The Old Generation

This may seem like an out there topic but do you ever think about people in your communities that know things and have a wealth of information about your community and the days gone by?

Well I do. I guess because I am such a history buff these kinds of people are important. They are important in all cultures and sub-cultures. What has set me on this particular topic is that I have noticed in the gay community in particular no one in the younger generations seems to care about the older generations or what they did. The older generations blazed a trail for us today. When I think about how much things have changed just in the last 10 years since I used the wood from the closet as kindling for my flame so that instead of just a pilot light I could let my flame shine bright, it just blows my mind! I am not saying I am a flamer, but I am not ashamed, and I dont have to be afraid like so many of the older generation did. Without them where would we be today?

An example I have of this within the gay community are the 3 days older than god himself, queens. Have any of you ever stopped to realize it was the drag queens who started Stonewall? Without the queens of yesterday where would we be? So many of these girls have left us and so many of them are still around, but I dont think anyone really cares about the knowledge they have of the old days. It is sad really.

An example I have of this is a queen from Texas named Rachael Gardner. She put a wonderful post about the history of drag pageants in Texas on a site I read regularly. I am going to include it here and I want those of you who read me to read it not because you like drag, hate drag or whatever but just as a glimpse of what one person has accumlated knowledge wise over the years. I think it is something we all should try to learn more about in our communities, not drag per say but the history of our communities. The people who helped make our various communities what they are today. that said here is her article and her response to a comment made about her initial post.


"I think it's also important to remember that just because the pageant is up for sale doesn't mean that it won't be held. Miss Gay Dallas is one of the oldest pageants in the MGT system - if not the oldest - and I sincerely doubt that it will be allowed to fall by the wayside. Similarly, Miss Gay Metroplex has been around for years and, though there have been years that it hasn't been held, it always manages to resurface.

In addition, pageants are a cyclical business, to say the very least. For years, one of the bar owners in Waco used to have a contest practically every month because he loved drag and he loved being the top promoter in the state. He held Miss Central Texas, Miss Waco, Miss Mid-Central Southern Southwest Coast of the Gulf State of the Republic of Texas Entertainer of the Year Spectacular - you name it, he held it. One year, he had sixteen girls at MGT! Now, I'm not even sure there is a Miss Waco contest - or that Miss MSSCGSRTEYS thing, either.

Likewise, Miss Gay South - which started out in the '70's as Miss May Day of the South (won by Naomi Sims, who also won Miss Gay South in 1982) - has been consistently held for years at a time - and represented by Whitney Paige, Lindsy Love, Pauletta Leigh and Nakoma Shaye among others - and then disappears for a spell; same with Miss Gay Southwest, which was first won by Tasha Kohl - and includes Jerry Harper, Perry Sylvana, Whitney Paige (again!) Dyan Michaels and Trella Thomas as former titleholders. It was held consistently for years, then just fell off the map for a while.

Finally, part of the cycle has to do with the national contests. The fortunes of all of the pageant systems rise and fall, with less-than-stellar contestants winning the crown some years, spectacular ones capturing the titles other years. And, as goes the national contest, so go the preliminaries for a few years afterwards. The number of regionals and state preliminaries in any given system is directly proportional to the queen that wears the crown. Sometimes, even a bad title-holder can create a burst of preliminaries, simply because people figure if someone that awful can win than anyone can.

And face it...when, at any other time, have there been so many national contests for the girls to compete in? Continental, America, USofA, EOY, National Icon, Black America and Black National and Black Universe and Gay United States, to name a few. And virtually all of them have Elite and Plus or at-Large contests as well. That's almost 30 national contests to enter, when just a decade ago there were, at most, four or five. Of course there's going to be a diluting of contests at the local level. It's the law of supply and demand, and no matter how many contests there are there is a finite number of contestants to enter them.

All this to say that, as Ms. Matryx so eloquently put it, "MGTA is a legendary prelim in a legendary system that will survive these promoters leaving." And who knows...maybe this year, for the first time ever, a reigning Miss Gay San Antonio will win the state contest!

Isn't that right, Beth?"

Beth, you and Ms. Matryx are such dolls...Needless to say, I enjoy reading your posts, as well....

As for the fountain of knowledge....I think anything that I have to offer, vis-a-vis tales and such, I can do simply because I'm older than dirt...at least as far as the gay community is concerned. I have been blessed, however, with the friendship of some extraordinary people - many of whom, regrettably have passed on. The stories I share are, quite honestly, part of the promise that I made to Naomi 13 years ago when before she died.

"As long as one of you remembers me every day, I will never die...."

I have to agree with her on this last part. As long as people and things are remembered they will never die. Unfortunatly I am afraid a lot of our history has died because so many younger people in our communities haven't taken the time to listen and to remember. Think about if you would want to be remembered or not, then ask yourself why you dont know more about the folks that came before you.

*note* Naomi Sims was a former Miss Gay Texas, Miss Gay America, and Miss Gay US of A Emeritus. Known as the "eyes of Texas" I think the world lost a lot when she passed on. I say passed on and not died becuase she is still alive in those of us who know a bit about her story and continue to share it. Though I never met her I feel like I know something of how wonderful she was when I hear the old queens talk about how great she was and how much they miss her. Even though it was someone else's promise I feel like I am carrying it on not just with Naomi, but with all of my knowledge I try to share about the old girls I know or those I wish I had known.

-The Great Cranky One