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.”
Spectators cheer on Eve Swallows during her performance at the Queer Surf drag show at Pacifica State Beach in Pacifica on June 7, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)
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.”
King LOTUS BOY poses for a photo at Franklin Square in San Francisco on June 4, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)
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.
Eve Swallows performs at the Queer Surf drag show at Pacifica State Beach in Pacifica on June 7, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)
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.
King LOTUS BOY poses for a photo at Franklin Square in San Francisco on June 4, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)
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.
