In honor of Larry T. Baza, former Pride co-chair and arts booster, Pride recognizes a local artist or arts organization annually. Baza died in 2021 from COVID-19 at age 76 and is remembered for using the arts as a means to elevate, educate, and advocate for the LGBT+ community. This year, Lindsey Deaton is being honored with his namesake award.
She is the first transgender woman on the board of Diversionary Theatre and the South Bay resident founded the San Diego Queer Youth Chorus.
“I have an artistic home in San Diego, both with San Diego Pride and Diversionary Theatre,” she said. “I cherish both of those relationships deeply. They are evocative of Larry T. Baza.”
Deaton is a choralist, artistic director and playwright who is known for starting the trans choral movement. She founded queer chorals in Los Angeles and Cincinnati. The Trans Chorus Los Angeles (TCLA) is the largest group of trans and non-binary people anywhere in the world to come together to create music.
She was a top choralist in the Catholic Church until she was fired in 2013 for coming out. Despite her house foreclosing and the change in career, her transition allowed her to be happier than she’d ever been.
“I lost everything when I transitioned,” Deaton said. “It’s just 10 years later right now… and so I’m just really grateful that I’ve been able to, number one, be myself, and continue to be an advocate and an artist, and I’m grateful to be back in my hometown.”
In 2014, her trans activism began when the queer youth chorus she founded, Diverse City, hosted a vigil for Leelah Alcorn. The 17-year-old transgender girl died by suicide – an event that gained national media attention when her suicide note was published and she detailed how isolated she was as a transgender teenager.
“Everybody wanted to know what happened and what happened was four-and-a-half years of conversion therapy. That’s what happened,” Deaton said. “Leelah is buried underneath a headstone that reflects her dead name.”
Six months prior to her death, a Black transgender woman, Tiffany Edwards, was shot in the face in the middle of a Cincinatti street. Ohio was a deeply red state at the time but the city was considered an oasis for the queer community.
“There was a real strong movement in Cincinnati to get it right,” Deaton said.
A Cincinnati children’s hospital expanded its transgender healthcare program to more than 1000 families in the wake of the tragedy. After moving back to San Diego five years ago to care for aging parents, Deaton still often thinks about her former home. Ohio is one of the states where transgender children are barred from participating in sports.
Her activism now is based in West Hollywood and San Diego. She continues to work with queer youth in the local chorus where she is inspired by their creativity.
“Because of how we are existing right now, in this particular culture and time, queer youth are having to be very creative, daily. Sometimes they’re having to be so creative so they protect their own lives when they go to school,” she said. “It’s a time of experimentation and exploration.”
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