Venus Xtravaganza
Age 23 (born 22 May 1965)21 Dec 1988
New York City (USA)
Strangled
TDoR list ref: tdor.info/Jan 1989/Venus Xtravaganza
Venus was found strangled and stuffed under a bed in a New York hotel room on Christmas Day 1988, four days after her death.
She had come to national attention after her appearance in Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary film Paris Is Burning, in which her life as a trans woman formed one of the film's several story arcs.
“I’m hungry,” laughs Venus Xtravaganza. Leaning against a boombox, she smokes a cigarette as her hair blows in the Harlem wind. It’s the last time we hear the escort and performer speak in Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary Paris is Burning and it’s a resounding reminder of the burning ambition drag queens and transgender folks like Venus felt – and feel – for something different to the hand life has dealt them.
Venus adopted her name as a teenager after leaving home in search of a different life. She took the surname Xtravaganza in 1983 upon being accepted into the House of Xtravaganza, one of many ‘houses’ consisting of predominantly transgender and gay youth associated with the 1980’s ball culture scene. Paris is Burning reveals Harlem’s balls – drag-centric events where participants would dress up and walk for trophies. It’s an intimate portrait of a culture that provided disenfranchised young people (often black, latino, transsexual and gay) an opportunity to be whatever they wanted for a night. Ambition was the buzzword. Here the allure of costume, high fashion, status and wealth combined to form an enveloping world of love and acceptance.
https://www.spin.com/2024/06/who-killed-venus/
https://www.advocate.com/crime/venus-xtravaganza
https://jerseydigs.com/venus-xtravaganza-pellagatti-house-jersey-city/
https://medium.com/th-ink/justice-for-venus-xtravaganza-1cbd45bc504a
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8462404/mike-pellagatti-interview-venus-xtravaganza
http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/17921/1/the-legacy-of-venus-xtravaganza
https://my.vanderbilt.edu/wgs272/2013/02/the-gender-binary-and-venus-xtravaganza/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Xtravaganza
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101094281/venus-xtravaganza
https://www.facebook.com/SpoiledRichWhiteGirl/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0944620/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100332/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10_JeZ7LEIRhvewTCoL5mVkH6MQJzf7fSXl4-P6QJ0v0/edit#gid=0
