‘Drag Race’ Icon Valentina Comes Out as Trans
RuPaul’s Drag Race icon Valentina just celebrated her birthday in a very special way. In a heartfelt message to her fans, the Mexican-American drag queen has come out as a trans woman.
Valentina first rose to prominence on season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2017. She finished in seventh place after briefly refusing to take her mask off during a Lip-Sync for Your Life. That same season, Valentina was crowned Miss Congeniality, but her castmates wanted the title to be changed to “fan-favorite.”
In 2019, she came out as non-binary and identified that way until her 34th birthday yesterday. Valentina has now revealed that she identifies as trans in a message in English and Spanish on Instagram.
“Hello everyone, it’s me Valentina Xunani,” she wrote. “Today is my birthday. I turn 34. For some time now I’ve been in transition. I’ve been doing it privately but today I wanted to [be] open and share with you all. Along the way I’ve felt pressure to come forward so I’ve decided and wanted to take today to declare myself a transgender woman. I welcome all the love, support, and protection from my dear fans.”
In her post, Valentina also shared stunning photos of herself. Back in December, she revealed that her Muxe mother Elvis Guerra named her Xunani, which is the Muxe name that she goes by now. Muxe is a third gender that stems from the culture of Juchitán de Zaragoza in Oaxaca, Mexico.
In 2018, Valentina returned to compete on the fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars where she finished in seventh place. In 2023, she co-hosted the very first season of Drag Race México with Lolita Banana.
Valentina recently opened up about more of her life story in the online webseries “Portrait of a Queen.”
