Critical Conversation: LGBTQ+ Experience

Join us for a conversation that is a critical exploration of how the queer community utilizes drag as an artistic platform.

We will host a panel discussion featuring a local Drag King and Drag Queen, both alumni of UC Berkeley. The event aims to engage in an insightful panel discussion on topics including an introduction to drag (defining key terms and concepts), the specific dynamics of drag within the Bay Area, the international perspectives of drag, and opportunities to experience drag in the Bay Area. Don't miss out as there will be live performances from the panelist!

We encourage participants to wear face coverings to create a more inclusive and safer environment, especially for those with compromised immune systems. This small act of care helps ensure everyone can fully participate and feel comfortable.

Meet our panelists:

LOTUS BOY (Ze/Zir, He/Him, They/Them)

|TikTok |Instagram| @Kinglotusboy

Is a transgender, unapologetically disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically illUSTRIOUS, Chinese-AntiAmerican drag king based in occupied Lisjan Ohlone Land (aka Oakland, CA). As an anti-disciplinary artist, ze explores gender fluidity, accessibility, sustainability, joy, and healing from trauma, through any medium which speaks to zir spirit. LOTUS BOY is on the Board of Directors for Oaklash, the Bay Area's drag festival, and the SPM Disability Justice Fund which supports liberatory projects led by disabled BIPOC. He is also a member of the Heritage Activists Liberation Artists (HALA) Collective, which centers Palestinian, Black, Indigenous, and collective liberation by emphasizing queer resistance, heritage preservation, and cultural activism. When not onstage, ze brings drag and gender exploration workshops to middle schools, high schools, and colleges in the Bay Area and beyond. In 2023, LOTUS BOY became the first openly disabled and Asian winner of the 27th Annual San Francisco Drag King Contest.

PHOEBE CAKES (She/Her in drag, Indifferent out of Drag)

|Instagram|YouTube|@shehaslayers

Is an award-winning dilettante, polyamorous renaissance woman, and misunderstood interdisciplinary storyteller. A poet at heart, hallmarks of her style include referentiality, irreverence, sex-positivity, and melodrama. Phoebe hosts the monthly drag show “Cake Hole” in Berkeley; produces the YouTube channel In My Crumble Opinion, a repository for her interviews with creatives and video essays on media and culture; performs with the culture-forward drag troupe FiliPINX; and has consistently won Best Talent in competition. Out of drag, Robert Andrew Perez is author of the collection of poetry, “the field,” the cowriter of the film Stone|Fruit, and is the host of trivia at Zachary’s Chicago Pizza in Oakland. Phoebe lives on occupied Ohlone Land (East Oakland) with his reactive dog, Icarus, and Icarus’s two other daddies.

KAIKAI

Is a Bay area drag performer and cosplay artist with a passion for social justice and community care. They specialize in performances that are often fun yet thought provoking or deeply emotional as a reflection of culture and their own personal feelings. KaiKai is a co-host/producer of several shows in SF and the East Bay. They delight in always bringing something new and refreshing to queer art and are not afraid of sharing their stories with others.

Host or Publisher Center for Intercultural Leadership and Programs