Maddy Morphosis is ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’s First Straight, Cisgender Male Drag Queen
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Now that the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race‘s 14th season has been ru-vealed, it’s obvious that this season will go down in history. One drag queen in particular will be making history in each performance. Maddy Morphosis is the first straight, cisgender male drag queen to compete on RuPaul’s Drag Race and fans are divided as to whether he should be allowed to compete or not.
Even though this seasons’ queens were just announced, fans of this long running series are beginning to research the queens. While this is great for the series, Maddy has received the most backlash going into the upcoming season.
Meet Maddy Morphosis, the First Cisgender Straight Male Drag Queen on RuPaul’s Drag Race
Maddy is 26 years old, from Fayetteville, Arkansas and goes by she/her pronouns while in drag. She has been apart of the drag comunity for five years, but is known for being a camp and comedy queen. According to Maddy’s website her drag fashion draws inspiration from pop-culture, art, nostalgia, and more.
Although the queen has shared that she has been in the community for five years, she really began to explore the art in high school as a way to explore her identity. She has shared that she found her passion for drag after trying it out at a queer bar with a former girlfriend. Outside of drag this queen identifies as a cisgender straight man, but is typically gender non-conforming in their presentation. Maddy shared that she sees the concepts of “masculine” and “feminine” as arbitrary and made up.
Fans Are Unhappy to See a Straight Cisgender Male in This Season’s Cast
Maddy’s identity announcement during the ru-veal shocked fans of the show. Prior queen’s have only been a part of the LGBTQ+ community on the series, so this was a surprise. A straight cisgender male drag queen is definitely not a new phenomenon, but many fans of the series have given harsh criticism to the artist.
The criticism has become so harsh that this drag queen feels the need to defend herself. On December 5, she shared an instagram post that reveals how she feels about the topic.
“I’m not here to show the world that ‘straight guys can do drag’,” Maddy wrote on Instagram. “For anyone saying that I’m representing an underrepresented good, I appreciate you, but straight men are not a persecuted and excluded group within the drag community. I’ve always felt welcomed in every drag space I’ve entered, and have never been shunned, excluded, or persecuted because of my sexuality.”
In recent years representation has expanded in the RuPaul world. Most recently, we’ve seen Kylie Sonique Love crowned as the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. With this crown, she became first transgender winner in the history of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Before this, we saw Gottmik as the first shows first transgender male go on to the RuPaul’s Drag Race finals.
“I think one of the best things to come out of my casting is that it’s kicking up a lot more talk about representation in the drag scene and I hope that it helps lead to more marginalized groups being showcased and represented,” Maddy wrote.
Fans of the series shouldn’t see Maddy’s inclusion as a negative thing. RuPaul’s Drag Race has always been a show that shares a welcoming community where people can find and be themselves. Although people may be upset that this drag queen is not apart of the LGBTQ+ community, her inclusion solidifies the fact that RuPaul’s Drag Race is a welcoming community.
