There is so much Drag Race to keep up with. I’d say too much, but then I remember that we’re living through at least three simultaneous apocalypses all at once—so maybe we do need double doses of Drag Race every week right now. But with the constant Drag Race content, it’s easy for moments to blur together. Like—LOL—did y’all know Lawrence Chaney was crowned queen this year? Oh—remember Utica Queen’s roast? Wow, I’m nostalgic for [googles] March 2021. I mean, iconic moments by iconic queens from iconic seasons all around—but the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6 feels special. SPOILERS ahead, baby!
The All Stars 6 finale feels like so much more than just the fifth season finale of a Drag Race franchise in just 2021. It’s the culmination of a storyline that started 11.5 years ago, the tying up of a loose end that’s been dangling since April 2010. It’s the kind of masterful, long-form storytelling that’s reserved for peak TV dramas—but none of those have a payoff over a decade in the making! I am, of course, talking about Kylie Sonique Love’s historic run on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars and her crowning as the first ever trans winner in the franchise’s long history.
To just focus on Kylie’s performance across the season—what a gag from beginning to glorious end. I mean, our reigning queen entered the Werk Room like this, getting a dig in at the franchise’s own… let’s just say evolution when it comes to what is and isn’t correct.
This excellent entrance line came with an updated theme song, one that’s more inclusive than ever. But Kylie Sonique Love was there to do more than just represent for a community that needs representation. This queen who initially went home in Episode 4 over a decade ago was there to slay the game.
How it started / How it’s going, etc.
Every single week, Kylie did exactly what you want a queen to do on an All Stars season: she showed up everyone who was ready to underestimate her by coming through with hot runway looks and excelling in challenges that she bombed 11 years ago. From being sent home on the very first Snatch Game to absolutely crushing it as Dolly Parton—a queen with a high degree of difficulty (as Karen From Finance demonstrated just a few months ago)!
Kylie’s performance alone is legendary, because she also repped for the Drag Race originators. Before now, All Stars winners exclusively came from newer seasons. Alaska, Trixie Mattel, and Shea Couleé had to wait 3 years after their original seasons for their wins; Trinity the Tuck had to wait 2 years; Monét X Change just 1 year; and Chad Michaels just 7 months. All you have to do is watch any episode Drag Race Seasons 1-4 and then one from Seasons 10-14 to see how wild the game is now compared to then. Queens have to be increasingly funnier, more stylish, more captivating, and—to be honest—younger every single season. Kylie wasn’t just able to play the game, she won the game and bought Parker Bros.
I mean, name another queen who has successfully turned an dream-snatching stumble into a sexy acrobatic serve?!
But Kylie’s win is so important because it’s not just an underdog story about the queen who went home fourth in Season 2 coming back and winning the whole damn thing. It’s important because Kylie Sonique Love was the first queen to come out as trans on the show, way back in the Season 2 reunion episode in April 2010. Since Kylie placed 9th out of 12 queens, she was part of the first interview group. And when it came time for her to talk about what she’s been up to since she became the first of many, many queens to bomb a Lady Gaga impression, Kylie became unexpectedly emotional. She leaves the set and is consoled by Morgan McMichaels and RuPaul. That’s when she makes history.
This moment feels like it’s from a time capsule, not just because of how far society has come in the past decade (although not far enough!!), but also because of how far Drag Race has come. This year alone has seen a trans man drag queen make it to the finals, multiple queens from multiple seasons (UK, España, Down Under) talk about being nonbinary, and UK Season 3 announced that a queer cis woman will compete for the first time. The show is catching up to what the community has known for as long as drag has existed: drag is open to all. But back in 2010, RuPaul was still saying “transsexual” and Kylie had to handhold people through the idea that drag is for everybody.
The road to this moment has been rough AF, with the show’s cast often being ahead of RuPaul and the show itself. Whether it was warranted or not, there seemed to be an unwritten and unspoken or whispered and rumored rule that you could not compete on Drag Race if you were transitioning. There were moments in the show that certainly felt tense. Upon her exit in Season 4, Jiggly Caliente—a trans woman and all around delight—wrote “I can get [blurred] now!” in her mirror message; the blurred word presumably being “tits.” And there’s Monica Beverly Hillz’s tearful reveal that she’s trans on the runway during Season 5, as if she was afraid of being disqualified. She was not, by the way, and she was met with nothing but support from her cast-mates and RuPaul.
Gotta be clear: the show has never said that trans queens could not compete. And as merely a Drag Race super fan who’s lucked into writing about it for work, I mostly only know what is presented on the show itself. RuPaul even reiterated that the show was open to all while apologizing for some tone deaf remarks in 2018. And note that those remarks were incredibly confusing to viewers and the queens themselves, especially since trans trailblazer/activist/icon Peppermint made it to the runner-up spot in Season 9, not even a year before.
And, as in that 2010 reunion episode, the show itself has always come out in full support of the trans community in these emotional moments, even if it’s taken a while to get the show’s catchphrases and slogans up to date. RuPaul also clearly loves Kylie Sonique Love, as evidenced by… uh, every single time Kylie was onscreen this season. For better and for worse, that’s what Drag Race is—a sometimes painful, sometimes prescient track record of how the conversation within the LGBTQIA+ community has grown over 13 years for the better. There’s still a lot of growth to be done.
And now the first queen to ever come out as trans is also the show’s first-ever trans winner—and y’all, she brought it all season long. There is such a beautiful symmetry to this win—an acknowledgement of Kylie’s groundbreaking self-discovery 11 years ago on national TV. All the problems ain’t solved (LOL look at the news any day oh my god) and there is still so much work—and werk—for the franchise to do. But right here and now, Kylie Sonique Love’s win feels like it’s the beginning.
Stream RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars on Paramount+