Black History Month is a time to highlight not only the successes, but also the obstacles faced by both black men and women. A figure that displays the overcoming of marginalization that is cherished by many today is Rupaul Andre Charles, a gay black man who is a famous drag queen, model, singer, and television personality. Growing up in the United States as an African American means that there are many hardships to face due to systematic and individual racism. Whether it is a parent forbidding their white child from playing with a African American child, or the exclusive zoning of districts forcing African American households into worse off neighborhoods, being an African American can be challenging no matter how accepting a community may seem. Adding on the layer of dressing up in drag typically sparks a connection to being transgender, which is largely contested in all communities in the U.S. today. Rupaul Andre Charles was able to surpass these systems of oppression and intolerance to make a name for himself in the television, acting, and music industry.
Why should people care about an entertainer like Rupaul? Well, entertainment is one of the main ways that people can gain new perspectives about the world around them. For example, the first “modern” musical Show Boat told the story of an interracial couple; although the woman was visibly “white”, she would sing the soulful tunes that slaves sung. As American musical theatre went on, there were spouts of cynicism towards racist attitudes, like Porgy and Bess, which highlighted African American talent and showed that black couples can have romantic love with a song that showcased African American love, “I Loves You, Porgy”. Theatre at this time was available to the masses, like television is today. Today, Rupaul Andre Charles has built a platform for gay men of any race to represent their communities, but also has built a platform for black gay men to be visible on TV.
Representation is very important in today’s world because many black kids do not regularly see people like them on the screen, let alone hosts of a show. Some of the most prominent African American television hosts include Steve Harvey, who presents Family Feud, and Wayne Brady, who was recently recruited to Let’s Make a Deal in 2009, and Rupaul, who can reach a new audience with RuPaul’s Drag Race. The family-friendly game show hosts aren’t going to make deep or cynical shots at issues in today’s society; they’re main focus is to entertain their audience, and they have to be palatable for people of all backgrounds to consume.
Over the years, RuPaul’s Drag Race has grown into a television show that is much more than an entertaining competition, but a platform to advocate for political participation, support of LGBTQ+ troops, and to teach it’s viewers frequent lessons on LGBTQ+ history. What started off as a niche show on Logo TV has become a channel for it’s LGBTQ+ audience, and has recently been a sensation among all communities, as it is now on VH1 and has won two Emmys. The show can now be accessed be a larger audience, which makes it that much more important to use it to promote tolerance, understanding, and most importantly visibility. This show has made it possible for people that can’t access the nightclubs or attend drag shows in real life to see drag queens performing their art on television, and it is making drag visible to those that don’t “understand” the community.
In no way am I saying that RuPaul’s Drag Race is a perfect representation of the drag community, but it may be one of the most progressive reality TV shows, as it shows the pains of growing up with a homophobic family, it highlights the difference of doing drag and being transgender, and it showcases the faces of those affected by hate crime. Without RuPaul, this platform would never exist. He is one of the strongest entrepreneurs and prominent figures today, and he truly inspires many; he has created an empire that gives gay men a platform to succeed, a platform for their struggles to be known, and for their art to get appreciated by a wider audience.
While Rupaul is not a figure many teachers will mention in the classroom, he is relevant to the world today. His success story can inspire many young African American people and LGBTQ+ people everywhere, while spreading tolerance throughout the world. And with that I say… EVERYBODY SAY LOVE.
HCXO,
Ciera