If you've been to a drag show in Spokane over the past two decades, there's a good chance that you're familiar with Beyoncé. No, not the award-winning musician, the nationally recognized Spokane drag queen who made history in 2024 when she became the first Black, Latina woman to be crowned Miss Trans USA.
Beyonce Black St. James is the stage name of Beyoncé Nieves, a trans woman who grew up in Spokane. She's performed at nearly every club and bar in the city over the last 20 years and has won more pageant titles than she can count on her beautifully manicured hands.
Miss Debutante. Spokane Empress 43. Miss Utopia. Miss Island Goddess. Miss Gay Washington. Miss Trans Washington.
The remnants of all these victories — sashes hung neatly along her living room walls, rhinestoned gowns and intricate accessories stowed in a spare room, and dazzling crowns that fill her bedroom — are reminders of the hard work it's taken to get to this point.
Winning Miss Trans USA last year has felt like one of the most impactful moments of St. James' career, she says. Unlike other drag pageants, the Trans USA National Pageant, which began in 2018, operates to crown a visible advocate for the transgender community who acts as a role model. While there are still runway categories, the pageant's judging "emphasizes the real person and their contributions outside of the entertainment industry."
"People can read fake and phony. They can read right through that. And if you're not really putting your love into something, and you're not disciplining yourself to want to be great, you're not going to be great," St. James says. "I discipline myself. I don't just hang out and kiki and bar hop. No. I get my money. I come home, and I start working on another outfit."
When she's not on the stage or stoning a gown or traveling the country to represent her national title, you can find Beyoncé in her Spokane Valley kitchen cooking up a storm. Each dish is a passion project for St. James, often representing her Puerto Rican heritage.
Oxtails and cornbread. Puerto Rican stew. Chicken macaroni salad. Pork fried rice. Red beans over rice. Homemade cobbler. She cooks so much that she keeps a set of to-go containers handy to easily pass out any leftovers to unhoused people who need something to eat.
"It just makes me feel good to know that I'm helping somebody," she says. "I just wish someone would have helped me because I didn't really get no help from anyone other than my birth mother and my drag mother."
BEYONCÉ'S MOTHERS
When St. James graduated from Bancroft High School (now called the Community School) in the early 2000s, she says she was one of the only students who was openly gay, even though she didn't really resonate with that identity.
"It was just, you know, lesbian, gay, bisexual — that was presented to me. I had heard the T, but never knew what the T was. And when I went to Odyssey Youth Center I found out what trans meant, and in my head I felt like I was trans," she says."When I came out [my mom was] like 'We love you, you're our baby and we're not gonna put you out. That's not how we operate in this family.'"
And when St. James began performing in drag after coming out, her mother was one of her biggest supporters. She even helped her daughter choose a drag mother.
In 2001, Caress St. James, who happened to be a friend of Beyoncé's mom, was the first Black drag queen to be named Empress by the International Sovereign Court of Spokane. That title is powerful in the queer community, so when Beyoncé's mom realized her child was going to perform, she pointed her directly to Caress.
The pair were at a drag show, and when Caress walked on stage to perform, Beyoncé's mom told her that her drag mother was right in front of her.
"I seen Caress walking in this beautiful sequin silver and turquoise gown, probably like a Bob Mackie or something. It was beautiful, and she had this short black hair tapered to her beautiful, simple makeup, and she had her Empress crown on," Beyoncé recalls. "I remember [my mother's] words vividly: 'I want you to do what you need to do to have her as your mother. That's who you need to learn from.'"
Caress remembers meeting Beyoncé at that show, too.
"I remember thinking, my goodness, she is very creative even though she's just starting out," Caress says. "She was one of those people that I describe as a people person, someone that loves laughter and meeting new people."
Even 20 years later, Caress sees those same creative characteristics in her drag daughter as she performs on stages nationwide.
"To showcase not only our community and our city, but who she is as a person," Caress says, "that's one of the things that makes me very proud about her and proud to be her family."
Once her reign as Miss Trans USA is over, Beyoncé has her sights set even higher. Her next goal is to win Miss Continental, (if Miss Trans USA is the Superbowl, then Miss Continental is the World Cup), or Rupaul's Drag Race, the hit reality show competition where Rupaul names America's Next Drag Superstar each year. ♦
