WHAT THE FUCK IS OAKLASH?

Oaklash hosts a weekend-long festival of drag and other queer performance that takes place annually in Oakland, California.

Founded by Beatrix LaHaine and Mama Celeste in 2018, Oaklash has featured hundreds of queer performers from the Bay Area and all around the world.

Oaklash is dedicated to building new and ever-expanding stages to showcase & elevate Bay Area queer talent. Our programming aims to create safe and accessible environments that celebrate the queer community, especially queer and trans people of color. Our organization was created to showcase performances that are boundary pushing, provocative, and unique to the sensibility of the Bay Area. We aim to stay true to the history of Oakland as a home to creative renaissance rooted in diversity. We hope that by amplifying and supporting the queer art community in the Bay Area, we can emphasize the need for investment in the arts in the face of systemic racism, growing economic disparities, and the Bay Area housing crisis.