My sister remembers this as her baton-twirling costume. I don’t remember wearing it, but I’m sure my mom thought it was harmless and funny. As early as this age, I loved feminine things, art, and playing doctor with my cute neighbors. Later I was in chorus and band, like many of us back then. And I was the only boy in junior high to choose disco class over football.
When The Rocky Horror Picture Show played at the local theater, I went done up as Frank-N-Furter and dethroned the person playing him. I realized that if I was performing, I was more powerful. In the ’80s I discovered Hollywood and other out-of-the-closet gay teens. I had my first gay kiss at an under-eighteen disco called the Odyssey Club in West Hollywood. We all loved Boy George and the freedom to cross gender barriers.
In 1985 I moved to New York City and became part of the nightlife. Drag culture had taken over Manhattan nightclubs, and I morphed into a new romantic drag queen. Within a year, I was hired by Patricia Field as a stylist. I won a drag contest at the Boy Bar club as Miss Perfidia in 1986. I lived with established drag performers who trained me well, and I took my show all over the world. My talent with wigs eventually led to Broadway and television work.