What to know
- Canada’s Drag Race Season 6 contestant Karamilk is touring Pride festivals across Canada this summer, ending in Vancouver.
- The Halifax-born performer says headlining Halifax Pride after appearing on television was the most emotional stop on the tour.
- Karamilk reflects on growing up Black and Queer in a religious household and how leaving home helped her embrace her identity.
- The Toronto-based drag artist hopes her journey inspires other young 2SLGBTQIA+ people to take the leap toward living authentically.
As Karamilk continues a whirlwind summer of Pride performances in Vancouver this weekend, the Canada’s Drag Race star is reflecting on the journey that brought her there, from growing up Black and Queer in a deeply religious household in Halifax to discovering that the biological father she’d never met was also a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
When Canadian drag superstar Karamilk steps onto Vancouver Pride stages this weekend, she’ll do so after spending the summer strutting her stuff at Pride festivals everywhere from Edmonton to Muskoka, Halifax and Toronto. Following a recent run on Canada’s Drag Race season six, her summer work schedule has taken her across the map. But she explains that one stop carried more weight than the rest.
For the first time since appearing on Drag Race, the Halifax-born performer returned home to headline Halifax Pride earlier this month. Standing on the city’s main stage, she looked out at a crowd filled with people from her past, including classmates, community members and those who watched her grow up in a place where she never imagined she could openly be herself.
“It was really special,” she told Queer & Now. “People coming up to me and telling me how much it meant to have some representation from Halifax… people from high school being like, ‘It’s so great to see someone from our school on TV.'”
For Karamilk, whose out-of-drag name is Jaden Slawter, the moment wasn’t simply about returning home after reality television fame. It was proof of how far she’d travelled emotionally.
Black & Queer in Halifax
Slawter first came to Ontario to attend university, going to Carleton University in Ottawa during undergrad and finding a community of 2SLGBTQIA+ chosen family. But before that, he was a young man growing up Black and Queer in Halifax, an experience that wasn’t easy.
Attending a predominantly white high school, Slawter was raised in a deeply religious household where both parents were pastors. For years, living openly as a Queer person, let alone working as a drag star, wasn’t something he allowed himself to imagine.
(Courtesy: Jaden Slawter)
(Courtesy: Jaden Slawter)
“Being Gay was never even really something I could consider,” he explains. “Drag wasn’t even a thought.”
Although he eventually came out to friends during his senior year of high school, acceptance at home proved more complicated. While classmates embraced him without hesitation, navigating conversations with family became an ongoing process that continues today.
“I think I was more so scared because of my parents, because of the whole church thing,” he said. “Being Gay and Queer, and even doing drag, it’s just not something they understand.”
Now 26, and reflecting on his journey coming out and pursuing drag as a means of expression-turned-career, Slawter has found a phrase to describe that period of his life.
He calls it “coming to the edge.”
It’s the moment when fear collides with possibility, where stepping into authenticity feels terrifying, but staying where you are feels impossible.
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“I always kind of was on my way towards the edge, but I would always push back,” he explains.
But once he left Halifax for Ottawa as a teen back in 2018, he was able to experiment with fashion, embrace Queer community, and slowly begin to exist more authentically.
“I fully came to the edge and essentially jumped off and became who I am today,” Slawter said.
That leap eventually led to drag.
One day, on an Ottawa stage, a drag queen was born
While living in Ottawa, Slawter started working for Capital Pride, leading to the opportunity to meet some of the country’s most celebrated drag artists. This included an experience where Canada’s Drag Race contestant Kimmy Couture recruited Slawter, who had trained as a competitive dancer in his youth, as a backup performer. Following the performance, Couture and another Ottawa icon, Kiki Coe, encouraged Slawter to try his hand at drag, with Coe taking the reins to transform him for the first time.
“As soon as I had the wig on, I was like, ‘Girl, this is it,'” they laughed. “I didn’t want to take it off.”
Drag also reconnected him with dance, something she’d missed since childhood.
“I fell in love with dance again,” she explained, adding that drag has become an outlet for him to still himself through performance.
After three consecutive auditions, Slawter earned a place on Canada’s Drag Race. Looking back, she believes the timing couldn’t have been better.
“If I was on Drag Race earlier… I would have looked so busted,” Slawter joked, adding that over the years he was able to hone his craft, including his performance and makeup skills.
But now, looking back at the experience, she shares that the TV exposure that came along with competing on the Canadian franchise opened doors that he had long dreamed of. This summer alone, she’s performing at nine Pride celebrations, including Toronto, Halifax, Sudbury, Muskoka, Vancouver, Manitoulin and Ottawa.
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More than the larger crowds, though, what has stayed with him are the communities she’s encountered along the way.
“It’s been really fun to see Pride across the country and experience the different communities,” she said. “Especially the local performers. It’s been so cool to meet them and see what drag is like in their city.”
For someone who once struggled to see herself reflected in the world around her, that sense of belonging has become drag’s greatest gift.
“Drag has helped me be more confident in myself and accept myself for who I am,” he explained. “I’m really, really grateful for that.”
Family, chosen and biological
While Slawter’s journey coming out as Queer proved to be difficult for some members of his family, there was another unexpected gift waiting for him.
After years of navigating the uncertainty that came with coming out in a deeply religious family, Slawter eventually found acceptance in an unexpected place: His biological father. A year or two after coming out to his mother, Slawter’s biological father — whom he had never met before — reached out. When the two connected, the drag star discovered his father was also a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, transforming what had once felt like an isolating journey into one marked by an unlikely sense of belonging.
The relationship has since become one of the brightest chapters in his story. While acceptance within his immediate family remains a work in progress, Slawter says having a Queer parent who wholeheartedly embraces both his identity and his drag career has been “a huge, huge blessing.”
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Now, after checking off one of drag’s biggest milestones and spending a summer performing at Pride festivals from coast to coast, Karamilk’s sights are set beyond Canada. The young Toronto-based star, who now regularly performs in drag, in addition to his day job with Pride Toronto, has his sights set on Europe, Australia, and anywhere else with a stage for him to perform.
But before looking outward, Slawter is taking a moment to appreciate where he is now. For years, the young drag icon stood at the edge wondering what life might look like if he took the plunge and embraced his identity as a Queer person. Today, he hopes someone watching from the audience, whether in Halifax, Vancouver or anywhere else, sees him and realizes something is waiting on the other side of fear.
Sometimes, all it takes is the courage to step forward.
Karamilk will be performing at several Pride events in Vancouver this week, including Wednesday night at 1181 Lounge starting at 10 p.m., Thursday night at The Junction Pub, and Saturday at Rio Theatre starting at 7 p.m.
