Miss Gay New York America 2019 Truly Fabu. Photo by Jeff Weller.
The Miss Gay America preliminary season officially kicked off on March 19 at The Copacabana in New York City's Times Square. The night was hosted by Catia Lee Love and Personna Shoulders. Andora Tetee our reigning Miss Gay America–who won the Miss Gay New York America crown last March)–presided over the pageant.
It was a night of high flying, high kicking drama as contestants Aria B. Cassadine, Dextaci, Dominique St. James, Fifi DuBois, and Pattaya Hart competed for the Miss Gay New York America 2019 title. All gave stellar, eye–and potentially joint-popping–performances to a packed and appreciatively screaming house. One felt sorry for the judges.
Celebrities in the audience included Miss Continental 2018 Stasha Sanchez of Atlanta, Miss USofA 2018 Janet-Fierce Andrews of Texas, Entertainer of the Year 2018 Danielle Hunter of St. Louis and Miss Gay America 1990 Brandy Alexander aka Randy Fenoli of "Say Yes to the Dress" TV (TLC) fame, of New York City.
In the end, it was Truly Fabu, a born and raised New Yorker now living in Baltimore who earned the crown and opportunity to compete in the Miss Gay America nationals this October in St. Louis. Pattaya Hart won First Alternate to Miss Gay New York America 2019 and will also compete at Miss Gay America. FYI, though now a New Yorker, Andora is a former Miss Gay Maryland America (2006) who moved to New York from Baltimore in 2007.
Below, we introduce you to Miss Gay New York America 2019 Truly Fabu, but first, we wanted to know how she chose her drag name.
“'Truly Fabu' came to me in two parts," she says. "'Truly' came from the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." That movie had two things I love: musical numbers and cars. Truly Scrumptious is the lead female character, and I always thought it was an interesting and pretty name. “Fabu” is a word my friend and I used back in the day. It’s just short for fabulous. I thought "Truly Fabu" had a fun and whimsical quality to it, and that was it."
Now, meet Miss Gay New York America 2019 Truly Fabu.
The moment Truly Fabu was announced as Miss Gay New York America 2019. Photo by Jeff Weller.
1 How did you get started, when did you first do in female impersonation?
Like a lot of performers, the first time I did drag was on Halloween. I was in college in Tucson Arizona, and went out to a bar called IBT’s where Lucinda Holliday (of Made for a Queen jewelry) was the show director. She asked me if I wanted to do the guest spot in a show, and I accepted. I was so nervous, and practiced a lot. All of my friends came out to support me, and before I was called onto the stage, my knees were shaking. The music started and I came out from behind the curtain to Debbie Gibson’s “Don’t You want Me Now.” As soon as I got on the stage and was hit by the spotlight, all my nerves were gone and a performer was born. To this day I still get nervous before going on stage.
