I want to believe he is turning over a new leaf, but his actions and words will be the true test that he has changed. In the past he has badly hurt the trans community and it will take a lot to heal the deep wounds.
RuPaul tweets 'regret' over controversial transgender comments: 'The trans community are heroes'In the past he has named segments of the show "You've Got Shemail" or the game "Female or Shemale" where you try to identify the cisgender woman; he has far to go to show that he is culturally aware and it is going to take a long time to show me that he changed.
Entertainment
By Joey Nolfi
March 05, 2018
RuPaul has issued an apology for controversial statements he made about members of the transgender community.
“Each morning I pray to set aside everything I THINK I know, so I may have an open mind and a new experience,” the two-time Emmy-winning host of RuPaul’s Drag Race tweeted Monday, two days after the The Guardian published an interview with the LGBT icon in which he indicated he likely wouldn’t allow a post-operative transwoman to join the show’s cast. “I understand and regret the hurt I have caused. The trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement. You are my teachers.”
I do not hate drag queens, it is just not my “cup of tea,” I know many “drag queens” and I know many trans women who started off as drag queens, but Ru Paul has hurt many trans women by his comments, let his actions and words show that he has changed.
Back in 2014 it wrote this…
Ru Paul
Okay, here is my two cents.
There is a lot of lateral hostility within our community… I’m transgender* you are not… I’m more transgender than you… and on and on.
There are many exclusionists in our community and they usually draw the line under them, drag queens are looked down on by crossdresser, transsexuals look down on crossdresser, post-op transsexuals look down at pre-op transsexuals, and those that can integrate into society look down at those who cannot and call them “men in a dress.” Some transgender people think I am not a “true” transsexual because I haven’t hocked my house to have surgery even though I have been living full time for almost seven years.
So why is this? Why do they want to separate themselves from other people they see as being below them?
The origins of lateral hostility have its roots in our internalized shame as we worked to overcome our own feeling of inadequacy; we transfer that guilt to other people that we see as being below us… I am not like “those” drag queens. We cannot attack those who oppress us so we distance ourselves from those that we see as being below us and oppress them. It is also caused by internalized homophobia/transphobia, our fear of being labeled as gay, transsexuals’ fear of being “just a crossdresser,” and post-op transsexuals who can integrate into society fear being seen as a transsexual.
Another part of the problem is the way the media looks at us. When the media covers a pride event what photos do you see in the newspaper or on TV? Usually it is the flamboyant drag queens or the six foot seven crossdresser, and not the trans-woman who is integrated into society.
We also lump together those that we feel as being below us. Ru Paul is one person, and he is not the “Drag Community” (even though he thinks he is). But we demonize the whole drag community because of him. I am a firm believer that you hate that what you don’t know; so here is a homework assignment for you this Pride month. Get to know a drag queen. That’s it nothing more.
*My definition of transgender is anyone who crosses the gender norm. That transgender is a spectrum from drag queens/kings to post op transsexuals.
Diana, Excellent piece. Thanks for writing this.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if we could unlearn all of this crap. Why does someone always have to be "lower than us?" Is that what Capitalism teaches us? We know in this system that someone must always be on the lower rung of the ladder and someone must be up higher. Are folks really that miserable and unsure of themselves that we have to point and say you are nothing to someone else. What false gods do we worship that tell us to believe that type of junk? Isn't it a shame that a people who are so attacked from the outside and on a very slippery slope with the alt-right threatening to kill us all that we would find others in our community to belittle. Unless the person or persons are doing harm to our community such as gays who are joining the Neo-Nazis or those who support trump, or those such as Ru Paul who is making life harder for our people then leave folks alone. Now the right, Neo-Nazis etc are a whole other story. Fight them with everything we have.
As said many times before, when and if they come for us they will sweep us all up in the net of degenerate and it won't matter one bit what labels we have put on each other, who we like or dislike or what we have between our legs. Their list will say, You are degenerate we are not. We are holy in Gods eyes you are not. Let's get over ourselves before push comes to shove an we are face to face with an enemy so big that we can not defend ourselves due to our squabbles. But of course then there is the reality of, saying nothing as they take this group or that group away. Build A United Front of ALL Our People!!