More Good Vibes From Ru Paul

"Honorary Trans Nazi in Male Drag"
It seems one of my all time favorite performers "Ru Paul" has drawn an Estrogen line in the sand on his "Drag Race Show"
If you really care "William Belli" was recently kicked off the show for "undisclosed" reasons.
The only relevant part of the whole affair was some of the fallout which helped to recognize differences in our cultures in the "Huffington Post".

"Last week's episode of RuPaul's Drag Race promised to be the "most shocking episode ever." Viewers learned, after watching two drag queens compete in the "lip sync for your life" elimination round, that neither contestant would be disqualified. Instead, one of the other Season 4 contestants, Willam (Belli) was disqualified for breaking the rules."

"William Belli"

"While it's been advertised that we'll have to wait for this season's reunion special of RuPaul's Drag Race to find out exactly what went down, this hasn't stopped fans from creating speculative theories. Whether it was promiscuity, drugs, or behavior, Willam's departure can be used as catalyst for a larger discussion on tensions between the worlds of gay men in drag and female transgender performers. I'm not too concerned about why Willam was eliminated, but I am concerned about certain types of justifications use to explain his dismissal, specifically speculation regarding the use of estrogen or hormone therapy.
To help you locate me in this discussion, I should point out that for the past three years, I've documented the lives of 10 self-identified effeminate gay men for a documentary series called 50Faggots. I've spent a lot of time entrenched in the worlds of individual nightlife personalities and drag queens, as well as having gone out many times in drag myself as a gay man. I believe there is an ongoing undercurrent of different privileges, benefits, and consequences for both gay drag queens and trans female impersonators when individuals perform in specific nightlife venues. In the controlled, television space of RuPaul's Drag Race, there is an expectation that these performers should identify as gay men, and that has allowed for certain assumptions about what differentiates a gay man from a transgender woman. There seems to be a certain level of criticism attached to the speculation that if Willam was taking estrogen or hormones, then a) he could not identify as a gay man any longer, and b) this would somehow be cheating and giving him an "advantage" over the other contestants.
Well, let's address this. I have a hard time understanding why the idea of estrogen use would be threatening to being a gay man, when in fact, personal identity is a delicate balance of choice, personal representation, and lived experiences. I believe some gay men can take estrogen or be on hormone therapy and still identify as men, just as some trans folks choose not to take hormones at all or refuse body-modification surgery. It would also be ironic if this were the real reason for William's departure when fake breast plates, body modification, and plastic surgery have been openly used by many gay men who commit their careers to drag."

I underlined what I feel to be the most important part of the article.
Now I'm trying to connect the dots between this and "Jenna" the disqualified Miss Canada participant.
If I can!

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