Houston Suburban Hate Pastors Hating On Drag Queen Storytime

Seems like because they're living their boring life in the 'burbs of Katy and Magnolia, Dave Welch and Steven Hotze have nothing better to do than meddle in Houston business.

Drag Queen Storytime was started back in November 2017 by Darius Vallier, a drag queen known as Blackberri for his bearded lady persona.

Vallier was invited by Brazos Bookstore last June to headline its Drag Queen Story Hour for LGBTQ Pride Month.   The event was a smashing success, and the Houston Public Library hired Vallier to host its own Drag Queen Storytime event at the Freed- Montrose Neighborhood Library.

KHOU-TV 11 recently broadcast a story on July 9 about the Drag Queen Storytime event at the Heights Public Library, and that was enough to get the attention of At-Large Councilmember Michael Kubosh and his reprehensible right wing friends.

The Katy based Hotze runs the SPLC certified hate group Conservative Republicans of Texas, and wasted no time sticking his nose in Houston business after being given the heads up by Kubosh at a July 17 council meeting by attacking the event as 'inappropriate for children.' . 

Hotze demanded that the city kill the Drag Queen Storytime, and compared it to pedophilia. 

Really fool?  Since when do you have credibility to talk about anything since A, you don't live in the city of Houston and B, you run a hate group.  Welch and his US Pastors Council are now joining the fray since the DQSH program is a nationwide one they have been sleeping on. .

Meanwhile the Houston GLBT Caucus has weighed in with a statement supporting the event.

But the big mic drop comment belongs to Vallier.

“I do it for me and the kids, not for attention,” said Blackberri, aka Darius Vallier. “I strive for a better tomorrow where hate and ignorance is overshadowed by love and acceptance. I didn’t even know the news was going to be there, so I am happy that accepting people now know about the programs. If anyone thinks that a drag queen taking the time out of their day to read to children and make them smile is a problem, they are more than welcome to volunteer their time like I did and read to children themselves.”

Nope.  Hotze, Welch and all their hate pastors are too busy gleefully coordinating oppression against the Texas TBLGQ community to take time out of their day to read to kids like you are doing.

Be Known For Your Flawless FDA Anti-Smoking Ad

One of the things I noticed when I first started hanging out in the Montrose gay clubs in June 1980 that was in stark comparison to the straight clubs I hung out in during the 80's was that there were far more people smoking in those gay nightclubs

It was so bad that when I went into those gay clubs, any clothes I wore smelled like cigarette smoke for several days after those visits.   After Houston passed its non-smoking ordinance, that abated somewhat,  but I ran into the same problem in Louisville when I moved there in 2001.

The clouds of cigarette smoke were so thick in The Connection, the largest and most popular bar there,  I would literally have to go outside for fresh air.  I quit going to it and clubs in Da Ville period until Louisville passed its non smoking ordinance in 2006.

The reason I'm going down Moni Memory Lane about LGBTQ smoking is this PSA ad campaign launched by the FDA to tackle the fact that the estimated 2 million TBLGQ youth ages 18-24 are twice as likely to smoke as their hetero counterparts   That translates to thousands of TBLGQ adults dying from smoking related causes and diseases later in their lives.

The $35.7 million The Free Life ad campaign features this groundbreaking 'Be Known For Your Flawless' ad  that features several drag queens, Shangela, Tammie, Trixie and Manila discussing why they don't smoke and urging BTLGQ youth to live 100% tobacco free.

Here is the ad.

Drag Culture Is A Major Reason We Even HAVE A Trans Community

As I awakened from my slumber this morning I checked my Facebook page to see that I'd been tagged with a Bilerico Project article penned by Brynn Tannehill (who I have mad love and respect for)  asserting that drag culture hurts the trans community. 

While there are times the drag community has pissed me off, and I have had no problem sounding off  about it, I have to throw the penalty flag on this Tannehill post and bring a little historical context into this discussion. 

I wrote in this February 2013 post the obvious point that drag does not equal trans womanhood.   I have called out the Black cis community along with our allies for giving far more respect to Tyler Perry dressed as Madea than the average trans woman walking Black America's streets.  

But as someone with a deep appreciation and love of history,  I also have to admit the following point as a long time trans activist.   Without the drag community and pissed off trans women together fighting the po-po's fracking with them at the 1959 Cooper's Donuts, Compton's Cafeteria (1966), and Stonewall Rebellions (1969), the gender variant kids at Dewey's Lunch Counter protesting their oppression in April-May 1965 with a combo sit-in and protest, I submit it would have taken us a lot longer getting this trans rights movement party started.

Far too many trans women during that time period were in stealth because of the HBIGDA/WPATH transition standards in place at the time or in denial of their transness when they when questioned about it. The only visible ones were the illusionists, the trans women bold enough to openly live their lives and not care what people thought like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Christine Jorgensen, and Coccinelle just to name a few or outed ones like April Ashley. 

Remember it was a Black female illusionist in Lady Java who struck the initial blows against the LAPD's odious Rule Number 9 that eventually caused the whole rotten thing to go away 

There have been more than a few times in their various locales female illusionists like Lady Java have been the ones who put their asses on the line and stepped forward to fight for the human rights laws that benefit our entire community.   While they were doing so, the stealth trans women who were hiding and refusing to participate in the trans community because 'they are women now', were grousing online in their not so quiet Internet chat rooms ranting about that 'drag queen' speaking in front of that governmental body their 'I'm a woman now' selves didn't have the guts to speak in front of. 

And let's not forget it's the drag community that peeps in the LGBT ranks call on when it's time to raise some money for whatever SGL community cause needs to be fundraised for.  


Yes, there are problematic peeps in the drag community, and many of them are the gay males who blanch at the thought of having a surgeon's scalpel do GRS on their Almighty Phallus or have internalized hatred of femininity (and trans women by extension) for whatever reason.  

And we are justified in calling their asses out.  

But I submit it's not the drag community that is harming the trans community by itself.  I've observed this anti-drag argument far too often in white trans community ranks over the last decade and a half I've been a national trans activist of color.   Brynn's post also has the problematic flavor of 'respectability politics' baked into it.

I've also had to call my white transsisters out for making the problematic conflation of drag = blackface.   No, it doesn't.      

It also ignores the fact it is cis societal hatred for trans people fueled by ignorance of the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity that causes the problems the trans community is forced to navigate.

The trans exterminationalist radical feminists (TERF's) as a group have done far more damage to the trans human rights cause over the last four decades with their disco era transphobic hate they attempt to layer with the thin veneer of academic credibility than any drag performer. 

Elements of the gay and lesbian community who repeatedly threw us under the legislative bus since the 1970's to selfishly pass human rights legislation for themselves or misgendered us in their print outlets have done far more damage to the trans community than any drag performer.  

Neither was it the drag community that coined the Religious Reich's favorite anti-trans human rights talking point in terms of the 'bathroom panic' meme.  It was openly gay former Rep. Barney Frank talking about 'penises in showers' in a US House committee meeting. 

One of the reasons I and other POC trans people have mixed emotions about the drag community is because we know firsthand that for us historically and as Drag Race contestant Monica Beverly Hillz emphatically demonstrated last year, it is one of our pathways to begin our transitions in communities that are far more socially conservative.   

I've seen more than a few examples of today's femme queen walking a ballroom floor, standing on a pageant stage or performing at a gay club's Talent Night emerging a few years later after having their gender epiphany and using that community to hone their feminine presentations to become a #girllikeus.  

As Chanel Winn-Decarlo pointed out in the Facebook comment that was shared with me: 

Drag is an artform and entertainment and actually something I enjoy.  I am often insulted and offended by drag queens but I don't want to blame the ignorance of people on entertainment
I think at this stage of the game even if you don't know it all, everyone, even a child can understand the difference between a transsexual (WOMAN) and a drag queen (ENTERTAINER)

And to piggyback on Chanel's point, right wing haters are gonna hate.   We know they are going to throw the 'bathroom bill' and 'drag queen' shade in their zeal to do their funders bidding and stop trans human rights advances.   They know they don't have any logic or reason based arguments to deny the implementation of much needed trans human rights laws, so 'fear and smear' is the only tactic they have left.  

We must be ready as trans advocates to debunk and utterly destroy those talking points until the conservafools are 'scurred' to open their mouths and say them for fear of being called out as the transphobic bigots they are. 

We trans folks can and should be able to accomplish that task without throwing the drag community under the bus, because without them being tired of the BS, we wouldn't HAVE a trans community.    


TransGriot Note:  Sahara Davenport is the lovely person in the color photo.

Sharon Needles' Clueless Bigotry

Why am I not surprised that a RuPaul's Drag Race winner doesn't have a clue why it is not fracking cool to sign a photo with 'Black is the new Black ♥ you Ni***r."? 

Especially since the creator of the show supports a drag queen who thinks (and the white gays who support the tired 'act') it's humorous to watch a obese gay white male dress up in blackface and portray 'a welfare mother with 19 'chirren' all named after venereal diseases and discount stores.

This time I'm not talking about Shirley Q. Liquor, but 30 year old Sharon Needles, AKA Aaron Coady.

There's been an increasing firestorm of criticism being aimed at Needles from the rainbow POC court of public opinion  who considers that autograph in the photo problematic.

The vanillacentric circling the rainbow wagons around Needles is only pouring gasoline on the smoldering anger of African American rainbow peeps and especially when we hear the tired 'lighten up' comment come of the mouths of Sharon Needles fans.

The anger of the African American SGL community went up a few more notches after this YouTube video surfaced with Needles trying to gaysplain it.

The other night me and a couple of my friends went out to have a good time, and there's this young thing. I call her a "thing" because, you know, I don't know how to tip-toe around gender rules or queer politics. I'm 30 years old, rich, and famous; I don't have to deal with that shit anymore, you know what I mean? So we'll just call them "him"/"her"/"thing," whatever. And you know she really finds my shows offensive. ... So anyway she got upset that I paint myself brown, that I would use language that she found offensive. ... She made me an unnecessary poster child for post-racial change."

  
Sniff sniff, I smell industrial strength vanillacentric privilege in the rainbow air from Coady.   And yes Aaron, whether you and your vanillacentric fan base think otherwise, you exist with white privilege.  If a POC is telling you that your show is offensive and why, maybe you need to stop and think about that for a moment and then correct you behavior instead of trying to defensively justify it.

Let me say this once again for you peeps to understand.  Just as you hate being called the f-word that rhymes with maggot, we don't like the n-word.
It is not okay to perpetuate negative stereotypes and problematic language and flying the rainbow flag doesn't change that or give you a pass on that. 

And Aaron, you can best believe I will address the transphobic nature of what you said in that YouTube video in another post

It is NEVER okay for you white peeps inside or outside the rainbow community under ANY circumstances to say the n-word.  When it comes out of your mouth we're instantly thinking about all the four centuries of negative history behind that word and the cuss out (or beatdown) that results from you doing so will be swift and sure.

Once again it is highlighting an issue that needs to be addressed in the overall rainbow community in terms of racism in the rainbow community ranks. 

It doesn't help and pisses us off when white BTLG people not only knee-jerk circle the wagons around the people we POC's call out for the offensive bigoted behavior, but arrogantly try to tell us trans and SGL folks of color what we should and should not be offended by.

Non white LGBT people are aware that we can't eradicate racism in our rainbow ranks unless we can have a serious conversation about it and the will to do so.  

We also know much of the heavy lifting on this issue has to be done by white GLBT peeps since they still are reluctant to come to grips with the fact or play the 'if we ignore it it'll go away' game there is a rainbow community race problem.   

And Sharon Needles, you definitely need to check yourself before you end up walking in your idol RuPaul's and Chuck Knipp's pumps and find yourself becoming a community pariah and your shows being consistently protested

The Charles Barkley In Drag Weight Watchers Commercial

Weight Watchers has been trying to shed its image as a weight loss programs that only for women by using retired athletes like Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw and Charles Barkley as spokespersons for it.

Peep the latest commercial that has Charles in drag for it.

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Chicago's Baton Show Lounge 40th Anniversary

The Baton Show Lounge has hosted one of the finest female illusionist shows in Chicago.

In honor of its 40th anniversary, I found and I'm posting some YouTube video that interviews some of the peeps there and takes you behind the scenes at the club.

'An Evening At La Cage' Closes In Vegas

The tough economy is whacking Las Vegas as well. If you were thinking about checking out the 'An Evening At La Cage' female impersonators review at the Riviera Hotel the next time you can afford to go there on vacation, you won't have that show as an option to see anymore.

Headliner Frank Marino and the rest of the cast were informed by producer Norbert Aleman after the February 9 performance that the show was shutting down immediately, thus ending a 23 year run on the Las Vegas Strip.

'An Evening At La Cage' opened in September 1985 featuring Marino as Joan Rivers. It eventually became the fourth longest running show on the Vegas strip.



This follows the news last month that another iconic show. the Tropicana's 'Les Folies Bergere' was shutting down March 28 after a 49 year run to make room for another undisclosed production.

"The writing is on the wall," said Aleman in an interview with Mike Weatherford. "It's better if we take a break right now and see what's up with the economy, rather than see my numbers go down and have to perform for under 100 people."

Riviera president Robert Vannucci said in a statement, "We sincerely regret the decision to close La Cage, but fully understand the economic pressures forcing the situation. We wish the producer and the cast well and hope in the near future that conditions will change and encourage reinvesting into the show and its reopening. In the meantime, we are in negotiation with several different show producers and hope to announce a new Riviera show very soon."

Marino said he was expecting the closure because of falling audience numbers and it was time to step it up to the next level as a producer. He was going to take a vacation for a month, then start working on the 'ultimate drag show'.



At any rate, here's hoping that the iconic show gets revived or Marino's 'ultimate drag show' debuts once the economy improves.

Just Not Into RuPaul

RuPaul's back on TV with a reality show called RuPaul's Drag Race on Logo. Yeah, I know I've griped for years about the lack of visibility of GLBT African-Americans in the media, but this is one show that I and many African-American GLBT peeps won't be watching.

The reason? Many of us consider RuPaul a sellout.

RuPaul's road to Clarence Thomas-Condoleezza Rice territory basically began in 2002, when he started defending Chuck Knipp and his odious blackface minstrel show that many of us in the SGL community and our allies have major problems with.

When New York activists protested and succeeded in shutting down a 2002 show, RuPaul leaped to Chuck's defense.

RuPaul also had this to say when he appeared at Southern Decadence in New Orleans a few years ago.

"Critics who think that Shirley Q. Liquor is offensive are idiots. Listen, I've been discriminated against by everybody in the world: gay people, black people, whatever. I know discrimination, I know racism, I know it very intimately. She's not racist, and if she were, she wouldn't be on my new CD."

I'm a critic and a lot smarter than you are. Obviously your racism detector is way off and your ignorance of black history speaks volumes. It's also why that 'Foxy Lady' CD tanked.

If you'd paid attention in history class, you'd know that your racist runnin' buddy does a blackface minstrel show that on multiple levels is offensive and racist. Hiding behind your short skirts won't shield him from the deserved criticism and negativity he gets for doing so.

RuPaul also said on a gay radio show,
“I love it. People really need to take a chill pill and people really aren’t sophisticated enough to know that when a person is coming from a place of love as opposed to coming from a place of hate. Shirley Q. Liquor is so clearly coming from a place of love.”

How much 'sophistication' was Chuck showing when he (or one of his cronies) photoshopped Jasmyne Cannick's head to the body of an nude African American porn model on his website because she successfully led the effort to shut down one of his California shows?

Did that come from a place of love? Hell, naw.

RuPaul, you can stop trying to defend Chuck. It's the reason many of us aren't enamored of you any more, and the sooner you realize that, the better.

But then again, like all good sellouts, you'll salute, take the money they offer you, continue to stab your people in the back and expect us to be quiet about it.

Houston Drag Queen National Anthem

I love Anita Baker and can listen to her music for hours (especially when she puts new stuff out, hint hint.)

But there's one song of hers I heard so much when I attended H-town talent nights or local preliminary pageants I got to the point where I started calling it the Houston Drag Queen National Anthem.


That song is No More Tears, and it's on one of Anita's early albums called The Songstress. It's a slammin' album, and of course I have it in my collection. But after I attended a Talent Night one evening at Rascals I was tempted to break the CD in half after I returned home.


For the uninitiated into the world of female illusion, talent nights are basically when the wannabe and future drag legends get to perform at a GLBT nightclub. Think small scale Showtime at the Apollo minus the Sandman or the raucous New York crowd. Just like its progenitor, the winner is determined by popular applause. In some cases the Talent Nights are a series of eliminations that lead to a Finals Night in which all the winners for that cycle compete for a paid one night booking in the main drag show with the club's regular cast.

Those Talent Nights do find future legends from time to time that eventually take the Illusionist or pageant worlds by storm. But you also have your GLBT versions of William Hung who are performing just for their five minutes in the spotlight until the next Talent Night.

This particular one had sixteen people performing in it. It's not unusual to have maybe two people do the same song during these competitions since no one knows until the night of the show who's going to do what song until they hand their music to the DJ. The order of performance is determined by either drawing names or the Show Director makes a list based on check in time. But this night we had SEVEN people performing that same song.

It was okay when the first two girls did the song. But after the third one did it eyebrows were raised. When the next three performers in a row also did No More Tears, that was a bit much. One club patron after the sixth girl walked off the stage yelled, "Do these girls own another CD besides Anita Baker?"


Cookie LaCook cracked a joke that got everyone laughing until the next contestant was introduced. The now overly familiar opening notes of this song were being played for the seventh time with an audible groan from the club patrons.

I caught up with Cookie later that night when it was over and joked, "Can y'all put in a rule for future Talent Nights that no more than two girls do the same song?"

Ever since that night, every time I hear No More Tears (and I like the song), I automatically refer to it as the Houston Drag Queen National Anthem. I also agree with that patron. Can some of y'all illusionists please diversify your music collections?

Drag Kings In The House At MIT

MIT Grooves To A New Beat As Drag Kings Take Up Residence
by Bob Young
Boston Herald

Move over, drag queens. The drag kings are about to elbow you off stage.

For four days this week, the all-black Nappy Grooves drag king troupe from Oakland, Calif., will be setting up shop in a place that doesn't exactly conjure up San Francisco's Castro district: MIT.

Then again, looks can be deceiving: The land of geeks and nerds hosts the largest annual student drag show in the country every year.

For the uninitiated, drag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress like males and sport facial hair makeup; drag queens are men who dress in female clothes and makeup, often for performances.

Where they both meet is at MIT's "Fierce Forever" drag show, scheduled to be held next April 24.

"We usually have more drag queens than drag kings in ('Fierce Forever')," said Michele Oshima, director of student and artist-in-residence programs at MIT. "There's not as much gender balance."

As a way to expose the MIT community to the flip side of the drag world and to raise students' consciousness about gender and race, Oshima booked Nappy Grooves for a residence at the school (Wednesday through Nov. 3), including a free public talk, "Too Hot to Handle," on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Broad Institute Auditorium. The press release calls it an adult performance.

"I went to the International Drag King Community Extravaganza last year and Nappy Grooves blew me away," said Oshima. "They're very committed to fighting homophobia and racism and stereotypical images of black people."

And stereotypical images of those in drag.

"Drag queens and drag kings have all different sexualities," said Oshima. "Bisexual, lesbian, gay, heterosexual, transsexual, asexual,omnisexual. Who knows?"

The five women of Nappy Grooves, according to member Mattie Richardson, all have different LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual) identities.

"People have done gender performances for a very long time," said Richardson, an English professor at the University of Texas. "But the particular crop of people who call themselves drag kings has gained momentum."

Drag kings have become more and more a fixture in queer performance events. At MIT, Nappy Grooves will tackle issues such as racism and politics through music and play-acting. Richardson, for example, often plays a swaggering black male character who's a womanizer secretly attracted to men.

"Be they straight or gay or trans or bi or whatever," said Richardson, "I think drag is useful and challenging to anybody who is open to questioning gender norms. Anyone who's open will be inspired by our performance."

"Too Hot to Handle," a lecture/demonstration by Nappy Grooves, takes place Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Broad Institute Auditorium, NE30, 7 Cambridge Center. Free. Go to www.web.mit.edu/arts.

I Ain't Hatin' I'm Appreciating

I Ain’t Hatin’, I’m Appreciating This was the column I submitted to THE LETTER for printing in September for the October issue.


I have much love, admiration and respect for the illusionist community.

Yes, there are certain things about it that irritate me and people involved in it that I won’t be breaking bread with anytime soon, but hey, they are my sistahs too.

And for you illusionists, don’t assume that activists don’t know about your issues, don’t care or haven’t walked in your pumps. Some of the best activists I know used to perform (or still do) on various stages or were pageant titleholders. Some are leaders in their local GLBT communities when they’re off stage.

In the early 80’s, I was a scared kid first starting to venture out in Houston’s gayborhood called Montrose. I didn’t know anybody, was still trying to sort out things and nervous about whether my femme presentation was up to snuff. It was Houston’s legendary drag queen and show emcee Cookie LaCook who took a few moments out of her busy evening to speak to me when other peeps wouldn’t. It jump-started a conversation that put me on the road to becoming the Phenomenal Transwoman you see today and earned me ‘cool points’ with the regular patrons of Studio 13.

Over the next two decades Cookie and I would get into some deep conversations over the years. She sometimes incorporated me into her monologues as “Soul Sister Number One.” I was saddened to find out she passed away July 27

I know what illusionists do isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work, time, talent and effort to perfect the onstage persona, much less perform. I found that out firsthand when I went on stage at small club back home as a favor to a Latina illusionist friend of mine named Brittany Paige. She’d been asking me to do a Talent Night for two years before I finally said okay. It’s not my cup of tea and I’m more comfortable on a stage with a podium, a microphone and a speech in front of me and she knew that. The joy that lit up Brittany’s face is one image that brings a smile to my face whenever I think about her. A week after my one time performance she lost her battle with AIDS.

My illusionist friends helped me polish my feminine presentation. They taught me a few tucking techniques and trade secrets that aided my transition. For the ones that only did girl onstage I got the pleasure of sitting backstage, watch them morph into the gorgeous divas that you peeps tip and learn some makeup secrets in the process.

And speaking of tips, if you like the performer, give ‘em a little somethin’ somethin’. Makeup and all the things ‘the gurls’ need to transform themselves into the beautiful peeps you see ain’t cheap.

They were generally cool people to be around and the source of some entertaining moments as well. I’ve watched illusionists read each other, trifling boyfriends, and hecklers. I’ve seen them beat the crap out of suburban bigots who thought they were easy targets outside of clubs and get into wig-pulling fights. But these same people when I was kicked back and chilling at their cribs challenged and expanded my worldview. They inspired me to check out my African-American LGBT history, helped me sort out my gender issues and kicked knowledge to me about a wide range of subjects.

I can’t forget the greatest gift the illusionist community gave us in conjunction with transgender peeps. They jump started the GLBT rights movement with the 1967 Compton’s Cafeteria riot in San Francisco and Stonewall two years later because they were mad as hell and tired of being jacked with by the police.

So no, I’m not hatin’. I’m appreciating all the things the illusionist community does in their own way to make this a better world for all of us.


TransGriot Note: I discovered after I sent it off to be printed that the Compton's Riot actually happened in August 1966. I also discovered that my editor refused to print this one as well. More details on what's transpiring in regards to my newspaper column in an upcoming post.

Cookie LaCook RIP

I was saddened to hear that legendary Houston drag performer and emcee Cookie LaCook, AKA 'The Mouth of the South', passed away on July 27.

The Louisiana born Cookie moved to Houston and became an icon in the Houston SGL community. She was a former 1987 Miss Gay Texas USofA at Large who was always happy to do a benefit show, host an event, visit the sick or attend a funeral for someone whose loved ones had disowned them. She even hosted a Juneteenth event in Dallas. And she always loved her f*****g great audiences.

I got to chat with her numerous times over the years whenever I visited Studio 13/Rascals or happened to occasionally bump into her when I was downtown. The one conversation I had with Cookie that's the most memorable one happened at a short lived GLBT club called Uptown/Downtown in the early 90s. She introduced me to her favorite drink, the amaretto sour while we had a long free ranging conversation over a wide range of subjects. (y'all know how much I love intelligent conversation). After that night anytime I showed up at Rascals and she spotted me in the crowd I was incorporated into her monologue as 'Soul Sister Number 1'.

As someone noted on the Houston Splash website, a f*****g great audience has a f*****g great host. Cookie was all that and three bags of chips. Best of all, she was a first class human being as well.

It's gonna be strange next May if I'm lucky enough to attend Houston Splash and not see Cookie's regal presence keeping things moving and making us laugh.

Rest in peace, Cookie. You've earned it.

July 2006 TransGriot Column

Congratulations Domanique Shappelle!
Copyright 2006, THE LETTER

I enjoy watching a good drag show or pageant every now and then (as long as I’m not choking on cigarette smoke in the process). I’ll even sit down and judge them from time to time when presented with the opportunity.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who extended me an invitation to judge the inaugural Miss Imperial Diva 2006 Pageant that took place on June 14. Congratulations to Vanessa Ross of Indianapolis who was crowned the winner.
I also enjoyed getting to meet special guests Amelia Black and Terri Vanessa Coleman and watching them perform as well

Speaking of congratulations, it’s past time for me to extend them to the other royalty in our midst in Da Ville since her reign is rapidly drawing to a close. Congratulations to Domanique Shappelle, Miss Continental 2005-2006.

Miss Continental is held during the Labor Day weekend in Chicago. The Miss Continental system is one of the prestige pageant circuits along with the Miss Gay America and Miss Gay USofA systems. There are several African-American pageant systems as well such as Miss Black Universe and Liberty International for starters and the list seems to grow longer with each passing year.

I met Domanique in conjunction with the time I spent with HIM 100 Concerned Men and HER back in 2003 as Transgender Initiative Coordinator. I was asked to become coordinator when no one else wanted the job. She was doing shows at The Connection at the time and had the respect of many of the transwomen I was trying to reach. That was critical as Dawn, myself and several other dedicated people worked diligently for almost a year to try to revive the Afro-American centered HIV/AIDS program before its funding was pulled.

I have had the pleasure during my journey to transwomanhood of meeting many female illusionists. Some are no longer here like the legendary Naomi Sims. Others I’ve met in my hometown and elsewhere have gone on to bigger and better things such as Tommie Ross, Chevelle Brooks, Chanel Nicole, Shawnna Brooks, Sophia McIntosh and Lawanda Jackson.

I have always been aware of the fact in conversing with many of these beautiful and talented ladies that many of them are intelligent goal-oriented individuals. I discovered during a dinner we had at the house a few years ago that Domanique has a degree in communications. We shared the same concerns about our younger transsistahs growing up without the foundations of a good education, knowing their history and having role models they can be proud of.

Well, Domanique is doing it in the pageant world. Whether she’s onstage or off, she’s carried herself with class and dignity. She’s cognizant of the role she plays as a mentor to the girls of the pageant world as their representative just as myself and others strive to build a positive image for transpeople in our interactions with the folks we come in contact with on a daily basis

Our busy schedules over the last two years have prevented us from being in contact as much as I’d like to, but Domanique is definitely someone I want to spend more quality time with. I still consider her a friend and hope she feels the same way.

Congratulations, sis. May you have continued success in your career.