Femme4Femme: Remembering Cousin Robert

Abstract

Cousin Robert was part of the Castro drag scene for seven decades before he died in 2019 at age ninety. He was born in the city and was a regular at Twin Peaks, back when the windows were covered up to protect from vice raids and angry locals. He lived way up on 17th Street, and I wonder how he managed to climb that steep hill in strappy heels. Robert told me that he always passed, so he didn't need to change out of his look before leaving the bar.As the only other queer in our biological family, I inherited his photo album when he died. These photos connect me to a legacy of San Francisco queer life before AIDS, ghosts smiling from blurry photos of the performance stage at Finocchios.So many transsexuals and drag queens kept scrapbooks and photo albums that were tossed by relatives when they died. If Robert Rossi had died in the plague with the rest of his chosen family, maybe that is what would have happened with these photos too. Instead I was able to claim them and am honored to share them with you, beloved queer and trans community. Here is Cousin Robert and our unknown ancestors.