RuPaul’s Drag Race is back with the latest addition to the franchise: Vegas Revue.
But unlike the other Drag Race iterations, Vegas Revue gives us a much closer look at the queens’ personal lives. And that means some quality time with Derrick Barry and his two boyfriends.
Derrick Barry is in a throuple: a committed relationship between three people. She’s been with her partner Nick for 13+ years and with Mack (aka Nebraska Thunderfuck) for 7+.
Note, this is different from a threesome, which is sex between three people, and an open relationship, which allows people to date and/or hook-up outside of their core relationship.
A throuple is basically the same as a committed, monogamous relationship, except there happens to be three people rather than two.
It’s rare we ever get a depiction of a polyamorous relationship on TV, especially a real one. The only recent one that comes to mind was the fictional throuple on Netflix’s The Politician, and that was heavily focused on the sex aspect.
And that’s typically how throuples are portrayed: sexual, deviant, weird.
But a peek into Derrick’s personal life has shown another, much-needed side to polyamory.
Derrick and his partners live a pretty typical life. They sit around drinking tea, they chat about their lives and careers, and they love and support each other.
As Derrick explained in a 2016 interview,
“We’re a team. I’m inspired by their creativity and they help elevate mine.”
She added,
“We all have our moments, but we treat each other 100% equally. It takes a strong and confident person to be in this kind of relationship.”
Derrick may not be your favorite queen, but she’s bringing something important this season. She’s giving a good name to throuples, an incredibly valid type of relationship that is often ignored by society. We’re shown how incredibly loving a throuple can be and how it’s about so much more than sex.
So, here’s to Derrick Barry, her two boyfriends, and their beautiful relationship. Let’s hope we see more polyamorous representation on TV in the near future.
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