Started in 2017 as a response to the tendency for television shows and films to kill off queer characters, ClexaCon has become a staple convention for LGBTQ women, transgender, and non-binary fans.
From April 16 to 18, ClexaCon will host ClexaCon Virtual, an online pop-up convention for LGBTQ fans, content creators, and actors. The event will celebrate positive media representation for LGBTQ women, as well as the transgender and non-binary communities.
Though ClexaCon usually happens in person every spring, ClexaCon Virtual will be a shorter online convention.
“Knowing that we’re planning for a convention in later 2021, we didn’t really need to do an April one,” says Kimberly Hooper, one of ClexaCon’s executive directors. “But we really felt like it was important to have a place for our community to come together, especially because we hadn’t done a traditional ClexaCon last year.”
Despite last year’s event also being postponed, the organization did hold several virtual events in its place including a film festival and a convention on LGBTQ publishing.
ClexaCon Virtual will bring together various actors, directors, producers, writers, comic book artists, and academics for three days of panels. Some of the topics include LGBTQ mental health & wellness, the state of independent queer cinema, and LGBTQ people of color media representation.
“We want our events to be as inclusive as possible,” says Stacy Jill Calvert, one of the organization’s executive directors. “One of our big goals is to make sure we give representation to marginalized voices and voices that don’t necessarily get heard in a queer space.”
This year’s virtual event is packed with celebrities and featured guests. Some of those guests include Amy Acker (Person of Interest), Kristin Bauer (True Blood), Lesley-Ann Brandt (Lucifer), Alex Blue Davis (Grey’s Anatomy), Melonie Diaz (Charmed), Emily Goss (Season of Love), Devon Hales (Teenage Bounty Hunters), Iyari Limon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jes Macallan (Legends of Tomorrow), Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13), Maddie Phillips (Teenage Bounty Hunters), Leo Sheng (The L Word: Generation Q), and Toya Turner (Warrior Nun).
ClexaCon Virtual will also feature dynamic speakers including actress, writer, and director Jenna Laurenzo (Lez Bomb), TikTok influencer Megan Mitchell, queer film historian Jenni Olson, non-binary actor Vico Ortiz (Vida), and entertainment writer Dana Piccoli (Queer Media Matters).
Producers such as Shantell Yasmine Abeydeera (Girls Like Magic), Anna Margarita Albelo (Wild Nights with Emily), and Marina Rice Bader (Elena Undone; A Perfect Ending) will also make appearances as well as Sav Rodgers, who is the executive director and founder of the Transgender Film Center, and Madeline Lim, who is the founding executive director of the Queer Media of Color Arts Project.
Over the course of the convention, ClexaCon Virtual will also feature special events including trivia with Lez Hang Out, meditation with Winny Clarke (Almost Adults), and a burlesque and drag show. In addition, fans can buy virtual 1-on-1’s, virtual photo-ops, and personalized autographs from some of the guest celebrities.
For more information on ClexaCon Virtual, visit their official website at clexacon.com.
