Michele Bruno (1941-2016) was a South African

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

and

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be refe ...

. Bruno lived in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

and came to perform drag in the 1960s. He was the first Miss Gay South Africa in 1969.

Biography

Bruno was born in 1941 and his parents were

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

immigrants to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. By 1960, Bruno was performing as a

, though his day job was working as a

. Bruno used male

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...

s and was considered "

gender-variant Gender variance or gender nonconformity is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A gender-nonconforming person may be variant in their gender identity, being transgender or non-bina ...

." In 1960, Bruno was involved in the first commercial drag show at the Jewish Guild Theatre. Bruno received some

infamy Infamy, in common usage, is the notoriety gained from a negative incident or reputation (as opposed to fame). The word stems from the Latin ''infamia'', antonym of ''fama'' (in the sense of "good reputation"). Roman law In Roman law, it took ...

after being arrested for "masquerading as a woman" in the 1966

Forest Town raid The Forest Town raid was a 1966 police raid that targeted LGBT people in Forest Town, Gauteng. The raid led to proposed anti-homosexuality legislation in South Africa. It also helped coalesce the queer community in South Africa. Background The So ...

. Bruno's name, along with other attendees was printed in the paper. In 1969, Bruno was named the first Miss Gay South Africa. Bruno continued to work as a hairdresser until his death in 2016. He was one of the subjects of an exhibition at

Museum Africa Museum Africa or MuseuMAfricA (formerly known as the Africana Museum) is an historical museum in Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa. History The museum was established in 1933, when the Johannesburg Public Library bought a large quantity of ...

, "Joburg Tracks." A 1997

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

by Bruno and an archive of materials saved by Bruno is part of the

Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action The GALA – Queer Archive (previously know as the Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action), also known by its acronym, GALA, is an organization that documents social and legal history of LGBTIQA+ individuals and organizations in South Africa and attempts ...

(GALA) collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruno, Michele 1941 births 2016 deaths Hairdressers Italian diaspora in South Africa People from Johannesburg South African drag queens