I trembled before her, crown jewel of the Club Kids who ruled Manhattan nights in the early ’90s. I told her the name I answered to at the time, a name I would soon revise to sound sweeter, more potable. “I mean, you’re the most famous transsexual in the world.” (That’s what she called herself.) I’d ply the dolls with drinks, then probe them about hormone replacement therapy (to my surprise, they’d indulge me). In 2014, I’d medically transition, which I might not have done so soon — or at all — had I never met these women in nightclubs.

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Persons: Lucas Hilderbrand, Amanda Lepore, “ I’m Amanda, ”, “, I’d, Sophia Lamar, DeSe Escobar, Juliana Huxtable, — Organizations: Gay Bars, Club Kids Locations: America, rhinestones, Manhattan, New York