A Stonewall Riots Hero Passes
Stormé DeLarverie, an acknowledged hero of the Stonewall Riots and a pioneer LGBT activist, died on May 24, 2014. DeLaverie was 93 years old.
DeLarverie
She was called the “Rosa Parks” of the gay rights movement.
DeLarverie was born in New Orleans on December 24, 1920, and is well known for having a role in the popular drag performance group, Jewel Box Revue. The group was comprised of a dozen drag queens and DeLarverie, as King Stormé, the sole drag king.
While records of the 1969 Stonewall Riots have often been described as incomplete, DeLarverie is best known for her involvement at the 1969 uprising, which followed a police raid on a New York City LGBT bar. The event is often credited with launching the modern fight for LGBT equality.
Stormé is usually credited with throwing the first punch. As she recounted, “A cop said to me, ‘Move faggot’, thinking that I was a gay guy. I said, ‘I will not! And, don’t you dare touch me.’ With that, the cop shoved me and I instinctively punched him right in his face. He bled! He was then dropping to the ground — not me”
I met her in the early nineties at gatherings which included several Stonewall Veterans. She was tall and androgynous with short curly hair. Pleasant and unassuming she had a presence of quiet strength that belied her age. I’m told that she was a mentor to many a young lesbian.
I still remember the last time I saw Stormé. It was the mid-late nineties, my crossdressing days. A CD friend had told my wife and I about a lesbian bar and club, Rubyfruit, on Hudson Street in the West village that had a restaurant and they welcomed CDs. As we pulled up in front of Rubyfruits, we heard some noise as two well dressed white women were yelling at an older very butch light skinned African American woman, that they were part owners and that men were not welcome inside.
I realized that “man” was Stormé and was about to get out of the car and let those women know who they were yelling at, but my wife began insisting. pleading, “let’s get out of here, now! Let’s go!” I drove off and we ended up at another restaurant in the Village that evening.
The memory that I could not do the right thing lingered, although I understood that my wife feared for me and my vulnerable status if something happened where I might have been harmed or even “outed.” The memory was jostled years later as I observed straight acting gay men disrespecting Sylvia Rivera and the trans female activists.
Stormé, you have earned our respect!
June is LGBT Pride month and the White House has hosted a LGBT Pride Reception every year since Barack Obama took office. 2014 is no exception and this year’s event will take place on June 30. I’m looking forward to this one in particular, not just for the speeches and American champagne, but in the hope that the POTUS announces an executive order mandating that Federal contractors have an inclusive LGBT non discrimination employment policy 1. That means you at EXXON Mobil, and you at Leggett and Platt, start hiring LGBT people and allow those existing employees to come out of the closet! Happy Pride!
Category: Transgender Community News, Transgender Politics
About the Author (Author Profile)
Babs at 76 passed away in 2019. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee, Deputy Vice Chair of the NJ Democratic State Committee and Political Director of the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of NJ. She served on the Executive Committee of Trans United 4 Obama. She has served as Vice Chair of the DNC Eastern Caucus, was President of NJ Stonewall Democrats, Co-Chair of National Stonewall Democrats Federal PAC Board, Vice-Chair of Garden State Equality, Executive Board member of National Stonewall Democrats as Chair of the DNC Relations Committee and a member of the NJ Civil Unions Review Commission.Subscribe
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