Peppermint from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9 recently chatted with our good friends over at NewNowNext about being the first openly transgender Drag Race contestant cast for the show.

When asked what it was like for her growing up being transgender:

It wasn’t as clear an idea when I was growing up as it probably would’ve been for me if I was growing up today. Honestly, the most overwhelming thought was that I was just different than everyone else I encountered. I knew that I was attracted, not necessarily romantically, but I knew that I was attracted to queer people on film and TV. But, I didn’t really know anyone who had the same feelings that I had. It was difficult in the ‘80s as a kid to really pinpoint what that was. It wasn’t until I was late into my teens that I realized: “okay, I’m a woman.”

On whether or not she was nervous about the reactions of the other queens on season 9:

I was nervous. There are a lot of people who think that think drag queens can’t be trans and trans people can’t do drag, that there’s always a separation. There is a separation of course. Not all drag queens are trans and of course most trans people aren’t drag queens. But there are certainly plenty of trans people who work and perform in the context of drag. And there’s a lot of drag queens who transition and there’s a little bit of a margin where they are kind of both. That being said I was worried. I wasn’t sure if they [the Drag Race queens] would accept me into the sisterhood.

Check out the rest of her interview on NewNowNext!