They landed back in the nation’s major port cities, contributing to the burgeoning gay populations in cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco. In the 1940s, thousands of male servicemen were given “blue discharges” for homosexual conduct.Here’s a rundown of how the truly one-of-a-kind event came to be: To dig into the history of the Folsom Street Fair is to walk through the development of San Francisco from post-WWII port city to its current state, and weaves with it the narratives of gay rights, the war on poverty and the emergence of the leather and kink subculture. If you’ve never attended a Folsom Street Fair, you’ve surely seen photos. 29, 2019 Folsom Street in San Francisco between Eighth and 13th streets will close down to car traffic and welcome more than 400,000 people to the largest kink and leather event of its kind. People come in wanting to laugh, and laughing they have to leave.On Sept. “In this industry, honey, you can’t do the same numbers over and over again,” she said. Then, using the bar as a runway, she took off her golden wig in front of the public, reminding us that there’s a person like everyone else behind those hours invested in makeup and waxing.ĭe Lox leads the show with a new monologue every weekend. When she came back, she had changed into a more gala-type of dress. And besides that, who doesn’t need the extra bucks in recession times? I do…and I bet as a future journalist, you will, too.”Īfter her first numbers, De Lox disappeared for a couple of minutes, while Ritz Bitz and Heather Wood walked around the bar talking to the audience. I have a day job and I do this because I love having fun. This is my job, but being a drag queen does not define my entire persona. “I decided to become who I am when I was an independent adult already, and nobody could stop me from doing it. “I didn’t have a sad life like the vast majority of these bitches,” said De Lox. She started the night wearing a revealing dress and an eccentric blonde wig. She is from Philadelphia and moved to Brooklyn back in 2004. PhilEsha De Lox, 35, is the host at The Toolbox. Unlike the other two drag queens, who only took money from the audience when it was handed to them, Bitz picked up the microphone and asked the audience for money three times, telling them not to be “cheap.” After her explicit request, many people took out their singles, as she walked around the tiny space collecting them. I overheard people saying that Ritz Bitz was very aggressive and straightforward. Otherwise, I’m just a 5’5’’ effeminate man.” “I know it’s ironic, but I feel way more empowered as Ritz Bitz. That’s why I’m a hair stylist from 9-to-5.” “The way you look and the way you feel are totally connected. I love helping women to feel good about themselves,” she said. “There was a moment when I couldn’t take it anymore, so i decided to become who I am today: this perfect combination of the two genders. “I had a father and two brothers that hated me for being an effeminate kid, a mother that supported them because she wanted to avoid conflict and, to top it off, I went to an all-boys school and was bullied throughout my entire adolescence,” said Bitz. She is well-known for her extremely sarcastic humor and her petite phenotype. I mean, that’s my electric bill during the summer months.”Īfter talking to me, Wood changed her outfit and had some alone time with her boyfriend, a hipster-looking white male.Īnother drag queen working at the Toolbox is Ritz Bitz, 29, who is a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent.
Besides all the free booze, last weekend I made over 200 bucks. “Unless you have a European audience, you can make good money doing this. Our community is not cheap at all,” she said. “Gay people are pretty good with tips, you know. I would totally go on a date like this and nail it.” I feel like I am the modern and thinner Marilyn Monroe.” “People say I’m like a typical white American woman. Not everything is just wigs and high heels in a drag queen’s life.” “I just wanna make people laugh and give a voice to our underrepresented community. I just knew this is what I wanted to do,” said Wood. “The first time I dressed up as a woman was for a friend’s birthday party. She always wanted to be part of the entertainment industry, but back in her Indiana days, the idea of being a drag queen never even crossed her mind. Heather Wood, 31, is from Indiana and moved to NYC back in 2009.