Gigi Goode on coming to terms with their gender-fluid identity
The 'Drag Race' star proves they're not your typical fashion queen in the Attitude Summer issue, out now.
By Will Stroude
They may have been pipped to the post by the impeccable Jaida Essence Hall on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12, but Gigi Goode is quickly proving they’re a force to be reckoned with in the drag world.
Just 21 at the time of filming, the LA performer proved they were much more than your typical fashion queenas they joined an elite group of queens with four challenge wins over the course of the series.
As they parked themself firmly among a new generation of queens throwing off the shackles of drag tradition, Gigi also won legions of fans after opening up about their gender identity.
“Sometimes I identify as more male and sometimes I identify as more feminine. I think that I’m both… and I’m neither”, Gigi, real name Sam Geggie, revealed during the Snatch Game episode.
As they pose for an exclusive shoot in the Attitude Summer issue – out now to download and to order globally – Gigi says: “I’ve known I was different ever since I can remember.”
The Attitude Summer issue is out now to download and to order globally
“I don’t have many childhood memories from a young age but, according to my mum, I’ve been aware of my gender identity since age three or four.
“She told me that one day we were in the car singing our go-to, ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’, when she heard me interrupt and ask ‘Why did God make me a boy? I’m supposed to be a girl!’
“Needless to say, that planted the seed of suspicion that I might not be like their other boys…”
As one of the few Drag Race queens to come out as gender-fluid, Gigi has helped inspire countless fans who are also dicovering that traditional gender binaries don’t reflect their sense of self.
Gigi Goode, shot by Magnus Hastings exclusively for the Attitude Summer issue, out now
“I get daily messages from fans about gender identity and fluidity, and it’s been so crazy to see the impact that that conversation had,” Gigi says.
“Being able to reassure people that they aren’t living their lives for anyone but themselves has been very rewarding.
“But what’s more amazing is that my mum has been able to help equally as many kids — as well as parents. That’s all I could really ask for.”
Gigi, who was among the 40-plus Drag Race queens who lent their voice to a recent video declaring solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, adds that she hopes conversations about gender and race will continue to dominate the discourse around Pride this year.
Photography: Magnus Hastings
“For me, Pride is a celebration of the joy and freedom that comes from living unapologetically as a queer person”, she explains.
“I consider myself indescribably lucky to have that kind of freedom — a liberation that would not exist if it wasn’t for the efforts of trans and queer activists such as Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.
“I’d like to encourage the members of our community to take the time to research the history behind their fight, as well as to support and uplift the voices of queer and trans artists and activists of colour.”
Read the full interview in the Attitude Summer issue, out now to download and to order globally.
Subscribe in print and get your first three issues for just £3, or digitally for just £1.54 per issue.
