Jade Esteban Estrada believes a strange misconception exists when it

comes to determining who deserves "gay icon" status.

     "Some people believe that gay history and culture begins and ends with Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli and that couldn't be further from the truth," Estrada, 29, said during a phone call from his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. "These are cultural icons, not gay icons. It drives me crazy."

     Estrada's mission is to set the record straight, once and for all.

     On Wednesday, the comedian-singer-dancer-actor-writer will donate time from his busy schedule to present a solo musical comedy, "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1" at Hal & Mal's in Jackson. The one-man production will benefit Grace House, an HIV/AIDS transitional living facility in Jackson.

     "My heart goes out to anyone who is trying to do great things with very little resources," said Estrada, whose best friend died of AIDS in 1997.

     Estrada is focusing his current tour on small- to medium-sized cities. "I'm interested in taking (my show) to the grassroots areas ... When people have to stop in mid-sentence to whisper the word 'gay' or 'lesbian,' I feel the need to share some of the boldness I was taught," he said.

     The son of a U.S. Army officer and a stage actress and a member of a "huge, pretty traditional" family, Estrada won a scholarship to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City where he studied dance alongside Jennifer Lopez and under Slam, the lead dancer from Madonna's Blonde Ambition tour.

     He's also a Latin pop star with two solo albums whose music is featured on the Fox police drama The Shield.

     The San Antonio Express News dubbed him "a showbiz messiah," while Tulsa World exclaimed, "All that achievement, youth and good looks — if it doesn't make you sigh and shake your head in wonderment, then it will probably make you ill."

     Estrada chuckled at the mention of the latter review. "No one has my stamina except Beyonce," he joked.

     In "ICONS" (which he wrote and produced), Estrada portrays historical figures of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement, such as Sappho, Michelangelo, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Rivera and Ellen DeGeneres.

     After reading the script, event organizer Knol Aust called the show "funny, educational" and "at times, a little scandalous for Jackson."

     "Entertainment is the best way to get people thinking, where you agree with them or not," said Aust, founding member of the LGBT group Unity Mississippi. "I think (Estrada) will be remembered for what he is doing."

     The show incorporates Estrada's many talents and aims to conjure up the "lost history" of the LGBT movement, because, as Estrada likes to say: "Whoever wins the war gets to write the history."

     The gaping hole in LGBT education is extremely evident, Estrada added, because a surprising amount of LGBT and non-LGBT individuals fail to recognize or remember the influence of major historical events, such as the 1969 Stonewall riots or when DeGeneres announced her outing in Time magazine in 1997.

     The Stonewall riots grew out of a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a popular hangout for gays in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, and led to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front and to a new level of solidarity among homosexuals.

     "You cannot take people's history or their right to be," he said. "This is where the LGBT community gets angry and this is why gay marriage is thrust into the limelight. We're pushing for something that should have been ours a long time ago. It's not about gay marriage, it's about equality."