RuPaul's "Apology" Doesn't Sit Well With Trans Community

RuPaul

RuPaul recently got into a kerfuffle with the transgender community when he told The Guardian he would "probably not" include a transgender woman who had fully transitioned to compete on the Emmy Award-winning reality show.

"You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body. It takes on a different thing; it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing," he said. "We’ve had some girls who’ve had some injections in the face and maybe a little bit in the butt here and there, but they haven’t transitioned."

As the trans community took exception with the remarks, Ru seemed to pour gasoline on the fire with a tweet that seemed to compare transgender drag competitors to doping athletes.

You can take performance enhancing drugs and still be an athlete, just not in the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/HkJjzXzUGm

— RuPaul (@RuPaul) March 5, 2018

Alexandra Billings, a transgender star of Amazon's Transparent, stepped into the fray with a message to Ru via Instagram which read, "Dear RuPaul, You did not invent drag. We did."

I'm not an expert on drag, so I do have a question:

My understanding is drag is about illusion. Separately, transgender women are women. So, where would the illusion be in trans women competing in a drag competition?

Ru issued a Twitter apology today that didn't include the word "sorry," and folks were not calmed by the choice of words.

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. pic.twitter.com/80Qi2halN2

— RuPaul (@RuPaul) March 5, 2018

In the 10 years we’ve been casting Drag Race, the only thing we've ever screened for is charisma uniqueness nerve and talent. And that will never change. pic.twitter.com/0jsyt6MRvO

— RuPaul (@RuPaul) March 5, 2018

so @Rupaul point blank lied in that apology. Casting ALWAYS asked about hormones transitioning etc tellin girls to get off mones/delay transitions til after taping. Ask the dolls. She's trying to save face and even Mathu's touch couldn't save it now

— Willam (@willam) March 6, 2018