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Trinity K. Bonet barely recognizes the 22-year-old she was when she first appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2014.
“It was my first time on television,” Bonet, now 34, tells WW. “ I didn’t know I was playing [in] a TV show instead of just doing drag—what I signed up for.”
Bonet is a certified superstar after two stints on competitive reality TV. She actually was one before cameras were rolling, but being broadcast likely linked her up with some of pop music’s top acts, including Taylor Swift, Cardi B and Miley Cyrus. Bonet’s first scheduled Pride appearance was the queer cabaret BOYeurism at the Alberta Rose Theatre on July 19, but since that booking she has added more shows, including as part of BOYeurism’s set at Portland Pride Festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on July 20.
Bonet will now also appear at Dixie Tavern in Old Town on July 18 for a party celebrating Beyoncé’s country album Cowboy Carter and benefiting Pride Northwest’s Black Rainbow Initiative. She will perform twice for Kourtni Capree Duv: as part of Hot Chocolate PDX’s troupe at the Pride Festival on July 19 and at Hot Chocolate PDX’s Barrel Room show on Sunday. Through it all, Bonet will showcase how different she is from the performer people saw on RPDR.
“I think my artistry has changed,” she says. “I think who I am as a person has not changed. I am more self-aware, and I ask for grace if I’m not at my best instead of inflicting whatever I might be going through on people.”
RPDR‘s sixth season is often considered one of the franchise’s best, where the show hit its stride and found the formula that has won RuPaul and the show’s production company, World of Wonder, 29 Emmy Awards among its accolades. Bonet placed seventh among 14 contestants, but her first impression sometimes came off to audiences as prickly. But Bonet’s unfiltered honesty was also inspirational. She was only the franchise’s second contestant to discuss her HIV-positive diagnosis, and her early admission ultimately helped destigmatize patients and shifted how HIV is discussed. Her admission also openly softened the season’s famously acidic winner, comedian Bianca del Rio.
Bonet’s honest demeanor did not fit the neat mold of a perfectly agreeable drag queen. Del Rio infamously scrutinized Bonet in a moment that’s become a meme, asking, “What do you do well? Quickly.” (Bonet confirmed she and del Rio are now friends.) Bonet returned to TV for the All Stars edition in 2021, where she narrowly lost the chance to compete for the crown. Her elevated sense of style and maturity propelled her further in the All Stars season (and viewers’ hearts), where she placed fifth. But both seasons trapped Bonet under the microscope of the series’ notoriously hypercritical fan base.
“I don’t apologize for who I was,” Bonet says of both her seasons on the show. “I knew nothing about lighting and cameras, and they put you in spaces with foreign people you don’t know, and then it takes you years to realize this is all television and production. When you look back at it, it’s like, ‘She was insecure and had attitude problems.’ Exactly how I felt was accurate…and it was no different on All Stars. We’re still just an accessory to the show.”
Misrepresentation was tough for Bonet to manage. She was born in Florida and relocated to Atlanta as a teen. She first performed in Miami at age 14, and reinvented herself as a full-time club entertainer in Atlanta. Her credibility in the drag scene was well established by the time WOW came courting. It’s hard to believe how much has changed (and how much hasn’t) in a decade, but critics and audiences alike weren’t ready for someone as raw as Bonet, who sometimes came off as unpolished and confrontational on-screen. But no matter anyone’s opinion, Bonet was true to herself.
Predominantly white Hollywood was merciless; RPDR’s treatment of its Black contestants and other performers of color was heavily criticized in the years between Bonet’s appearances. The words Bonet heard and read still sting.
“I don’t care how you slice it, every entertainer’s going to tell you you’re going to get a million ‘I love yous,’ and that one ‘Girl, you’re a fool,’ will ruin your whole day,” she says. “How is everybody else seeing me for all I am and not holding it against me?”
Bonet’s mother was famously one of her biggest supporters. She passed away in December, which led Bonet to relocate from Cincinnati back to Atlanta with her dogs, Jojo the Great Dane and Marie the cocker spaniel. She came out as trans around the time of her mother’s passing, but Bonet is in no hurry to define herself for anyone else’s comfort.
“My story isn’t everyone else’s, and my story is constantly changing,” she says.
Bonet’s deep loss has transformed her, as happens when parents pass, but her grief hasn’t taken her out of the spotlight forever. Bonet’s appearances in Portland are major checks on the wish lists of Isaiah Esquire, Henry Felton and Kourtni Capree Duv, the people connected to BOYeurism, Pride Northwest (the nonprofit that organizes the Pride Parade and Festival), and Hot Chocolate PDX, respectively. Esquire booked Bonet to give her a chance to flex her entire artistic range.
“‘Ru Girl’ can be a limiting term,” Esquire says, referring to the term used for RPDR alumni.
Whether she’s sharing BOYeurism’s stage with performers like internationally traveled circus aerialist Daniel Patrick or honoring Queen B at Dixie, Bonet wants her performances to uplift anyone who sees them. It’s hard to fit someone’s entirety into hourlong TV episodes, but she hopes to impart something onto audiences that lasts long after she leaves the stage.
“I think people should live in their truth,” she says. ”I think also sometimes you wake up and you feel a little different. I don’t think anybody necessarily has to identify as anything, given the opportunity to be whatever you choose to be.”
Trinity in Our City
Where to see Trinity K. Bonet.
Cowfolk Carter Party at Dixie Tavern, 32 NW Third Ave., instagram.com/pridenorthwest. 8:30 pm Friday, July 18. Free. 21+.
Portland Pride Waterfront Festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, 98 SW Naito Pkwy., instagram.com/pridenorthwest. Saturday–Sunday, July 19–20, $10 suggested donation.
BOYeurism at Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 503-719-6055, albertarosetheatre.com. 8 pm Saturday, July 19. $42–$63.75. 18+ (ages 18–20 allowed with guest 21+).
Hot Chocolate PDX Presents Black Pride After Party at Barrel Room, 120 NW Couch St., 503-242-0700, facebook.com/foreverhotchocolatepdx. 8 pm Sunday, July 20. $12.51–$108.55. 21+.
