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Empress Nicole “The Great” Murray-Ramirez (he/him/she/her) reigns with dignity and ferocity, both in and out of drag. By day, he’s a pioneering advocate for LGBTQIA+ and Latino rights in Southern California, and by night, she assumes the throne as Queen Mother I of the Americas, Canada, and Mexico.
Nicole was born in San Bernardino to parents with weighty expectations: his father saw him as a future elected official, but his mother saw him as a Catholic bishop. Nicole loved defying expectations, both of his parents and of the bigots who attacked him for his race and sexuality. He was the first Latino editor of his junior high school paper and was elected to the Student Body Council in high school, getting “the cheerleader voting bloc” by playing their fashion consultant. After graduation, he defied his dad by working for a Republican congressional candidate in Riverside County. However, when he realized that his sexuality would be discovered, he fled for Hollywood. There, Nicole came out to his parents, telling them that he wasn’t going to be a congressman or bishop because he was a queen. His entire family turned their backs on him when they found out he was gay. Nicole reflects on this tragedy saying: “God blesses homosexuals with two families- birth and chosen.” He fights tenaciously for his chosen families as both Queen Mother and social justice advocate to this day.
Empress Nicole assumed the throne (and title, Empress Nicole the Great, Queen Mother of the Americas) of the International Imperial Court System (IICS) in 2007 after serving as the Heir Apparent to LGBTQ icon, World War 2 veteran, and first openly LGBTQ candidate to run for a public office in 1961, José Julio Sarria, the Widow Norton. During her reign, Nicole honors Sarria’s work by empowering the IICS to expand the reach of their advocacy, funding the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the Tijuana AIDS Project, and heading up the successful national campaigns that resulted in the US Harvey Milk stamp, USNS Harvey Milk naval vessel, and National LGBT Wall of Honor in New York City. The Queen Mother has been a passionate proponent for LGBTQ coalitions and outreach to other communities, making sure that drag queens, trans people, and people of color all have equal seats at the LGBTQ table. At the Stonewall 25 Rally in Central Park Nicole said: “We built that fucking table.” She currently spearheads the gay stamps project, which will create postage stamps honoring luminaries including José Julio Sarria, Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Bayard Rustin, and Urvashi Vaid.
Nicole was a co-founder of San Diego Pride in 1974, when she braved threats to ride in the city’s first-ever Pride parade in drag. She has worked with civil rights icons César Chávez, Harvey Milk (a friend of Sarria’s), Robin Tyler, José Julio Sarria, Cleve Jones, Mandy Carter, Morris Kight, and Rev. Troy Perry to protect the queer community against bigots like Anita Bryant. She raised money to defeat Anita Bryant’s campaign and help to thwart The Briggs Initiative, 1978 CA bill forbidding queer people from teaching in public schools. In 1987, she pushed to organize a rally mourning the San Diego community members who had died of AIDS, and whose deaths had been unacknowledged by the city. In 1994, she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for all her contributions to SD Pride, and has been the Grand Marshall of the parade many times, including on its 30th anniversary.
Out of drag, Nicole has worked for Latino and LGBTQ rights for over 55 years. He’s served as the National Chair of LLEGO and Stonewall 25 and served on the national boards of the Human Rights Campaign and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He was the first Latino to be elected state chair of Equality California and is the only gay activist in the country who has been elected to all four national boards of the Marches on Washington. At home in San Diego, he’s served and advised the last eight mayors of San Diego. Nicole also founded and established the first LGBTQ advisory boards for both the Mayor, the Chief of Police, and Sheriff. Currently, he serves both looks and justice as San Diego’s city and county Human Rights Commissioner, and has been elected to chair San Diego’s Human Rights commission for an unprecedented four terms as its first openly gay leader.
Nicole has stated that activism and social justice is in his DNA, and he will fight for equality until his last breath.
