People have theory RuPaul predicted LGBTQ+ rights going backwards today over 10 years ago

Old interviews of RuPaul are resurfacing and going viral as people online have a theory that THEE queen of drag predicted how political attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people and beyond would not have remained as positive as they were for us in the 2010s. In the 2010s, so much happened to advance our rights – and that did parallel the rising mainstream success of RuPaul’s Drag Race. We got marriage equality in the UK and the US, and it felt always like LGBTQ+ were more visible in mainstream spaces and that trans acceptance was taking huge strides in the right ways. As the right wing pearl clutching steadily tightens and it feels like transphobes are winning, an old interview of RuPaul shows how the queen predicted rights going backwards in the 2025 climate over a decade ago.

RuPaul is certainly problematic, but no one can say he isn’t smart as hell.

‘The window will close again’ 

i love love love how succinctly rupaul explains political shifts in america and already knew we would be where we are now in 2025 pic.twitter.com/3vTEFPPjPo

— fem top (@gayandold) January 26, 2025

Speaking in conversation with Joan Rivers, RuPaul says “You know, throughout our culture there are little windows and pockets of time where people are open. After 9/11, there was this hostility and a fear that was just in the year. After that died down and Obama got into office, it’s not because of Obama but Obama is a result of this openness that happened. I think the success of our show [Drag Race] is because of this openness.

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“Obviously in the late 70s there was an openness, with dancing, and obviously in the 60s. There’ve been little pockets. When I first hit the big time in ’93 there was a small window – but those windows, they close. They open, they close. And I think that is why we’re experiencing that right now and that’s why our show is successful.

“But it will close again. It’s not always that way. Absolutely, that’s the history of mankind. During the 80s, I couldn’t believe even gay people became very conservative during the 80s.”

RuPaul said more on this on a further interview, explaining “Like I said before, there are windows of openness in our culture. And then our culture closes those windows down just as fast. And I’ve seen it in my lifetime, time and time again. Right now I’m enjoying the freedom that we all have. But it could really all end. What happened in Germany in the early ’30s, no one could have imagined that – except for the people who had lived through that kind of thing before. And it’s all cyclical. So we have a certain freedom now. And I’m not just talking about gay people. I’m talking about everyone. We have a certain freedom now. But that could all change in a heartbeat.”

This week, people online have been sharing the RuPaul interview and discussing how he predicted LGBTQ+ rights going backwards for us all and how whilst many of Ru’s flaws are valid to be critiqued, it is amazing seeing how wise mother actually is. It’s scary out there.

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