‘Queer people deserve to be treated fairly and equally and we demand change’
Manchester drag queens were amongst those to join a host of celebrities and musicians as part of a protest in London following the death of a beloved American drag artist.
San Francisco performer Heklina, 55, was found dead at their rented flat in Soho on April 3, 2023 whilst in London on tour. Colleague and friend Peaches Christ, who had been touring drag parody Mommie Queerest with Heklina, whose real name is Steven Grygelko, was the first to find the performer dead.
Days before her death, the pair had concluded a run of shows in the capital and had been due to head to Manchester’s HOME for the remaining dates on the tour. Details of Heklina’s death have so far been sparse, but London’s Metropolitan Police said the death is being treated as unexpected and remains under investigation while officers continue to liaise with the coroner.
But long-term friends have accused the London police force of ‘homophobic bias’ in their handling of the case and said it has been faced with constant delays, a lack of communication and multiple changes of personnel. Many said the
Last month, the Metropolitan Police apologised to the performer’s close friends for not keeping them informed about developments in their investigation. The San Francisco Chronicle also recently reported that police staff had travelled abroad to speak to the performer’s close friends earlier this month.
The first CCTV footage from the night of her death, showing three men the police force wished to speak with, was only released in January this year. Police said at the launch of the appeal, which came almost two years after Heklina’s death, that they wished to ‘establish what happened and how Steven was when they left’.
This morning (March 31), performers rallied together outside the New Scotland Yard building as part of a Justice for Heklina march. The gathering was organised by friends of Heklina including drag artists and members of the LGBTQ+ community, including Human Rights campaigner Peter Tachell, Scissor Sisters singer Ana Matronic and Manchester drag queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Cheddar Gorgeous.
“The continued insensitive and incompetent handling of Heklina’s death by the Metropolitan Police is a stark reminder of the way assumptions, born of prejudice, continue to cloud police inquiry in the UK,” Cheddar told crowds at the rally.
“The way that we dress, how we identify or details of our personal lives, should never be allowed to determine the quality of protection provided by the police. A life, regardless of how it is lived, holds inherent value; loss warrants equal care, compassion and thorough investigation. To suggest otherwise is not just misconduct, but a dangerous failure that places multiple communities at risk.”
Fellow Manchester queens Anna Phylactic and Liquorice Black also attended, alongside Drag Race UK star Crystal and performers Chiyo, Afrika America, and Trixie Carr. London Assembly Member for the Green Party Zoe Garbett was also in attendance at the event, which saw over a hundred people march from Big Ben down the road to New Scotland Yard as they chanted ‘London Met, we’re not done yet’.
Crystal said they were demanding an immediate investigation into the handling of case, alongside with an update on the 20 recommendations which were made in 2023 following a report into how the Met responded to the Stephen Port murders, which saw four young men in East London murdered between June 2014 and September 2015.
Peaches Christ, who also hails from San Francisco, was also in attendance at the event. In recent years, the star has brought her parody shows to Manchester, which have been performed in venues including HOME and Contact Theatre.
Speaking at the rally, Peaches said: “Heklina was one of my oldest and closest friends. We were family and finding her dead in London was truly traumatising, but it has only been made worse by the complete lack of attention from the London Met Police.
“For nearly two years, myself and Heklina’s next of kin have been ignored. Only when I went to the media was there a response. Queer people deserve to be treated fairly and equally and we demand change.”
On Friday, Paul W Fleming, the General Secretary for the Equity union, wrote to the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, calling on him to “raise as a matter of urgency the investigation into Heklina’s death in your meetings with senior officers in the Met, and ask what is being done to remedy the litany of failings in this investigation.”
The Met’s Det Ch Supt Christina Jessah told the BBC earlier today that the force was aware that there was some “frustration with the pace of the police investigation”. She added: “We continue to examine all lines of inquiry in relation to Steven’s death and remain steadfast in our determination to establish the facts.”
Anyone with information on Heklina’s death is asked to call 101, quoting CAD 1824/03Apr23.