Monika Veliz Interview, 08 August 2023

Abstract

Monika Veliz (b. 1977) was born in Italy and grew up in Euclid, Ohio, before attending Virginia Marti College of Design. Veliz discusses coming out as a transgender woman in the 1990s after attending meetings at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland. She discusses becoming active in Cleveland's Black underground LGBTQ+ Ballroom scene after joining the House of Chayde in the late 1990s. She discusses her career as a drag entertainer in Cleveland and describes the various gay bars and clubs in she performed at throughout the 1990s before briefly moving to San Francisco in 2000. Veliz discusses returning to Cleveland in 2001 and opening Jai Girl Inc before becoming involved with Margie's Hope and Margie's Closet in the 2021. She reflects on racial and gender-based discrimination within LGBTQ+ spaces and changes to Cleveland's LGBTQ+ and transgender communities over time.

Interviewee

Veliz, Monika (interviewee)

Interviewer

Habyl, Riley (interviewer)

Project

LGBTQ+ Cleveland

Date

8-8-2023

Document Type

Oral History

Duration

138 minutes

Recommended Citation

"Monika Veliz Interview, 08 August 2023" (2023). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 701008.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/1266

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