RuPaul is ‘numb’ over Orlando massacre

Drag legend RuPaul says this week’s massacre inside a gay nightclub in Orlando has left him ‘really numb … on so many different levels.

‘Not only as an American, but as a human being, to see that we are still in that place.’

A gunman opened fire inside Pulse nightclub and killed 49 people including Edward Sotomayor Jr., the cousin of RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Jade Sotomayor.

‘Every American who believes in what this country stands for is shaken to the core,’ RuPaul told Access Hollywood Live on Wednesday.

‘And it really does have to stop. And like I said, a collective shift in our consciousness has to happen.’

RuPaul added: ‘It’s not just about gun control, it’s not just about gay people, it’s about our identity as Americans and that’s the challenge for us moving forward. ‘The American people have some real soul searching to do – not just on this but across the board.’

He also discussed the irony that so many gay people were killed and injured in the attack and yet gay men in the US are still not allowed to donate blood unless they have been celibate for a year.

‘That’s a relic of the 80s,’ RuPaul said, referencing a policy put into place at the height of the AIDS crisis in the US.

‘We’re still s very primitive culture. Unfortunately, maybe it’s occasions like this that will advance us – that will push us forward.’

RuPaul has not lost hope though.

‘I do know that love, and I believe in love, is the first step.’