Celebrating Black History Month: Stormé DeLarverie

“Nobody knows who threw the first punch, but it’s rumored that she did, and she said she did,” Stormé DeLarverie’s friend Lisa Cannistraci said about the Stonewall Uprising in New York City in 1969, in an interview upon DeLarverie’s death in 2014. “She told me she did.”

American singer, drag king, bodyguard, bouncer Stormé DeLarverie was born in New Orleans in 1920 to a black mother and a white father and spent the ’50s and ’60s as the only “male impersonator” in the Jewel Box Revue, the period’s only racially integrated drag troupe: “There were around 25 guys and me,” she said in a 2010 interview.

At 18, she realised that she was gay and moved to Chicago. There she worked as a bodyguard for the mob, and began singing with bands, finding success with her smooth baritone voice.

DeLarverie spent the years between 1955 and 1969 as the MC of the Jewel Box Revue, a touring variety performance showcasing both black and white entertainers. The revue featured men dressed in drag while DeLarverie was the only male impersonator in the show. Notably, the Jewel Box Revue was the first integrated drag revue, and drew crowds of both black and white audiences, even performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

DeLarverie was a large part of what is seen as the catalyst for the Stonewall protests that set off the gay rights movement. DeLarverie was opposed to calling Stonewall a riot: “a rebellion, an uprising, a civil rights disobedience,” she said, but definitely not a riot.

Two weeks after the rebellion, DeLarverie was part of the official formation of the Stonewall Veteran’s Association on July 11, 1969. She was active in the organisation, holding the offices of Chief of Security, and Ambassador. From 1998 to 2000, she served as the organisation’s Vice-President. DeLarverie participated in the organisation, and was a regular part of the pride parades in New York City, New York and other locales for the rest of her life.

From the 1980s through the 1990s, DeLarverie worked as a singer and a bouncer. She patrolled gay clubs and bars on lower Seventh and Eighth avenues on the lookout for any “ugliness,” ready to protect her LGBT “children” from harassment. She lived at the famous Hotel Chelsea throughout this period, and continued her vigilance against anti-gay and anti-black prejudice until she was 85.

In addition to her work for the LGBT+ community, she also organised and performed at benefits for battered women and children. When asked about why she chose to do this work, she replied, “Somebody has to care. People say, ‘Why do you still do that?’ I said, ‘It’s very simple. If people didn’t care about me when I was growing up, with my mother being black, raised in the south.’ I said, ‘I wouldn’t be here.’”

On June 7, 2012, Brooklyn Pride, Inc. honored DeLarverie at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. She was also featured in a film directed by Michelle Parkerson: Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box. On April 24, 2014, DeLarverie was honored by the Brooklyn Community Pride Center for her “fearlessness and bravery,” and was presented with a proclamation from New York City Public Advocate Letitia James.

After a long struggle with dementia, DeLarverie died in her sleep on May 24, 2014 in a Brooklyn nursing home. She was 93 years old.