A former Oregon elementary school teaching assistant and “drag mom” to a controversial child drag performer has been convicted of 11 felonies over the distribution of child sex abuse content and sentenced to less than a year in a local jail.
Kelsey Meta Boren, 33, was convicted in Lane County, Ore. on March 23 of 11 felony counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree. A single charge of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct was dismissed as part of the plea deal. Boren was sentenced to 330 days in county jail—30 days for each felony count—in a sweetheart deal agreed upon between the district attorney’s office and her counsel.
Kelsey Meta Boren, a biological female and drag queen star, appears to have begun a gender transition
“Our office must decide each case individually, taking into account the facts of the offenses, and the nature of the offender,” wrote Lane County Deputy District Attorney Robert Lane to The Post Millennial. “This case was assigned to me, and I made those decisions.”
Before being arrested, Boren worked as a teaching assistant for special education students at Veneta Elementary in Veneta, Ore. According to court documents, she told detectives that her need for child sex abuse content was like an “uncontrollable itch that she couldn’t stop.” The deputy district attorney told TPM her victims have no relationship to the school or children there.
This writer originally reported in October 2022 that Boren was one of the long-term “drag moms” to an 11-year-old child drag performer being featured at a Eugene leftist pub. A “drag mom” is a drag performer who teaches a younger or inexperienced person the tricks of the trade. Boren used the stage name “Alwaiz Craving” (always craving) and had been one of several adults grooming the child into drag performing since she was at least seven years old.
The two were close and the child even adopted part of Boren’s stage name into her own drag persona as “Vanellope Craving.” Photographs on the child’s Facebook show her being showered on stage with dollar bills and dressing in revealing outfits. “Vanellope” has CashApp and Venmo accounts where adults are encouraged by handlers to send cash.
Kelsey Boren had mentored the young performer for nearly half the child’s life
Vanellope’s publicized performance on Oct. 23, 2022 at Old Nick’s Pub in Eugene drew criticism from conservatives and support from the far-left, including Antifa. The pub is used as a meeting location for the local Antifa cell, and the venue frequently hosts sexual fetish events. The pub stood by the event, saying it had already overcome being targeted by “white supremacists” before.
The child drag queen was a featured performer at Antifa pub, Old Nick’s Pub in Eugene, Ore.
During the event, hundreds of violent Antifa members and far-left protesters acted as a militia security team outside the pub. There, they assaulted people and shut down traffic on the road. Video footage captured them assaulting a homeless man to the ground at one point. (Old Nick’s Pub did not respond to a request for comment.)
Boren was an LGBTQ+ activist and a local drag star in her own right but her prosecution and conviction has been ignored by the community she advocated for. Her social media account stated she held the prestigious drag title of “Miss Heart of Oregon” for local queer charity, the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Emerald Empire.
Adults throw cash tips at ‘Vanellope Craving’ on stage and also give to her Venmo and CashApp accounts
Jennifer Hibbs, another drag mom and handler for “Vanellope,” told TPM last year the child was never harmed by Boren, who was her friend.
“[Boren] obviously made horrific choices and she is no longer a friend,” Hibbs said at the time. “She had extremely limited time spent with Vanellope.” Social media photos show Boren had a relationship with the young child for nearly half her life.
Boren is far from the first drag queen to be charged with child sex crimes. In March 2019, the Houston Public Library issued an apology after a performer for its Drag Queen Storytime was revealed to be a convicted child sex offender. Albert Alfonso Garza, a male-to-female trans person who used the drag name “Tatiana Mala Niña,” had a prior conviction for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy in Texas. A second drag queen who went to the Houston Public Library’s drag events was also revealed to have been convicted of sex crimes against children as an adolescent minor.
Albert A. Garza, a trans person who used the drag name “Tatiana Mala Niña,” had a prior child sex crime conviction
In December 2021, Brett Blomme, a former Milwaukee judge and LGBTQ+ activist who sponsored local drag queen story hour events, was sentenced to nine years in prison for distributing child porn. In June 2022, central Pennsylvania drag queen and LGBTQ+ youth advocate “Anastasia Diamond,” real name Brice Williams, was charged with 25 counts of child pornography. That case remains ongoing.
Boren has been in custody since her arrest in August 2022. Sometime before her arrest, she appears to have begun a gender transition. (Her attorney has been reached for comment.) A judge at the time denied Boren bond, viewing her as too dangerous to be released. Boren is due to be released by July this year if she serves her full sentence. She will be required to register as a sex offender.