Renee Imperato Oral History

Renee Imperato was born on May 8, 1948 in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City. Renee describes the first 30 some years of life as living as an “unconscious male impersonator.” Renee fought in Vietnam and participated in anti-war rallies and demonstrations after being transferred back to the U.S. towards the end of the war. Renee started working as a taxi driver in New York City, a job she kept for 27 years, in order to maintain a flexible schedule to do political organizing. Renee got involved in the drag club scene and joined the House of Sally. Despite the challenges that came with decades of presenting herself authentically while being in a wheelchair, helping queens escape from cops, using her taxi for years as a place to do sex work to make ends meet, and navigating PTSD, Renee furiously clung onto the importance of living a life entirely true to herself.

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Item Information:

Identifier: sn009z18w
Collection: Audio and Video Clips and Transcripts
Institution: OUTWORDS
Creator(s): Imperato, Renee
Kalin, Betsy
Contributor(s): Lush, Andrew
Date Created: Jan. 23, 2021
Dates Covered: 1969 to 1971
circa 1989
1986 to 1991
Genre: Oral Histories
Subject(s): 220 Club
House of Sally
Leslie Feinberg
Paris Is Burning
SAGE Advisory Council
World Worker's Party
Places: New York
Île-de-France > Paris
Topic(s): Ball culture
Drag queens
LGBTQ+ veterans
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Racism against Black people
Sex work
Transfeminine people
Transgender disabled people
Transgender political activists
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Resource Type: Moving image
Language: English
Rights: In copyright
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