ballroom, from Black and Latino queer culture
mother
Meaning
- A term of high praise for someone commanding and impressive.
- In ballroom culture, the head of a house who leads and trains its members.
“She walked the runway in that coat. She’s mother.”
Where it came from
The role dates to New York’s ballroom scene of the 1970s, where Crystal LaBeija founded the House of LaBeija and led it as its first mother. Ballroom houses used family titles to build chosen family among Black and Latino LGBTQ people excluded from their own families. Shows like Pose and RuPaul’s Drag Race carried “mother” as praise into wider slang.