Original subtitles

(piano playing)

(people murmuring)

(laughing)

(people murmuring)

- [David] We are here in the grand ballroom

of the Witkin hotel.

We are doing a historic photo shoot:

The Emperor and Empresses,

that we will be using in the 50th celebration

of the San Francisco Imperial Council.

(people murmuring)

(soft music)

We'll be electing our 50th Empress

and going into our 50th year.

And so I wanted to do a photo

encompassing all the Emperors and Empresses

that worked hard in the community for years gone by.

(soft music)

- [Donna] We have done continuous fundraising

for so many different causes.

We were there at the advent of AIDS.

We were there for so many people

that had nowhere else to turn.

We were there at the beginning

of so many of the organizations

that support this community till today.

(laughing)

- [interviewer] And do you do a lot of drag shows?

- Yes. (laughing)

As we have monthly fundraisers throughout the city,

we try to go to various parts.

And this year our, our four charities

our San Francisco Knight Ministry,

the Arc of San Francisco,

AIDS Emergency Fund and Breast Cancer are participant.

- [JP] I definitely feel like the Court has changed

since I've been around in the last five years.

It's all about making people aware of what we've been doing

and why we're here.

And what's brought us to the last 50 years.

(soft music)

- [John W] The fact is there are more organizations

available at their disposal and choosing.

And it's up to us to not only be more engaging, (laughing)

we need to take hold of the social media platforms

and to say to the young folks that we are a viable option,

that we have a rich history,

50 years, that's a half a century of giving.

(soft music)

(people singing)

- With the divine power that has been entrusted with me

I have given them the oath of office.

You have a responsibility however,

to

keep the system alive.

- Marlena and Simeon, welcome to the Imperial Family.

We hope you will continue the tradition

of the Imperial Family by raising lots of money

for those in our community and other places as needed.

(audience cheering and clapping)

(soft music)

(bright music)

(soft music)

- [Narrator] Our story begins with a very brave gay man

named Jose Julio Sarria,

founder of the Imperial Council of San Francisco.

- [Paul] Jose he'd been in the military.

He came back from the war

and his aspiration was to be a teacher,

but he was busted for having public sex in a toilet.

That ruined his ability to have that kind of career.

He had to find something else.

So he came up to the city at boyfriend's (soft music)

and his boyfriend hung out at the Black Cat.

So Jose began to do part-time work.

Over time, more and more of his income

comes from the Black Cat.

And the key moment were really happening in San Francisco,

where you can finally let down, was it the Black Cat?

♪ Hello, hello everybody ♪

♪ I'm glad to see you all here ♪

- [Jose] I was a professional entertainer.

I made my living by singing and dancing,

even though it was in the bar and on bar tables,

I made my living by that.

(clapping)

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

And once again,

I welcome you on behalf of the working staff

of the Black Cat,

the most famous Bohemian bar

in the world.

I, you know,

it's always rather exciting to see the various people

that do come down to the Black Cat

because you find wolves in sheep's clothing, shall we say?

And of course, I always like to welcome

the leather jacket girls,

the queens that work so hard during the week

and then on Friday they shed the Ivy league look

and put on--

- [Paul] The bars, were to the gay civil rights movement

what the churches were to the black civil rights movement.

If it hadn't been for Saul Stewman at the Black Cat,

we really wouldn't have what we consider today, a gay bar.

(soft music)

What happened was Saul Stewman

takes over ownership of the Black Cat in the late 40s

and the Alcoholic Beverage Control decides to shut him down.

He decides to fight it and he lost every single appeal

and he fought it all the way

to the California Supreme Court.

And he won a unanimous decision.

The judges said it was not necessarily an obscene

or indecent act to just serve alcohol to a known homosexual.

What this really meant,

was that they guaranteed in California

homosexuals, our constitutional right of public assembly.

All of this created an environment where it was more

possible to be different in public.

This is not different than a lot of what happens

to a lot of immigrant communities in the United States.

(soft music)

That's what's so cool about Jose.

He was right there at the beginning.

He began to become introduced

to a group of men in San Francisco.

Some of them had come here from the East coast,

they'd been kicked out by their families.

And all of them claim that they had noble blood.

They could trace themselves back to some kind of aristocrat

and they all took titles.

And Jose claims through his Nicaraguan father

that his father was a Marque,

so Jose became the Marchesa.

And they would get together and dress up.

Now Jose took that idea

of feeling that being gay is something noble

and upper-class and dignifying,

and he made it democratically accessible.

- [Jose] This young man works for the IBM,

but I don't want this news to get out beyond our doors.

How's everything over there at IBM these days?

- I don't work for IBM.

- [Jose] Shut you hole Mary

otherwise I'll know where you really work.

(laughing)

- [Paul] Now, what happened was there was a whole wave

of new attempts to shut down all these bars

and to end runs Stewman versus Riley.

And this battle continued up through the mid 60s.

(soft music)

- [Gladys] If I sat in a bar

and touched his leg with my finger like this,

they could throw us both in jail.

Policemen would come in there

showing their stuff off,

and then when you made a grab for it, you were arrested.

- [Keith] They would raid the bars and cart people away.

If they suspected that

there were a bunch of homosexuals in a bar,

they would bring a Patty wagon and haul everybody to jail

back in the 60s.

- United we stand or divided they'll catch us one by one.

I've always thought that there's no crime in being gay.

The crime lies in getting caught.

- We arrested 3000 homosexuals

who committed their lewd acts in public places.

- They can be judges, lawyers.

We oughta know, we've arrested all of them.

- [Mark] People who were rounded up in those raids

would have their names on the front page

of the daily newspaper

to shame them,

to keep us in the closet.

So it was a very tyrannical time.

- They could have gotten snatched up

and a judge could have said,

"You're obviously crazy and mento

because you're in a dress."

(soft music)

People didn't realize to be out

just being a homosexual,

being a a male member of the Imperial Court

that was beyond courage.

You were taking your life in your own

and subjected you could be to arrest.

- So if anyone of you

have let yourself become involved

with an adult homosexual or another boy

and you're doing this on a regular basis,

you better stop quick.

- [Mark] It was a very daring thing.

It's hard for us to imagine, you have to think back.

Homosexuality was considered a mental illness

by the American Psychiatric Association until 1972.

And there were absolutely no protections from discrimination

in housing, employment, public accommodations.

- I lived through that time.

By a stroke of a pen,

a judge or your mother and father could commit you

to a mental hospital.

I knew people that were not only sent to these hospitals,

they were subjected to electric shock treatment.

(calm music)

- [Jose] At the time,

there was no center of gay community.

And I said, I want to represent you.

- [Paul] Jose was ready to take a leadership role.

- [Mark] Jose ran for the board of supervisors,

making history,

the first openly gay person to run for public office

in the United States of America.

- [Paul] Part of his run for supervisor

was harassment of the gay bars.

They tried to expose the police corruption.

It was called the Gayola Scandal.

Where the bad cops, the bad investigators,

would take bribes.

(dramatic music)

What happens at this time which is really important

is gay people for the first time,

start to get ownership over their own spaces.

And that's critical because you need a space

where people can gather

to be themselves and ultimately maybe to start fundraising

and build political awareness.

(soft music)

The fact that he got so many votes

really made people stand up and pay attention

and made them start to think

that there was a gay community

that could have some political muscle.

- [Mark] After his election,

he said that no one will run for office

in San Francisco ever again,

without first knocking on the door of the gay community.

And that was not an exaggeration.

A corner had been turned.

The Tavern Guild was formed.

It was the first of its kind in the nation,

a of group of gay business owners

who realized that businesses could help one another

and in doing so,

they had money

and votes.

And that translated into political power very quickly.

These were bold people taking real risks, real survival.

- [Paul] And Jose is involved in helping this happen,

enabling this to happen,

but he's also directly involved in

what do you do with that space?

Once you come together,

you have to invent being gay, in public.

It's a brand new thing.

You have to build community.

- And what looks like just a very frothy, frivolous,

extravagance and party

had its roots out of a very desperate time.

It really reflects on the nature of our community.

That in these tough times,

fighting for our very survival to keep a job,

to keep a roof over our heads,

to be able to sustain ourselves,

we come together to do good deeds and to make a party of it.

(calm music)

- [Jose] It was not easy.

We did it with costume

because we couldn't be real.

As long as we did it with costume,

we were not violating the law.

(soft music)

- [Paul] A turning point happened.

There was, began to be a critical mass.

So they had these big dances

and they had them in the fall of 1964.

(soft music)

- [Nicole] The first homosexual events in a hotel

were by the Imperial Court.

No matter what you felt about the flamboyant drag queens,

they had the guts and the determination to say,

"Here's as we are.

If you don't like it, it's your problem."

That galvanized people to be proud to come out

and even to come out for one night.

Maybe it was the Halloween Ball.

Maybe it was the Imperial coronation,

but on that night in their tuxedos and stuff,

they were coming out into a homosexual event.

(soft music)

- [Paul] In 1964, Life Magazine

had this very important article

about homosexuality in America,

and they declared San Francisco,

the gay capital of the country.

- [Jose] Now the next year, 1965,

the Tavern Guild

planned to have a ball.

And it was there that I was crowned

queen of the ball.

(soft music)

I decided that I was already a queen

and I made myself Empress.

Empress, Jose Norton, the First

modeling myself after Emperor Joshua, Abraham Norton,

who was a character of the city of San Francisco.

(soft music)

- [Paul] Just like Joshua Norton, it's a reinvention.

Joshua Norton was penniless.

He was a beggar on the street

and he reinvented himself into the Emperor.

It's like a classic American fairytale.

(calm music)

- [John C] There was a great deal of similarities

between the two.

And I think Jose was very,

very aware of what he was doing,

creating an image for himself,

which then pulled him into

the structure of the city history.

(train chugging)

(honking)

- [Jose] Now I realized that

I needed the support of the community.

So I went to the organizations that existed at that time,

the Tavern Guild,

the League for Civil Education,

the Mattachine Society,

the Daughters of Bilitis.

And I said, I want to represent you.

We must form an organization.

I wasn't met with much approval.

The argument was

that the community then

did not want to be represented by a drag queen.

- [Paul] I think the opposition for a lot of people

was that they felt offended

that they would be identified with a female acting male.

- [Jose] They said that I could not rule by myself

that there should be a limit.

I saw that there was not going to come to a solution.

And I said,

"Number one, there is no law

that says, I cannot walk around the streets of San Francisco

dressed as a woman.

And I have full intentions of doing it.

and to make things a little easier, I will have council."

And the third thing is that I said,

"This would be an elected public office.

And that each year we would elect a new Empress."

They agreed to my terms.

And I began.

- [Paul] And that's where the court system gets invented.

And I think that's where he then channels this title thing

that he had been playing with with his friends

in the late 50s.

(soft music)

- [Jose] Twenty three people composed my court.

The Daughters oF Bilitis gave me my throne.

And we went out and bought dishes that didn't match.

We had place settings for 50 people,

silverware that never matched.

And I sent my little gophers out

and commanded people to come to a meeting

at which time I would tell them that I needed saved money

to promote a function, to raise money,

to send representation to the first homosexual conference

held in Kansas city.

Then at the end of my reign,

we had an election and elected a, an Empress.

- In comes Bella number two.

And Bella was quite different than Jose.

She loved doing decorations and stuff.

She actually decorated the SIR Center.

- [Jose] They went and got a building on sixth street.

And the person that headed to putting the building together

was Bella Bucky.

And from that developed SIR, Society for Individual Rights,

the first nonprofit gay corporation

in the state of California.

(soft music)

People found in SIR, the different little outlets.

Those who want to be political for the political clubs,

those that wanted to do drama found theatrics.

Those that wanted to feed the poor fed the poor.

They was a center for the deaf and dumb.

We worked with the health department.

It was a real center for the gay community.

(soft music)

The next Empress was Shirley.

Shirley was a seamstress.

How was this organization going to make money

to pay the rent?

Shirley took her sowing machine down

and she asked people to bring curtains and materials.

And from that, she made costumes

and they did shows.

(clapping)

(crowd cheering)

- [Ball Announcer] It's new year's eve.

News year's candidates for the Empress this year,

Harmaini is Ms. Valetines days.

Ms. Martigra, Aisha and Jim, St. Patricks Day.

Ms. Melanie, Julia Louis,

Ms. Easter.

Erica is Ms. May Day.

- Beautiful.

(audience cheering)

- [Announcer] Ms. Memorial Day.

- [Another Announcer] Gentlemen, Reba as the Empress

of San Francisco has been--

- [Ron] When an Empress walked into the gay bars,

they were given a round of applause and a standing ovation.

Their drinks are on the house,

no matter what bar they went into,

they were treated like royalty.

They were announced, no matter what was going on,

it was stopped to announce the Empress is here.

- [Announcer] Her Imperial Highness,

Empress Willis the Fifth.

(clapping)

(upbeat music)

- [Ron] The Empresses back then were involved,

the bars were involved.

I mean, that was basically what your social life was.

And there was nothing else moving,

going on within the community.

(upbeat music)

(singing in foreign language)

♪ And you've touched me a thousand times ♪

♪ And I think-- ♪

- [Renita] Satisfaction is that I'm doing something good

for the community.

♪ And in there I sort to ♪

♪ Run wild ♪

- [Renita] It takes a lot of hard work.

♪ Uuh, in your arms ♪

- [Renita] It's an involvement for one year, you know,

of reigning and then after that,

is a continuous process.

You have to do it for the right thing.

One thing about it is like,

you believe in your community.

You believe you want to make money for your community

and serve your community

and represent the city of San Francisco

to the best of your ability.

And if you can do that,

then you got it made.

♪ Hold me be your reason why-- ♪

- [Tiger] I look at it this way.

I have a place to live.

I don't have the greatest job.

I don't make millions of dollars,

but I actually have a roof over my head

and food in my stomach,

which is more than some of the other people

that don't have it.

So, it, it's satisfying to me

knowing that I've raised something

to help somebody else out.

You know?

- Fundraising is a contest,

but it's also a piece of work

because if you don't pull it off correctly

and gets you enough girls

and get enough together, you're not gonna,

you're only gonna make two or three hundred

but if you can get girls,

you can get 800 to a $1.000.

Let me tell you, if you can hit that $1.000 mark,

you have done really well there then.

♪ A tune will take ♪

♪ An ash worn snap ♪

♪ This are the land backs on my plum ♪

(singing in foreign language)

- [Alexis] Whatever attracts people.

It varies, you can go anywhere from a bake sale

to a drag show, to emceeing, to raffles, to auctions.

Let's say feeding the homeless

anywhere from 500 to $1.500 on an average day.

If it's something for AIDS Emergency Fund

or something like that, same thing.

- I want to be a woman.

- I can see that honey.

Now, where's your body.

- Thank you, that's what I told Renita.

Renita says I'm a top.

- Oh no.

- [Renita] I told you you're versatile.

- No, no.

Now you're not anymore honey.

- Not versatile.

- Um hmm, she is a grand Canyon,

don't tell anybody.

So how do you go to the bathroom?

You have to pull this down and then go pee?

- Oh yeah, there's more to go on girl.

- Oh, put a hole there and just,

oh, oh.

- Oh no, wait you'll see.

- Oh, hell no.

when you gotta pee, you gotta pee.

This takes--

- I'll stay for more than 10 hours girl.

All right.

Okay, which one are you guys

want to hand me my blue and black dress?

- Hold on Martin, wait a minute.

(zipping)

(bright music)

- Ladies and gentlemen

your reigning Empress of San Francisco

Ms. (indistinct) giving him a land of applause.

(people cheering and clapping)

♪ When the years go with times ♪

♪ And the dreams we left behind ♪

♪ I'll be glad 'cause I was blessed to get ♪

♪ To have you in my life ♪

- [Narrator] Every year, the past Empresses

gather together to support the current Empress

and raise money for her court.

(soft music)

There have been many great Empresses.

Each one has had a unique personality,

glamor and love for our communities.

(soft music)

The Sisterhood of Empresses is a shining light

of inspiration for the city of San Francisco and beyond.

(clapping)

(screeching)

In August, 1966 at the Compton's cafeteria,

transgenders and drag Queens pushed back violently

against police harassment.

This is one of the earliest LGBT riots ever recorded.

- [Person In the Riot] There goes the teargas,

there goes the teargas.

And we're looking right at it man.

- [Narrator] June, 1969, Manhattan.

The police descend once again on the Stonewall Inn,

a gay bar in Greenwich Village,

that raid sparked a series of violent demonstrations

known as the Stonewall Riots,

the most important event leading

to the Gay Liberation Movement.

(soft music)

- [Paul] Around 70 or 71

Jose starts to do the whole widow Norton,

which permits him, I think, to be the mother.

♪ Takes a tiny corner of-- ♪

- [Paul] He transforms from just being this Empress

to now he takes on this more anthropological role

of being the mother

because there begin to be the first courts

outside of San Francisco, up in the Northwest,

the Portland courts, Seattle Vancouver.

(calm upbeat music)

- [Nicole] The Imperial Court of San Francisco

was the only game in town.

People came here and tasted all of that royal realm.

Everyone became thirsty to have the same thing.

The beauty, the togetherness, the family,

that they saw at Imperial Court coronations,

the coming together of a community.

We wanted it in our own cities.

(calm upbeat music)

- [Terry] In the beginning,

everybody in the gay community loved the fact

that there was this court system that you could belong.

We didn't have anything.

So now we have this organization that treats the gay people

as emperors and empresses and dukes and duchesses.

(calm music)

- [Nicole] You could be a lesbian.

You could be a banker in San Francisco,

for one night, you're a Prince or princess.

(calm music)

Whatever you wanted to be,

you're dressed up in your tuxedo, you're gone.

And you know,

in those days when police were harassing

to come together one night and live a little fantasy,

very, very appealing for the darkness

and discrimination that was going around.

(calm music)

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] In 1970, the first gay pride parades

were held New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles

to commemorate the one year anniversary

of the Stonewall Riots.

(calm upbeat music)

- [John C] As the regulations against the bars

started dropping and more and more bars started opening.

You ended up getting pockets.

There was Polk street.

There was the Tenderloin.

Castor was just starting.

People were starting to gravitate towards

what they felt comfortable being and saying,

"Hey, I can be here."

(upbeat music)

- [Jose] Five years into the Court's founding,

the boys, the man, the machos

decided they wanted to be part of it.

And that was the beginning of the Emperors.

- [John] I said, wait a minute.

How about if we have an Emperor and an Empress,

let them be the head of a council,

the Council of Organizations,

that would be a place to distribute information

on the various things that were coming up.

And when I presented it to Tavern Guild,

the Empresses were going,

"No, we don't need to get involved in all of that.

We're hostesses."

And you've got one element going,

"Wait a minute, we need to be more active.

We needed to be part of this movement."

And then there was other people that were going,

"Oh, I'm in San Francisco.

I'm just going to take a deep breath and enjoy myself."

(calm upbeat music)

That was the glory era

part of the problem with that was they went from,

do not touch to touch a little bit too much.

(upbeat music)

- [Ron] Sex was out there.

This is what I call BR, before rubber.

So we were really free and easy.

You know, on Sunday afternoons you'd go to Phoebe's,

which was like a sex parlor

or you went to Bootcamp

or Mr. B's Coffee House.

After hours up in the balcony

everybody would be playing.

CMC carnival especially

that was held in the Siemens Hall.

And that was our festive little get together

that went on for hours and hours and hours.

(soft music)

- [Jose] The bars increased,

the Tavern Guild became strong,

150 bars belong.

(soft music)

- [Ron] The Miracle Mile was all of Folsom Street

where you had all the leather bars.

And that's where the leather clubs

and the motorcycle clubs hung out.

They were the machos against the drags.

- [John C] The drag Queens were going,

"Wait a minute,

you're going to ruin everything we've established."

(soft music)

And a division started at that point.

- [Ron] John Chase wanted the Emperors

to be in competition with the Empresses

and the Tavern Guild disapproved.

- The Tavern Guild would not sanction it,

nor would they participate.

I said to the guys, I said,

"We're going to do it on our own."

I called Jose and I said,

"Jose, will you crown the first emperor?"

And he said, "Sure."

Is that with one condition.

I said, "What?"

He said that you allow me to be a member

of the committee to select an Emperor.

(upbeat music)

- [Paul] '73 is the election of the first Emperor,

Marcus.

(soft music)

Marcus sets up this thing that's very ambitious called

Council of Organizations.

He wanted to get organizations of all different kinds

throughout the Bay area and bring them together

to have them work in unity.

And I think a lot of people were hoping that

from this might come people who would be able to get enough

training and street creds

that they might run for local political office

in San Francisco.

(soft music)

One of the early Emperors was a guy named Bob Kramer.

And Jose told me personally

that he had had great hopes for Bob.

That Bob was very charismatic

and they hoped that he might be elected to office.

And he started the Cable Car Awards.

I know that he remained active in the community,

but he was one of the people who died early from AIDS.

(calm music)

(soft music)

- [Bradley] We like to let the Empresses

believe that they're in charge

but really the Emperors are in charge.

We step back and pretend to be the, you know,

just the support along.

But we're, we're really doing a lot of stuff

behind the scenes.

- And I think we do a lot more of the adamant part

where you don't see the logistics of what we're doing.

- [Stephen] Because we then have to put our Emperors,

Empresses first and we'll stand behind them and go,

we did that.

- [Jacques] It's a great responsibility.

You're elected by the people to represent your city.

- [Stephen] And it's a great brotherhood too.

I mean, you,

you get a bond in this for life, that's all.

- [Narrator] The brotherhood of Emperors serves

as a solid foundation

for the Imperial Council.

They are the guardians of the Imperial family.

(calm music)

- [Interviewer] And what are the qualities

that make you a great Emperor?

- I think the better questions would be

what qualities are becoming of an Emperor.

I think passion, integrity, imagination, and enthusiasm,

the ability to laugh at yourself

and not take things so seriously.

Most importantly I think the willingness

and desire to want to make a difference

to really want to be the change

and to be that beacon of hope

for those that are less fortunate.

(calm music)

- [John W] Certainly during the earlier days,

lots of people who wanted to run for

Empresses and Emperors back in the day,

because that was the pinnacle of the gay experience

part of it is being the elected Monarch.

And a part of being an Emperor and Empress, a monarch,

you have to have certain requirements

and one of that is being gainfully employed

or financially able to sustain the pressures

and the issues of traveling and all the fundraising efforts.

(people murmuring)

- [Mark D] Deena Cartier would have been born

in about 1995.

I was certainly drawn into drag at that moment.

And my first appearance was at Chemos on Polk Street.

So I ended up dressing up one Saturday night

and that's when Deena was born.

I didn't have a great upbringing.

I have a wonderful family, don't get me wrong.

But in high school I was the ugly duckling.

I was the kid that was picked on

and, and beat up at lunchtime

and the lunch money was stolen

and I'd have to avoid people

and go the back way out of high school.

(soft music)

It was a difficult time for me.

So I really looked at the Imperial courts as,

as a safe haven where I could be myself.

- [Narrator] Deena Cartier came up through the ranks

of the Imperial Court of Alameda County

before aspiring to run for Empress of San Francisco.

(crumpling)

(soft music)

- [Kevin] In my dog tag,

there's actually three words,

courage, vigilance, and loyalty.

All three of those actually speak to my heart

because quite literally,

you have to have the courage to do this.

The vigilance to stick through it and the loyalty

that, that started nearly 15 years ago.

Around 1999,

the very good friend of mine

asked me to be one of his backup boys,

because he also is a drag queen.

And once I realized that she was doing this regularly

for the Imperial Court,

I was like, I want to know more about this.

And that was a stepping stone through, you know,

my entry into the organization.

- [Narrator] Kevin Lyle is running unopposed,

but he still needs to get more than half of the total votes

in order to get elected.

- [Coma] I'm Cambodian and Chinese.

My family were refugees

in the 1970s

and they ended up settling in Washington state,

where I was born.

My first night here after arriving in San Francisco

I remember just being so overwhelmed with how many like

gay boys there were.

And it was just an incredible feeling

because coming from Seattle,

Seattle is very, very gay,

but not as gay as here.

But I remember just looking around me and I was like,

there's so many gay Asian men.

(people murmuring)

I think it was Halloween,

I was walking past Marlena's Bar.

Just happened to see the shadow sign up that said,

she was having a costume sell, dresses.

I just wandered in

and she was very friendly

and actually picked out a few dresses

that she said were Susie Wongs.

And I ended up picking a blue, Chinese dress

that I ended up deciding to go

as a street fighter character named Changeling.

So that was my first foray into drag.

It happened on a whim.

So I give credit to Marlena.

She's the reason why I started drag.

- [Interviewer] Why do you want to run

for Empress in San Francisco?

- I want to run to like continue

the legacy of the Imperial Court

they've been around for 50 years.

So I would like to be part of the next generation

that keeps it going.

They've given so much back to the community

and I would be honored to be able to do that.

- [Narrator] Khmera Rouge is one of the youngest candidates

in history to run for the office of Empress.

(soft music)

This year, the election of Emperor and Empress is critical.

Whoever it will be elected

will have the added responsibility

of helping the organization survive

a rapidly changing San Francisco.

(beeping)

(vehicles swooshing)

- [John W] As trustees of this organization,

this corporation,

we're obligated to make sure that the figurehead

embodies strength, grace, intelligence

and most of all,

more than anything else, compassion.

I am pleased to announce to you all

that you are now officially our candidates

for our 50th campaign Empress.

(clapping)

(soft music)

(people murmuring)

- Well, hello. This is Deena Cartier.

I'm now officially a candidate for the position of Empress

of all of San Francisco.

- I'm Khmera Rouge and I'm running for Empress

of San Francisco for 2015.

Paint the town Rouge.

- Hello, my name is Kevin Lisle

and I'm running for the office of Emperor

and on February 7th I'd like you to come out

vote for Kevin.

(soft music)

- [Paul] Back in the day,

any gay bar that had glass windows,

those windows were painted black

because people were so afraid of being publicly identified.

- [Terry] You could never have a gay bar with windows.

You know, we were entrapped by the police.

We were beat up by the straight people.

(upbeat music)

- [Paul] The Twin Peaks Bar was the first bar in the country

to remove the black paint.

And it came down in '77.

And to me it is really a symbol of transparency

because it's such a public transit spot.

You are identifying yourself.

And so that's one really important thing.

And I think that's why that bar has such a sweet spot

for the older community.

- [Anita] We will prevail in our fight

to repeal similar laws through out the nation

which attempt to legitimatize

a lifestyle that is both perverse and dangerous.

- [Paul] '77 Anita Bryant

comes after homosexuals nationally,

and Harvey Milk is elected.

- [John B] I'm saying that we cannot

prevent child molestation.

So let's cut our odds down and take out the homosexual group

and keeping the heterosexual-- (laughing)

- [Female Interviewer] Why take out the homosexual group--

- [Nicole] When John Briggs came with that homophobic

fire all the gay, lesbian school teachers.

Gay and lesbians were involved in this fight,

but the Imperial Courts were a component.

Raising money, they knew how to do it.

Spending volunteer hours on campaigns and so forth.

We've always been a part of that movement.

- [George] What I'm going to do is

call upon the gay community come out now,

keep the education going,

keep talking one on one.

Talk to your relatives, your friends, your family,

so that they can find out about gay people

and shadow the mist once and for all.

So they can lead an army.

- [Paul] In 78, Harvey milk and George Moscone

are assassinated.

(people shouting)

There's the riots at City Hall.

People don't realize that Harvey Milk

was not an isolated incident.

In the 12 to 13 months prior to Harvey Milk,

there was a lot of homophobic attacks around that time.

(upbeat music)

And what happened was as people would leave

the Castro at night

and kids would come in to gang bang and beat up

on queer men.

So people began to blow whistles when it happened

and all these people would flood out of the bars.

(people shouting)

But also later, if they needed to have a March,

they blow these whistles

and then people would start marching down Castro Street.

- And I want every vigar to look at our numbers

look at us, look at how many of us--

(people cheering)

- [Paul] And that was the beginning of like empowerment

because they had a neighborhood base,

they had a public space,

they had power in numbers.

They could organize.

- [Reporter] She didn't yet realize

that no politician could safely criticize these people.

- I don't come to you as a perfect person

that knows all of the answers

and that doesn't make mistakes.

But I do come to you as somebody who's got a heart

and a concern and a very deep interest and desire

to represent this community.

And maybe at times--

- [John C] As I had proved this there was a gay block

and it became more and more obvious that that gay block

could put someone in office.

And we did.

We put Dianne Feinstein in office,

her first time she ran.

- You Mayor.

(people cheering)

(drumming)

(trumpet blaring)

- [Reporter] The Beaux Ball.

It's a tradition in San Francisco

the night when gay men dress up as women

and anything else that suits their fancy.

A night when men can compete in a beauty contest

for the prettiest costume.

(trumpet blaring)

(people cheering)

(drumming)

- [John C] During this golden era,

the Emperors and Empresses existed

independently of each other

and continue to hold separate coronations each year.

- [Beaux Ball Reporter] This year the Beaux Arts Ball

became a major stop on the campaign trail.

- [Ron] It was kind of a slow job

of getting the Emperors and the Empresses to come together.

There were some for it, there were some against it.

(trumpets blaring)

It was interesting watching the maneuvers

of these two organizations.

They were two separate blocks.

- [Narrator] The rivalry between

the Emperors and Empresses lasted for many years.

But nothing could have prepared them

for what was about to happen.

(soft saddening music)

- [Keith] A whole generation gone.

- [Velveeta] You've experienced early in life

that you usually experience later in life,

(soft saddening music)

the feeling of losing your peers and your friends.

- [Keith] It was very devastating

to pick up the BAR each week

and see pages and pages of your friends gone.

Some people would get it and they'd be gone in two weeks.

- [Velveeta] It was sort of like a desperate feeling

in a way like,

you know, like a war zone, what's going on?

You know?

- The Emperors and Empresses did not come together

until 1983.

And 1983 really is when the AIDS epidemic exploded.

- In those early dark years of AIDS,

the only thing we had were each other.

- We were ditched quite consciously

and pernicious easily by the larger culture.

- People thought it was the air.

We had a president who wouldn't mention AIDS

for seven years.

Funding wasn't coming down.

- What do we need.

- [Crowd] Money for AIDS.

- When do we need it?

- [Crowd] Now.

- What do we need?

- [Paul] It exploded nationally with re-enforcing

all the lethal stereotypes

of gay men, especially as being sick

and sinful and criminal.

And the danger was like losing everything.

- [Crowd] We're all in this together.

(soft saddening music)

- [Paul] The court system very early stepped up

along with other organizations

to fill the breach for years.

(whistling)

- [Nicole] That was one of the Imperial Court's,

most shining moments

because we constantly, every week were raising money

for AIDS banks.

We were raising money to keep people alive

and make their quality of life as comfortable as possible.

(soft music)

- [Paul] And so I think that's very telling

that these divisions among us,

our own fears about,

how we should act?

Are we masculine enough?

Is it okay to be feminine?

Is it a right to wear different clothing

of different gender?

Who are we as a community?

What does it mean to be visibly homosexual?

What's okay and not okay?

What do other people think about us who aren't gay?

All of those arguments did not really,

fully resolve themselves

until something is,

some huge, horrible crisis like AIDS happened.

(soft music)

- [Mike] AIDS Emergency Fund started in the summer of 1982,

very early on in the AIDS epidemic.

And we were focused more on direct support

for people living with AIDS.

It started with a group of six men,

all Leather men around a table, South of Market,

trying to figure out how to raise some money,

to help their friends who were dying.

It really was rent parties.

They would throw a party in a bar some place

and people would put money into a hat

and that money would go literally to pay someone's rent

in the last few months of their life.

The Imperial Council was one of the first organizations

in the city to regularly provide funds to AEF

that we could turn around and give to clients in need.

The need was just overwhelming.

We were trying to serve thousands of clients every year.

It was at a time when protease inhibitors

hadn't been brought out yet

and people were dying left and right.

And no matter how much we raised in the community,

it wasn't enough.

- [Jerry] We raised over $200.000.

All of our charities

were AEF that year,

everything.

We had chosen the AIDS Emergency Fund, what,

and one of the reasons was, we had lost so many friends.

(singing)

- Pretty much every night, a week,

they were fundraising.

- However, some of you--

- [Paul] They were selling junk,

they were auctioning.

They were doing whatever,

but it was raising money

basically to take care of people.

In particular, there were three bars.

There was the Eagle, South of Market,

which was a leather bar.

There was Daddy's,

which is across in the Castro Theater

is now called 440s.

And it was also a leather bar,

although it had a lot of connection to the court system.

And then there was an Emperess Marlena's Bar

over in Haze Valley.

Those three bars collectively

raised over a million dollars in a year.

(soft saddening music)

- In my travels.

I've run many opportunities

where I need protection.

(door knocking)

- Two minutes, Jose.

(high pitch singing)

- The condoms don't leave home without it.

- [TV Announcer] Brought to you

by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

(upbeat music)

- [Coronation Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen please welcome

the Emperor and Empress of San Francisco.

The golden lion Emperor, Jerry Coletti

and the 24 carat solid gold Empress,

Pat Montclair.

(upbeat music)

- [Jerry] The theme of coronation was

yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Yesterday was Cleopatra, the entrance.

And it was the entrance.

The way Liz Taylor did it.

We walked on stage.

The costumes were spectacular,

it was a fantasy.

(upbeat music)

- [Douglas] When we're talking among our,

a lot of the people that we reigned with.

We kind of feel that the 90s were

the prime time for the Court.

That's when things really shined

and people were excited about it and got involved

and made it a lot of fun.

(clapping)

(cheering)

- [Narrator] The union between the Emperors and Empresses

became the pathway for the Imperial Council to flourish.

(trumpets blaring)

The Council has raised millions of dollars

for countless organizations and causes,

including HIV and AIDS,

breast cancer and homelessness.

(indistinct)

(upbeat music)

(audience cheering and clapping)

(upbeat music)

♪ It was burning ♪

♪ I know ♪

♪ Should have been my name ♪

♪ And I'm partying ♪

♪ Throw out her name ♪

- Hi, everyone got a shot,

lift it up.

Lift your drink up.

(crowd cheering)

We're drinking to our future,

to out love and I'm there helping you.

I help fight every fight you need to be.

Lets go, I'm not done.

(crowd cheering and clapping)

I became Empress of San Francisco

and Simeon says,

"Marlena, you need to go buy this bar over here."

Is Lily street, worked oughta here,

it's a lovely street,

and a stable crowd and,

and all of them.

So the, the bar knew about the Imperial stuff.

Well, I came over and I said,

okay,

it has grown from that extent.

Then when we started, it did kind of become a hub.

And last year we raised over a hundred thousand dollars

for charity in this bar.

(people cheering)

You must really, really, really feel,

I want to do something.

I want to help my fellow brothers.

You're doing all these shows

and you're raising money for charity.

You need to truly believe

in all of these organizations that we have to help.

You have to be of that mind,

I truly believe.

♪ So please ♪

(upbeat music)

- [Bar Announcer] That's right darling

shake it like you make it.

(singing)

Our court people.

Every one of them has been absolutely phenomenal.

The sisterhood, the brotherhood that we have,

you can't buy that.

It comes from your heart.

(soft music)

- This is Emperor's Connie's vest,

which has pins from many, many of the reigns.

(soft music)

As you see the banners across the top of this room,

they're on the other side of the room as well.

Every Empress had one up until we joined

and then every Emperor and Empresses had one together.

(soft music)

Here we are,

what I call The Wall of Fame.

Every Empress and every Emperor of San Francisco

is represented in this.

And so many of these that have been here

are dead and gone now.

To have this history here is

(sighing) I could cry right now.

No other city has this.

How astonishing that is

to look at this wall.

It represents for me,

unity,

pride,

knowing that all of these people dedicated

much of their life to help us.

- [Interviewer] What do you think

was the role of the Imperial Council

in the history of the LGBT community?

- I, I think it

open doors.

It's helped people become themselves.

The LGBT community has grown rapidly

and it's because of people like these.

(soft music)

There's so much wonderful history here.

It's just,

it's breathtaking.

There's my picture even.

And I tell you, I, I,

and I've known every one of these people.

So it's just,

it's gut clenching.

(soft music)

I'm proud to be part of this.

I think anybody that's in there

is proud to be part of this.

(soft music)

(church organ playing)

- [Reporter] People gathered at Ray's Cathedral

in San Francisco for a final farewell

to the self named Empress of San Francisco.

- [Female Reporter] Jose Julio Sarria was a legend

in San Francisco's LGBT community.

(church organ playing)

- [Jose] I want to be remembered for the good that I did.

The Court

created

a family

for people that wouldn't have had one.

(church organ playing)

They had nobody,

they were kicked out.

They have to have somebody to talk to.

They made friends in the court system

and that created a family.

Then they die

and it was those families.

that buried them.

They saw that they got a decent funeral.

(church organ playing)

- [John C] Over the period of the 50 years

or really 70 years from when he began,

Jose became deified.

He was a person that brought people together.

He was a person who inspired

and was very supportive.

He was very instrumental in keeping

the concept of a court system going.

- [Priest] The Lord be with you.

- [Crowd] And also within.

- [Paul] Jose always saw himself as a leader

and like all human beings he has his strengths

and he has his faults.

But sometimes it takes an extraordinary ego

to achieve extraordinary things.

(bright music)

- Wouldn't be gay in San Francisco without Jose.

- [Terry] He had that special spark

that very few people have.

♪ It only takes a tiny corner of ♪

♪ This great big to find the place you love ♪

- [Terry] I do remember him, you know, saying,

he needed more time.

And I thought 91 and look all he's done,

and he didn't have enough time?

♪ I never went away but now I'm back ♪

♪ To tell you ♪

♪ San Francisco ♪

♪ Open your door and meet ♪

♪ You got no stranger when outside your door ♪

♪ San Francisco ♪

♪ Here's why you're wondering why ♪

♪ Saying I'll wonder no more ♪

♪ Other places told me make love you ♪

(crowd cheering)

- Hello San Francisco,

we only enjoy according to San Francisco.

We love you.

(upbeat music)

- [Interviewer] May I ask you a question?

You guys ever hear about the San Francisco Imperial Court?

- No.

- Hi, have you ever heard

of the San Francisco Imperial Court?

- I have not.

- I have not. - We have not.

- No. - Yes, in History class.

- In History?

- Yes. - Really?

What did you learn about it?

- I couldn't tell you,

I was awful at history

- [Interviewer] Okay.

(people murmuring)

- [Paul] Times change.

And so the gay community has changed.

It's transformed.

And so now there's just more options

and things are more free flowing and open.

With people going online to find each other online.

And now with apps that are on the phone,

there's not the boom and intensity that there was.

People still go out,

but they go out for very different reasons now.

And they're using the queer spaces

for very different reasons.

(upbeat music)

I don't necessarily mean that

that means that San Francisco's gone as a gay Mecca,

it just means that maybe a new way of being gay

is being invented here.

(salsa music)

- [Galilea] I think we gonna see more course close.

There's not a really calling for it anymore.

The lions, the Elks, the moose,

everybody's having the same problems.

Sisters, the Leather Community,

nobody wants to join organizations, fraternal organizations.

It's something of the past.

(singing in foreign language)

- [Alexis] If you don't have a purpose,

then you have to make it more inviting to people to join it.

Such as, okay.

Well, if I win Empress, what do I get?

- [Man In The Background] And that's not what it's about.

- And that's not what it's about, exactly.

But to the young kids, it's hard for them to explain.

Spend thousands of dollars on,

on a wardrobe, makeup, travel,

pay money for all these tickets

and all these places you're going to go to.

And they're not going to give you anything but a drink

or maybe a dinner if you're lucky.

- [Cher] I hope it stays.

I hope it still raises money

for those that need it.

But I don't know what the future holds

as far as that goes either.

- Like all good things,

things need to come to an end.

You know, we've had a good run.

♪ Come let your colors burn ♪

♪ Make them go-- ♪

- [Tiger] We've done our duty

it doesn't mean that we're not needed

but our purpose is not there any longer.

- We're very good at raising money

and giving it to needier charities, we're good at that.

Building membership,

not so much.

- [Alexis] It's harder to recruit or get anybody

to come into any of these organizations now

because what are the, what,

what is that a fight for?

We're going back to being a social group.

- You don't have to be part of that little group

because now you're being accepted.

And the good, that's a good thing.

The bad thing is that

we don't have enough history.

(people cheering)

- The kids coming up now don't know the struggles.

They don't know about the lobotomizes,

they don't know about the shock treatments.

Being put in insane asylums,

bars being raided.

They're moving into an era of,

"Oh, I'm just like everything else, it's normal."

You know?

So there,

that need to be part of an organization

that raises money for,

it's like, what is the dragon of today?

It, it's a question.

What is the dragon of today?

- [Honey] In San Francisco

I think we have a really rich history

of doing fundraisers and,

and drag Queens doing things for free

and like, you know,

being associated with all these non-profits.

I noticed when I went on the show

is that not everyone came from that same background.

♪ All those who didn't believe that ♪

♪ I'm a survivor ♪

- [Interviewer] Would you wanna do drag all the time

without getting paid?

- Oh God, no.

(upbeat music)

(trumpet blaring)

(soft music)

- [Narrator] The candidates work very hard

during their campaigns.

If elected, they will be raising money

all year round for our communities.

Such is the dedication of any candidate vying to become

one of the beloved Imperial monarchs of San Francisco.

- I'm Deena Cartier.

You've picked a great day to come out.

We are voting for Emperor and Empress today,

and I'm one of the Empresses' candidates.

My goal is to raise a $100.000 this year.

(honking)

- We're going to get on the truck,

you guys ready?

- Ladies and gentlemen,

vote Khmera Rouge for Empress of all of San Francisco.

- [Crowd] Go, go Khmera Rouge.

- Vote Khmera Rouge.

- She doesn't do shame,

she's very fresh.

- She's already bought a whole bunch of new people

into the Court.

(people cheering)

- Kevin for Emperor.

- Today is the most exciting day of the year for us

and for our court system.

Because this the day that generates the excitement

that the system needs for the next year.

- Congratulations this is the election

of the Imperial Council.

(people cheering and clapping)

(soft music)

♪ Good times, fun times. ♪

♪ I've seen them all in my dream ♪

♪ I'm still here ♪

♪ Sometimes good times ♪

♪ Sometimes just pretzels and beer ♪

♪ But I'm here ♪

♪ Over 20 years of drag ♪

♪ Without a gap ♪

♪ Singing in the laces off the map ♪

♪ Finding myself in a stranger's lap ♪

♪ But I'm here ♪

- [Narrator] Every year, the reigning Emperor and Empress

are honored at coronation for the work they've done

the past year.

♪ And I'm here ♪

- [Narrator] They sit down

and make way for the crowning

of the newly elected Monarch.

(audience clapping)

- [Announcer At 50th Coronation] Ladies and gentlemen,

the new reigning monarchs of San Francisco,

Emperor Kevin Lisle.

(audience cheering and clapping)

Ladies and gentlemen,

the 50th elected Empress of San Francisco,

Ms. Khmera Rouge.

(audience cheering and clapping)

Long live the Emperor and Empress.

(audience cheering)

(soft music)

- I'm an Empress of San Francisco.

- I am an Emperor.

- I am an Empress of San Francisco.

- I'm an Empress

of San Francisco.

(soft music)

- [Narrator] The 50th anniversary celebration

of the Imperial Council was held

at none other than the

Grandiose San Francisco city hall.

It was attended by politicians,

leaders of the LGBTQ community

and the 74 court affiliates from all over the world.

(soft music)

- [Jose] I put into a pot,

all sorts of people

from very highly educated

to people that do not have good education.

From very wealthy to very poor.

And from that has come

some of the wonderful friendships,

unions that could have never been made.

Everybody becomes a brother and sister.

- [Paul] The 50th anniversary of the Imperial Court System

is really a time to pause and remember

how far we've come.

In a society that often still wants to put us

at the bottom of the ladder,

there is something actually quite radical

and publicly affirming that we see ourselves as legal,

that we are noble in who we are.

And we're unashamed

to proclaim that.

(upbeat music)

Their job has been what their job has always been,

which is to really energize and activate this amazing

national and even international network of fundraising

that could also be turned into political organizing.

- [Nicole] The radical right

is not only cutting funding with AIDS.

It's cutting funding on women's shelters,

on children's abuse centers.

Society as a whole,

if cities ever needed Imperial Courts,

they need them now.

(soft music)

- [Marlena] Our future, I feel it will be great

because remember we have been fighting for equality

for a long time.

I don't think we're done yet.

I don't even see it in my vision.

- [Jose] With the foundation that I have laid.

It would continue

because of the youth of today

that believe in what I believed in.

- I will do everything in my power

to protect our LGBTQ citizens.

- President Donald Trump says

transgender people cannot serve in any capacity

in the military.

In a series of tweets, Mr. Trump said that--

- [Khmera] I think with the current political climate,

it really shows that we're not safe.

But I think the Imperial Council functions best

when our community is under attack.

- We will act as a family

and we will resist

and we will push further.

(audience cheering and clapping)

- [Khmera] People can hate all they want,

but how can you hate something that's fabulous?

As long as there's a man in a dress

and a crown to be worn,

I think the Imperial Council will be here to stay on behalf.

- [Nicole] On behalf of the 74 chapters

in the United States,

Canada and Mexico,

thank you for giving birth

to the international Imperial Court System.

Hip hip!

Hooray!

Hip Hip!

- [Audience] Hooray!

- Hip hip!

- [Audience] Hooray!

Thank you and God bless you all.

- [Narrator] Through the efforts

of the International Court System,

a street has been named after Jose Julio Sarria

in San Francisco.

(calm music)

They're also working on his nomination

to the California Hall of Fame.

(soft music)

(people cheering and clapping)

(soft music)

- [Announcer At 50th Coronation] Ladies and gentlemen

we present the monarchs of the Imperial Court

of San Francisco.

(soft music)

(upbeat music)