Lee Brewster

Lee Greer Brewster (April 27, 1943 – May 19, 2000) was an American

Brewster died of cancer on May 19, 2000, in New York City.[3] He was survived by a sister and three brothers.^[2]

West Virginia University has created an online exhibit dedicated to him, and his work.^[4]

Professional life

Brewster worked for the

In the 1970s and 1980s, he published Drag magazine.[2]^[5]

Lee's Mardi Gras Boutique

Brewster owned Lee's Mardi Gras Boutique (now Michael Salem Boutique), a 5,000 square feet (460 m²)

His boutique made efforts to provide privacy to its customers, including never having a street-level entry.[2]^[3] However, some customers have been public about utilizing the store. Among its public and notable customers were Lady Bunny, and costume designers for The Birdcage, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, and Tootsie. Brewster described his clientele in an interview in The Village Voice saying, "Half of my clients are respectable-looking businessmen," and that they were "very normal, but they know better than to present that side of themselves."^[2]

Drag performances

Brewster staged numerous balls and often performed as a drag queen. Following the tradition of old-time drag performers, Brewster preferred to be called by male pronouns, rather than female pronouns, as has become more popular in modern times.^[2][3][5]

Activism

Brewster advocated for people who wanted to engage in cross-dressing, notably at times when this was an unpopular position in the LGBT movement in the United States.^[2]

He became active in the

In the 1970s, Brewster financed a successful legal challenge to a New York City ordinance that allowed people to be removed from public places because they were homosexuals. Though seldom enforced, he felt the regulation gave law enforcement an opportunity to harass LGBT people.^[2]

Queens Liberation Front

At his first ball in February 1969, he announced plans to form what would become known as the Queens Liberation Front, with October 31, 1969, to be its formal founding date.^[3]

In 1971, the Queens Liberation Front was teamed with the Street Tranvestite Action Revolutionaries, and the Gay Activists Alliance in support of Intro 475, to end discrimination based upon sexual orientation in New York City. Eventually these efforts were successful, and the early involvement of transgender organizations helped to guarantee that transgender rights were respected in resulting gay rights legislation.^[7][8]

The Queens Liberation Front, including founders Lee Brewster and Bunny Eisenhower, joined with S.T.A.R. including Sylvia Rivera to lead a protest for the repeal of crossdressing laws in New York. They marched to the Capital in Albany, "...in support of the bills currently before the legislators in behalf of liberalized laws on homosexuality. Amongst them are bill for the repeal of impersonation laws...".^[11] The groups and their supporters travelled to Albany on four buses that had been chartered by the NY Gay Activists Alliance. Other notable protest attendees included Reverend Troy Perry.^[11] Drag Magazine includes two full pages of photographs from the protest, including Lee Brewster and Sylvia Rivera together holding their protest signs.^[12]

Panel Discussion with Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson

In 1972, Lee Brewster was part of a panel discussion on "transvestism" with S.T.A.R. representatives Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson and Bebe Scarpi representing of the Queens College Group. The coverage of this event and a corresponding photograph of the panel can be found in Drag magazine Vol.2 No.7, near the end of the article on Male Prostitution.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• History of the transgender community in the United States
• LGBT culture in New York City
• LGBT movements in the United States
• List of LGBT people from New York City

References