Minutes from Border, San Diego Drag Queens Perform for Migrant Caravan
| 12/10/18
Drag Queens Acting Quickly for LGBTQ Asylum Seekers
Hosted and supported by Urban Mo's, flagship of San Diego's LGBTQ-owned Mo's Universe group of restaurants and night-spots, Kickxy Vixen-Styles (front, with microphone) led a flash-fundraiser, all-star drag show organized in a day to raise cash assistance for LGBTQ immigrants being held in wet, less-than-sanitary camps at the border.
This is Personal
"I was born to immigrant parents from Mexico," benefit organizer, Kickxy Vixen-Styles tells The Advocate. "When I heard the story about the Caravan, it really touched my heart. When I heard that our LGBTQ brothers and sisters were being mistreated and discriminated by other marginalized people within the Caravan, I hurt for them. Although it saddened me, I knew I had to do something about it. I had to use my small platform as a drag queen here in the neighboring San Diego community to help in a positive way. Our community has seen adversity and we know how to raise money for those in need. These days more than ever, we need to stand together. We must help where we can and stand up for the those in need in whatever way we know how."
Symbol of Love against a Crackdown
Though maybe only a drop in the bucket of need, the more than $2,200 Kickxy and her colleagues raised with help from Mo's Universe, means a great deal materially and as a symbol of love and support for LGBTQ asylum-seekers held back by the Trump administration and its "crackdown" on those who would claim emergency asylum protections in the U.S. from the oppression, threats, and violence they face back home simply because of their gender or sexual orientation. Pictured: Drag performer, Naomi Daniels.
Impassioned Fundraiser for LGBTQ Asylum Seekers
Personal connections to the saga of migrating to America combined with sadness and frustration -- and an impulse to do something fast to help LGBTQ asylum-seekers stuck in dire circumstances at the southern border -- culminated in a quickly-organized, impassioned drag show and fundraiser last week in San Diego. Keex Rose performs at Urban Mo's.
Darkest Hour, Timely Benefit
At the very moment circumstances for Central American migrants encamped in and around Tijuana went from bad to worse with a torrent of bad weather and a barrage of border patrol-launched tear gas, financial help was being raised 15 minutes to the north, in San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood. A group of LGBTQ-owned restaurants and a community of drag performers, led by San Diego-based Kickxy Vixen-Styles, resolved to support their gender and sexually diverse brothers and sisters seeking asylum in a country whose government has become hostile toward migrants. Ginger Douglas performs at Urban Mo's
Motivated to Help
Like so many others in and beyond the LGBTQ community, legendary drag performer Paris Sukomi Max was motivated to help by images of mothers, children, elderly people, and youths seeking safety and refuge from a country built on immigration only to be intentionally delayed or discouraged from applying for asylum in the United States.
Performing to Support LGBTQ Migrants
Nayda Simone just wanted to do something to help LGBTQ migrants who today face a level of hostility from the American government toward asylum seekers that would have been unimaginable a generation ago. Stepping up with her "a-game" at a recent, impromptu drag show and benefit organized by fellow performer, Kickxy Vixen-Styles and hosted by Mo's Universe, was the least Simone felt she could do.
Frustration: Reaching LGBTQ Camp Leaders Difficult
Even a local LGBT community center in San Diego was unsure of how to ensure money raised locally for LGBTQ asylum-seekers being detained in camps at the southern border would actually make it to LGBTQ migrants. Benefit organizers eventually made contact with a Latin American studies professor at a Southern California public university, who has strong ties to the LGBTQ community in Tijanua, Mexico. According to organizers, the money did indeed make it to the encampment where LGBTQ migrants are located. Ginger Douglas, pictured
More Support for LGBTQ Asylum Seekers Needed
The fact that LGBTQ people are fleeing countries such as Honduras, where "violence has reached epidemic levels" prompted Naomi Daniels to show up and sing her heart out to raise funds for asylum seekers.
And yet they Persist
Strawberry Corncakes was among a troupe of impassioned San Diego drag performers who assembled in short-order and raised $2,200 for LGBTQ migrants currently enduring harsh conditions at the southern border as they persist in their quest to win asylum in the United States.
