By Sky Hawkins.
Historically, queer people have grown with a lack of space — a notion of “behind closed doors,” or even a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. These were highly influenced by the treatment of homosexual and transgendered individuals. Sodomy laws, etc., were also implemented making it harder for queer people to have a space.
In 1945 the end of World War II was the start of liberation. American allies and others freed most of the death camps created to house and kill a high number of Jewish people. Yet less is known about the other prisoners imprisoned through the war.
While Jewish, Polish, and other imprisoned people were freed, those marked with an upside-down pink triangle were freed from one prison, yet put into another. Those were the homosexual prisoners. Their lack of freedom is one of the many signs that homosexual individuals did not have a safe place to go.
In 1980 the rise of homophobia hit a peak, as the notion of AIDS being a “homosexual disease” spread rapidly. While this epidemic had no discrimination, deeply affecting every race, gender and sexual orientation, it did impact the gay community at extraordinary proportions, killing 300,000 homosexual men alone. This disease had no cure and little research was being conducted at the time; it killed almost a generation of gay individuals. In that time a small space was created, one where gay people flocked to for an escape. “During the darked days of the AIDS Crisis, we buried our friends in the morning. Protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for.” – Dan Savage.
Part of this emerging culture was ballroom culture, a subculture dating back centuries in which queer individuals typically in queer spaces competed in a “ball”. There are multiple categories in which they compete, from “new school” to “military realness,” typically performed in drag. Participants traditionally dawn women’s clothing and walk the runway. There are judges who give these individuals a score from one to ten. Ballroom has been around since around 1800, created from black queer individuals — originally ex-enslaved — coming together and performing outside of the stereotypical gender setting. This was used as a form of escapism. Ballroom culture thrived through the 1930’s throughout the U.S, but became mainstream in New York. It was used as a form of escape by queer youth either abused or kicked out due to sexuality. From this houses were born. A house is a non-traditional family consisting of a house mother. This mother would be the head of the ballroom, typically a multi-trophy winner. She would celebrate her winning by adopting youth under her name.
Notable house names were House of Xtravaganza and the Royal House of LaBeija. From Houses and balls came the genre of “voguing,” a type of dance whose inspiration came from the poses seen in magazines. The dance is fast paced, and poses and ground work would be used to try to secure high scores from judges. This dance was known as “adopting a persona” — yet while many participants could hide their homosexuality, they could not hide race. During this era, there was little to no chance of black individuals to become models; therefore they adopted voguing as another chance of escapism. Paris Is Burning, a film documenting ballroom culture, was created by a white lesbian named Jennie Livingston. This film documents the lives of Latino and Black house mothers and their children. It brought focus to the genre of voguing and to queer ballroom/spaces at the time. It also followed the mothers’ children and the hardships those queer individuals faced. The film came out in 1991, the ending peak of the AIDS epidemic. It is known as a major film that would help call attention to a further spread of ballroom culture.
With the rise of ballroom culture, came the rise of ballroom music. Ballroom music is an upbeat, fast paced style of music. The genre started in 1960 as an Afro-style of music, with elements of jazz and hip-hop. As ballroom became more mainstream hyper-femme presentation became the norm, growing from the style of dance. These dances stressed hyper-fulidy, and groundwork. The ballroom songs within this period followed popular feminine pop artists. In subsequent years, Madonna became a notable ballroom artist. Although she was not singing for queer people per se, many in the community adopted her music. It was normal to adopt popular heteornormative songs before queer pop artists became popular, however. Moving forward, more and more queer artists adopted the hyper-femme pop style and created a more “loud and proud” approach. Junior Vasquez wrote the song “X” in 1994. The X stood for the house of Xtravaganza, featuring big bass beats made for the purpose of the vogue dance — and the song itself was a pride tribute. Ball music would become a sign of pride, and a way to declare that homosexuality would live on. Further, ball music is a tribute to the mothers who built up the gay community through the epidemic. Another notable song in the early 2000s would be Kevin Jz Prodigy’s “Here comes the hurricane, bitch.” It also is a fast-paced song about voguing, in which the music beats are put in to support the past pace style of drag performance. The song itself is actually about Hurricane Katrina, but the meaning goes deeper. A hurricane is unstoppable. It beats everything in its path and leaves nothing behind. This is also true when looking into the modern drag and ballroom culture. The song goes for the “loud and proud” theme, and serves as a declaration of queer strength. Hardships will not stop the queer culture.
Moving backwards, in 1977 Carl Bean, a queer black artist, released “Born This Way,” a lesser known declaration of gay pride but one monumental in its significance. Singing loud and proud over a jazzy beat, Carl Bean sings the following:
I’m walking through life in nature’s disguise.
You laugh at me and you criticize ’cause I’m happy, carefree and gay – Yes, I’m gay.
It ain’t a fault, it’s a fact,
I was born this way. Now, I won’t judge you —
Don’t you judge me.
We’re all the way nature meant us to be.
I’m happy – I’m carefree – I’m gay.
I was born this way.
Carl Bean founded the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, a religious denomination that excepted gay and lesbian individuals. Through the 1980’s he led AIDS funding to help the black queer people who were actively being killed. His life revolved around queer rights, and his song “Born This Way” would eventually be the inspiration of Lady Gaga’s “I Was Born This Way,” released in 2011. While lesser known than many of his contemporaries, the impact of Carl Bean lives on today; his fight continues as does his legacy.
Citations:
Fraga, Kaleena. “44 Vintage Photos That Show Ballroom Culture’s Vibrant History.” All That’s Interesting, All That’s Interesting, 7 Sept. 2024, allthatsinteresting.com/ballroom-culture.
Laura Kiely | Oct 22 2024. University Observer, universityobserver.ie/the-history-of-ballroom-culture/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.
Repositorio.Ual.Es/Bitstream/Handle/10835/2298/Tra…, repositorio.ual.es/bitstream/handle/10835/2298/Trabajo.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed 21 Mar.
2025.
Lhooq, Michelle. “20 Tracks That Defined the Sound of Ballroom, New York’s Fierce Queer Subculture.” Vulture, Vulture, 24 July 2018, www.vulture.com/2018/07/20-tracks-that-defined-the-sound-of-ballroom.html.
“I Was Born This Way.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Dec. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Was_Born_This_Way.