Asifa Lahore | |
---|---|
Born | Asif Quraishi 1982or1983(age 40–41) [1] |
Occupation | Drag queen |
Asifa Lahore (born Asif Quraishi; 1982 or 1983) is a British Muslim trans woman who has been described as Britain's first out Muslim drag queen. [2]
Brought up in Southall, London, Lahore is from a Pakistani Muslim family and has spoken about the difficulty in coming out to her parents when she was 23 years old. [3] [4] Her parents first sent her to the doctor and then to their local imam. [4] Lahore was coerced into a relationship with a first cousin in Pakistan in an attempt to change Lahore's sexual orientation. After six months, during which he sought counselling and assistance from LGBT groups, Lahore terminated the relationship. [4] Lahore is a practising Muslim, [5] saying: "I go to the mosque. I fast at Ramadan. I've been on pilgrimage". [6] She has said that her mother now watches and enjoys her drag shows. [4]
In 2009, while still identifying as a gay man, Lahore entered a civil partnership with another man of Pakistani heritage in a large ceremony. In 2014, months after the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom, they converted their civil partnership to a marriage. [7] As of 2017 [update] , the two were undergoing a divorce by mutual consent. [8]
In May 2017, Lahore came out as a trans woman. [9] [10] [11] [12] In the same year, she commented on a then-recent wedding which was claimed to be the first same-sex Muslim marriage in Britain, saying: "I'm glad this young boy has declared so openly about his marriage, but [I] want him to know there have been others before him, and will be many more". [7] [8] In 2021, she spoke about being visually impaired. [13]
Lahore became involved in drag in 2011, when she was 27 years old. [14] She says she was first inspired to embrace drag by her mother's elaborate saris. [4] Her performances often reference aspects of her Muslim culture. Those performances include wearing rainbow-coloured hijabs [6] and "a signature stripping act that features a burqa". [15]
In 2014, Lahore was to discuss her experience as a gay Muslim on BBC Three's Free Speech programme. This segment was not aired, following security concerns [16] and because the programme makers did not discuss the segment with the mosque in which the show was being filmed. [17] [18] In 2015, she featured in Muslim Drag Queens, a Channel 4 documentary film, narrated by Ian McKellen. [19] [20] [21] The programme was watched by over 1 million people in the UK. [22] In 2016, she featured on BBC Asian Network where she performed "Punjabi Girl", a parody of Barbie Girl. [23] In 2023, Darius Shu and Shiva Raichandani filmed Always Asifa, a TV documentary featuring Lahore commissioned by Together TV. [24] [25]
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