The grandeur and legacy of drag trailblazer Doris Fish

Drag superstars have become household names.

RuPaul, Trixie Mattel, Bianca Del Rio, Ben DeLaCreme — chances are you’ve probably heard of at least one of them.

But before Drag Race dominated the zeitgeist, there was Doris.

With her icy blonde wig, thick eyebrows, and beauty mark, she left an imprint on drag history, and on author Craig Seligman.

Seligman is the author of “Who Does That Bitch Think She Is: Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag,” a new biography examining the life of Doris Fish.

Soundside host Libby Dekmann talked to Seligman about Fish's legacy as a pioneering drag superstar in Australia and San Francisco during the 1960s and 1970s.

Seligman said he chose to write about Fish for several reasons.

"One is that Doris was most one of the most fascinating people I've ever known, and I knew that there was a great story there," he said. "Another was that I feared that if I didn't write about Doris, who I thought was a really important player in the advance of gay visibility in the 1970s and 1980s, [he] would be lost to history. Doris was in San Francisco, but recorded gay history is mostly told from the standpoint of New York since that's where the media are."

Seligman refers to Fish throughout his book using he/him pronouns, he said, "because when Doris was really on the rise in the 1970s, and the 1980s, we didn't put as much weight on pronouns as we do now."

He added, "Gay men referred to other gay men as 'she' all the time without giving it much thought. But there was nothing trans about Doris — Doris definitely considered himself a cisgender man."

Seligman outlined how Fish, also known as Philip Mills, found acceptance and support within his conservative Catholic family.

"The family became less conservative over the course of Doris' life because Doris was always completely open to them about his sexuality and his other, rather less savory activities," Seligman said.

"When Doris' mother reported to Doris' brothers [that] Philip is gay, they didn't even look up, they were so unsurprised by the news. Doris was also, at the same time, becoming a well-known drag queen on the Sydney scene. And instead of keeping this from his family, he integrated at least his mother into his appearances. She was often in the drag clubs with him, and often on stage with him. She was almost as well-known in the Sydney gay community as Doris was."

Seligman described Australia and the United States as being "very parallel in their development" when it came to queer visibility and rights in the late 20th century.

"I think although we have many stories of kids being kicked out of their families because of intolerant parents, I think those are the stories we hear because they're newsworthy stories. But I think there were many more stories like Doris' and like mine, of gay men and lesbians — young queer people — who had families who were totally accepting and didn't give a second thought to their children's sexuality. Their only concern was that their kids be happy."

Listen to the full interview above.