Qistory
LGBTQ+ History
Drag King History
Drag King History was created to showcase the extensive history of performers from breeches roles to en travesti, variety to vaudeville, male impersonation to drag kings, and drag kings to gender free.
Storycorps
This is the primary online access point to the StoryCorps Archive, which began in 2003 with interviews recorded in a StoryBooth in Grand Central Station. We believe that the StoryCorps Archive reflects our mission to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.
Stories
Emalee Farley and El Daña
Emalee Farley (23) and her friend El Daña (75) talk about El Daña’s long time male impersonator entertaining in the Fresno area and beyond. Together they talk about the gay bar scene in Fresno in the 1960s, how El Daña got interested in male impersonating, and why she loves entertaining.
Jeffrey Robinson and Juan Bustamante
Jeffrey Robinson (58) and his husband Juan Bustamante (48) talk about how their friends came together to help them plan their pagan wedding over 25 years ago and how having a legal document as proof of marriage was not the defining factor for them to know they were married before gay marriage was legal.
James Hensley and Chris Jarvis
James Hensley (58) tells his husband Chris Jarvis (58) about his 30 years as a bartender in gay bars, describing the exciting nightlife of the places where he worked, as well as the dangers of being “out” and discovered in and outside of those spaces.
Jena Adams and Chris Jarvis
Jena Adams (57) talks with her friend Chris Jarvis (58) about how she transitioned from working in the fashion industry to public health and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Jena remembers those she lost to HIV/AIDS and addresses some of her concerns about lack of understanding of sexual health in the medical field and among young people today.
Julio "Jules" Mastro and Victoria Aguilar
Julio “Jules” Mastro (69) talks with his friend Victoria Aguilar (35) about living with HIV for many decades, losing many friends, a brother, and chosen gay family to HIV/AIDS. The friends also talk about the various HIV/AIDS activism groups Jules has spearheaded and contributed to in Fresno and beyond throughout the decades.