Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Haters Back Off! | Why I Love RuPaul's Drag Race | Kayla Rants

Hi everyone! Kayla here. Now, I know when you put yourself on the internet, you're going to receive a lot of love from people who resonate with who you are and you're going to receive a lot of hate from people who don't.


I have no problem with people trolling me in the comment section of our videos on the vlog channel, because I know that someone else's hate has nothing to do with me, even when it is directed toward me. It's actually about what's going on within themselves. As tweeted by Najwa Zebian, "Never wish them pain. That's not who you are. If they cause you pain, they must have pain inside. Wish them healing. That's what they need."

So negativity towards me does not bother me, BUT… Judgement, in general, bothers me a lot. As well as people who are hypocritical. I want to point out one specific comment, but I've gotten a few of them before:


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First of all, I want to say that one of the reasons why I love RuPaul's Drag Race so much is because yes, the queens are FIERCE and I love the lip syncs because they are entertaining, exciting and emotional (all at the same time!), but since I've started watching actual episodes of the series, I have seen how the queens have brought a lot of social issues to light. Issues that affect all people. Eating disorders has been discussed in some of the episodes in season 9, survivor's guilt has been touched on, as well as the acceptance, self-love and judgement that all people in the LGBT+ community have to face every day.

Therefore, I find it strange that some people in the LGBT+ community (of course not all!) are doing to others which the community as a whole has fought so hard to overcome. Here is another comment to illustrate my point:

If you're not sure what "cishet people" are, read the following from queerdictionary.blogspot.com:
"Cishet, used as both an adjective and a noun, describes a person who is both cisgender and heterosexual. A person is cishet if he or she is cisgender, meaning identifying with his or her assigned-at-birth gender, as well as heterosexual, or attracted exclusively to people of the opposite sex."
So... "Stop cishet people watching RuPaul's Drag Race", basically means, "People who identify with their assigned-at-birth gender and who loves someone of the opposite sex IS NOT ALLOWED TO WATCH RPDR". Are you for real? Imagine two gay dad's who have adopted a girl, who is "cishet", tell their daughter that she's not allowed to watch RPDR with them, because she identifies herself as the gender she was born with and because she likes boys.

"Sorry hun, but unless you start liking girls, you're not allowed to sit with us." That is the exact same thing as telling a boy he can't wear make-up, because he was born as a boy and not a girl. And it is the exact same thing as telling a girl she can't love another girl, because she is "supposed to" love boys. You fucking hypocrite. That is not very nice, now is it?

Telling ANYONE that they can or cannot do, have or wear something, based on what gender they were BORN AS or WHO THE F they love (or don't love), is wrong. Let me let y'all in on a little secret... Whether you are straight, gay, lesbian, bi, asexual, pansexual, transexual, polysexual, asexual, male, female, genderfluid, agender, African, American, Asian, Caucasian,15, 35 or 100 years old you are allowed to watch RuPaul's Drag Race. In fact, you are allowed to watch whatever you feel comfortable watching. You are allowed to wear whatever you feel comfortable wearing. You are allowed to love whoever you want to love.

I fell in love with RuPaul's Drag Race, because I was never as aware of the hate that so many people have to go through, just because they are judged for who they love or what gender they identify with. In fact, for four years I lived in a student town, and I saw guys together, girls together, people of different races together. I saw girls dressed in boy clothes with short hair and boys dressed in girls clothes with long hair. In my mind it was natural and none of this even phase anyone (that I was aware of). I never realized that in so many parts of the world, there is so much HATE towards these people. So watching Drag made me feel like I had to be more open about my sexuality to show people that it's okay to love whoever you want and that you shouldn't allow anyone to make you feel wrong for loving a certain gender or whatever.

I've said multiple times in previous videos that I'm pansexual and I don't allow others to tell me what's wrong or right about who I am - I love myself and I allow myself to express my honest feelings. Which is why the comment from "Sophia Von Heaux" initially made me feel angry and judged, because based on ONE video that she probably didn't even watch all the way through, she called me straight (as if that's something to be ashamed of?) and gross. On other videos I've had comments like "straight people are so weird" and stuff like that and I just don't get it. What is it about people that makes them think it's okay to judge anyone?


People judging and hating on the LGBT+ community is WRONG.
But if someone in the LGBT+ community judges a straight person, that's not right either! Now that you know I'm actually part of the LGBT+ community, am I now allowed to react to LGBT+ performances? Why does that have to make a difference? Another reason why I fell in love with RPDR is because I feel it's so inclusive. There was love for others no matter what kind of drag they do, whether they are trans or not, whether they are gay or not. The queens on the show expressed acceptance and love (lots of drama in between, of course, but that's because it's a competition, not because they felt someone was morally wrong for being a certain way).

Personally, I don't believe Sophia Von Heaux represent the LGBT+ community, because to me, the LGBT+ community believes that love has no limits and is all-inclusive. Sophia Von Heaux seems to think like it's some exclusive club that you have to be "allowed" into. Any person that supports and celebrates love and self-expression (e.g. Drag) contributes to a more inclusive, loving and accepting world. So why am I being told that I am not allowed to react to or watch RuPaul's Drag Race? Smh.

Most comments from you all have been positive and inclusive and you've been suggesting tons of other lip syncs for us to watch and I'm so grateful for all of you. Thank you for being such a beautiful example of what all human beings should be like - loving and accepting of someone else and what they do - regardless of their sexuality, their gender, their race or their religion. We should strive to be kind, and tolerant, and loving.



RuPaul himself tweeted and said:




Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia etc. are essentially based on the judgment that your race, or your gender is better than someone else's, or your way of living is right and their way of living is wrong. This is wrong-thinking. But it's also wrong for a homosexual person to judge someone who is straight. I'm pansexual, I can't go around telling other girls that if they are just attracted to boys that they are weird and I'm the normal one - regardless of which side the judgement is coming from, it's wrong. I know it seems like I'm making a big deal about two or three comments, but I see this all over the internet and I think it should stop.


To me, Drag, and the LGBT+ community is about loving and accepting yourself and others for whoever they want to be and celebrating our differences and our similarities and it's about a whole lot of fucking LOVE. Love is the ultimate and that's the message I strive to express through all my videos, blogs and the way I live my life. Sure we're going to make mistakes, we're going to have bad days and lash out at random people for no good reason when we bottle up emotions etc. But at our core we all need to acknowledge and accept that no person is better than another. We are all equal and we all deserve happiness and love.


I would like to end this with another quote from RuPaul:

“The overall commentary on what I’m doing is saying, "Hey look! I get to create whatever persona I want to, and it’s all up to me. And the truth is, we are all basically the universe—pretending to be humans for a brief moment of time."

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