Candi Guerrero wants to share her story. For many years the transgender woman was a performer at Finocchio's, the legendary San Francisco drag club that closed in 1999 after a run of more than 60 years.
"I worked at Finocchio's from 1965 through 1973," Guerrero, 73, recalled during a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter from her room at San Francisco Health Care and Rehabilitation, where she was staying while recuperating from a recent fall. "I also worked at La Cage at the Sahara in Las Vegas, and many other places."
Guerrero achieved popularity for performances in which she impersonated Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, the two reigning sex symbols of 1960s Italian cinema.
"I did Gina's dance from the movie Solomon and Sheba ," Guerrero said. "My mother came to see me – she and my stepdad were totally accepting."
Guerrero acknowledged that she's had it much easier than many other transgender women.
"It's a very difficult and complicated choice," she said. "So many of my friends that made the transition are gone. Most did not live long because it's a hard life. Unless you have a strong family foundation, which I had, or a strong spiritual base, transitioning does not open doors. Some transgender women married heterosexual men but the relationships did not last because the guys could not cope."
She also cited "botched surgeries" in countries such as Thailand as a contributing factor to the shorter lifespans among transgender women – those surgeries often caused chronic and even life-threatening health issues, she said.
Born in New Orleans, Guerrero was 16 years old when she realized she was female. "I had to be taken out of gym class because the boys would beat me up in the shower," she said of her youth. "Finally they just had me hand out the towels – I still got to see them naked." She smiled as she recalled that memory.
"My mom took me to see a psychiatrist," Guerrero said. "The doctor told mom that I was transsexual, not homosexual."
It was in 1962 that Guerrero dressed in full drag for the first time. "I was still living as male," she recalled. "I won a prize for drag and was asked if I had ever thought of going to Finocchio's."
She takes great pride in the fact that she always sang in her own voice when onstage.
"Nowadays they lip sync," she said. "It doesn't take much talent to do that. The girls don't get paid anymore, instead people throw dollar bills at them. In my day we belonged to a union, the American Guild of Variety Artists. We made good money and had health coverage."
Guerrero's transition began in 1970 when she started taking female hormones under the care of her doctor. "I did not have the full surgery," she said. She made this decision after talking to a doctor in Honolulu, where she was living and working at the time. Her doctor admitted to having seen her out at the local shopping mall – Guerrero had not seen him.
"You are lovely," the doctor told her. "Do really think if you butcher yourself it will make you happier?"
Guerrero told the doctor that, no, the surgery would not make her happier. She felt fine as she was, and continued to live as a woman and to earn a good living by performing in clubs.
"The minute I came to San Francisco everything fell into place," she said. "My true essence came out. If you don't live as who you are then you are suppressing yourself."
Trans visibility
Though she's happy by the recent rise in transgender visibility, she acknowledges that it can still be a hard life for many.
"San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, the big coastal cities are relatively safe," she observed. "People in the South and the Midwest have it rough."
As she spoke, a nurse came into Guerrero's room to serve her lunch. Guerrero said that she was scheduled to return home in a few days.
"I want LGBT seniors to know that this place is here," she said of San Francisco Health Care and Rehabilitation. This place saved me."
She described it as "a rainbow," with patients from many different cultures and nationalities – it was a safe space for LGBT people, she noted.
Azita Houshangi, director of marketing for San Francisco Health Care and Rehabilitation, told the B.A.R. that the facility is a "168-bed skilled nursing facility that is Medicare and Medi-Cal certified."
"We also specialize in HIV and palliative care patients," Houshangi said. "Our staff is professionally trained to provide the highest level of customized care to these patients while valuing their dignity, privacy, and respect. We are proud to be an LGBT-friendly facility."
Guerrero, who was interviewed shortly after the election, expressed her support for those who were marching against President-elect Donald Trump. Guerrero recalled marching with Jane Fonda and Harvey Milk many years ago.
"I'm glad to see so many people out marching," Guerrero said. "It reminds me of a quote from Gloria Steinem: 'The older I get, the more radical I get.'"