I'm Your Venus (2024)

[bunniefuu]

I want a car.

I wanna be with the man I love.

I wanna get married in church in white.

I want children. I want to adopt.

I wanna be a professional model

behind cameras in a high-fashion world.

I want this. This is what I want.

And I'm gonna go for it.

Strut, strut, strut, strut

Strut, strut, strut, strut

f*ck the sidewalk

It's a runway

f*ck the sidewalk

It's a runway...

Venus is iconic.

You wanna talk about reading?

She's so famous, man.

Let's talk about reading.

My sister was Venus Xtravaganza.

Xtravaganza power!

Our House is our family.

There you go.

Venus was our family.

- She'll always be a Pellagatti.

- We had each other's back.

I protected all my brothers and sisters.

Your family loves you.

f*ck the Hilton, it's the Waldorf...

I protect my kids

because that's my family.

If you walk into the 7-Eleven,

you better make

that m*therf*cker look like the runway.

We have stood the test of time.

Strut, strut...

Xtravaganza!

Strut, strut, strut, strut

Strut, strut...

I am Pellagatti.

Strut, strut, strut, strut, strut...

So I used to work over there.

After work, we'd always cruise around

and have the top down,

checking out, you know,

some of the ladies.

So I'd pass the red light over here

on Montgomery and Marin,

and as I... as I'm driving down the block,

right over there, I see a blonde.

Pretty sexy.

I roll the windows down, and as I pull up,

the girl turns around and looks at me,

and it's my sister Venus.

And I was like, "No."

And when she seen me,

she took her high heels off,

and she made a mad dash.

I see her going down the PATH station.

I try to get down there.

She jumps the turnstile.

Train comes, jumps in the train.

I miss her, so I come back.

And I see my friend Sam.

I said, "You didn't see that, right?"

He goes, "I didn't see nothing."

So I was like, "Okay."

Spoke to my grandmother.

I was like, "Gran, you know...

dresses up like a woman?"

"Ah, mijo, where you been?"

"She's been dressing up like a woman

for years." I'm like, "News to me."

Newsflash.

The funny thing was

when she took her shoes off.

She's got some wheels on her.

I am Venus' older brother,

second in the family.

I try to keep to myself.

I'm, uh, from the old school.

My brother John is the oldest,

and he tried to keep everybody in line.

And then Louie is the youngest.

It was a different time.

Everybody was trying

to be a macho guy, you know.

But Venus was different

from day one. From day one.

She didn't play ball

like me and my brothers did. You know?

She was dancing on a corner

with my ex-girlfriends.

I just wish, you know,

you can go back in time

and have a crystal ball and see, you know,

what was gonna happen.

There's a lot of people

in here that aren't with us anymore.

- Look...

- Where'd you get that?

- I have this in my stuff from Mommy.

- Okay.

- That's Venus.

- Look at the hair.

- I remember the hair dryers going.

- Yep.

Mm. How...

You can see

the resemblance in a Pellagatti face.

- Look at that.

- Right?

Always looking good.

- Always dancing, and she was so popular.

- Yeah.

- I remember.

- She was not a good...

- Like in grammar school. Yeah.

- Great dancer.

She was ahead of her time for sure.

They're the times

that I... I... I cherish, you know,

because them other times,

I gotta tell you, like,

it just was really difficult because...

Our parents.

That's... It seemed like when you guys

would leave the house for a couple days,

it gave Hoppy like a... a license

to get f*cking ripped

out of his mind, you know.

- Yeah.

- Hoppy was our stepdad.

I didn't put up with no sh*t from him.

"f*ck you," I used to tell him.

Even at a young age.

- I'll never forget the time...

- Yeah.

We had bunk beds,

so I was on the top,

and John was on the bottom.

- He was like, "f*ck him."

- Yeah.

"But he's not my father. f*ck him."

And Mommy just had enough, dude.

She came in the room, grabbed John.

John had an Afro back then. Big Afro.

On the radiator, yeah,

she was banging my head.

She dragged him out of the bed.

I'm like, "John, shut up."

- Yeah.

- He wouldn't shut up.

I looked at the vodka bottle one day,

I said, "You really love this sh*t."

I f*cking bashed him

right over the head with it.

Mommy... Mommy went nuts,

threw me out of the house.

I think that's the reason why

Mommy moved to California.

- It was getting physical.

- I told him, "I'm gonna k*ll you."

- So, Venus...

- Kept quiet, goes to the corner.

She kept quiet,

and she really didn't come out

until my mother moved to California.

Yeah.

- But I think...

- We knew she was g*y.

- Everybody knew.

- We didn't know she was trans.

So we didn't...

- We couldn't comprehend that in 1980.

- Eighty.

- Eighty-one.

- I went ballistic on her, I did.

I remember I picked her up

by her ankles and turned her upside down.

"There's something wrong with you.

You're out of your f*cking mind."

For me, when I seen,

in Paris Is Burning,

my sister explain in her words,

"All I wanna do is be loved,

and be married,

and have a house

with a white picket fence."

When I heard that,

it started making sense.

But when we found out

about how she was taken from us,

that brought a lot of anger.

Yeah.

I'll tell you what got it started,

to be honest with you,

is when that f*cking as*h*le

did that thing, uh...

He did an off-Broadway play,

Solve the Mystery:

m*rder of Venus Xtravaganza.

So that kind of opened up some wounds,

and that's when we said,

"There's gotta be something

we can do better than this bullshit."

We always knew what happened,

where it happened, when it happened.

- At least we thought.

- We thought. But we didn't know who.

Cold cases have been happening now

for years.

What if there's DNA?

- Yeah.

- If that's possible.

This is long overdue,

but I know

the Xtravaganzas are still around.

- You know?

- Yeah.

What's the chances you're gonna meet

people that knew her over there?

- It's very slim.

- Thin.

- Yeah, but you never know.

- You never know.

Because of who she was,

I think we'll be able

to get people to help us, you know?

- She deserves it. Venus deserves it.

- I agree.

- Yeah.

- Do what we gotta do.

Well, I always knew

I was going to become a girl.

Ever since the age

of maybe seven or eight years old,

I always felt

like I wanted to be a pretty lady,

and I wanted to do...

fashion shows.

But for those who can't accept me...

I guess it's

just because they refuse to see it,

and they don't wanna understand it.

A House?

They're families. You can say that.

They're families for a lot of children

who don't have families.

When someone has rejection

from their mother and father,

their family, when they get out

in the world, they search.

They search for someone to fill that void.

I know this from experience,

because I've had kids come to me

and latch hold of me

like I'm their mother.

My mother is Angie Xtravaganza,

and my father is David Xtravaganza.

I had just turned 15 years old,

and they all liked me,

all the rest of the Xtravaganzas.

And they decided,

"If you wanna become an Xtravaganza,

you have to walk a ball first,

and if you snatch a trophy,

then you can become the Xtravaganza.

The society, going

to a football game, basketball,

that's their entertainment.

You know, a ball is ours.

We prepare for a ball.

We may spend more time

preparing for a ball

than anybody would spend

preparing for anything else.

- Exactly. So true.

- The ball is our world.

See how she's turning to the side?

Don't look to the side, Chi.

- Your eyes should never go to the side.

- You should be...

The trick of everything is your eyes.

Forget about the walk, about everything.

It's your energy, and it's...

All of this.

Juan, bring it!

Give me, give me, give me one!

Attitude. Yes.

Give me tens across the board.

Syd Xtravaganza?

Syd Xtrava... X, what? Xtravaganza!

Steph Xtravaganza, Steph Xtravaganza

Derrick, Derrick, Derrick Xtravaganza

Derrick, Derrick, Derrick Xtravaganza

Derrick, Derrick, yeah!

Yes!

Mother!

Mother! Mother!

Xtravaganza!

Mother!

Okay, y'all was ready

for the ball with the last one.

I came into

the House of Xtravaganza in 1999.

But I was 15 years old

when I first seen Paris Is Burning

at my trans brother's house.

It was a turning point in my life.

Venus's story is our story.

I never got to meet her, but I feel her.

There's been many times

that I almost lost my life,

and I'm still here.

I'm just lucky.

I've cried so much,

I'm tired of crying. It's time for doing.

I never got to meet Venus.

I was born seven years

after she was m*rder*d.

- Seventh floor.

- Okay, Jill.

What I know of her is, you know,

through my family and through a screen.

She's probably up there saying,

"What took you so friggin' long?"

"It's about time."

Hopefully, she's guiding

a lot of the stuff that's going on here,

which I believe she really is.

To bring the team together

that is moving this forward.

- Jillian.

- Hello.

I finally get to meet you in person.

Hi.

- Hi.

- It's so wonderful to meet you.

It's so wonderful to meet you too.

Hi, I'm Joe.

- Yes, how are you?

- Pleasure's mine. How are you?

- The pleasure likewise.

- Nice to finally meet you.

This is an amazing...

Yeah. We have a million questions.

- Yeah? John?

- How you doing?

I'm good. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

It's really, really nice of you to come.

I'm really, really thinking

of my sister right now.

And...

...it's a little emotional.

- I can imagine, you know.

- Yeah.

There was a perception out there

that we didn't care about her,

which was so far from the truth.

Yeah, I heard

some stories of the family, you know,

but you never know

until you speak to the family in person.

And Louie said it best too.

Louie said, "Listen,

that's Venus' other family." So...

We think it's very important

that the House is involved

with everything that's going on.

Venus was not the only one

m*rder*d in this House.

This is one of the reasons I wanted

to do this because it'll open up the door

for other girls to get their cases solved.

To see family members

caring about that is very powerful.

- Yeah.

- You know, there's a saying, um...

"Sometimes things fall apart

so they can fall together."

And that's what we're trying to do.

Okay. Sit anywhere?

Wherever you want.

Hey. How are you doing?

Gisele, that's our baby brother, Louie.

Hi, baby brother Louie.

Good morning, Gisele.

Very... very nice to meet you.

- Thanks for coming in.

- Thank you for what you're doing.

We know that you have been trying

to reopen the investigation

into your sister's m*rder

and, if possible, get a copy of the case.

But you've been running into roadblocks

with the New York Police Department.

Monster roadblocks.

I'm a little bit surprised because NYPD

is generally very victim-family friendly.

They're not a customer service agency

by any stretch of the imagination,

but when it comes to victims'

family members, they're usually great.

We never got

anything back of hers ever, ever!

- I...

- The only thing I got back was her body.

Right. So...

- So they still have the file, right?

- Absolutely. Yes.

I want to see them documents.

We're hoping to help facilitate that

and, if necessary, file litigation

and ask a court to authorize disclosure

of the case file for you.

The case file

should have the investigative steps

that detectives had taken at the time,

if there was any DNA recovered,

if there was any sort of suspects

they had that they may have spoken to,

and what they did to wrap up,

if they wrapped up the investigation.

Wow. What a... Amazing.

They will give us the file at the end,

and I will be able to walk you through it

and hopefully give you guys

the closure that you deserve.

Yeah. That's what we want.

That's the bottom line.

I got more answers

from this guy in... in two days

than I did in 30 f*cking years.

And excuse my language, please.

Oh. There's always one character

in the family.

That's all right.

Come on.

This is, uh...

this is where it all began for me.

Right on this corner.

What's up, buddy? How are you doing?

- All right.

- Good. Good.

- Paying attention? Okay.

- I'm paying attention.

Watch this. I'm gonna show you

how nuts this was.

- Aunt Priscilla was here, 342.

- Yeah, all right. Huh.

Three-forty-three and a half was Meemaw.

- The Puerto Rican side.

- That's the Puerto Rican side, yes.

And that's where they filmed

Paris Is Burning. Right there, inside.

And that's where Venus used to watch you

when I used to sleep at night.

Over here, that's where we lived.

Me, Uncle Joe,

Uncle Louie, and Uncle Frankie.

Venus was there for a little bit, but then

she went across the street to Grandma's.

Right here. All my family.

My aunts, my uncles,

my cousins, my friends.

All of us. Come on,

I'm gonna show you Grandma's house.

Crazy.

I live here

in Jersey City with my grandmother.

She's the closest thing

that I have to me in my family.

She has taken care of me all my life,

ever since, you could say,

almost childbirth.

And, um, I'm her baby.

She's overprotective of me,

and, uh, she doesn't like me

to be around men.

She doesn't like me to have boyfriends,

because she thinks

that they're all gonna use me

and take advantage of me

and get me in trouble and make me suffer.

Look at that.

She was styling, man.

She looks angry.

Like, "What am I doing here?

I'm supposed to be a woman." You know?

And then, how about that?

"Jersey City Public Library."

Um... "November 17, 1988."

She just got this card

before she was m*rder*d.

They have her given name on here.

Not "Venus."

She hated that.

Her deadname is also on her tombstone,

which my brothers

and I are hopefully changing it.

All right.

Good stuff.

I'm gonna pull over right up here

and shut my truck off.

How long are we gonna be

on this video? Do you know?

Not too long.

The reason why I'm calling you is

because I got this mail, you know,

from New York State Vital Statistics.

- You know?

- Right.

- Ready? You wanna open it?

- No, you can open it.

How's the weather there?

- Beautiful today.

- Nice.

Yeah. Yeah.

Oh. I think this is it, bro.

This is definitely it.

Check it out.

Let me see this.

Wow. That's what we've been waiting for.

Yeah, I got two of them. Look, brother.

What's it say on the top?

"Certificate of..."

"The City of New York.

Vital records certificate."

You got glasses.

Uh, "Vital Records, Department of Health,

Borough of Manhattan." Wow.

Go ahead.

So, "Name of the deceased..."

"...Pellagatti."

- They spelled the name wrong.

- m*therf*ckers.

"December 21st, 1988."

I think that's

when they pronounced her dead.

Yeah, so the location,

"264 West 46th Street."

"Strangulation."

- Yeah.

- It's...

You know what? I... I don't want to...

It's just f*cking miserable.

Does this help

if we were talking about trying to get

a name change or anything?

- Does that help?

- Absolutely, it would help.

This is a bunch

of information that we need.

- The detectives didn't tell us anything.

- No.

So it was like this big mystery.

Yeah. "It's under investigation."

They didn't care.

Yeah.

This f*cking sucks though,

looking at that.

Somebody got away with m*rder,

and that just don't sit well with me.

So, uh, we spoke on Zoom.

I wanna make sure that what I got

from you is where we're going,

which is you had a sister, Venus,

and she is no longer with us,

and she hasn't been since 1988?

Correct.

She was a transgender woman,

and she also has a House family.

And so both you and you folks

and the House family are on the same page

that you'd like to get

a posthumous name change,

like a fancy word for "now that she's

no longer with us, get her name changed."

Correct. Because she was

taken away from us so early,

us, as her surviving siblings,

decided that,

"You know what?

We're gonna do something in her honor

and give her

what she would have done anyway,

and that's to change her name."

She was Venus.

Yeah.

So once you get a legal name change,

you get a certified copy.

And then if there's anything else that has

her name on it that you want to change,

it shouldn't be an issue to take

that golden ticket copy of an order

and show it

to anybody who needs to see it and say,

"Hey, this is actually her name."

"We need to correct

whatever it is we need to correct."

That's great.

Part of my concern, although I'm excited,

is who's gonna come out of the woodwork

and have a problem with this?

Maybe it goes super smoothly,

and then maybe it's a sh*t show.

But either way, we figure it out.

This wasn't easy for us to do as a family.

- Yes.

- I have a business, a corporation.

Is this gonna affect me getting a job

because Venus was my sister?

I mean, and those people are out there.

- Yeah.

- They're out there.

Understand the gravity, and I understand

that that is exactly why we're doing this.

But what you feel about what could

potentially happen to your business

is why people stay in the closet.

It's not easy to take on this system,

but just the very first paragraph

on the page is...

- Powerful, right?

- Yes.

So, "Scope of representation."

"You are seeking a posthumous

name change for your sibling,

Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza,

in order to affirm her gender identity."

"You understand that to the knowledge

of the attorney responsible at TAA,

this has never been attempted

in New Jersey,

and there is

no established procedure for the same."

"TAA has undertaken

this representation of you

in order to advance the rights

of transgender

and non-binary New Jerseyans."

"This is impact litigation

because its reach may extend

beyond your family."

It's kind of exciting thinking that,

"Oh my God, I think

we're gonna be bringing some awareness

and possibly some change."

It's a green light. It's a green light.

Oh man.

Bringing out the Jersey City in me.

When I learned

about O'Shae's m*rder earlier this week,

I was overwhelmed.

Angry that another one

of our brothers had to die.

O'Shae was a core part of the young,

thriving LGBTQ community here in New York.

He represented the best of us.

He was creative, upbeat, and brought out

the best in those around him

and frequently expressed

his love of life through f*cking dance.

That was no different

on the night he was m*rder*d.

Having to grieve the loss

of a community member over and over again.

This sh*t is tiresome.

Amen.

I wanna recognize everyone for coming out,

coming together to create a safe space

where we attempt to process and heal.

Voguing is not a crime.

Voguing is not a crime.

Voguing is not a crime!

Voguing is not a crime!

Voguing is not a crime!

Voguing is not a crime!

So today, we will vogue

in honor of O'Shae.

- Say his name!

- O'Shae!

- Say his name!

- O'Shae!

- Say his name!

- O'Shae!

- Say his name!

- O'Shae!

- Say his name!

- O'Shae!

- Say his name!

- O'Shae!

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

Voguing is not a crime

I grew up in a world

where I thought

that I was the only person like me.

- Good.

- How are you?

Venus was confidence personified,

and I'm thankful that she shared her story

because it provided me

the tools that I needed

to be able to share mine one day.

Oftentimes you don't get a chance.

You have your heroes in community,

and you don't get a chance

to meet their biological family.

She was fierce.

- Yes. She was.

- She was. She was before her time.

Yes. Yes.

And we were fortunate enough

to live with her for many...

We were her siblings, so...

So this person loved Venus

as much as we all did and suffered.

Maybe we can put him at ease.

- Hey.

- Hey, I'm Louie.

- Jos. Nice to meet you.

- Hey, Jos. I'm Joe.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- How are you?

- Good. Thanks.

Sit down.

Thanks for being here with us, Jos.

Appreciate you calling, man.

We appreciate meeting you.

I've often wondered what I would say

to you guys when I met you in person.

Um...

Venus was, um...

She was my House sister and my niece.

She was beautiful. She was a free spirit.

She was funny. She was feisty too.

She was comfortable with who she was.

And families don't realize

the damage that they do.

The House of Xtravaganza was composed...

of people who were scarred

because of their family's neglect.

Venus was one of those.

I have found peace in my life.

I have made peace with a lot of things.

Thirty years ago, I wouldn't be so sure

that this would go as civil as it's going.

And I'll be honest.

Because I held a lot of resentment

just from talking to Venus

and the pain that she felt.

She... she had bad things

to say about her family?

- Not bad things, per se.

- Because I find that hard to believe.

- Really?

- Yeah.

How so?

Because, you know,

we come from a broken family.

Mother and Father split up.

Um...

- Venus lived with my grandmother.

- She did.

My grandmother was like her mom.

She didn't feel that love

from the rest of her family.

- Her brothers or her family per se?

- He's saying everybody.

Oh.

Yeah, and that's probably the reason

why she went and explored a new family

with the Xtravaganzas. Right?

Right.

I could only say, like,

I don't blame Venus

because where was she getting her love?

Where was she getting her recognition

and her prize and her flowers, you know?

But I also have to say, like,

that I will stand here

and say, like, "I love my sister."

- You know?

- It wasn't that you guys didn't love her.

I'm sure she came and bitched

and moaned because I gave her hell.

Part of it may have been true,

but that she felt rejected...

- That's understood.

- Yeah.

But I knew Venus before she was Venus,

you know, as her little baby brother.

I have that deep, you know,

bond of a sibling.

Okay?

That was...

That was real.

And sure, at the time, maybe things

came out where it was confusing.

You know, how can I understand something

I know nothing about?

But I understand her pain because

how much she loved us and her family

and how she must have felt.

And that breaks my heart too.

Because who did this to my sister

stole her from you

and stole her from us.

And I... I am truly sorry for your pain.

But I know one thing.

I will stand with my brothers

and say, "We loved our sister."

Maybe we didn't know how to really

show it the way she needed it.

I'll live with that.

But as I stand here today,

I'm gonna say how much I loved her

and mean it from the bottom of my heart.

And I believe you.

You know why? Because you're here.

- It means a lot.

- And in life, we evolve.

- Right or wrong?

- Yeah, we do.

- Absolutely.

- Evolution. We all have to.

So this used to be her neighborhood.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

To be here is very personal to me.

Diving into who Venus is

and what she went through.

Here it is, 343 and a half.

- Oh Jesus.

- Are you serious? And a half.

- And a half.

- And a half.

- Point-five.

- Oh, wow.

- So this used to be...

- So this is the house where she lived.

- Oh wow.

- Was nurtured.

It's wild to be here

34 years after she's m*rder*d.

And so much has changed,

but at the same time,

so much has not changed.

To be Puerto Rican, Italian, and trans,

what it meant.

What her home meant as a sanctuary, right?

What her bedroom meant

as a space that she could envision

that one day

someone like you could be possible.

Yeah. How important this is.

- Yeah, I love this.

- This is so important.

- We know this is important.

- Right.

But for it to be recognized

by the other communities...

Absolutely.

How can we landmark this?

We need to make

those conversations happen.

Yes.

Oh, look at all the Xs.

- Okay.

- Xtravaganza!

Okay.

"What's the matter, Pedro?"

- "You going through it?"

- "Are you going through it?"

What is wrong with you, Pedro?

Are you going through it?

You're going through some kind

of psychological change in your life?

- She went back to being a man.

- You went back to being a man?

Touch this skin, darling.

Touch this skin, honey.

Touch all of this skin.

Okay? You just can't take it.

I am looking for a bag

that I placed here many years ago.

You know, I had my spikes in it.

I had baseball gloves in it.

I had sh*t from California,

where I played baseball,

and I had photos of my dad

and the gift I had for Venus

for Christmas.

The first women item

that I ever got for her.

It was a Halston bottle for women.

It was a perfume spray.

Halston.

I don't know if they still make it,

but, you know, we had no money.

But I had a few bucks then.

So she would have liked it.

I had it wrapped up,

put it under the tree, and then...

the unfortunate thing happened.

We had no Christmas that year.

I would always talk to her and tell her,

"Please, be careful out there."

"It's crazy. You're in New York."

You know, cocaine wars.

And it was... it was very scary.

Seventeen hundred and thirty-four people

have been k*lled in New York this year.

New York City had

its highest homicide rate ever in 1980,

and that has renewed calls...

Since crack has been around

and has turned the streets

into sh**ting galleries,

crime, including m*rder

and other violent crimes,

has just skyrocketed.

We're scared to ride the trains

in the day. We don't ride them at night.

I was with a guy,

and he touched me down there.

He felt it, and he seen it,

and he totally flipped out.

He said, "You f*cking f*gg*t.

You're a freak."

"You're a victim of A*DS,

and you're trying to give me A*DS."

"What are you, crazy?

You're a h*m*. I should k*ll you."

You know, stuff like that.

And, like, I was really terrified,

so I just jumped out the window.

I grabbed my bag

and just jumped out the window.

She was like my right hand,

as far as I'm concerned.

I miss her.

Every time I go anywhere, I miss her.

That was my main... the main daughter

of my House, in other words.

I used to tell her,

"You take too many chances."

"You're too wild in the streets.

Something's gonna happen to you."

But that was Venus.

She always took a chance.

She always went into a stranger's car.

She always did what she wanted

to get what she wanted.

The DTs came to me

with a picture of her m*rder*d,

and I was the one that had to give

all this information down to her family.

I remember my mom calling.

She said, "Get to your grandmother's.

Something terrible happened." And...

my father had

a station wagon at that time.

We just went... really quiet.

No words were said,

you know, until we got to where we were

at the medical examiner's office,

and so we talked.

Me, Joe, and my dad.

And he said, "Go get your brother."

"All right."

I went with the examiner or whatever.

I said, "Pull out the hand,"

because Venus had a mark on her hand.

She had a hawk.

Did you ever see a hawk?

It was some medicine

from when she was a baby.

Meningitis. It spilled on her.

Put a little burn,

but it healed like a hawk.

And that's when I said,

"Pull out the hand."

"Let me see."

And there it was.

I knew that was her.

And it was...

It's something you don't wanna remember.

You don't wanna see

your sister decomposed like I did.

Yeah.

Terrible.

What I'm looking for, I did not find,

and that sucks.

I was just thinking, when I was younger,

I always felt like Venus' presence was,

like, protecting me.

My mom, I told you,

would take us to the car

when they'd argue,

and we'd have to sleep in the car.

And Venus, even at that age,

was protecting me and holding me.

I can remember that like it was yesterday.

- How are you?

- Very well.

How do you feel?

I'm all right.

I just wanna see what's going on.

We'll see what the deal is

once and for all.

My mind is, like, moving

100 miles an hour.

Ready?

That coffee's horrible.

I'm letting you know right away. Horrible.

It's ironic that the meeting fell today

because today's the 34th anniversary.

- Right?

- That's right.

This has been a little bit

of an odyssey from our perspective.

We didn't get a physical copy

of the entire file for you.

Uh, what we were able to get,

which we're gonna give you today,

is a very high-level summary

of the investigation,

but some of the details

that we learned from the file

are not gonna be easy to hear.

So Venus's body was found

at the Fulton Hotel.

Uh, she was under a mattress.

Uh, there was a plaid scarf

tied around her neck tightly.

She clearly had ligature marks,

uh, on her wrists,

so that confirms that she was bound

before she was m*rder*d.

Her body was discovered by a housekeeper,

uh, but the police interviewed her.

The police interviewed

a number of other hotel employees,

but the bottom line is,

as of the... the time of the m*rder,

there were no live suspects,

and so the trail

could have gone cold there.

So in February 1990,

the police were able

to identify someone by the name Robinson.

And the way this name came to them,

he was incarcerated

in Nassau on an unrelated r*pe case.

This guy Robinson

called the detective who arrested him

in Nassau County

and confessed to the detective

about murdering a prost*tute

in a Manhattan hotel.

He... The DD-5 from that one

does not say the words, "I strangled her."

It literally just says, "I bound her,"

and then says,

"Once I believed that,

that she was dead, um,

I put a mattress over her

to hide her body."

And then, apparently, within a day or two

of that confession happening,

he hangs himself.

This is what gets me.

This is what gets me.

You're in jail on r*pe.

Why in the world

do you wanna confess to a m*rder

if you're in jail on r*pe?

- John, people have consciences.

- Oh, you think so?

- Yeah, I think so.

- You think so?

I just can't get over a fact

somebody's in jail,

and you're too f*cking nave,

the both of youse,

to think somebody's in jail on r*pe...

John, you don't think

this ever happens? It happens.

- You think people wanna say...

- They commit...

Yeah, they k*ll themselves,

but they don't admit to k*lling people.

I mean, obviously,

he said something

that only the m*rder*r would know.

- Where did this guy live?

- We don't have any details.

You don't have any of that information?

I'm telling you what's in the police file.

I don't know what's true or not,

but I very much agree with you

that it's really unusual

for a guy that is in prison for a r*pe

to confess to a m*rder.

Maybe he knew

he was gonna take his own life.

Well, maybe, yeah.

Is there anything in the file

saying that this physical evidence

may be pointing to a suspect?

So Lieutenant Russo did say

that, to give you guys closure,

NYPD would reopen the case and see

if there was corroborating evidence.

Like you said, if there was DNA,

they would reach out

to the medical examiner's office

and see if they also had DNA

or any other evidence.

You should do what you feel is necessary,

but in my humble view,

that's just gonna tell you

what you already know,

which is that this guy argued with her,

and it escalated, and he strangled her.

And I didn't know about the...

having her hands tied. I didn't...

Oh man.

Damn.

He's gotta be a f*cking jerk-off

because she was tiny anyway.

So... a piece of sh*t.

- A coward.

- Yeah, a coward.

Absolutely. I said that.

Part of me is mad at Venus.

I'll tell you what. She was cracking.

She smoked crack.

- Yeah.

- She liked to party.

She was still a human being.

It doesn't matter.

Regardless of what she did,

she was still a human being.

Nobody deserves that.

Everyone has issues. Nobody's perfect.

I know that better than anyone.

I wanna see the file.

I wanna see that file.

- This is...

- I know. I know.

John, I mean... What else do you wanna see?

- I want to see it though.

- I'm okay.

Youse do what you wanna do.

Just do what youse wanna do.

- Agreed.

- Too many inconsistencies.

They got the guy's name.

They know who he was.

- He did it.

- Oh my God.

What else are we gonna...

What is the investigation gonna show?

- Can it bring Venus back? Huh.

- Mm-mm.

I told youse that before.

She ain't coming back.

It's not for nothing.

This is very painful for me.

- I understand. All right.

- I can't sit through this stuff.

- Okay?

- We got the information, John.

We know who did it.

But I understand your point,

but that's what's gonna eat you away.

You know what we could do

is just remember Venus right now.

- Look at this beautiful sunset.

- Yeah.

Yeah, that's a beautiful sun.

- Holy cow.

- Jersey City.

Yeah.

Wow. Beautiful.

Let me see that copy one more time.

- Yeah. I'm good, bro.

- Yeah, same here.

I'm good.

Losing my sister made me...

It weakened me.

You want the truth? It weakened me.

You have your regrets.

"What did I do wrong?"

I was more worried

about my image than her.

I'm gonna go meet a friend of my sister's.

I wanna ask her,

"Hey, listen, tell me the stories now

that I didn't know."

"Maybe that would, uh...

help me understand my sister better."

Venus had all brothers,

so if she had a sister, it would be you.

So she would confide in you,

and she would tell you things

that we don't know.

So I'm... I'm... I'm looking to find out

what...

what it was like with her,

hanging out with her.

Venus loved her brothers,

but she felt safe

in a different way around me, okay?

She had a room in my apartment.

She made it her room, okay?

And that was the room,

that was her serenity,

when she wanted to get away.

She never used a key,

always went through the fire escape,

but she was comfortable, see?

And, you know...

That's crazy. Do you see what I'm saying?

It's what I'm saying, but the thing was

I adored that crazy girl.

- Okay.

- So it was okay.

Maybe at her family's,

they would have gotten on her case,

or she may have felt

like they would have gotten on her case.

Well, that's the difference though.

But Venus loved her brothers,

the family and everything,

and she made it clear

that she loved you, John.

She really did.

I did a lot of sh*t to her,

not to toughen her up, but, you know, I...

And I did a lot of sh*t

to f*ck her up too.

Mikey was a baby. I told her,

"You can watch him, and I'll pay you."

But I said to her,

"If you take the kid out,

do not dress like a woman."

I did say that to her, so...

And I kind of feel f*cked up

about that now because that's who she was.

But out of respect,

she would wear sweatpants, a sweatshirt,

put her hair in a ponytail,

and have Mikey in a carriage.

You know, so...

You don't say that.

I should have never said that, but I did.

- You have pictures of my sister in here?

- I do.

This is a really nice picture.

- It is.

- Let me see.

So cute.

- This is at a ball?

- Yes.

I remember she had gotten a taste

of the first show of her in drag,

and then we just

started talking about names.

So we come up with a few.

One said Tiny,

the other one said Little Bit, Peanut,

and I was like,

"Just stupid names," you know?

And I kept remembering

that song just crossed my mind, "Venus."

It was, I think, Frankie Avalon.

And I said, "What about Venus?"

And her eyes lit up.

She goes, "Oh, that sounds so nice."

"And I wanna be different."

So she said, "That's gonna be my name."

And that's how she got it.

And it fit her so well

because it was different, you see?

Yeah.

And that's...

that's her name.

Hey, Venus

Oh, Venus...

I think this is the front.

Gotta get this big ol' head

in this tiny hole, darling.

Ooh.

She's being born.

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Who's the fem queen at the ball?

Yeah, I feel like

ballroom has really

given me the confidence to step out.

When I'm in the ballroom, the chin is up,

the head is high, the eyes are straight.

I take a lot of that with me

in and out of ballroom for protection.

It has taught me how to be confident

just walking the streets of New York City.

Everywhere I go, just making sure

that I'm really,

literally putting my best foot forward

when I pump.

- Hello.

- Syd! How are you?

I'm good.

Oh my God! Where's Amara?

There. Yeah.

Hello!

It's been so long time to see you!

I know!

So I received a call from Detective Decker

of NYPD's Cold Case Unit.

- They started looking into the case again.

- That's great.

We had talked about the possibility

that the evidence might have been lost,

either at the NYPD warehouse fire

or during Hurricane Sandy.

He was actually able

to locate three items,

including the ligature that was used.

And the suspect,

when they did the autopsy,

they took a DNA sample from him.

It's called a stain card.

And so NYPD was also able

to take a piece of that stain card.

And so they're going to test

both of those to see if there's a match.

Well, there's no disputing that.

- If it matches, we... we got our answers.

- Yes. Mm-hmm.

Listen...

- Ms. Deanna, thank you so much.

- Of course.

Unbelievable.

That's unbelievable.

Where did this idea come from

to have this house be a landmark?

Venus Xtravaganza was a trans woman

who was in the House of Xtravaganza.

She joined the House at the early stages

when the House first started.

So she has a huge history

in ballroom as well.

And Venus was Puerto Rican and Italian,

and she lived

in New Jersey, in Jersey City.

This is where

Venus Xtravaganza was raised.

She basically was a trans woman

who inspired and influenced

a whole culture and a generation.

You know, she inspired me,

she inspired so many girls,

and she was a trendsetter

and a pioneer in our community.

And so showing the world

this public acknowledgement,

it would be a form of justice

for the House of Xtravaganza,

for the family, and for Venus,

and for the trans community,

and for the g*y community.

For all of us, really.

And if it's the one thing

we can tell our community right now is,

"You deserve a home."

All right. Thank you very much

for the very passionate testimony.

You've taken us through this.

I think it meets all these criteria.

So I'm prepared to make a motion

to recommend this to the planning board.

Congratulations.

- How are you?

- How are you?

- Good. Lovely to see you too.

- Good to see you.

- Wanna see what it looks like?

- Yeah.

Yeah, check this out. All right.

"Name is hereby corrected

to Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza,

the name legally used

by decedent during her lifetime,

effective immediately."

"Ordered on this 29th day of August 2023."

My birthday!

- Really?

- Yes.

- Awesome. Yes.

- Isn't this awesome?

This has never been done.

As far as I know,

this has never been done before.

- So this is groundbreaking.

- Little bit.

- No, a lot of bit.

- A lot of bit.

So this court order, even though

it was entered in Hudson County,

is good anywhere in the United States.

- Okay.

- Anywhere in New Jersey.

Any place that has to follow

a court order,

which is pretty much most places,

pretty much everywhere,

has to follow that.

You know, let's, uh...

let's get a new tombstone for her.

And then the other thing I would do is

just get her death certificate changed.

We owe that to her.

And I think she wants me to do that

because this all happened on my birthday.

On your birthday.

So I think

she's trying to tell me something.

- That's incredible.

- You know?

The way that we can make it

so that it's easier

for other people to use

or to do or to set a precedent, legally,

is to ask the court

to issue a written decision

and then try

to get that decision published.

We're okay with that. I'm gonna frame it.

It's gonna go downstairs

right next to the Baltimore Oriole,

New York Knicks, all that good stuff.

Take the Knicks down. I don't know,

but that's your house. You do what...

- Indianapolis Colts.

- A lot of colors down there.

- It'll be very colorful. LGBT T-shirt.

- There's your LGBT T-shirt.

Oh my God.

Come on, give me some.

You have it all. You got it all.

- This is good, man. This is good stuff.

- Yeah.

I've come from being a young,

loud little flaming queen from the Village

to a mature young lady,

competing in ba*ls.

I want to start a career

in professional modeling.

I'm just hoping for the best.

But if things don't ever work out,

you never know...

Maybe one day

I'll meet a rich millionaire,

and he'll take me all around the world.

So would you prefer

to debut in another country,

or would you wanna debut in New York City?

They really want me

to save my high fashion virginity

for Europe.

- Okay.

- For Paris, so...

They're casting for Paris

the end of this week, probably Thursday,

so I really could get called

any day now to just get on the flight.

- Yeah.

- Pack my bags and work internationally.

That would be so beautiful.

Part of getting ready

for Europe was getting a new ID and...

My ID still says my deadname

and everything.

So now I'm still walking the Earth,

legally, as...

You know? It's gonna be that.

No! The name that shall not be mentioned.

- Oh my God.

- I pay it dust.

To be honest, I feel like

some of the girls get triggered by it.

My parents still call me

by my deadname, so it gets very like...

Oh, how's that?

It's really, really like...

It's funny, to be honest,

because I give woman

when I come through the door,

so it's almost like,

"Okay, when I get bags, are you

still gonna be calling me...?" You know?

You know, I think

I must have been pretty crazy,

because I don't understand

what happened with me, but I was like,

"No one's gonna call me that!"

And, yeah, they never did.

So John called me

and told me that Venus' name is officially

Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza,

so she's gonna have both her names.

- It's legal.

- Wait, so they changed the tombstone too?

- They're gonna change it.

- That's a major, major, major step.

Yeah.

I think it's beautiful that her family

wants to give her that respect.

- Absolutely.

- All together, as a family.

I did talk to Detective Decker with NYPD.

Really?

So he says, "A bit of bad news."

I said, "Okay, what's going on?"

He said the first DNA

they sent out came back

and ruled out that this kid, Robinson...

It just don't match up

with what they had under her fingernails.

- So it remains an open case.

- That's f*cked up.

He's not gonna close the case.

It's reopened.

- But I never, never...

- That's...

When we left Jim's office,

you know, I wanna put this to bed too.

- I made a point.

- You did. I'm glad you did.

"f*ck this," I said, "I don't care."

I was 98% sure

that this was the guy who did it.

- Of course. Yeah.

- I can't believe this. This is like...

Yeah. I believe it.

- They have DNA, right?

- They have some DNA, yeah.

So isn't there a database?

That's what I asked.

"Is there something

you can run through a computer?"

Exactly.

But then again,

that's a shot too, 'cause...

- Are we allowed to do that?

- I don't know. I gotta ask.

- This is f*cked up.

- It's bad.

- It's bad.

- There's a k*ller still out there.

We gotta hope

that whoever's in that computer

has a criminal offense or did something.

No, not necessarily.

The people, they do their family history.

- Yeah. Ancestry...

- Ancestry.com.

- They put their DNA in there.

- Yeah.

- You might find somebody like that.

- You never know.

- Let them do their job.

- Yeah. Yeah.

We need to talk to Jim again

and see what our next moves are.

That's it. But this is

like a never-ending...

Never-ending.

It's like years and years and years,

same sh*t.

It's gotta be really hard for you,

thinking that you knew what happened,

and now it's possible

that it happened a different way.

But for today's purposes,

I want you to understand

that although the tests

excluded the suspect,

as a contributor

to the DNA samples that were tested,

it didn't do anything more than that.

It's not definitive either way.

So no one can tell you,

based on the DNA that was taken,

how it was stored,

whether it was degraded.

There are a lot of questions that we have.

Uh, for example, there's certainly

mixtures of DNA on some of the samples.

I think you guys understand that they took

some samples from Venus' fingernails.

There were some from the scarf

that they believe

may have been used to strangle her,

but they don't know that for sure.

So that doesn't mean that the person

that you know as the suspect is innocent.

Certainly doesn't mean that he's guilty.

It means that there is a healthy degree

of skepticism from the new team

to make sure

they look back at the old team's work.

You know, I just...

Again, I believe

we've made so many big strides here,

and I'm so grateful for everybody.

It's just... I'm already feeling

like I may never know the...

you know, the truth of who did this.

I don't think that's gonna happen.

It hurts, but this is very important,

that we're raising our voices

for someone like Venus,

and that alone fulfills me

and makes me feel much better about...

life itself,

because there are people

that love us and support us,

brothers that love their sisters.

To see them come together

like this is really inspiring for me.

What you all have done

to bring light to this issue

and to help the entire community

is so much more

of a meaningful advancement

of her legacy than finding out

with a significant degree of certainty

who was responsible for this.

And I just hope that the pain

of not knowing who did this to her

to a mathematical certainty

is over... overshadowed

by all the good that has come

from bringing people together

to remember her and how important she was.

Thank you, Jim.

It doesn't mean that it's hopeless,

but it's very difficult.

"City Ordinance 23-070,

Historic Preservation Review Procedures,

Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza House,

343.58th Street."

This is a public hearing

on this ordinance.

Any member of the public

wishing to be heard,

please come up to the podium

and state your name for the record.

Hello. My name is

Amara Velasquez Xtravaganza.

How are you doing, council members?

"I am here today

to pay homage to my sister,

Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza."

"Venus and I are both Latina trans women,

both Puerto Rican and Italian,

both authentic in our self-expression,

both a part of the House of Xtravaganza."

"Venus's house being preserved

as a state and national landmark

would truly show the rest of America

how to celebrate q*eer people."

"It is so important for trans people

to see themselves reflected in society,

to be included and to receive support

from the systems that govern us."

"We need q*eer historical spaces

so we can reflect

on all that we have fought for

and all that we are still fighting for."

You know,

what happened to my sister, it's tragic.

What you guys are doing, if you vote yes,

is, um... is a step in the right direction.

This is history in the making.

It is something to be a beacon of light

to those who need us,

collectively, to lift up their voices.

This initiative is absolutely important.

This is not just about Latinx trans women,

as Venus was, or Black trans women.

It's not just about LGBTQ people.

It's also about you.

Because none of us can be free,

none of us,

unless we all are free. Thank you.

I just want to say,

I didn't know about this story

until the legislation was put forth.

But I just want to commend

all of the speakers that come up

because this...

I mean, this stuff looks easy.

It's not easy.

It's not easy. You open yourself up

to all types of attacks,

verbally, physically.

You know, this stuff is not easy, um...

I just wanna commend you and just...

If we're going to embrace diversity,

let's embrace diversity.

Let's not be selective

in what we want to embrace.

Motion to close the public hearing

on City Ordinance 23-070,

Councilperson Prinz-Arey.

Aye.

- Councilperson Boggiano.

- Aye.

- Councilperson Saleh.

- Aye.

- Councilperson Solomon.

- Aye.

- Councilperson Gilmore.

- Aye.

- Council President DeGise.

- Aye.

Motion carries, six-zero.

The council members Ridley,

Rivera, and Watterman...

Congratulations.

Let's go party.

Party. I wanna see what's happening, man.

I'm looking forward to this.

If Venus was here,

she'd run away with the biggest trophy.

We're off to the ball.

Maybe I'll meet Cinderella tonight.

Yeah? What are you gonna do

with glass slippers?

Let's see which one fits.

Which way are you going now?

I think we gotta go this way.

Yeah, let's go with the lights.

Touch this skin, honey

Touch all of this skin, okay?

Okay?

Okay?

You just can't take it

Okay?

You look so beautiful.

That's really impressive. That's pretty...

That's... Wow.

Okay?

Okay?

Okay?

Overgrown orangutan

Okay?

Touch this skin, honey

Touch all of this skin

You just can't take it

I still grieve.

That's never gonna change.

But I, uh...

I'm understanding a lot more now

than I was when all this process started

because I did get to meet

really a lot of good people.

Good, good people.

And they made me understand a lot better.

Venus was somebody special.

Very proud of her

and what she did, her accomplishments.

I wish we could have done more for her.

You always feel like,

"Tomorrow we'll catch up.

Tomorrow we'll do this."

But when tomorrow

never comes for a person,

that's the most

difficult thing to deal with.

I wish she was here.

The first thing

I would say is, "I'm sorry."

- Hey. So happy to see you.

- Long time no see.

- How are you doing?

- I'm good.

- Sit down.

- All right. You got it.

Go for it.

Am I good here?

You are. Let me turn you a little.

Move up some so that you're not...

Up? Okay.

- So you're comfortable.

- Yeah.

Here we go, Venus.

I was telling somebody,

22 years this November,

I'll be clean and sober.

I was in San Francisco,

and I just did not wanna exist, man.

And I didn't know what I was gonna do.

I just closed my eyes,

and I just seen Venus talking to me.

I really felt it.

You know, I felt her saying to me,

"You cannot give up.

You have to get help."

You know, "You're needed here."

And I was.

You know?

Wow, it looks beautiful, Jas.

Everything is just all falling into place.

Like I told them,

she's finally getting her roses.

- Yes. I love it.

- Her flowers, you know?

The house is landmarked.

- It's a beautiful thing.

- Yeah.

We tried to keep everything

as original as possible as we worked.

Some stuff wasn't possible.

Holy sh*t, man.

I found something while I was fixing up.

Really?

- Sure.

- That's a brooch.

- That belonged to Venus.

- Can I see?

Do you remember that?

Venus used to wear that.

- Wait a minute.

- We found it inside a wall.

- It was your grandmother's.

- Never heard of it.

Venus broke it and put it on something,

and your mother had a fit,

your grandmother had a fit.

- I remember this.

- Let me see it.

- Yeah. Wow.

- Crazy.

- I wanna look at it.

- Wow. That's forever ago.

- Beautiful.

- Let me get a picture.

- Take it with you. Absolutely.

- Thank you.

Really, thank you so much.

It does.

You're an Xtravaganza,

and you're the mother of the House,

and I want you to have that.

Well, thank you.

I'll hold it very dear.

We're family,

and, uh, we'll always be here

for you guys.

Just hit us up, you know.

These two families can exist together

to create an even greater human being.

Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza's home

is now our home.

Gisele, come on, baby. Get in here.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Yes. We all get in there.

- Come on.

- Jillian, come on. Helen, get in here.

- Come one.

- Come on, Jill.

Venus.

- Yeah, X!

- Okay, listen. I guess I'm a member now.

- Venus.

- Venus.

- Awesome. Yes. Yeah!

- She's got it

She's got it

Baby, she's got it

Baby, she's got it

I'm your Venus

I'm your fire, your desire

Yeah!

I'm your Venus

I'm your fire, your desire...

Jersey, let me hear you

in the name of Venus Xtravaganza.

Happy Trans Day of Visibility,

today and every day.

Trans lives matter, baby.

Clap for me like that

Just clap for me, just clap

Just clap for me like that

I wanna see

Just for me

My brother, Syd Xtravaganza

The trans man

The OTA

The bold, bold

That old way bold

I say show us the old way, Syd

Show us the old way, Syd

Show us the old way

The one and only

That's Syd Xtravaganza

When you talk about vogue

You have my father Jos Xtravaganza

Show us how you do it, pa

Give it up for Jos Xtravaganza

All right, all right

Amara, here to give you that pump

That international pump

I said touch this skin

Touch all of this skin, honey

Touch this skin

Give it up for Gisele Xtravaganza

I said Gisele Xtravaganza

I said that...

Gisele

Gisele Xtravaganza

I said Joe Pellagatti

I said Joe Pellagatti...

Here I am.

Good, Joe

Come give us a walk, Joe

In the name of Venus

In the name of Venus, Joe Pellagatti...

That's right!

Give him a round of applause

Louie, where you at?

I said Louie, Louie, Louie

Louie, where you at?

I said Louie, Louie, Louie

Let me hear some noise

For John Pellagatti Xtravaganza

DJ, pump the beat, X, X, X

Xtravaganza!

X, X, X

All of this skin, honey

All of this skin

All of this skin, all of this skin

All of this skin, honey

All of this skin

All of this skin, all of this skin

All of this skin, honey

All of this skin

All of this skin, all of this skin

All of this skin

All of this skin, all of this skin

All of this skin, honey

All of this skin

All of this skin, all of this skin

All of this skin, honey

All of this skin

All of this skin

All of this skin

All of this skin, honey

Oh wow. Okay. Oh wow.

Everybody, go home. Everybody, go home.

Everybody, go home. It's over.

Go home!