Crystal LaBeija (born 1930s, died 1990s) was an American drag queen and

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

who co-founded the

House of LaBeija The Royal House of LaBeija is the first house of Ballroom founded by Crystal LaBeija and Lottie LaBeija in 1968. It was the first ballroom house to host benefits to raise awareness during the 1980s HIV/AIDS epidemic. Crystal and Lottie establish ...

in 1968. The House is often credited as starting the house system in ball culture. She became a mother figure for homeless LGBTQ youth.

Career

In the early 1960s, before the emergence of regular balls, New York's drag culture was divided along racial lines—the Pattie Girls (white), the La Chanels (Black), and the Delightful Ladies (Latina). Via the latter group, it became common parlance of the moment to use the phrase ''la bella''—Spanish for "the beautiful"—to enhance one's image or merely describe another person. Crystal, originally working and competing on the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

drag circuit under the name of Crystal LaAsia, was widely known for her beauty and later adopted the phrase as her permanent moniker, with a rearticulated spelling ("Beija") of the -ll- sound in ''bella'' �be.ʝa In the 1960s and 1970s, drag queens of color were expected to whiten their appearance to help their chances at winning competitions and they often faced racist environments. LaBeija was one of only a few African American drag queens to be awarded a "Queen of the Ball" title at a drag ball organized by whites during this era. In 1967, she was crowned Miss Manhattan. LaBeija subsequently competed in the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant held at New York City Town Hall, a competition documented in '' The Queen'' (1968). In a scene towards the end of the documentary, LaBeija, upset with the perceived racism of the white-run balls, accused the pageant organizer Flawless Sabrina of rigging the judging in the favor of a white queen, Rachel Harlow. Refusing to participate further in a discriminatory system, LaBeija worked with another Black drag queen, Lottie LaBeija, to host a ball just for Black queens. She agreed to participate in the event so long as she was highlighted in the ball. This event, the first to be hosted by a House, was titled "Crystal & Lottie LaBeija presents the first annual House of Labeija Ball at Up the Downstairs Case on West 115th Street &

5th Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, NY" and took place in 1972. It was the first time the term "House" was used, coined by LaBeija in order to market the event, which would be a huge success. LaBeija continued to work as a drag performer and activist throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...

's first experience of a drag performance was seeing LaBeija perform a lipsync routine at a nightclub in Atlanta in 1979.

Death

In 2019, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' reported that LaBeija died of

liver failure Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Two forms are recognised, acute and chronic (cirrhosis). Recently, a third form of liver failure known as acute- ...

in 1982. However, in 1993, the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported that Labeija was still alive and had attended a revival of '' The Queen'' at the

Film Forum The Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. It is a four-screen cinema open 365 days a year, with up to 250,000 annual admissions, nearly 500 seats, 60 employees, over ...

in New York. The article reported that LaBeija was still "a fixture in the drag world" and had a reunion of sorts with contest winner Harlow. "She was very very lovely to me", Harlow is quoted as saying. "She came up to me and kissed me and said hello... She left before the end."

Legacy

LaBeija and The House of LaBeija have had a lasting influence on ball culture and popular culture. The opening credits of the television series '' Transparent'' feature footage of LaBeija from the film '' The Queen''. The novel ''The House of Impossible Beauties'' by Joseph Cassara is a fictional account of New York Ball culture and features characters inspired by LaBeija and members of The House of LaBeija. The television series '' Pose'' features characters and events inspired by LaBeija and

ball culture The Ballroom scene (also known as the Ballroom community, Ballroom culture, or just Ballroom) is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture. The scene traces its origins to the drag balls of the mid-19th century United State ...

in New York City. The character Elektra Wintour, played by Dominique Jackson, delivers reads similar to the LaBeija's speech at the end of '' The Queen''. A Season 3 episode of ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' featured drag queen Aja LaBeija imitating Crystal during the

Snatch Game Snatch Game is a comedy challenge recurring across the ''Drag Race'' television franchise and a fixture of the reality competition series. Since the second season of the original American ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' series in 2010, the challenge ha ...

episode. The current House of LaBeija appeared in the third season of the ballroom competition series '' Legendary''.

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

's visual album, '' Endless'', contains a clip of LaBeija on the track "Ambience 001: "In A Certain Way." The Crystal LaBeija Organizing Fellowship offers a 1-year fellowship, "open to all Black and Brown, trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary individuals who belong to the ballroom community". The fellowship empowers fellows "to address the issues impacting the lives of transgender women, transgender men, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people in the house ball community via community building, economic empowerment, advocacy, and activism through wellness and social justice lenses."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:LaBeija, Crystal 1930s births 1990s deaths African-American drag queens African-American LGBTQ people American drag queens American transgender women American transgender entertainers Drag performers from New York City House of LaBeija LGBTQ people from New York (state) Transgender drag performers Transgender women entertainers Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain

Career

Death

Legacy

See also

References

External links