Leslie, Max & Storme

Dubbed “the only girl at the Jewel Box” butch drag king Stormé DeLarverie broke barriers at the integrated Jewel Box Revue in New York City performing there singing baritone in a suit and tie. But her legacy would later become synonymous with the Stonewall uprising and, up until her death in 2014, she was one of the most respected queer elders in New York. Michelle Parkerson’s rich documentary short covers Stormé in the late 80s in Chelsea, showing her still serving as a protector in queer spaces but also as a consummate performer people are immediately drawn to watch.

Alice Lebow’s 1994 short documentary offers a rare glimpse into trans activist Leslie Feinberg, who emerged in the 90s as a class conscious-based trans activist and made major waves with the publishing of her novel Stone Butch Blues in 1993. Feinberg became an instant staple on the talk show circuit, offering extremely impassioned, radical ideas through extremely accessible rhetoric about trans identity, history, and activism that remains as prescient and vital now as they were in the 90s.