Brought up in
Southall, London, Lahore is from a Pakistani Muslim family and has spoken about the difficulty in
coming out to her parents when she was 23 years old.[3][4] Her parents first sent her to the doctor and then to their local
imam.[4] Lahore was coerced into a relationship with a first cousin in Pakistan in an attempt to
change Lahore's sexual orientation. After six months, during which he sought counselling and assistance from LGBT groups, Lahore terminated the relationship.[4] Lahore is a practising Muslim,[5] saying: "I go to the mosque. I fast at
Ramadan. I've been on
pilgrimage".[6] She has said that her mother now watches and enjoys her drag shows.[4]
In 2009, while still identifying as a
gay man, Lahore entered a
civil partnership with another man of Pakistani heritage in a large ceremony. In 2014, months after the legalisation of
same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom, they converted their civil partnership to a marriage.[7] As of 2017[update], the two were undergoing a divorce by mutual consent.[8]
In May 2017, Lahore came out as a trans woman.[9][10][11][12] In the same year, she commented on a then-recent wedding which was claimed to be the first same-sex Muslim marriage in Britain, saying: "I'm glad this young boy has declared so openly about his marriage, but [I] want him to know there have been others before him, and will be many more".[7][8] In 2021, she spoke about being
visually impaired.[13]
Career
Lahore became involved in drag in 2011, when she was 27 years old.[14] She says she was first inspired to embrace drag by her mother's elaborate
saris.[4] Her performances often reference aspects of her Muslim culture. Those performances include wearing rainbow-coloured
hijabs[6] and "a signature
stripping act that features a
burqa".[15]
In 2014, Lahore was to discuss her experience as a gay Muslim on
BBC Three's Free Speech programme. This segment was not aired, following security concerns[16] and because the programme makers did not discuss the segment with the
mosque in which the show was being filmed.[17][18] In 2015, she featured in Muslim Drag Queens, a
Channel 4 documentary film, narrated by
Ian McKellen.[19][20][21] The programme was watched by over 1 million people in the UK.[22] In 2016, she featured on
BBC Asian Network where she performed "Punjabi Girl", a parody of
Barbie Girl.[23] In 2023,
Darius Shu and
Shiva Raichandani filmed Always Asifa, a TV documentary featuring Lahore commissioned by
Together TV.[24][25]