2022-2023
The Mistress of the Mic with the Gift of Gab, The Patron Saint of Bad Decisions, The Queen Thot, and Cincinnati's First Bearded Empress. The Emerald Empress of Enthusiasm, Encouragement, and Empowerment, Empress XXXI Anita Dushay
Their Most Imperial and Sovereign Majesty, Sailor Sister of the Immaculate 4-Way, Ever Sassy, Always Classy; the Gaming Cosplayer and Garnet Guardian of Revolution. The First Emprex of the Buckeye Empire and First of Their Name, Emprex XXXI Anna Mae Ceres
House of Chaos
Court of the Moon
Imperial Crown Princess Royale Susie Homewrecker
Imperial Crown Prince Royale Kelly Jo McCoy
Permanent Titles awarded:
Princess Ultima to House of Chaos Luna Bones
Papa Bear Ultima to House of Chaos Doug Baer
D.O.B.E for Life Heidi Ho
Anita Dushay and Anna Mae Ceres stepped up on October 8th, 2022. Making ISQCCBE history as the first Emprex and bearded Empress, Anita would be known as the Mistress of the Mic with the Gift of Gab, The Patron Saint of Bad Decisions, The Queen Thot, and Cincinnati’s First Bearded Empress. The Emerald Empress of Enthusiasm, Encouragement, and Empowerment, while Anna Mae would be known as the Sailor Sister of the Immaculate 4-Way, Ever Sassy, Always Classy. The Gayming Cosplayer and Garnet Guardian of Revolution. The First Emprex of the Buckeye Empire, First of their name. Anita & Anna Mae presided over the House of Chaos and the Court of the Moon.
The Royal Family consisted of Imperial Crown Princess Royale Suzie Homewrecker, Imperial Crown Prince Royale Kelly Jo Coy, Princess Royale Queen Danicure, and Princess Royale Karina Lee Phoenix. Anna Mae announced Empress 27 Anna Mosity, Emperor 22 of Connecticut Vu Tran Pond and Empress 37 of Houston Ivanna Hyde-Cupcake as halves, and Empress 20 Shanice McCoy Patton as heir. Anita announced Sun Empress 4 of Florida Jamie LaChoy, and Empress 28/29 Leah Tyler, Empress 13 Truly Scrumptious St. James and Empress 25 & 28 of the ISQCCBE Molly Mormen as halves, and Empress 8 Miss Tate as heir. Emperor 12 Sam Clemons-Snap and Empress 12 & 21 Ginger Snap-Clemons served as King Father and Queen Mother of the Reign. The designated charities for Reign 31 were Cincinnati Leather, Visionaries & Voices, UpSpring, Josephine’s Clinic, The Cincinnati Sisters, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Reign 31 also supported several other charities and assisted the International Court Council with their fundraising goals for the year.
When Anita and Anna Mae stepped up, they set out with their focus on 5 goals: increasing the court’s visibility in the realm and throughout the ICS, getting into new venues, creating new partnerships, deepening the relationships with existing partnerships, and introducing new events to the ISQCCBE and the community at large while continuing many of the traditional events such as the chili cookoff, Weekend with the Flame to benefit Caracole, Wreath Auction, Cookie Exchange, Cocktails for a Cause and more. Increasing our visibility, several members of the ISQCCBE were interviewed and highlighted in the March edition of Cincinnati Magazine, which included Anita, Ginger Snap-Clemons and Casey Pond-Tate, participating in a photoshoot. The Monarchs traveled to a combined 18 cities (Anita 12, Bryan 6), but were also represented
by members of the ISQCCBE at an additional five, bringing Reign 31’s total coronations attended to 23! Realms reign 31 visited include Vancouver (WA), Portland, Georgia, Dallas, Chicago, Florida, Houston, Seattle, Minnesota, Connecticut, San Diego, New York, Corpus Christi, Buffalo, Kentucky, Waterfall Empire, Austin, London, Indianapolis, Iowa, Portland, Toronto, and Georgia. Anita was named Half to Benita Bloom, Emprex 42 of Kentucky, and Emperor 31 Bren Da’Rehab of Minnesota. Anna Mae was named half to Emperors 24 Mark Hicks Richard and George Hicks- Richard of Connecticut. In Austin, the ISQCCBE was named a Sibling Court by Emprex 28 Ffire Stone.
Anita & Anna Mae were honored to represent the ISQCCBE at several events for other organizations, including the Cincinnati Handler & Critter and Cincinnati Leather Contests, the Caracole Glow Getter Gala, the GLSEN Youth Prom, GLSEN Second Chance Soiree, Double Vision produced by Visionaries & Voices (where they received the Visionary Award), the For the Love of the Community Event produced by Community Shares of Greater Cincinnati (where they received the For The Love of the Community Award), the annual HRC Gala and more! Anita & Anna Mae were represented at a total of over 300 events throughout their reign, providing them opportunities to create new partnerships and deepen existing relationships. College of Monarchs members Miss Tate and Casey Pond-Tate spearheaded coordinating volunteers to staff both a beer booth and a soda booth at Cincinnati Pride.
With the new venues comes new opportunities. Getting the court into new venues such as Knox Joseph Distillery at the OTR Stillhouse, Cov Live, The Flock, Creative House of Art & Design (CHAD), Stoney’s Village Toy Shoppe, Tokyo Kitty, The Orbit Room, and Cincinnati Museum Center. These new venues provided the Reign an opportunity to initiate new events, including a Pride Month Kickoff and Karaoke Party with Tokyo Kitty, and a new series titled “Drag Queen Confidential” held at The Orbit Room. This series came about from an overwhelming ask of the community to learn more about the history of LGBTQ+ community in Cincinnati, and the history of some of the most prominent entertainers in the realm, including Penny Tration, Brooklyn Steele-Tate, Molly Mormen, and more!
Anita and Anna Mae wanted to produce a few high- profile events throughout the year, which also helped with deepening existing relationships. Anna Mae took the lead on producing Twisted Sister: Saint Swap Edition, where members of The Cincinnati Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence are made over into traditional drag entertainers, and traditional drag entertainers are made over into Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Anita partnered with Cincinnati Pride organizing and producing one of the biggest and most unique events, “A PreHysteric Pride Night At the Museum,” the first of its kind. The premise was having guided tours of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History provided by local drag queens. While the tours were happening, there were drag performances and dance parties in the rotunda, along with over 10 other community partners represented to discuss their organizations. The event grossed over $15,000 in one night!
In July 2023, the ISQCCBE held its annual election and ICP Ball, combining it this year with a resurrected Glammy’s at Knox Joseph Distillery. The Glammy’s, is an event to recognize and support the community members, and partners, for everything they do in the Greater Cincinnati Area. July challenged us, though, as the Ohio House of Representatives introduced legislation to restrict the art of drag, while also attacking the trans and non-binary members of our community. Anita and Anna Mae were interviewed on Local 12 news to discuss how this could impact not only the ISQCCBE’s fundraising efforts, but the ramifications the legislation could have on the community at large.
Reign 31 also included several online fundraisers, including birthday fundraisers, and the return of competition-based fundraisers, such as the continuation of #BlingTate vs #FeedCasey, and the return of The Easy Bake Coven vs The Coalition of Justice.
Anna Mae and Anita stepped down on November 4, 2023 at The Westin Cincinnati. Suzie Homewrecker and Karina Lee Phoenix were crowned Empress XXXII and Empress XXXII, making history for ISQCCBE again as the first co-Empresses at The Queen City Gala Presents: Coronation 32.