SPEAKER_07: Reboot your credit card with Apple Card. It gives you unlimited daily cash back that can earn 4.15% annual percentage yield when you open a savings account. A high yield, low effort way to grow your money with no fees. Apply for Apple Card now in the Wallet app on iPhone to start earning and growing your daily cash with savings today. Apple Card subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Savings accounts by Goldman Sachs Bank USA. Member FDIC, terms apply.
SPEAKER_09: Hey, can I let you in on a little secret? Ugh, I'm obsessed with the Drop app. Drop makes it so easy to score free gift cards just for doing my everyday shopping at places like Ulta, Sam's Club, and Lyft. So if you're like me and love a good shopping spree, download Drop today and join the secret club of savvy shoppers. And use my code, getdrop999, to get $5.
SPEAKER_03: At Toyota, electrified doesn't just mean plugified. So you can go off-road in a hybrid Tundra and take the scenic, Rutified. Or step inside a plug-in Prius and get glamified. Or hop in an all-electric BZ4X and take it Easyified. Toyota is electrified, diversified. And the more ways we can choose to reduce carbon emissions, the closer we all get to Toyota's beyond zero vision. Toyota, let's go places.
SPEAKER_01: This Pride Month, Womanaka is brought to you exclusively by Mercedes-Benz. Together, we're honoring people who've expanded the norms of gender and sexuality in the performing arts. Mercedes-Benz embraces the freedom of individual expression and continues to support and stand with the LGBTQIA plus community. Listen all month long as we share stories of proud individuals whose authentic expression in their lives and bodies of work have challenged norms, driving society forward.
SPEAKER_06: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Carmen Borca-Curillo and this is Womanaka. June is Pride Month and to celebrate, we're highlighting queer stars of the stage and screen. They're women who expanded the norms of gender and sexuality in the limelight and behind the scenes. I helped curate the month and I'm so excited to guest host this episode. Today, we're talking about a queen who reinvented the ballroom scene of New York City. Tired of entering balls that excluded women of color, she decided to host her own ball and shook up the world of drag pageantry while doing it. Please welcome, Crystal LaBeija. Crystal was a trans woman and American drag queen who entered the Manhattan Drag Circuit in the 1960s. We don't know too much about Crystal's early life, but we do know that she was a larger than life character. She wore furs and prided herself on her glamor. Her original name was Crystal LaEija, but Spanish speaking queens called her LaVeyessa or the beauty. The name stuck. When Crystal was coming up in the circuit, pageants were organized by individuals. Contestants were judged on their looks throughout the competition. Though these balls were multiracial, they were overwhelmingly white organized and racist. Black and Hispanic queens were usually pressured to lighten their complexions. Winners were usually white. But Crystal was a force to be reckoned with. She won the titles of Miss Manhattan and Queen of the Ball, both at white organized pageants. On February 13th, 1967, she entered the Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest. She came in fourth and made history. The pageant was hosted by Flawless Sabrina, a white drag queen. She gave first place to her protege, Rachel Harlow. Crystal left the stage. She let everyone know what was on her mind.
SPEAKER_04: You know she didn't deserve it. All of them, the judges knew it too. She was terrible. I'll sue the bitch. Did you sign me? I will sue, no, I didn't sign any release. And if she releases any bitch on me, I will sue the fool. She won't make money off of my name, darling. She can make it off of Harlow and all the rest of the fools that will flock to her, but not Crystal, darling. She knew it was Victor Harlow. She said, Crystal, darling, don't gout because you're not going to get it. And that's why all the true beauty didn't come. It's in bad taste and you're showing your colors. I am, I am doing it bad, but I got it. I have a right to show my color, darling.
SPEAKER_06: The moment was immortalized on video. The Miss All-America Camp Contest was being filmed for a documentary called The Queen. They would premiere at Cannes the following year. Crystal verbalized what she'd been enduring for years in the drag circuit. Queens of color just weren't given the same chances. She told the cameras she didn't want her image used to celebrate a racist pageant. In 1972, Crystal and her friend Lottie created their own ball. It was specifically for black queens. They hosted the event as the House of La Beija. While today houses are common in drag culture, Crystal was one of the first, if not the first, to implement it. She became the mother of the House of La Beija. The house was a sort of alternative family structure for folks who were often marginalized by their own families. And as the house mother, Crystal supported her drag children and provided them with a home and mentorship. The house entered and hosted pageants together. The House of La Beija went beyond fashion and pageantry. It was also the first house to host benefits specifically to raise awareness during the 1980s AIDS epidemic. Crystal took her experiences in a circuit that often excluded those who needed it most and reinvented it as a family system, one that upheld the communities it celebrated. We know as much about the end of Crystal's life as we do the beginning. She died in 1982, likely of liver failure in connection to unregulated use of estrogen. Her drag daughter, Pepper La Beija, took over as house mother and served for more than 30 years. Crystal's legacy lives on in the House of La Beija, still a monumental presence in the New York drag scene. All month, we're highlighting queer stars of the stage and screen. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Womanica Podcast. Special thanks to Liz and Jenny Kaplan for inviting me to guest host. Talk to you tomorrow.
SPEAKER_08: Thank you and see ya. cards, books, games, and a free compatible app are all included. Go to ReadingBooster.com to order yours today and bring home a love of learning. Order now at ReadingBooster.com.
SPEAKER_05: AT&T and Verizon lure you in with their best phone offers, only to lock you into a three-year phone contract, not at T-Mobile. Now, with T-Mobile's best Go 5G plans, upgrade when you want. Every year or every two, you decide. Visit T-Mobile.com to take charge of your upgrades.
SPEAKER_00: Get two-year financing on Go 5G Plus and Next. One-year upgrade on Go 5G Next requires financing new qualifying device and upgrading in good condition after six plus months with 50% paid off. Upgrade ends financing in any promo credits. See T-Mobile.com.
SPEAKER_02: Do you hear it? The clock is ticking. It's time for the new season of 60 Minutes. The CBS News Sunday Night tradition is back for its 56th season with all-new big-name interviews, hard-hitting investigations, and epic adventures. No place. No one. No story is off limits. And you'll always learn something new. It's time for 60 Minutes. New episode airs Sunday, September 24th on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
