Jim: Drag Queen Bingo really caught on, and so Bingo really became an important part of the walk from that time forward. And we kept doing it year after year, and building and improving, and the event just kept growing. The time came where in 2005, our drag queens told us, “Gosh, we have good news and we have bad news. We are so excited to be there for the walk this year. But you should know that we won't be able to do it next year.”

And so there we were debating: what do we do? What are we gonna do? Where are we gonna find drag queens? And three of us that had been on the executive board for AIDS Walk kind of looked at each other out of the side of our eyes and we were like, “Huh.” 

And at one point, we'd had several conversations with Alex and Chamblee over the years about, “How did you get started and all that? Well, I had a drag mother and we just kinda learned it and you just start. And you start off, and you may not be very good at it, and you just keep doing it, and you get better, and you learn things.”

So we kinda started looking around and we didn't say anything to anybody that night, but Travis and Jason and I were all like, “I think we could do this.” And before we knew it, we kind of put our heads together and said, “This event can't stop. This has to go on. And if that means that I have to go and learn how to walk in high heels and do makeup, I can do that. I think. Maybe. And oh God, are we gonna do this? Oh god, I think we're gonna do this!”

We went to one of our other executive board members for AIDS Walk, Bob Hooker. And Bob was an old queen. Bob had been HIV positive since the early 80s. He was born and raised here in Wyoming, grew up here in Laramie. And then went to Baltimore and was living in Baltimore in the 80s, and that's where he contracted HIV. 

He later moved back to Laramie after he had gotten a little sicker, and fortunately he had good luck with his health in the grand scheme of things. He had no shortage of challenges over the years, but always came up smiling. And he was our cheerleader. Bob was really the one who kept us going and reminded us why we were doing what we did. He was the one that reminded us why this was so important and the difference that we were making in people's lives. 

Every year at Bingo, during part of our event called the paddle raiser where we raise a ton of money in a very short amount of time, we would ask Bob to get up and talk about what the money that we were raising goes to cover. Bob was our cheerleader that would remind us of those things and kind of tug at the heartstrings during the event. 

So when it came time to announce to someone that we were thinking about becoming drag queens, we went to Bob. And he said, “Well, girls, it turns out that back in Baltimore, I did a little bit of drag. I was Miss Bang Bang Ladesh,” he said. “And I would be happy to be your drag mother.” He said, “I am not getting in drag at my age and with my health. I have too many things wrong with me. I am not going to be pretty, so I will not be in drag, but I will absolutely be there cheering you on and teach you everything I know and maybe a little bit more.” And he sure did. 

Along the way the universe smiled on us as the way it always kind of seemed to do, and one of the clinics in town, Albany County Family Planning, at the time, was its name. They were moving offices and kind of rearranging some stuff. So they were cleaning out the clinic and doing a purge of some storage stuff, and they ran across these silicone models that had been designed to teach women how to do self-exams at home.

So each of those silicone breast molds had a number of tumors in them and you could learn how to palpate or feel out those tumors. And they were just gonna throw them away. They were really old and dated, and the materials that went with them were really kind of outdated and looked kind of sketchy, but they were in, you know, decent enough quality. And Bob said, “Oh dear God, don't you throw those away! I know where those need to go.” 

And so sure enough, we didn't even have to go out and buy our fake breasts. They came to us from the clinic. I still to this day have those same breasts and use those same models. I still have the card that tells me where the tumors are located on my breasts. It really was like divine intervention, it felt like. There was one set of breasts that was exceptionally large, and that fits my 6’4 frame. It was kind of perfect. I needed some larger breasts, and the universe provided. So that was just one of those little things that told us we were on the right track. 

Ashley: You talked about Bob being your drag mother. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, can you please define what a drag mother is? 

Jim: Oh yes! What a fabulous question. So, at least to me, a drag mother is somebody who kind of teaches you the ropes, who teaches you how to do the things. And for a lot of folks, and in a lot of cities, that also means that they're teaching you a way of being. 

Because drag in gay communities has long been the only way to find community for some folks. It is a chosen family. And because so many people are turned out or ignored or shunned, disowned by their biological family when they come out, as queer or as trans or as a drag queen or king. Seeing those differences is challenging for families sometimes. And so drag is a place where a lot of queer kids have found a family—when they move to a city, they move away from home for the first time. 

And so, a lot of that comes out of ball culture in the big cities and particularly in New York. Oftentimes these drag houses were a group of disadvantaged or unhoused youth, often, who would come together and live in an apartment together. And go out and do their drag shows together, and perform at the ball together, and in different categories. This is really the precursor to some of the drag culture that we have now. And it really is someone who took you in and in many cases became like your mother—made sure you ate, made sure you had a place to stay. 

Here in our town it was somebody who showed us the way, and was there to cheer us on, and when something was difficult or when we faced an obstacle, to remind us to do the thing. “You can do this. Dear God, you managed to squeeze yourself into a corset and shave everything in sight. You're fine. You're going to get through this.” So that to me is a drag mother.

Ashley: Would you like to talk any more about Bob?

Jim: Yes, yes, I would. So I think the most important thing to tell you is that Bob was not just our cheerleader, he was our heart. You know, I already mentioned that each year at Bingo we'd call him up on stage and say, “Bob, tell us what we use the money for.” And he would get up there and he would yank on those heart strings. Oh, he was so good at it. Because he really helped people understand how this made a difference in somebody's life. And that became such an important thing for us that at some point along the way, we created what we called the Red Ribbon Angel Award. And we gave it out to somebody who had really gone above and beyond helping people in the state.

And one year with the Red Ribbon Angel Award—we did it with the [Wyoming AIDS] walk, too, it wasn't just a bingo thing—but one year it was the three doctors in the state. We named all three doctors as our Red Ribbon Angels. They were actually our first Red Ribbon Angels. So we gave out the Red Ribbon Angel Award, including to Bob one year. We snuck it on him and he was both honored and thrilled and pissed at us. Oh, it was hilarious. Some of the drag queens over the years—we've all kind of received that award. They even threw it at me one year because of the work that I had done, and that I was kind of the drag mother now of the group. I had taken on that role after Bob left us.

Eventually after Bob passed, we renamed it: the Bob Hooker Red Ribbon Angel Award. And the reason that makes me cry so much, is it just reminds me of how much he would put other people in the event in front of himself. There were years we had to send Bob home from bingo because we were worried he was going to get sick if we didn't. Because he was so exhausted. He had done so much for that week. And so much in preparation. “Bob, get the hell out of here. You've done your spiel. Get out, go home.” And he got real good at, “All right, girls, it's my time. I'm gonna go turn into a pumpkin.” But to this day, Bob is still there with us at bingo every year. We literally put his picture on the award. Because that's Bob coming through.

And there's a picture of him with one of our keynote speakers from the Walk one year—co-keynote speakers, because at the time he was four, contracted HIV when his mother gave birth to him. She did not know that she was HIV positive at the time. She learned that when she was in the hospital after he was born—and was the cutest darn speaker ever, won over everyone on the committee and at the walk that year. It was just amazing. And somebody snapped a picture of Bob coming down the staircase in the Union. And there was a light coming through the window shining down on them. And it looked like, you know, every depiction of an angel you'd ever seen. And here is Bob holding hands with this little toddler coming down this grand staircase.

And that is the image I have of Bob in my heart. Not just in my mind, but in my heart. Because that's who he was. Always walking hand-in-held with somebody, making sure that they were gonna be okay. And so that's what I try to envision and why I keep doing what I do I do. By God, Bob did this until he couldn't do it anymore. I'm still vertical. Marty's coming to the show. So that's what I want people to know about Bob.

Ashley: Thank you for sharing that.

Jim: Thank you for asking. And on that, I gotta be done. I'm gonna be dehydrated otherwise.

Note: The transcript above has been condensed from its original audio recording to improve the flow and readability of the story.