Chloe O. Davis - The Queens English - The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to all of the voices who have contributed to the creation, design, and production of The Queens English. I am awestruck! You not only helped make my dream come true, but also renewed my passion for it daily. I figured I would thank each person with a star, so look up at the sky tonight. There will be a star with your name on it.

Sincere thanks to the Philadelphia Dance Companyall my PHILADANCO! guys and dollsand its fearless leader, Joan Myers Brown. The idea to write the dictionary started here and I am so grateful for how you provided me with a creative space to discover all my talents. Thank you for supporting me for over a decade and teaching me the language of the queens.

Huge round of applause goes to my most supportive parents, John and Rose Davis. I love you! Thank you for believing in me and reminding me to stay creative, persistent, dedicated, and patient. Nothing great can come if you cannot endure the challenges and learn the lessons along the way.

Ebony Barrettsis, you are my light and number one fan. I love you, Pono, and Sir. Priscilla Jackson, you motivate and believe in me in ways that pull me up to the mountaintop. Teneise Ellis, your love covers me and makes me whole: I am you, you are me. Thank you, A. Maverick Lemons, for blessing the dictionary with its name, and Hassan Ellis, for creating its beautiful rainbow crown. Maisha Pinkard, you stand by me and for me in ways I never knew I needed. Eleven, thank you for starting me on my journey into the beautiful life of free thinking and free being. Lamar Baylor, you are awesome, selfless, and kind; I thank you for being with me every step of the way. Shout-out and all my love to my complete varsity cheering squadall my family, all my friends, and all my supporters.

I would like to thank James Harris, Kyle Jones, Daniel Banks, and Persephone Valentine for being instrumental in my writing journey and moving me along with ease, strength, and comfort. To my creative brother, Troy Lambert, I adore you. Your creative input and thoroughness truly brought this dictionary to life. Your illustrations along with the works from Cassandra Fountaine, Mark Uhre, and Shane Benjamin are extraordinary, and I thank you all.

I am most grateful to the many individuals who participated in interviews and group discussions, including my amazing cast members who helped along the way. Your wisdom, input, words, and stories created this body of work!

Wow, what an incredibly talented production team I have! To my rock-star literary agent, Leila Campoli, the first person to believe that The Queens English would be a resource for all people and who worked effortlessly to find the best home for it: thank you for representing me and my creation. To my editor, Sara Neville, our journey is one for the books, literally! Thank you for advocating for this manuscript. Your passion for this work is endless. Thank you to the production and design team at Clarkson Potter and Penguin Random House, especially Mark McCauslin, Danielle Deschenes, and Kim Tyner, for transforming the vision of The Queens English into a tangible, creative masterpiece. Look at what we have done, the lives we have touched, the understanding we are providing.

So, I say thank you! You did that! You slayed, pushed through, snatched wigs, and showed up! My heart is warm with gratitude.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chloe O. Davis is a proud Black bisexual woman and debut author who works in the entertainment industry in New York. A graduate of Hampton University and Temple University, she has centered her creative platform on amplifying the narratives of Black culture and heightening the awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Daviss work as a dancer, actor, and creative has allowed her to travel to all fifty states and internationally. In addition to performing at premier theaters across the country, such as New York City Center, the Apollo Theater, the Kennedy Center, the Muny, and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, she has appeared on PBS Great Performances with Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert on NBC, and Southern Landscape performed by the Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!).

RESOURCES

ACT UP / actupny.org

The Ali Forney Center / aliforneycenter.org

The Audre Lorde Project / alp.org

Bisexual Resource Center / biresource.org

bklyn boihood / bklynboihood.com

Black Lives Matter / blacklivesmatter.com

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS / broadwaycares.org

Brown Boi Project / brownboiproject.org

Camp Aranutiq / camparanutiq.org

Center for Black Equity / centerforblackequity.org

CenterLink / lgbtcenters.org

COLAGE / colage.org