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RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 will make history with first transgender male contestant

GottMik
GottMik Photo: VH1 promo image

Drag performer GottMik will be the first transmasculine contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

World of Wonder, which produces the Emmy-winning drag reality competition, released introductory videos for the contestants on season 13, set to premier in January.

Related: AOC dismisses complaints about her appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race with classic one-liner

LA-based make up artist Kade Gottlieb – AKA GottMik – is among the contestants and he’s the first transgender man to compete on the show.

“I need to be the first trans winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Period,” he says in the video. “The more I got comfortable with my gender identity, the more I got to play with the drag/GottMik side.”

“It means so much for me to be on the show right now, especially being a trans guy going in. A feminine perspective of a trans guy?”

GottMik’s best friend – beauty blogger James Charles – congratulated him on Twitter.

“My best friend is on Drag Race,” Charles tweeted. “The first trans man to ever compete on the show… this is SOOOO important and I can’t even begin to explain how PROUD of him I am for all of his hard work over the past few years! This season is going to be SICKENING.”

GottMik won’t be the first transgender person on RuPaul’s Drag Race – several contestants have come out as transgender, non-binary, and gender fluid during or after their appearances on the series. But they will be the first person assigned female at birth to compete on any iteration of the show.

In season nine, Peppermint was the first person to enter the Werk Room as an out transgender person. Kandy Zyanide and Angele Anang were also both out as transgender women before appearing on season two of Drag Race Thailand; Ilona Verley and Ma’Ma Queen publicly identified as non-binary before their respective seasons of Canada’s Drag Race and Drag Race Holland; and Gia Gunn transitioned between her appearances on season seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race and season four of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars.

Season 13 is set to premier at 8 p.m. Eastern on January 1 on VH1.

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