Venus was here. Jersey City pays tribute to trans icon by marking childhood home as historic landmark

Relaxed on a bed before a window overlooking her overgrown Jersey City backyard, Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza shared stories of the community she had found in New York City's underground ballroom scene and dreams of a glamorous future. It was through those moments captured in the 1990 documentary “Paris is Burning” that the world fell in love with Venus. The transgender woman in her early 20sbecame an inspiration for trans and queer individuals settling into their identities and discovering the ballroom culture, and now, more than 30 years later, is considered a legend in the underground ballr…

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