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LGBTQ+ Cleveland

Monika Veliz Interview, 08 August 2023

Participants: Veliz, Monika (interviewee) / Habyl, Riley (interviewer)
Collection: LGBTQ+ Cleveland

Monika Veliz (b. 1977) was born in Italy and grew up in Euclid, Ohio, before attending Virginia Marti College of Design. Veliz discusses coming out as a transgender woman in the 1990s after attending meetings at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland. She discusses becoming active in Cleveland's Black underground LGBTQ+ Ballroom scene after joining the House of Chayde in the late 1990s. She discusses her career as a drag entertainer in Cleveland and describes the various gay bars and…

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