A Woman to Know: Octavia St. Laurent
I'm blessed because you're still interested in Octavia St. Laurent. — Octavia St. Laurent
(image via Tumblr)
Before the performance queen and trans icon starred in the legendary voguing doc, "Paris is Burning," she was already a well-known name in NYC's drag ball scene.
When doctors diagnosed her with cancer in 2008, she embraced her new bald head. Chemotherapy, she said, made her look "even fiercer." Before she died in 2009, she had legally (and fittingly) changed her name to "Heavenly Angel Octavia St. Laurent."
Add to your library list:
Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene (Gerard H. Gaskin)
Voguing and the House Ballroom Scene of New York (Stuart Baker)
Read more:
Paris Has Burned (The New York Times)
RIP Octavia St. Laurent (T Magazine)
Burning down the house (The Guardian)
The secret gay history of New York (The Daily Beast)
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