A Woman to Know: Stormé Delarverie
You do what's appropriate for the time. That's it. — Stormé
(Photo via Sam Bassett)
When she died in 2014, Stormé Delarverie was a 93-year-old forgotten gay rights icon living in a Brooklyn public nursing home, under legal guardianship for longtime mental health issues.
But when she was alive, man — Stormé was unstoppable. She was the cross-dressing MC of New York City's 1960s drag scene. She was (allegedly!) the first to throw a punch at the Stonewall Riots. She was a roaming bouncer and beloved guardian of the now-gone lesbian bar strip in Manhattan's West Village. She carried a gun, threw out any "ugliness" and called all the bar patrons her "baby girls." She was a longtime resident of the Hotel Chelsea, renowned as the legendary spot's "gay superhero."
In so many ways, she was never forgettable at all.
Add to your reading list:
Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living With the Artists and Outlaws of New York's Rebel Mecca (Ed Hamilton)
The Gay Metropolis: A Landmark History of Gay Life in America (Charles Kaiser)
Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America (Christopher Bram)
Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution (David Carter)
Read more:
A Stonewall veteran, 89, misses the parade (The New York Times)
Honoring the Legacy of Storme Delarverie and her fight against "ugliness" (GLAAD)
Mourning a mother of the Stonewall riots (The Washington Post)
An interview with lesbian Stonewall veteran Stormé Delarverie (After Ellen)
Gay community's Rosa Parks faces death, impoverished and alone (The Huffington Post)
Drag King Icon dies at 93 (The Advocate)
Stormé Delarverie: In a Storm of Indifference, She's Still a Jewel (The Huffington Post)
Watch more:
Stonewall Veteran's Wisdom on "Ugliness" (Kirk Klocke)
Stormé: Lady of the Jewel Box (Michelle Parkerson)
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