7
Juanita Valdez came up through the Phoenix drag scene in the 1970s and ’80s, performing under the name Tía Juana. In the early ’90s, she transitioned to living full-time as a woman. Eventually she became the owner of the Main Drag, one of the valley’s biggest queer bars, where she also served as mistress of ceremonies a few nights a week.
I met Juanita when I joined the local transgender support group as a teenager. She took an immediate liking to me, declaring herself my fairy drag mother. She taught me how to walk and talk and blend in with the rest of the female population.
“You gotta work it, Miss Thang. Don’t let them boys clock you as anything but total fish. Your survival depends on it,” she’d warn me, usually after chastising me for not looking or acting femme enough.
Shortly
