Spilling the Tea
"I ensure all i do is motivated by what my ancestors could have only dreamed of."
Multifaceted Transgender Artist-Activist.
Kiki the Artist is a drag performer in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area. She serves as one of the matriarchs of Mabuhay Bitches, an all-Filipina drag troupe.
Kiki is a powerful balladeer who mesmerizes audiences with passionate, dramatic songs. She excites crowds with sultry moves and leaves them enthralled with high-energy performances.
She is proud Miss GAPA 2023 and Imperial Crown Princess 2025 of the Imperial Court of San Francisco.
In 2025, she was awarded the Transgender Artist of the Year by Transgender March Organization.
Turning to her activism, Kiki the Activist worked as a Program Manager at San Francisco Community Health Center (formerly known as API Wellness Center).
She chairs GAPA's Political Action Committee (PAC) and serves as Interim Chair of the Queer and Transgender Asian and Pacific Islander (QTAPI) Coalition of the San Francisco Bay Area. She also assists with the Fundraising Committee for the Transgender March Organization.
She currently serves as a member of the following advisory groups:
San Francisco Human Rights Commission LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee
SoMa Pilipinas Filipino Cultural Heritage District Advisory Group
UCSF Alliance Health Project Community Advisory Board
Through all her work, she passionately advocates for people living with HIV, immigrant communities, and transgender folks, especially queer and transgender Asian and Pacific Islanders.
Kiki the Babaylan
A proud Filipina immigrant, she received the Emerging Leader Award at the 2025 Filipino American History Month Celebration. This award was presented by the office of the San Francisco City Mayor, the Filipino American History Host Committee, and Filipino American Arts at City Hall.
She was recognized by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for founding, organizing, and leading the first SoMa Pilipinas Pride: Makibeki and the Queer and Transgender API (QTAPI) Strong, which kicks off QTAPI Week. In addition, she was a proud nominee for SF Pride Community Grand Marshal in 2025.
Representation matters, both in the spotlight and on the ground.
Take a look at these features, highlighting Kiki’s dedication to her craft as a performer and her ongoing commitment to uplifting the LGBTQ+ community.
Words on the Work
Protecting Organizations Like San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Communities They Serve
By Lambda Legal
Hear from Mx. Kiki Krunch, a trans woman of color who received life-saving services from SFAF
One of the first things the Trump administration did upon taking office was sign an Executive Order gutting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and programs and erasing transgender people from legal recognition. Lambda Legal took swift action in response, filing not one, but two lawsuits against Trump’s harmful anti-LGBTQ+ agenda.
San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) v. Trump is one of our lawsuits that directly hits back at Trump’s attempts to defund organizations that provide life-saving services to LGBTQ+ people and everyone living with HIV, communities which are often pushed to the margins.
San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the named plaintiff in our case, has been an essential resource for its local community for more than 40 years. Through sexual health and substance abuse services, advocacy, and community partnerships, the organization is committed to building a future where health justice is achieved for all people living with or at risk for HIV and where HIV status does not dictate or determine one’s quality of life and right to thrive.
To highlight the organization’s vital work, we sat down with Mx. Kiki Krunch, a trans woman of color from the Philippines who lives with HIV. Thanks to SFAF, she not only obtained health services that changed her life but also found community support and eventually a career at the San Francisco Community Health Center (SFCHC), another plaintiff organization in our case. Our conversation exemplifies the deep impact that organizations like SFAF have on the people they serve.
A trans immigrant living with HIV finds hope and sanctuary in San Francisco
Leaving the Philippines for a chance to live as her authentic self, Kiki shares the risks she took in establishing a new life here in the Bay Area, and the support she found along the way.
“I was in survival mode,” shared Kiki Lopez, as she recounts her first days in San Francisco about two years ago.
“At one point, I was struggling financially – literally so broke that I couldn’t afford food or a prepaid loan. As a result, I turned to sex work temporarily since I did not have many drag gigs yet and was just beginning to establish myself in the drag community. Additionally, I sought assistance from Project Open Hand for groceries. My malnourishment was evident from my physical appearance,” she added.