Ken Vegas has been blending gender on stages from D.C.’s own Chaos nightclub to venues across the nation and the Atlantic Ocean. As the organizing forces behind the D.C. Kings, he helped shape Washington into one of the hottest spots in the internationally burgeoning drag king scene.
On December 20th, 1996 Ken started his illustrious drag king career at the local lesbian club, “the Hung Jury” in Washington, DC as a contestant in DC’s very 1st Drag King Contest. This was a fundraiser event put on by the Lesbian Avengers’s annual Dyke March. Cheryl A. Spector was in NYC on the summer of 1996 and saw Mo B. Dick and other hot drag kings perform and she wanted DC to have drag kings too by telling the Lesbian Avengers to have a Drag King contest. Who knew putting on a suit and drawing on a mustache would spark a flame in Ken that would burn for over 25 years.
In 1999 Lizerace (NY Drag King) told Ken about a new conference called the International Drag King Extravaganza (IDKE) in Columbus, Ohio. This conference was put together to showcase Drag Kings and create spaces for us to share our Drag King skills. Kings from all over the world attended this annual conference which gave the experience so much depth as folks could share their version of what it is to be a Drag King. The main take-away from this conference that impacted Ken the most was that IDKE established a RESPECT & SUPPORT policy for all those who attended.
The organizers wanted to create a safe space where attendees could learn and share the art of Drag Kinging without competition or fear.
