Miscellaneous
Showtime for Shi-Queeta
Special Saturday installment of Nellie’s drag brunch planned this weekend
Jerry Van Hook (aka Shi-Queeta Lee) says his drag persona has completely taken over his life. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
These girls are glamazons. Their drag queen motto is simple: “hair and paint make a man what he ain’t.”
And their den mother, the inimitable Miss Shi-Queeta Lee, is a local phenomenon, an indefatigable impresaria who keeps them in line, ready for even more recognition if their D.C.-based reality TV show goes on area television later this year.
But in the meantime they appear every Sunday at Nellie’s Sports Bar — and for this weekend’s Capital Pride also on Saturday — as the stars of the weekly “drag brunch,” which continues to pack in people, into the big first floor corner room framed by big windows looking out onto U Street N.W. Shi-Queeta’s aim is always to keep them looking their best, and as the growing band of drag brunch regulars can attest, these girls do, each of them — five in all, including Shi-Queeta Lee (or SQL, for short).
But who is this Wonder Woman? She has been a Blade favorite, winning this paper’s reader’s choice as Best Drag Performer in 2006. In 2009 she appeared at the People’s Inaugural LGBT Gayla, on the eve of the swearing in of President Barack Obama. Now she appears to be nearly everywhere at once. She not only headlines the Sunday drag brunch but in addition hosts Tuesday night’s drag bingo, also at Nellie’s, and she is the “Diva of Town,” appearing there as a cast member of the Danceboutique’s drag shows every Friday and Saturday night. But where did it all begin, before the person born and raised as Jerry Van Hook became Shi-Queeta Lee, and how did this persona emerge?
“There ain’t too much to say about Jerry,” she says today, “because Shi-Queeta done took Jerry over.”
But the answer to his life in female impersonation is more complicated that that and it begins to unfold in Gretna, Va., on a farm near that small town south of Lynchburg. He was born there in 1964, the fifth of six siblings, and he seems always to have been conscious of his feminine side, saying, “I was a real country girl then, because I was a girl there, too!” But growing up, “No one called me fag or punk, and I wasn’t bullied,” he says. “They just didn’t know what to call me.”
He was a farm boy for sure. “We would get up at 5 a.m. to slop the hogs, feed the chickens and milk the cows,” he recalls. His father owned the farm but he was also a tobacco sharecropper. By high school, he recalls, “we were known as the black ‘Brady Brunch,’” since they had a live-in Alice (their aunt), like the TV sitcom of the early 1970s.
While he loved drama and music in high school, and excelled in art, he also played basketball and tennis, and in the first half of high school he played cornerback on the football team’s defensive line and ran the ball also as tailback. Later he also was a team cheerleader. After graduating, he went to the University of Pittsburgh Art Institute to study commercial art there, but two months later he returned home. He was, he says, “homesick” and he didn’t like the colder temperatures.
First he found work at a local show factory, learning how to make women’s shoes. He says that he continued to draw, especially family portraits, but he stopped pursuing it as a career, though he still has “that creative vision, which you have to have doing drag.” Eventually, an uncle who lived in Washington visited and told young Jerry that “you should live in D.C.” And so, the youth packed his bags on Christmas Day in 1985 and moved, living with his uncle for a few months, while he took several short-term jobs until he found his calling, in hospitality and food service, becoming first a busboy and then a waiter at Planet Hollywood.
Soon he was also helping train crews for the restaurant chain, which flowered in the mid-1990s backed by film stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. During its heyday, “That’s when I got to see the world for free,” he recalls, traveling to Atlanta and Orlando as well as to France and Indonesia. Later he worked for BET (Black Entertainment Television) when it opened its own Caribbean-style restaurants.
Later he began an acting career also, in road shows on what he calls the “chittlin’ circuit.”
He took a job as wardrobe and costume designer for a play starring the actor Billy Dee Williams, “The Maintenance Man,” and also as an extra in the play, which was about a high-priced male escort. Van Hook admits that later, as a drag queen, he also worked “for a few years” as a male escort. It’s something he says, that many drag queens do so “at some point, if you need some faster cash to make ends meet,” and there are always customers, generally straight men who sometimes frequent gay bars “to fulfill that sexual fantasy.”
In the meantime, he was also pitching for the D.C.-area gay softball team, the JR Gamecocks, and at the end of one season, in October 1998, he was chosen by the team to appear in a drag show, the Magic Tournament, a pageant sponsored by the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance. Looking back, Shi-Queeta says, “It was considered to be camp, like a Halloween costume, you just put on a wig and lipstick and you just did it yourself.” But Van Hook, as he was still then known, told his team that if he would appear in the show, he would take it seriously, “as a real drag queen.” So he decided “to hire a professional drag queen to put me together,” the late Chynna Pen Darvis who became what he calls his “drag mother.”
That first pageant appearance was Shi-Queeta’s “breakthrough moment.” The name Shi-Queeta was the choice of his softball team coach at the time, Chip Brown. This was because Jerry was still living in Anacostia at the time, and “Chip thought I needed, tongue-in-cheek, a ghetto-type name.” As Shi-Queeta, he won each of the four categories.
“I didn’t expect to win,” he says, “But when I did win, I couldn’t put a pump down because I was walking on air.”
She began appearing at several D.C. gay bars like Bachelor’s Mill, the original Ziegfeld’s, Omega and Chaos, where she hosted a drag bingo until it closed in 2008. Town co-owner Ed Bailey suggested she approach Doug Schantz, co-owner of Nellie’s Sports Bar.
“I talked to Doug,” she says, “and he gave me a trial basis on a Tuesday night, and when he saw what money we could make at 8 p.m. on that night, it was heaven sent.”
Next came the Sunday drag brunch, which began in January 2010 at Nellie’s, though Shi-Queeta had pioneered an earlier version at the old Cada Vez, then at 14th and U streets N.W. At Nellie’s, it’s become so popular that she says “it’s now hard to get a reservation.”
The six girls shimmy and sashay through their lip-synch numbers, bejeweled and in full and flawless makeup and plumage with get-ups like bright red Minnie Mouse hair bows and polka-dot sashes, and sequined skin-tight lavender minidresses. It’s all illusion of course, though one of them announces, “If there’s a plastic surgeon in the house, give me your card, I need a real rack!”
Schantz says Lee and his cooks make a great combination.
“She brims with vivacious entertainment,” he says. “(That and) the inspiriing dishes keep guests singing for more.”
Shi-Queeta herself appears at the end in a flared, floor-length evening gown singing the Diana Ross classic, “I’m coming out, I want the world to know, and want to let it show!” And that’s exactly what Shi-Queeta plans, as producer and creator of the proposed new reality TV series, “Drag City D.C.,” featuring her and five of her girls, Epiphany Bloomingdale, LaCountress Farrington, Chanel Devereaux, Tyria Iman and Raquel Savage Black, in a “Real Housewives”-stye show that has already completed production on three short pilots as “teasers.” Shi-Queeta hopes they will begin to air eight completed, 30-minute episodes later this year on local cable — DCTV public access on Comcast channel 95 and in Arlington, Va., on Comcast channel 69. She’s hoping the stations will also run more episodes of her talk show “Spill da Tea With Shi-Queeta Lee.”
“We will tell the ins and outs of our lives,” says Shi-Queeta, in her persona as CEO of Van Hook Productions. “But also how we are giving back to the community, one show at a time.” In one of the shows the girls put together 200 bags of groceries for Food and Friends, and in another they perform a drag show on roller-skates as a benefit for SMYAL. In the third, they join a pole-dancing and belly-dancing class, “to show us keeping fit,” says Shi-Queeta, “so we can fit into our girdles.”
Nellie’s Sports Bar is at the corner of 9th and U Streets, NW. For more information on the Sunday Drag Brunch, which is offered every Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm, for $20 per person, visit nelliessportsbar.com. For more information on the “Drag City DC” TV show, visit dragcitydc.com.
Miscellaneous
Stephen Miller’s legal group sues Fairfax County schools
Lawsuit challenges policies for transgender, nonbinary students
Former Trump administration official Stephen Miller’s legal group on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County School District over its policies for transgender and nonbinary students.
America First Legal in a press release notes it filed the lawsuit against the school district on behalf of a female, “practicing Roman Catholic” student “for allowing teenage boys to use the female restrooms and for forcing a radical, government-sponsored gender indoctrination and approved-speech scheme that discriminates against students on the basis of sex and religion and violates their free speech rights under the Virginia Constitution.”
The lawsuit was filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
The Virginia Department of Education last July announced new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, would forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
Fairfax County schools are among the school districts that have refused to implement the guidelines.
“Fairfax County Public Schools appears to believe that its policies and regulations can override the Virginia Constitution’s protections for religious beliefs, speech and from government discrimination on the basis of sex and religious beliefs,” said America First legal Senior Advisor Ian Prior in a press release. “It is well past time for FCPS to stop sacrificing the constitutional rights of its students so that it can implement a state-sanctioned ideology that demands compliance in speech, beliefs and conduct.”
FCPS Pride, a group that represents the Fairfax County School District’s LGBTQ employees, described the lawsuit as “abhorrent.”
“We are confident that the school board and the superintendent will strongly and firmly oppose this specious suit and continue to support all students, including transgender and gender expansive students,” said the group in a press list.
Miscellaneous
More than a dozen LGBTQ candidates on the ballot in Va.
Control of the state Senate hangs in the balance
More than a dozen openly LGBTQ candidates are on the ballot in Virginia on Nov. 7.
State Del. Danica Roem (D-Manassas) is running against Republican Bill Woolf in the newly redistricted Senate District 30 that includes western Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Roem in 2018 became the first openly transgender person seated in a state legislature in the U.S. after she defeated then-state Del. Bob Marshall, a prominent LGBTQ rights opponent who co-wrote Virginia’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Roem would become Virginia’s first out trans state senator if she defeats Woolf.
Woolf supports a bill that would require school personnel to out trans students to their parents. The Republican Party of Virginia has highlighted this position in ads in support of Woolf.
“Thank you for reminding me why I won three elections in this district in Prince William County, which is the most diverse county in all of Virginia and the 10th most nationally where we welcome everyone because of who they are, not despite it, no matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship, if you do, or who you love because you should be able to thrive here because of who you are, never despite it,” said Roem on Sept. 28 in response to a woman who heckled her during a debate with Woolf that took place at Metz Middle School in Manassas.
Gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) is running for re-election in Senate District 39. State Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County), who is also gay, is running for re-election in House District 43.
Former state Del. Joshua Cole, who identifies as bisexual, is running against Republican Lee Peters in House District 65. State Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler (D-Virginia Beach), who came out as bisexual last year at Hampton Roads Pride, will face Republican Mike Karslake and independent Nicholas Olenik.
State Del. Marcia “Cia” Price (D-Newport News), a Black woman who identifies as pansexual, is running for re-election in House District 85.
Adele McClure, a queer Democrat, is running to represent House District 2 that includes portions of Arlington County. Laura Jane Cohen, a bisexual woman who is a member of the Fairfax County School Board, is a House of Delegates candidate in House District 15.
Rozia Henson, a gay federal contractor who works for the Department of Homeland Security, is running in House District 19. Zach Coltrain, a gay Gen Zer, is running against state Del. Barry Knight (R-Virginia Beach) in House District 98.
LPAC has endorsed Jade Harris, a Rockbridge County Democrat who is running to represent Senate District 3. Harris’ website notes trans rights are part of their platform.
“Protecting trans rights, repealing right to work, strengthening unions and supporting our farmers are just a few of my legislative priorities,” reads the website. “I am dedicated to addressing the revitalization of our state’s infrastructure, fostering a favorable environment for job creation, and supporting our public education system.”
Republicans currently control the House by a 51-46 margin, while Democrats have a 21-19 majority in the state Senate.
Senate Democrats have successfully blocked anti-LGBTQ bills that Republicans have introduced since Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin took office in January 2022.
The Virginia Department of Education in July released new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students that activists and their supporters have sharply criticized. They fear that Republicans will curtail LGBTQ rights in the state if they regain control of both houses of the General Assembly on Nov. 7.
“Time and time again, anti-equality lawmakers and the Youngkin administration have made it clear that they will continue to disrespect and disregard the lives and lived experience of LGBTQ+ people within Virginia,” said Equality Virginia PAC Executive Director Narissa Rahaman in August when her organization and the Human Rights Campaign endorsed Roem, Ebbin and other “pro-equality champions.”
“We must elect pro-equality champions who will secure and strengthen our freedoms,” added Rahaman. “We have that chance as the eyes of the nation are on us this November.”
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund has endorsed Fairfax County School Board Vice Chair Karl Frisch and Fairfax County School Board candidates Robyn Lady and Kyle McDaniel, who identify as lesbian and bisexual respectively.
Michael Pruitt would become the first openly bisexual man elected to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors if he were to win on Nov. 7. Blacksburg Town Councilman Michael Sutphin and Big Stone Gay Town Councilman Tyler Hughes, who are both gay, are running for re-election.
“Tyler will be a critical voice for equality as the only out LGBTQ+ person on the Big Stone Gap Town Council,” says the Victory Fund on its website.
Cal Benn contributed to this article.
Miscellaneous
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Five easy tips to help you avoid common risks
Your home is more than just a place to eat and sleep; it’s your safe haven. As much as you might cherish your home, you should probably also recognize the potential hazards within its familiar walls. Accidents can happen in an instant, yet with a little foresight and some simple adjustments, you can transform your house into a safer haven.
Accidents can happen anywhere, and with a few simple tweaks, you can lower risks in your space. Below you’ll find five tips for each room in your home to help prevent injuries, falls, and other mishaps. In short, home safety.
This article was inspired by a shower in a rental we managed that began leaking through the kitchen ceiling below. If only the landlord had installed grab bars, right!? Below, we’ll guide you through the steps to fortify your bathroom, making it a place of relaxation without the fear of slips and falls. Then, we’ll venture into the room where the magic happens, where proper planning can ensure great nights and peaceful mornings. We’ll show you how to prevent accidents while you experiment becoming the next Gordon Ramsey. And we’ll include a few surprising solutions for those other rooms that hold their own unique hazards, offering solutions to safeguard against unexpected mishaps.
Bathroom Safety
Install Grab Bars: Adding grab bars near the shower and toilet can provide essential support for family members of all ages. Not only can they help with getting in and out, but they can help provide stability when washing. Make sure they are securely anchored to the wall.
Non-Slip Mats: Place non-slip mats inside the shower and bathtub to prevent slips. They’re a small investment that can save you from falls and head injuries.
Adjust Water Temperature: Ensure your hot water is set to a safe temperature to avoid scalding. The hot water heater should be set to around 120°F (49°C)l, the middle setting on many water heater settings.
Medicine Cabinet Locks: If you have young children, use childproof locks on your medicine cabinet to keep harmful substances out of reach.
Proper Lighting: Ensure there’s adequate lighting in the bathroom to avoid trips and falls during nighttime visits. Nightlights can be a simple and effective solution.
Bedroom Safety
Clear Pathways: Keep pathways in the bedroom clutter free to prevent tripping. Ensure there’s enough space to move around comfortably, particularly getting around the bed. Be aware where all furniture is when walking around to avoid stubbed toes, particularly at night.
Secure Rugs: If you have throw rugs, use rug grippers or double-sided tape to keep them from slipping. Loose rugs are a common trip hazard.
Bed Rails: For anyone at risk of falling out of bed, consider installing bed rails to provide extra support and prevent falls.
Nightstands with Drawers: Opt for nightstands with drawers to keep essential items. This reduces the need to get out of bed at night, minimizing the risk of falls, as you race to grab what you need and not lose a moment’s rest.
Fire Safety: Install battery-operated smoke detectors in the bedrooms if there are none. Make sure to install them 36 inches away from an air vent or the edge of a ceiling fan. Also six inches away from the joint between the wall and ceiling. And test smoke detectors regularly.
Kitchen Safety
Non-Slip Flooring: Choose slip-resistant rugs in the kitchen, especially in areas where spills are common. Mats near the sink and stove can also help and you can often buy them fairly cheaply at Costco.
Childproof Cabinets: If you have little ones, use childproof latches on cabinets and drawers to prevent them from accessing potentially hazardous items.
Anti-tip brackets: Install an anti-tip bracket behind the range. These are often used when children are in the home. Although they are less likely to open the oven door and use it as a step stool to get to the stove-top, adults can also benefit from installing these.
Adequate Lighting: Proper lighting is crucial in the kitchen to avoid accidents. Under-cabinet lighting can illuminate work areas effectively.
Secure Heavy Items: Ensure heavy pots and pans are stored at waist level to prevent straining or dropping them from high shelves.
Sharp Object Storage: Keep knives and other sharp objects in a secure drawer or block. And handle all sharp items with extreme care, even when washing and drying. These steps reduce the risk of accidental cuts.
Other Safety Tips
Furniture Anchors: Secure heavy furniture, like bookshelves and dressers, to the wall to prevent tip-overs, especially if you have young children.
Adequate Outlets: Check for damaged outlets and replace them promptly. Avoid overloading circuits with too many devices. Install placeholder plugs in outlets to prevent young curious fingers (or tongues?) from going inside an electrical outlet.
Stair Gates: If your home has stairs, install safety gates at the top and bottom to prevent falls, especially if you have toddlers or pets to keep them off of the stairs when you cannot monitor them.
Emergency Escape Plan: Develop and practice an emergency escape plan with your family, including a designated meeting place outside.
Carbon Monoxide Detector: If your home burns any fossil fuels for heating or appliances, install carbon monoxide detectors in common areas of your home to detect this odorless gas. The D.C. building codes require this if you use a fireplace or if you have an attached garage. In essence, if there is any potential source of carbon monoxide in the home, be sure to install these detectors.
Remember, a safer home not only prevents accidents but also provides peace of mind for you and your family. Implement these simple tips to create a secure environment in every room of your house.
With these practical tips and a few adjustments, you can significantly reduce the risk of injuries and falls in your home. Enjoy peace of mind in your now much safer haven.
Scott Bloom is owner and senior property manager of Columbia Property Management.
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