Diné drag show celebrates reopening of K’é Infoshop

Posted by Kianna Joe | Sep 7, 2023 | Community |

WINDOW ROCK – The K’é Infoshop reopened its doors with a drag show and free sexually transmitted disease and disease testing.

Navajo Times | Kianna Joe
A film about Native trans-women, “The Center For Culture Power,” is shown during the K’é Infoshop grand re-opening at the Ch’ihootso Indian Market Place in Window Rock on Sept. 2.

When COVID-19 blindsided the nation, the K’é Infoshop storefront closed its doors to reallocate funds to help Navajos get personal protective equipment.

The K’é Infoshop is a community organization with a storefront at Ch’ihootso Indian Market Place in Window Rock. It’s rooted in resisting settler-colonial laws and standards encroaching on Native communities, like creating spaces for the Diné LGBTQ+ community.

Support and admiration

Four drag queens, Miss Paige, Anya C. Mann, Stella, and Navi-Ho took turns Saturday evening mesmerizing the crowd with their lip-synching and dancing abilities at the Ch’ihootso Indian Market Place.

Each performer sang and danced twice, switching up their outfits each time.

Miss Paige is no newcomer to giving the audience a show, as she’s performed for a decade. Miss Paige dove into the crowd, dancing with her black stilettos, short black dress, and voluminous copper curled hair.

From Louis Vuitton corsets to traditional sash belts in rainbow colors, the drag queens showed their personalities through their performances.

With a rough estimate of over 50 attendees, attendees either danced and waved their money in the air to show their support and admiration for the performers or honked and flashed their lights from the comfort of their vehicles.

Each queen stood confident as she performed and was applauded by the community.

The members of the K’é Infoshop welcomed attendees by providing the public with masks and different sanitary items for free to encourage the community to continue being vigilant while the virus persists.

Navajo Times | Kianna Joe
“The Center For Culture Power” is shown at the K’é Infoshop grand re-opening at the Ch’ihootso Indian Market Place in Window Rock on Sept. 2.

The K’é Infoshop recognizes COVID-19 still exists, and the notion that cases have decreased, resulting in lenient restrictions, is a capitalist mentality.

“We are excited to reopen the space,” said a member of the K’é Infoshop. “The K’é Infoshop has always been committed to queer feminism. We are an anarchist space, so we’re anti-colonial (and) anti-capitalist, and in the era of Covid now, Covid consciousness is a big priority for us. But overall, k’é, kinship, is our guiding framework.”

Read the full story in the Sept. 7 edition of the Navajo Times.