JosÃÆ'Â © Julio Sarria also known as The Grand Mere , Absolute Empress I de San Francisco , and the Widow Norton (December 13, 1922 - August 19, 2013) was an American political activist from San Francisco, California, who in 1961 became the first gay candidate to be open to public office in the United States. He is also remembered for appearing as a transvestite in the Black Cat Bar and as the founder of Imperial Court System.
Jose Sarria was born from Julio Sarria and Maria Dolores Maldonado. His parents were not married and his father showed no interest in his son's life. Maria initially raised JosÃÆ' Â © Julio Sarria alone, but when this becomes too difficult she puts it up with another couple. Both they and their mother indulge their early interest in wearing women's clothing. Sarria showed an interest in language, which caused her first serious romance with another man. Sarria taught Paul Kolish, an Austrian baron who escaped from the Nazis. Sarria and Kolish fell in love, and their relationship persisted until Kolish and his son were killed in a car crash in 1947.
Sarria served in the United States Army during World War II. After his debit, he learns to become a teacher and frequently visits the Black Cat. He meets the waiter Jimmy Moore, whom Sarria describes as "the love of his life". Sarria is employed as a cocktail waitress. Following the belief in moral accusations, Sarria, realizing that she now could not become a certified teacher, began doing drag. She appears regularly in the Black Cat. An early LGBT activist, Sarria co-founded several homophile organizations, including the League for Civil Education, Persekutuan Tavern and Society for Individual Rights. Sarria became the first gay candidate to be open to public office in the United States when she ran for the San Francisco Supervisory Board in 1961. In 1964 Sarria declared herself "Empress José Â © I, The Widow Norton" and founded the Imperial Court System, which grew into an international association of charitable organizations.
After the closure of the Black Cat in 1964, Sarria worked with restaurant owner Pierre Parker. The couple operates a French restaurant at the World Exhibition. While at the 1964 New York World Expo, Sarria learned that Jimmy Moore had committed suicide. Sarria worked in several Exhibitions before retiring in 1974. After living with Parker in Phoenix, Arizona for several years, Sarria returned to San Francisco. He continued to rule over the Court for 43 years, prior to the throne in 2007. During his active period, the city of San Francisco changed its name to part of 16th Street in the honor of Sarria.
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Jose Sarria was born in San Francisco, California, to Maria Dolores Maldonado and Julio Sarria. His family came from Spain and Colombia. Her mother Mary was born in BogotÃÆ'¡ to an upper class and politically active family. During the events of the Thousand Day War and after the death of his mother, Mary sought refuge from her mother's friend, General Rafael Uribe Uribe, to escape from Colombia. Uncle Mary who lives a living general, who took her to the American consulate. There he was made a ward from the United States and moved to Panama. "My mother went to Panama in the direction of the family house named Kopp, who is the head of a large German beer company there," Sarria said. "She works for Kopps.... My mom is a top-floor housekeeper and takes care of the kids." In 1919 he moved to Guatemala City but remained there for only six months and, in 1920, sailed to San Francisco. As Sarria reports, "Now on the ship is where my mother met my father, Julio Sarria, who comes from a large and very wealthy, very famous family.... Her grandparents are from Spain."
Maria originally worked for a woman who sponsored her way to the United States and then took a job as a maid with a family named Jost. Julio is the maitre d 'at the Palace Hotel. Julio wooed Maria until she realized she was pregnant. Their son Josà © was born on December 12th. His birth certificate reads 1923 but Sarria believes he was born in 1922. Julio and Mary never married. Early life
Mother Jose Sarria continues to work for the Jost family but it becomes increasingly difficult for her to fulfill her job responsibilities and care for the baby. Maria arranges for her to be raised by another couple, Jesserina and Charles Millen. Jesserina just lost her youngest child to diphtheria and suffered from severe depression. His doctor suggested that he take another child to raise and after meeting with Mary, he agreed to let him raise Joseph. JosÃÆ' Â © came to consider the Millens family and their children to become second family. Mary bought a house and moved Millens and JosÃÆ'Â © into it.
Sarria has no relationship with her real father, a man who showed no interest in her and failed to provide financial support to her family. Julio Sarria was eventually arrested for failing to pay child support. A judge ordered him to pay $ 5 to be released; The money is then handed over to Jose's care. Julio was arrested every month until he returned to Nicaragua around 1926 or 1927; every time he pays $ 5 and is released. Julio died in Nicaragua in 1945. Years later, JosÃÆ'Â © knowing that his father had recognized him as his eldest son.
Sarria attends Emerson School for kindergarten and then, because she only speaks Spanish, is sent to private school to learn English. Sarria started wearing women's clothes at an early age and her family spoiled her, allowing her occasionally to go to family outings dressed like a girl. In his youth he studied ballet, tap dancing and singing.
When Sarria was about ten years old, she asked her mother how much money they had in the bank. Maria, who gave the money to her employer, Mr. Jost to invest, ask to see the books. He discovers that Jost has embezzled money from him and from other women he referred to him. Jost was arrested, sentenced and deported. Maria sues Jost's corporate partner and accepts the settlement but never regains most of her money. Unable to pay her home payment, Mary moved José and Millen's family to Redwood City in 1932.
As a teenager, Sarria enrolled in Commerce High School, where she took advanced classes in French and German. With Spanish and English, the total language is four. His facility with language caused his first serious relationship with another man. Sarria taught Paul Kolish, an Austrian baron who fled to Switzerland when the Nazis invaded Austria. He brought along his wife and son, Jonathan, who each had asthma and tuberculosis. When his wife died, he took Jonathan to America. Kolish found herself in love with her teacher and the Sarriys welcomed her and her son. Sarria graduated from high school and enrolled in college to study home economics.
Maps José Sarria
Military services
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sarria became determined to join the military, though, under five feet, too short to meet the requirements of the Army's heights. He seduced a major who was tied to a San Francisco recruitment station on condition that the major approved Sarria's registration. Jose Sarria approved and entered the Army Reserve, continued his studies while waiting to be called for active duty. Shortly before he was scheduled to induce in the regular Army, his beloved second father, Charles Millen, died of a heart attack. Induction Sarria postponed a month, then she was sworn and ordered to Sacramento, California, for basic training with Corps Signals.
Because of his eloquence in several languages, Sarria was assigned to Intelligence School. However, after a routine background check for security clearance, he was told that he would no longer be on the program. Sarria assumed that it was because investigators found her homosexuality. "I mean, I do not have a lisp, but I'm not the most masculine guy in town... So I guess they think I'm a little gay." Sarria officially remained attached to Signal Corps but was ordered to Cooks and Bakers School and trained as a cook. After graduating from cooking school, he was assigned to practice as a lookout, but deliberately failed training due to the dangerous nature of the task. He was then assigned to a motor pool.
Through his work in the motor pool, Sarria met a young officer named Major Mataxis. He became an organized general, eventually running the officer chaos in occupied Germany where he cooked for Mataxis and about ten other officers. He left the Army in 1947, at the rank of Staff Sergeant.
After Sarria returned from abroad, Kolish began to worry about their future. The United States has no legal recognition for same-sex relations and Kolish is looking for ways to provide Sarria after Kolish's death. He proposes marriage to Sarria's mother, Mary. Mary was willing, but JosÃÆ'Â © refused to allow her. Since there was no other choice, Kolish contacted the remaining adult relatives, the brother who lives in Hollywood, and left instructions for Sarria's care and his family.
On Christmas Day 1947, Kolish and his son were hit by drunk drivers while driving to spend holidays with Sarria and his family. Both were killed. The coroner determines that Jonathan died first, which means that Paul's brother has inherited everything. The brother ignored Paul's desire for Sarria. "I will get one of the houses", Sarria claims, "but he only gave me a little money and a ring, he claimed that it was all that Paul wanted me to have.He was so evil.He said afterwards, 'If you expect that else, you will not get it. "
The Nightingale of Montgomery Street
After his military service, Jose Sarria returned to San Francisco. He enrolled in college with plans to become a teacher. He and his sister, Teresa began frequenting the Black Cat Bar, downtown Beat and the bohemian scene. Sarria and Teresa both become smitten with a waiter named Jimmy Moore and bet who can make him sleep first. JosÃÆ'Â Â © won a bet and soon Moore and he is a pair of lovers. Sarria starts to close for Moore when she can not work and soon the owner of Black Cat Sol Stoumen hires her as a cocktail waiter.
At around this time, Sarria was arrested for petition in a stinging operation at the St. Hotel. Francis. Sarria maintains her innocence, stating that the arresting officer knew her personally. "But they have to model someone... I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time." Nevertheless, he was convicted and imposed a large fine. Sarria, understood that her beliefs meant she could never be certified as a teacher, dropped out of college. Unsure of how to find a job, he took the advice of a stylist named Michelle and entered a drag contest in the Oakland bar called Pearl's. Sarria finished second, winning a two-week performance contract at a bar for $ 50 a week. "I decided to become the most famous or homosexual imitator or fairy or whatever you want to call me - and you'll pay me for it." Upon his return to San Francisco, he took some small singing work while waiting for a cocktail at Black Cat.
One night at the Black Cat, Sarria recognized the performance of the piano player from the opera Bizet Carmen and began singing arias from the opera as she brought the drink. This quickly leads to a three to four night show schedule, along with regular Sunday afternoon events. Sarria is billed as "The Nightingale of Montgomery Street". Initially he focused on singing parody of popular torch songs. Soon, however, Sarria performs a fully parodic opera in a natural high tenor. His specialty is the re-work of Carmen defined in modern San Francisco. Sarria like Carmen will explore the popular Union Square area. The audience cheered "Carmen" as she avoided the squad's deputy and made her run away.
Sarria encourages customers to be as open and honest as possible. "People live a double life and I do not understand it It is persecution Why embarrassed who are you?" He advises customers, "There is nothing wrong with being gay - the crime will be caught," and "Unite we stand, divided they catch us one by one". At closing time he will call the visitors to join and sing "God Save Us Nelly Queens" for the song "God Save the Queen". Sometimes he would take people outside to sing the last verse to the people across the street in the prison, who had been caught in an earlier attack at night. Speaking of this ritual in the movie Word is Out , gay journalist George Mendenhall says:
It sounds ridiculous, but if you live at that time and get oppression coming from the police department and from the community, there's no place to... and to be able to embrace other gay men and to be able to stand up and sing 'God Save Us Nelly Queens'... we really did not say 'God Save Us Nelly Queens.' We say 'We have our rights too.'
Jose Sarria fought against police harassment, both gay and gay bars. The raids in the gay bar were routine, with everyone inside the raided bar taken into custody and accused of crimes like "inmates in irregular homes". Although the allegations are routinely dropped, the names, addresses and workplaces of captured customers are printed in newspapers. When the indictment is not dropped, the arrested people usually quietly plead guilty. Sarria encourages men to plead not guilty and demand a jury trial. Following Sarria's suggestion, more and more gay men are starting to prosecute jury trials, so many courts are overburdened and judges are beginning to expect that prosecutors have concrete evidence against the defendant before going to court. One of the preferred harassment techniques, used mainly on Halloween after midnight, is to catch the drag queen under an old city rule that makes it illegal for a man to dress in a woman's outfit with "intent to cheat". In consultation with Melvin Belli's lawyer, Sarria replied to this tactic by distributing labels to fellow transvestites (handmade, in the form of a black cat's head) that read "I'm a boy." If confronted, the queen will only display tags to prove that there is no intention to deceive. Sarria's actions helped end the Halloween police raids. Together with Guy Strait, Sarria formed the League for Civil Education (LCE) in 1960 or 1961. The LCE runs an educational program on the topic of homosexuality and provides support for ostracized men for being gay and for those caught in police raids.
Political candidacy
During the intense period of police pressure after the election of the San Francisco mayor in 1959, where the city government's loosening of homosexuals became a problem, Sarria ran for the San Francisco Supervisory Board in 1961, becoming the first candidate open to public office. in the United States. Although Sarria never wished to win, she almost won by default. On the last day for the candidates to petition, city officials realized that there were fewer than five candidates running for five open seats, which would ensure Sarria's seat. At the end of the day, a total of 34 candidates have been submitted. LCE's co-founder Strait started printing Lite News partly to support Sarria's candidacy. Sarria collected about 6,000 votes in the city race, completing the ninth. This is not enough to win seats but enough to shock political experts and move the idea that gay voting blocs can use real power in city politics. "[He] puts gay voices on the map", says Terence Kissack, former executive director of the GLBT History Society. "He makes it look and shows there is a constituency." As Sarria said, "From that day on, no one ran for anything in San Francisco without knocking on the door of the gay community."
In 1962, Sarria along with bar owners and employees formed Tavern Guild, the country's first gay business association. The Guild raised money for legal fees and guarantees for people who were arrested in the gay bar and helped bar owners coordinate their response to abuse by California's Alcoholic Beverage Control Department and police.
Sarria continued to perform and agitated at the Black Cat until, after 15 years of endlessly police pressure, the bar loses liquor license in 1963. The Black Cats remain open as a lunch for several months before finally closed for good in February. 1964.
JosÃÆ' Â © I, The Widow Norton
With the collapse of the Black Cat, Sarria helped found the Society for Individual Rights (SIRs) in 1963. The SIR grew from the split between Sarria and the Strait toward the direction of the LCE. Strait and supporters want to focus more on publishing group bulletins, while Sarria and his supporters want to maintain focus on street-level organizing. SIR sponsors both social and political functions, including bowling leagues, bridge clubs, voter registration drives and "Candidate Nights" and publishes its own magazine, Vector . In collaboration with Tavern Guild, SIR prints and distributes "Pocket Lawyers". This pocket-sized guide offers advice on what to do if arrested or harassed by the police. SIR survived for 17 years.
Was crowned Queen of Beaux Arts Ball in 1964 by the Tavern Guild, Sarria, declared that she was "already a queen", proclaiming herself "Venerable King, Empress San Francisco, José © I, The Widow Norton". Sarria discovers the name "Widow Norton" as a reference for the highly celebrated citizens of 19th-century San Francisco, Joshua Norton, who has declared himself the Emperor of the United States and the Protector of Mexico in 1859. Sarria arranges an elaborate annual hajj to lay flowers in the tomb Nashon at Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma, California. He bought a plot adjacent to Norton where he is now buried.
Sarria's assumption of the title of the empress leads to the establishment of the Imperial Court System, a network of non-profit charities throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico that raise money for various beneficiaries. Sarria is highly respected in the Imperial Court System hierarchy and is affectionately and informally known as "Mama" or "Mama JosÃÆ'Â ©" among members of the Imperial Court. The "JosÃÆ' Â © Honors Awards" is presented to Supreme Court officials and others at a biennial ban held in honor of Sarria.
Restaurant owner
In 1964, Jose Sarria went into business with restaurant owner Pierre Parker, who owned a restaurant called "Lucky Pierre" in Carmel, California, and New York City. They met when Parker roamed the Black Cat one night and they started a friendship. In addition to its restaurant, Parker holds a French food concession for the World Exhibition. He invited Sarria to join him at the 1964 New York World Expo.
While working at the Exhibition, Sarria learned that her old friend, Jimmy Moore, had died. Moore often becomes a drinker throughout their relationship and has been arrested several times due to drunkenness in public places. A judge finally informs Moore that when he is arrested again, he will be given the maximum penalty. Moore was arrested again and, afraid of his long prison term, hung himself in jail. Though destroyed, Sarria can not come home from the exposition. At the end of the season he's back and he and Moore's dad cheer each other up. "And that's how it ended my great love, the great love of my life that lasts nine years."
Sarria and Parker worked together through the two seasons of the New York exhibition, Expo 67 in Montreal, HemisFair '68 in San Antonio, Texas and Expo '74 in Spokane, Washington, after Sarria retired. He and Parker moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where Sarria lived until returning to San Francisco in 1977. He remains politically active, supporting Harvey Milk candidates for the Supervisory Board. In 1977, Milk would win the board of seats Sarria sought in 1961.
Next life
Jose Sarria and Imperial Court members appeared along with other dragsters in 1995 to To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar . They play the jury "Drag Queen of the Year" contest opening the movie.
In 2005, Sarria found herself at the center of legal controversy over her role on the jury in the 1991 murder trial of Clifford Bolden. Bolden was sentenced to death in 1991 for the 1986 assassination of Henry Michael Pederson, whom Bolden allegedly picked up at a bar in San Francisco's Castro district. Bolden's lawyer claimed that Sarria, who was not on the jury who punished Bolden but sat down as an alternative to the penalty phase, had known Bolden's lover, Pederson and the other jurors. They allege that he is hiding this knowledge to remain on the jury and push the death penalty. Sarria claimed to have spoken with another jury but denied any other allegations. Sarria was released from mistake in February 2008.
Sarria was honored in 2005 with the San Francisco Grand Prix Award from the GSBT Pride Celebration Committee. On May 25, 2006, the life of activist Sarria was celebrated when the city of San Francisco renamed the 16th Street section in Castro to JosÃÆ'Â © Sarria Court. A plaque outlining Sarria's achievements is embedded on the sidewalk in front of the Harvey Milk Memorial Branch at the San Francisco Public Library, located at 1 JosÃÆ'Â © Sarria Court. In 2009, the California State Assembly honored Sarria during the official LGBT celebration of Pride Month on 21 June.
Sarria ruled over the Imperial Court System until February 17, 2007, handing over the throne to the first heir, Nicole Murray-Ramirez, who took the title of Queen Nicole Supreme, the American Mother.
Sarria left San Francisco in 1996, settling in the Palm Springs, California, area for over a decade before moving to Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico, a suburb of Albuquerque. On the Sarria award, Lifetime Achievement Award in March 2012, Albuquerque Pride noted that he lives in Los Ranchos in "cute little casitas and enjoys chickens." The "casita" is a guest house adjacent to the home of Tony Ross and her husband PJ Sedillo (also known as Fontana DeVine, Empress Dowager Empress VI from the Supreme Court of Sandias); Ross and Sedillo serve as Sarria's caretakers in the last three years of her life.
Death
Sarria died of adrenal cancer at age 89 or 90 on August 19, 2013, at her home in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. Obituaries and tributes appear around the United States in the media including The Advocate, KALW General Radio (San Francisco), The New York Times, and San Francisco Chronicle i>. Media outside the United States reporting deaths include Gay Star News, a London-based online newspaper; Replica, LGBT monthly magazine in Warsaw, Poland; Roze Golf, LGBT regional radio program and online magazine based in Enschede, The Netherlands; the RTVE website, the Spanish national public television network; and Svenska Dagbladet , a daily newspaper in Stockholm, Sweden.
The imperial-draged themed funeral facility was held on September 6, 2013 at Grace Cathedral of San Francisco, with Pdt. Right Marc Handley Andrus, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, who headed; about 1,000 mourners attended the service. Various elected local and state officials participated, including California State Senator Mark Leno, former mayor of San Francisco Art Agnos, San Francisco Treasurer Josà ©  © Cisneros, and members of the San Francisco Supervisory Board. The Leader of the Imperial Court System and the Perpetual Sisters Indulgence were present in a complete regalia, with formal condolences for the court dictated by Sarria before. Other high-ranking officials at the cemetery included Stuart Milk, nephew of Harvey Milk politician and head of the Harvey Milk Foundation.
Immediately after the funeral, a procession of about 500 mourners accompanied Sarria's body to Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma, where she was buried with full military honor in a plot she had previously bought at the foot of Joshua Norton's grave.
Archive & amp; memorabilia
Sarria documented her public and private activities throughout her life, collecting an extensive collection of archival materials and artifacts. He donated most of his papers and memorabilia, along with his costume samples, to the GLBT History Society, an archive and research center in San Francisco. Initial contributions came in 1996 followed by another important material body in 2012.
In addition, Sarria provides a small number of costumes, accessories, and documents to the Oakland Museum of California - including the cloak and headdress that she wore in her comic book show Aida in The Black Cat. An article published in The Atlantic in 2011 confirmed that Sarria has also donated materials to the Smithsonian Institution. This claim seems to be wrong, because Sarria stated in 2012 that he rejected the Smithsonian request.
In 2016, a group of individuals associated with various Imperial Courts created the Josà © Sarria Foundation to improve Sarria's memory and heritage. One of the group's goals is to collect and store Sarria's costume jewelery collection and other personal items that are auctioned off by her inheritance. Founded as a 501 (c) 3 public charity in Washington state, the organization outlines its mission as follows: "The foundation is dedicated to keeping the memory of JosÃÆ'  © Julio Sarria in order to survive for future generations... continuing his life work in philanthropy, balanced with healthy pleasure. "
Public warnings
The San Francisco Pride Board created the JosÃÆ'Â © Julio Sarria History Makers award in honor of LGBT people who made news achievements that would not get recognition. It was made shortly before Joseph's death.
JosÃÆ'Â © Sarria is one of the renowned LGBT heroes in the Rainbow Honor Walk in San Francisco's Castro District. A bronze plaque in Sarria's memory is dedicated as part of the honor of walking on Castro Street in November 2017.
Fictitious depictions
In 2017, he was played by Michael DeLorenzo in a miniseries on LGBT rights called When We Rise .
Note
References
- Aldrich, Robert and Garry Wotherspoon (2000). Who's Who in Gay History and Contemporary Lesbian: From World War II to Today . Routledge. ISBNÃ, 0-415-22974-X.
- Boyd, Nan Alamilla (2003). City wide open: The history of Queer San Francisco until 1965 . University of California Press. ISBNÃ, 0-520-20415-8.
- Bullough, Vern L. (2002). Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context . New York, Haworth Press. ISBNÃ, 1-56023-193-9.
- Carter, David (2005). Stonewall: The Riot That Sparks Gay Revolution . New York, MacMillan. ISBNÃ, 0-312-34269-1.
- D'Emilio, John (1983). Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: Making Homosexual Minorities in the United States, 1940-1970 . Chicago, University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 0-226-14265-5.
- Gorman, Michael R. (1998). The Empress is a Man: The Story From The Life of JosÃÆ'Â © Sarria . New York, Harrington Park Press: Haworth Press mold. ISBNÃ, 0-7890-0259-0 (cover edition).
- Lockhart, John (2002). Gay Man's Guide to Grow Older . Los Angeles, Alyson Publications. ISBNÃ, 1-55583-591-0.
- Loughery, John (1998). The Other Side of Silence: Men's Life and Gay Identity: The History of the Twentieth Century . New York, Harry Holt & amp; Company. ISBNÃ, 0-8050-3896-5.
- Marcus, Eric (1992). Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Rights 1945 - 1990, Oral History . New York, HarperCollins. ISBN: 0-06-016708-4.
- Miller, Neil (1995). From The Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to Now . New York, Vintage Books. ISBN: 0-09-957691-0.
- Montanarelli, Lisa, and Ann Harrison (2005). Strange But True San Francisco: The Story of a City in the Bay . San Francisco, Globe Pequot. ISBNÃ, 0-7627-3681-X.
- Shilts, Randy (1982). Mayor of Castro Street . New York, St. Martin Press. ISBNÃ, 0-312-52331-9.
- Witt, Lynn, Sherry Thomas, and Eric Marcus (1995). In All Directions: Gay and Lesbian Gay Almanacs . New York, Warner Books. ISBNÃ, 0-446-67237-8.
External links
- GLBT History Society (San Francisco). Saving personal paper JosÃÆ'Â © Sarria (collection no. 1996-01).
- "JosÃÆ'Â © Sarria at Black Cat Cafe 1963." on YouTube Silent amateur movie (length: 1 minute, 56 seconds); from the JosÃÆ'Â © Sarria Papers at GLBT Historical Society.
- JosÃÆ' Â © Sarria on IMDb
- Widow Norton on the International Imperial Court Website.
- "Jose is 'Rosa Parks' from the Gay Rights Movement." A memorial biography of JosÃÆ'Â © Sarria on the Imperial Court website (nine pages PDF).
- Photos of the Black Cat Cafe in the Historic Photo Collection of San Francisco Public Library.
- "The mourners celebrated gay rights pioneer Jose Sarria" on the SFGate news website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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