There’s a quiet power in sequins. Or rather, in who gets to wear them, how loudly, and where. Across the globe, drag has gone from the margins of nightclubs and basements to something more spectacular – more televised, more codified, more Instagrammable. Yet in Bangkok, drag isn’t simply performance. It’s protest, lineage, celebration, defiance. It’s the kind of beauty that doesn’t ask for permission.
This year, that spirit takes centre stage at Drag Bangkok Festival, a three-day event co-organised by Yellow Channel and Bangkok Pride, held from May 30 to June 1 at Parc Paragon. Visibility is political. And in a country where LGBTQIA+ identities remain legally unprotected in many ways, the sight of 500 drag performers from around the world gathering under the Bangkok sun is more than fabulous. It’s necessary.
The crown jewel of the festival is ‘Thailand’s Drag Star’ on May 30 at 5pm, a competition drawing in 20 contestants from across the country. They won’t just be judged on looks or lip-syncs. Instead, it’s a showcase of artistry rooted in Thai heritage, filtered through the aesthetics of high camp, punk defiance and sheer ingenuity. The theme – Thaituristic Drag Scene – points toward a larger cultural ambition: to assert drag not only as entertainment, but as a legitimate, viable profession within Thailand’s creative economy. One with the power to generate income, craft identities and export local expression to international stages.
Unlike many corporate-backed Pride events, this festival folds drag back into the centre of the conversation. Not as a sideshow, but as the main act. The final day will see Bangkok’s streets taken over by the Drag Bangkok Pride Parade on June 1 at midday-10pm, a kaleidoscopic procession dovetailing with the larger Pride celebrations.
What emerges isn’t just a festival, or even a competition. It’s a reframing of drag in Thai consciousness – less niche, more national. Less imitation, more origin story. Somewhere between the runway and the revolution, Bangkok is writing its own drag legacy. And it’s anything but quiet.