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Intergenerational drag show to celebrate solidarity and ‘mutual learning’

Event to mark one-year anniversary of LGBTQ+ potluck Generations of Pride

By Cocoa Laney Lifestyle Editor

Every last Wednesday of the month, members of Bellingham’s LGBTQ+ community exchange perspectives and stories over shared meals.

Food is provided by Western Washington University’s LGBTQ+ Western, but there is no target age demographic: Attendees span from questioning young people (18 and over) to queer elders, newly out seniors and university students who’ve been openly LGBTQ+ for years.

Intergenerational connections are the point of Generations of Pride, a monthly potluck co-hosted by LGBTQ+ Western, the Bellingham Queer Collective and the Bellingham/Whatcom County PFLAG chapter. The series garnered more than 300 attendees in its first year, with participants ranging in age from 18 to 82. 

Western Washington University students raise up a Pride flag May 31. The university hosted a Pride event to celebrate LGBTQ+ students.
Western Washington University students raise a Pride flag in May 2023. The university hosts a Pride event to celebrate LGBTQ+ students. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)

On Wednesday, Jan. 29, Generations of Pride will celebrate its one-year anniversary with an intergenerational drag show at Mount Baker Theatre. The show gives 10 up-and-coming “queens, kings and things” the chance to share the stage with seasoned performers.

“It’s really important, especially as a younger queer person, to stay connected to queer elders and to celebrate them … especially in this current political climate,” said Sage Valentine, a local drag queen and one of the event’s co-hosts.

Generations of Pride was inspired by an April 2023 LGBTQ+ intergenerational panel hosted in collaboration with Professor Kate McLean, Western psychology students and local LGBTQ+ organizations. The monthly potlucks began the following January. 

In August 2024, LGBTQ+ Western hired student staff members as Generations of Pride coordinators. “We told [students] right when they were being hired, ‘Start thinking of what you want to do for January, because you want to do some big celebration,’” LGBTQ+ Western Director JoeHahn said.

Bellingham drag queen Sage Valentine will co-host Generations of Pride’s Intergenerational Drag Show on Jan. 29. (Photo courtesy of Tristyn MacDonald)

These efforts will culminate in the Jan. 29 drag show, co-hosted by Sage Valentine and Betty Desire. Sage Valentine, 22, is a Western alum who’s been doing drag for six years. Betty Desire has been gracing stages in Whatcom County for about three decades.

“We’re reaping the benefits of the work that many people have done over the last 20 years and longer,” Betty Desire said. “A lot of that has to do with the Bellingham Queer Collective and the people that have come into our community and taken it up and ran with it, hard.”


But while Betty Desire is one of Bellingham’s most experienced queens, she’s far from the first: The city’s first “female impersonator” was documented in the 1890s, and Western hosted its first drag show in 1972. Today, JoeHahn believes the university’s annual drag show — now in its 33rd year — is among the longest-running university drag shows in the country. 

Drag is traditionally associated with gay male performers in hyper-feminine costumes. However, JoeHahn said the art form has grown into an “all-encompassing queer cultural practice,” welcoming a wide variety of identities and expressions.

Performers at one of Aslan Depot’s regular drag shows, which typically benefit local organizations. (Photo courtesy of Aslan Brewing)

For Sage Valentine, drag is ultimately a celebration of gender — and by going to a drag show, “you can learn about stories and music and ways of life that are different from you,” she continued. 

Audiences at the Jan. 29 show can expect everything from traditional queens to what LGBTQ+ Western and the Centers Program Manager Ayanna Phillips refers to as “heart-centered drag.”

“The students are trying to share a message, or convey something that’s important to them, more than they’re trying to look this sort of glamorous way, and they still look glamorous,” she said.

In this vein, the Jan. 29 show is a testament to the diverse range of identities and experiences within Bellingham’s queer community. JoeHahn said Generations of Pride facilitates “mutual learning,” especially as terminology, flags and other aspects of LGBTQ+ culture evolve.

A spectator at Whatcom Youth Pride in June 2024 holds a Progress Pride Flag, developed in 2018 to represent people of color, as well as transgender, intersex and nonbinary people. (Cocoa Laney/Cascadia Daily News)

“Many of the elders are saying that they really appreciate a chance to hear from the youth, and knowing about … all these things that really changed rapidly in the last decade itself, but let alone all the time they’ve had,” he continued. 

Intergenerational friendships also provide an opportunity for youth to learn from queer elders, most of whom have faced different kinds of adversity. Betty Desire compared LGBTQ+ acceptance to a pendulum: She remembers when gay marriage was legalized, but she also recalls when being spotted walking into Rumors Cabaret meant risking one’s job.

“Drag queens have always been at the forefront of civil rights for the queer community and our allies,” Betty Desire said. “I believe, personally, that we older queens have a duty now to hit the streets when need be … We have lived a full and complete and wonderful life, and we need to protect our younger queens, and our younger queer community members.”

A copy of the Betty Pages sits on Betty Desire’s side table. The popular alternative tabloid for the queer community celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)

Given the incoming presidential administration’s hostility toward LGBTQ+ rights, the Intergenerational Drag Show comes at a tense moment. But Phillips said it’s important to continue celebrating solidarity, empowerment and joy — especially in the face of oppression. Community members 18-plus are invited to join that celebration on Jan. 29, whether it’s their first or 50th time at a drag show.

“Being able to find that through drag or other community conversations, by making friends with people 40, 50 years older than you, reminds us that we’ve always been in a struggle,” Phillips said. “But we’ve also been in communities of joy, and we will continue to have that.”

The Intergenerational Drag Show happens Wednesday, Jan. 29 at Mount Baker Theatre in collaboration with LGBTQ+ Western, the Bellingham Queer Collective and Bellingham/Whatcom PFLAG. This is a private, non-ticketed event; RSVPs are requested but not required. For further information or accommodations, visit lgbtq.wwu.edu or email lgbtq@wwu.edu.

Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.

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