CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 12/7/2018

Back in Stock! 'Voguing and the House Ballroom Scene of New York City 1989-92'

"Back then, houses were families for young black gay men," performer Muhammad Omni is quoted in Holiday Gift Staff Favorite, Voguing and the House Ballroom Scene of New York City 1989-92. "A lot of these kids were kicked out of their parental homes. I was fortunate, because my family accepted me the way I was. My parents were Muslim, very hip in their intellectual endeavors concerning the performing arts. They always encouraged me. Many were not so fortunate, but were protected by these houses. They were like gangs. But it was more like a gay gang. You know, if you tried to bully a drag queen or did a homophobic hate crime, you’d meet opposition from people who were from rough neighborhoods in Brooklyn, who were accompanying these feminine creatures… The house was definitely a safe space for people who were descendants of slaves, who had no knowledge of their culture and heritage, in a world where Broadway and Hollywood was not made for them." Featured photographs, by author Chantal Regnault, are of Anthony Pendavis, an anonymous performer and Cesar Valentin at Lamour Pendavis Ball, Mark Ballroom, 1991, at top; and Ru Paul, an anonymous performer and Suzanne Bartsch at Copacabana, 1990, at bottom.