Aja shared an intimate post asking her followers for “some help” as she continues navigating her “gender journey”.
In July 2018, Aja announced that she would rather be known as a “queer artist” as opposed to a “drag queen”.
This led to her primarily focusing on her music career and less on the way a “stereotypical drag queen lip-syncs and performs”.
On 6 September, the Drag Race icon took to Instagram to share an incredibly personal post about her “gender journey”.
“Afterword I came out as non-binary and things started to make more sense to me from a gender standpoint however things became more difficult for me from an artistic standpoint because I started to feel like every time I dressed up I was embodying my trans identity and not an art form,” part of her message to fans read.
Aja revealed that watching Kylie Sonique Love win RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6 was an inspiring moment for her.
The star continued: “I have been a big fan of @xosonique for a very long time and I don’t know. Watching her win made me realize that, that could be me.
“Not necessarily winning Drag Race, but being able to embody my own gender and identity and still be an artist with neither of them conflicting each other.
“It really hit me at that moment that Trans is who I am and drag is what I do. That me doing Drag has never taken away from who I am as a person and that as a public figure I should have navigated that journey and situation better.”
On 19 December, Aja shared another update with her 850,000 Instagram followers – this time asking for help with the next part of her life.
“Well yall, here we go,” she wrote. “I’m on my gender journey and auntie needs some help. Please share! I’m trying to be as comfortable in the skin I’m in as I can. Link also in Bio.”
The link in Aja’s post and bio is for a GoFundMe page in a bid to raise $35,000 “for the medical portion of my gender journey.”
“While researching, I’ve come to realize how expensive a lot of these procedures actually are,” Aja continued. “I am asking for the help of my community, friends and family. I have lived my life as Non Binary since 2018 and have recently began to identify more with the feminine aspect of my identity.”
Aja added that she is “ready” to “be in the body that I feel most comfortable in.”
She said: “Now living my life as a trans woman has brought out worries about different things such as my appearance. I am ready to affirm myself and be in the body that I feel most comfortable in. I am interested in/but not limited to Facial Fillers/Botox/Facial Feminization, Laser Hair Removal and eventually maybe electrolysis, Hair Plugs, etc.”
Donations can be made to Aja’s GoFundMe by clicking here.
