Remembering STorme

Remembering Storme DeLarverie, who passed away 7 years ago today. This is how I remember her: A fierce, friendly, energetic person who didn’t take any shit.
An icon of the gay community, she’s believed to have thrown the first punch at Stonewall. (“It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience - It wasn’t no damn riot.”)
A mixed race lesbian born in New Orleans, she once worked in the circus jumping horses before going on to host The Jewel Box Revue where she sang baritone as one of the era’s first drag kings.

She went on to police the streets for ugliness, bouncing at numerous lesbian bars, and legally carried a firearm. Stanley would send me to pick her up at the bar where she enjoyed a Jack and Coke. We named the venue of our speakeasy in her honour. She lit up relaying stories of her days on stage.

Forever grateful I had the privilege to know ‘the Rosa Parks of the gay community’ - what a legend!

Much loved and well missed.
#RIP #Storme #StormeDeLarverie #stormédelarverie #ChelseaHotel #HotelChelsea #stonewall #lgbt #lgbtq