As I noted earlier this month in this space, Canadians were again made proud by their costume-loving leader when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to make an appearance on “Canada’s Drag Race,” with the trailer showing him nearly shivering with delight that he could make such a statement. The appearance has now been released online and it was, if possible, worse than one might have thought.
It is clear that these folks are, in fact, Trudeau’s scene. He was delighted to be there – the last time he looked this happy, he was flicking his tongue about and frolicking at the Pride Parade (another much-vaunted prime ministerial first).
“This is groundbreaking,” the head drag queen noted. “The first-ever world leader to visit a drag queen set!” Trudeau, of course, was modest. “I’m glad I’m the first, but I look forward to the time when there’s a third or fourth,” he said gravely.
“Justin, I just want to thank you for being such an ally,” the drag host went on. “You’re the first prime minister to ever walk in a Pride Parade. That’s huge.”
“Thank you, but it has been an incredible pleasure to be part of fighting the good fight on the right side,” Trudeau replied, beaming. “It is about respecting people. Can we move beyond ‘tolerate’ and start embracing and loving and accepting and learning from and being challenged by? That’s how you build a resilient society. That’s what we’re trying to do in Canada, and we’ve got a lot of work still to do.”
