Cheddar Gorgeous
Job title: Celebrity Patron
Cheddar Gorgeous (A.K.A Dr Michael Atkins), is a Drag performer, visual artist and academic based in Manchester. They are a founding member of Manchester’s monthly home of the fabulous Cha Cha Boudoir, and self-defines as a unicorn, super-hero and idealist. In their performance work, Cheddar is particularly interested in disrupting the gender conventions often inherent in UK Drag, by mixing and playing with signifiers of masculine and feminine beauty.
Cheddar believes that drag has potential beyond a form of entertainment, to be a social and political tool which engenders community growth, furthers the work of charities and social causes and is a shifting space where all manner of identities, feelings and experiences can be expressed. Their doctoral work in anthropology focused on the spatial multiplicity of contemporary urban gay villages and incorporated the use of graphic novella as a form of ethnographic storytelling.
Cheddar brings to the discussion an interest in how drag can allow us to look at beauty beyond gender, as a form of creative becoming through which people can transform different facets of their identity, their flesh and even their species.
Cheddar was an ambassador at George House Trust for more than 10 years, tirelessly using their platform to raise awareness of HIV, and the need to challenge HIV stigma and dispel any shame associated with HIV today.
During season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, Cheddar was applauded for their disruptive contribution to the ‘Tickled Pink’ runway on the BBC Three show.
Donning an iconic outfit inspired by the ACT UP movement of the 1980s and 90s, composed of pink triangles and the ‘Silence = Death’ slogan, they led a powerful 'Werkroom' conversation about the complex relationship between HIV, homophobia and shame.
Cheddar also educated viewers about the realities of HIV today, including that U = U (Undetectable Equals Untransmissable) – someone living with HIV and on effective treatment can’t pass it on during sex.
