Pride Month

The story of the early struggle for LGBTQ+ rights has typically been told from the perspective of coastal cities like New York and San Francisco. Author and historian Katherine Rose-Mockry says Lawrence, Kansas, was also an early hotspot for activist organizations in the 1960s.

MSNBC anchor Jonathan Capehart shares stories from his new book Yet Here I Am about growing comfortable with his identity as a gay Black man and the internship that made him a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

Oscar winner Kevin Willmott (BlacKkKlansman) discusses one of his recent projects, the 2023 documentary sequel to Kansas City journalist C.J. Janovy’s book of the same name, No Place Like Home. He and Janovy talk about what they learned from the Kansans interviewed in the documentary and the types of changes they antic...

In a discussion drawing from his new book The Bars Are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America, 1960 and After, Lucas Hilderbrand of the University of California, Irvine, spotlights two Kansas City venues in the 1960s – the Jewel Box Lounge and the Colony Bar – and how they helped make clear the distinction...

Near the end of four months of filming in Kansas City, the Fab Five stars of Netflix’ infectious reality series Queer Eye sit down at the Central Library to discuss their newly released book Queer Eye: Love Yourself, Love Life and reflect on their experiences here.  

City council member Katheryn Shields and other panelists take a 25-year lo...

Well before the famous 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City sparked the modern gay rights movement, Kansas City had its own active gay rights community that was a meaningful participant in the larger national movement. Post-Stonewall, the city’s emerging gay and lesbian community strove to provide venues and services...