Video Interview, Wayne Esposito, January 21, 2013
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: She doesn't look too happy.
- EVELYN BAILEY: The GoPhone.
- That's what I am, the GoPhone.
- CREW: I am rolling whenever you're ready, sir.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: OK.
- Wayne, first thing we need you to do
- is give us the correct spelling of your first and last name,
- of how you want it appearing on screen.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: My name is Wayne Esposito,
- W-A-Y-N-E E-S-P-O-S-I-T-O, also known as Liza, L-I-Z-A.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Excellent.
- So, Wayne, I just want to start out about those early years.
- And I'm trying to remember from our conversation
- at your studio, but you started coming out to gay bars--
- was it early '70s, mid '70s?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Early '70s.
- Well, actually mid-'70s.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me about the gay scene
- in the mid-'70s?
- What was it like?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: The first gay bar
- I ever heard about was Jim's Bar, which is now
- known as Liberty Pole Way.
- It was on North Street, but now it's called Liberty Pole Way.
- And it was the first gay disco in Rochester,
- one of the first gay discos that was mainstream gay.
- Everybody knew it was a gay bar.
- They had drag shows.
- It was fabulous.
- It was bustling.
- It was a dark, sordid, seedy kind of place,
- but a whole lot of fun.
- It was just painted black, had a great stage.
- It was quite a time.
- And the music-- disco was just upcoming.
- So it was the main bar.
- At least to me it was.
- Everybody had different places they liked,
- but Jim's was definitely my home.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But what was it like going to a gay bar
- in the mid-'70s?
- I mean, it's different today.
- Now it's no big deal.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Right.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: For you personally, emotionally,
- what was it like?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, let me tell you something.
- I didn't directly get into the bars.
- Because I came out at such a young age.
- I came out when I was fourteen years old.
- I'm going on fifty-one years old now.
- So I looked through the window, and I stood out
- in front of the bar to see everybody walking in
- in their disco-galia clothes.
- So I watched drag shows through a window
- because I wanted to see.
- It was quite a time.
- It was quite a time.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But your story is a little unusual,
- coming out of fourteen.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, yeah.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: You didn't come out back then.
- People didn't come out.
- They hid in closets.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: I did, yeah.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Tell me about that.
- What was it about you that you just
- say, well, I'm busting open this door?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: It was hard in high school.
- I was totally harassed.
- We didn't have the facilities that we have for our gay youth
- back then as we do today, which is so nice.
- I had my guidance counselor to talk to,
- and she knew I was gay.
- And she was very accepting of it.
- She was very great.
- But some of the teachers weren't very nice to me, especially
- the gym teachers.
- I was totally harassed by the kids, and the teachers,
- they saw that.
- They saw that happening, and a lot of them
- didn't do anything about it.
- So it was hard growing up in the '70s as a gay youth,
- as a fourteen-, fifteen-year-old gay kid.
- Because I was downright gay.
- I mean, I had platforms and plucked eyebrows,
- and it was bad enough that I had very soft features.
- So I looked very feminine.
- I looked like a little girl.
- Even in my yearbook, they said, to a guy
- who should've been a girl, a model, which was kind of funny
- now that I look back at it.
- But yeah, it was a different time.
- It was hard.
- I got chased a lot.
- I could hurl offense in nine-inch heels,
- I can tell you that.
- I was being groomed for the runway, I guess.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Right.
- So I want to get back to that.
- I want to get back to you looking in the windows
- and watching the drag shows before you ever
- entered the bar.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: It was magical.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, I want you talk to me about that magic.
- What was it that you were seeing that drew you to it?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: You know, it's funny
- because on Facebook, one of the young kids
- said they were preparing for a pageant
- and getting somebody ready for a pageant.
- And they said, "Well, it's not like the old days
- when you went to the corner to buy a dress."
- Wasn't like that at all.
- These girls-- we had things made.
- You know what I mean?
- It was glamorous.
- It was exciting.
- It was better than the movies.
- This was magical to me to see these beautiful, beautiful
- hairdos and fabulous makeup and beautiful gowns
- and turkey-feathered boas.
- It was amazing.
- And the music back then went right along with that look.
- So it was an extraordinary time.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me, then--
- the first time you walked into the bar.
- What was that experience like?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: First time I walked into the bar, they
- all applauded. (Laughing) Because I was out there
- for four years before I got in.
- So Ducky, who was a bar owner back then of Jim's, came up
- and gave me a great big hug.
- He's like, finally, you're legal.
- And I'm like, yes, and I started working there.
- He gave me a bartending job and a cocktail waiter job.
- Plus, I did a lot of shows there, a lot of benefits,
- a lot of shows.
- It was something.
- It was something.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So I don't want to quite get into your drag
- yet.
- And now you're working for this bar.
- Again, talk to me what this bar was like.
- What were the kind of people like who were coming there?
- And what were they looking for?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Great question.
- Anything went.
- It was one place, one kind of safe place,
- inside the bar that was safe.
- Anything went.
- Straight people would come in to see the female impersonators,
- the fabulous female impersonators-- glamorous.
- And they made a good drink.
- The music was uncomparable to any other place.
- The music was great.
- Had a great sound system.
- The bar was really nothing to look at.
- Everything was painted black.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So you hit upon something, which I just
- want to expand on a little bit, about it was a safe place.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Safe place.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: No matter who you were, you can get in there
- and feel safe.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, absolutely.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about that
- and talk to me about the importance back then
- of having that safe place.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Because even as a kid
- going downtown, a gay kid going downtown,
- we always traveled in groups because we
- knew it would be safer.
- There were many times where I'd be alone walking
- that cars would pull over and say a few choice words to me.
- It was kind of scary now and then.
- I've gotten chased before, but it was safe in Jim's.
- It was safe in any gay bar.
- Outside, once you stepped out that door, was another story.
- You had a lot of drive-by people slurring
- racial and terrible remarks.
- It was the time.
- It's not like that anymore, and I'm glad to say that.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: It still is a little bit.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Yeah, right, but not as bad.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Not as bad, right.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Certainly.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So let's talk about the drag
- scene in Rochester back then.
- You started getting into it a little bit,
- but let's expand on it a little bit more.
- Again, what was it like?
- And more importantly, what then drove you
- to start stepping up on stage?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, back then, and it still is, though--
- that's one thing it has in common back then.
- It was a lot of fun.
- You know what I mean?
- When you're an entertainer, you want to entertain,
- and you want to be your best at it.
- And I see that today in the new girls, too.
- I mean, back then, it was very glamorous.
- It was very theatrical.
- This is what I've gotten from the previous owners
- of the pageant that I run.
- It was an art form.
- You know what I mean?
- So I think I'd like to say I had something
- to do with breaking the ice for some of the kids
- today with that art form drag, period.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me about the first time
- stepping on stage.
- Were you always Liza from the beginning,
- or did that come later?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Day one, absolutely.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me about Liza.
- How did Liza come about?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: My first show ever on stage was in 1979,
- but I wasn't dressed as Liza.
- I was dressed more like a Cleopatra look.
- I think I was sixteen years old, and I snuck
- in the Avenue Pub in costume.
- I got in with Michael Deak, who was another drag female
- impersonator.
- And they were having a contest, and I won it out
- of thirty-two queens.
- All we did was walk on stage, and I won it.
- So Gary Sweet, the owner of the Avenue Pub--
- I still have my 1979 winning trophy to that.
- And I do.
- The first show I did with the Miss Jim's pageant,
- I got a standing ovation my first time.
- I did Liza with a Z, and I did "It was a Good Time"
- from the Liza with a Z album.
- And it was such a release for me, because I was so into it
- and the audience was so great.
- And Maya Douglas won that year.
- I was the second runner-up.
- It was Maya, Marcela, and me.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So I want to get into a little bit of the psyche
- of it, just a little bit, about, you're up on stage
- and you're performing Liza.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Who's fun to do.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Guys are doing whatever character they're
- doing, whatever character they came up with.
- Again, I want to get that sense of,
- what is it about doing drag that fulfills you?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Probably with a drag performer
- that I relate to, like Liza--
- you know what I mean?
- She was such a strange and extraordinary person.
- I kind of felt what she felt. She was very, very--
- how can I say it?
- She was just an amazing person.
- I've seen her in movies, shows, interviews.
- I read a lot about her.
- I studied her.
- You study your craft, and you get
- to know what that person's thinking.
- It's pretending.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But the sense I want to get
- is that exhilaration that you feel when you're up on stage.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, my God, it's--
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about that.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Crazy.
- Crazy.
- You are that person who you're doing.
- I totally turn into her on stage, totally.
- My friend says I'm horrible to undress, to do a change.
- I remember one show I was doing.
- I had two or ten seconds to do a change.
- The guy put my wig and I was stepping into my gown.
- I had somebody holding my gown open
- so I could get these pumps in and changing my wig.
- And he had my wig on backwards, and I turned it around.
- I said, "You're a stupid asshole."
- Popped the wig back on the right way and went out like nothing
- happened.
- He's like, you're terrible to dress,
- and then you walk out there like everything's fabulous
- into my next number.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So let's take a slightly different avenue here.
- The drag queens and the whole drag scene
- very early on became aligned with the gay scene,
- and I'm trying to understand that relationship.
- I'm not even sure how to ask this,
- because there's the gay movement and then
- there's the drag scene.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: You mean the two combined it?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, I think when
- we started losing our good friends
- and our bar owners to AIDS and stuff, the drag queens
- were like, we could do something about this.
- You know what I mean?
- That's when I started doing benefits back then.
- I did hundreds of them back then.
- I remember doing a benefit for the American Cancer Society.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I don't want to quite get there yet.
- Because the drag scene was aligned with the gay clubs
- even before that, and I'm trying to understand why.
- Because not all performers are gay.
- I mean, most of you are, but not all.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: You're right.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So what was it about the gay bars
- and the gay community that the drag queens were
- able to find their place there?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Because, like I said,
- it was a safe place for us to be ourselves.
- You know what I mean?
- Anything went.
- I keep on going back to that safe place.
- Once we were there, we were definitely safe.
- And at least for me, once I was on stage, I was home.
- So I think that's the best way I can answer that.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So then let's move into the 1980s
- when AIDS hit.
- Before we get into what the drag queens did
- for AIDS awareness and AIDS fundraising,
- first talk to me from your own experience.
- Do you remember when you first realized
- that AIDS hit Rochester?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, my god, yeah.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about that.
- Talk to me about that first time.
- Like, oh my God, this is something that's going to--
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, we were so uneducated back then and so
- were the doctors.
- We didn't know anything.
- We had friends that were deathly sick,
- and you couldn't do anything to help them.
- And the doctors just were fumbling around
- to find the solution and the answer to it.
- And back then, they didn't get very far.
- It was totally so new, and it was definitely scary.
- And it definitely put a black cloud over our party.
- It certainly did.
- We were more aware.
- We weren't so ready to pick up other people and party.
- You know what I mean?
- I mean, the party was still there
- and the atmosphere and all that, but we
- knew something was happening that was
- devastating our community.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So at some point,
- though, you and your other colleagues
- decided there's something we can do here.
- Talk to me about that.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, first it was gay cancer.
- You know what I mean?
- That was our first thing going on.
- And I remember Harvey Milk from San Francisco--
- I think he was the first one to talk about that,
- if I remember right.
- He was the mayor of San Francisco.
- So I always read The Empty Closet
- and that kind of informed me.
- That's what we did read The Empty Closet,
- and I still read The Empty Closet.
- It's a sad subject.
- You know what I mean?
- It really is.
- Can I get a minute?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Mm, hm.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Rephrase that again.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I just want to get to that moment where
- the drag queens really started to step in the spotlight--
- that's a good way of putting it--
- saying something's going on here,
- but we can step up and make a difference.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, they needed money.
- They needed funds for research.
- The government at that time really wasn't doing that much
- about it.
- So yeah, let's have a show and raise some money, get the door,
- talk the bar owner into saying, let's get involved in this.
- We need research money, and that's
- when we became involved to help our friends.
- Because they were really kind of used as Guinea pigs back then.
- I've had several roommates that passed away here
- and when I did live in New York City.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I need you to give me
- a sentence that put that into context,
- something like, when we became aware
- that AIDS was going to be a serious thing to deal with,
- we and my drag queen colleagues--
- I don't even know what to call it--
- but we decided that it was something that we needed to do.
- So I need you to set it up for me.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: We stood as one.
- You know what I mean?
- We did.
- Even if some of the drag queens didn't like each other,
- when there was an AIDS benefit where
- we can raise money for research and whatnot,
- we became one big family.
- We put all that cattiness aside.
- We did.
- We came together quite lovely, too.
- I'm proud to say that.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I know you probably
- have many, but is there one memorable experience
- in your career as a performer that really comes to mind?
- One of your most fondest memories?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: There's a lot of them.
- Oh, my God.
- About me or other people?
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Well, it doesn't matter.
- I'm just trying to get a sense of really
- how fun that whole scene is--
- a funny incident at one of the bars or one of the drag queens.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: The things that went on in the dressing room--
- hysterical.
- The funniest thing was I was out seeing a show,
- and it was Backstreets, which is on Charlotte
- Street in Rochester, which is now a parking lot.
- Had a great stage.
- It was a great bar.
- And I was seeing the show, which I rarely did,
- and this one queen Wilma--
- she was on next, so I was rushing.
- I'm like, come on, honey, you're on next.
- Let's get going, right?
- She wasn't that talented, but she gave it her all
- and we loved her for it.
- She was one of the queens who was always prepared.
- Wilma, you got a tuna fish sandwich?
- She would have one in her purse.
- I mean, she was overly prepared, the sweetest queen.
- So she runs on stage, and the audience is going crazy.
- They're screaming, and I'm like, boy, she's really hot tonight.
- I'm like, where is this coming from?
- Well, I open the curtain, and her whole dress
- is tucked into her pantyhose.
- So they're screaming.
- She thinks-- she's like, I'm hot tonight.
- I think that was one of the funniest things for me
- that I've seen.
- As far as for me personally, one of my favorite moments
- onstage--
- probably the first time I was on stage.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Can we say that again?
- You're touching a mic.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, I'm sorry.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: That's OK.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: My favorite time on stage
- was probably my first time onstage at Jim's Bar
- for the Miss Jim's Pageant.
- I think that was the release of my energy,
- and love for being on stage was all
- wrapped up into that moment.
- That was the best.
- It was.
- And of course, when I won Miss Gay
- Rochester and numerous things that I've done.
- I was the first queen to go to Toronto, to another country,
- to perform back in the early 80s, and that was amazing.
- West Palm Beach--
- I used to go there a lot and do shows.
- They used to fly me out there to a club called
- Enigma, which I don't even know if it's there anymore.
- But yeah, I had a lot of good times.
- It's hard to pick one.
- But my favorite one, I guess, is when
- I entered the Miss Jim's Pageant,
- my first time on stage doing Liza with a Z.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I just want to ask you about some people
- that you came across in your years.
- First, you talked about him already a little bit, but just
- tell me a little bit more about Duckie.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, my God, Duckie.
- Duckie was at that door every night.
- He was sitting there, checking out his crowd of people.
- Duckie was a great person.
- He had a heart of gold.
- He was a great bar owner.
- He would never give me a day off.
- But no, he ran the Miss Gay Rochester
- Pageant for a few years when it was in limbo
- and it was in a bar.
- He was a good person.
- He was.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I guess we can't go
- without talking about Marcella.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, Joey.
- Jesus, that's my sister.
- If he was here, you would need an English interpreter.
- Joey's a great person.
- He was a great bar owner.
- It was a different scene when he had Club Marcella and stuff,
- but he created the "Life's A Drag" cast.
- And that's still going.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But he really stepped up, particularly
- when he had his club.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, yeah.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And he made some significant contributions
- to the gay community and the drag community.
- Talk to me a little bit about that, a little bit
- about his contributions.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, he did step up.
- I know he gave a lot for benefits and stuff like that.
- Because he has such a big heart.
- He did care a lot, and he kind of
- went through that whole '70s time with me.
- So we were a little more educated on what was happening
- and what we could do and how we can make people's lives better.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Tony Green?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Tony Green.
- One of the funnest bartenders in Rochester, rest his soul.
- He was an amazing person.
- He was just a very happy person.
- He was quite extraordinary, yeah.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And Jesse Vullo?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Jesse Vullo, who I loved.
- Jesse Vullo was one of the nicest bar owners-- so polite,
- so soft-spoken.
- And I remember I was in Friar's.
- I would see Jesse just walk around the bar,
- greeting everybody in his bar, which that seldom
- happens today.
- You know what I mean?
- You're not greeted by the owner, which was such a nice touch.
- I remember doing a show there.
- And after my show, he took me aside and gave me $500.
- He's like, I love you.
- Please come back.
- $500 back then was like $2,000.
- It was a lot of money.
- And so me and Jesse quickly gravitated to each other
- even before I did any shows there.
- It's because he was such a nice human being.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And if you were to give
- him a place, again, of someone who
- really made a contribution--
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: He was one of the first
- that I remember that died from AIDS.
- Yeah, he was one of the first, and we didn't know what it was.
- You know what I mean?
- And we were uneducated about it then.
- So yeah, that hit hard.
- It hit home hard with Jesse.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But before he died,
- he again was making a place for the gay community.
- Because he had a couple of different bars.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, he did.
- He had The Turf, which was the Ratskeller.
- And then he had Fryer's on Monroe Avenue,
- which is Woody's now.
- Oh, yeah.
- He was a very generous person, and he had a heart of gold.
- He was a good bar owner.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So you've been around long
- enough to see things change and hopefully
- change for the better.
- But talk to me about that.
- Talk to me about how it was for you
- back in the '70s and the 80s compared
- to what you're seeing now.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, how it is now, our drag scene now,
- it's amazing.
- The queens are fabulous.
- They really are.
- They're beautiful, fabulous, talented people.
- I like to think that me and Marcella and Aggie Dune--
- we kind of broke the ice so they have some of the rights
- that they have today.
- And sometimes they break the ice, too, should I say.
- We can never stop cracking the ice for our rights and stuff.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And Aggie, she's still performing.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, my god, yeah.
- I think me and Aggie are two of the oldest.
- I don't do it as much anymore.
- I do the pageant and once in a while
- I'll pop in and do something, if I'm asked.
- But yeah, Aggie's fabulous.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, we just saw Big Wigs over the holidays
- with Kasha.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Great show.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, it was fun.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Yeah, of course.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I'm just reading over my questions
- here to see if there's anything I missed.
- Here's one really obscure question.
- If there was just an average Joe or Jane that
- had pulled off the street--
- maybe they'd never even seen a drag show
- and they may have their perceptions of what it would
- be-- but if there was one thing that you would want them
- to know about what the drag shows are,
- what drag queens are, what would you tell them?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: You want to come and see
- something very different? (Laughing)
- I look at it towards art.
- I really do.
- I always have.
- I mean, I think as far as being an actor,
- I think that's one of the hardest roles to play
- is to be a man changing into a woman.
- Come see the transformation.
- It's an art form.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to go beyond that a little bit.
- I want to go beyond just the art form and the performance
- part of that to, what is the place
- for drag queens in our society?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Well, I think there
- is a better place for them now than there was yesteryear.
- That's for sure.
- Because we weren't always accepted in a lot of places.
- And just to take that for a moment and run with it,
- back then we had to wear three articles of men's clothing.
- If we were stopped by the police,
- they wanted to see three articles of men's clothing
- underneath all your drag, or we would be going
- downtown in a paddy wagon.
- And that's for sure.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So I'm curious.
- What three articles would you wear?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: That was hard.
- That was hard.
- Well, come on now.
- Really?
- Jesus.
- We kind of layered stuff, all right?
- Let me just leave it at that.
- Great. (Laughing)
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But you know what, we
- didn't talk about that a lot.
- Let's talk about that now.
- Not only were you being harassed by someone
- that pulled up in a car--
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Not someone.
- Usually, it was a group of them.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: A group of them, right, harassing.
- But there was also police harassment.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, my God, terrible.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Talk to me about that.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Oh, my God.
- I remember the police when I was working at Jim's, bartender
- or cocktail waiting.
- The police would come in and they would harass.
- Even though we weren't over capacity,
- they would just give Duckie a terrible time.
- If they had an incident where somebody
- got beat up in the parking lot, which happened--
- I mean, my friend had his whole face reconstructed.
- He threw his keys because they were
- trying to rob him and beat him up because he was gay.
- So I remember running in the bar and missing steps
- because I was flying, because I was being chased with a gun.
- So it was a crazy, crazy time.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: What, then, kept you going?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: I don't know.
- My passion for who I was.
- You know what I mean?
- I was gay and that wasn't going anywhere.
- This is who I am.
- This is me.
- I'm not putting any airs on or being something
- that I'm not, so to speak.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: And that brings up another question.
- Because I've heard other drag queens say this or other people
- talking about the drag performance.
- Some of them say it's easier to be another person onstage
- than it is to be themselves.
- Do you ever feel that?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Never.
- Never.
- I can basically talk to anybody.
- I'm comfortable with myself to do that.
- When I was in high school in my early, early years,
- it was uncertain.
- It was a different time.
- But yeah, when I finally got a little older, I found myself
- and I was comfortable with the fact of who I was.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: So what would you
- tell a fourteen-year-old now who may be questioning
- his or her sexual identity?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Find out who you are in your heart.
- Be yourself.
- It's OK.
- You're not alone.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: What would you tell a fourteen-
- or fifteen-year-old who is thinking
- about maybe going into drag?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Let me paint your face.
- If you're going to do it, do it right.
- Have me or Aggie, somebody with some background.
- Do it right.
- There's really no right or wrong way,
- but there is a fabulous way to create that illusion.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Last question.
- And you can take some thought on this,
- but all of it, all the drag, all the stuff
- that you did for AIDS fundraising and all
- that stuff--
- what are you, Wayne Esposito, most proud of,
- of what you've done?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: As far as for the gay community?
- Keeping Miss Gay Rochester Pageant alive.
- Miss Gay Rochester is one of the oldest pageants in the country.
- This will be our forty-fourth annual pageant for 2013.
- That's an old pageant.
- And I'm so pleased and so proud that I
- have been running it for the past eighteen
- years with success.
- And that's something me, myself, Aggie, and Michael Deak,
- we're all proud to be a part of and make it happen and make it
- into a beautiful event.
- It's an event.
- It's not a bar event.
- It's in a theater.
- So I'm pleased to say that.
- It's a nice thing.
- It's something a gay youth could say, mom, come to this.
- It's in a theater.
- It's a nice event.
- And I'm not saying anything about the clubs.
- Of course, but it's out of the club scene
- and it's more theatrical.
- So I'm pleased to say that I've been running
- that pageant for eighteen years, and I'm
- pleased to say that I'm proud of that.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Sorry.
- Another question just came to mind.
- I don't remember if it was you I was talking to or maybe Jimmy,
- but there was one of the first queens in Rochester, Freddie--
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Freddie Bass.
- He was Miss Gay Rochester 1976.
- She was bicentennial queen.
- Fabulous.
- He did Shirley Bassey.
- He was one of my idols.
- I looked at him like, oh my God, fabulous.
- His lip sync was on, his style and his makeup--
- an amazing performer.
- He could stand there in front of a mike and be Shirley Bassey.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Excellent.
- Yeah, we're still trying to track him down.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: I could help you with that.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, I'm sure (unintelligible).
- Because I understand he's still around.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: He's still around,
- but he's very, very private.
- Freddie always has been.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: But he was one of the first?
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Yes.
- Well, he was one of the first-- and Michael Deak.
- They tied that year for Miss Gay Rochester in 1976.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Who did Michael play?
- I forget.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Miss Vikki.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Miss Vikki, right.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: He did Vikki Carr.
- He was the first queen to wear pants on stage
- and get away with it.
- You know what I mean?
- Disco pants.
- And it was hot.
- So Michael was a trendsetter back then, Miss Vikki.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Well, I think that's it.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: I'm glad.
- I'm glad to be part of this.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: We couldn't do it without you.
- There's so many people that need to be part of this documentary.
- And it comes down to, oh my God, OK, we
- need to add one more person to this.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Very cool.
- KEVIN INDOVINO: Thank you.
- WAYNE ESPOSITO: Yeah.