Tuckahoe NY Pride

Felipe Rose is an American performer best known as the original “Indian/Native American” character in the disco group Village People, a band whose flamboyant archetypes became entwined with gay club culture of the late 1970s. As a queer Latino artist, Rose helped bring visibility to LGBTQ nightlife at a moment when mainstream pop rarely acknowledged it, turning camp costuming and choreographed joy into entertainment. His presence in an openly coded gay phenomenon offered many LGBTQ fans representation. Rose was working as a dancer and a bartender in the New York gay club, The Anvil, wearing tribal regalia of his father’s Lakota Nation where he was discovered by producers. He became the first recruit for Village People.

Quote: “Music is the language that all of humanity shares. Through our incredible diversity, music is medicine to our spirit and can help us heal together.”