Crystal LaBeija

Crystal LaBeija, was a Manhattan drag queen who founded the House of LaBeija in 1977.[1] The House of LaBeija is often credited as having started house culture for drag queens.[2]

Career

LaBeija originally worked and competed on the Manhattan drag circuit under the name of Crystal LaAsia, before changing her name to LaBeija as Latinx queens kept calling her La Belleza (Spanish for "the beauty").[1][3] In the 1960s and 1970s, drag queens of color were expected to whiten their appearance to help their chances at winning competitions and they often faced racist environments.[4] LaBeija was one of only a few African American drag queens to be awarded a "Queen of the Ball" title at a drag ball organized by whites during this era. In 1967, she was crowned Miss Manhattan.

LaBeija subsequently competed in the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant held in New York City Town Hall, a competition documented in The Queen (1968). In a scene towards the end of documentary, LaBeija, upset with the perceived racism of the white-run balls, accused the pageant organizer Flawless Sabrina of rigging the judging in the favor of a white queen, Rachel Harlow.[5] Refusing to participate further in a discriminatory system, LaBeija worked with another Black drag queen, Lottie LaBeija, to host a ball just for Black queens. This event, the first to be hosted by a House, was titled "Crystal & Lottie LaBeija presents the first annual House of Labeija Ball at Up the Downstairs Case on West 115th Street & 5th Avenue in Harlem, NY" and took place in 1972.[6]

LaBeija continued to work as a drag performer and activist throughout the 1970s and 1980s. RuPaul's first experience of a drag performance was seeing LaBeija perform a lipsync routine at a nightclub in Atlanta in 1979.[7]

LaBeija died of liver failure in 1982.[8]

Legacy

LaBeija's iconic speech about racial discrimination in queer culture in The Queen continues to reverberate in queer culture. Aja drew on it in her performance as LaBeija as part of the Snatch Game in RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars in 2018, while musician Frank Ocean sampled it in a 2016 track.[9]

As of 2019, the eponymous House founded by LaBeija exists still.[10] She was succeeded as House mother by Pepper LaBeija; the current mother of the House of LaBeija is Kia LaBeija.[11]

In June 2019, LaBeija was one of the inaugural fifty American “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes” inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City’s Stonewall Inn.[12][13] The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,[14] and the wall’s unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.[15]

See also

References
  1. Iovannone, Jeffry J. (June 29, 2018). "Crystal LaBeija: Legendary House Mother". Queer History for the People. Medium. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  2. Street, Mikelle (August 19, 2016). "The Iconic Drag Queen Behind Frank Ocean's Endless". Vice.
  3. "Crystal LaBeija: Queen of Shade, Mother of the Ball". Tom and Lorenzo. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  4. Street, Mikelle (February 16, 2018). "5 Things to Know About Ballroom Icon Crystal LaBeija". Billboard. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  5. Tavia Nyong'o. Afro-fabulations : the queer drama of Black life. ISBN 9781479856275. OCLC 1031956694.
  6. "'Listen, and You Will Hear all the Houses that Walked There Before': A History of Drag Balls, Houses and the Culture of Voguing. London: Soul Jazz, 2011". timlawrence.info. July 16, 2013.
  7. Wortham, Jenna (January 24, 2018). "Is 'RuPaul's Drag Race' the Most Radical Show on TV?". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  8. Portwood, Jerry (December 16, 2019). "Why 'The Queen' Documentary Is an Essential Queer Time Capsule". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  9. Street, Mikelle. "The Iconic Drag Queen Behind Frank Ocean's 'Endless'". Vice. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  10. Nguyen, Andrew (January 25, 2019). "50 Years of Chosen Family". The Cut. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  11. Fitzgerald, Tom; Marquez, Lorenzo (2020). Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul's Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life. Penguin Books. p. 253. ISBN 0143134620.
  12. Glasses-Baker, Becca (June 27, 2019). "National LGBTQ Wall of Honor unveiled at Stonewall Inn". www.metro.us. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  13. SDGLN, Timothy Rawles-Community Editor for (June 19, 2019). "National LGBTQ Wall of Honor to be unveiled at historic Stonewall Inn". San Diego Gay and Lesbian News. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  14. "Groups seek names for Stonewall 50 honor wall". The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R. Inc. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  15. "Stonewall 50". San Francisco Bay Times. April 3, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
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