Stormé DeLarverie

Stormé DeLarverie (c. December 24, 1920 – May 24, 2014) was an American known as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was, according to DeLarverie and many eyewitnesses, the spark that ignited the Stonewall uprising, spurring the crowd to action.^[3] Born in New Orleans, to an African American mother and a white father,^[3][4][5] DeLarverie is remembered as a gay civil rights icon and entertainer, who performed and hosted at the Apollo Theater and Radio City Music Hall.^[3] DeLarverie worked for much of life as an MC, singer, bouncer, bodyguard, and volunteer street patrol worker, which earned DeLarverie the moniker, "guardian of lesbians in the Village".^[5] DeLarverie is known as "the Rosa Parks of the gay community."^{[3][6][7][8][9][10]}

Stormé DeLarverie
Stormé DeLarverie in 1958
Born	Viva May Thomas[1][2] c. December 24, 1920 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	May 24, 2014(2014-05-24) (aged 93) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Master of Ceremonies, bodyguard, singer, bouncer, drag king

Before Stonewall

DeLarverie was born to a wealthy, white father^[11] and an African American mother who worked as a servant for his family.^[3][5] DeLarverie was never given a birth certificate and was not certain of an actual date of birth,^[12] choosing to celebrate birthdays on December 24, Christmas Eve.^[5][11][13]

DeLarverie's father paid for DeLarverie's education, and DeLarverie was largely raised by DeLarverie's grandfather.^[11] As a biracial child, DeLarverie faced bullying and harassment from the other children.^[3][12][14] "The white kids were beating me up; the Black kids were. Everybody was jumping on me. ... For being a negro with a white face."^[11] DeLarverie rode jumping horses with the Ringling Brothers Circus as a teenager, but stopped riding horses after being injured in a fall. DeLarverie described realizing attraction to women near the age of eighteen.^[3]

Biracial and androgynous, DeLarverie could pass for white or Black, male or female. Trying to abide cross-dressing laws by wearing feminine clothes simply lead to being twice picked up on the streets by police who mistook DeLarverie for a drag queen.^[11]

DeLarverie lived with partner, Diana, a dancer, for about 25 years until Diana died in the 1970s.^[12] According to her friend Lisa Cannistraci, DeLarverie carried a photograph of Diana with her at all times.^[5]

Stonewall uprising

The "raided premises" police warning plaque hanging by the door of the Stonewall Inn

Decades later, the events of June 28, 1969, have been called "the Stonewall riots". However, DeLarverie was very clear that "riot" is a misleading description:

It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience – it wasn't no damn riot.

— Stormé DeLarverie^[3][15][16]

At the Stonewall rebellion, a scuffle broke out when DeLarverie was roughly escorted from the door of the bar to the waiting police wagon. DeLarverie escaped repeatedly, and was brought through the crowd by police several times. The activist fought with at least four of the police, swearing and shouting, for about ten minutes. Described by a witness as "a typical New York City butch" and "a dyke-stone butch," DeLarverie had been hit on the head by an officer with a baton for, as one witness stated, announcing that the handcuffs were too tight. DeLarverie fought back while bleeding from a head wound. Accounts of people who witnessed the scene, including letters and news reports of the butch lesbian who fought with police, conflicted. Where witnesses claim one woman who fought against violence at the hands of the police caused the crowd to become angry, some also remembered several "butch lesbians" had begun to fight back while still in the bar. At least one was already bleeding when taken out of the bar (Carter, pp. 152–153). Craig Rodwell (in Duberman, p. 197) claims the arrest of the lesbian was not the primary event that triggered the violence, but one of several simultaneous occurrences: "there was just ... a flash of group—of mass—anger." The sole argument raised against this lesbian being DeLarverie is that some witnesses reported this person was "caucasian" (Carter, p. 309). But, being biracial, DeLarverie could appear Black, white, or biracial, depending on lighting, dress, and the expectations of the audience.^[5][17][18] Bystanders recalled that the individual, whose identity remains uncertain (DeLarverie has claimed to be the lesbian, and is backed up by others), sparked the crowd to fight when looking at bystanders and shouting, "Why don't you guys do something?" ^[19][20]

After an officer picked the lesbian up and heaved their body into the back of the wagon, the crowd became a mob and went "berserk": "It was at that moment that the scene became explosive." Some have referred to that lesbian as "the gay community's Rosa Parks".^[3][6]

"Nobody knows who threw the first punch, but it's rumored that she did, and she said she did," said Lisa Cannistraci, a friend of DeLarverie and owner of the Village lesbian bar Henrietta Hudson. "She told me she did."^[5]

Whether or not DeLarverie was the lesbian who fought their way out of the police wagon, all accounts agree that DeLarverie was one of several butch lesbians who fought back against the police during the uprising.^[3][5]

The Jewel Box Revue

From 1955 to 1969, DeLarverie toured the Black theater circuit as the MC (and only drag king) of the Jewel Box Revue, North America's first racially integrated drag revue.^[21][22] The revue regularly played the Apollo Theater in Harlem,^[23] as well as to mixed-race audiences, something that was still rare during the era of Racial segregation in the United States.^[10] DeLarverie performed as a baritone.^[24]

During shows, audience members would try to guess who the "one girl" was among the revue performers. At the end, DeLarverie would be revealed as a woman^[14] during a musical number called, "A Surprise with a Song," often wearing tailored suits and sometimes a moustache that made the performer "unidentifiable" to audience members. As a singer, DeLarverie drew inspiration from Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday (both of whom DeLarverie knew in person). During this era when there were very few drag kings performing, DeLarverie's unique drag style and subversive performances became celebrated, influential, and are now known to have set a historic precedent.^[13][25]

In 1987, Michelle Parkerson released the first cut of the movie, Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box, about DeLarverie and DeLarverie's time with the revue.^[21]

Influence on fashion

With her theatrical experience in costuming, performance and makeup, biracial DeLarverie could pass as either a man or a woman, Black or white.^[17] Offstage, DeLarverie cut a striking, handsome, androgynous presence, and claimed to have inspired other lesbians to adopt what had formerly been considered "men's" clothing as street wear.^[10] DeLarverie was photographed by renowned artist Diane Arbus,^[23] as well as other friends and lovers in the arts community, in three piece suits and "men's" hats; Arbus' photographs of DeLarverie have appeared in multiple retrospectives, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2016.^[17][26] DeLarverie is now considered to have been an influence on gender-nonconforming women's fashion decades before unisex styles became accepted.^[13][25]  

Life after Stonewall

DeLarverie's role in the Gay liberation movement lasted long after the uprisings of 1969.^[5]

In the 1980s and 1990s, DeLarverie worked as a bouncer for several lesbian bars in New York City, including Elaine Romagnoli's Cubbyhole.^[5][27][28] DeLarverie was a member of the Stonewall Veterans' Association, holding the offices of Chief of Security, Ambassador and, in 1998 to 2000, Vice President.^[15][29] DeLarverie was a regular at the gay pride parade. For decades DeLarverie served the community as a volunteer street patrol worker, the "guardian of lesbians in the Village."^[5]

Tall, androgynous and armed – she held a state gun permit – Ms. DeLarverie roamed lower Seventh and Eighth Avenues and points between into her 80s, patrolling the sidewalks and checking in at lesbian bars. She was on the lookout for what she called "ugliness": any form of intolerance, bullying or abuse of her "baby girls." ... "She literally walked the streets of downtown Manhattan like a gay superhero. ... She was not to be messed with by any stretch of the imagination."

— DeLarverie's obituary in The New York Times^[5]

In addition to DeLarverie's work for the LGBT community, the activist also organized and performed at benefits for battered women and children.^[10] When asked why one would choose this work, DeLarverie 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.'"^[10]

For several decades, DeLarverie lived at New York City's famous Hotel Chelsea,^[30][31][32] and "thrived on the atmosphere created by the many writers, musicians, artists, and actors."^[3][6] Cannistraci says that DeLarverie continued working as a bouncer until age 85.^[3]

In June 2019, DeLarverie 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.^[33][34] The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,^[35] and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.^[36]

Personal Identity

It seems unlikely DeLarverie ever publicly expressed a specific gender identity,^[37] as confirmed by Michele Zalopany, director of "Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box,”^[38] saying Stormé didn't "identify as anything but chose to live her life as a Black man."^[39] When prompted to personally identify in the aforementioned documentary, DeLarverie asked to simply be known "as me,"^[38][37] and when asked what pronouns would be preferred, DeLarverie is reported to have said, "Whatever makes YOU feel most comfortable."^[40] Long-time friend Lisa Cannistraci has gone on record saying that she believes DeLarverie was non-binary.^[39]

Illness and death

DeLarverie suffered from dementia in later life.^[3][22] From 2010 to 2014, DeLarverie lived in a nursing home in Brooklyn.^[5][32] Though DeLarverie seemingly did not recognize being in a nursing home, DeLarverie's memories of childhood and the Stonewall Uprisings remained strong.^[3]

On June 7, 2012, Brooklyn Pride, Inc. honored Stormé DeLarverie at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Michelle Parkerson's film, Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box, was screened. On April 24, 2014, DeLarverie was honored alongside Edith Windsor by the Brooklyn Community Pride Center,^[8] "for her fearlessness and bravery"^[9] and was also presented with a proclamation from New York City Public Advocate, Letitia James.^[9]

DeLarverie died in her sleep on May 24, 2014, in Brooklyn.^[3][5] No immediate family members were alive at the time of death.^[5] Lisa Cannistraci, who became one of DeLarverie's legal guardians, stated that the cause of death was a heart attack.^[5] She remembers DeLarverie as "a very serious woman when it came to protecting people she loved."^[41] A funeral was held May 29, 2014, at the Greenwich Village Funeral Home.^[29]

See also

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT people from New York City
• NYC Pride March