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Seize Control of the Taj Mahal

Glenn Belverio

1991 00:29:00 United StatesEnglishColorMono4:38mm video

Description

In this episode of The Brenda and Glennda Show, Brenda and Glennda lead a group of drag queens on a trip to Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. Intended to be a drag queen gambling getaway and a public stage for drag visibilty, the trip turns into a moment of protest and reflection incited by homophobic discrimination. The group is kicked out of the gambling area for supposedly wearing excessive makeup and inapprorpiate, flashy attire — somehow unlike and worse than that of the casino's showgirls and other heavily powdered female patrons. What emerges on the Boardwalk outside of the casino is a talk show taking the form of a series of interviews with workers, onlookers, and fellow drag queens that reveal the polarized attitudes towards drag, gender, and sexuality in everyday America. The many topics dicussed include discrimination against gays and drag queens, President George Bush’s invasion of Iraq, and presciently, Donald Trump.

An episode of The Brenda and Glennda Show, hosted by Brenda Sexual and Glennda Orgasm. Also featuring Buffy Davis, Hedda Lettuce, Wynona Lettuce, and Miss Understood.

“If you know any gay gamblers or drag queen gamblers, don’t gamble here, because a dollar for the Trump Taj Mahal is a dollar for homophobia.” 

— Brenda Sexual

About Glenn Belverio

Glenn Belverio is an independent film and video maker who lives and works in New York City. He began producing and co-hosting the popular Manhattan Cable series The Brenda and Glennda Show in 1990, a talk show that took the art of drag out of the nightclubs and into the streets, mixing politics with humor. In 1993, the series became Glennda and Friends, a post-queer talk show featuring provocative co-stars such as gay pornographer Bruce LaBruce and guerrilla scholar Camille Paglia. Belverio and Paglia's collaborative project Glennda and Camille Do Downtown later became a short film, and was well received at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. Glenn's work has screened at venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and the New Museum, NY. Glennda and Camille Do Downtown won the Best Short Documentary prize at the 1994 Chicago Underground Film Festival.

Also See: Glenn Belverio: An Interview