“Some of us wear the symbols and badges of our nonconformity”
Gladys Bentley
KEY SUIT WEARING FIGURES
Gwen Lally, 1882–1963
Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax 1916–1992
Ethel Waters 1896–1977
Gwen Lally was an actress and male impersonator.
Lally’s appearance was much remarked upon. She appears to have carefully constructed her image, exaggerating her tall, slim figure and androgynous, aquiline-nosed face by cutting her hair short and wearing masculine clothes.
Ethel Waters 1896–1977
Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax 1916–1992
Ethel Waters 1896–1977
Ethel Waters (1896–1977) was a blues singer and actress who was the first African American to star in her own television show and to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. During the 1920s, she lived with her girlfriend Ethel Williams. Waters enjoyed a large lesbian and gay following,
Pat Parker 1944-1989
Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax 1916–1992
Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax 1916–1992
Active in the Black Panther Party, Parker was radicalized not only to begin a life as a poet and writer but as a Black lesbian woman, which, in the late 1960s, was a challenge. Empowered by her poetry, she used her work in the fight for women’s rights, gay rights, civil rights, and gender equality.
Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax 1916–1992
Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax 1916–1992
Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax 1916–1992
Broadnax was a trans man and renowned gospel singer. He was embraced by the gospel community and his story proves a captivating narrative of the role of black trans individuals within the gospel community’s fabric.
“Growing up, I was never really into the little-girls clothes, and that was always my big problem. As far as fashion went, I always wanted to be in a suit and a tie. I had a couple outfits that I put together and my mom would pretty much rip off of me.”
Lea Delaria
Suit & TIE INSPO from the 90's to NOW
MORE SUIT AND TIE RESEARCH FOR YOU...
Stormé DeLarverie
Stormé DeLarverie was a butch lesbian with zero tolerance for discrimination, or as she called it, “ugliness.”
So, You Want To Be A Lesbian?
So You Want to Be a Lesbian? answers the essential questions, pokes fun at lesbian tradition, and provides a road map of where lesbians a road map of where lesbians are heading for the millennium (we've got news for you: it's not Kansas).