Who else but Kade Gottlieb, better known as Gottmik, can say they changed RuPaul’s mind about what drag is this past year?
The RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 fan fave strutted into the werkroom as the first transmasculine contestant to vie for the crown, offering viewers a new way to think about drag, and finished by placing as second/third runner-up.
Before joining Drag Race, Gottmik was an established look-queen, having worked with celebrities like Lil Nas X, Adam Lambert, and Heidi Klum.
And while the 23-year-old Arizona native is by no means the first transmasculine performer to slay a stage, doing so on drag’s biggest platform marked a moment of progress for the brand, and an opportunity for its legions of fans to expand their own definitions about gender and drag.
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“Time to crash the cis-tem,” Gottmik said as he entered the show’s first episode, and crash it he did.
Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, RuPaul commented on the impact of Gottmik’s casting, saying:
“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, you know, I keep moving with what the kids are doing.”
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And in a “Meet the Queens” video ahead of the season 13 premiere, Gottmik noted:
“It means so much for me to be on the show right now, especially being a trans guy going in a feminine perspective of a trans guy. The trans movement is getting so big, so powerful, so strong. I’m ready to get on the show and try to win this crown for my community.”
Speaking to GayTimes, Gottmik reflected:
“I definitely hope that me being open will help kids out there like me, because coming to terms with who I was was the hardest thing I have ever done…Having a femme FTM queen out there that I could’ve reached out to would’ve helped me more than I ever could’ve imagined.”
We have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from this talented performer.
Editor of Queerty sister site Into, Henry Giardina, had a chance to video chat with Gottmik. Check it out below:
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Welcome to Queerty’s Pride50. We’re celebrating the members from our community who are responsible for some of the most inspiring and extraordinary moments for LGBTQ people over the last year. See all the honorees
LumpyPillows
A girl, who changed into a boy, takes a career where he pretends to be a girl. Did my head in, to be honest. Quite a bit of talent as entertainment goes.
Hdtex
Pick a gender. Seriously
Tedious.
Leash
He “picked” a gender, drag is a profession, why u mad?
Centrism
Gottmik is a girl who fetishes gay men and gay culture and got a sex change to live her fantasy of being a gay man. It’s completely insane and her parents must have a great deal of patience and love for her to put up with that level of lunacy.
Leash
Wow you know gottmik personally?? I’m sure your parents love you too even though that must be hard.
Cam
The same anti-trans right wing troll in here with the same old post.
Centrism
@Leash The wave of young women in the last few years transitioning so they can be ‘gay’ and have sex with gay dudes is a real thing. Most of them are big into gay porn and gay culture and want to live the fantasy. You shouldn’t be supporting that nonsense.
My heart goes out to the parents that have to watch their cis daughters irreversibly change their lives for a fetish.
Leash
Okay what do i need to google to find statistics for that? Especially interested in statistics of people who transition not because they feel like they are born in the wrong body, but because they are simply really into gay porn and want to have sex with gay dudes lol.
Hey nobody says people can’t regret transitioning, but the numbers are very low. Here are some statistics for you:
– In a 2015 survey of nearly 28,000 people conducted by the U.S.-based National Center for Transgender Equality, only 8 % of respondents reported detransitioning
– 62% of those 8% said they only detransitioned temporarily.
– The most common reason for detransitioning, according to the survey, was pressure from a parent
– while only 0.4% of respondents said they detransitioned after realizing transitioning wasn’t right for them.
– The results of a 50-year survey published in 2010 of a cohort of 767 transgender people in Sweden found that about 2% of participants expressed regret after undergoing gender-affirming surgery.
– Research done at the gender clinic in the Netherlands showed that between 1972-2015, a total of 14 people experienced regret.
– Half of them said it was because of social rejection or the fact they identify as non-binary and not as a trans woman or a trans man.
Other reasons to regret transitioning THAT YOU SEEM TO COMPLETLY DISREGARD:
– Trans people face stigma and discrimination in their day to day lives and are often rejected from their families, lose their jobs or experience bullying and violence for simply being trans. For some this is simply too much, and they feel they have no choice but to retreat and conform to society’s expectations of them.
– People might regret genital surgery because they simply aren’t satisfied with the results. Like with any surgery, there are things that can go wrong. Genital surgery is far from perfect, especially surgery for transgender men and trans masculine people.
TLDR: I think the numbers of people detransitioning or regretting transitioning aren’t as high as you claim they are.
My perception of you is that:
a) you are aware of that, possibly aren’t even a gay man like you claim, but come here simply to spread your misinformation and transphobia.
or b) you actually believe it because you fell for their lies. (insert sheep sounds here)
What baffles me the most is: You make it sound like being born in the wrong body isn’t even a thing and that the ONLY reason people do it is because they are confused or because they fetishize gay men.
This is very harmful because it feeds into the narrative of conservatives who think queer people in general are just confused, which leads to countries justifying anti-lgbtq “propaganda” laws to “save the children D:” (see: Hungary), which then leads to more queer kids killing themselves.
Even if people regret transitioning. What about the larger amount of people who don’t, who need the healthcare? By completly disregarding them, you are hurting them too, but I believe that’s what you want, that’s why you are here.
Muggy88
@Leash Centrism never said anything about regret or detransition. He said many transmen these days are cis women with sex changes. They typically fetishize gay sex and gay men. According to In NCTE’s 2015 Transgender Survey, 12% of trans men are “gay”. That’s quite a bit.
Leash
@Centri– oh i mean ” Muggy88 ” wink wink
Maybe I thought too much ahead, but thats where this all leads to no? The next thing “he” would have brought up would be the case of that one UK girl who regret transitioning and yada yada yada.
“They typically fetishize gay sex and gay men.”
I’m aware of the stereotype that every girl wants a gay best friend, but that you think someone would go through all that, make their lifes so much harder and live a lie just because they are really into gays is INSANE to me. I need more proof than you feeling like thats a thing.
“According to In NCTE’s 2015 Transgender Survey, 12% of trans men are “gay”. That’s quite a bit.”
You think 12% is alot? Also: And? That means nothing. Transmen are men and can be gay.
skyboy63
Yawn !!!!!
Ronbo
Entitled to be who they want to be… and rightly so.
You just don’t want to be around when the light go down and the applause tapers off. Diva’s usually don’t understand that we aren’t their room service. It gets ugly when they can’t turn off the costume act.
johnnymcmxxx
If he really did spend $100000 on his season 13 wardrobe, had he won, it would’ve been a wash. Glad Symone won.
ShowMeGuy
A TransMan is a Man.
A TransWoman is a Woman.
People seem to be confusing gender with sexual orientation. Two completely different things. A Trans Person can be either gay, straight, bi, pan, or tri….. just the same as anyone else.