Swana Kings

As part of our Queer in SWANA: Voices Heard series, LevantX spoke to members of SWANA Kings, a group founded for drag kings in Lebanon with members from different places. Check out their stories below, what they do and how they started

King Papi Moon

SWANA Kings was started by me and my friend Safa, who is a Lebanese King. I had wanted a space for SWANA drag performers, especially Kings, and hadn't seen it already existing. So, Safa and I started the group! 

The point of this group is to have a space where SWANA drag kings can feel comfortable in their culture and identity, especially in a world where SWANA identities are sometimes seen as dangerous and often LGBTQ people in these communities are sometimes left out and harmed. Because of this reason as well, I wanted it to exist so that way people know we are here and proud.

We have monthly themed looks that revolve around SWANA topics: stuff like our food and sometimes goofy themes like moustaches. Overall, this digital space is a proud place to be an LGBTQ SWANA King!

Donny Mirassou

I know how lucky I am with my biological family. They have been encouraging and very supportive of who I am as a person. I never had to be in the closet with my parents. I was about thirteen years old when my mother encountered me starting to play as a drag King. She saw the movie Victor/Victoria, a movie where a female singer pretends to be a man impersonating a woman, and I got kicked out. At first it was a lot of celebrity impressions and playing male roles in plays. 

As for what I do, 30+ years later, it’s a ton of stuff. I’m best known for being the very typical gothic metal guy; the scary guy on stage, with heavy black eyeliner and lipstick, who will turn around and make a Star Trek joke or do something ridiculously nerdy. Most of the drag acts I do are smaller bands or styles of music that you don’t hear in the mainstream in the states. I also have spent a few years doing burlesque as a man and have kept that creepy gothic edge to my dancing. I’m also doing modelling, acting and stand-up comedy.

Slick Hardwood

I am a queer non-binary gender fluid Egyptian living in Montreal. I've been performing for over a decade as Phoenix Inana, performing queer theater and cabaret arts, such as burlesque, vaudeville, drag, and belly dancing.

I started doing drag as a gender bending performer in queer cabarets and nightlife in Montreal. Parties like Faggity Ass Fridays, POMPe, GAYBASH, Cirque de Boudoir, Cabaret Faux Pas, Meow Mix, Get Bent, and nights at the Royal Phoenix, the Wiggle Room and Cabaret Cleopatre are where I got my start as a gender bender and drag King.

I started going by the name of Slick Hardwood in 2012 and won the Montreal King of Kings competition in 2019 and got really into performing at the city's first all King show Manspread. I perform as Horus Ben Sharmuta when I am representing Egyptian masculinity.

I really love being part of a community of Kings, which is too often disregarded and marginalized within drag communities. I am especially thrilled to be a part of SWANA Kings and I really feel more connected to my ancestry and my peoples, even if it isn't always safe for us at home or in the diaspora.