Thu. October 8, 2026
CHICAGO, ILL. -
By Michael Oboza, Special to GoPride.com
During my last year as a volunteer photojournalist, I am grateful to share space to help give people in our community their flowers.
I am grateful to help acknowledge an interdisciplinary artist, arts administrator, writer, performance artist, makeup designer, ceramic sculptor, cultural worker, fundraiser, international drag artist, SADHAUS Drag and Performance Art Collective co-founder, and recipient of the Illinois Arts Council's Individual Artist Grant for his one-person show, The Witch Project.
Thank you, Alex Benjamin, for your time, your legacy, and for sharing your art.
Coming out can happen in different ways and different times.
"I came out in college, and being involved in theater was a big part of it! My freshman year, I was cast in a production with a big ol' gay kiss! In many ways, The Witch Project has felt like another coming out. Developing this play has meant analyzing pieces of culture -- The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West, Judy Garland -- and challenging myself to strip away the camp, to get to the root of why I love them so much. In doing so, I've learned so much about myself and about people I consider my queer ancestors."
Hearing, reading and knowing about those before is inspirational.
"When I found out about Kent Warner, the costume designer who in 1969 salvaged the original costumes used in The Wizard of Oz, I was fascinated. He effectively created the Hollywood memorabilia market, uplifting items worn in classic movies as important parts of American history and queer history. But he was never alive to see the massive industry that arose around the items he brought back into the light. He died of AIDS-related complications less than two decades after finding the ruby slippers, and he rarely receives credit for his contribution. I wanted to know more about him, to correct the largely empty record about him, and my pursuit taught me about my own queer identity more than I could have imagined."
Working on the project helped Benjamin with his coming out process.
"Aligning myself with Kent -- or my imagined version of him, since he died before I was born -- and with all those who fight for dignity and human rights in a social and governmental structure that is set up to marginalize so many of us, has radicalized me in a way I was not prepared for."
Humility often happens when those before are remembered.
"A decade ago, when I began work on this project, I thought it was about witches, Judy Garland, and that was that. The yellow brick journey since then has opened me up to so much more about my queer ancestors, specifically those who were and still are involved in AIDS activism through ACT UP, Gran Fury, and other groups who were essential in so many of the fights we have won and are still fighting. I am conflicted about telling Kent's story, since the AIDS crisis is beyond my direct lived experience."
Wisdom of remembering those before is priceless.
"Despite my internal conflict about the complexities of telling this story, I feel it's important for queer people to tell the stories of people who came before us including the importance of those before your generation and the importance of what they leave behind."
"The Witch Project has taught me how important it is to understand where I came from. Queer ancestry is often buried, hidden, or simply must be imagined by us. Only by more deeply understanding -- or trying to understand -- the past can we approach the present and future with intention. Kent didn't mean to leave the ruby slippers behind for me to find. I doubt he ever thought he would be the subject of a play, or a symbol of queer ingenuity and resistance. But as we look into the past, we begin to see patterns. We become even more proud of who we are, collectively, as an intersectional community. We realize that even an accidental inheritance is something -- information, emotion, and culture."
Generation after generation, changemakers carry on the work.
"And we -- or at least, I -- feel energized to carry that legacy forward and use it to make real change now."
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