Drag Race season 12 queens say RuPaul is ‘entitled’ to be trans-exclusive in resurfaced posts
Drag Race season 12 queens Aiden Zhane and Dahlia Sin. (VH1)
Two Drag Race season 12 queens have been criticised after resurfaced social media posts showed them defending RuPaul’s right to deny trans queens.
Aiden Zhane and Dahlia Sin were both announced as part of the Drag Race season 12 cast – which yet again is devoid of trans queens – late last week.
Since then, social media posts have resurfaced showing both queens defending RuPaul’s stance on trans inclusion (or lack thereof).
The Drag Race host was accused of invalidating trans identities and of being trans-exclusionary in March 2018, after he implied that trans women wouldn’t be welcome on his show if they had begun changing their body.
Using season nine queen Peppermint as an example, he told The Guardian she “didn’t get breast implants until after she left our show; she was identifying as a woman, but she hadn’t really transitioned”.
Drag Race season 12 queen calls RuPaul backlash ‘ridiculous’.
Shortly after the interview was published Zhane took to Facebook, calling the backlash “ridiculous.”
“If he wants to have a show about men dressing in drag for entertainment, great… He’s entitled to that,” he wrote in a screenshot post.
After the Guardian interview was published, there was speculation that the trans women who had competed on Drag Race might have been asked to present as male in order to do so.
“If a trans woman auditions and presents as male that’s on her,” Zhane continued.
“Trans women and queens alike are getting booked more than ever thanks to RuPaul. He doesn’t owe anybody s**t. Fight me.”
Aiden Zhane’s Facebook post. (Twitter)
Dahlia Sin gave a similar take on the debate.
She shared a December 2018 Gay Star News article in which an AFAB queen called out the franchise “for not being women-inclusive”.
“Girl BYE!” Dahlia wrote.
She explained that while she loves “everyone the gender spectrum and their art”, she “just [doesn’t] see them on Drag Race”.
Dahlia Sin’s Facebook comments. (Twitter)
The trans drag queen Mistress Sara Andrews said that the posts amounted to “diet transphobia”.
“Saying that you support us in your workplace… but shouldn’t be given the same opportunities as you in said workplace is just ‘transphobia lite’,” she tweeted.
Saying that you support us in your workplace… but shouldn’t be given the same opportunities as you in said workplace is just “Transphobia Lite”.
— Mistress Sara Andrews (@MissSaraAndrews) January 23, 2020
Drag Race alum call for trans inclusion.
In recent days a number of Drag Race alumni have come out in support of trans inclusion.
After the season 12 cast was revealed on January 23, Detox attacked “the conscious exclusion of an integral part of the drag community.”
“Enough with the feigned inclusivity. Time to start putting your money where your mouth is,” she tweeted,
Shortly after Aja, Dahlia’s drag mother who identifies as non-binary, said that “denying trans women the ‘highest’ platform of drag (which was pioneered by them) is wrong and we all know it.”
“Most of the queens on RPDR come from the legacy and inspiration of trans drag performers. That shouldn’t be erased. It should be celebrated,” they tweeted on January 26.
“Don’t say you support drag if you think only male dressed as female drag is valid.”
PinkNews has contacted Aiden Zhane and Dahlia Sin for comment.
