🌈🇵🇭“Big, Bold, and Baklâ: Power in Community”🇵🇭🌈

Join us for LEAD Filipino's 2026 Queer Filipinx "Lakbay" Summit,  a celebration of baklâ (a Tagalog term we are embracing to represent all LGBTQIA+ people) communities who are living life BIG and making bold moves at a time where systems and society are trying to make LGBTQIA+ people and communities of color invisible. Through inspiring speakers and connection-building activities, we will highlight the power of our community when we come together to create hope and remain critically engaged.

PROGRAM

1:30-2:00pm: Welcome

Time to get settled, connect with our vendors and tabling organizations, and mingle with your fellow BIG, bold, and baklâ community members.

2:00-2:15pm: Opening Remarks

2:15-3:00pm: Keynote Speaker and Opening Performance with Kiki Lopez, aka Mx. Kiki Krunch

Kiki Lopez (she/her/siya/sila) is a proud immigrant transwoman living with HIV. Kiki serves as a board member and the Political Action Committee (PAC) Chair at GAPA. She is also the Interim Chair of the Queer and Trans API Coalition of the SF Bay Area and also a member of San Francisco Human Rights Commission LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee. Prior to joining the GAPA board in late 2024, Kiki was crowned as Miss GAPA 2023 at GAPA’s annual pageant, Runway. Kiki was recognized and honored by the city and county of San Francisco, through the Center of Immigrant Protection, for her contributions to the transgender immigrant community in 2024. In 2025, she was awarded by the Transgender March Organization as San Francisco’s Transgender Artist of the year. She was also recognized by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for her effort and initiative, leading the first-ever SoMa Pilipinas Pride. Professionally, she is a Program Manager for the Stop the Hate Program and the California Reducing Disparities Project at San Francisco Community Health Center. She passionately advocates for people living with HIV, immigrant communities, and transgender folks, especially queer and trans Asian and Pacific Islanders. Outside of work, she is a drag star performing in the Castro, SoMa, and the East Bay. She is also one of the matriarchs of the Mabuhay Bitches, an all-Filipino drag troupe.

3:00-3:10pm: Break

3:10-4:10pm Baklâ Baddies Build Power: Pathways to Getting Civically Engaged

This panel discussion will explore the vital connection between civic engagement and identity. It’s a conversation about how we build stronger, more resilient LGBTQIA+ Filipinx communities where everyone feels included, supported, and empowered. Panelists:

Ralph Leaño Atanacio (they/them) is a 1.5 gen queer Filipino immigrant who grew up in unceded Ohlone land on the borders of Daly City and SF and now based in Oakland. They bring in experience working with young people from mentoring in college access programs, leading social justice education at the Spot Youth Center and organizing college students as a political education and leadership development chair with APASD. They deepened their relationship to grassroots organizing in 2017 as a Lavender Phoenix Summer Organizer. For 5 years, they organized with Lavender Phoenix in their core committee and as a trainer for their leadership development programs. Currently, they are a co-director at South Bay Youth Changemakers, a power building organization that develops high school aged Asian Americans in Santa Clara County to organize and put people over profit.

Sam Villafuerte (they/she) is a Cal State East Bay alumni and part of Filipino Advocates for Justice’s Transitional Age Youth Program, and a labor organizer in the Bay Area coffee industry. They are a student of Ethnic Studies and Human Development, and pursuing a MA in Asian American Studies at SFSU. Sam has stayed civically engaged through nonprofit work, research, and worker organizing. 

Theo Bulosan (they/them) is a nonbinary trans activist who believes in the power of resilience and community. After spending 5 years marketing in the tech start-up space, they now dedicate their work directly to their communities. Since 2024, they've worked as a leader at the Trans Advocacy and Care Team in Oakland and is now a Development and Advancement Coordinator at Trans Lifeline. Theo strives to bring empathy and compassion in their everyday life to fuel personal and collective healing. 

4:10-4:20pm: Break

4:20-5:05pm: Unleashing Your Inner Artivist: Bold & Brash 

This interactive zine-making workshop will provide an opportunity to express yourself through art! You’ll get the chance to reflect on the discussions at the Summit and how you want to show up and get involved in your communities.

The workshop will be facilitated by Ayla Sana (they/them), a UC Santa Cruz undergraduate pursuing a double major in Psychology and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. At UCSC they are also a research assistant at the Sexuality and Gender Diversity Lab and a mental health peer educator.

5:05-5:15pm: Break

5:15-5:50pm: Kwentuhan (Fireside Chat) and Closing Performance with Jae Enecial, aka King SlayHer

Jae Enecial (they/he) is a community organizer, spoken word poet, drag show producer and Drag Artist best known as King SlayHer, the premier Drag King of the South Bay. As creator and host of Sapphic Sundaze, a San Jose R&B sapphic drag brunch, King builds spaces that celebrate the Sapphic identity, queer joy and connection. After surviving a life-altering car accident, King SlayHer has become a powerful voice for resilience, disabled performer visibility, and unapologetic self-expression, inspiring others to reclaim their power and take the stage boldly.

5:50-6:00pm: Closing Remarks, Raffle, and Group Photo

6:00-7:00pm: Food, Vendors, and Social Networking

Ube ice cream, Jersey Mike's sandwiches, amazing vendors and community organizations, and more!