. They do derail alot of the hard work gays and lesbians have done..thanks for screwing up ENDA for us. Also, Im sick of their patheic little protests at HRC events, if you dont like HRC then stop supporting it and spend your money on updating your hair and make up….
Marc
Who really, no, really cares?
Amber LeMay
@ 51 V Trash… “…he’s just bitchy by nature.”
Where as I am bitchy by nurture.
queerunity
he is the only mess i see
http://www.queersunited.blogspot.com
HATER
Personally he annoys me every time he speaks so I’m hoping he’ll take this as a lesson and learn to SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Rikard
What happens when media hype and base public interest converge on a weird marginally talented kid who wins a game show? Two more cycles of the show that put him in the public eye and everyone will be saying “what was the guy with the stupid hair named?”. What he said is no more important than the stupid things a mouthy bitch like me says. Wrong, or taken wrong, the comment just isn’t worthy of being elevated to public debate.
The Milkman
I for one have always been respectful of the astonishingly complicated path that trans folk follow in our country. The resentment heaped upon them by gay and lesbian Americans is surpassed only by the hatred and violence that they enjoy from the straight community. I honor the staggering self-knowledge that is required to self-identify as transgendered, and think that our world would be a better place if everyone were able to be as honestly introspective.
That said, I don’t think that the political and socio-cultural issues faced by trans folk are terribly similar to those of the gay and lesbian community. They’re equally valid, but certainly different. Our alliance has never been questioned as urgently as it is now simply because our chances of passing meaningful national legislation have, until recently, been pretty much nil. We need to take a long hard look at what our goals are, and re-evaluate whether they are or are not compatible.
And regarding Christian Siriano… he’s a child. I said many things in my green youth that I wish I could have taken back (or at least re-phrased). Save your righteous indignation for those who mean to do us harm, and give this little man a break.
n2denim
There are alot worse things to be referred to than Hot Tranny Mess. Get over it!
claude
Christian Siriano should die of barfness, he is a wet cunt pussy and deserves to die. He is the most disgusting person on planet earth. He is passive agressive, arrogant, annoying bowl of vomit! He can sew only one kind of jacket with puffy cap sleeves eighties crap. He is crap. He is lame cunt pussy. Someone please kill him!
He promised during the show so many times that he is going to die. why has’nt he? ? kill him!
and then cut off his scalp of lameness. He has this stupid pussy ass chicken hair up one side. He is such a lame cunt mess!
fredo777
Claude, take your meds.
tikk
Stop proptecting him with sentences like: ” He’s a child” and “he is young..”. He is 21, an adult and semi-celebrity, he should take responsibility for what he sais. and not be so outspoken and liberal with insults!!! He is a fuck-up. And most other contestants on Project Runway 4 agree that he is passive-agressive and arrogant and annoying!! There is a huge difference between CONFIDENE and ARROGANCE.He is full-blown arrogant cunt mess.
And he DID say to every challenge he didnt like ( 3-4 times) that he is going to die, that he is going to die of barfness. I think he should keep his promise and die of barfness.
lamerrr
Besides he has a style of a trailer-park puss mutt. Every piece on that final runway was such crap! It was fluffy-feathers or puffy cap-sleeved 80-s jackets.And every single one of those outfits was so costume. NOT ONE OF THEM was wearable. ppl would was around in the feather explosion. its so dumb what he does. pure costume! and lame as all hell.
Erin333e
Fucking fag. How dare he trash anyone, hes an embarassment