Dies at 100 years old the drag-queen Gilda Love, icon of El Raval

BarcelonaGilda Love, considered the longest-lived drag queen in the State, died at the age of 100 this Sunday in Barcelona, according to sources close to the artist. Born in Cadiz as Eduardo Enrique Gustavo, the drag queen became an icon in the seventies in Raval cabarets. In recent years, Gilda Love had appeared little in public, but her legacy remains current in the world of drag.The artist began her career at the Madame Arthur cabaret in Paris, where she adopted the name of the mythical character from the film Gilda, played by actress Rita Hayworth. After her time in the French capital, Gilda Love revolutionized the Raval with her performances in emblematic venues such as El Cangrejo. In a Barcelona of lights, cabarets, and showgirls, Gilda Love defied all the obstacles she had to live through during Francoism due to her dissident sexual identity. The drag-queen also shared the stage with icons such as Carmen Picot, known as La Wernof, or Carmen de Mairena.In 2022, filmmaker Enric Ribes immortalized the cabaret artist in a documentary titled Cantando en las azoteas, a tribute to the artist's long and difficult career, which, according to critic Paula Arantzazu Ruiz in ARA, "elegantly sidesteps nostalgia (...) to address the domestic, professional, and family profile of the elderly drag artist". Ribes himself explained in an interview with Cinemanía that he wanted to give "visibility to old age in the LGBTI community", and that the documentary's objective was "to pay tribute to the many Gildes who have existed, who have always been underestimated".The drag queen Briggita Lamoure has lamented the loss of Gilda Love, stating that "thanks to Gilda and other pioneers," she can now dedicate herself "in freedom to transmitting the values of diversity in art." This year, the artist's hometown, San Fernando, has created the Gilda Love award to recognize the contribution of people who defend the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community; in fact, the award in this first edition has gone precisely to Gilda Love, as was announced just a few days ago coinciding with Pride celebrations."}

Gilda Love, the last mohican of Barcelona's drag scene