It's an ✨Xtravaganza✨
"The kind, loving but tough Mother Angie" -Timmy Dean Lee
Hello, my dearest readers!
This week’s newsletter is inspired by 🏳️⚧️ Trans Day of Visibility (Monday, March 31). Did you know Rachel Crandall-Crocker started TDOV in 2009? She wanted a day of celebration for trans people, as Trans Day of Remembrance was often a more somber observance than a joyful one. You can read more about the history here!
Now, on to the main event! Today, we are learning about Angie Xtravaganza!
Angie Xtravaganza
Angie Xtravaganza grew up in the South Bronx in the mid-1960s. She was one of 13 children in her Puerto Rican American family. While she was growing up, she would hang out at the Christopher Street piers or in Times Square. Those places were popular with kids who had run away or been kicked out of their homes for being gay or trans. Even as young as 13, Angie nurtured and cared for those kids and was known as “Ma” to them. Xtravaganza ran away from home at 14 and began doing drag and competing in balls at 16.
For those not in the know, balls (short for ballroom culture) were a critical part of gay culture in the 1980s in New York. Balls were competitions where participants would do a runway walk/performance in different rounds with different themes. It was a place where LGBTQ+ people could be joyful, dress up, and embrace their true selves. You should listen to MJ Rodriguez, star of Pose (a show about the ballroom scene) explain it… she does a much better job than me.
Angie met and befriended Hector Xtravaganza and joined his House of Xtravaganza. In ballroom culture, groups of performers will create “houses,” essentially your family of performers. House Xtravaganza was significant because it was the first primarily Latinx house in the ballroom scene and Latinx performers often faced discrimination.
Side note: was JK Rowling inspired to create the Harry Potter houses by DRAG culture? That would be the ultimate irony!
You may be wondering why it was called “House of Xtravaganza” without the “E.” Initially, it was called House of Extravaganza. However, the name was changed to Xtravaganza to represent the X in Roman Numerals being a 10, which is also the perfect score in ballroom.
House Xtravaganza was one of the most successful houses, winning several titles, due in part to Angie’s amazing fashion sense and her high standards of performance. As Angie was the Mother of House Xtravaganza, she was key in coordinating performances for competition but also helping queer kids and adults in her house through a hateful world. She was known for kindness, strength, and advocacy. The 1980s was the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States and Angie used her platform to educate her “children” about HIV/AIDS, which was often stigmatized and riddled with misinformation during this period.
There are many Angie stories to tell as she lived a beautiful and fascinating life. One in particular stood out to me. Hector Xtravaganza (different Hector than the founder of the House), one of Angie’s housemates, was walking down the street one night when a man assaulted him believing he was a sex worker. Hector escaped, but the experience had him shaken. He ran into Angie and told her what happened and she said “We’re going to go find that motherfucker.” So, that’s what she did. They found the man drinking a beer outside a convenience store and Angie asked him to apologize to Hector for calling him the f-word. The man refused and she, in full glam wearing seven-inch heels, punched him so hard he doubled over. And then she and Hector sprinted like hell to get away. That was Angie, fierce and protective of her crew. Also, she could sprint in heels, which is an admirable quality in and of itself.
Angie is also featured in a documentary, Paris is Buring, about the ballroom scene. If you’d like to watch the whole doc, it’s available on YouTube. Angie is featured starting at 26:49. A bit of a spoiler (okay, you’ve had like 30+ years to watch this documentary) but Angie is named “Mother of the Year” during one of the balls featured in the film.
Sadly, in 1993, two years after being diagnosed with AIDS, Angie passed away. She was only 27 years old. Many trans people during this period used black market hormones for their transitions, as medical care was unavailable and too expensive. These hormones often led to liver problems, which are said to have exacerbated Angie’s AIDS diagnosis. I mention this as gender-affirming care is at risk, and Angie’s life shows the importance of having access to needed medical treatment and care.
In 1995, an article titled “Slap of Love” was published in the New Yorker. It’s a beautiful tribute to Angie as well as another House Mother named Dorian Corey. I particularly loved this quote from Hector Xtravaganza below.
“Angie was a bitch and everything," he says. "But she was the only one that could tell me, ‘Shut the fuck up,’ and I would. She believed in me when I didn’t believe in me. We all felt that way. She believed in us."
"She was my gay mother, my friend. She put so much shit in my head, just the slap of love. And it woke me up.”
May we all have a friend who will slap us with love 💖 See you next week!
Citations
https://latina.com/the-legendary-house-of-xtravaganza/
https://luzmedia.co/angie-xtravaganza
https://aidsmonument.org/remember/dominique-jackson-angie-xtravaganza/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Xtravaganza
What an incredible story! Thank you for sharing a piece of my beloved, Puertorican/Nuyorican history. 🇵🇷🫶🏽 ¡Que viva Mamá Xtraveganza! 💪🏽