The Queen is a 1968 documentary film directed by Frank Simon and narrated by Flawless Sabrina.It depicts the experiences of the female illusionists organizing and participating in the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest held at New York City's Town Hall.


Crystal LaBeija. Today, the Mother of the House of LaBeija is artist and performer Kia LaBeija.While Crystal was recently portrayed to great effect by Aja on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3, appears in the opening credits of Amazon’s Transparent, and was featured in a track on Frank Ocean’s 2016 video album Endless, her legacy extends far beyond that. Amazon.com: The Queen [Blu-ray]: Jack Doroshow, Crystal LaBeija, Rachel Harlow: Movies & TV Skip to main content Hello, Sign in. Account & Lists Account ... an epic diatribe by Crystal LaBeija, who would go on to form the influential House of LaBeija, prominently featured in Paris Is Burning (1990).

LaBeija's iconic speech about racial discrimination in queer culture in In June 2019, LaBeija was one of the inaugural fifty American “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes” inducted on the Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? Within the decade, she would go on to become the mother of the legendary House of LaBeija, thereby heavily shaping house and ball culture as it exists today.At the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Pageant, organized by Flawless Sabrina, Crystal was Miss Manhattan, competing against other queens from Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and more. This space of their own creation would be devoid of racism queens like Crystal had previously experienced, and this time on her own terms.The success of the House of LaBeija ball almost instantly caused several other houses to develop, including the equally legendary House of Xtravaganza and House of Ninja, which people could join and adopt the last name of if they so chose.

Crystal LaBeija was no ordinary queen. Lottie acquiesced, and suggested Crystal also create a group called the House of LaBeija, with Crystal at the helm as “Mother.” Together, Crystal and Lottie created a ball in the 1970s that would give birth to the house system still in place today: “Crystal & Lottie LaBeija presents the first annual House of LaBeija Ball at Up the Downstairs Case on West 115th Street & 5th Avenue in Harlem, NY.”One of the first balls specifically for black queens was hosted in 1962 by Marcel Christian, though balls — competitive shows of gender presentation and dance in the queer community — had existed since at least the mid-1800s. “Houses” became communities of refuge for LGBTQ youth in the area and later other parts of New York, and even around the world. Marcel Christian later adopted the LaBeija surname for himself as well. When Crystal LaBeija, one of the Black contestants, was named third-runner up, she unleashed a tirade against the … Crystal LaBeija: The Queen.

The House of LaBeija was a central figure in Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary about New York ball culture, Paris is Burning. Crystal LaBeijaPhoto: Screenshot/The Queen. No!”The singer posted a picture of herself to Instagram that used clever wordplay to introduce her girlfriend.Ellen “was just the meanest, nastiest, most horrible person,” he said.
Crystal, who was third runner up, walked off the stage in a fit of rage. The structure Since Crystal’s first ball, most have come to be hosted by houses; members compete at balls in dance categories, namely voguing, as well as in presentation categories like Butch-Queen Up in Pumps, Legendary Runway, and more. And in the years that followed, Crystal helped found one of the first drag houses. Users are posting selfies in a show of bi pride that is guaranteed to move you. Crystal and Lottie’s ball was the first of its kind to be held by a “house” — a specific, distinctly queer group that would come to provide not just support for those seeking family structure outside their homes (each house has a mother and a father, with its members as their children), but even protection and medical attention for members. It was a cold February night in 1967 when a crowd of drag queens gathered in a New York auditorium for a drag pageant that nobody could have known would change the world.Fragments of that pivotal evening are the focus of the latest episode of But first, it’s important to know a few things about New York’s history of drag balls, which can be traced back to the 1860s. “The Queen” detailed the pageant held at Town Hall in Midtown. At the end of The Queen, Crystal, a native New Yorker and a Person of Color, places third and is beaten out by The Flawless Sabrina, a white queen.

Crystal agreed, as long as she was the unequivocal star of the ball.