For Zach Towers, growing up queer in a religious household in Missouri predestined his own sex life to be … a journey, to put it nicely. Today, Towers hopes to make conversations around sex more accessible to those who need it. That’s why the St. Louis-born comedian, writer and actor started After Hours with Zach…
Culture
St. Louis Queer Film Festival QFest Is More Relevant Than Ever
LeeAnne Lowry’s short film “The Treadmill Switcher” is based on an actual incident. One day, she was in the gym and saw someone get on a treadmill a short distance from her and start running. “I couldn’t tell if they were a lesbian or a child,” she says. But the story didn’t occur to her…
The Hearse Chaser: Steven Brawley Preserves LGBTQ History
The nickname came up for the first time this past summer. When I heard of my friend Ed’s passing, in addition to being saddened by the loss of a special person, I was immediately concerned about his personal collection of local LGBTQIA+ history. What would happen to it? I got nervous. While I was researching…
What’s a Gay Bar Anyway: Who Loses When Queer Spaces Shutter?
A year into a pandemic that’s vastly reconfigured LGBTQIA culture is a good time to reflect on the radical legacy of the gay bar and what’s next for queer spaces — in St. Louis and around the world. Google “gay bars near me” in St. Louis, and the pickings are slim and getting slimmer. (See…
Pod Help Us All
The best podcasts feel like being at a party with your cleverest friends, and Eric Williams’ That’s a Gay Ass Podcast hits the sweet spot. The podcast goes deep with comedians and celebrities, posting the provocative and fully tongue-in-cheek question: “Whose fault is it you’re gay?” Muny Kids alum Williams is NYC-based these days but…
Three Friends, Not Shy: the Creators of One Brick Shy Cast St. Louis as a Star in their New Comedy Series
For almost two hours, it’s only their voices — Abby Dorning and Jenna McDonald, best friends, former college roommates, Bridesmaids fanatics and, most recently, co-creators and co-stars of the comedy series One Brick Shy. The week of Thanksgiving, an in-person meeting seems not only difficult to arrange, but irresponsible, perhaps even deadly. And on laptop…
Biker Clubs and Queer History: Stories of Rebel Queers in St. Louis
Picture it: St. Louis, 2003. You’re a young queer person from southern Illinois, in the big city for your first-ever Pride parade. You’re scared shitless, horny as hell and trying to look cool. You’ve managed to score prime real estate on the parade route because in your nervousness you accidentally showed up two hours early.…
GutterGlitter Kicks off Lesbian Visibility Week
It’s time to don your fanciest flannel, your largest pompadour, and your slickest Birkenstocks to celebrate Lesbian Visibility Week! The growing event is likely to be stifled in much of the world in light of the current quarantine. However, that’s not stopping the folks, womxn and non binary babes at GutterGlitter from putting on a…
Black Ballroom Expo Was the Tea
Inspired by Black History Month and the award-winning and critically-acclaimed FX series Pose, the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) conceived the Inaugural Black Ballroom Expo: Then and Now to celebrate members of the Black queer community and National HIV & AIDS Awareness Week. Several Black queer youth and an UMSL recruiter established “SERVE,” a collaborative…
Men of the Match: Kevin Hayes, Jr. & Mike Lehmkuhle are Bringing Dating Back
What is it about new romance that captivates us? Supermarket checkout lanes are lined with cover photos of attractive, freshly minted couples. We even went through a phase of coming up with cute names for them, like TomKat and Brangelina. Whatever the reason, public interest is undeniable. The dominance of hookup culture has made getting…