Fishnets and Fossil Fuels: Meet 3 Bay Area Climate-Conscious Drag Artists

Usually, talking about natural disasters, massive wildfires and climate change kills the party — unless you’re San Francisco-based drag queen Eve Swallows, who knows how to turn a number about divesting from big oil into a beach dance blowout.

At an early June surf event at Pacifica State Beach, the sun-kissed crowd burst into spontaneous movement after she performed, wearing a slick black latex, high-slit gown and a movable oil field pump fascinator. She called out the Trump Administration’s “attack on our coast with offshore drilling” in a petrol-themed medley that included “Think You The S*** (Fart)” by Ice Spice and “Gas Pedal” by Sage the Gemini — plus “Gasoline” in three ways by Britney Spears, The Chicks and a duet by Haim and Taylor Swift.

Climate drag is second nature for Eve Swallows because the environment played a pivotal role in helping her find “self-acceptance and compassion as a genderqueer person.”

“Drag accomplishes a paradox of embracing joy and fun and also serious issues of liberation, social justice and climate justice,” she said.

Eve Swallows, whose tongue-in-cheek name is inspired by the original biblical Eve, is part of a growing family of artists who are draggifying the climate movement by injecting environmental themes into their performances and helping to embolden a generation plagued by climate anxiety with humor, camp and queer community. The movement was once hyper-local, but now drag sensation Pattie Gonia is hosting a national climate-themed affair, SAVE HER! – An Environmental Drag Show. The drag artists aim to inspire audiences to embark on their climate activism journeys.

“My hope is that SAVE HER! can be a blueprint for anyone to use who they are as a person and their identity and what they’re good at to try to make a difference in this world,” Pattie Gonia said.

Oakland-based drag king VERA!, who co-leads the tour, noted that the number of climate-minded performers is now growing. They father — or mentor — 37 drag children, including King LOTUS BOY, whose drag centers on themes such as disability justice and sustainability.

“We can’t be out here just fighting for queer and trans lives if we don’t have a planet to stand on,” VERA! said. “I want queer and trans folks to thrive for generations.”

Creating a national climate drag movement

VERA! and Pattie Gonia’s drag anniversary points back to a queer hike on Angel Island in October 2022. Their union began when VERA! went into the splits on a log and licked a pine cone, prompting Pattie Gonia to ask them if they would perform in the forest.

“I did my makeup in the woods out of her makeup bag in five minutes, and we had the best time,” VERA! said. “Then our love was born.”

A few months later, VERA! invited Pattie Gonia to a show called Princess at Oasis in San Francisco, and the two decided to co-produce a climate-themed drag show. SAVE HER! came to life in April 2023 in the city by the bay with climate-related drag numbers and upcycled costumes.

The SAVE HER! show includes a third co-lead, Sequoia from Salt Lake City. In each show — from San Francisco to New York City — the trio scouts local talent and hosts a meet-and-greet before the event with environmental and queer organizations, such as Climate Action California and Oaklash.

“It creates a big environmental-loving family that we have now across the nation,” VERA! said.

VERA!’s set starts with “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses and ends with “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. For VERA! their dad-like long-haired climate drag is about preserving queer communities while human-caused climate change continues to ravage our world with hotter summers, larger wildfires and more extreme storms.

“Drag in and of itself and people fulfilling their liberation through drag is a movement,” VERA! said. “Adding climate justice to that is another movement. It’s an ecological movement sandwich.”

At the show, Pattie Gonia performs several acts, including “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, in an upcycled pink look made out of shower curtains, Barbie pieces and pool noodles. In contrast to the song’s original lyrics, her message is “life in plastic is not fantastic.”

Pattie Gonia created SAVE HER! to liven up climate work because “the climate movement is boring as f***” and deserves to be filled with joy and community.

“People are really hungry for something that is fun and something where they can meet other people in the climate movement,” Pattie Gonia said. “We forget the power of art and of community, and making action happen for the climate movement.”

At the show’s Friday the 13th Los Angeles stop, the drag artists turned the evening into a fundraiser for immigrant legal defense funds. That night, Vivian Jenna Wilson, the 21-year-old daughter of Elon Musk and Justine Wilson, made her drag debut as Vivllainous.

The young trans woman wore a black bodysuit and a translucent corset while lip-syncing to “Wasted Love” by JJ. In a group performance, she waved a transgender pride flag.

“It felt like a very interesting and beautiful collision of world events,” Pattie Gonia said.

Drag is rooted in activism

King LOTUS BOY — one of VERA!’s many drag children — frequently paints his face with bright orange, red and yellow powders and intricate black lines to mirror those of traditional Chinese opera. He often ties his drag to political causes, including climate activism, Palestinian liberation and immigration.

“I like to use my drag to talk about the things that I care about, and subtly try to show people how everything is connected,” he said. “We can’t separate climate justice from racial justice from disability justice.”

Since drag’s inception, artists have used it as a form of protest and self-expression. VERA! believes that centering human-caused climate change in drag is an added layer of activism so that queer people can have more time “to enjoy Earth.”

“We care about each other and we care about other people, and I feel like deep down that’s what activism means,” they said.

Eve Swallows doesn’t think climate drag is enough on its own to “move the needle on climate change,” but said partnering with local queer climate and environmental organizations, like SolarPunk Farms in Sonoma County, can have a greater impact.

In early June, dressed in snug blue jean overalls, a white ruffled-sleeved peasant blouse and a high blond ponytail, she emceed a queer and trans event at Pacifica State Beach with Queer Surf, a group of LGBTQ+ surfers striving to make the sport more accessible while improving coastal access.

In one number, she devoured a CrunchWrap Supreme and a Baja Blast from the beach’s shoreline Taco Bell, while performing to “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion.” The high-camp routine may not seem inherently like activism, but “any expression of queer and trans joy in this moment feels like activism, given the political climate.”

“It’s important to take it a step further and partner with local organizations around the intersection of queerness, the outdoors, or climate and embed yourself within them,” Eve Swallows said.

Turning looks, sustainably

King LOTUS BOY’s outfits and performances have evolved from clearly conveying a climate theme to embodying a lifestyle of sustainability. His first climate-esque act, from 2021, focused on the overconsumption of plastics, entering the year 3023 with imagery of the world filled with fluttering trash.

Wearing a jellyfish-like skirt made of transparent plastic packing bubbles, packing peanut-encrusted wings and a green bubble wrap rope harness, he performed to “Plastic” by Moses Sumney and “XS” and “Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys), both by Rina Sawayama.

Halfway through the performance, the Oakland-based drag king called out the world’s top plastic polluters.

“I was feeling my grief and my anger, but I was also receiving a lot of positive energy from the crowd,” he said.

Since that performance, his drag has become less about climate and more about how to live sustainably. Due to the popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the art form of drag has gained global recognition. But for King LOTUS BOY, the price tag of pulling new looks and wigs for every show isn’t sustainable.

Fast fashion’s heavy toll on the earth’s resources prompted him to design many of his outfits using repurposed materials. Drawing on his experience as a disabled and immunocompromised person, he recently created a romper out of rhinestone-coated, used KN95 masks in orange, plaid and black.

“The pandemic is not over,” he said. “It’s important to me that people are still remembering that and not just completely abandoning masks.”

For King LOTUS BOY, sustainability isn’t only about upcycled fabric; it’s about making everyday decisions to sustain himself financially, emotionally and physically, while taking a stand on issues he cares about.

“Taking up space, existing and being unapologetic and having my weird sense of humor, that’s also part of sustaining myself because it makes me happy and it hopefully makes you happy too,” King LOTUS BOY said.