In the queer community, we tolerate straightness to a certain degree. Basically, if a straight person is messy enough, weird enough, or is able to consistently cause a 9.2 c*ntquake on the mother scale, they can sit with us. Because if Hawk Tuah girl has shown us anything, it’s that straight people are certainly capable of letting their freak flags fly from time to time.

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But is there a straight man who can match David Byrne’s freak in any decade? Not likely, unless we’re throwing David Lynch into the mix. Not only has Byrne’s incredible fashion, autism-forward lyricism, and general genius carried us through many a crappy moment, he’s been an ally for decades.

On Twitter/X, a clip recently started circulating giving us Byrne in 1989—at peak levels of cuteness—judging a vogueing contest. And it’s every bit as wholesome as you’d expect.

The evening in question took place at Tracks, the legendary New York nightclub that opened in 1985 and started hosting balls starting in 1988.

“In the late ’80s, Elks Lodge in Harlem, the traditional ballroom home for many years, was no longer available to host balls,” House of Xtravaganza member Karl Xtravaganza remembered for an oral history about Tracks. “At the same time, Chi Chi Valenti and Donald Suggs were putting a spotlight on the ballrooms in articles for the Village Voice, Details, The Face and other publications. It was [DJ] David DePino who got the management of Tracks to agree to host their first ball. That allowed the balls to move downtown just when awareness of the ballroom subculture was beginning to spread.”

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House of Xtravagnaza held their first ball at Tracks in 1988, and by 1989, they were inviting high-level celebrity guests to judge the vogueing competitions, including a young David Byrne fresh off his solo debut with Rei Momo.

As we can see from the short clip, Byrne looks thrilled to be there, and who wouldn’t be? Though we do have to wonder why he only gave House of Xtravaganza’s incredible moves a stingy 8 when all the other judges are giving 10s, 10s, 10s across the board.

Be that as it may, it’s an amazing window into the past, and David Byrne got to experience it firsthand.

It’s bringing up other queer-adjacent memories of Byrne, including one choice tidbit concerning a pair of boots that were made for walking…

David Byrne as a blonde in drag? Oh, to be a fly on the wall!

We may not have the full video of the historic 1989 Love Ball, but we don’t need it. It’s already living rent-free in our heads, and may it do so until the end of time.

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