Month: May 2023

Gloria Allen, was an American transgender activist who ran a charm school for transgender youth in Chicago’s Center on Halsted. Allen’s school lasted only a few years — she was not paid, and she often used her own money to prepare students’ meals — but inspired a hit play, Charm, by Philip Dawkins. Her experiences…

Heklina aka  Stefan Grygelko was a drag queen, actor and entrepreneur in San Francisco and founder of the drag club Trannyshack in 1996, the longest drag event series in San Francisco – later rebranded as “Mother” at The Oasis in 2015. Heklina was voted the Community Grand Marshall of the 2004 San Francisco Pride Parade,…

Darcelle XV aka  Walter Cole was a legendary Drag icon not only in her hometown in Portland OR, but in the drag universe. Walter served in the U.S. Armed forces and was discharged after the Korean War. In 1967, he bought a tavern in Northwest Portland, which became Darcelle XV Showplace. The name Darcelle honors…

J. Frederic “Fritz” Lohman was a pioneering gay art patron. Together with his partner Charles Leslie, Lohman launched the first gay art space in New York in the Soho loft in New York City in 1969, exhibiting homoerotic art that most art galleries deemed too controversial at that time.  Lohman and Leslie were also major…

Achebe Betty Powell was an activist with the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and the National LGBTQ Task Force. She was one of the first Black women to have a leadership role in what was then called the lesbian and gay liberation movement in the 1970s. She was a “founding mother,” of the Astraea Lesbian…

Terrence McNally was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as “the bard of American theater” and “one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced,” McNally was the recipient of five Tony Awards. McNally’s career spanned six decades, and his plays, musicals, and operas were routinely performed all over the world….

Leslie Jordan, the Emmy- winning actor and social media superstar with a wry Southern drawl was best known for his longtime role as Beverley Leslie on Will & Grace, and won an Emmy Award for his portrayal in 2006. He developed a long career in film and television appearances with projects like Reba, American Horror…