Paris Is Burning Page #3

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"Hey. I saw a bunch of those

things walking down the street..."

It's really a case of going

back into the closet.

Ten, ten, ten, ten, ten.

Are there any more?

OK, girls, now we've come

to a decision.

They give the society

that they live in

what they want to see,

and they won't be questioned.

Rather than having

to go through prejudices

about your life

and your lifestyle,

you can walk around

comfortably,

blending in with

everybody else.

You've erased all the mistakes,

all the flaws,

all the giveaways,

to make your illusion perfect.

(Pepper) My mother knew

I had trophies.

I was telling her

I won them for basketball.

I had won trophies

for running track.

I was walking up

145th Street with my girlfriends.

I had on white hot pants,

a chiffon blouse, a ponytail,

and my father was waiting

for the light in his car

and he saw me,

he recognized me.

And he went straight to my house

before I could get there

and told my mother:

"Your son is a woman."

She didn't press it then,

but, like,

maybe a few months later

when she noticed

that I had breasts,

everything started

coming together.

She really was devastated.

"How could you have breasts

bigger than mine?

"You're growing nails. You're becoming

a woman right before my very eyes!

I can't hold my head up.

I'm embarrassed!"

She still loved me,

but the nagging and the...

Oh, my God,

about this woman's clothes...

And when I had women's clothes

stashed in my closet and she found them

she would destroy them.

She burnt up a mink coat.

I was, oh, devastated.

She smelled the perfume in it

that I liked to wear,

which was Jungle Gardenia

at the time.

And she said, "This ain't no

girl's coat. This is your coat."

She took it downstairs in the backyard

of the buildings and burnt it.

And I stood there

and cried like a baby.

As long as I have a mustache

and all that, it's cute for me.

She don't want me to be

in no girl's clothes. She can't take it.

(Dorian) When they're undetectable,

when they can walk out of that ballroom,

into the sunlight

and onto the subway,

and get home and still have

all their clothes

and no blood running

off their bodies,

those are the Femme

Realness Queens.

And usually, it's a category

for young queens.

Some of them say that

we're sick, we're crazy.

And some of them think that

we are the most gorgeous,

special things on Earth.

I would like to be

a spoiled, rich white girl.

They get what they want,

whenever they want it.

And they don't have to

really struggle with finances

and nice things,

nice clothes...

And they don't have

to have that as a problem.

I don't feel that there's

anything mannish about me,

except maybe what I might have

between me, down there.

Which is my little

personal thing, so...

I guess that's why I want

my sex change -

to make myself complete.

I was about 13, 14 years old

and I used to do it

behind my family's back,

just dressing up, till finally

they caught on with it.

And I didn't want

to embarrass them,

so that's when I moved away.

I'm telling you, I cannot

continue doing it.

When someone has rejection

from their mother and father, their family,

they - when they get out

in the world - they search.

They search for someone

to fill that void.

I know this for experience

because I've had kids come to me

and latch hold of me

like I'm their mother

or like I'm their father,

'cause they can talk to me

and I'm gay and they're gay.

And that's where a lot

of that boldness

and the mother business

comes in.

Because their real parents

give them such a hard way to go,

they look up to me

to fill that void.

How old are you?

I'm 15.

What time is it?

Hey, homeboy,

look at the time over there. 2:26.

And how old are you?

Me, I'm 13.

13? And you're out here

at 2:
26? Yeah.

Where do you live?

Me, I live in Harlem.

And why you down here?

Where's your mother?

Hanging out.

I don't have a mother.

Everybody has a mother

or we wouldn't be here.

Where's your mother at?

She's gone.

Where's your father?

He's gone, too.

So who you live with?

With a friend.

And you, too?

I live with my mother in the Bronx.

And you-all just hanging out

like this.

Just hanging out.

Right there inside.

(Pepper) But a lot of

these kids that I meet now,

they come from such

sad backgrounds, you know.

Broken homes or no home at all.

And then the few that do have families

and the family finds that they're gay,

they ex them completely.

(Dorian) A house?

A house. Let's see.

Let's see if we can

put it down sharply.

They're families.

You can say that.

They're families...

for a lot of children

who don't have families.

But this is a new meaning

of family.

The hippies had families

and no one thought nothing about it.

It wasn't a question

of a man and a woman and children,

which we grew up

knowing as a family.

It's a question of a group

of human beings

in a mutual bond.

You know what a house is.

I'll tell you what a house is.

A house is a gay street gang.

Now, where street gangs

get their rewards from street fights,

a gay house

street fights at a ball.

And you street fight at a ball

by walking in the categories.

The houses started

because you wanted a name.

The people that the houses

are named after

were ball-walkers

who became known for it, really.

(man) Work, Paris... Dupree.

Work, Paris...

(Dorian) After the first

few houses were started

and named after people

who had won trophies,

they also would create houses.

Like a new group of kids

would just create a house.

Then they'd work at building

its name up, which worked.

The House of Xtravaganza,

the House of Saint Laurent.

I'm Overness.

Pendavis.

Adonis.

LaMay.

Pendavis.

Saint Laurent, of course.

(laughs)

Dupree.

They saw me

and they all liked me,

all the rest

of the Xtravaganzas.

And they decided, "Well, if you

want to become an Xtravaganza,

"you have to walk a ball first.

And if you snatch a trophy,

then you can become the Xtravaganza."

That's how it's supposed

to work with any... everyone.

But like that,

it wasn't with me.

I just became an Xtravaganza.

Hector Xtravaganza,

he's the one who started the house.

He was the first gay man

I ever met.

The first time he took me

to the Village,

which was my birthday -

I had just turned 15 years old -

and he threw a party

for me out there.

He bought me a cake.

I met a lot of drag queens,

transvestites,

that I didn't believe were,

because they were so beautiful.

And that kind of sunk

into my head

and I guess that's why it kind of

made me want to even do it more.

They treat each other

like sisters and sisters.

Or brothers or mothers or...

You know, like, I say,

"Oh, that's my sister."

Because she's gay, too,

and I'm gay,

and she's a drag queen

or whatever.

(man) My mother

is Angie Xtravaganza

and my father is

David Xtravaganza.

The House of Xtravaganza

has done a lot.

It's made me feel

like I have a family.

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