Drag Race star Bosco says Kerri Colby and Kornbread gave her 'clarity' before coming out as trans
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
To fans of RuPaul's Drag Race, Bosco has established herself as a sweet "demon queen" slithering from the annals of Seattle to fight for justice in the name of culottes. But in coming out as trans in a Feb. 10 Instagram post, the performer has since positioned herself (alongside Kerri Colby and Kornbread "The Snack" Jeté) among season 14's trio of groundbreaking trans women, whose presence on the Emmy-winning series stands to make a difference in the fight for queer equality.
Below, Bosco exclusively tells EW about the consideration that went into her announcement, how her bond with Kerri and Kornbread shaped her confidence, highlighting real struggles trans people in America face in 2022, and what her beloved (iconic) horse, Ted, thinks of her journey so far.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What a week for Bosco this has been, between the outfit on the runway, becoming a meme with Daya's glasses, and now your amazing announcement. I'm happy you feel safe and supported enough to come out as trans the way that you did. What impact has the announcement had on your life?
BOSCO: It's been lovely. Somebody described it as "taking the plunge," which felt accurate. I've been fortunate, I've been out since the summer in Seattle, which lives in its own bubble. It never came up nationally. It would feel weird to not talk about it at this point, so I was grateful for the reaction.
You started exploring your identity over a decade ago. What has that journey been like?
I've always been a gender fluid person. I grew up doing competitive dance, so it was already obvious that I was queer at a young age. I was good at tap-dancing. By the time I moved out, it made the most sense for me to be gender fluid or non-binary. I was afraid of my family's reaction if I wanted to pursue things further. I was also a poor food industry worker that didn't have financial security to go into things. I'm also 6'1 with a deeper voice. There's not a world where I pass particularly easily, even after I'd go down the road of major surgical intervention. That weighed on my mind. Now that we have so much trans visibility and I've been so well received by the show and the fans, it's like, I can do this.
This announcement felt celebratory, but you also spoke openly about serious struggles. Why was it important for you to call particular attention to financial instability and anxiety over acceptance?
It felt important to me to highlight that being a trans person, even in this time of extreme visibility, is really f---ing hard. I'm crazy privileged to have this queer platform and be known to the queer community in a way that allows me to feel safe, but I have so many trans women and trans men as friends who don't get to navigate their life with the power that's RuPaul's Drag Race helping them. It felt necessary to talk about that. It's fun for pop culture to look at it as this beautiful swan tale, but for a lot of people it's bumpy, scary, and financially perilous.
VH1/World of Wonder 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 14 queen Bosco discusses her trans journey.
There have been a number of anti-trans bills introduced in the country recently, we're seeing more violence against trans women — particularly trans women of color — how do you hope coming out on this platform will have an impact on the community?
I'm hoping it'll demonstrate how many queer people are trans and are thinking about this. There's no separation of church and state when it comes to drag and trans people. They're so closely interwoven that they build into each other's communities, and always have. It's important to be transparent about who I am, especially where there are several other trans people on the cast. This is one of the most-watched TV shows in the world. I'm hoping that, by taking up space, we can move the conversation along. The bills are so f---ing scary, and it feels like there's a reaction to every moment we have. We had a lot of trans rights revolutions, and now it feels like certain political aspects are swinging the other way.
Tell me about that support you received on this platform. I imagine Kerri Colby and Kornbread might've had helpful things to say prior to your announcement.
I talked openly with them once the season wrapped. Kornbread and I both knew we planned to come out as trans within a year of finishing the season, because we didn't come out during the season. We were on the brink, so we had a bond. I felt so much clarity being around them this summer, being able to talk to them and see how they approached things and moved through life. Kerri and Kornbread's presence helped center me. They're really cool people.
I love that this sisterhood is now a trio on season 14.
The more the merrier. It's like The Ring, but with transitioning. You meet [Kerri] and seven days later you get a call saying that you're going to have to start HRT. The power that woman has is insane.
Only you can get away with saying that.
Connect the dots, baby! There's a common link of this domino effect of trans women this season. [Laughs]
Did you consider talking about this on the show at all?
There are conversations about [being non-binary] on the show, but at the time of filming, I felt comfortable in my identity as a non-binary person, and I wanted to explore medical transition to align myself in a more feminine way. Because of the pandemic, I had to go a year and a half without Bosco. I couldn't not have this in my life, it has to be part of everything I do. The more I've gone forward with transition, the more I felt comfortable considering myself a trans woman or trans-fem. I talked a little with Maddy when Maddy revealed she was straight, we're a tight sisterhood. Everybody has been so lovely and supportive. When we met up for promo, DeJa asked me how things were going, there aren't many secrets among our cast. We all knew.
What inspired you to make the announcement at the time that you did? Why did that moment feel right, in your soul?
It felt like if I don't pull the trigger on this, I'll keep waiting and looking for reasons to wait. It would make sense if there was a moment on the show where I had a tearful moment where I came out and it was really dramatic, but that's not what my time on the show was about. It wasn't the focus of what I did on the show. My boyfriend was like, "Baby, you've been waiting for a long time, I can't tell you what to do, but you'll be happier if you just do it." There's no importance to the date, it was just, "do it bitch!"
Did you consult your horse at all? I know he's an important part of your life.
Ted! I had a deep heart-to-heart with him. I've always been Ted's mom, so I'm sure he'd just be like, what do you mean they don't know?
VH1 RuPaul's Drag Race season 14 queen Bosco comes out as trans.
Using your experience as a lens, for trans people who don't have a sisterhood of support on a national platform, how do you think allies in their lives can help them feel loved and supported when they feel isolated in predominantly cisgender communities?
The most important thing is to do your research. Be knowledgeable. I come from a place where being trans isn't a thing that really happens in a small town in Montana. A lot of my family haven't interacted with trans people, and they didn't understand what I was saying when I posted. After you find out that somebody you love is trans, do some of the homework yourself…. Try to meet them where they're at and do things on your part. It's hard to explain to somebody what's going on when they don't have the context.
Is there anything else you want to say about this journey?
I want to say thank you. The reception has been overwhelmingly warm and filled with love. If I were to take a shot every time somebody said "congratulations on your journey" out in the club, I'd be dead. And that means a lot to me.
Subscribe to EW's BINGE podcast for full recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including weekly season 14 recaps with the cast, adapted from our new Quick Drag series airing Fridays at 10:05 p.m. ET / 7:05 p.m. PT on the @EW Twitter account.
Related content:
