The International Imperial Court System (IICS) also known as the International Court System is one of the oldest and largest LGBT organizations in the world. The Imperial Court System is a grassroots network of organizations that works to build community relationships for equality and raise money for charitable causes through the production of annual Gala Coronation Balls that invite an unlimited audience of attendees to be presented at Royal Court in their fanciest attire throughout North America along with numerous other fundraisers each year, all for the benefit of their communities. The Imperial Court System is the second largest LGBT organization in the world, surpassed only by the Metropolitan Community Church. History The Imperial Court System in the United States was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965 by José Sarria. Sarria, affectionately known as "Mama José" or similar among Imperial Court members, adopted the surname "Widow Norton" as a reference to Joshua Norton, a much-celebrated citizen of 19th-century San Francisco who had declared himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico in 1859. Sarria soon became the nexus of a fundraising group with volunteer members bearing titles of nobility bestowed by yearly elected figurehead leaders of Emperor and Empress. In the United States, the first court outside of San Francisco was in Portland, Oregon, which joined with San Francisco in 1971 to start the Court System, followed by Seattle, and then by Vancouver (by the Empress of Canada, ted northe, who was crowned Empress of Canada in 1964 by the long-standing Rose Court of Portland Oregon and who always spelled his name in the lower case), who founded the Canadian Court System in 1971, after being inspired by attending a ball in Portland OR, and thus became the International Court System). These empires operated and formed policies more-or-less independently until an Imperial Court Council led by Sarria was formed to prevent participation by groups that were not strictly and solely involved with charitable fundraising. For years, some chapters of the Canadian Imperial Courts remained outside the recognition of the Widow Norton and the Imperial Court Council for various reasons, some regulatory and some related to dispute over northe's title. Eventually ICS leadership recognized northe as The Empress of All Canada, which ended a substantial falling out between ted northe and the international court system. In 1997, northe was among the first recipients of the "José Honors Award"