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Crystal LaBeija

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Crystal LaBeija
Crystal LaBeija in the film The Queen (1968)
Born1930s
Died1990s
NationalityAmerican
Other namesCrystal LaAsia
OccupationDrag performer
Known forCo-founder of ball culture

Crystal LaBeija (born 1930s, died 1990s) was an American drag queen and trans woman who co-founded the House of LaBeija in 1968.[1] The House is often credited as starting the house system in ball culture. She became a mother figure for homeless LGBTQ youth.[2]

Career

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In the early 1960s, before the emergence of regular balls, New York's drag culture was divided along racial lines—the Pattie Girls (white), the La Chanels (black), and the Delightful Ladies (Latina).[3][4] Via the latter group, it became common parlance of the moment to use the phrase la bella—Spanish for "the beautiful"—to enhance one's image or merely describe another person.[5] Crystal, originally working and competing on the Manhattan drag circuit under the name of Crystal LaAsia, was widely known for her beauty and later adopted the phrase as her permanent moniker, with a rearticulated spelling ("Beija") of the -ll- sound in bella [ˈbe.ʝa].[6][7] 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.[8] 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.[9] In 1967, she was crowned Miss Manhattan.[10]

LaBeija subsequently competed in the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant held at New York City Town Hall, a competition documented in The Queen (1968). In a scene towards the end of the 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.[11]

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. She agreed to participate in the event so long as she was highlighted in the ball.[9] 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.[12] It was the first time the term "House" was used, coined by LaBeija in order to market the event, which would be a huge success.[13]

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.[14]

Death

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In 2019, Rolling Stone reported that LaBeija died of liver failure in 1982.[15] However, in 1993, the New York Times reported that Labeija was still alive and had attended a revival of The Queen at the Film Forum in New York.[16] The article reported that LaBeija was still "a fixture in the drag world" and had a reunion of sorts with contest winner Harlow. "She was very very lovely to me", Harlow is quoted as saying. "She came up to me and kissed me and said hello... She left before the end."[17]

Legacy

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LaBeija and The House of LaBeija have had a lasting influence on ball culture and popular culture.

The opening credits of the television series Transparent feature footage of LaBeija from the film The Queen.[18]

The novel The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara is a fictional account of New York Ball culture and features characters inspired by LaBeija and members of The House of LaBeija.[19]

The television series Pose features characters and events inspired by LaBeija and ball culture in New York City. The character Elektra Wintour, played by Dominique Jackson, delivers reads[20] similar to the LaBeija's speech at the end of The Queen.

A Season 3 episode of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars featured drag queen Aja LaBeija imitating Crystal during the Snatch Game episode.

The current House of LaBeija appeared in the third season of the ballroom competition series Legendary.

Frank Ocean's visual album, Endless, contains a clip of LaBeija on the track "Ambience 001: "In A Certain Way."[21]

The Crystal LaBeija Organizing Fellowship offers a 1-year fellowship, "open to all Black and Brown, trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary individuals who belong to the ballroom community".[22] The fellowship empowers fellows "to address the issues impacting the lives of transgender women, transgender men, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people in the house ball community via community building, economic empowerment, advocacy, and activism through wellness and social justice lenses."[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "History Royal house of Labeija". House of LaBeija. 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  2. ^ Street, Mikelle (August 19, 2016). "The Iconic Drag Queen Behind Frank Ocean's Endless". Vice.
  3. ^ "Pioneers". Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  4. ^ Project, NYC Trans Oral History. "Vivian Lopez Ponce". NYC Trans Oral History Project. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  5. ^ "Marlow Monique Dickson". The Outwords Archive. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  6. ^ Cruz, Samuel (2013). Christianity and Culture in the City: A Postcolonial Approach. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7391-7675-7.
  7. ^ "bella". Wiktionary, the free dictionary. May 3, 2024. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  8. ^ Street, Mikelle (February 16, 2018). "5 Things to Know About Ballroom Icon Crystal LaBeija". Billboard. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Lawrence, Tim. "'Listen, and you will hear all the houses that walked there before': A history of drag balls, houses and the culture of voguing" (PDF). ezratemko.com/.
  10. ^ Tourjee, Diana (Winter 2017). "The Marlow La Fantastique Show". Aperture. 229 (229): 40–47. ISSN 0003-6420. JSTOR 44898156.
  11. ^ Nyong'o, Tavia (November 27, 2018). Afro-fabulations : the queer drama of Black life. NYU Press. ISBN 9781479856275. OCLC 1031956694.
  12. ^ "'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.
  13. ^ "The Church of OVAH: Transcendence in the House Ballroom Scene · ArtsEverywhere". ArtsEverywhere. June 20, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Portwood, Jerry (December 16, 2019). "Why 'The Queen' Documentary Is an Essential Queer Time Capsule". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  16. ^ Grimes, William (March 27, 1993). "'The Queen' on the Runway Again". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  17. ^ Portwood, Jerry (December 16, 2019). "Why 'The Queen' Documentary Is an Essential Queer Time Capsule". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  18. ^ Vider, Stephen (October 23, 2014). "There's an Amazing Bit of History Hiding in Transparent's Opening Titles". Slate Magazine. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  19. ^ Jacques, Juliet (May 24, 2018). "The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara review – disco, drag and tragedy". the Guardian. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  20. ^ Romano, Nick; June 07, Kristen Baldwin; EDT, 2021 at 12:38 PM. "Ranking Elektra's 20 best reads on 'Pose'". EW.com. Retrieved July 5, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "There's A Tiny Piece Of Queer History Hiding In Frank Ocean's Visual Album". The FADER. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  22. ^ a b "Crystal La'Beija Organizing Fellowship". Crystal La'Beija Organizing Fellowship. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
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