The City of West Hollywood presents its annual celebration for Harvey Milk Day and kickoff of the WeHo Pride Arts Festival (May 22 – June 30, www.wehopride.com/artsfestival) with the first annual José Sarria Drag Pageant, organized by HIT and sponsored by the Imperial Court. José Sarria was the first openly gay person to run for office in the United States, helped pave the way for Harvey Milk’s successful run for office, was a well-known drag performer under the name the Window Norton, and founded the Imperial Court System which is one of the oldest and largest LGBT organizations in the world. The competition is hosted by Maebe A. Girl, who became the first drag queen elected to public office in the United States, after being elected to the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in 2019. The judges are West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne, Kiki Extravaganza, Ebony Lane, and Queen Mother Karina Samala and Emperor Eugene Maysky of the Imperial Court.
Drag Queens and Kings are invited to compete for the crown in 3 rounds: Formal Wear, Question and Answer, and Talent. Anybody interested in entering the pageant should email Sean Knapp (seandknapp@gmail.com) by May 21. Contestants can arrive as early as 4pm, but no later than 6:00pm. An unsecured room and restroom will be provided, but contestants are encouraged to come to the pageant fully dressed and made up. All contestants will compete in the formal wear round. 10 contestants will be selected to enter the question and answer round. From those 10, 3 will be selected to show their talent. This is a public space —talents should be suitable for all audiences. If your talent needs music, please have your music track (non-explicit) prepared for the DJ. The top 10 contestants will receive a cash prize.
This event is free. RSVP is required at https://2023harveymilkday.eventbrite.com. In addition to the Drag Pageant, there will be a voter registration table, a Harvey Milk photo opportunity, and custom typewriter poetry provided by Pride Poets, a City arts grantee.
