
An alt-rock drummer, Ash Kenazi, told The Independent, how RuPaul’s Drag Race helped him come out as gay.
Ash Kenazi said that in 2016 he “could not accept” that he was gay, but one night everything changed.
He said:
“I was aware of the show, but hesitant to watch because I was worried about the consequences for my sexuality. Thank god for the man who sat me down and said,
‘You need your gayducation, and it starts now.’”
Kenazi said his world changed after that first All Stars episode. Drag queens,
“showed gay culture and drag not as something to be feared, but as an act of defiance, a political statement and an embodiment of ‘charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent.’”
Queens such as Katya Zamolodchikova or Latrice Royale laid bare their vulnerabilities and spoke a truth that I could relate to; the difficulties of coming to terms with their sexuality and using drag as an opportunity to reclaim a femininity that was unavailable to them in their formative years.
Drag Race forced me to leave my comfort zone and explore my lost identity.
It was important that I reveal my true self to the scene I had spent my twenties trying to fit in with… The world felt familiar to me for the first time.
Queer existence is a challenge in double living – being yourself in a world whose morality does not truly fit your identity. But in the world of drag, social norms become secondary to energy and passion.
“Once a queen has already deep throated a vegetable, fallen off the bar and set off a fire extinguisher, anything is possible.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK premiered last night in the United Kingdom and on Wow Presents+ worldwide.
(via Pink News)