Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

RuPaul said something else offensive about trans women? What?! Un-possible! Give me a minute! Let me lie down!

RuPaul is, and always has been, about causing a scene and creating controversy. People are upset because of something he said? Fan-freaking-tastic! I’m sure he’s eating it up.

He loves the attention. I mean, you don’t become a drag queen unless you love the spotlight, right?

RuPaul makes a hell of a lot of money for himself and his sponsors by saying outrageous things, so complaining about what he says doesn’t really fix the problem. It’s like trying to put out a fire with more fire.

And it reminds me of the fable about the scorpion and the frog — it’s in RuPaul’s nature to be offensive. Why are we surprised?

If what he’s saying makes people mad, well, great! His shtick is working, so he ratchets it up, and his considerable fan base rallies around him.

Ay! There’s the rub. RuPaul’s considerable fan base includes a lot of people in the LGBTQ community — and I may be out on a limb here, but I’m guessing many of them are gay males. And in my experience — which is not everyone’s experience, to be sure, and I know this is a broad brush statement — some gay males really feel trans women don’t belong in the LGBTQ community.

If and when I’m misgendered, it’s usually by gay males. (They will call me “he, she, whatever,” and then smirk. Ha ha! Cute! I try to be lady-like, because they take offense at being kicked in the shins. But I’m not aiming at their shins.)

RuPaul is a gay male. Dan Savage — who is getting better, but who has also said some foolish things about transgender people in the past — is a gay male. I’m not quite saying “QED,” but they are at least two well-known public examples.

So, when RuPaul shoots off his mouth, people in the LGBTQ community start shooting at each other, and meanwhile the haters are just sitting there, lapping it up. And RuPaul sashays all the way to the bank.

Note, by the way, that RuPaul made his comments on Marc Maron’s show. Maron already has a problem with trans people; I’ve written about one of Maron’s previous episodes, when he let a guest on a panel repeatedly refer to a trans woman as “it,” as Eddie Izzard sat nearby. So, Marc, boychikel, I think you and I are breaking up. It’s not me, it’s you.

All this is by way of saying, I really can’t get too bothered by RuPaul’s latest bon mot.

But I have decided to coin a new word:

• RuFool /?ro?o•f?l/ adj. Repeatedly acting stupid, even when people complain, because you’re a shameless, attention-seeking publicity hound. “Rush Limbaugh said another RuFool thing today.” “I stopped visiting that website because the commenters were so RuFool.”
  

Now, does anyone have a number for the Merriam-Webster people?