EvolutionPublishing.com.au – By Lian Low
Lian Low explores the world of King Victoria, and the art of drag kings.
Beau Heartbreaker? Scon Bott? Rocco D’Amore? Koko Mas? Do these names ring a bell? They should, because these local drag king celebrities are hitting the stage every Friday night at the Opium Den, as part of Australia’s longest, continuously running, weekly drag king event, hosted by King Victoria.
In May 2000, frustrated and bored by the lack of “excitement and sexy atmosphere” of the queer scene, King Victoria co-founder Bumpy, together with good friend, Tom Erge, (both “obsessed with ideas about transgender and drag and sexuality” and inspired by Judith Halberstam and Del LaGrace Volcano’s groundbreaking The Drag King Book) started organising monthly drag king competitions to “wake up the sleeping giants of Melbourne”.