RIP Diamond Lil 8/10/2016 @ 80 ( a secret no longer kept)

Coming into Atlanta from small town South Georgia in 1968 I had never met an openly gay person before and was a bit shocked at first. Lil regularly hung out at her friend Erica’s who lived with her husband and son Jolie at The Zoo, Penn @ 8th. Lil was a most interesting person. She had mastered the Southern Belle art of implying awful things about someone or something by an extravagant compliment as carefully worded as a stiletto. And her acute observations were usually what needed to be said rather than malicious. She amused me to no end with her intelligence and wit, and then I saw her perform and transform strutting the stage and singing. The girl could rock a crowd.

Creative Loafing “God Save the Queen” about Lil in 2003

 God save the Queen | Creative Loafing Atlanta

DIAMOND LIL, 1935-2016

Drag legend, 80, dies of cancer

Performer’s influence on scene in Atlanta lasted over 40 years.

By Shane Harrison sharrison@ajc.com

Atlanta drag legend Diamond Lil, born Phil Forrester in Savannah on Dec. 28, 1935, has died at age 80. The performer had been ill with cancer for more than a year and was moved into a hospice care facility in recent months. Her influence on Atlanta’s drag scene is profound.

“Nothing could have prepared me for the first time I saw her perform,” said fellow performer,friend and fan Lily White in a Facebook post. “Little did I know that her talent and influence would change my life. Her love for her fans never wavered, and her crazy outlook on loving each other and having fun is still what I judge myself [by] to this day.”

Lil moved to Atlanta in 1965, beginning her local performing career at Mrs. P’s, a restaurant and lounge in the basement of the Ponce Hotel, just up the street from the Sears Building (now Ponce City Market).