The Glade Show Lounge

After the arrival of missionaries in the 1800s, many Native Hawaiian cultural practices were banned, including traditions and moʻolelo tied to māhū. ⁠
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Māhū are individuals who possess elements of male and female in mind, heart, and spirit. They were respected as caretakers, healers, and teachers of ancient traditions. As māhū became marginalized following western contact, the meaning of the word was reshaped by western constructs. Māhū was used to describe a range of gender identities and sexualities housed under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. ⁠
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By the 1960s, individuals who identified as māhū couldn’t walk the street without fear of violence. They were targeted with heavy fines and faced jail time under the “intent to deceive” law. “Hearing the phrase ‘kill a māhū’ was not uncommon,” filmmaker Connie Florez said.⁠
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Some māhū and others in the queer community found sanctuary in The Glade Show Lounge, a celebrated nightclub in the red light district of Honolulu’s Chinatown. “The Glades” was popular with locals, tourists, film and TV crews, and military personnel for its "Boys Will Be Girls Revue," which featured “female impersonators,” who performed burlesque shows multiple times a week. ⁠
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“I walked in that club when I was 17 years old. The energy, it was like we were in our own little world…because when we went outside of the club, it was different,” performer Jerrine Madayag said. Outside the club, performers were forced to wear “I am a boy” or “I am a man” buttons in compliance with the law (repealed in 1972).⁠ “We’ve come a long ways from what we had before.”

Still the fight for māhū visibility and proper representation continues.⁠ “It’s not good enough anymore as a 21st century Native Hawaiian Queer that I, as a Native Hawaiian, was here, that I exist," Kaumakaiwa Kanakaʻole, a prominent hula practitioner, said. “It also matters to me that the part of me who is māhū also has a lineage equally as profound and equally as deep and meaningful.”

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