Fashion as a Form of Queer Rebellion

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

On June 22nd, 1969, Judy Garland was found dead in the bathroom of her home in London. Garland had long battled with substance abuse and financial insecurity, having to sell her homes and possessions as a result of the debts she had accrued and the abuse that she had endured throughout her life and career.

Garland’s life and career were highly publicized in the media, with many viewing her as a sympathetic character due to her low self-esteem, something that developed when she was put through the Hollywood studio system. When she was a young performer, she was given an assortment of pills, starved, and had her weight and appearance criticized, which led to a lifelong struggle with self-worth.

Her remains were flown from London to Manhattan on June 26th, where over 20,000 lined up to pay their respects. Many of those who showed up were queer, particularly gay men, who had long viewed Garland as a holy figure.

According to the Advocate, Garland was seen as the “Elvis of homosexuals,” and as author Richard Dyer would say in his work, Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society, gay men of the mid-20th century saw her personal struggles as a mirror of those that gay men in the United States during the height of her fame.

Garland’s standing as a gay icon can be traced all the way back to her role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, with gay men coining the term “Friend of Dorothy,” to identify each other. Along with this, Dorothy’s journey from the bleak, sepia tone of Kansas to the technicolor and whimsical world of Oz mirrored the gay and queer desire to escape their often-abusive homes and experience a new and colorful life.

Little did Garland’s friends, family, or supporters know, but a long-coming revolution was brewing. A mix of the New York City summer heat, Garland’s passing, and the abuse at the hands of the United States Government, sparked the flame that led to the Stonewall uprising.

The Stonewall Uprising and Queer Rebellion

Sylvia Rivera, a transgender activist who was present at the Stonewall Riots, had attended Garland’s funeral, and came to Stonewall that night and was quoted, saying, “there was a feeling in the air that something would happen that night. I guess Judy Garland's death just really helped us really hit the fan.”

The Stonewall Inn is perhaps one of the most, if not the most, iconic queer locales in the United States. Located in Greenwich Village, the Stonewall was established in 1930 as a speakeasy before moving to Christopher Street in 1934. Members of the Genovese Crime Family purchased the Stonewall and reopened it as a gay bar in 1967.

While the Stonewall Uprising was not the first time the LGBTQ+ community fought back against persecution, many view the first documented uprising as the Pepper Hill Club of North Gay Street in Baltimore, the Stonewall uprising marked a new beginning of the gay rights movement.

American LGBTQ+ community members faced harsh anti-homosexual legislation in the 1950s and 1960s, much harsher than other countries at the time. A mixture of this, the Civil Rights Movement, and anti-war protests, the end of the 1960s in the United States was contentious.

Police raids occurred frequently at the Stonewall and other LGBTQ+ friendly bars. Most of these bars were owned by the Mafia, who would be alerted to incoming raids by the NYPD. However, on the night of the Stonewall raid, which was to take place late on a Friday night, the crowd size was expected to be at its highest.

William Dorsey Swann: America’s First Drag Queen and Leader of the Resistance

William Dorsey Swann was a black activist and community organizer who is widely regarded as the first person in the United States to lead a queer resistance movement and one of the earliest documented individuals to describe themselves as a queen.

Born into slavery in Maryland around 1858, he was emancipated as a child following the end of the American Civil War. After emancipation, Swann moved to the Washington area, where he worked as a janitor and became a central figure in a network of Black men who gathered for elaborate social events.

During the 1880s and 1890s, Swann organized drag balls and gatherings that brought together people who challenged conventional gender norms. These events often featured dancing, cross dressing, and forms of self-expression that were highly stigmatized and criminalized at the time.

In 1888, officers raided one of his gatherings and arrested several attendees. During the confrontation, Swann reportedly fought against the arrest. Historians often point to this moment as one of the earliest documented acts of organized queer resistance in American history, predating events such as the Stonewall uprising by more than eighty years.

Swann's social circle also developed practices that would later be compared to ballroom culture. Participants referred to themselves as queens and staged competitions involving fashion, performance, and presentation. Although the modern ballroom scene emerged decades later in New York City, many scholars see important connections between Swann's gatherings and later Black queer traditions.

In 1896, Swann was convicted after another raid and sentenced to jail. Following his conviction, he sought a presidential pardon from Grover Cleveland. The request was denied. Even so, historians often describe this petition as one of the earliest known examples of an American activist seeking legal recognition and protection for a community targeted because of gender expression and sexuality.

For much of the twentieth century, Swann's story was largely forgotten. His legacy gained wider attention through the work of historians examining Black LGBTQ+ history, particularly the research of Channing Gerard Joseph. Today, Swann is recognized as a pioneering figure whose life challenges the common belief that organized queer activism began in the mid-twentieth century. His significance lies not only in being an early drag queen or community leader, but also in demonstrating that Black queer people were creating spaces of resistance, joy and collective identity long before the modern LGBTQ rights movement emerged. William Dorsey Swann stands as one of the foundational figures in the history of queer liberation in the United States.

Tens Across the Board: Ballroom’s Roots and Leaders of Culture

No matter where you reside in the cultural landscape, there is surely a level of influence that stems from Ballroom culture. Whether it’s the obvious: RuPaul’s Drag Race, Legendary, Pose, pieces of media that explicitly pull from Ballroom, or the not-so obvious: a Beyonce album, the latest runway collection from Gucci or Balenciaga, or the way people speak in online spaces, such as the “Stan Twitter” community, Ballroom is everywhere.

Ballroom and its culture stemmed from the exclusion of black and brown people from queer spaces. During the first pride parade, one year after the Stonewall uprising, march organizers asked people of color and drag queens, including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, to march at the back of the parade. They refused and left the parade, leading to the need for a space where people of color would not be discriminated against.

The Hamilton Lodge No. 710

Hamilton Lodge No. 710 was a Black fraternal lodge of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America, an organization that emerged in the 1840s after Black Americans were excluded from many white mutual aid and fraternal societies. The lodge was established in Harlem in 1844 and became one of the most influential Black civic organizations in New York during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its members participated in charitable work, mutual aid, social activities, and community leadership.

The lodge's lasting historical importance comes from its annual Masquerade and Civic Ball, commonly known as the Hamilton Lodge Ball. The first of these events was held in 1869. Historians often identify it as the earliest documented drag ball in the United States. What began as a masquerade associated with a fraternal organization gradually evolved into a public space where gender nonconforming people, drag performers, and queer communities could gather and express themselves.

By the 1920s, during the Harlem Renaissance, the Hamilton Lodge Ball had become one of New York City's most famous nightlife events. Contestants competed in categories centered on fashion, performance, and female impersonation, with prizes awarded for the most convincing presentations.

The modern ballroom scene did not emerge fully formed from the Hamilton Lodge Ball, but many historians see the Harlem drag balls as the cultural ancestors of later ballroom traditions. When increased policing and anti LGBTQ crackdowns helped end the Hamilton Lodge Ball in the late 1930s, queer communities continued organizing their own events. These gatherings survived in more underground forms through the 1960s.

Mothers of the House

Houses emerged within Black and Latin LGBTQ+ communities in the late twentieth century, especially in New York City, where many queer and trans people faced homelessness, family rejection, racism and economic exclusion. A House functioned as a chosen family, providing emotional support, mentorship, and community.

The first major ballroom house is often identified as the House of LaBeija, founded by Crystal LaBeija in 1968. The name "LaBeija" itself was not taken from a fashion designer, but from Crystal's own chosen surname. As Ballroom culture expanded, however, many houses began adopting names associated with luxury fashion brands and designers such as Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace and Coco Chanel.

Historically, high fashion excluded Black, Latin, trans and openly queer people from positions of power and visibility. Ballroom culture transformed those symbols of exclusivity into community property. A Ballroom House named after a designer effectively said that glamour and sophistication belonged to queer people of color as much as anyone else.

House names also helped establish identity and reputation. Just as fashion houses develop legacies through generations of designers and models, ballroom houses developed lineages through generations of members. The house name became a brand with its own history and achievements. This is one reason ballroom terminology often sounds similar to fashion terminology. Both worlds place importance on presentation, reputation, creativity and legacy.

During Balls, members of the House’s would walk and compete in categories. These categories sometimes consisted of executive realness, high fashion or runway, which allowed participants to present themselves as the powerful women they truly were.

Ballroom’s influence on high fashion is undeniable. It’s impossible to look at runways from designers like Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, and Alexander McQueen and not see Ballroom.