231

JEB (Joan E. Biren)

1944-

Portrait of Stormé DeLarverié. 1986; printed 1987.

Silver print
With JEB's signature, title, and print and negative dates in ink on verso
the image 6 1/8 x 7 1/4 in. (15.6 x 18.4 cm.), the sheet 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm.)

  • Provenance: Stormé DeLarverié was a gay civil rights icon. An entertainer, a singer, a bouncer, a bodyguard, and a volunteer advocate, DeLarvarié was born to a white father and black mother in New Orleans,and throughout her life she straddled these identities, passing as both Black and white, male or female. Androgynous and striking, DeLarverié was known for her dandyish styling long before it was popular for women to adopt menswear, and is now considered an influence on gender non-confirming fashion long before it was considered popular or accepted. From 1955-69 she toured as the master of ceremonies for the Jewel Box Revue, a racially integrated variety show featuring 25 drag queens and DeLarverié as the lone drag queen. In the 1980s and 90s, she worked as a bouncer for lesbian clubs in New York City, including the Cubbyhole. Late into her life, she patrolled as the self-proclaimed "guardian of lesbians in the Village." An advocate and a protector, DeLarverié was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument in New York City's Stonewall Inn in June 2019.

    Reproduced
    Joan E. Biren, Making A Way: Lesbians Out Front (Glad Hag Books, 1987)
  • Condition:
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