Just out ▼ octobor 2 0 , I M S T 10
P
umps and C ircumstance
On the eve of Coronation ’95, we take a look at the bejeweled history
of the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court
by Inga Sorensen
The reigning court {from right):
Emperor XXI Scotty Boxx,
Empress XXXVII Eden Express,
Princess XXV Poison Waters and
Prince XX Shelly
L
isten up, you judgmental queers out
there who think members of the Im
perial Sovereign Rose Court of Or
egon are a bunch of tired drag queens
who mock and scorn women with
their gender-bending and -blending play. They’re
here to tell you, it just ain’t so.
“Unfortunately a lot of people in the gay com
munity have that stereotype about the court,” says
29-year-old Kimberlee Van Patten, a licensing
specialist for the Oregon Department of Environ
mental Quality. “The fact is we are the oldest gay
and lesbian organization in the state, we raise
thousands of dollars every year for charities, and
both men and women are active in the court. This
is not some little exclusive club. We welcome
anybody who wants to get involved, do some good
work and have some fun.”
On the weekend of Oct. 20-22, the Imperial
Sovereign Rose Court will celebrate 25 years of
electing its empress. The 1995 coronation will be
held at the Portland Art Museum’s North Wing,
and special festivities are slated throughout the
weekend. The high point will occur at the ball on
Oct. 21, with the crowning of the court’s 38th
empress and 22nd emperor.
To the uninitiated, that may sound fantastical
and far out, but think of it this way: Like any
general about to acquire his fifth star, the empress
and emperor are receiving the court’s highest ap
probation for their tireless labor and demonstrated
leadership abilities. All will enjoy the pomp and
circumstance surrounding the respective ceremo
nies, it’s just that at the coronation you’ll find a few
more men in drop-dead gowns and false eyelashes.
(Coronation participants looking to make their
“entrances” are also warned that “no glitter, con
fetti, live animals, or open flame [will be] al
lowed”—a restriction not likely to be instituted
during a military pageant.)
Van Patten, who has been involved with the
court for 12 years and is its current board president,
says about 500 people cast their ballots for the
1995-% empress and emperor during voting that
was held Sunday, Oct. 15, at Darcelle XV in Old
Town. She says anyone 21 and older who resides
in the tri-county area is eligible to vote.
The secret ballots are in turn gathered and
counted by an attorney (this year Portland lawyer
Karen Keeney is handling that hefty responsibil
ity), and winners will be announced at the corona
tion, which simultaneously serves as the stepping-
down ceremony for the outgoing monarchs.
The event is also a chance to acknowledge and
honor the many hard-working men and women of
the court who spend the rest of the year organizing
events to raise money to fight antigay initiatives, to
help those with HIV and AIDS, and to financially
assist organizations such as Parents, Families and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
In fact, the next time you are enjoying Portland’s
Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade or Peacock in the
Park, you may want to thank the court and Van
Patten
for help-
ing make those happen
ings a reality— for the past three years, she has
produced an “Our Pride is Showing” dinner and
drag show at Darcelle XV which has pulled in the
$1,000 to $1,500 needed to cover the insurance
costs for those events.
And remember to thank Imperial Sovereign
Rose Court members the next time someone ush
ers you to your table at Right To Privacy’s Lucille
Hart Dinner—an annual fund-raiser attracting
swarms of establishment queers. Court members
have been handling those ushering duties for many
years.
In other words, while drag performers may be
pushed to the back of the parade (perhaps due to
those stretch limos?), they are heavily involved in
the region’s most notable queer occurrences. Per
haps even more importantly, they are behind many
of those less-publicized weekly fund-raising ef
forts for organizations and individuals in need.
Says Van Patten: “When we hold performances,
we may pass the hat and each person will pop in $5
or $ 10. Or we may have a small cover charge for a
show. It may not sound like a lot initially, but when
you consider we do this all the time—
sometimes many nights a week—it adds up.”
T he E arly Y ears
I
n 1974, a University of Oregon student and
fledgling journalist named Randy Shilts wrote
an article for his college newspaper, The Daily
Emerald, which chronicled that year’s coronation
of Empress Elsa XVII:
“ ‘Do you, Elsa Daniels, accept this cloak as the
cloak of protection you are to give your people?’ ”
wrote Shilts. “The trembling brunette looked up to
the enthroned figure before [her] and whispered
yes.
“ ‘Do you, Elsa, accept this sceptre as a sign of
authority over your people and the importance of
your position as empress of the Inland Empire?’
Looking to the glittering sceptre, the quivering
voice again answered yes. ‘Then I, [Doni Lamé],
16th empress of the Inland Empire, crown you
empress 17 of Portland and the Inland Empire.
“With those words, [she] placed a red jewelled
crown on the head of the successor who knelt
before her...”
Shilts exposed to his fellow students what would
likely be their first (and perhaps only) glimpse into
the intricate world of the court system. This par
ticular event two decades ago attracted 1,200 people
to Portland’s Hilton Hotel—hundreds of whom
represented courts from throughout the west and
carried titles such as “empress, emperor, duchess,
czarina and baroness.”
Shilts, who would go on to become a well-
known reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle
and author of the critically acclaimed And the
Band Played On, wrote that while “transvestism
is primarily a heterosexual phenomenon, a sub
culture of gay female impersonators, or ‘drag
queens,’ has evolved in most major American
cities. Their complex social system is pat
terned after the royalty of the Middle Ages
with strict court protocol and coveted royal
titles.
“While virtually every city on the West
Coast has a court system of its own—from
Anchorage to San Diego, Denver to Salem,
Ore.— Portland is the ‘mother city’ of the
western court system, with the longest suc
cession of empresses and most lavish coro
nations.”
(According to Van Patten, the Imperial
Sovereign Rose Court is currently one of
nearly 70 courts throughout the United
States and Canada.)
Writingin 1991 for the Portland-based
gay and lesbian newspaper Alternative
Connection, author Philip Staley main
tained the court system in Oregon began
“in or around 1958, within the hallowed
halls of the original Half Moon Tavern,
[when] a group of humorists created,
what is, for history’s sake, the oldest
‘c o u rt’ on the W est C oast— the C ourt o f
Transylvania, complete with Queen Eugene I, some
princes and princesses, a regent here, a regent
there, and one Lord High Sheriff.”
That “court” reportedly met its demise five
years later, only to be replaced by a group known
as the Pruitts, which “emerged and began plans for
a Halloween Ball [where] a ‘Queen of the Ball’
would be chosen by audience appreciation.... More
shows were to follow.”
The Pruitts disbanded a few years later, but in
l% 9-70, an organization called the Portland Fo
rum (which would eventually dissolve into the
Imperial Sovereign Rose Court) sprang up and
“[tjhey changed, through no plausible reasoning,
the title of queen to empress.”
According to Van Patten, in the late 1950s and
1960s, queens were chosen in quick succession
during balls which were held every six months. In
1971, however, queens technically became em
presses and were elected annually. (Emperors were
added later.)
Continued on page 21