Pura Luka Vega

Amadeus Fernando Pagente (born 27 February 1990), better known by their stage name Pura Luka Vega, is a Filipino drag performer.

They were a Drag Den contestant.

In 2023, they came into public attention for a drag performance dressed as Jesus Christ to the tune of a remix of the Tagalog language version of the Lord's Prayer.

They were born as Amadeus Fernando Pagente to a Filipino mother and a British father.

They grew up in Dipolog, Zamboanga del Norte.

In high school, they began to become aware of their queer identity but did not feel any strong attraction towards any specific sex so they had a typical experience for a teenager.

Luka would move to Manila to attend the Philippine Normal University, where they took up education as their undergraduate course.

After graduating from the Philippine Normal University, they would return to Dipolog where they taught for four years.

They would return to Manila to study at the De La Salle University to pursue a master's degree.

Pagente's exposure to drag began when they were attending college in Manila, and started doing drag after they first saw a female cosplayer dressed up as the Joker.

They explored their gender by doing female impersonations and reading children's books to kids.

A year later they joined a competition which they won while dressing up as Marie Antoinette with a severed head – they consider this event as their debut in drag.

They would join the Nectar Nightclub Drag Cartel in October 2017.

Luka initially did not have a beard, but started sporting one to challenge the conventional drag standards and believes it's not restricted to just one gender.

They also believe in the stance that "drag is political", that practicing artform is inherently expressing a political statement.

Their drag name comes from the name of beauty queen Pura Villanueva Kalaw, a Tagalog word luka-luka which means crazy, and the name of singer Suzanne Vega.

On 17 November 2022, Luka was revealed as one of the contestants competing in the first season of Drag Den.

Despite never winning a challenge, they finished last in the competition with 87.2 as their final score of the series, and was given the consolation prize of "Miss Fortune Award" or "Ranked Last But Still Served" at the end of the series.

In mid-2023, Luka's performance of a rock remix of "Ama Namin" song while in a Jesus-inspired outfit in a bar was subject to controversy.

Luka claimed that they did the performance as a means to challenge the notion of "praise and worship" and not intended as an act of blasphemy.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines saw the performance as "bordering" profanity, blasphemy and sacrilege, iterating its stance that "religious symbols and imagery are not for entertainment purposes".

The Philippines for Jesus Movement, a coalition of Christian groups, on their part filed charges against them for alleged violation of the Revised Penal Code and Cybercrime Prevention Act.

Nevertheless, Christian church religious leaders, some members of the Senate, and a number of LGBTQIA+ chapters condemned the act as blasphemous, while seventeen local government units (Floridablanca, Pampanga; General Santos; Toboso, Negros Occidental; Manila; Bukidnon; Laguna; Cagayan de Oro; Nueva Ecija; Cebu City, Cebu; the Dinagat Islands; Occidental Mindoro; Lucena, Quezon; Bohol; Mandaue, Cebu; Palawan; Oriental Mindoro; and Apalit, Pampanga; in respective order) have declared Luka as a persona non grata.

Luka has shrugged off the persona non grata declarations and made a drag performance revolving around it.

They sang "Look What You Made Me Do" by Taylor Swift while in Black Nazarene-themed attire.

They maintained that the separation of church and state must be upheld.

The drag performer started a fundraiser from their supporters to cover their expenses in their pending legal cases as a result of the controversy.

On October 4, 2023, Luka was arrested by the Manila PNP acting on a complaint by the Hijos del Nazareno.

The arrest was regarding their case involving "immoral doctrines, obscene publications and exhibitions and indecent shows", in breach of article 201 of the criminal code.

Human Rights Watch accused Philippine authorities of violating Luka's right to free expression, and called for charges against them to be dropped and for them to be released from custody.

On February 29, 2024, Luka was arrested for six counts of Violation of Article 201 (immoral doctrines, obscene publications and exhibition, and indecent shows) of the Revised Penal Code in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 after losing a Quezon City court suit with the Philippines for Jesus, a sectarian movement founded by pastor Eddie Villanueva.

Pagente does not identify with any gender label, saying that the closest label for themselves is non-binary.

They consider themselves as gender nonconforming or gender apathetic,

and prefers they/them pronouns but uses any.

Luka identifies as a Roman Catholic but "not religious".

In Drag Den, they expressed dissent against the idea "that the LGBTQIA+ community will go to hell for being gay" insisting that if "Jesus was alive, he would love everyone".