Earlier this year, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” came under fire from the transgender community over the show’s use of the phrases “tranny” and “she-mail.” Since then, producers of the show have removed “she-mail” from the show and plegded to be more sensitive to the transgender community. And although it seemed that RuPaul was in agreement with his producers, he’s now defending himself and his show against his transgender critics.
In an interview with comedian Marc Maron on his WTF Podcast, RuPaul discussed the controversy surrounding his show and when asked if he found the term “Tranny” offensive, he responded, “No! I love the word tranny.”
When Maron mentioned that the transgender community is offended by the term, RuPaul disagreed and criticized the members of the trans community who took offense.
“No, it is not the transsexual community. These are fringe people who are looking for story lines to strengthen their identity as victims. That is what we’re dealing with. It’s not the trans community, because most people who are trans have been through hell and high water and they know – they’ve looked behind the curtain at Oz and went, ‘Oh, this is all a f—ing joke. But, some people haven’t … You know, if your idea of happiness has to do with someone else changing what they say, what they do, you are in for a f—ing hard-a– road,” RuPaul declared.
RuPaul then addressed his producers decision to edit the phrase “she-mail” out of his show.
“My 32 year career speaks for itself. I dance to the beat of a different drummer. I believe that everybody, you can be whatever the hell you wanna be. I ain’t stopping you. But don’t you dare tell me what I can do or say. It’s just words. Yeah, words do hurt … You know what? … You need to get stronger. You really do, because you know what, if you think, if you’re upset by something I said, you have bigger problems than you think,” RuPaul said.
Although RuPaul may be a representative for the gay and drag community, something he is not is transgender. And although there’s no malice in his use of trans terms, the fact the even some members of the trans community, which has been historically overlooked, oppressed and unprotected by our legal system until very recently, take offense to the word should make one stop and think about the impact of words on others. – nicholas robinson
