Octavia St. Laurent Mizrahi was an American model and AIDS educator who was active in New York City's Black and Latino drag society and Harlem's drag balls. She came to public attention after being featured in the 1990 documentaryParis Is Burning.
Career
St. Laurent began walking in the New York ballroom scene in 1982 and acknowledged that her favorite category to walk in was Face. One of the most common songs she'd walk to was "Swept Away" by Diana Ross. She was a central figure of the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning and had a small role in The Saint of Fort Washington. In 2006, she starred in Wolfgang Busch's How Do I Look?, dubbed as "the sequel to Paris is Burning," and was using the name Heavenly Angel Octavia St LaurentManolo Blahnik.
Personal life
St. Laurent was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 16, 1964. She was a trans woman. She said that growing up her parents were accepting: "...I had wonderful parents that supported me. My sexuality was not an issue with my parents. They were accustomed to that since I was a child. People thought I looked like a little girl, and my mother said: 'This is a boy!'" She experienced police harassment and was arrested on several occasions for her gender expressionin public. In her lifetime, St. Laurent was diagnosed as HIV+, and would later serve as an educator to spread awareness over the disease. During her appearance in Wolfgang Busch's LGBT documentary How Do I Look, St. Laurent further discussed her drug use, sex work, and fight with AIDS. St. Laurent was good friends with Willi Ninja until his death in 2006 and Paris Dupree. In 2008, she was diagnosed with cancer. Octavia died after a long battle with cancer on May 17, 2009.
Acknowledgements
St. Laurent's appearance in Paris Is Burning was cited in Judith Butler's book Bodies That Matter in "Gender is Burning." St. Laurent was posthumously quoted in the television series credits of Poseseason 2, episode 4: "Never Knew Love Like This Before," written by Ryan Murphy and Janet Mock, with the following: "Gays have rights, lesbians have rights, men have rights, women have rights, even animals have rights. How many of us have to die before the community recognizes that we are not expendable?"
Quotes
This is me, you understand? No, I am not a woman. No, I am not a man. I am Octavia.
If money wasn't important in the world to survive, I guess I wouldn't want anything but what I have now. But since money does, I hope that the way I look puts money in my pocket.
Live life. Live life and do not take anything for granted. Because what you have today can instantly be gone tomorrow. And don't settle for nothing but......'and donʼt settle for nothing but the best.'
Gays have rights, lesbians have rights, men have rights, women have rights, even animals have rights. How many of us have to die before the community recognizes that we are not expendable?
