Culture

EXCLUSIVE: Non-binary Drag Race UK star wants to go head-to-head with Piers Morgan

Oct 03 2019
Written by Reiss Smith

Divina de Campo and Piers Morgan. (BBC/ITV)

Drag Race UK queen Divina de Campo read Piers Morgan for filth over his continued refusal to respect non-binary people and their pronouns.

Morgan, who hosts ITV’s Good Morning Britain, has in recent weeks waged a continuing attack on the non-binary community, taking particular umbrage with gender-neutral pronouns.

Having found offence in the singer Sam Smith saying they would like to be referred to as they/them, Morgan has also ridiculed a zoo’s decision to raise a penguin without gender stereotypes, claiming that he will begin identifying as “a two spirit penguin”.

It’s a stream of rhetoric that Drag Race UK star Divina de Campo has little time for.

“My basic rule for life is don’t be a d***. He’s being a d***,” they told PinkNews.

Divina recently opened up about identifying as non-binary, and like Smith prefers they/them pronouns, something they said isn’t hard to understand.

You’re just being an a***hole for the point of being an a***hole.

“The stupid thing is we use ‘they’ all the time as a singular: ‘Look, that’s somebody’s glass, I wonder if they know where it is? Should we try to find them so we can give it them back?’

“It’s not difficult, you’re just being an a***hole for the point of being an a***hole.

“If he wants to ask me on his show I’ll talk about that.”

Divina de Campo will be first queen to discuss their non-binary identity.

Though Divina is the first non-binary queen to enter the British werk room, they are not the first within the wider Drag Race franchise.

In the US, queens including Valentina and Aja have come out as non-binary, with Courtney Act also identifying as genderqueer.

But as has often been the case with gender non-conforming queens, their identities were not discussed within the confines of the show.

View this post on Instagram

Hi I’m Divina I’m non-binary. It just means the terms male/female don’t ‘fit’ for me. I’m just a person. You can use he, she, they, them. It doesn’t bother me. What you see or think isn’t always the same as how I experience the world. How I present to you doesn’t necessarily reflect my reality. Books and covers. That’s not the case for everyone. If it does upset someone to be misgendered then don’t be a dick. It’s a pretty simple rule for life. We can be kind. #DDC #dragqueen #gay #drag #makeup #lgbtq #instagay #rupaulsdragrace #rpdr #queer #dragrace #queen #art #mua #pride #rupaul #dragmakeup #dragqueens #makeupartist #dragshow #follow #like #manchesterqueens #manchester #alltogethernow #thevoice #BBC #theatre #rupaulsdragraceuk #BBC3

A post shared by Divina de Campo (@divinadecampo) on Sep 13, 2019 at 6:10am PDT

Divina said that Drag Race UK will lead the way on this front.

“We definitely talk about some of these issues [during the series].

“We don’t do it like some of the seasons which have been like, ‘Now we’re going to talk about this issue,’ it’s not that. Everything happens so organically on this show, nothing is forced, everything happens as it happens.”

Drag Race UK queens want to see all types of drag.

Divina’s fellow queen, Vinegar Strokes, said she hopes the show helps “push things forward” in terms of representing drag that isn’t cis and male.

“I think we’ve got a long way to go in terms of representing everyone in drag as a whole, female drag queens, AFAB [assigned female at birth] queens, drag kings as well,” she told PinkNews.

The cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. (BBC)

Vinegar admits that coming “from an older generation”, she herself is “still learning about pronouns”.

“I think this is just the starting step, there’s a long way to go, it took us a long way to get here. It’s all gonna come eventually.”

Crystal, who at 34 is a year younger than both Divina and Vinegar, said that the show — and drag in general — “helps break down what male and female is.”

“It’s important to remember to laugh at yourself and drag helps you do that,” she told PinkNews.