“Those were the days.”
Phoenix Natasha Russell on the 80s ball scene
Russell was the “mother” of the House of Norma Kamali, one of the many “houses,” or groups, that formed around the New York drag ball scene. Russell is an activist in New York City.
As Told To Andy Wright
Back in the ‘80s — oh, my goodness — those were the good old times. There were clubs and coke and dressing up fancy in the ballroom scene, vogueing. There were feathers and boas and costumes…we would sew up beautiful outfits with linens and silk. Everyone became creative and developed their own flair.
I always loved the fluidity of vogueing, because I was a dancer—and that’s what vogue is: a form of dance. They would call the different categories and people would get up on stage and battle.There was a grace and an elegance to it. I was known most for winning “Face”. Every now and then I would get a performance trophy.
If the night was successful, the ball never started on time. The balls never started on time. Oh, my God, those are the days.
In 1992, Russell was diagnosed with HIV. The stigma that she and other patients suffered from motivated her to become an activist: “They were just dying and their services were being cut and they weren’t getting insurance,” she says. She joined Gay Men’s Health Crisis, a New York-based advocacy group.
I took a stand. I would go up to Albany with GMHC and speak to government and the city legislators and let them know what life was like. I would protest, I would go to rallies, I would go to marches whenever the mayor or the government was starting to cut services or funding. Whenever there was discrimination in housing because you were positive, I would fight that. It was a whole bunch of us getting together and just shouting and hollering and creating a nuisance, letting them know we’re here, we’re not going anywhere and it’s not right that you plan on cutting us out.
And sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn’t. And I think that’s what discouraged me from [continuing] doing it. I didn’t see our work really making a big impact on the stigma that was placed on having the virus.
Russell withdrew from activism for a few years. Since then she has worked on a myriad of issues, including campaigns to improve access to health care, immigration and employment discrimination.
Where I would want to see the trans movement [in twenty years]… I hope we don’t have to worry about being murdered, we don’t have to worry about being stigmatized, we can be considered mainstream. We’re no longer a spectacle, people have become more accepting, there’s no more heckling, there’s no more throwing bottles and rocks or sticks. There’s no more of that. Everybody’s just accepting of everybody. That’s where I would want to see it in 20 years; where we didn’t have to worry about getting housing, or getting medical care, being discriminated against just because we’re trans. I want laws in place that are actually enforced. I want laws intact that actually benefit trans individuals and help them be successful, so they don’t have to become sex workers. There’s nothing like that right now; there’s nothing.
Read more personal accounts of the trans activism movement.
Interview by Andy Wright. Parts were omitted for clarity and brevity.
