By Karla Méndez

Writer Karla Méndez examines the life and activism of singer, comedian and actress, Lady Java, who was a founder of the Transgender Rights Movement.

In recent years, cases like Corbitt v. Taylor, Kalarchik v. Montana, and Bostock v. Clayton County have not only foregrounded the continuing fight for transgender rights, but highlighted the many ways in which transgender individuals continue to be subjugated in the U.S. These cases have argued against the unlawful firing of employees who were homsexual or transgender, the denial of driver licenses for transgender individuals that reflect their gender, and policies that prohibit them from amending the sex designation on their birth certificates. The individuals spearheading these battles are following in the steps of those that fought before them, the individuals who put their lives on the line to gain rights for their communities. Among those was Lady Java, who in 1967 filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on the grounds of discriminatory laws that targeted LGBTQ individuals, specifically transgender people or those who identified as gender non-conforming. Though there have been strides made in obtaining rights for transgender people, through examining these cases it is clear that there is still a long road ahead.

California By Way of Louisiana

Born on August 20th 1942, Lady Java was raised by her mother in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, a rural community outside of New Orleans. Not much is available online about her youth, but given that she transitioned at a young age with the support of her mother, it can be assumed they had a close relationship. To quote Treva Ellison, we often hear that within Black communities there is heightened homophobia, but in regards to Java’s story, that is untrue. In the mid-1960s, Java moved to Riverside, California, with her family and began to wait tables at the Redd Foxx club in West Hollywood, which was owned by stand-up comedian and actor John Sandford. Soon after, she began to run in the circles as and befriend performers like Don Rickles, Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown, Little Richard, and Lena Horne. Her friendship with the latter would be long-lasting, with Lena Horne saying, “I think she’s the most beautiful feminine thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Java was also inspired by other entertainers like Mae West and Josephine Baker, both of whom are considered queer icons. Like West, who wrote a play entitled The Drag which portrayed homosexuality and at times was a male impersonator, and Baker, who through her Danse Sauvage and song “J’ai Deux Amours” (translated to “I have two loves,” attempted to remove the shame attached to sexuality, Java transgressed societal expectations on gender identity, behavior, and presentation. Though she would later in her life elucidate that she did in fact live as a woman, she would play with and push the boundaries of gender. In an ad for a performance at Ciro’s in Los Angeles, two photographs are printed side-by-side, one has her dressed in a “masculine” fashion wearing a suit, while the other shows her in “feminine” clothing wearing a matching bra and underwear set and sitting provocatively atop a stool. The ad bears the line “THE WORLD’S GREATEST FEMALE IMPERSONATOR,” a label that would often be ascribed to her.

“Female impersonator” is defined as a type of theatrical performance in which a man dresses in women’s clothing for the sole purpose of entertaining an audience. Though it is at times used interchangeably with drag queens and has been used to describe drag artists and transgender women, they are dissimilar. The term “female impersonator” dates back to ancient Greece when women were not allowed to perform and as such, men had to play the roles of women. As the National History Museum (NHM) writes, “female impersonator” does not describe gender identity as many mistakenly believe. Rather, it denotes a form of performance, theatre, and work. It can originate from extensive gender identity patterns which can include heteronormativity, while drag is an art form that is typically associated with queer identity. It was never a term that functioned as a substitution for transgender women because drag performers may not identify as transgender, though it has evolved into “drag queen” and “drag performer.”

When looking at Java’s name, it’s crucial to note the deliberate use of the “sir” and “lady” which within societal gender rules, are diametrically opposed. In putting the two together, she is representing her intersectional identity and pushing the boundaries of gender and race. To quote the NHM, “Sir Lady Java is a woman of trans experience.” Lady Java’s name and existence is an excellent example of the multifaceted lived experience Black trans women. Black women ostracization due to the color of their skin, while trans women experience subjugation due to society not viewing them as women. At the center of this are Black trans women who face both kinds of marginalization.

“Although Lady Java’s unrelenting refusal to be discouraged by anti-Black transphobic violence and discrimination put her in danger, she kept on. As Java said, “There was nothing to help us. No one cared. So I had to care, and I kept on, kept on and kept on.”

Promotional Material, Photographs, and Periodicals Relating to Sir Lady Java (MS Thr 1777). Houghton Library, Harvard University. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Wikimedia Commons.

“Lady Java’s name and existence is an excellent example of the multifaceted lived experience Black trans women. Black women ostracization due to the color of their skin, while trans women experience subjugation due to society not viewing them as women. At the center of this are Black trans women who face both kinds of marginalization.”

Rule Number 9

Moving parallel to one another, as Java continued to become a recognizable figure in Black entertainment, the LAPD began to crack down on performances by “female impersonators” or anyone dressing in drag. They had a particular fixation on Java. In the fall of 1967, as she was finishing a two-week commitment performing at the Redd Foxx club that had been so successful she wanted to extend it, the LAPD began to [strategically] shut down her performances, arguing that they violated Rule Number 9, a municipal code introduced in 1958 that prohibited entertainment in which “any performer impersonates by means of costume or dress a person of the opposite sex.” One such attempt resulted in 50 officers coming to the club to arrest Java claiming she was breaking the “three piece rule,” which stated that if dressed as the opposite sex, the individual must be wearing at least three articles of clothing that correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth, or they would be arrested. She avoided arrest by pointing out that she was wearing socks, a wristwatch, and a bow tie, all categorized as “male articles.” In another attempt, officers trying to close down the club took photographs of her while she was wearing a bikini. Reflecting back on the episode she said, “They were kind of cruel to me.”

As Susan Stryker writes, regulations like Rule Number 9 were not new and actually date back to the 1840s when cities in the U.S. were rapidly growing and diversifying, regulating the appearance and behavior of individuals became a crucial way of producing able-bodied and cisgender norms in public spaces. It can be argued that because diversification was occurring so quickly, it was perhaps difficult to control who was moving and where, making the implementation of these rules a critical tool to ensure that the societal rules on both behavior and appearance were being followed. As the NHM argues, the criminalization of queer and trans people and shutting down of Java’s show was done with the belief that it would cause other performers to stop, but what they did was target spaces in which LGBTQ individuals felt safe.

Unfortunately that was just the start of the LAPD’s campaign against Java. During one of her performances at the club, they arrived and threatened to arrest Sandford, as he was the owner, and revoke the club’s license. The LAPD informed him that if he wanted Java to continue performing at his club, he would have to apply for a permit. On October 4th, 1967, they denied the permit, effectively ending her performance career as they had also threatened to fine any other club that hired her.

It’s crucial to mention that the Redd Foxx club had significant Black patronage, putting forth the connection between racism and their concentration on the club. When Java performed at other clubs that were more regularly frequented by white individuals, the enforcement of the law was not occurring. This brings up another important argument that by imposing these rules in Black-frequented establishments, it was a form of forcing acculturation. That is, they were utilizing the law to convince Black Americans that if they followed these policies, they would be accepted into and by the dominant culture. That is a fallacy, as Black Americans and LGBTQ individuals are still othered.

Lawsuit Against the LAPD

Sir Lady Java, protesting in front of Redd Foxx’s club, Los Angeles, October 21, 1967 against Rule 9. Photo Source: Natural History Museums Los Angeles County.

In response to the halting of her performances, Java organized public rallies, pickets, and protests against them which received media coverage from outlets like Jet and the L.A. Advocate. During one such protest, she carried a sign that read “Java vs. Right to Work,” wearing a sleeveless white dress and pumps, a clear indictment of the law. This points to moments in history in which Black Americans were kept from working in certain fields or kept from working broadly. It is indicative of how work is considered a privilege, especially for Black Americans, yet that privilege often seems to be inaccessible. Java also was cognizant of the fact that for trans people, having access to work is a constant challenge.

Following the protests, Java teamed up with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to bring a lawsuit against the LAPD in California’s Supreme Court. The ACLU argued that Rule Number 9 violated Java’s constitutional rights as it eliminated her income and ability to work. In taking her fight against the LAPD to court, she was not only fighting for her own right to work, but for the larger trans community. In a 2016 interview, she said, “I didn’t so much need the money because I was working, but my sisters after me needed it, and I had to make a way for the drag queens to be able to work in the city of Los Angeles, and that was important to me.” As Stryker states, it set the stage for future challenges against employment discrimination toward gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals, challenges that continue to this day. Java’s brought her suit to the California Supreme Court in 1967 but it was not until the summer of 2020 that the United States Supreme Court voted in a 6-3 decision that federal law prohibiting discrimination based on sex should be understood to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the end, they lost the case due to a technicality. The Supreme Court ruled that the club owner, not the performer, had to file a suit against the ordinance for it to be heard. Java and the ACLU sought out a club owner to take on the cause, but unfortunately they were all too invested in maintaining a good relationship with the LAPD. Though she wasn’t successful in her fight and Rule Number 9 wouldn’t be overturned until 1969, Java’s fearless actions against the discriminatory and pervasive law targeting the LGBTQ community opened the door for it to be repealed.

The Fight for Trans Rights Continues

The fight for rights for the LGBTQ community continues today. Nationwide, there have been attempts to ban drag performances. As Amanda Goad of ACLU Southern California says about these bans, “They’re really not that different from Rule No. 9 in terms of prohibiting certain kinds of entertainment performance that’s perceived as gender bending and somehow harmful.”

Furthermore, it can not be understated that the persecution Java experienced was due to a war waged against those that didn’t fit into the distinct frameworks our society has for gender and sexuality. Not only that, but for Java there was the added identity of being a Black woman, fueling acts of racism. The experience of being both Black and trans is one that is often discussed as it is complex and unique to Black women. In society, Black women have historically been placed at the bottom of the social hierarchy, even in movements fighting for equal rights, like the Civil Rights and feminist movements. There is a propensity, both naively and willfully, to ignore how both issues of race and gender adversely impact Black women.

Black trans women disproportionately experience anti-Black and transphobic violence and harassment. As many have reported, many cases involving violence toward Black trans women go unreported as they are less likely to be seen as “victims,” resulting in the public not caring. In a 2020 Center for American Progress study on the state of the LGBTQ community, one-in-three LGBTQ Americans reported having experienced discrimination in the year prior, which included more than three-in-five transgender individuals. LGBTQ people of color reported discrimination is higher than average, with 43% of respondents experiencing discrimination in the past year, compared to 31% of white respondents. Black trans women exist at the intersection of these numbers.

“...Java’s fearless actions against the discriminatory and pervasive law targeting the LGBTQ community opened the door for it to be repealed.”

Sir Lady Java. circa 1967 to circa 1970. Source: Digital Transgender Archive and KyKy Archives.

Getting Her Flowers

Though she laid the groundwork for the current fight for transgender rights, Java is still overlooked in the study of LGBTQ history. She took on the struggle for trans liberation only three years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and two years before the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, yet she is often left out of the history books. But in recent years, she has begun to be acknowledged for her contributions to the LGBTQ civil rights movement. In 2021, she was featured in an exhibition at the National History Museum of Los Angeles County. On display was a 1989 Long Beach Pride Parade poster on loan from the ONE Gay and Lesbian Archives, which has the most extensive collection of LGBTQ material in the world. And for the 2022 Los Angeles Pride Parade, she was the Community Grand Marshal. At the time of her death at the age 82 on November 16, 2024, actress and recording artist Hailie Sahar was working on a film adaptation of Java’s life, which is in pre-production, with Sahar playing Java. In an interview discussing the biopic, Java said it is necessary to tell her story today. She said, “Many of my brothers and sisters got killed in my time, so I don’t care who doesn’t like it. I’m going to tell it.”

As Josie Huang wrote for LAist, that Java lived to be 82 is a testament to her resiliency. In our society, trans people, particularly trans people of color, experience higher threats of violence and discrimination. In 2024, 350 transgender people were killed, an uptick from 2021’s total of 321. One in four were between the ages of 19 and 25, wth 15 recorded murders being youth under the age of 18. To say that Java’s long life is remarkable would be an understatement. Although Java’s unrelenting refusal to be discouraged by anti-Black transphobic violence and discrimination put her in danger, she kept on. As Java said, “There was nothing to help us. No one cared. So I had to care, and I kept on, kept on and kept on.”

About the Author

Karla Méndez is an arts and culture writer whose work examines the histories of Black and Latin American women and their representations within visual art, literature, poetry, and performance. She is interested in how women put forth representations of themselves that are accurately representative of their expansiveness and how they use these avenues to engage with topics of identity, gender, race, and the female body. Ultimately, her work seeks to explore and reinstate forgotten and ignored histories as a site of care for ourselves and our communities.

She is the lead columnist of Black Feminist Histories and Social Movements, a column for the advocacy organization Black Women Radicals. She is a contributor for the Boston Art Review and Elephant Magazine and her work has appeared in the Brown Art Review and Ampersand: An American Studies Journal.

“I Kept On, Kept On and Kept On”: Honoring the Life and Times of Lady Java