Stormé DeLarverie

Who is Stormé DeLarverie?

Stormé DeLarverie, to a black father and white mother, is a lesbian whose scuffle with the police was one of the defining moments of the Stonewall riots, spurring the crowd to action. Some have referred to her as "the gay community’s Rosa Parks". During the 1950s and '60s she toured the black theater circuit as the only drag king of the Jewel Box Revue, America’s first racially integrated female impersonation show. In 1987 Michelle Parkerson made the movie Storme: The Lady of the Jewel Box about this. In the 1980s and '90s Storme worked as a bouncer for several lesbian bars in New York City. As of 2010 she lives in a nursing home in Brooklyn.

On June 7, 2012, Brooklyn Pride, Inc. honored Storme DeLarverie at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Michelle Parkerson's film Storme: The Lady of the Jewel Box was screened.