RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 contestant Gottmik, who made history as the first trans male drag queen to compete on the show covers Attitude magazine’s style issue.
Inside the article he opens up about the warm welcome he received from Mama Ru herself.
“RuPaul really was super-excited and really supported me,” the queen said in the interview. “Like what you saw in the ball, her being obsessed with my executive look and all of that, that was so real. I remember turning onto the stage, and her gasping and just dying.
“And when we were doing walkthroughs, she picked up the vibe that I was just so myself and so excited to be there, and I loved, genuinely loved, talking to her. I could sit and talk to RuPaul at that table all day. And I just think she got that energy and we just really clicked.”
Gottmik also opened up in the article about the lack of trans representation on the show, and at one point even questioned their identity because he couldn’t identify with anyone he saw in the media.
“Even before I transitioned medically, I kind of was even debating, like, am I trans?” she said. “It was in my brain for so long, just because I would look at all the trans guys in the media and be like, that is just not me. That is not who I am.
“I’m way more feminine. I love drag, and just looking at these really trans masculine men, I was, like, how could that possibly be who I am? And then the second I just woke up, and I was, like, girl, if cis-gender men can be feminine, a trans guy can be feminine.”
She continued: “Just because it’s beyond you, doesn’t mean it’s not there. So, girl, do it, and pave this path. And that’s what I did, and I’m living.”
Sometimes when there is a lack of representation in the media, you have to find the strength to be the change you want to see in the world. Gottmik is doing just that via competing on Drag Race.
Drag is always evolving, and I think it’s great we’re seeing someone who is a slightly effeminate trans male who loves the art of drag competing on the drag Olympics.
