Lavender Rights Art Auction Fundraiser Has A Great Line-Up of Live Talent, Too

Ms. Ara-Lei Yandall

In addition to holding the impressive title of Miss UTOPIA International 2018, our first performer, Ms. Ara-Lei Yandall, serves as the Program Coordinator at the Seattle chapter of UTOPIA (United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance).

As is described on their website, UTOPIA has worked since 2009 with Queer and Trans Pacific Islander (QTPI) leaders to create a safe, welcoming, supportive, and vibrant space for members of the community to address basic needs, build pathways toward new expanded career and life opportunities, foster a sense of common purpose, and advocate for social justice, education, and overall wellness among members of the Pacific Islander LGBTQI community.

UTOPIA is led and founded by women of color, identifying as transgender and/or fa’afafine. Fa’afafine is a cultural gender identity native to Samoa translated as “in the manner of a woman.” Since its inception, UTOPIA has worked to build power and help community members access resources, employment, stable housing, higher education, culturally competent healthcare, and more.

You can catch Ms. Ara-Lei Yandall’s performance at the Art Auction, and learn more about UTOPIA’s widespread community initiatives and programs at https://utopiaseattle.org/.

Lavender Country

Lavender Country, well known as a self-titled album released in 1973 by singer/songwriter/guitarist Patrick Haggerty, represents a crucial link to the past, present, and future of gay culture pushing back against the establishment.

Considered the first known gay country music album, Lavender Country is described on label Paradise of Bachelors’ website as “a scathing indictment of the injustices perpetrated on the homosexual community, a proud proclamation of gay identity, and a love letter of bracing intimacy and eroticism [that] appropriates the signifiers of the conservative country genre, queering its heteronormative vocabulary into a deeply personal language.”

Haggerty continues performing as Lavender Country with “his fabulous and talented band of rabblerousing merrymakers,” as is described on the group’s Facebook page. Join us at the Art Auction to experience Lavender Country’s ‘fuck the establishment’ tones in the seemingly-contradictory (but intentionally so) country genre.

Tail Feather

Closing our night will be Tail Feather, a boi-lesque ballet presented by Earth Pearl Collective. Tail Feather uses dance, spoken word, boi-lesque, and theatre takes to share stories of masculinity from the masculine-centered woman while making parallels to the beautiful display of masculinity found in the plumage of male birds from around the world.

Tail Feather is director and creator Sadiqua Iman’s creative response to an African American queer elder’s question, “What happened to just being a good ole fashioned butch?” With choreography by Iman’s sister, New York choreographer Alia Kache, and original music by queer pop artists Be Steadwell, this collaborative project is a memorable tribute to and for the “good ole fashioned butch.”