An Unbound column that will explore the spiritual and religious lives of drag artists around the world. This profile features Rev. Sam Lundquist, a pastor at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, CA.
Sweat dripped from my neon green headband. And my hot pink armbands. My rainbow socks, too. I’d been dancing my cares away in class for over an hour, learning each step of the choreography for one of the latest pop songs. We were all exhausted, yet energized—that breathless feeling you get when your whole body gets lost in music and movement. As class ended, our dance instructor gathered us in a circle for our final cool-down activity.
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I interviewed Heklina on March 3, 2023, exactly one month before she unexpectedly died at the age of 55 while launching a new drag show in London. Her sudden death was devastating, not only to the San Francisco drag and LGBTQ community, but to people all over the world. From her edgy, defiant nightclub acts to her campy portrayal of Dorothy Zbornak in “The Golden Girls LIVE,” she was a drag icon who transformed the art-form and influenced queer artists everywhere.
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I took my first footsteps into seminary and drag around the same time (though I only wore heels to one). For months as I got myself ready for my first classes, I was also singing and dancing in a few clubs in San Francisco. Every night was thrilling, exhilarating, soul-filling. I felt alive being surrounded by lights and movement and music and creativity—and the community. Meanwhile, one of my best friends was diving head first into drag. He’d done it years before but began to make it more and more a part of his life. Every weekend it seemed, he’d
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