José Sarria
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José J. Sarria (b. December 12, 1922) is a drag queen, political activist and founder of the Imperial Court System. In 1961 he became the first out gay person in the world to run for public office (San Francisco Board of Supervisors). Sarria also helped create the League for Civil Education in 1960 and the Society for Individual Rights (SIR) in 1963.
Sarria performed for many years at the Black Cat Bar beginning in the 1940s and continued until the bar was forced to close by the city in 1963. Billed as "The Nightingale of Montgomery Street," he was known for singing arias. At the end of each night he would make the patrons join hands and sing "God Save Us Nelly Queens" (to the tune of God Save the Queen).
In the 1950s, when female impersonation was a crime in San Francisco, Sarria gave fellow drag queens labels to wear stating "I am a boy," so that they could not be accused of masquerading as women.
Sarria ran for the Board of Supervisors in 1961, garnering nearly 6,000 votes in the city-wide race. His political organizing helped lay the groundwork for later successful campaigns, including that of Harvey Milk.
Crowned Queen of the Beaux Arts Ball in 1964 by the gay business association known as the Tavern Guild, Sarria, stating that he was "already a queen", labeled himself "Her Royal Majesty, Empress of San Francisco, Jose I, The Widow Norton." Sarria devised the name "Widow Norton" as a reference to the much-celebrated citizen of 19th Century San Francisco, Joshua Norton, who had declared himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico in 1859.
Sarria's assumption of the the title of "Empress" lead to the establishment of the Imperial Court System, a network of non-profit charitable organizations throughout the US and Canada that raise money for various beneficiaries. Sarria is much-revered within the campy hierarchy of the Imperial Court System and is affectionately and informally known as "Mama" or "Mama José" among Imperial Court members. The "José Honors Awards" are presented to Imperial Court dignitaries and others in an annual banquet held in Sarria's honor.
Sarria and members of the Imperial Court appear along with other notable drag queens in the opening scenes of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
In 2006, Sarria's lifetime of activism was commemorated when the city of San Francisco renamed a section of 16th Street in the Castro "José Sarria Court."
[edit] Sources
- Michael Robert, Gorman (MA) (1998), The Empress Is a Man: Stories from the Life of José Sarria, New York: Haworth Press, ISBN 0789002590
- Shilts, Randy (1982). The Mayor of Castro Street. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312523319.
