(Photo courtesy National LGBTQ Task Force)
The world has lost one of its most iconic transgender legends: Mama Gloria.
Gloria Allen, a transgender icon and activist, has died at the age of 76.
Allen both founded and ran a charm school at Chicago’s Center on Halsted for homeless trans youth where the children nicknamed her “Mama Gloria.” She gave lessons on love, makeup and manners from the teachings of her mother and grandmother. Allen was also the subject of the namesake award-winning documentary, as well as the critically acclaimed play “Charm.”
Born in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Oct. 6, 1945, Allen grew up in Chicago during the same time as the legendary drag balls and made her transition before Stonewall.
Allen came from a loving and supportive household where her mother Alma was a showgirl and former Jet magazine centerfold and her grandmother Mildred was a seamstress for crossdressers and strippers.
Despite experiencing traumatic violence in high school for who she was, Allen overcame and turned into an out and proud leader in her community. With the LPN she earned, she worked as a nurse’s aide at the University of Chicago Hospital and in private homes.
Her hometown paper the Chicago Tribune has highlighted her attributions, which have created inspiration for “Charm,” written by Philip Dawkins. The play had its premiere at Steppenwolf Garage Theater and traveled to Minneapolis, D.C., Los Angeles and New York.
Allen received the Living Legend Award by Janet Mock and Precious Brady-Davis at the 2014 Trans 100 Awards for her work with the charm school. She also appeared on the cover of Jess T. Dugan’s “To Survive on This Shore” with interviews and photographs of trans and non-binary elders.
It was in 2020 that Allen got to star in the critically acclaimed documentary “Mama Gloria,” directed by Luchina Fisher, where it broadcasted on “Afropop: the Ultimate Cultural Exchange” on World channel and PBS. The film was also nominated for a GLAAD Media Award and bestowed upon Allen a newfound fame and audience.
The story of “Mama Gloria” was featured in a variety of outlets, such as People magazine, The 19th News, the BBC and NowThisNews. Allen also received SAGE’s Advocacy Award for Excellence in Leadership on Aging Issues at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s annual Creating Change Conference in 2021.
Allen’s body was found in her LGBTQ-friendly senior apartment in Chicago Monday morning where she is believed to have passed peacefully in her sleep. Several of her siblings, as well as nieces and nephews and chosen family survived her.
“I hit walls that were up against me, but I pressed through the walls and made myself known to everybody because I’m not ashamed, and I want people to know that,” she told The 19th News.
