Over the course of the last year and a half, I’ve been working on this interview series featuring individuals on the gender-spectrum and their life stories. A part of my mission is to provide the community with the opportunity to share their stories. We all live such beautifully unique and complex lives each worthy of sharing.

Today I present you with episode 1 featuring Rubye Moore who at the time of filming was 23 years old. Rubye identify as a gay male drag queen and prefered pronouns are whatever, pronouns are not so important. This week Rubye is celebrating a birthday! Happy birthday sis thank you for being so patient for this series to be released!

Q: Where there any signs or feelings in your childhood that you were gay? 

A:  I always knew that I was gay but I didn’t really know what it meant. I didn’t have any exposure to gay culture or gay people at all till high school. I very much knew what was going on but I just kind of kept it to myself until late middle school.

Q:  Did you ever struggle with your gender?

A:  I did not have gender struggles specifically. When I did drag for the first time it felt very natural but I never wanted to identify as female. I’ve always taken the idea of gender and then just f*** it up even before I did drag. I went out to bars and other non-queer spaces in a full face of makeup. I’ve always shopped in whatever Department store/sections I want to.

Q: When did you learn about what being gay was? 

A: I don’t know this is so weird – but when I think about it, in my middle school I’d watch a lot of Chelsea Handler’s talk show and her content was very gay focused. It wasn’t really until the end of high school beginning of college where I really immersed myself within my sexuality and allowed myself to discover what I wanted to be.

Q: Tell me about the first time you crossdressed in public?

A: I had a friend who was going to a newcomer drag competition at a local bar, in passing I was invited by said friend. It was my first exposure to the drag world as well as my first time in a gay bar. I felt really comfortable going all out in a full beat. I stacked on Highlight Contour lipstick and whatever else I had on hand, but I wasn’t in drag. I was just playing with makeup and liked it. When I got to the show I caught the eyes of some of the drag queens, a group of them actually told me I was really pretty and insisted on putting me into drag. I looked terrible but I knew what needed to be done to make it better, so I kept doing it.

Q: What is the first makeup item you remember wearing?

A: The first makeup item I remember wearing was concealer, tinted moisturizer and BB cream. Back in high school I had really really really bad skin, my skin is still terrible, my acne was so bad I didn’t even want to go to school. Past that the only other makeup I wore was back when the whole fleeky eyebrow trend came out in about 2014. That is when makeup started to become more intertwined in my life, till one day I was a “full woman”. 

Q: Tell me about coming out as gay? Who did you tell first and what was their response?

A: I only came out to my close friends. I didn’t feel the need to come out cuz I was super gay already. When I came out to a couple of my friends in high school I told them, “O, I went on a date on a date with a guy last night and it was great”. Their response was short like “That’s great!” As for my family, I did not come out. One day when I was 17 or so I just brought the man I was dating home and they were just okay with it, not surprised whatsoever.

Q: What was the first conversation you had with anyone regarding your sexual orientation?

A: I guess it was when I was telling my friends that I went on a date with a guy they were like okay, completely unsurprised other than the normal curiosity of if I was gay or bi. I’ve always been super relaxed about it, I was just doing whatever felt right to me. I guess I’ve kind of always been like this.

Q: Was there any point in time you remember talking about your gender? Or someone being overly questioning of what you were doing? 

A: I remember when I first started doing drag, I was still friends with my first ex-boyfriend and it made him so uncomfortable. He asked if I was going to be a woman now? Honestly, I think he was the only person that had a strange perspective of what I do.

Q: Have there been any milestones or goals you’ve accomplished since starting drag that you’re proud of?

A: well I started doing drag three years ago. Going back year-and-a-half ago I did a benefit show with Ben Addiction, who I host a couple of shows with now. That benefit show was the gig that ended up landing us a regular show called SIS which was a huge stepping stones to or current show the Queer Agenda every Tuesday at Stacy’s. I guess diving into hosting was probably the biggest milestone for me because it was not really something that I was aiming to do yet it opened up a lot of doors for me. Another thing was when I competed for Miss Phoenix Pride 2018, which got a lot of eyeballs on me and people saw that I wasn’t f****** around.

Q: Since coming out and doing drag have either of these things notably affected your dating life? 

A:  I don’t like dating people but if I had to answer this question I guess I don’t really like associating with people who are so close-minded that they wouldn’t date or hook up with a drag queen. This expands beyond people that I am romantic with. I’m also like that with people I befriend in general. If you’re not open-minded like me, I don’t even want to be around you.

Q: At what step do you feel you were really being yourself?

A: I guess doing drag makes me feel like myself in a way. Prior to drag, I never knew what I was missing. It really felt like my past was missing out on this big part of who I am. It kind of upsets me still that I had not found drag sooner. Before doing drag, I hadn’t even watched a single drag race. I guess just doing drag in general, has made me feel more authentically myself.

Q: Are there any words you find offensive? 

A: I try to not get offended by anything that isn’t trying to offend me. If someone’s trying to offend me then, I’ll be offended. But if someone is just telling a joke or being playful I’m not easily offended. 

Q: What kind of struggles have you faced in public?

A: I honestly am kind of shocked at how comfortable I am in public in Drag. Even holding hands with a guy out in drag is natural. 

Q: Is there anything else you would like to talk about?

A: This past year has been crazy for me. It started when I was getting ready for Phoenix Pride. The bookings started to roll in. The biggest milestone for me at that point was when I was in Kirby Girls. I was so emotional about this gig because Kirby Girls one was one of the first drag shows I ever went to. It was my biggest goal, I was actually wanting to be in the show someday and then a short two years later, I was in it. After that the Queer Agenda just kind of popped out of nowhere and has created a safe space for not only myself but my co-hosts and the people that come to the show.

I also have my own show once a month where I host a competition show. It has kind of been mistaken as a newcomer show but it’s a competition for anybody that wants to compete without the pressure of doing pageants or audition for drag race just yet. This is where I plan to place most of my focus for now. I’m really excited to see where the show goes and who it will inspire.

Q: Are there any other plans for you this year or for the coming years?

A: I would like to maybe dive into another pageant. A lot of people like to think the kind of drag my friends and I do is very anti pageant but it’s not. I love pageantry. Yes, it’s kind of outside of my box but I like to challenge myself. Honestly, I don’t want to limit myself and I would like to think that the things I’m doing next year are things I wouldn’t have even thought of right now. 

Q: If you were to be given the opportunity to tell your younger self one-word of advice what would it be?

A: I just wish I would have discovered drag sooner. I feel like things have happened for me quickly from when I started to now but I could be even better and more knowledgeable than I am right now. I also wish I would have explored my town more because I didn’t realize that there is actually a decent-sized queer/gay community here in Phoenix.

Q:  What’s one message would you like to leave little boys and girls going through similar situations?

A: Explore more or be a little more open-minded and talk to some people. I kept to myself a lot and I wish I would have been a little more open about my sexuality in High School. I don’t know things could have gone a little differently, not just for myself but maybe for my friends as well.