2004 San Diego LGBTQ Wall of Honor Inductee
Mr. Don Edmundson (Edmondson) was one of San Diego's premier female impersonators. The first African-American Empress of the Imperial Court system, crowned Empress I Tawny Tann, Mr. Edmundson was well known throughout California as a performer and popular emcee for charity fundraisers.
Mr. Edmundson got his start in several Los Angeles strip clubs, performing in drag to predominantly straight clientele before relocating to San Diego in the early 1970s. Adding a twist to the old adage about meager beginnings, Mr. Edmundson used to joke that during his strip club days, he was so poor he would gather the hair from female strippers up off the floor of the dressing rooms to make his wigs. In truth, his wig collection was exquisite, his aesthetic an elegant 1930s glamour, and his manner always gracious.
At one time a preoperative transsexual, Mr. Edmundson was open about being gay at a time when all LGBT bars in California had a "no-touch" rule; bar owners could lose their license for allowing same-sex couples to slow-dance, and people caught kissing would be kicked out and often arrested for lewd conduct. After moving to San Diego, Mr. Edmundson worked as lead dancer at the Show Biz Supper Club on University Avenue, where he danced, sang and emceed exclusively in drag.
When Mr. Edmundson ran for Empress I of the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973, he competed against fourteen other candidates and the competition was fierce. Nine hundred people voted in that first election. Held at the Royal Hotel in downtown San Diego (what is now the Holiday Inn Embarcadero) as part of "The Sandies" awards show, the election was the first gay event ever held at a hotel in San Diego. Mr. Edmundson won and was crowned Empress I Tawny Tann along with Emperor I Omar, a coworker and popular bartender at the Show Biz Supper Club. They chose Black & White as their official color scheme to represent themselves as the popular, accepted couple that they were.
The fledgling San Diego LGBT community formed the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973 to be noticed, to attract public acknowledgment of LGBT community members, and to further relations between the LGBT community and the non-LGBT community through fundraising and charity.
The Imperial Court soon became an influential organization because it was one of the few LGBT organizations in San Diego; there was no San Diego Democratic Club or Greater San Diego Business Association, and the Center for Social Services was barely two years old.
Mr. Edmundson's role as Empress required him to host charity fundraisers for local organizations ranging from the Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego to Guide Dogs for the Blind. A skilled emcee with a quick wit, Edmundson's year-long reign inspired him to continue fundraising and charity work throughout the 1970s and '80s.
Mr. Edmundson moved to Hawaii in the late 1980s, where he continued to perform in shows and worked in an art gallery. Diagnosed with AIDS, a fundraiser was held for him in March 1990 in San Diego to help pay his medical bills, but he died in Hawaii before the money could be given to him. Instead, the funds were given to his mother, who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of a memorial service in his honor.
In 2004 Don / Tawny Tann was posthumously honored as a member of the Wall of honor at the San Diego LGBT Center.
______________________________________
see also:
http://www.polarblairsden.com/moviesblaxploitation.html
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074715/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
Mr. Don Edmundson (Edmondson) was one of San Diego's premier female impersonators. The first African-American Empress of the Imperial Court system, crowned Empress I Tawny Tann, Mr. Edmundson was well known throughout California as a performer and popular emcee for charity fundraisers.
Mr. Edmundson got his start in several Los Angeles strip clubs, performing in drag to predominantly straight clientele before relocating to San Diego in the early 1970s. Adding a twist to the old adage about meager beginnings, Mr. Edmundson used to joke that during his strip club days, he was so poor he would gather the hair from female strippers up off the floor of the dressing rooms to make his wigs. In truth, his wig collection was exquisite, his aesthetic an elegant 1930s glamour, and his manner always gracious.
At one time a preoperative transsexual, Mr. Edmundson was open about being gay at a time when all LGBT bars in California had a "no-touch" rule; bar owners could lose their license for allowing same-sex couples to slow-dance, and people caught kissing would be kicked out and often arrested for lewd conduct. After moving to San Diego, Mr. Edmundson worked as lead dancer at the Show Biz Supper Club on University Avenue, where he danced, sang and emceed exclusively in drag.
When Mr. Edmundson ran for Empress I of the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973, he competed against fourteen other candidates and the competition was fierce. Nine hundred people voted in that first election. Held at the Royal Hotel in downtown San Diego (what is now the Holiday Inn Embarcadero) as part of "The Sandies" awards show, the election was the first gay event ever held at a hotel in San Diego. Mr. Edmundson won and was crowned Empress I Tawny Tann along with Emperor I Omar, a coworker and popular bartender at the Show Biz Supper Club. They chose Black & White as their official color scheme to represent themselves as the popular, accepted couple that they were.
The fledgling San Diego LGBT community formed the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973 to be noticed, to attract public acknowledgment of LGBT community members, and to further relations between the LGBT community and the non-LGBT community through fundraising and charity.
The Imperial Court soon became an influential organization because it was one of the few LGBT organizations in San Diego; there was no San Diego Democratic Club or Greater San Diego Business Association, and the Center for Social Services was barely two years old.
Mr. Edmundson's role as Empress required him to host charity fundraisers for local organizations ranging from the Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego to Guide Dogs for the Blind. A skilled emcee with a quick wit, Edmundson's year-long reign inspired him to continue fundraising and charity work throughout the 1970s and '80s.
Mr. Edmundson moved to Hawaii in the late 1980s, where he continued to perform in shows and worked in an art gallery. Diagnosed with AIDS, a fundraiser was held for him in March 1990 in San Diego to help pay his medical bills, but he died in Hawaii before the money could be given to him. Instead, the funds were given to his mother, who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of a memorial service in his honor.
In 2004 Don / Tawny Tann was posthumously honored as a member of the Wall of honor at the San Diego LGBT Center.
______________________________________
see also:
http://www.polarblairsden.com/moviesblaxploitation.html
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074715/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
2004 San Diego LGBTQ Wall of Honor Inductee
Mr. Don Edmundson (Edmondson) was one of San Diego's premier female impersonators. The first African-American Empress of the Imperial Court system, crowned Empress I Tawny Tann, Mr. Edmundson was well known throughout California as a performer and popular emcee for charity fundraisers.
Mr. Edmundson got his start in several Los Angeles strip clubs, performing in drag to predominantly straight clientele before relocating to San Diego in the early 1970s. Adding a twist to the old adage about meager beginnings, Mr. Edmundson used to joke that during his strip club days, he was so poor he would gather the hair from female strippers up off the floor of the dressing rooms to make his wigs. In truth, his wig collection was exquisite, his aesthetic an elegant 1930s glamour, and his manner always gracious.
At one time a preoperative transsexual, Mr. Edmundson was open about being gay at a time when all LGBT bars in California had a "no-touch" rule; bar owners could lose their license for allowing same-sex couples to slow-dance, and people caught kissing would be kicked out and often arrested for lewd conduct. After moving to San Diego, Mr. Edmundson worked as lead dancer at the Show Biz Supper Club on University Avenue, where he danced, sang and emceed exclusively in drag.
When Mr. Edmundson ran for Empress I of the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973, he competed against fourteen other candidates and the competition was fierce. Nine hundred people voted in that first election. Held at the Royal Hotel in downtown San Diego (what is now the Holiday Inn Embarcadero) as part of "The Sandies" awards show, the election was the first gay event ever held at a hotel in San Diego. Mr. Edmundson won and was crowned Empress I Tawny Tann along with Emperor I Omar, a coworker and popular bartender at the Show Biz Supper Club. They chose Black & White as their official color scheme to represent themselves as the popular, accepted couple that they were.
The fledgling San Diego LGBT community formed the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973 to be noticed, to attract public acknowledgment of LGBT community members, and to further relations between the LGBT community and the non-LGBT community through fundraising and charity.
The Imperial Court soon became an influential organization because it was one of the few LGBT organizations in San Diego; there was no San Diego Democratic Club or Greater San Diego Business Association, and the Center for Social Services was barely two years old.
Mr. Edmundson's role as Empress required him to host charity fundraisers for local organizations ranging from the Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego to Guide Dogs for the Blind. A skilled emcee with a quick wit, Edmundson's year-long reign inspired him to continue fundraising and charity work throughout the 1970s and '80s.
Mr. Edmundson moved to Hawaii in the late 1980s, where he continued to perform in shows and worked in an art gallery. Diagnosed with AIDS, a fundraiser was held for him in March 1990 in San Diego to help pay his medical bills, but he died in Hawaii before the money could be given to him. Instead, the funds were given to his mother, who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of a memorial service in his honor.
In 2004 Don / Tawny Tann was posthumously honored as a member of the Wall of honor at the San Diego LGBT Center.
______________________________________
see also:
http://www.polarblairsden.com/moviesblaxploitation.html
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074715/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
Mr. Don Edmundson (Edmondson) was one of San Diego's premier female impersonators. The first African-American Empress of the Imperial Court system, crowned Empress I Tawny Tann, Mr. Edmundson was well known throughout California as a performer and popular emcee for charity fundraisers.
Mr. Edmundson got his start in several Los Angeles strip clubs, performing in drag to predominantly straight clientele before relocating to San Diego in the early 1970s. Adding a twist to the old adage about meager beginnings, Mr. Edmundson used to joke that during his strip club days, he was so poor he would gather the hair from female strippers up off the floor of the dressing rooms to make his wigs. In truth, his wig collection was exquisite, his aesthetic an elegant 1930s glamour, and his manner always gracious.
At one time a preoperative transsexual, Mr. Edmundson was open about being gay at a time when all LGBT bars in California had a "no-touch" rule; bar owners could lose their license for allowing same-sex couples to slow-dance, and people caught kissing would be kicked out and often arrested for lewd conduct. After moving to San Diego, Mr. Edmundson worked as lead dancer at the Show Biz Supper Club on University Avenue, where he danced, sang and emceed exclusively in drag.
When Mr. Edmundson ran for Empress I of the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973, he competed against fourteen other candidates and the competition was fierce. Nine hundred people voted in that first election. Held at the Royal Hotel in downtown San Diego (what is now the Holiday Inn Embarcadero) as part of "The Sandies" awards show, the election was the first gay event ever held at a hotel in San Diego. Mr. Edmundson won and was crowned Empress I Tawny Tann along with Emperor I Omar, a coworker and popular bartender at the Show Biz Supper Club. They chose Black & White as their official color scheme to represent themselves as the popular, accepted couple that they were.
The fledgling San Diego LGBT community formed the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973 to be noticed, to attract public acknowledgment of LGBT community members, and to further relations between the LGBT community and the non-LGBT community through fundraising and charity.
The Imperial Court soon became an influential organization because it was one of the few LGBT organizations in San Diego; there was no San Diego Democratic Club or Greater San Diego Business Association, and the Center for Social Services was barely two years old.
Mr. Edmundson's role as Empress required him to host charity fundraisers for local organizations ranging from the Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego to Guide Dogs for the Blind. A skilled emcee with a quick wit, Edmundson's year-long reign inspired him to continue fundraising and charity work throughout the 1970s and '80s.
Mr. Edmundson moved to Hawaii in the late 1980s, where he continued to perform in shows and worked in an art gallery. Diagnosed with AIDS, a fundraiser was held for him in March 1990 in San Diego to help pay his medical bills, but he died in Hawaii before the money could be given to him. Instead, the funds were given to his mother, who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of a memorial service in his honor.
In 2004 Don / Tawny Tann was posthumously honored as a member of the Wall of honor at the San Diego LGBT Center.
______________________________________
see also:
http://www.polarblairsden.com/moviesblaxploitation.html
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074715/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
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