As the queens
were getting ready for their runway presentation — which saw them in incredible
looks based on art from Warhol to Dali — the mirror chat turned to the subject
of growing up gay in their respective countries. Drag Race Amsterdam alum
Janey Jacké shared how, having been bullied for being queer as a child, she was
supported by her parents who moved her to a part of the country where she’d be
safe.
“It was very
clear from a very young age that I was very homosexual,” she recalled. “So, I’m
very happy and very grateful for my parents to be so open-minded, that it’s
more about the happiness and the love rather than sticking to certain religious
values.”
Mo Heart, in
turn, shared a much more painful, traumatic, and ultimately inspiring story of
growing up gay in a Christian church. Hart shared that she’d never felt as
though she fit in because she was “queer and effeminate,” and that this led to
her being put into conversion therapy. “You know, in Black churches, it’s very
charismatic and you know, they’re going to bind and rebuke this homosexual
demon off of you,” she said. “Their end goal was, I guess, straightness. You
just grow up just feeling condemned and like, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ and ‘Why
am I here?’”
Heart
recounted the “success story” of two queer people who were supposedly converted
and made her believe maybe she could be “cured” of being gay. “I had these
leaders who, like he was gay and his wife was a lesbian and somehow they found
the lord and now they have, like, five kids and they’re like, ‘So you can do
it!’” she shared.
Ultimately, Mo
realized that she both couldn’t nor shouldn’t change a thing about her
sexuality — and she had a message for those who were considering conversion
therapy. “I’m going to tell you — don’t,” she said. “Don’t even waste your time
or your money.”
“You are
enough, there is not one part of you that is broken, don’t buy into the hype
that there is something wrong with you – lies, lies, lies,” she concluded.
“There’s nothing wrong with you.”
SOURCE: ADVOCATE
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