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Ballroom culture and trans

Ballroom culture emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in New York within Black and Latino LGBTQI communities, partly as a reaction to exclusion within mainstream drag pageants.

Origins

Ballroom culture emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in New York within Black and Latino LGBTQI communities, partly as a reaction to exclusion within mainstream drag pageants. At its centre are 'balls' in which participants compete in categories around fashion, performance and form.

Houses

Participants organise themselves into 'houses' — chosen families led by a house mother or father — that also act as social and sometimes literal families for ostracised young people.

Trans in ballroom

Many icons of the scene are trans women of colour. The documentary 'Paris Is Burning' (1990) and the TV series 'Pose' (2018) brought the culture to a wide audience. Both works also document the high mortality in the community due to violence and AIDS.