Here, Black, Femme, & Queer
In our work of telling Kentucky’s LGBTQ history, it is important to recognize the immense impact of the Black, queer community. Highlighting their lives and their stories, Here, Black, Femme, & Queer: Images, stories, and history of Black LGBTQ+ Kentuckians was created as a way to honor, remember, and celebrate their legacies.
This exhibition of images shines a light on the lives and legacies of Black, femme, & queer people from right here in Kentucky. From the fiery performances of Toni LaFlame to the downtown strolls of Sweet Evening Breeze, these individuals have played a crucial role in making Lexington a safer space for the LGBTQ+ community. Most of the images on display are from the Faulkner Morgan Archive, but some of these images were also collected through Facebook posts and messages from members of Lexington’s queer community. Below are brief summaries of each individual, but you can find the entire exhibition of images and stories at itsjoshporter.com/here-black-femme-and-queer.
Sweet Evening Breeze
Born in the late 1800s, to parents who had been enslaved, Sweets lived in a racially segregated city where homosexual acts were illegal throughout her entire lifetime. Yet she refused to be anything but herself, daring to live openly and honestly. Sweet Evening Breeze was building a Lexington that looked more like her than her contemporaries could have ever imagined, forging a path followed by every LGBTQ person who has since strolled through Kentucky. Click here to read more.
Leigh Angelique
Leigh Angelique was from the house of Sweet Evening Breeze. On April 8th, 1970, a Wednesday night, Lexington Police raided what is now the Bar Complex on East Main Street. The police arrested four queens, including 22-year-old Garland Hanley, better known as Leigh Angelique. After Leigh was booked for the crime of "wearing a disguise," she sought refuge at the home of Sweet Evening Breeze. Enraged by the injustice, Sweets called the judge assigned to sentence Leigh. Sweets told the judge it was "in his best interest to drop the charges." The judge complied. In the words of Leigh, "I don’t know what Sweets had on the people in this town, but she had something.”
Toni LaFlame
Tony or Toni LaFlame was one of Kentucky’s most avant garde performers. While often called a “drag queen,” LaFlame’s performances were gender bending spectaculars that went far beyond the typical lip syncs of the period. Her namesake performance was her famous firedance, dazzling crowds with the rhythmic use of torches that she held (and extinguished!) in several interesting orifices.
Crystal Blue
As a trans woman who began performing drag later in life, “Miss Blue,” as she was often affectionately called, was well-known for her performances at what is now The Bar Complex here in Lexington. She also performed at many strip clubs in the area.
She is also rumored to have coined the phrase “don’t make me use my Elly biscuit” in reference to the brick she carried in her purse. The name came from The Beverly Hillbillies character Elly Mae Clampett who made biscuits that were as hard as a rock.
Charles Dansby
(Miss Joyce)
Charles, perhaps better known as Miss Joyce, was Lexington raised, and lived most of his life in the house that his great-grandfather built (and where Charles was born) in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Spiegel Heights. Charles’ drag career spanned decades, and when he passed in February 2020, he was the last known “drag daughter” of Sweet Evening Breeze, whom he had known since childhood. Charles met Sweet Evening Breeze at the Walgreen's lunch counter on a Saturday trip downtown with his mother.
Caldonia
Marie “Caldonia” Reynolds was a household name in Cincinnati, OH. Starting as early as the 1950s, Caldonia would arrive in Lexington via the Short Street bus station, tap dancing through the pool halls and bars of long-gone Water Street. Late in her life, when this photograph was taken, a trans woman employed Caldonia to tap dance in between numbers at her Lexington strip club.
It was rumored–mostly by Caldonia herself–that the song “Caldonia,” made famous by B.B. King was written for this tap-dancing, gender-bending Kentucky legend.
Rayna Starr
Since starting to perform in drag in the early 90s, Rayna has become a Lexington staple. Rayna Starr is the drag persona of Lexington native Ben Salyers. From the 1990s to the early 2010s, you could find her performing on stage at The Bar Complex alongside queens like Crystal Blue, Jerrica James, Ashley Kruiz, Rhonda K. Steele, Brandi Michaels, and Chelsea Pearl. She was part of “The Gilded Cage Divas” for over 25 years! Rayna can still be found performing in shows all around Lexington and was recently recognized with the Stonewall Honors Award from Kentucky Black Pride.
Dee Dee
Pictured left, alongside Lexington artist Bob Morgan, Dee Dee and her mother moved to Lexington for what was, at the time, a relatively secretive gender reassignment surgery program at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Bob Morgan describes how, “during the time period we met Deedee, there were always 10 or 15 people in town taking up residence to go through [the program] and it was all done sort of hush hush. So occasionally one of these folks or two of these folks would find their way to the bar and come out on weekends and they were some of the first true transgender people that most of us met.” Dee Dee loved The Living Room and frequented the establishment often with her mother. Her mother also made all of Dee Dee’s outfits, one of which you can see here.
Unknown Femme Individual
Sometimes we don’t know the whole story. Sometimes, we only have fragmentary physical evidence of the lives lived by queer Kentuckians. This person’s photograph was given to the archive alongside some of our most famous images of Sweet Evening Breeze, but who is this? They are wearing Sweets’ veil, and this image was taken in the living room of Sweets’ home around 1955, but that’s all we know. While we don’t know their name, we are reminded that we are never alone.
Below are installation images of the exhibition at the Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library at the University of Kentucky.
This project is continuing to expand, so if you have any images, stories, or history that you would like to share, please reach out! Send any information you have on Black, femme, & queer Kentuckians to josh@itsjoshporter.com.
