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House of Dudcrest What is a House?  Coming to terms with one’s homosexuality and sharing this realization with others is known as “coming out of the closet.” It was not uncommon when someone came out to their family, they would be expelled from the family and home. As with any group that has been banished, an underground community is formed. Needing to belong to a family and to find a place to share and explore their spirituality, the gay community formed extended families, known as a “House.” When a person was expelled from his blood family and sent into the streets with nowhere to go, the “House” would fill that role by taking in the displaced person, helping them back on their feet by providing shelter and food, helping them understand about their queerness; enlightening them about the gay community and it’s many cultures; and foremost, be their family. This found family would become a “House,” a communal sanctuary where one could find strength, integrity, support, and agape; in other words, the best thing that a family is all about.
Mother of Balls  The founder of the home was known as the Mother of the group, and most often was an older gay man. Mother’s dwellings were known as the “Main House,” where their gatherings would take place. Many “Houses” associated themselves with the drag traditions. It was not uncommon for the House to give each of its family members drag names. Competitions centering around costume or fashion designs were held between the various “Houses,” and often included competitions for the best drag and best female impersonator. These contest were known as “Balls.”
During the period 1930 through 1970, “Houses” were found mainly in large urban areas throughout the US. Today, they are found mostly in the southeast area of the US, and in Manhattan [The documentary Paris Is Burning details a black Houses’ Ball in Manhattan]. In Atlanta, “Houses” still have weekly competitions within their “Homes,” and have a monthly “Houses Ball” competition. Currently an annual Ball takes place in Atlanta and includes all the “Houses” in the state of Georgia.
Milk Dud Candy, anyone?
The House of Dudcrest was named while family members were eating a box of Milk Duds while  watching the 1980’s television show Falcon Crest -- a popular primetime soap opera about rivalry between California wineries. Not surprisingly, the House of Dudcrest was founded around food traditions. Family members would frequently sit down to multi-, sometimes mega-course meals, with each family member responsible for preparing and serving one particular course. Meal Drag Sometimes just a few members would create the entire meal. Michael Troyer was the“Mother” of the House of Dudcrest, and was named “Bernice”. In the Gay-Chicago era of the 1980’s, the Dudcrest Annual Halloween Ball was a popular and festive occasion attended by hundreds of people from all over the U.S.
Mother of all dining Michael (a.k.a. Bernice) was actively involved with the United Methodist Church and, along with others, was a strong leader in steering the Church towards change on its  negative stand towards gays. Michael and few of the family members were also involved with the organization Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Concerns. It just so happened that some of the family member’s partners were Jewish. Given Dudcrest’s tradition of association with anything related to food, it was only natural that the Dudcrest family celebrated the Passover Haggadah and Seder meal as well as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and March and December birthdays. [For some reason many of the Dudcrest family members have birthdays during those months].
Although Michael and many of the original family members have passed on, those of us who are left proudly carry on the family traditions and celebrate life and love at table with those we love and care about. We think that Michael would have wanted it that way.
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