Banned Bodies is a mutual aid event that features alternative drag performers alongside a line-up of local punk bands to create a platform for local activists and raise funds for their organization. Banned Bodies was born from an idea to bring together punk drag and music communities to honor the overlapping identities between the two: transformative DIY spaces, anarchist principles, and alternative ways of existing in the world.

The event is structured so that a punk band opens the show, an hour-long drag show, and closes with another punk band set. We aim to unite folks who face persecution in the U.S. by highlighting our intertwined struggles with the mindset that until we are all free, no one is free.

With Banned Bodies, we focus on those whose human rights are removed based on the status of their body, challenging dangerous rhetoric that oppresses BIPOC, disabled, and trans individuals which leads to legislation that attempts to control folks based on immigration status, race, gender, and bodily autonomy. We focus on the hyperlocal, bringing in a local activist to speak on their organization and how to support, along with inviting other groups to table during the event.