Mike Signorile interviews Ru Paul about the word "tranny" and the TV show "Work It" - Ru is fine with both.
Lance Bass just apologized for using the word "tranny." What do you think of all that?You have to read the rest of the interview, on HuffPo, to find out what Ru said about "Working It" - but basically he thinks people are offended too easily.
[Laughter] It's ridiculous! It's ridiculous! Words -- it goes back to grade school: Sticks and stones, you know the rest. The thing is you have to look at the ego, you have to follow the money, and the payoff. And the payoff is that the ego wants attention no matter what. It will try to get it wherever the hell it can, whether it's positive or negative. So you have to ignore it basically -- you have to starve it out. And unfortunately in our culture one person can write a letter to the network and they shut something down. It's unfortunate. But I love the word "tranny."
And no one has ever said the word "tranny" in a derogatory sense. In fact, you have to go to the intent of the person saying it. Of course Lance Bass, his intent would never be to be derogatory. Never. So, you know, that's really ridiculous. And I hate the fact that he's apologized. I wish he would have said, "F-you, you tranny jerk!"
It's something that a lot of activists feel though is used against them in a negative way. But, I mean, lesbians, a lot of them call themselves dyke too, right? So, you can call yourself these words.
Right, because they've earned the right to do it. And in the ACT UP age we called ourselves queers because we earned the right, we took the word back. But in reality, once you go even deeper, you know, you have to come from intent. And black folks call themselves the n-word all the time. It's because the intent is coming from a place of love. If the intent is coming from a place of hatred, that's different. But you can't legislate intent. You can't -- there's no way to do it. So, the truth is, you have to fix that individually on a one by one basis. If somebody calls you a green martian, would you be offended by it? No, you wouldn't be. Why? Because you know you're not a green martian. But if you're offended by someone calling you a "tranny," it was only because you believe you are a "tranny!" [laughter.] So then, the solution is: Change your mind about yourself being a "tranny."
