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If you’re walking past downtown Austin’s Swan Dive bar at just the right time on Wednesday nights, you’ll probably hear Natalie Lepore before you see her.“Clap bitches for the icons, clap bitches for the icons,” she chants over a steady house beat, hyping up the crowd at 1 a.m. “Nobody should be sitting down right now. If you’re sitting the f— down, get the f— up.” Lepore is much more than an emcee. She’s the founder and “mother” of the House of Lepore, a two-year-old group—its members consider themselves a “chosen family”—of queer performers that competes in Austin’s ballroom scene. Though ballroom gained popular recognition in 1990 through Madonna’s hit single “Vogue” and Jennie Livingston’s documentary, Paris Is Burning, elements of it date as far back…

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