LAKEVIEW — Famed local drag performer Lucy Stoole is standing up to ICE with a 40-performer Chicago drag celebration to benefit immigrant justice organizations. 

Chicago Drag Melts ICE will hit the stage Friday at the Metro, 3730 N. Clark St. The doors open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8 p.m. The event is 18-and-older, and tickets for $26.23 can be bought here.

The lineup is headlined by Minneapolis-based queen Utica, who was on Season 13 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Utica will be joined by Laila McQueen, a Massachusetts-based performer who also made an appearance on “Drag Race.”

Other performers include Aurora Gozmic, Maya Douglas, Jay Kay and more from the “Drag Race” universe and Chicago’s diverse drag scene. 

This is the fourth installment of Stoole’s fundraiser at the Metro — with all proceeds always going to a chosen cause. 

The drag fundraiser series started in 2023 following the drag ban in Tennessee. Iterations of it have benefitted Gaza, Sudan and the Congo.

“Ever since I started doing drag, I’ve taken that stance that with whatever platform I have, I was going to make sure to try and do something for the community,” Stoole said. “I thought I would use my platform to be able to throw a huge drag show and bring in some money.”

Lucy Stoole at a previous drag event at the Metro. Credit: Provided/Jeremy Lawson

For this installment, it was clear where Stoole wanted the money to go. 

After witnessing the Trump administration’s unprecedented immigration enforcement operations across the country, but particularly in Chicago and Minneapolis, Lucy decided to organize to raise funds for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Midwest Immigration Bond Fund, Stand With Minnesota and the National Immigrant Justice Center. 

“We’re watching a lot of people’s rights being taken away and people being illegally forced out of their homes, their businesses, their lives, for no good reason,” Lucy said. “I thought, ‘How can I help these organizations I’m seeing bring in more funds?’”

Abhijeet, a Chicago-based drag queen, multimedia artist and co-creator of the BOOTs party, is on Friday’s lineup. Abhijeet has participated in three previous installments of Stoole’s series. 

“When we have these events that call for us to extend beyond our own communities and serve a specific faction of our city that is in need of assistance, I think that’s what this call for community is,” Abhijeet said. 

For Abhijeet and the other performers on the lineup, this rendition of the Metro fundraiser hits even closer to home.  

Credit: Provided

“So many people on the lineup are immigrants or children of immigrants,” Abhijeet said. “They have family that is being affected by ICE. I think it’s a very personal thing for a lot of people, especially of this lineup.” 

Stoole’s lineups have a deep connection to the Chicago drag community, where he tries to bring in performers from all pockets of the city.

“I really want to highlight Chicago people,” Stoole said. “Chicago on its own is special, and it’s full of so many organizers and so many community leaders. We really stick together and take care of each other.” 

Stoole said the event is more than a chance to raise a significant amount of money for these organizations — with previous shows raising upwards of $40,000 — as it also offers a space for “collective joy” and to “remind people that we need to be connected and create community in these moments.” 

In addition to performances and dancing, the event will offer tablings and speeches to spread awareness about immigration enforcement while educating attendees on how they can get more involved in the community. 

“It will be a moment that all of us can get together and laugh, scream, cheer and enjoy these times when the world is kind of dark and awful,” Lucy said. 

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