Tommie Ross Recovery Fundraiser

As many of you know, and I've told her personally, I have mad love and respect for my Houston homegirl and Miss Continental 1999-2000 Tommie Ross.

One of my early forays into Montrose was a trek to Studio 13 to watch her perform.  Her graceful elegance made her one of my transition role models.   I can't forget when I finally did meet her she not only is one gracious and lovely individual, she thoroughly whipped my butt when we played pool one night in 1990 at a defunct club called Uptown Downtown.

Was saddened and upset to hear that she suffered a mild stroke while traveling out of the country.  She drifted in and out of consciousness, had a fever, temporary kidney loss, suffered some memory loss and lost the ability to walk. 

I also didn't appreciate hearing about a shady drag queen making some disrespectful remarks about Miss Ross while she was in serious condition in a local hospital. 

More about that waste of DNA later.  Back to talking about Tommie. 

When she returned to the States, her condition worsened and after a battery of tests were conducted by her medical team, she was diagnosed with Legionnaires Disease.

After several rounds of antibiotics to treat the infection that got embedded in her lungs, she has begun to regain her ability to speak from the strole, and was able to stand up for the first time recently with the aid of a walker

Her medical team believes that she will fully recover over the next few months, and she is facing several rounds of physical therapy that she is determined to get through.

People have asked what they can do to help Tommie as she goes through this trying time.  A fundraiser has been set up with a $25,000 goal,.  So far as of this writing it has reached $3785,  so there's a long way to go to hit the targeted amount.

So if you can help a legendary sister out, please do so.   The link to the fundraiser is here.

2010-11 Miss Continental Winner Is....

Last year Mokha Montrese finished as the first runner up to 2009-10 queen Armani, who finally achieved her personal goal of seizing the crown at the 30th annual Miss Continental Pageantin Chicago.

What a difference a year makes at the recently conducted 31st annual edition of the Miss Continental Pageant.

Outgoing queen Armani spent Labor Day 2010 at the Park West Theater passing the Miss Continental crown to her successor, Mokha Montrese, the person she beat to gain the previous year's title. She is the Miss Continental pageant queen for 2010-11.

Mokha Montrese's story is a mirror image of Armani's Miss Continental history in terns of finally getting to wear the crown she's relentlessly pursued after all these years. She's another longtime Miss Continental contestant who has come agonizingly close in various years to winning the title.



The Miss Continental pageant is contested every Labor Day weekend in Chitown, so if you're interested in attending the 2011-12 version, better be ready to shell out the dough when the tickets go on sale because they don't last long.

Bu congrats to Mokha, and may you enjoy your reign you've worked long and hard to achieve.

Miss Continental 2008

For some people, Labor Day means a last chance to relax, chill out, chow down on some barbecue and enjoy the last days of summer. It means seeing the Jerry Lewis telethon on TV. But for peeps involved in the pageant community, Labor Day means it's time to roll into Chicago for the Miss Continental Pageant. It's one I've always wanted to attend for years, and this year's pageant was held September 2 and 3 in Chicago's Park West Theatre.

The winner was Necole Luv Dupree. The 2007-2008 first alternate was Armani, with Alexis Gabrielle Sherrington as second alternate. Necole has a long list of pageant titles to her credit and was first alternate in last year's Miss Continental Pageant.

The Miss Continental Pageant is considered the creme de la creme of the transgender pageant world. It got its start in 1980, when Jim Flint, the owner of Chicago's Baton Show Lounge organized a pageant for female illusionists who couldn't compete in the Miss Gay USofA or Miss Gay America systems because they banned the use of female hormones, silicone injections below the neck or breast implants. Ironically, its first winner, Chilli Pepper was a classic drag artist, but over time transwomen came to dominate this system.

Unlike the mainstream Miss Universe or Miss America systems, it didn't take sistahs long to make their marks in this pageant world. In 1982 Tiffany Arieagus became the first African-American winner of the Miss Continental title. In fact, Necole is the ninth sistah to win the Miss Continental pageant and the third in a row since 2005-06. Other African-American winners have been Lakeisha Lucky, Cezanne, Paris Frantz, Tasha Long, Tommie Ross, Domanique Shappelle, and last year's winner Victoria LePaige, the first Chicago native to win the title.

Twenty-seven years later, the pageant has grown into a system that conducts preliminary contests across the United States, in Canada (Toronto) and Puerto Rico (San Juan). The Miss Continental title is considered a crowning achievement for anyone who's in the pageant world. Some legendary names have won this title that include my fellow Texan Erica Andrews, fellow Houstonian Tommie Ross and Domanique Shappelle.

So all hail the new queen of the Miss Continental world for 2007-08, Necole Love Dupree.