Kerri Colby made her mark on "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 14 when she floated down the runway in an updated version of Jennifer Lopez's iconic green dress. Yes, that dress.
但是达拉斯本机的时间显示more than just fashion. Kerri is one of four openly transgender competitors this season alongside Kornbread, who was sidelined because of an injury; Jasmine Kennedie, who came out as trans during an emotional
"Untucked;" and Bosco, who made her public announcement last month.
Kerri spoke about her religious upbringing and the current attack on trans people in Texas.
Hello to a fellow Texan!
I'm an OG Texas doll, a Dallas doll.
What comes to mind when someone mentions Houston?
A lot of size. I feel like that's the place where everything's bigger in Texas.
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The judges said your girl group performance was too "churchy." Did that make sense to you?
It was definitely a hard pill to swillow. It was a big pill, not a Willow Pill. It was a little tough because I felt like they asked me to be myself, come out, do my thing, be authentic, be more real. I loved the song. I loved the challenge. It just wasn't what they were looking for, which is always a little heartbreaking. You never wanna hear that when you give your all, it's not really the all they were looking for.
How do you think you did during the girl group performance?
To be honest, it was my favorite, and I'm not really like a super-biased person. I absolutely loved what we did. I think it was so fun. It gave me very The Supremes. And I was absolutely dying to see Lady Camden in one of those littlesistahwigs.
Has it inspired you, as it does so many "Drag Race" girls, to pursue your own musical career?
Music is something that is so near and dear to my heart. Funny enough, I actually did do choir and things like that when I was in church. I really have a heart for music. I think for me personally, before I would just jump out and pursue it, I need to really be able to take the time to pour my heart and soul into it to make sure that I'm 1,000-percent satisfied with the product that comes out of it.
You weren't allowed to listen to secular music as a kid because of your religious upbringing. What was the first song that really stopped you in your tracks?
I was punished for it, but I never will forget it. I was at a mall because my parents, after church, liked to go mall walking. We walked by a Victoria's Secret, and I don't know what was going on, but they were showing the music video for "Buttons" by Pussycat Dolls. It was the part where they fall on the floor, and their bodies are just sickening, and there's like fire all over the place, and they're gyrating and grinding. Then they're doing these flashes of whatever Victoria's Secret bra they're selling. I literally just stopped and stared for at least a minute-and-a-half, long enough to get the beat of the song ingrained in my head. My mother pulled my ear and said, "Absolutely not!" I did get punished when I got home. And I got punished more because I kept humming the beat and I would dance around the house like Nicole (Scherzinger). And you know what? Those were the best spankings of my life.
It sounds incredible, I think, to someone who grew up immersed in pop culture. But pop music was a completely foreign concept for you.
Oh, yeah. Even within the Pentecostal doctrine, there are people who are able to partake. But my mom was old-school, old-school, old-school. We never had cable. We didn't even have TV channels until I was maybe 10 years old. I was never allowed to watch TV by myself. I had to watch it in the room with them.
And look at you now!
Well I became every she-devil I could at this point.
Kornbread, Bosco, Jasmine Kennedie and yourself -- this is a big moment for trans representation on "Drag Race."
我认为是时候。是时候tran-tastic four to unite and use their powers for good. All funniness aside, I'm so proud to see it. Me being able to walk in authentically myself, being able to bounce that energy off my sister Kornbread. Being so open and vocal and alive, it inspired our sisters to soul search and really come to find their truth. It's emotional in a way that words can't explain. It really puts into perspective that it's so much bigger than you or your friends.
Absolutely. It's important for you, and it's important for those who don't have trans people in their lives or don't fully understand the nuances.
And I think the timing is impeccable because we've had so many monumental steps forward, and we're also being challenged. Obviously from our land of the large, honey, Texas. It is being challenged, the ability to just exist, it seems, or to pursue what existence is for us. I love that there's the parallel, and I think that's causing more conversations. And in my prayer, hopefully more of an awakened and softened heart to the girls and what we go through. It's not just what you see. There are so many things that happen underneath the surface, and to have that threatened or illegitimized, it can be so devastating, especially for our younger angels.