‘King of Drag’s Vera! on Facing Down Protesters, Finding Drag Brotherhood, and ‘Loving Kings’ (Exclusive)

For Vera!, drag has never been about just getting into character—it’s about building a better world. It might sound like a lofty goal, but it’s one Vera! has embodied in every move they’ve made, every show they’ve booked, and every stage they’ve stepped onto throughout the more than a decade they’ve spent donning a glittery fanny pack and a beard.

Episode two of the second season of Revry’s hit reality competition series King of Drag saw the Oakland-based, nonbinary, 40-plus Armenian American performer leave the competition. But before they went, Vera! made an indelible mark on their brothers—and a new son—on the show, while sharing with audiences the terrifying story of being doxxed for participating in Drag Story Hour events.

Vera! tells GO just how grateful they are to have shared even a small part of their story with the world: “I feel like I really got to show all of the parts of myself that I wanted to show. I wanted to show more of that durationally, naturally. But they got to see Vera! the dad, Vera! the weird. They got to see Vera! the Armenian.”

But the truth of Vera! is far more complex than any reality TV show could capture. Their varied and interconnected identities aren’t separate lanes. For Vera!, they all inevitably lead back to the same place: the stage.

But who is Vera!? They are many things. In addition to being a performing drag king, this multihyphenate is a longtime member and co-host of the Rebel Kings of Oakland, the West Coast’s longest-running drag king troupe. Vera! is also a board member of Oaklash, the Bay Area Drag Festival, and creative director of Drag Story Hour Bay Area. They are the father of the House of Pack and the current reigning Mx. Starsearch (the first and only king to have earned the title). They are also currently co-hosting a national tour, Save Her, alongside drag star and activist Pattie Gonia.

The tour speaks to Vera’s passion for environmental activism. “We fundraise for environmental justice all across the nation, and that’s very important to me,” they explain, adding that environmentalism isn’t just meaningful—it’s fundamental. “If we don’t have an earth to stand on, how are we going to do our drag and uplift our queer and trans selves?” And eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed that Vera’s entrance look was upcycled from old windbreakers and their own fanny-pack collection.

It’s exactly this kind of representation that makes King of Drag so special and explains why Vera! knew they wanted to be a part of it. In fact, Vera! says they auditioned for season one of the show, and while they didn’t end up in the cast the first time around, they had the joy of watching two of their drag sons, Pressure K and King Perka, participate in the competition. “I couldn’t have been a prouder dad watching that series and seeing them shine—it was honestly a top highlight of my life,” recalls Vera!. This time around, when they were cast, they were thrilled at the prospect of sharing their story and art with the world. “I wanted to be on King of Drag to bring my unique perspective on drag and drag kinging to a national stage… and to have my  message and my community uplifted and shared across multiple audiences everywhere.”

A big part of that story is Vera’s Armenian heritage and, in particular, representing trans Armenian people. While some might feel the weight of visibility that comes with representing so many intersecting identities, Vera! describes it instead as “a deep desire,” adding, “being Armenian and uplifting that on screen is always a joy—especially with my time being so short. I was like ‘I hope that in the editing room, me saying I’m Armenian 500 times, one of those times makes the cut.’ I do appreciate that they had me ululating. People messaged me being just like it was so powerful to just see a queer trans performer ululating on TV.”

Vera’s willingness to be visible and vulnerable on a national platform is particularly poignant considering their history with visibility. The second challenge asked the performers to create a horror-themed floorshow with a prop reveal, and for inspiration, Vera! recalled the trauma of being doxxed for their work with Drag Story Hour Bay Area—a memory that still haunts them.

“It was such a painful experience. I can still close my eyes and see them,” Vera! says, closing their eyes. “I can see them holding the signs that say ‘pedophile.’ I can see them chasing me and my partner’s car. I can see them shouting, ‘Is he naked in there?’ And I can see them trying to bust through the doors, I can see them filming through people’s legs, trying to get in there, faking that they had a child trying to push through” Vera! recounts how one protestor, so eager to reach them, even hit a child while knocking them out of their way.

“I was like, ‘That is it right there. Is that you were so focused on trying to get to me that you’ve hurt a child. You’ve actually knocked a child over who just wants to come be read to.’”

What Vera! learned from that experience was just how frightened some people remain of freedom. “Something so pure, so joyous, can still scare people because it’s about being yourself and being free to express yourself as you are,” they say.

While that realization is a powerful one, Vera! still can’t help but be affected by the emotional reality of being publicly branded as the thing their attackers claim they are. “No matter how much you know that what people are saying is based in absolute fear and falsehood… it is a lot to hold,” they admit. “It is a lot to hold when people tell you that what your worst nightmare would be is who you are.”

Their solace, however, is that while the adults may be mired in ignorance, the younger generation maintains an open heart and mind. “Kids really get it. They get it immediately. They don’t need any explanation,” says Vera!. “If I can be that for one person … maybe it’s okay, that’s enough.”

While King of Drag offered Vera! an outlet to share that story, it also became an opportunity to grow something they clearly treasure: family. For the drag king, the show was less of a competition and more of an instant family reunion. Vera’s years of experience in the drag king world meant many of the cast members were already friends or people they had worked with in the past, but even those they met for the first time quickly found a place in their heart.

“Immediate family—they are my family for life. Season two, I love you so much. We are brothers” they share, adding that Trade is both a brother and a son as the newest official member of Haus of Pack.

That kind of warmth permeates not just the room, but radiates from the screen. Vera! refers to the show as “the most tender TV you will ever see.” They are not wrong. Much like in the first season of the show, a great deal of the queer joy of watching King of Drag comes from having a space on TV where, for an hour each week, you can watch queer and trans people be kind to one another, lift one another up, and do so with absolute, unfettered and unselfconscious sincerity. It’s rare, and it’s special—and, Vera! affirms, it’s real.

That brotherly love doesn’t end simply because a king is eliminated. Outside the competition, the kings spend time together while the show continues, and Vera! found themselves in a very familiar position: dad to the kings as they exited the competition.

“I was already ready to just gather them all to my non-binary bosom and support them, especially having gone through it first,” says Vera!. “We went to science museums together. We went thrifting. We really had coffee. We went to lunch. We went to the beach. We really just tried to support each other.”

But unlike Tuna Melt, who took on a similar role in season one, driving his brothers around in the “tuna can van,” Vera! was more of a master of post-elimination adventures. “I have no driver’s license, so I could not be the tuna can van. But I was dad Uber, and we went everywhere.”

The bonds they shared were beautiful, but there was one king Vera! got particularly up close and personal with: Chase Lounge. The two even shared a couple of kisses on screen. But was there more to it than just flirtation and brotherly fun? Vera! has bad news for shippers. That playful chemistry with Chase was just that: playful.

“I love Chase Lounge. That is my brother,” says Vera!. “It was a deep brotherly love, a deep brotherly love. But I am happily married to my wonderful spouse.”

While Vera’s time in the competition has come to an end on King of Drag, it hasn’t slowed them down one bit. Their Save Her tour with Pattie Gonia continues, with the potential for more dates to come soon. They also have the Rebel Kings of Oakland pageant in the works. “I’m very excited that we had our first ever Rebel Kings of Oakland drag king pageant… so I’m excited for next summer [which] will be our second annual Rebel Kings of Oakland pageant,” And, of course, their many drag children keep them very busy. “I’m always having more children, so Dad will be at every one of their shows that I can possibly physically attend,” they joke.

All of this is a testament to one more facet of Vera’s representation: representing folks in middle age. “I’m 43, and…people [in different performance worlds] sometimes think that once you hit a certain age, it’s time to retire. You can’t do it anymore. One thing I love about drag is that it is not the case,” they say.

And there is no better place to do all this work than in Oakland, California, a city with a radical activist history—and present. That legacy permeates the culture, including the drag culture of “The Town,” as it is affectionately known to locals.

“I want people to know that Oakland drag is so innovative and creative. People from Oakland and the greater Bay Area bring their whole selves to their drag,” Vera! says of their hometown drag scene. “They will just take everything that’s inside and explode it onto a performance stage,” they explain.

It’s a welcoming scene, and Vera! takes seriously their ability to open doors and create opportunities for aspiring drag artists, including offering plenty of first-timers a chance to take the stage at their Rebel Kings night at the White Horse Bar. That ethos of inclusivity and love for their queer and trans community—and all the myriad identities that intersect with it—has been the driving force behind their career and their life. And it’s also what they hope, above all else, audiences understand about them.

“I’m a king who loves kings,” they say. “And I think if that’s the one thing that came across the most, then that’s wonderful.”