The quest to find this year’s 2012 Royal Pageant King, Queen and Gender Blender has begun, and applications are available until Monday, April 30th! Taking place Monday, June 4th at 6:00 PM at Machine Night Club, the Royal Pageant includes three separate categories: King, Queen and Gender Blender. Participants select which category they would like to participate in based upon their own chosen definition and/or display of gender identity. For example, the King category can feature women dressed in male drag, natural men, transgender men, drag kings and anyone else who desires to compete in the category. The same holds true for the other two categories; the goal is not to limit who can participate, but to have each category open to all.

This year’s Pageant promises to be one to remember, and is being hosted by two of Boston’s legendary drag queens and previous Pageant winners: Lakia Mondale, 2010 Queen, and Raquel Blake, 2009 Queen. Additionally, Latrice Royale from RuPAUL’s Drag Race season 4 will be on hand as the featured guest judge AND for a meet-and-great with 100 lucky, VIP attendees before the show. The actual competition will have four different, scored components: Theme Presentation, Talent, Evening Wear and Final Question.

Rounding out the colorful evening will be special performances by Boston’s very own Diamond Dunhill, Sapphira Cristàl (2011 Queen), Rhoda Bout (2011 Royal Gender Blender), Matt Leonard (2011 King), and New York City’s Victoria Vemon. For more information about the Pageant and to apply please visit https://www.bostonpride.org/pageant/.