Friday, Oct. 23 in Portland, Ore., LGBTQ royalty from all over North America and Mexico will be gathering to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Imperial Court System at the Golden Jubilee Gala State Dinner at the historic Sentinel Hotel in downtown Portland.
Those attending include the Rev. Troy Perry (Founder of the Metropolitan Community Church); Dennis and Judy Shepard (Founders of the Matthew Shepard Foundation): Cleve Jones (Founder of the Names Project and the AIDS Quilt); the Honorable Toni Atkins (Speaker, California State Assembly); the Honorable Michael Connolly (Legislative Assembly, Canada); Stuart Milk (Founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation), Dustin Lance Black (Academy Award winner for the movie Milk) and many other elected officials and LGBT leaders from throughout the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico.
In 1961, World War II Veteran Jose Julio Sarria became the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in North America. Though he did not win that election, four years later he did win, and was crowned with the title of Empress I of San Francisco. Now, 50 years later the International Imperial Court System has grown into court chapters in over 68 cities throughout the United States.
Presiding over this historic 50th Anniversary Celebration will be Jose Julio Sarria heir and successor, Queen Mother I of the Americas, Her Most Imperial Majesty Empress Nicole the Great. Nicole Murray Ramirez has been a Latino/gay rights activist himself for over 45 years and is a City Commissioner who has served and advised the last seven mayors of San Diego.
“It is a great honor to preside over this historic event,” said Murray Ramirez. “I am equally honored that 31 San Diegans will be traveling to Portland for this “State Dinner.”
Among the San Diegans attending the event are Councilman Todd Gloria, City Commissioner Robert Gleason (chair, Regional Port Authority); City Commissioner Bruce Abrams (chair, International Foreign Affairs Commission); Benjamin F. Dillingham (County Veterans Board); Sherman Mendoza (owner, The Caliph) Big Mike Phillips (president, board of directors of the Imperial Court de San Diego); Tom Dickerson (Emperor XL and former Mr. San Diego Leather); Mikie Too and Toni Saunders (Emperor and Empress XLII of the Imperial Court de San Diego) Empress V Morgana; Empress VII Jimmy Mountain; Empress XXV Roxie Bleu; Empress XLI Pearl; Empress XXXIII Lala Too; Empress XXXVIII Regina Styles and Russell Roybal, now the deputy director of the N.L.G.B.T.Q. Task Force in Washington, D.C.
The Imperial Courts have been often called “the gay Shriners or Elks” of the Americas and have been raising millions of dollars for countless causes and organizations within and outside of the LGBTQ community for five decades. In the 1960s and 1970s Imperial Court chapters throughout America were sometimes the only LGBTQ organizations in existence and helped to build LGBTQ Community Centers, Pride Parades and other organizations in their individual cities. One of the first LGBTQ Student Scholarships started in the International Imperial Court System in 1979, and now over 40 Court Chapters have an ongoing Student Scholarship Program. At the Gala in Portland Murray Ramirez will officially announce the establishment of the International Jose Julio Sarria LGBTQ Scholarship Program with an $85,000 endowment. Jose Julio Sarria passed away in August 2013 at the age of 91.
“A community, indeed a civil rights movement that doesn’t know where it came from really doesn’t know where it is going,” stated Murray Ramirez, reflecting on the historic importance of the Golden Jubilee Celebration.
Noting that membership of the International Imperial Court System is open to all Murray Ramirez added, “Indeed, from a seed planted in San Francisco in 1965 has grown a vibrant and royal oak tree with branches across Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico. We are celebrating over 50 years of noble deeds that have helped to benefit so many, and helped build our modem day LGBTQ community and equality movement.”
For further information on the Golden Jubilee Celebration or the International Imperial Court System visit impcourt. org
