Trans Day of Visibility comes this Tuesday, March 31, but celebrations from our local transgender community begin even earlier. One such show is Banned Bodies, a music & drag extravaganza highlighting Austin-area trans artists that’s been going strong since its start in 2023. Organized by Haus of Trans mother Era Steinfeld – known by stage name the Trans Era – and co-hosted by Venus Rising, the Saturday, March 28, event brings to the 13th Floor stage drag stars MK Ultra, the Great Flying Cervix, Ethel Institution, Mandy Quinn, Hurricane Short King, and Betty Boof alongside local bands Banged Out and Twink Death.
Banned Bodies’ original incarnation, as Steinfeld recalls, was the brainchild of her first drag kid, JasMania. The former Austinite, now Arkansas-based, artist wanted to combine drag with trans-led bands. Another part of the equation? Fundraising. “Something central to Banned Bodies has always been some sort of mutual aid aspect,” Steinfeld says. Past beneficiaries include San Marcos Abortion Activists and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. More recently, the funds have gone to a cause much closer to Steinfeld: her drag children’s gender-affirming care.
“All of my kids are people that I have felt sort of energetically pulled to,” she explains, “where I was like, ‘This person continues to show up in my life, and I feel a pull to build a relationship with them.’” Unlike the traditional drag family where a drag parent may pass on hard skills regarding makeup or costuming, Steinfeld says her kids already had all that showbiz expertise. What she and the other Haus of Trans members – which includes co-host Venus – provide for each other is support. “We really show up for each other as a chosen family network,” she says. Part of that network is a fund Steinfeld began building last March with the goal of raising $20,000 to be distributed amongst her drag kids for gender-affirming care. The GoFundMe campaign has so far raised $18K and has helped at least one performer obtain their surgery, with the others saving up.
From their start at Hotel Vegas through their move to Red River, the show’s flyer art has been hand-collaged by Steinfeld in a tradition started by JasMania. Each graphic is built out of images sourced from old Playboy mags purchased at Room Service Vintage, trans-made zines snagged at MonkeyWrench Books, and scans from a big art book, Leopard, found at the Little Gay Shop. “It felt important,” Steinfeld says of continuing the collage art flyers, “because obviously when Jas left, a big piece of the collaboration aspect of the show for me went away, but I wanted to keep some pieces of it very true to what it was and how we collaborated.”
At every Banned Bodies, emotions run high – especially anger, according to Steinfeld. That frustration portrayed onstage isn’t entirely without a positive shade, though. A particular moment springs to Steinfeld’s mind as an example. It was JasMania’s final show in Austin, with their set themed around Pride’s roots as a riot. They’d built a police car out of cardboard that the audience was invited to “step on, hit, kick, and thrash at,” Steinfeld recalls, and then JasMania brought out an American flag, which they and an audience member tore in half.
“Obviously, those moments are centered in rage and anger,” Steinfeld says, “but they also are such moments of joy when queer and trans folks can get together and turn off how to be a normal person in the world and are able to [say], ‘We’re fucking mad, but we get to be mad together.’”
This article appears in March 27 • 2026.