#storme delarverie

[woman-for-women]

Happy Pride Month! To kick off pride I'm busting some myths about the Stonewall Riots, Marsha P. Johnson, and giving some love and recognition to Stormé DeLarverie!

This was sitting unfinished for months but I got it together and completed it in time for pride.

Edit (6/12/23): I believe only the first Joseph Ambrosini photo was confirmed to be taken the first night of the Stonewall riots; I couldn't find sources that indicated if the other photos were taken on that same night or not.

#gender abolition #w4w post #w4w infographic #feminism #feminist #lgb #lgbt #pride #stonewall #marsha p johnson #storme delarverie #lgb history #lgbt history #gay rights #gay history #lesbian #w4w lgb

[lilacsupernova]

In recent years, I've seen the erasure of lesbian and gay activists. And all the work we did for gay liberation is credited to two people: Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. Even statues are planned to be elected in honor of them in New York. These two are now hailed for having organized the Stonewall Riot and the GLF [Gay Liberation Front] and even the historic gay occupation of Wernstein Hall at New York University in protest against the administration's homophobia. All of this is false. I know, because I and the women and men I worked with were there.

Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson are today widely celebrated as transgender people of color. However, Rivera identified as a transvestite male, not transgender. Malcolm, aka Marsha Johnson, was a self-proclaimed gay man, and drag queen, up until his death in 1992. Johnson deserves to be honored with respect and integrity, not rebranded as a 'trans-woman' postmortem. Johnson was probably transgender, though there was no such terminology at the time. Toward the end of his life he was considering raising funds to go abroad for what was then called a sex change surgery.

Nobody led the Stonewall Riots. It was a spontaneous uprising. Neither Rivera nor Johnson appeared on the scene until the riots were well underway. Neither Johnson nor Rivera attended any of the early meetings of GLF in July 1969. I was one of the founders, along with five other women and 13 men. Ellen Broidy and I were among those who called for the occupation of Wernstein Hall in September 1970. Johnson and Rivera were not present. They joined in after a group of us had already entered the building, and it was after the occupation that I first noticed them at GLF meetings. They were inspired by our Wernstein Hall action to start a new group, Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR).

This was important work they did and how they should be remembered. Through STAR, Rivera and Johnson labored on behalf of homeless street queens who, like themselves, often had to support themselves through prostitution, often strove to overcome drug addiction, and often found themselves in trouble with the law. They provided shelter and counseling, and visited those in prison. They were heroes in their own right. But the false legends have been widely promulgated in the international press, and give them credit for the work of hundreds of others, and never ever mention what they actually accomplished. The city of New York has not built any statues to any of us lesbians or any of the gay men who were involved in GLF. Just those two are the heroes. Stormé DeLarverie who is considered responsible for starting the first Stonewall Riot on June 28, 1969, after a crowd reacted when she was arrested by police, was a woman of color and and butch lesbian. She didn't get a statue either.

These smaller fabrications are perhaps not as dangerous as the ones that lead to war. But what is dangerous is that, by depicting one or two chosen individuals as great leaders and expunging the rest of us from public memory, they strip us all of the knowledge that we ordinary human beings have made history and can do so again.

– Martha Shelley, 'An Honest History' in Not Dead Yet: Feminism, passion and women's liberation – Renate Klein & Susan Hawthorne (eds.), (pp. 379-80).

#martha shelley #marsha p johnson #sylvia rivera #storme delarverie #lgb #pride #usa #herstory #pride month #trans

[jesterlesbian]

CHELSEA RUSSELL as Stormé DeLarverie in Fellow Travelers (2023)

#fellow travelers #fellowtravelersedit #tvedit #tvgifs #televisionedit #televisongifs #perioddramaedit #perioddramagif #lgbtedit #chelsea russell #storme delarverie #myedit #tv: fellow travelers

[radiofreederry]

Happy birthday, Stormé DeLarverie! (December 24, 1920)

An icon of the gay rights movement, Stormé DeLarverie was born to a wealthy white man and one of his Black servants in New Orleans. Her mixed race background led to a great deal of bullying and discrimination when she was young, and she eventually came to New York and performed as a drag king with the Jewel Box Revue sometime after coming to realize her identity as a butch lesbian. She was known and loved as a protector of other lesbians, the "guardian of the Village," and was present for the Stonewall Rebellion; by some accounts her arrest and altercation with the police was the spark which lit the flame of the rebellion. After Stonewall, DeLarverie continued to fight for gay rights, and was a fixture of New York's lesbian bars, often working as a bouncer. She suffered from dementia late in life, and died in 2014.

#birthdays #storme delarverie

[elierlick]

The misconception that Stonewall Rioters were all white gay cis men is partially due to black-and-white photography. Colorized, you can see a multiracial, multigender group. They were incited by police harassment and the arrest of Black drag king Stormé DeLarverie outside the Stonewall Inn. Although the Inn was primarily patronized by cisgender men, trans women often performed there and people from throughout the city joined the riots after the initial raid.

#storme delarverie #trans history #lgbtq #stonewall

[queerasfact]

Drag king Stormé DeLarverie was considered the mother of New York’s queer community for many decades. They continued to work as a bouncer at lesbian bars well into their 80s. 

If you want to learn more about Stormé, check out our podcast!

Quote source: Leslie Feinberg’s Transgender warriors: making history from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman p.153

Image description: Image of Storme DeLarverie, an older mixed-race butch woman; text reads '“It really doesn’t matter whether you’re male, female, gay, straight - whatever you want your identity to be — no one has the right to try to take your life or to beat you down for it. They do not have the right.” - Storme Delarverie'

#storme delarverie #queer history #lesbian history #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #lgbt history #pride #drag kings

[genderkoolaid]

Stormé DeLarverie joined the Jewel Box Review in 1955 as a male impersonator. Stormé and 25 female impersonators- Black, Asian, Native, and Latina- performed in theaters from Mexico to Canada, in cities large and small, and toured the segregated south during the fifties and early sixties. Would you prefer people refer to you as he or she? I tell people, "Use whatever makes you comfortable." A sad song doesn't care whose heart it breaks. But there's no use in singing any sad song. [At age fifteen] I got beaten up badly by two gangs- twice.My grandfather told me if I didn't stop running, I'd be running all my life. I stopped running, and I haven't run a day since. I got scars all over my body. My body is 40 miles of bad road. Some of it wasn't at work; it was on the street- like helping some elderly person getting attacked; you can't walk past that. I grew up in the Bayou, and you know we swamp fighters are a lot different than street fighters. I'm like a gator. . . quicker, faster, and unpredictable. It really doesn't matter whether you're male, female, gay, straight- whatever you want your identity to be—no one has the right to try to take your life or to beat you down for it. They do not have the right. It started with that Stonewall. They call it a riot, a rebellion-it was civil disobedience. They were banged and bruised and some were put in jail. But everybody got tired of being pushed around, of being raided. The cops got the surprise of their lives-those queens were not going to take it any longer. I walked into it. I was coming around the corner and got hit right dead in the eye. I got in a few hot licks against the cops. I have no regrets. If I did, I wouldn't have lived this long.

— Transgender Warriors: A Movement Whose Time Has Come by Leslie Feinberg (1996)

#m. #storme delarverie #trans history #quotes #Transgender Warriors: A Movement Whose Time Has Come

[everybodysinvited]

LGBTQ+ History Month - Stormé DeLarverie

Finishing off this month with the super cool Stormé DeLarverie! A drag performer, bouncer, singer, show-jumper and Stonewall veteran, she did it all!!

A pioneer and protector, DeLarverie was at the forefront of the gay rights movement, pushing gender roles and dress, she was an icon in butch culture!

If you have any other suggestions for queer historic figures I'd love to hear them as I may delve into a few more posts like this throughout the year! Thank you for your support and happy LGBTQ+ History Month!

Image & text description in ALT

#education #everybodys invited #sex education #sex educator #lgbtq #lgbtq history #lgbtq community #lgbt history #lesbianism #butch #butch lesbian #butch appreciation #queer history #storme delarverie #wlw #gay history #rshe #teaching #id in alt text #id included #lgbtq history month #lgbtqia #lgbt pride #queer community

[joeyhazell-art]

There's a SITEWIDE REDBUBBLE SALE going on this week, August 14th-20th!

If you hadn't had a chance before, you can find all these items plus more on my redbubble page HERE

Eda // Raine // Mary Shelley // Marsha // Storme

Additionally sales made from my Pride Collection will be donated to LGBT+ causes!

#my shops #the owl house #eda clawthorne #raine whispers #raeda #pride #queer history #marsha p johnson #storme delarverie #mary shelley #frankenstein #british literature #redbubble #sale

[crunchyspacepeanutbutter]

Black Queer History Day 2

Stormé DeLarverie

Stormé was born to a black mother and wealthy white father. Growing up, she was bullied by white kids and black kids alike "for being a negro with a white face". Stormé's baritone voice earned her a career as a singer in New York, as the lone drag king in the Jewel Box Revue, the first racially integrated drag revue in North America. Stormé first had a policy of dressing like a man on stage and a woman in public, but after being arrested twice for being a drag queen she began presenting as male in public. Legend has it that Stormé's arrest for dressing as a man began the Stonewall Uprising, as the "butch lesbian" reported to have fought back against the police inspiring others to do the same. Stormé was referred to as the "Rosa Parks of the gay community", and worked to protect the New York queer community well into her 80s, serving as a bouncer at lesbian bars. Stormé referred to herself as "the guardian of the lesbians in the Village", patrolling the streets with a gun and looking out for any "ugliness" affecting queers and youth. She died in 2014 at the age of 93.

#black history matters #black history month #black history #black woman appreciation #lgbtq #lgbt pride #lgbt history #stone wall #storme delarverie

[dyke-husband]

A butch’s best assets.

#butch lesbian #radical queer #messy queer #queer #they them lesbian #lesbian #lesbian artist #leslie feinberg #alison bechdel #storme delarverie #lea delaria #andrea gibson #peggy Shaw #lesbian history #herstory

[petervintonjr]

Today we celebrate the life of Stormé DeLarverie, the affectionately-named "Rosa Parks of the gay community" who may or may not have actually thrown the first punch on June 27, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village (see Lesson #94 for more about this key event). While actual accounts conflict, DeLarverie herself would on occasion make this claim, however she also chafed at the idea of naming the Stonewall Uprising a riot; such a word, to her, changed the narrative and permitted the agitators to drive the story, not the victims. "It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience," she would agree, but "it wasn't no damn riot."

Born in 1920 New Orleans on an unknown date (she would later claim December 24th as her birthday), DeLarverie's African-American mother was in fact a household servant to her white father. Her parents later married and the family moved to California, but she was ultimately mostly raised by her grandfather. Not unexpectedly, Delarverie endured more than her share of bullying and harassment from other schoolchildren, due not only to her mixed race but also her tall and lean androgynous looks --which would later work to her advantage; being able to pass for either white or Black, woman or man. For a time she rode horses with the Ringling Brothers Circus but stopped after a fall. She came out as lesbian at the age of eighteen, and remained in a committed relationship with a dancer named Diana, until Diana's death in the mid-1970's.

Between 1955 and 1969 DeLarverie was the featured emcee of the touring Jewel Box Revue, significant as one of the first-ever integrated drag revues, showcasing both black and white entertainers. The revue featured men in drag, though DeLarverie was the only male impersonator: one popular gimmick was to encourage audiences to try to guess who the "one girl" was from among the revue performers. At the end Stormé would reveal herself as a woman during a musical number called, "A Surprise with a Song," often wearing tailored suits and sometimes even a moustache that made her unidentifiable. The Jewel Box Revue also drew integrated crowds of both black and white audiences, and was even featured at Radio City Music Hall and at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater.

Only a few weeks after Stonewall, on July 11, 1969, DeLarverie was one of the founding members of the Stonewall Veterans' Association, and remained an active member for many years, ultimately serving as its Vice-President from 1998 to 2000. Throughout the 1980's and the 1990's she patrolled gay and lesbian clubs and bars on lower Seventh and Eighth avenues, ever vigilant and on the lookout for anti-gay and anti-black intolerance, a responsibility she took seriously until she reached her mid-eighties. She was a regular at New York's annual Pride parade, was honored at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, and received a proclamation from then-Public Advocate (now State Attorney General) Letitia James.

For further viewing: Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box, a 1987 film directed by Michelle Parkerson.

"Something Like A Super-Lesbian:" Stormé's May 2014 obituary at https://hello40s.com/2014/05/28/something-like-a-super-lesbian-storme-delarverie-in-memoriam/

#black lives matter #dothework #teachtruth #pride month #pride #storme delarverie

[credencecore]

Last night I was watching Fellow Travelers with my partner and was so tired I said “Oh my god, is that Stormy Daniels?”

I meant Stormé DeLarverie.

My partner was staring at me like I grew a second head.

#lgbt #fellow travelers #gay #mlm #wlw #storme delarverie #nblnb #lesbian

[catastrfy]

Stuff I'm Proud of: • researching Stormé DeLarverié and creating the website dedicated to her (now being run by another Stormé researcher as my body is failing). Her surviving niece finally knows what became of her beautiful Aunt Viva.

• researching Sarah A. Thomas who was buried on the Oregon Trail and finding who she was/connecting her to her family. now if her descendents ever go looking, they'll find her.

• Autisticat

• my good omens mugs, esply the black one

• my binxy cat pride flag charms

my queer little tree with crowley the starmaker on top and aziraphale wearing my old pride rings guarding the bottom

close up of aziraphale, the queer guardian of soho, wearing pride rings (well, triangles) as a bandolier

these things all make me very happy

#queer history #good omens #good omens 2 #autisticat #storme delarverie #pride #cats #good omens diy stuff #pride rings #queer guardian of soho #starmaker crowley #rainbow tree

[pennydykedaughter]

oc. 2020

#storme delarverie #stormé #pride #dyke March #dykeposting #dyke art #double venus #dyke #canon dslr #lesbian symbols #lesbian feminist #lesbian art #lesbian #labrys #Polaroids

[halogen2]

from the digital transgender archive

A Photograph of Cocoa Rodriguez Carrying a Floral Wreath in a Parade - 1996

A Photograph of Stormé DeLarverie in a Multicolored Hard Hat and Purple Shirt - 1995

#digital transgender archive #storme delarverie #cocoa rodriguez #pride parade #transgender history #queer history #90s #ph