RuPaul comments on anti-drag backlash: ‘It’s such a tragedy’

RuPaul has commented on the ongoing backlash against the drag community saying, “It’s such a tragedy”.

Over the last few months, numerous drag events have been disrupted.

Appearing on the US Today show over the weekend, RuPaul responded to the state of things.

“It’s such a tragedy how our country has become so divided and it really breaks my heart. I pray for our country and the world, really,” he says.

Continuing, RuPaul says, “I still believe in the power of love. What I say to everyone is: ‘don’t lose faith in the power of love’.”

This, RuPaul goes on to say, is how he’s always lived his life.

“It has served me. Every time I think about trying to be a little sassy or whatever it doesn’t work for me. So, sweetness and kindness, that’s my spell.”

RuPaul also reveals that regardless of what stage he is performing on he imagines being in his mother’s living room. Like many kids, he used to perform for his mum at home.

While promoting Drag Race season 15, RuPaul mentions that the one thing he is most proud of as a result of Drag Race is helping launch the careers of people like Trixie Mattel, Bianca del Rio, and many more.

“They’re travelling the world. They’re doing their own shows, movies, they’re doing it all”.

In the UK, a number of events, including Drag Queen Story Hour, have been targeted by anti-LGBTQ protestors.

Events in Reading and Oxford have been disrupted, with two intruders being escorted away by police from the former. Another event in Norwich in August was postponed over safety concerns.

Drag Queen Story Hour is a country-wide initiative taking place in local libraries that sees drag queens read to children. 

In the US similar events have been disrupted or protested against. Drag queens have also stepped up their security following the Club Q mass shooting in Colorado in November.

These all form part of an increasingly hostile rhetoric towards the LGBTQ community at home and abroad.

Earlier this year, Florida enacted the its ‘Don’t Say Gay, Don’t Say Trans’ legislation that effectively prohibits the discussion of anything LGBTQ in schools. Since then, numerous other states have started to introduce similar legislation, jeopardising the safety of many LGBTQ people.

Additionally, there has been a massive onslaught of anti-LGBTQ bills put forward across the United States, giving permission to those wishing to hurt and/or hinder the LGBTQ community to do so.