By now we all know RuPaul said something hurtful against trans people, especially those in the drag community. He added insult to injury when he dug in his heels when first responding to the backlash.
Then he extended an olive branch, writing:
Each morning I pray to set aside everything I THINK I know, so I may have an open mind and a new experience. I understand and regret the hurt I have caused. The trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement. You are my teachers.
Some have taken Ru at his word. Other’s haven’t. And everybody’s hoping that these open-minded, open-hearted words will translate into action; that has yet to be seen.
Peppermint’s initial reaction is easy to decipher:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
????!
— Peppermint (@Peppermint247) March 4, 2018
Now in an op-ed for Billboard, Peppermint, one of the show’s small handful of trans contestants, offers a thoughtful response.
“RuPaul kicked open so many doors for queer and gender non-conforming folks and is an absolute trailblazer in the world of drag. But recently,” she writes, “Ru made statements I disagree with.”
Right off the bat, Peppermint acknowledges the complexity: RuPaul, who has been a tireless community advocate, greatly disappointed members of the community he purports to champion.
Peppermint continues: “The most important takeaway is that one’s transition, the beginning, the middle, and end, is entirely personal and cannot be categorized or measured in the context of being blessed by someone else’s validation or approval.”
Ru dug himself into a hole when he discussed the timeline of Peppermint’s transition as it relates to the rules of Drag Race, and he’d have to be a fool not to realize his error in thinking. Ru is almost certainly not a fool.
“RuPaul issued an apology,” continues Peppermint, “which I think is an important step in this ongoing conversation. It shows all of us, there is room for growth, education, and I’m hoping a bit of evolution.”
Let’s keep this conversation going.
“Unfortunately it won’t be the first or last time we will hear a woman can’t do something a man can,” Peppermint concludes. “I’m out to change that.”
Read Peppermint’s incredibly worthwhile post on Billboard here.
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kindanew
Is it fair for able bodied people to compete in sports for disabled people?
Is it fair for men to compete in women spots (or vice versa)?
Any competition needs to have a clear set of rules and I think an ‘anything goes’ drag competition wouldn’t make much sense.
thisisnotreal
This so much!
I’m disabled but you don’t see me crying about not being included in every single thing normal people get to enjoy. The special Olympics is for disabled people only, so they can compete with their physical and intellectual peers in a fair and enjoyable and understanding environment.
Women and trans people and gay men and everyone else can be excluded from certain things without it automatically being labeled as discrimination or exclusion. Do men rally against being excluded from female only retreats? Do straight people rally against being excluded in gay or bisexual cruises or other trips?
Personally I don’t even see how trans people in drag would even logistically work out. Let’s say your a female to male transgender who’s post op, are you going to do drag as a woman and mess with people’s perception of gender by presenting yourself as the gender you didn’t feel comfortable with originally and the gender that gave you a lot of mental and emotional pain and body image issues? Or if your a male to female transgender who’s post op are you going to do drag as a drag king when being male in the first place was the source of so much of your pain and suffering?
If neither of those are true then your basically just a woman doing drag as a woman or a male doing drag as a male and I don’t see how that will challenge anyone’s perceptions of masculinity or femininity and create a scene that challenges established status quo and creates powerful new ways of thinking and presenting oneself to the world. Some people’s whole existence seems to be based around finding the next thing that they can label as victimizing them or keeping them down and eventually that needs to stop. As someone I subscribe to on YouTube recently said “ one shall not be a victim, one shall be victorious”.
LABrad
It’s a competition for female impersonators. I think Ru should accept anyone with a man’s body. I don’t think he should try to sort out and monitor everyone’s plastic surgeries and drug use. If archaeologists dig you up in a million years and they say your bones belonged to a man, then you should have the right to compete as a female illusionist.
medcannabis1
Thank you for bringing some common sense to this discussion.
Ru Paul has worked for our community for generations.
No one can please everyone all of the time.
alanballs
I agree with you on that. Makes perfect sense to have clear rules, make them known, and then abide by them. DRAG= a man dressed as a woman. The acronym came from Shakespearean times, and since the show is called RuPaul’s DRAG Race, that pretty much says it all.
Ru and his producers could choose to amend HIS rules, or spin-off another show for the ‘anything goes’ crowd.
man5996853
You know absolutely nothing about the world of drag.
tham
Oh my god I don’t care.
Starters, are we talking about Trans people “dragging” in the gender they just Trans from?
Don’t answer that…I don’t care.
kindanew
I’ve thought about this more and totally understand what Ru was saying. What’s more shocking for society, seeing a man in a dress or seeing a woman in a slightly more fancier dress than normal?
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
I support the honesty in accepting they are cross-dressers
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
A subsection of trans, anyway. Such as the ones demanding to be seen as drag queens
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
“Unfortunately it won’t be the first or last time we will hear a woman can’t do something a man can,” Peppermint concludes. “I’m out to change that.”
Coopting other people’s struggles + narcissism
Victor/Victoria/VictimAttentionWhoria
GentlemanCaller
So trans people want to be accepted as the gender they identify with; I’m delighted to do that–people have the right to define themselves. But apparently some, like Peppermint, also want to be able to continue to do things that are for one reason or another, gender-restricted to their non-identified gender (the LPGA comes to mind, or drag, for instance, which is purposefully culture-disruptive by being men dressing up as women or women dressing up as men, not women dressing as–shock gasp–women, or men dressing as–clutch my pearls–men. Instead of demanding the right to co-opt everyone else’s stuff to accommodate their whims and attacking icons of other peoples’ movements for not being leaders of theirs, perhaps our trans brothers and sisters should concentrate on, oh I don’t know, creating something new all by themselves.
alanballs
There ARE things men can do that women can’t. And there ARE THINGS that women can do, that men can’t. Can we get past all these petty arguments, faux-insults and get on with the important things in our ”gay community” like…………..
spiffy
I must be turning conservative (or just old-fashioned?) as I get older; but I can think of PLENTY of things a woman can’t do that a man can — AND vice-versa — to think otherwise is just being disingenuous.
Sometimes I wonder if these kids really understand what doing drag is all about…
CarlIsle
It’s ironic that RuPaul is being accused of transphobia when what he actually said in the interview was that he sees transgender women as true women.
You can accuse him of having a narrow and outdated view of what drag has become, but transphobia is the last thing he is guilty of.
Polaro
Every comment in this thread is essentially right for once!
I’m just angry Ru caved to this nonsense. Sure, let’s put women on Drag Race and see who watches – no one. You want to see ridiculous women dressing like tarts, watch the House Wives of X. They have a million shows. Leave ours alone.
CarlIsle
Me too! I’m sick of celebrities apologising as if they don’t have the right to their own opinions.
Ummmm Yeah
They already did that and it got canceled. Remember Drag University?
Polaro
No, so you made your point!
medcannabis1
Love the shade… speak that truth!
alanballs
Right you are Polaro.
Ru was right with his first statement, and right again with his second He’s the real deal: an extremely kind, compassionate, intelligent GENTLEMAN. He certainly doesn’t need my approval, agreement, or validation but I’m offering it anyway. Leave him out of the nonsense. I’m personally choosing to continue supporting him, his music and his shows, because he’s a force for GOOD on this planet.
MonkeyMan
The irony is that hordes of trans people and celebrity transwomen and LGBT supporters were coming for RuPaul back in 2014 when Ru was using the word “tranny” in a way that offended them. But now (mainly) (mtf)transwomen actively want to have the term “drag queen” labeled onto them if they please, a term that by its very definition says that you’re a man dressing up as a woman for entertainment and artistic expression, but not actually a woman.
What’s even worse is the fact that large parts of society have yet to accept transwomen as actual women and now you want to point out the fact that you were born men. Did you ever know what you were fighting for?
Behind all this faux “evolution of drag” is some entitled, multileveled stupidity if I ever saw it. RuPaul has always been wise and fair on these matters and I know that he’ll stand his ground one day and tell it like it really is without apologizing.
Please, just stop with this nonsense. Do _not_ ruin RPDR!
BitterOldQueen
Seems to me Queerty’s seriously lowered the bar for “powerful statements” if that nonsensical rambling from Peppermint is one. “The most important takeaway is that one’s transition, the beginning, the middle, and end, is entirely personal and cannot be categorized or measured in the context of being blessed by someone else’s validation or approval.” OK then honey, quit trying to insinuate yourself into everybody else’s party, and getting pissed off if someone says No Thanks. The “important takeaway,” really, is that you and your trans brothers and sisters are so intensely, desperately thirsty for blessings, validations, prizes and approvals that you’ve become a bit of a pain for the rest of us. Somebody said make something of your own–yes, do that. And don’t let me in if you’d like it to be for trans folks. An leave RuPaul, who’s been nothing but a force for good in the world, out of your nonsense.
Bob LaBlah
““The most important takeaway is that one’s transition, the beginning, the middle, and end, is entirely personal and cannot be categorized or measured in the context of being blessed by someone else’s validation or approval.” OK then honey, quit trying to insinuate yourself into everybody else’s party, and getting pissed off if someone says No Thanks.”
Isn’t it awful when people can’t accept that every party isn’t an open invitation to them to attend regardless of how much they think they fit in and will just be the life of the party once inside?
alanballs
Ru was RIGHT, in his first statement. And since Ru is also a very bright, compassionate gentleman, he was right when he issued a sincere apology and the willingness to listen and learn. Get off Ru’s back, and Peppermint, go ahead with your personal crusade in peace.
Bob LaBlah
Forgive my ignorance but even if you cut it off won’t you still need pills and hormones to continue with the facade? I don’t blame Ru for speaking her mind and apologizing for no other reason than to give these lost souls a “victory” so they may sashay away and hopefully never come back. Girls, you can’t have it both ways and I think it a mistake to include you in the drag circuit. If your now “women” then go get a man a house and some kids and sit your asses down some where.