Gloria Allen, who ran a charm school for transgender youths, has died at 76. Her school inspired the play “Charm” by Philip Dawkins, who called her “the mother of queer Chicago.”
“I feel so blessed because I never thought I would make it to the age of 30,” Ms. Allen. “I never thought that, because I had been in so many bad relationships where I was beaten up. It was rough.”
The oldest of eight siblings, Ms. Allen was born in Bowling Green, Ky., on Oct. 6, 1945, and grew up in the Bronzeville section of Chicago. Her parents were not married, and she had little relationship to her biological father. Her mother was a showgirl and a model who was photographed for Jet magazine and married a factory worker the year Ms. Allen turned 2.Decades before institutions like the Center on Halsted started offering resources for young people coming out as transgender, Ms.
She was also backed by her great-aunt, who introduced her to the fundamentals of etiquette, and her maternal grandmother, a seamstress who made gowns for drag queens and dancers.Together, the three women gave her fashion tips and makeup advice. “Before I left the house, I had to model my outfit for these women,” she told the Tribune. “If I didn’t look right, they’d stop me. They’d say, ‘Sister, you can’t wear that.
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