We return with part two of What a Drag; A History of Ballroom Culture & Modern Drag. We left off at the end of the 1950’s just as a new era was dawning in the queer community. The Lavender Scare was finally starting to fade as America’s understanding around sexual orientation was VERY slowly evolving. Organizations such as The Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis had stepped away from being secret societies to standing up as open gay and lesbian organizations. The public transition of former war vet Christine Jorgenson had swept the country igniting a long debate around gender identity and gay rights. And on top of these events, the racial tensions of the era and daily feminist uprisings were preparing to explode into the revolution of the 1960s. As if waiting for an introduction, a small protest sparked the first fires of change. In May of 1959, L.A. Police showed up to a local cafe late one evening. Coopers Do-nuts was a favorite place for drag queens and trans identifying folks. It was situated between two gay bars and the owners were friendly to those labled as cross-dressers. Plus the cafe was open all night which allowed for many people who didn’t have a bed to have a place to sit and gather with friends. However, police knew the Do-nut shop was a favorite place for cross-dressers and they routinely showed up to harass the crowd. That night two officers entered and began requesting I.D.s and rounding up anyone who’s clothing didn’t match the gender assigned on their identification. People began to protest and suddenly someone threw a donut and then coffee and plates and anything else the patrons could grab. The police fled the scene and didn’t make any arrests that night. While it certainly wasn’t a riot and was mostly ignored by the general public, the incident did not go unnoticed in the queer community. In 1960, Ballroom re-emerged into mainstream Black culture again and Houses became common. As is often portrayed in Pose, Houses were created both as a way to foster team spirit but also for practical living conditions. It was hard for any queer person to find a job or housing during this time period and almost impossible if the person was Black or LatinX. So older and more experienced queens became ‘Mothers’ and oversaw their ‘Drag daughters’. But age was not always a factor and often a house Mother was 25 or 30 years old while her daughters were in their teens and earlier 20s. This terminology speaks directly to the culture of People of Color taking care of their own as society rejects them. It stems from oppression and should be acknowledged as such.  Six years after the Cooper Do-nut uprising another cafe found itself the center of queer resistance. This time the circumstances were very different as Dewey’s coffeehouse had decided to stop serving the LGBTQ+ population after 20 years of being a local queer hotspot. Just like Cooper’s Do-nuts, Dewey’s was popular because it was open late at night and was located in Philadelphia gay district. In April of 1965, the owner decided that any patron wearing “nonconformist clothing” would be denied service. By this time many laws around ‘masquerade dressing’ were still on the books and some states such as Michigan, California, and Florida had expressly forbid people to wear clothing of the opposite sex. Yet there was no law in place in Philadelphia, so instead the owner claimed the queers were driving away his business.  On April 25th, 150 LGBTQ+ marched to Dewey’s and demanded to be served. The owner refused and eventually all but 3 protesters left and the remaining few were arrested for disorderly conduct. Over the next week people in the community picketed the restaurant, passing out flyers and staging sit ins. Finally, on May 2nd the owner relented and queer people won the right to eat at Dewey’s.