Wednesday, May 28, 2014

JUST BECAUSE: RuPAUL IS LEGENDARY

RuPaul is under attack, y'all. Ru and his amazing show, RuPaul's Drag Race, have recently been criticized by people from our own LGBT community for using supposed transphobic terminology. The words in question are "tranny" and "she-male". To be more precise, "she-MAIL" is used in a weekly segment that tells the queens what their challenge is going to be for the week. Anyone who doesn't see that this is a play on the word "e-mail" for use on a show about drag queens is a complete moron. I mean it. You need to lighten the fuck up, girl!!!!  This is funny. Do you not think that drag queens get called "she-male" all the time? The other use of the word came in a segment called "Female or She-Male". While this could have been a little off-putting to some, the term was once again assigned to drag performers, not transgender women. The game required contestants to identify whether close up shots of body parts belonged to a female celebrity or a drag queen. I would say that is pretty harmless, and if anything, shows that drag queens don't mind one bit being identified as or with transgender women. Anyone who thinks that RuPaul is transphobic or doesn't support EVERYONE in the LGBT community obviously has not done their homework. Ru has been a positive force and a prominent face for ALL of us and we should thank her for her hard work and generosity. Once we start attacking our allies and those in our own community, we weaken ourselves. Do we think we have enough power now that we can turn on one another? We are not. The last thing we need is to start tearing one another apart when we know damn good and well that we support all our LGBT brothers and sisters. How about writing your politicians who still think we are less than? Are you as vigorously challenging them as you are RuPaul? Doubtful. Ru is our friend, brother, sister and mother. Now everybody say "LOVE".

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