- Emmanuel Mehr
Baltimore LGBTQIA+ Histories and the Peabody Ballroom Oral History Interviews: Part One
Updated: Jun 22, 2023
BHW 20: June 17, 2023
“I call myself the self-proclaimed mayor of Baltimore. I’m the mayor of Baltimore. I feel like I’m one of the main people that’s been keeping Baltimore on the map and keeping Baltimore going since I came out. So in my mind, I’m the mayor, and everybody know it. If they don’t know, now they know.” [2] This was Legendary Tre Blahnik’s response to oral history interviewer Joseph Plaster asking about the significance of the Peabody Ball in Baltimore City. Involved in the Baltimore ballroom scene since their teen years, Tre Blahnik sees ballroom as fundamental to modern Baltimore and themselves as a Baltimore leader. Interviewee Marquis Revlon Clanton points out that almost all people in the history of the American ballroom scene identify as LGBTQIA+. [3] These are two of the fourteen interviews conducted for the 2019 public humanities project “The Peabody Ballroom Experience,” which are now in the Johns Hopkins University Queer Oral History Collection. Dr. Joseph Plaster conducted all of the 2019 oral histories, which is the group used for this series. For this investigative analysis, all fourteen interviews are alphabetized and broken evenly into three feature groups. To start off the series, we will explore the first group while also learning the basics of ballroom in Baltimore. This group shows that Baltimore LGBTIQIA+ histories intersect with Baltimore ballroom histories, particularly through formative coming of age experiences and the key concept of making “moments.”
While this story is about Baltimore, it starts with interviewee Alvernian Davis attending the first ball ever held in Philadelphia in 1989. Davis lived in Philadelphia at the time and was introduced to ballroom by close friend Michael Gaskins. Davis describes Gaskins as “the founder of the Philadelphia ballroom scene. He had the first house and the first ball [in 1989].” [4] We will get to what a ballroom house entails shortly, but first we must consider why this story starts outside of Baltimore. A major reason is that ballroom culture started in New York City and then spread to Philadelphia before becoming firmly established in Baltimore in the early 1990s. [5] As interviewee Icon Marquis Revlon Clanton states, “It comes from New York City. From my [view]point, I know it came in the late ‘80s, maybe ‘70s. It started off with poses in the magazine.” [6] Marquis references the roots of ballroom in the traditional fashion industry, as it spread out of New York ballroom became an increasingly sophisticated art form in and of itself.
It is helpful to establish what constitutes ballroom before learning more about it. Like all subcultures, it evolved over time. From the magazine pose initial form ballroom shifted to a focus on voguing, defined by the minimal parameters of assuming an on-stage identity and engaging with the crowd. Marquis emphasizes this conceptual flexibility, stating, “one thing that I like about voguing is you could be whatever you want to be… within the outfits and within the different categories and the different personality – and you could be yourself. So, with voguing, it just felt like you could be free.” [7] This contrasts with runway, the other main classic form. Readers familiar with the concept of walking a runway in the modern fashion industry have a good sense of how ballroom runway operates. It conventionally requires parading down an established path. Since runway is more mainstream and restrictive than voguing, the latter is more distinctly ballroom. [8] In Baltimore, all categories of ballroom historically included almost entirely members of the LGBTQIA+ community, with major Black and Latinx representation. For these people, ballroom historically and continually provides a safe space for self-expression and belonging in Baltimore and elsewhere.
The organizing unit of ballroom is the ballroom house. People interested in ballroom participation are initially permitted to take part as “what we all call a 007, a free agent. You’re not on anyone’s team.” [9] But the expectation is that participants will eventually join an established house. This decision is not forever, it is quite common for people to change houses multiple times throughout their ballroom life. Four of the five interviewees in this group changed houses at least once. [10] Houses have branches in at least one city and establish reputations in each city, commanding respect by hosting balls and upholding standards. Houses also vary demographically. For example, Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik points out that the House of Blahnik was “one of the first houses to integrate African American and Latino. Most houses have African Americans as probably 90 percent.” [11] Houses typically have a house mother or house father who watches over the house as a sort of omniscient guardian. [12] In addition to house parents, some ballroom participants also have a gay mother or gay father, separate from their biological parents. These gay parents serve as mentors for a variety of aspects of life, from finding one’s gender and sexuality to learning ballroom categories. [13]
Members of each ballroom house participate in different categories and their categories become a significant part of their ballroom identity. Changing categories over time is common and some even change from ball to ball. Voguing and runway are two broad categories, each broken into performance- and identity-based subcategories. For example, when asked about their category, Marco responded, “I’m legendary for butch queen runway. It’s a type of runway that’s not like a traditional male model, but it’s more so of actually a female model with flamboyance and more extravagant moves.” [14] Marco also noted that categories are gender fluid, stating, “Gender doesn’t really matter, especially for my category.” [15] Another example is Legendary Rhonda Carr, who explains, “My categories that I have walked so far in ballroom, my main category is sex siren, female figure sex siren,” which is comparable to “a Playboy bunny.” [16] Rhonda identifies as a trans woman and says this is known in ballroom as a “femme queen.” [17] Categories allow for expressions of many different gender identities since they operate independently of participant gender.
For this group of interviewees, ballroom provided a formative life experience that helped them find themselves as young people. Alvernian was the youngest of the group to join the LGBTQIA+ social scene, recalling, “So about 14 years old is when I first came out into the gay scene in Philadelphia.” But it was not until age 16 that they attended their first ball. [18] Marco may have started attending balls at a slightly younger age, recalling, “I was like 15, 16, going to balls, yeah.” [19] Tre was older, noting, “So I kind of had an advantage in a sense, because by being 19 and graduating from high school with a mind of my own, I was already a leader.” [20] Both Marco and Tre mention that they attended their first ball before having major realizations about their own sexuality. They both credit the ballroom scene for helping them come to terms with their sexuality in an authentic way. [21] Rhonda joined ballroom at age sixteen or seventeen, which was around 1998-1999. [22] Their first house was the House of Revlon. This provides a strong Baltimore connection since, as Alvernian points out, “The House of Revlon was the first house in Baltimore, even though they was [sic] a New York City house.” [23] Whether in Revlon or another house, ballroom participants grew together as people.
Ballroom provided a space for teenage and young adult Baltimore participants to learn important life skills. Tre puts it simply, asserting, “But with ballroom, it just made me a stronger person. I can speak my mind more clear.” [24] This clarity likely stems from knowledge gained about one’s self and abilities. Alvernian emphasizes that, “A lot of people that come into ballroom have low self-esteem. A lot of them are not street savvy or educated and stuff. Ballroom can chew you up and spit you out. It’s a good learning process. I[t] has a lot of good tools. Yeah, ballroom can get you prepared for a lot of good stuff, just everyday living and the struggles of life.” [25] Performing for a group of one’s ballroom peers, with some of the family dynamics inherent in ballroom culture, is a safe space for learning life lessons. Then, as Rhonda remarks, “If I go into a job interview, and they say, ‘Thank you for coming for the job, but the job is just not for you.’ Then I can think about it as in the ballroom term[s], I’ll be like, ‘That was basically one job.’” The personal strength and life skills gained from the ballroom experiences described in these interviews cannot be overstated. Additionally, ballroom provides a positive influence to keep people away from “Drugs, sex, unprotected sex, bad people, bad vibes, bad energy, things like that.” The ballroom community provides an important protective mechanism from negative influences. [26]
The concept of moment making comes up repeatedly throughout this group of interviews and helps clarify what ballroom feels like for participants. Marco explains this succinctly, stating, “So [a] moment, it blows people’s minds.” A moment is created when an image in time is imprinted on the minds of viewers. To make a moment in a Baltimore ballroom is to be one of the most memorable participants. For Marco, “You may bring the military look. I might bring the same military look, and I’ll be sitting in a raft and have six of my house members bring me down the runway. That’s the moment. I brought the category, but I’m right here in a life-sized raft.” [27] It is the elaborate presentation of the military look that makes the moment. Moment making is also a way of measuring ballroom success. Indeed, Tre asserts, “I personally feel like I make a moment every time I walk. I’m like one of the biggest people in ballroom as far as stature. So like I’m unforgettable, in a sense.” [28] For Tre, making a reputation for oneself as memorable and momentous constitutes excellence in ballroom.
Ballroom moments can also transcend time and self. For Rhonda, a moment transcends time by creating a feeling of life pause. Indeed, “When you stop time, what I mean by that is that you have all the judges standing on their feet. It’s something that’s like, okay, this is outside the norm, because when you see the femme queens, you see the femme queens in and out. You see them on all sides.” [29] Visualizing this explanation shows the entire room having their heads turned to look at one person, the person who just became the center of the moment. This not only stops time in a sense, but it is also memorable and thus “will last in time.” [30] Tre illuminates a different type of moment transcendence, recalling a moment at “the Collections Ball. It was in Virginia. And every category, you had to bring it like a person in a movie. So I brung [sic] it like Madea… It just felt really good because I felt like I was really Madea. I didn’t even feel like myself. And the people loved it.” [31] The ballroom experience transcended the self for Tre in this case. It is interesting to take this emphasis on moments in ballroom and apply it to other areas of our lives. Perhaps we should give more mindful notice and appreciation to moments we create and experience.
The histories of ballroom in Baltimore embody themes of LGBTQIA+ acceptance, sexual and gender liberation, formative life experiences, and memorable moments. Since these experiences are so personal, they fit well with an oral history approach. Indeed, a primary goal of this series is to learn about Baltimore ballroom and LGBTQIA+ stories from the people who created and lived them. Marco puts this well, stating, “Well, about our culture, you can’t learn about our culture, for the most part – without actually being in it, and then also having a reputable person give the information, because sometimes history even in ballroom changes.” [32] While some historians may wince at this notion that history can change, it is especially true for relatively recent history. While various forms of drag balls appear to have existed in Baltimore dating back to the 1930s, the ballroom culture explored here emerged in the late-twentieth century. [33] Many of the direct participants are still alive, allowing us to learn these stories directly from the source. It is not uncommon for people to shift their perspective on events in their own life. Part of respecting the power of oral history is leaning into individual interpretation of one’s own life to get as close as possible to understanding lived experiences.
[1] S. Pakhrin, “LGBT[QIA+] folks at the National Museum of African Art Voguing Masquerade Ball,” photograph (Washington, DC, October 15, 2016), Creative Commons, https://flic.kr/p/NqD2EH.
[2] Legendary Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” by Joseph Plaster, JHU Baltimore Queer Oral History Collection (hereafter BQOHC) (March 14, 2019), 28, https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66959.
[3] Icon Marquis Revlon Clanton, “Oral History of Icon Marquis Revlon Clanton,” by Joseph Plaster, BQOHC (March 20, 2019), 27, https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66958.
[4] Alvernian Davis, “Oral History of Alvernian Davis,” by Joseph Plaster, BQOHC, (March 24, 2019), 4, https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66957.
[5] Davis, “Oral History of Alvernian Davis,” BQOHC (March 24, 2019), 13.
[6] Clanton, “Oral History of Icon Marquis Revlon Clanton,” BQOHC (March 20, 2019), 18.
[7] Clanton, “Oral History of Icon Marquis Revlon Clanton,” BQOHC (March 20, 2019), 8.
[8] Legendary Rhonda Carr, “Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr,” by Joseph Plaster, BQOHC (March 28, 2019), 19, https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66953.
[9] Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” BQOHC (March 14, 2019), 7.
[10] See Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” by Joseph Plaster, BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 14, https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66962; Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” BQOHC (March 14, 2019), 13; Carr, “Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr,” BQOHC (March 28, 2019), 3.
[11] Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 13.
[12] Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” BQOHC (March 14, 2019), 6, 22.
[13] Carr, “Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr,” BQOHC (March 28, 2019), 7.
[14] Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 3.
[15] Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 23.
[16] Carr, “Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr,” BQOHC (March 28, 2019), 10-11.
[17] Carr, “Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr,” BQOHC (March 28, 2019), 14.
[18] Davis, “Oral History of Alvernian Davis,” BQOHC (March 24, 2019), 3-4.
[19] Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 9.
[20] Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” BQOHC (March 14, 2019), 3.
[21] See Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 9; Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” BQOHC (March 14, 2019), 4.
[22] Carr, “Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr,” BQOHC (March 28, 2019), 6.
[23] Davis, “Oral History of Alvernian Davis,” BQOHC (March 24, 2019), 12.
[24] Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” BQOHC (March 14, 2019), 5.
[25] Davis, “Oral History of Alvernian Davis,” BQOHC (March 24, 2019), 22.
[26] Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 17.
[27] Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 11-12.
[28] Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” BQOHC (March 14, 2019), 5.
[29] Carr, “Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr,” BQOHC (March 28, 2019), 23.
[30] Carr, “Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr,” BQOHC (March 28, 2019), 21.
[31] Tre Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Tre Blahnik,” BQOHC (March 14, 2019), 13-14.
[32] Marco Blahnik, “Oral History of Legendary Mother Marco Blahnik,” BQOHC (January 24, 2019), 29.
[33] “THE THIRD SEX Called ‘Pansies,’” Baltimore Afro-American, July 4, 1931, 20, http://wpshared.library.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2022/09/Baltimore-Afro-American-articles.pdf.