Gia Gunn
[Photo via YouTube/VH1]

‘Drag Race’ casts first transitioning woman for ‘All Stars Season 4’

After appearing on the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Gia Gunn will return for the fourth season of All Stars, this time as an openly transgender woman. This will be the first time in Drag Race history that a transitioning woman will be on the show.

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RuPaul’s Drag Race recently released a first look on who will be returning for the fourth season of All Stars. Among the lineup includes Latrice Royale, Manila Luzon and Gia Gunn, among many others.

“Oh, there definitely will be drama in All Stars 4,” Gunn says in a video with VH1. “If Gia Gunn’s included, there’s drama — And I think the rest of my cast will learn that very quickly.”

In the past, RuPaul made some questionable remarks about trans women appearing on Drag Race. In an interview with The Guardian, RuPaul talked about another trans woman that was on the show, Peppermint. However, he said that if Peppermint transitioned before the show, he wouldn’t have cast her, citing that “transitioning” wouldn’t fit with the show’s intentions.

“You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body,” RuPaul says. “It takes on a different thing; it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing.”

We’ve had some girls who’ve had some injections in the face and maybe a little bit in the butt here and there, but they haven’t transitioned,” he continues.

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Luckily, RuPaul has had a change of heart. Gian Gunn, known as Gia Ichikawa by her stage name, is a trans woman and will be welcomed back for All Stars. According to Vulture, she came out and legally changed her first name to Gia in 2017.

“I honestly wouldn’t be the proud, Japanese-American trans woman that I am today if it wasn’t for drag or Drag Race,” Gunn says.

Since the filming of Drag Race, six women have come out as transgender. You can watch highlights of Gia’s time on the sixth season below.

We are rooting for you, Gia.

All Stars 4 will premier Friday, Dec. 14 on VH1.

What are you most excited about for the fourth season of Drag Race All Stars? Sound off in the comments below.