Oral history interview with Kimberlee Van Patten

Collection

Identifier: SR 11291

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Kimberlee Van Patten was conducted by Katie Horton and Amy Sherwood on February 12, 2009, for the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest. The interview was conducted as part of a senior capstone class on LGBTQ history at Portland State University, with instructor Pat Young.

In this interview, Van Patten discusses her early life in Portland, Oregon. She shares her experiences going to gay bars in Portland during the 1980s and describes how she became involved with the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court, Oregon's oldest LGBTQ organization, which holds annual drag-themed charity galas that award titles ranging from Mister and Miss Gay Oregon to Rose Empress and Emperor. She talks about participating in Imperial Sovereign Rose Court pageants, her marriage to Blayne Van Patten, a drag queen who performs under the name Patti O'Dora, and her later relationship with Maria Peters Lake, also known as Rose Empress XXXVI Maria. She discusses her relationship with Lady Elaine Peacock, and speaks at length about her management of Peacock Productions, Inc. and the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund. She shares the reasons why she and Lake ended the annual free event Peacock in the Park after 2004, and describes the operations of the scholarship fund. She also talks about her break-up with Lake. She discusses her reign as Rose Emperor XXIII Kimberlee Van Patten of the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court in 1996. She closes the interview by describing the effects of the AIDS epidemic on the Portland gay community.

Dates

2009 February 12

Creator

Van Patten, Kimberlee R. (Kimberlee Rae), 1966- (Interviewee, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Kimberlee Rae Van Patten, nee Currin, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1966. In 1986, she and Blayne Van Patten, a drag queen who performs under the name Patti O'Dora, were married; they divorced the next year. In 1993, Lady Elaine Peacock willed the Peacock in the Park drag show and the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund to Van Patten and her partner, Maria Peters Lake (aka Rose Empress XXXVI Maria). In 1999, they incorporated the organization as Peacock Productions, Inc.

Extent

78.5 Megabytes (1 audio file (MP3, 57 min., 13 sec.) + transcript (25 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Kimberlee Van Patten conducted by Katie Horton and Amy Sherwood on February 12, 2009, for the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest. Van Patten discusses her management of Peacock Productions Inc., a non-profit organization in Portland that produces drag shows to raise money for the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship fund.