#sir lady java

[viciouslyrobotic]

Some links for understanding intersectionality, black transfeminism; resources, figures, existence and literature;

Marquise Bey, author of Black Trans Feminism -> video discussion https://youtu.be/8ZVt0TuJA8M?si=H7l-73PICkJ2ZXJ6

Khadija Mbowe -> https://youtube.com/@khadijambowe?si=m48aEdLF_1N8n7K9

Shanspeare -> https://youtube.com/@shanspeare?si=PHGMCnLowzKqcpNK

[lgbtinsbc]

Say hi to Sir Lady Java!

She was born in New Orleans in 1943. She transitioned at a young age with help from her mother and became a singer and dancer at local nightclubs. She was the first trans woman of color to perform in the L.A. nightclub scene. She was a fierce Igbtq+ rights activist while she was active.

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

ERNIE HUDSON in one of his first roles!

8 years later he'd be in Ghostbusters!

[gaiusozarkus]

Sir Lady Java

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dear trans and nonbinary youth, With the 2025 inauguration of Donald Trump, our community has witnessed the culmination of a yearslong attack on our truths and our lives. We are forced to reckon with the fact that millions of Americans elected a xenophobic leader with seemingly autocratic ambitions, one who seems hell-bent on making people on the margins disappear. There are many lessons to glean from this political moment, but one stands out: When hate is allowed to stand with inadequate resistance, it festers and grows. I want to apologize to you for all the ways that this country has failed you. Beyond Trump, there are bigoted politicians, billionaires, and public figures who have decided to sell your future away to accrue more capital and power. I also want to validate how you must be feeling. You may be mourning the life you thought you’d be living at this point. You may be fearful about the uncertainty of your future. You aren’t alone. Many of us adults have felt those things too. On election night, after it became clear that the far right would have control of nearly every level of our government, a few friends and I collapsed into the arms of each other. Our shirts were soaked in tears as we tried to brace for the American nightmare heading our way. [...] Long before social media, AI, and reality TV stars-turned-presidents, our transcestors demanded dignity and respect — and they did so with far fewer resources. Despite erasure, many of the original Indigenous peoples of this land never allowed two-spirit and third-gender folks to be discarded. When right-wing politicians ousted government officials who were queer or suspected of being queer during the McCarthy era, our people didn’t disappear. When our people faced police brutality during the Stonewall riots, we came together in solidarity. Meanwhile, figures like Crystal Labeija built the foundation for Ballroom houses and culture, and now its fruits can be witnessed in music, entertainment, movement, and even in the slang that many use. Sir Lady Java picketed anti-crossdressing laws so that she could continue her thriving career as a showgirl. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera created Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, or S.T.A.R., and a safe haven to house street kids who’d been discarded. In every era of US history, queer folks have carved out their spaces despite criminalization, discrimination, and violence. We must have faith that we can do it again now. [...] Lean into the fire, fight, and resilience that already lives inside you. I want you to be defiant. If there was ever a time to disobey, this is it. We are a creative, disruptive people who have never accepted silence.

Raquel Willis for Teen Vogue on how trans and nonbinary kids should resist attacks on their very existence (01.27.2025).

Raquel Willis wrote this eloquent piece in Teen Vogue how trans and nonbinary kids should resist attacks on their very existence.

[bitter69uk]

I finally watched the 2023 documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything. Director Lisa Cortés succeeds in making it feel cinematic, and the archival performance footage of Richard in his prime alone is worthwhile. The best “talking head” contributors are Richard’s late exotic dancer girlfriend Lee Angel and pioneering transgender nightclub entertainer Sir Lady Java - and John Waters, of course! (Waters recalls he used to shoplift Richard’s records as a kid, and that his signature pencil-line mustache is a direct “twisted tribute”). By comparison, big name guests like Mick Jagger and Tom Jones mostly offer show biz platitudes (and Billy Porter is self-aggrandizing).

One thing it accomplishes nicely: so often hidebound rock critics and filmmakers get hung up on "who influenced who" which descends into "who ripped off who" as if it’s always a negative thing. It's common knowledge that when Richard was just starting out as a performer without his persona cemented, two flaming queer Black male rhythm and blues musicians - Billy Wright and Esquerita - inspired his musical approach and appearance (the towering, processed conk, thick make-up and mustache). As one of the talking heads savvily argues, Richard didn’t “steal” from them: rather, they provided a mirror for Richard to see his true self. Similarly, Cortés gives Ike Turner his due. A musical expert notes that Richard's piano playing was beholden to Turner’s, something Richard admitted (he raved about the impact of hearing "Rocket 88", the 1951 Kings of Rhythm track widely considered the first-ever rock'n'roll single). Yes, Ike was a monster to Tina, but his trailblazing musical genius must be acknowledged.

The finale where Cortés demonstrates Richard’s effect on modern pop culture with a montage presumably meant to represent his spiritual descendants (Cher! Harry Styles! Lady GaGa! Lizzo!) is misbegotten. Are we meant to think anyone who EVER wore sequins owes Little Richard a debt? (At least the inclusion of Lil Nas X - a modern flamboyant Black male performer – is apt). Richard was instilled with a sense of shame and guilt as a child, and throughout his life alternated between extreme hedonism and extreme fundamentalist Christianity. Sadly, as one commentator argues, Richard set a great liberating example for other people but never truly enjoyed that liberation himself.

[katrina407]

"She held up the Line "Mandy Ms Bartender" AAH

Word of warning from my last Shelter mr shades says, if you"chat "talk" people get angry annoyed so When i got my coffee, + bagel(welll for later in case it is inedable for me ETC anyway

She is oh i know everyone need someone to talk to but after she orders Her BK coffe etc a fight broke out !! nO JOKE YOU SEE I KNOW ITS HER FIRST SHELTER

bUT I KNOW THE RULES, also the man has two girl dogs, holding onto Big too (labs mostlY Then all he wanted was his java

(i wanted to say "sir need some Help He (YET)has,nt yelled

screamed , But still the Kitchen staff told "Move along, I

be in total Anxiety by then so like

i said "for warened is for ARMED got Oh by the way mr Bozo The dirt clown , you feel his dirty beady eyes

folowing ya, I want to tell the manager, But

he does it to everyone i SAID back home that Is RUDE does he

Care ,NOPE!

Oh and i did have a few no not Drinks although i miss it

COFFEE ms Bandshee Does a re really weird thing

(i don,t understand a woemn like her Mshe bends over, like she has "gas"

Nope she Kissed the Ground OMG the oh so sorry if i Miss spell typing fast Why? because even though i do look very young

I am NOT a student and well would,nt Id be more

depressed if security (and i keep to my self said i can,t comeAAH

So getting back to ms bandshee she is SCARED she wil catch Covid

BUT...she stands nude , all the time Here in the west end violent Sex assualts , i don,t get it

Also when i first (back in the WEST we had Locks on the shower doors eh? So when i took I thought

first seeing HER i was going to say SIR this is the ladies shower

Oops its a Women , they are weird i,m a proud scottish been raise

if i eve get in touch with Little "sis, even thouh she may have a partner (nee "boyfriend eh) still would (unless intoxicaded Nee drunk)

Stand nude before the shower still ajusting even after 6 months now 20 days....and counting if i shall last a Year there more on my adventures of Katrina , oh they still the quata whatever folks year of 2025 mon(mondays suck for me ) Jan 20th

[houghtonlib]

RIP Lady Java: https://www.them.us/story/sir-lady-java-black-trans-drag-entertainer-dancer-dead-death

Sir Lady Java is a transgender rights activist, dancer, singer, comedian, and actress. When her performances were shut down by the LAPD in 1967 she organized picketing at clubs and fought in court with the support of @ACLU.

MS Thr 1777

Houghton Library, Harvard University

[lifewiththelulus]

This is how I imagine that conversation starts XD

Kindlin stopping by the flower shop to ask plume a bunch of questions randomly XD She gonna do her research "What do you like to eat? Do you need constant heat like fire? What can make you sick?" She hopes what she's doing isn't super obvious but she doesn't know who else to ask questions lol

He's more than happy to help if not slightly exasperated with her attempts to seem casual. He's more than aware of how unlikely it was he even exists so he wants the best for them too. He likes drawing with charcoal but it doubles as a snack. A new meaning to chewing on your pencil. There's some questions he has to brave hearing his parents embarrassing stories to answer. It's not that they weren't friends before but she knows significantly less about him than Hazel and Mimi so all of a sudden her trying to get his help is like "well if it isn't my favorite element who is always so helpful to his friends what's up bro"

Lmao yeah XD Shes like "heyyyyy what's up buddy, one of my favorite florists! How ya dooiiin?"

i can imagine how elated flint and misty are to see another pair like them flourishing

Lol I can only imagine her face when she realizes they know what she's up to

Misty gives kindlin a personal line on one of their business cards. "Please call us if you need anything" wink

She's just bows her head in embarrassment and nods, though she's happy to have someone with some sort of guidance in this area. How'd they meet tho Did plume tell them about the fire girl bothering him with weird questions? Lol

Well once plume started going to them about the questions he couldn't answer they were more than a little curious why

Cirrus would go to Flint to ask for advice on how to be ready once her wife is pregnant.

"heh there's never really a playbook for elements like us who are crazy enough to break the barrier. Much as we've tried. For us we'd ended up believing it would never happen so when it did I can tell you I nearly had a flare up. Feels like a rollercoaster but what I can tell you is to trust your instincts and never doubt each other. Oh and get plastic covers for literally everything you own you'll have soot everywhere in no time flat ha".

Cirrus: Oh… well thank you, sir, I'm happy that you could share that with me but when I said "If she does get pregnant what should I do." I meant more in the sense of how to make Kindlin comfortable, like should I expect cravings, will she need help getting up? ^^; She feels so bad for ruining that moment after he shared something so personal XD

He might put on a lot of bravado but he's very easy to fluster. " ah well you'll have to forgive this old man and his waxing poetic. I'm not quite sure how it'll translate after all I didn't actually have the baby thank the blue flame" practically slaps his knee at his own jokes. "But Misty I recall could hardly eat anything she used too. She started wanting the stuff I had imported from home. Maybe plume just wanted something more fire, who knows. She never felt cold enough nearly blew away one day when she put on a dozen fans in the office."

"my own mom used to tell me it was like have a lump of coal weighing you down all day so I'd imagine your wife will need some extra attention towards the end. And not to gross you out young lady but well, you must be sure you know exactly when the babies coming because a water break aint so bad but a lava one, now that could cost ya in repairs. "

Cirrus: That last one will definitely be a big help, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the food situation though, Kindlin can't eat our food, It evaporates as soon as it gets close to her mouth.

"when you get to be as old as I am you realize you can eat just about anything if you throw it in a blender first hehe. Whenever A few times Misty wanted me to try something I tried mixing it with my lava java. Not perfect but hey"

Cirrus: Huh. Blending… I think that might just work. Um… I do have one more question though. It's silly to think about but I can't help but worry… what if they don't like me?

His face softens with the kind of knowing only a parent can have "you know with plume, I was sure I would end up like my parents, that Id push him away and he'd know it somehow even as a little puff of smoke. But I tell you once you actually lay eyes on em, it won't matter, even if they hated you you know youd do anything for em. But if it means anything to you the fact that you even worry about it tells me there's no way they won't love you. I think they have a way of knowing"

[sanitariumslumber]

[yourdailyqueer]

Sir Lady Java

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: N/A

DOB: 20 August 1943

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: Singer, exotic dancer, activist, comedian, actress, drag artist

[oldshowbiz]

The LAPD busted the Redd Foxx Club for presenting Sir Lady Java in October 1967.

The Vice Squad frequently unleashed extreme methods of violence when enforcing anti-“female impersonator” laws. 

[harryjameshanson]

[blackqueernotables]

Sir Lady Java: A Trans pioneer and performer 

[flyandfamousblackgirls]

Sir Lady Java has had many roles in our transgender history, and she is remembered as being an openly transgender exotic dancer, comedian, singer, actress, and civil rights activist. Born in New Orleans in either 1940 or 1943, her early career and life are shrouded in a bit of mystery. She began appearing in various Los Angeles nightclubs, where she worked with or for Redd Foxx, Sammy Davis Jr., Richard Pryor, and Don Rickles. She and her performances were very popular within the African-American community, and she was featured in many magazines of the era.

In early autumn 1967, the Los Angeles Police began prohibiting her performances under a city ordinance (“Rule Number 9”) prohibiting the impersonation “by means of costume or dress a person of the opposite sex,” and threatening to fine clubs that hosted her. At one point the police threatened to arrest Redd Foxx himself if Java ever performed on his stage again. She fought back by picketing for her rights outside Redd Foxx’s club on October 21, and after hiring the ACLU she fought the ordinance in court. Using a legal technicality, the courts ruled she had no grounds to sue personally, and only the nightclub owners could (and none of them wanted to take the risk nor spend the money). The ordinance was eventually declared invalid in 1969 as a result of a lawsuit brought by a different plaintiff.

In 1976 she portrayed herself in the sequel to the 1975 film Dolemite, titled The Human Tornado.

[vintagewoc]

Sir Lady Java, a trans African-American dancer (1970′s)