Lee Brewster

Lee Greer Brewster (April 27, 1943 – May 19, 2000) was an American drag queen, transgender activist, and retailer. He was a founding member of the pre-Stonewall activist group, Queens Liberation Front. In the 1970s and 1980s, he published Drag magazine. Brewster helped to raise funds for the very first U.S. celebration of Pride, Christopher Street Liberation Day in 1970. He continued to help raise funds and organize Christopher Street Liberation Day for several years. Lee Brewster was active in the homophile and gay liberation movements, working with the Mattachine Society of New York as well as the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.

Personal life Lee Brewster was born in a log cabin in Honaker, Virginia, on April 27, 1943. He was primarily raised in West Virginia, where his father was a coal miner.

He moved to New York City in the 1960s after being fired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for being a homosexual.

Professional life Brewster worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a file clerk in the early 1960s, until he was fired for being a homosexual. Initially, the business was mail order based, but after so many people began coming directly to his apartment, he opened a store around the corner from his Hell's Kitchen apartment. He coordinated the organization's drag balls and fundraising events.

Lesbian Feminist Liberation opposed the performance by drag queens at the 1973 LGBT Pride March in New York City. As they passed out flyers, Sylvia Rivera, of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, took the microphone from emcee Vito Russo and spoke against the sentiment and spoke of the harassment and arrests of drag queens on the street, some of whom had been involved with the Stonewall riots. Lesbian Feminist Liberation's Jean O'Leary then insisted on responding by denouncing drag as misogynist and criticizing the march for being too male-dominated. This prompted Brewster to denounce anti-transgender lesbian feminists. The increasingly angry crowd only calmed when Bette Midler, who heard on the radio in her Greenwich Village apartment, arrived, took the microphone, and began singing "Friends". This was one of many events in early 1970s where lesbian and transgender activists clashed.

Collaboration with Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.)

March on Albany The Queens Liberation Front, including founders Lee Brewster and Bunny Eisenhower, joined with S.T.A.R. including Sylvia Rivera to lead a protest for the repeal of crossdressing laws in New York. They marched to the Capital in Albany, "...in support of the bills currently before the legislators in behalf of liberalized laws on homosexuality. Amongst them are bill for the repeal of impersonation laws...". The groups and their supporters travelled to Albany on four buses that had been chartered by the NY Gay Activists Alliance. Other notable protest attendees included Reverend Troy Perry.

Panel Discussion with Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson In 1972, Lee Brewster was part of a panel discussion on "transvestism" with S.T.A.R. representatives Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and Bebe Scarpi.