Nelly Queen: The Life & Times of Jose Sarria

 In 1961, Jose Sarria is the first openly gay man to run for public office in the United States – and he runs in heels!

 

 As a drag performer at a San Francisco beatnik bar, The Black Cat Café, the former World War II veteran, decides to run for City Supervisor after local officials threaten to shut down all the gay bars. 

 

Jose’s opera parodies bring in hundreds of gay clientele every weekend, and he exploits that fame to inspire the fractured community to unite. 

 

Jose’s cabaret platform serves as a podium to teach his closeted customers to not only believe in his slogan, ‘Gay is Good,’ he rallies them to support his political campaign to run for City Supervisor.

 

Jose helps so many people to accept who they are, and inspires them to stand up for themselves and demand their rights. He fights for our right to love who we choose to love. The irony is that his zealous activism pushes his lover away and in the end, he can’t save the one he loves the most.