In Memoriam
Lady Fabian Sanchez
Jackson, MS
Lady Fabian was a true Queen on the pageant circuit and a mother figure to so many who came after her. She was always there for those up-and-coming behind her and was often honored for showing her compassion and heart to the new generations throughout the South and especially in the Atlanta scene.
James Moen
Grand Junction, CO
James loved animals. Really loved them, as he had many different kinds. There were his three cats (the “goblins”), a rabbit, a snake, some fish, and a lizard all living in his home. When he wasn't hanging out with his pets, he hung out with his friends and enjoyed geeking out with them at the movies and conventions, living a quiet but enjoyable life with those he loved.
Dana Randolph “Desiree A. DeMornay”
Phoenix, AZ
A nine-time champion, Desiree was a living embodiment of the best in drag and a trailblazer for trans women in the pageant circuit. “She was 100% done every time you saw her,” recalled a friend. “She was basically a one-stop-shop, she did everything on her own.” She applied that do-it-herself attitude to her entire life, infusing both her performances and her home with a style only Desiree could bring. So full of compassion for others, she would also helped fellow competitors with their makeup and hair and caused everyone to fall in love with her cooking. She truly had a unique zest for life that left an amazing legacy for those who knew her.
Quin Joy
Iowa City, IA
Quin was remembered for being passionate about both their politics and the joys of life. An ardent feminist and communist, she was expected to become her union’s new president but also was learning guitar to make music with her band Literature Club. She also loved her friends and her cat Gray and enjoyed queer cinema & queer literature canon, anime, jazz, hardcore punk, disco, and fighting games.
Sasha Williams
Las Vegas, NV
Sasha dreamed of graduating from the Las Vegas ballroom scene to performing on the Las Vegas Strip. Her friends found her to be “something different, something special” as a makeup artist and designer of her own clothes. She also showed great generosity, sending treat baskets to ill loved ones and renting out studio time for musician friends. She indeed loved those in her life and did what she could to better their lives.
Jennell Jaquays
Dallas, TX
If you’ve ever played games like Quake II or the Age of Empires series, you'd recognize the impact Jennell made immediately. A legend in game design circles, her work is so well-known that there’s even a term credited in her name: “Jaquaysing.” It’s where a dungeon in a role-playing game is given a number of different paths leading to add real-world complexity instead of just moving forward linearly. A concept she first developed in the 1970s as one of the earliest users/fans of Dungeons & Dragons, she then carried over to her pioneering work in video games throughout the 1980s to 2000s. Her intricate level designs in so many games have inspired countless play-throughs and others to follow her lead. As she said herself in a way that mirrored her own life, “Memorable game maps spring from a melding of design intent and fortunate accidents.”
Sarina Mihailoff
Pittsfield, MA
Sarina had no qualms about letting you know their opinions, especially when it came to politics and activism. An advocate for disability rights, they campaigned extensively in 2024 for Jasmine Sherman's presidential run and spoke loudly against the war in Gaza. While much of their energy focused on getting out the vote for Sherman, they also worked as an audio engineer and spent a lot of love and time with their partner and their child.
Sasha Washington-Cohen “Sasha Fierce”
Brooklyn, NY
Sasha was a fierce advocate who mobilized action for the New York City Anti-Violence Project to uplift survivors’ voices and give them an opportunity to get their lives back. Her work was vital to the creation of the AVP community room, a safe space for trans+ survivors and she was tireless through community action committees. She did this all through grit, humor, a bluntness that suffered no foolishness or fake sentiments, and a genuine care for those she helped.
Guelila “Gigi” Iyob
Jacksonville, FL
Gigi had a flare for the dramatic, especially when it came to a talent with makeup. Their Instagram is filled with many examples, often with them as the model, of using makeup not only to look glamorous but as a medium to express creativity, like a painter with a canvas or an illustrator with paper. Some of these pictures show them doing “going out to the club” kind of makeup, while others verged closer to special effects. To Gigi, it was a chance to show off to the world what they could do with confidence and style.
Aside from makeup, Gig was active on social media and unafraid to voice their opinions. As mentioned by friends and loved ones, Gigi was incredibly funny with their sharp wit and often mixed it with their strong sense of social justice. They posted often about the war in Gaza and advocating for better awareness on the effects of long COVID but also mixed it in with a number of posts patiently (and sometimes not-so- patiently) waiting for Hozier to drop a new album.
Videl Lombardo
Jacksonville, FL
Videl cared greatly about everyone having their human rights. She had planned on majoring in both psychology and political science once she was finished with college. Before that, she was a stellar student and opted to receive her GED at 16 and worked as a personal assistant for Mental Health and Addiction Services in Jacksonville, which she considered her favorite job. According to loved ones, she also loved traveling, music, poetry, her cat/”Favorite Human” Minne, and (most importantly) the beach, considering the beaches in South Florida her “paradise.”
Savannah Rose Rivers Amore
Springfield, MA
Savannah had a fierce lip-sync, which she often showed off along with elegant gowns and sparkly stones at various New England-area drag brunches, drag bingo, and Drag Me to Church events. She brought that same gusto to her work as a nurse in several nursing homes, bringing laughter and smiles to the residents. Sometimes, she would even bring both of those worlds together, spending her free time coordinating shows for those same seniors. Life for her was about making sure everyone got a chance to experience joy.
Kathy “Otter” Ottersten
Fairbanks, AK
“You take the risk to save lives. Maybe that’s how you love people.”
Kathy was never here for anyone’s nonsense. They were an activist’s activist almost non-stop since the 1980s. They were one of the original members of ACT UP, serving at a time when trans lives were barely understood and even there, they had to put down other people’s bullshit. Their biggest legacy came from when they co-organized and enacted the important “Stop the Church” protest in 1989 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral to counter the Catholic Church’s stance on teaching abstinence over safer sex to prevent HIV/AIDS. Though they were then arrested for the protest, that didn’t make a dent in their activism. There were countless other protests they threw themselves into, disrupting the New York Stock Exchange and New York Department of Health, all while fighting transphobia and running one of the city’s largest needle exchange programs. Even once they moved on to Fairbanks, Alaska years later, that never stopped them from fighting for justice. They eventually became the first intersex person elected in Alaska when they were sworn into the Fairbanks City Council in 2018. “Otter,” as friends knew them, never stopped being a warrior and everyone should be thankful for that.
Robin Valentina
Orlando, FL
Robin had a passion for cartooning, enough to drive them to study it in college and work as a graphic artist and designer once they graduated. Along with being a working artist, they taught college-level arts courses to high school students in their hometown Washington D.C. and passed on their knowledge to a new generation. Friends and family noted that Robin was very talented and they left behind evidence through their professional portfolio online. Before passing, they moved to Florida to pursue a life-long dream to try out a career in wrestling.
Forrest Douglas Buckley
Nashville, TN
Forrest founded Color Queery, a bi-monthly gathering hosted for the trans+ community in Nashville. Spread by word-of-mouth, it grew larger and larger due to their tireless work and coordination with others. They were seen as a “true creative and collaborator” and applied the talent they developed through high school theater to draw various people to meet and become new friends. Even those who didn't know them well knew how special Forrest made their community. As one regular attendee said, “Forrest made everyone who walked into Color Queery feel part of something they had a say in.”
Giselle Stone
Savannah, GA
Giselle studied sustainable fashion and textiles at the Savannah College of Arts and Design. According to friends and family, she “was the personification of talent, beauty and grace - a gifted artist, a talented musician, a paragon of style, an advocate for anyone in need, and the most generous spirit anyone could have had the good fortune to meet.” Jewish and vegan, she had a strong sense of caring for her world. She expressed her joy through “painting, poetry, textile design, music, hair, and the list goes on.” Along with those passions, she also had a love for avocado toast, ramen, and baking “cakes she made that made it impossible to fit into jeans after the holidays.”
Aside from making art, she also served as the Music Director for SCAD Radio where her “passion for music and openness to share that love will be greatly missed around our SCAD Radio station.” Prior to college, she grew up playing guitar and bass in several bands in the New Jersey/New York local music scenes and could connect the dots between different genres and styles of music. According to her friends at SCAD Radio, she was “a pretty unsightly dancer, but hell, she sure seemed to be having fun.”
Tristan Michael Bustos “Tristyn St. Clair”
Indianapolis, IN
Some of their friends noted that Tristan was shy but for much of the Indianapolis nightlife scene, they were known as Tristyn, an outgoing and vivacious member of the Haus of St. Clair. Trystan was a performer through and through, performing at all the local cabarets and headlining musical productions such as Mean Girls and Legally Blonde. She also played several instruments (piano, guitar, keyboards, ukelele) and designed all of the clothing she wore for performances. Inspired by her favorite star Taylor Swift, Trystan worked hard at her art and made an impact on those who got to see her on the stage.
Kitty Monroe
Phoenix, AZ
Kitty was the main character everywhere she went but in the best possible way. She “was bratty but also knew her way to your heart,” as her sister put it. Nowhere was this more apparent when she returned back home so she could care for her mother, who began experiencing early stages of dementia. Kitty cooked the meals and made sure her mother felt clean, pretty, and loved.
Even when faced with hardship, looking at the good in life was Kitty's focus. “I try to put out positive happy energy that charges other people, that makes them feel good about themselves. Everyone should feel good about themself.”
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