Photography: Prisma Compositional
Video: Paradox Productions
Interview: Paul Hofman
For drag queen Victoria False, being asked for the ambassadorship was a big surprise. The diva's agenda is now filling up with lightning power. Pride Amsterdam had an extensive interview with this 'grandmother of drag queens'. "Without a past, there is no future. That is why the older gay generation is so important'.
Unmade, Ger Poels walks into the café-restaurant a stone's throw from the capital's gay scene. He is the alter ego of Victoria False.
Bette Midler
The ice is soon broken as he starts talking about his life, career and loves. On the beginning of her career: "I was just sixteen when I started travesty. Soon after, I formed a friend's duo Paradise Blossoms. With that, we starred in all the niece kittens. It was super." As Bloody Bette, a real-life impersonation of popular singer Bette Midler, he reaped great success. "People went out of their minds. In a short time, I was in Berlin, London and Paris. What great years."
Paris
Love later takes him to Switzerland where he goes to study at a private secretarial school. The shy Limburg boy learns to speak the French language flawlessly. Laughing, "I was the first and only man at that school." However, the relationship breaks up and Paris, with its numerous nightclubs, beckons. During the day, he works in a private clinic where famous Frenchmen such as Simone Signoret and Mitterand, among others, are a familiar sight. Ger has to work very hard. The doctor only pays for school and the metro. Significantly, he looks at me when I ask him about what the doctor actually did there. "It was a kind of addiction clinic," he says.
One sunny day on the street, he meets an accordionist dressed as a Pierrot. For six months, they perform together dancing and singing. Because he looks very androgynous as a boy, a black dress, wig and lipstick are enough to perform with Maurice where he has been coming for years. With Maurice, he spends a wonderful time. This allows him to enjoy Paris at the same time. As Bette, he wore a lot of make-up, in Paris nothing at all.
Scores
He is just 24 when he returns to the Netherlands. "Indeed it was love again. Now it brought me to Amsterdam. For five years, he gets singing lessons here as a tenor, but during an audition for the conservatory, it soon turns out that he is a bass baritone. "I didn't feel like changing the technique, starting over, and besides, I didn't have the discipline that the profession requires of you. I would rather go dancing at the Roxy than study scores." Through his vocal studies, Ger gained deep respect for classical singers. "It's a tough profession, it's unprecedented all the things you have to leave when your instrument is your body. "His voice sounds like a bell. "At the beginning of my vocal studies, I discovered I was bass/baritone. However, I had no discipline to continue with vocal studies." He is a bon vivant pur sang, he continues. Going out and partying are more on his mind.
In the late 1980s, he met Dolly Bellefleur, then just starting out. "In the very beginning, Dolly had her own show in the little Anthony Theatre on the Red Light District I was one of her guests in the show. When I think back to those days, what a fantastic period it was." At the same time, it was the period when a disease revealed itself that dealt a blow to the gay community. "AIDS hit so hard. I lost a lot of friends. " He becomes too depressed to sing anymore. Nothing more came out of my throat. Falls silent for a moment. "I missed my mates. It still grabs me by the throat."
More than a voice
He realises he is more than just a voice and follows his heart. Because he speaks French so well, he has jobs up for grabs. "I joined a bank. I did that for more than 25 years." During these years time, he very consciously hangs up his transvestite clothes."
Bet
Ten years ago, a friend challenges him and enters into a bet with Ger. According to that friend, he no longer dares to perform as a drag. He won't let him say that twice. He takes the bet and wins. Under the name Victoria, he then performs on stage. "I thought it was a nice reference to the old Queen Victoria of England. Later came the addition False." It has nothing to do with the Dutch word false. "Everything about my appearance is fake, from breasts to buttocks and eyelashes to hair. But a mean woman Victoria is definitely not." But if you ridicule her, she does get back at you hard, he assures. "How I felt when I got back on stage? It was like I had never taken off my heels. Wow, what a super feeling. What an experience. I always compare it to an addiction." Unsurprisingly, he decided to finally take his dresses off.
The summer of the Gay Games is still clear in his mind. "It was a summer I will never forget. The city was shaking on its foundations." Musing: "There was so much happiness in Amsterdam. I hope to find that energy so much again during this Pride. I was apathetic that we could walk hand in hand then. It should really always be like that."
Problem
With heart and soul, he will serve as an ambassador for older LGBT people this year. During Pride, he will perform in several homes for the elderly. "When I see those happy faces, it makes me feel so good," he says. Then he touches on something he sees as a nationwide issue. When he performs, he sees and hears stories of elderly people scolding, excluding and gossiping about each other. "That hurts me so much. Often it also happens on the sly. Gays and lesbians can have a very hard time. For them, I want to stand up." To add: "Never sit on God's throne."
Barricade
The theme this year appeals to him greatly. "It is important that the older generation is not forgotten. They stood on the barricades for us and stood up for rights for LGBT people. That should never be forgotten. They went through tough times. Do you know I got terribly angry when that Nashville statement came out? We really have to be careful that history does not repeat itself." He sees it as his job as an ambassador to build a bridge between two generations. "Young people of today can enjoy the freedom that the generation before them fought very hard for. Everyone is allowed to reflect on that."
He falls silent for a moment and then says: "I am proud of who I am. I have always taken my own freedom by doing what I wanted. Never cared about anything. Now I am going to fight for the pink elderly. Because exclusion should never be, not then, not now and not in the future." Pride Amsterdam and the elderly could not wish for a more ardent advocate. "Life is just love"
"EXCLUSION SHOULD NEVER, NOT THEN, NOT NOW AND NOT IN THE FUTURE"
"I DIDN'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING"
"THE HISTORY OF INTOLERANCE AND DISCRIMINATION MUST NEVER BE REPEATED"
"VOLUNTEERING IS NOT OPTIONAL"
Pride ambassador since 2019
