Bring On the Men!
Emperor I of New York, George Dudley
A little known, underpublicized fact: The Imperial Court of New York’s founding in 1985 was driven by a man who didn’t do drag: Emperor I George Dudley!
Emperor X Gabriel Della Notte
Though people may first think of drag queens when they think of the Imperial Court System, it shouldn’t be too far a stretch before they also think of Emperors and the male line: after all, our system is based on male and female presentation, and a good balance is everything.
In fact, many of our male line monarchs out shine and out glitter their Empresses! It’s not OUR fault: we do our best, but there are so many more places to hang rhinestones on a man! Get your mind out of the gutter, I’m talking shoulders — we often wear gowns that wouldn’t support this much jewelry!
Emperor I Fidel Morin, Emperor II Ken Dennis and Emperor III Miguel Diego of Washington DC
Despite its founding as a group of drag queens, the very idea that we’re Imperial comes from a man, the legendary Joshua Abraham Norton, a San Franciscan who declared himself “Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico” in 1859. He lived with that style until his death in 1880 and became a San Francisco legend. When Jose Sarria was crowned Queen of the Tavern Guild in 1965, she declared herself Empress I Jose, The Widow Norton, picking up on the joke that Joshua began a century earlier. In fact, she’d often speak to Joshua from the stage when crowning a pair of their new “children.”
When Marcus Hernandez was crowned Emperor I of San Francisco in 1972, he was crowned as Emperor I, After Norton. A convention and a whimsical nod to our history that continues to this day.
Justius Santiago with Emperor XXV Tree and Emperor XVII Rob Hunter de Woofs
New York’s Emperors need no such style, because even with the grandiose gestures of a Boss Tweed, a Fiorello LaGuardia or even a Mike Bloomberg, we’ve never had an actual Emperor here.
It doesn’t matter your gender or your gender presentation: everyone gets puts in the work, raises the money, gets blinged up and celebrated at the Imperial Court of New York!