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Coming Out Chats: Lawrence Chaney and Victoria Scone in conversation
21 October 2021, 09:41
Drag Race UK's Lawrence Chaney and Victoria Scone share their coming out journeys on the Coming Out Chats podcast.
Welcome to Coming Out Chats, the podcast where our guests open up to each other about their coming out journeys. This week we're joined by drag superstars Lawrence Chaney and Victoria Scone
Lawrence was catapulted into fame earlier this year after winning the second series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. After wowing RuPaul and Drag Race fans with their quick wit and gorgeous looks, Lawrence snatched the crown on what is widely considered by fans as one of the best seasons of Drag Race ever.
Since then, Lawrence has toured extensively and recently released their first book: (Drag) Queen of Scots: The Dos & Don’ts of a Drag Superstar.
Joining Lawrence is their friend and fellow drag artist, Victoria Scone.
Victoria recently competed in the third series of Drag Race UK and made history as the first AFAB drag queen to appear on the show (AFAB stands for ‘assigned female at birth’).
Prior to Victoria’s appearance, Drag Race had been criticised by the drag community for not including cis-female performers. Her inclusion was celebrated by many as a milestone for better representation for drag performers of all different backgrounds in mainstream media.
In this episode, Lawrence and Victoria talk about coming out to their families, their experiences with bullying, the lack of representation for younger queer women in public life, prejudices against plus sized people in the LGBTQ community, Victoria’s historic inclusion on Drag Race UK, and so much more.
Listen and subscribe to Coming Out Chats below:
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Read the excerpt from Lawrence and Victoria's chat below
Lawrence: When do you feel the most pride and joy in your identity?
Victoria: For me, it's difficult because [it’s] probably when I do drag, which is ironic because, out of drag, I would say I'm not very feminine presenting. I like to present a little bit butch. But in drag, I like to present hyper-hyper-hyper-feminine, or like, just a complete caricature of a woman. So weirdly, it's when I'm in drag but that's not how I like to self-identify when I'm not in drag. I think I like experimenting between the two and being able to do that freely. I have a lot of joy when I'm out and about, I'm with my girlfriend and I'm feeling a little bit masculine. But then I have ultimate euphoria when I'm in drag and I'm the most gorgeous stunning thing you've ever seen in your life.
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Victoria: What about you? when do you feel the joy?
Lawrence: You know what? What I've learned through this whole process, and Drag Race has really taught me this, is being a plus-size person in a world made for thin people, I think there is no greater joy to me than walking in a room full of people who don't like fat people. Or thought Bimini [Bon Boulash] should have won purely based on her size versus mine. If you think someone's a better drag queen, fair enough, but if you're just judging them based on size, sex, gender, whatever, that's when you're an arsehole. You’re an arsehole for that. But yeah, I feel the most pride in accepting my body wholeheartedly. For every stretch mark, for every curve, for every roll. I love it. Sometimes I gain weight, sometimes I lose weight, that's why all my costumes are stretch, baby! They’re ready to go. I feel so much pride and joy and acceptance in myself because I'm able to look back on when I didn't accept it, and I look into a world that doesn't accept it, and I go ‘please learn something from me and learn to accept it like I have and we would get on much more swimmingly'. You know?
Victoria: Absolutely. There's nothing more beautiful than being so confident in your own body and other people being threatened by that.
Lawrence: Oh my god, people are so threatened by it. They see it as such a… as a fat person, they expect you to be bubbly and funny. And that's it. They expect you to be Dawn French. You're Melissa McCarthy - but don't get too serious now! You've got to be the clown, you've got to be the jester, you can't be too serious. So I like fucking them up a wee bit, just twisting the knife.
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