“If anyone is struggling with this, breathe and accept it, because once you do, it’s incredibly empowering”…
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 6 alum Laganja Estranja is speaking out about her identity. In a just-released interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 32-year-old drag entertainer, cannabis activist, and singer came out as a proud transgender woman after a 10-year journey exploring her identity.
Estranja says after “presenting as female for the last 10 years” as a drag performer, she eased into her identity while on the stage in a way that “made it more explainable to the masses,” but, in 2021, she’s living her truth for one person only: Herself.
“There are so many other women around me who’ve inspired me to come forward today, and it’s because of their fight and their struggle that I’m able to really do this and say that I’m nervous, but I’m not scared,” she said. “I’m not going to live my life in fear anymore.”
She continued: “I do want to be able to express this at all times. I just got my haircut — a very feminine cut — and in one week already, my life has changed. I’m able to come off stage and take my makeup off and still see a beautiful woman in the mirror. It’s powerful.”
Speaking freely to EW about her transition and how she purposefully came out to the public before beginning hormone therapy, Estranja stresses to people that every trans person’s journey and transition is unique, and that they deserve to explore that part of themselves in their own time and whenever they are ready.
“Glam doesn’t make you a woman; it makes you a woman to people outside, in the world…gender is performative, and what we wear is an extension of what we feel on the inside,” she said. “That’s the real truth here: once this is out and once people know, I’m going to be more free to explore what it means to be a woman on the inside. The dressing part? I’ve got it down, but that’s not what makes you a woman.”
Congrats on living your truth, Laganja! We’re proud of you!
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