“Gay Lifetime Achievement Award.” Senior Action in a Gay Environment (“SAGE”).Ģ005. She fought ugly, her word for bias of any sort. Storme: The Lady of the Jewel Box,directed by Michelle Parkerson. Storme DeLarverie in 1994, between pictures of herself before she was a male impersonator (left) and during the Stonewall rebellion of 1969. “ Stormé DeLarverie: In a Storm of Indifference, She’s Still a Jewel.”. “ Hundreds Mourn Gay Rights Pioneer at Memorial.” DNAinfo New York. Vincent’s Hospital into Nursing Home.” DNAinfo New York. “ Gay Community's Rosa Parks Faces Death, Impoverished and Alone.”. “ Stormé DeLarverie, S.V.A Stonewall Ambassador.”. “ Stonewall Activist Storme DeLarverie Dies at 93.”. “ Gay Rights Activist and Stonewall Rebel Dies at 93.”. “ A Stonewall Veteran, 89, Misses the Parade.”.

When she died at the age of 93, hundreds of admirers attended her West Village funeral service.įernandez, Manny. In 2003 filmmaker Sam Bassett produced a documentary about DeLarverie. She felt the term “riot” connoted chaos and criminality. The officer dropped to the ground, bleeding thus began the Stonewall Riot.ĭeLarverie preferred the word “rebellion” when it came to describing the events at the Stonewall. The officer shoved DeLarverie, who retaliated with a punch to the face. One of the policemen shouted, “Move, Faggot!” mistaking DeLarverie for a man. That night DeLarverie saw three officers ganging up on one young man and sprang to the victim’s defense. As the story goes, the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village frequented by gay men, lesbians, and drag kings and queens. Constantly vigilant, DeLarverie thought of the bar patrons as her “babies” and patrolled the streets as their defender.Īt the Stonewall Riot on June 27, 1969, DeLarverie threw the first punch. When DeLarverie wasn’t traveling with the troupe, she lived at the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan and worked security at Henrietta Hudson, a well-known lesbian bar in the West Village. The review included 24 drag queens and Stormé (pronounced “Stormy”), the only drag king. At that time, cross-dressing was considered a criminal offense in most municipalities. Stormé DeLarverie was a Stonewall veteran and the sole female performer for the Jewel Box Review, a traveling drag show that toured the country from 1939 into the 1960s. “It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience-it wasn’t no damn riot.”

December 24, 1920, New Orleans, Louisiana

Storme delaverie