When the editor Fran Tirado first began going to Fire Island, the queer beach community off the South Shore of Long Island, she found it to be surprisingly white, cisgender and male. In the summer of 2021, as Tirado, 34, was coming into her trans womanhood, she felt “like I didn’t belong,” she says. By the next year, she’d resolved to host her own gathering celebrating those who’d historically felt unwelcome on the barrier island because of their gender identity. “I just wanted a reason to galvanize a bunch of trans people to descend,” she says with a smile.
The now-annual event is called Doll Invasion, fitting for a weekend each August where trans folks lead the charge. Tirado, who was in March 2025 named the editor in chief of Them, brings together an all-trans lineup of performers and musical acts. The festivities double as a fund-raiser, with donations and proceeds from ticket sales going toward mutual aid efforts and helping to finance trans-led artistic initiatives. (Entry is free for trans people, and everyone else is asked to pay a suggested fee ranging from $50 to $150.) This past summer, for the third annual Doll Invasion, the D.J.s Macy Rodman and Lina Bradford and the drag performer Cherry Jaymes entertained the crowd along the sand, and the money raised went to Queer|Art and Advocates for Trans Equality, among other nonprofit organizations.
The Friday night before the performances and pool party began, the event’s full cast and crew — including stage managers, culinary staff and performers — gathered for a family-style dinner by the water, outside of the beach house they’d rented. “It’s a moment of gratitude for everything that people give to pull off Doll Invasion,” Tirado says. The model, writer and director Geena Rocero cooked and hosted an outdoor kamayan feast — a Filipino meal in which food is served on banana leaves and eaten communally by friends and family. “Kamayan means eating with your hands [in Tagalog],” says Rocero, 42, who was born and raised in the Philippines. That tactile approach held a special meaning for the group assembled. “It’s [an act] of reclamation, as our bodily autonomy is being attacked,” she says.
The event also commemorated the loss of the Argentine artist, actress and trans rights activist Cecilia Gentili, who died in February of last year. In her honor, the weekend’s theme was “All Dolls Go to Heaven” — throughout the weekend, guests wore grand feathered angel wings and bold, glittery eye makeup.
During the kamayan dinner, guests danced to a playlist of synth-heavy Euro-pop while overlooking the Great South Bay. Afterward, many people jumped in the pool and ran across the beach. “We’re aware of what’s happening [outside] of this,” Rocero says, in reference to the slew of attacks against trans people and their rights. “But here, we get to claim pleasure, love, beauty, performance, community, sisterhood and trans motherhood. Other people are invited, but this is our world.”
The attendees: All 50 members of the Doll Invasion team plus many of their friends attended the kickoff dinner. Assisting Rocero in the kitchen was her chosen family, among them the stylist LJ Perez, 30; the performance artist Valeria Moraga, 40; and the visual artist Justin J Wee, 33, who worked the grill. Other guests included the actress and D.J. Maya Margarita, 28; the actress and organizer Ianne Fields Stewart, 31; the drag artists Cherry Jaymes, 27, and Charlene Incarnate, 36; the photographer Laurel Golio; the makeup artist Laurel Charleston, 28; and the curator Sydney Fishman, 33 — all of whom helped chop the vegetables for the meal.
The table: Ten folding tables covered in white linen were arranged end-to-end in one long line in the sand along the shoreline. Small white electric candles illuminated the spread, which was served atop banana leaves in lieu of platters and plates. There were no utensils and no assigned seats; guests were encouraged to mingle.
The food: Mounds of sticky coconut jasmine rice topped with garlic were set out for guests as they chose their seats, along with butternut squash and string beans sautéed in coconut milk and ginger, oyster mushroom adobo, cucumber chicharon and bok choy flash fried in oyster sauce. For the main course, Rocero served her signature barbecue chicken, which she’d marinated for four hours in soy sauce, vinegar and cayenne paper. The crew also made bangus, or milk fish; hand-rolled vegan lumpia — crispy spring rolls stuffed with carrots, onion, soy sauce, sesame oil and Impossible meat, with sweet chili sauce on the side; and vigan longganisa, a spiced pork sausage from the northwest Philippines. Dessert was an array of tropical fruits like mango, dragon fruit and pineapple, all cut and served on banana leaves.
The drinks: Saint Luna, a New York-based and trans-owned moonshine company, provided cocktails mixed with pineapple soda, calamansi honey and bitters.
The music: Tirado’s playlist for the evening was full of 1980s Latino, French and Italian music including tracks by the artists Bibi Flash, Alex Rossi and Donatella Rettore. “It was a little disco, a little jazz, kind of electric but very ambient,” she says.
The conversation: “I came in feeling like I’d be really sad, thinking that Cecilia would be [present] for the evening — and she was there to party!” says Tirado. Gentili’s generous spirit was also felt in the discussions. “Geena showed us how to eat the food and how to gather it all up together [with our fingers]” says Fields Stewart. “It was beautiful to experience such a warm, loving moment.”
Entertaining tip: If you’re hosting, take a moment for yourself amid the pre-party frenzy. Ten minutes before the event began, a glass shower door shattered all over Tirado, who was moving too quickly. The accident left her speechless, as her housemates dressed her wounds. “I showed up to the dinner in bandages,” she says. “It was this immediate reminder to slow down.”
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