UTOPIA Annual Lūʻau
UTOPIA Washington’s Lūʻau is our signature gala celebrating Indigenous Pasifika Queer and Trans youth, adults, BIPOC, and families in Washington. You will experience Island custom first-hand from authentic Island food and music to traditional island hula and traditional dances from a plethora of different Pacific Islands. With your support, UTOPIA Washington will continue to meet the needs of our youth and communities. Every day we see the smiles on faces, the spark of imagination, the anger at injustice, and the determination to make the world a better place. UTOPIA Washington is dedicated to providing a sacred and welcoming space to our community in need.
TICKET SALES ARE RE-OPEN
You may have tried to purchase tickets over the last two weeks and have been bummed to find out that we had SOLD-OUT! Originally, our event was planned at a venue with limited capacity. What’s new and what’s exciting is, Thanks to a Major Sponsorship by Muckleshoot Casino, our event will be the first event to be held at their brand-spanking new Event Center in Auburn!
Their support and sponsorship has enabled our organization to re-open ticket sales to this highly anticipated event for we all look forward to every year. This has also allowed us to greatly reduce our original ticketed pricing while remaining focused on our aim to meet and exceed our fundraising goal to continue our work and service our community. We can’t wait to celebrate together!
UTOPIA Washington’s Lū’au is so much more than an event. It’s an experience. When you sponsor the evening, you are advancing our mission, engaging community, and positioning your brand in front of a dynamic audience. Simply put, we do more than just throw your logo up on event night. Your brand gets to be part of the whole experience, from start to finish. We have an ambitious goal to fundraise $100,000 and with your support we can achieve that.
Sulique Waqa
Keynote Speaker
Sulique Waqa is the Founder and Lifetime Board Member of the Haus of Khameleon. She is a young transgender feminist of Indigenous Fijian descent who has worked on LGBTIQ issues of the Pacific region for over 17 years, and has become one of the key players for advancing LGBTIQ rights in her home country Fiji, as well as the Pacific. For ten years, Sulique has been at the helm of the Adi Senikau Pageant, the most prestigious transgender pageant in Fiji as its chief organizer and sat as a member of the Vodafone Fiji Hibiscus Festival Committee. Sulique has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Pacific Sexual and Gender Diversity Network, as a member of the Regional Steering Committee of the Asia Pacific Transgender Network, as well as in the ILGA Oceania Board. In its first ever Board election, Sulique was elected to the FRIDA -Young Feminist Fund Board and served a term of 3 years. In 2020, Salty – an online feminist publishing platform named Sulique as one of the “Faces of the Global Resistance” from the Global South in its International Women’s Day edition guest edited by Yassmin Abdel-Magied.
Sulique recently moved to the United States in March 2020 to pursue her dreams in entrepreneurship and is enrolled in a business program in San Francisco where she currently resides.
Manumalo “Mālō” Ala’ilima (he/they)
Emcee
Executive Director UTOPIA PDX
