When my mother worked at the hometown Walmart when I was a boy in the 1970s, one rule was chiseled in granite: “Do not call me at work, ever — unless the house is on fire or somebody’s dying!” Mom practiced what she preached, so it was a shock thirty years ago this month when…
History
Ghosts of Alton Past
This feature originally ran in the October 25, 2023 issue of The Riverfront Times The year was 2015, and I’d been trying to set up an interview with Janet Kolar, Alton’s hearse-racing “Mistress of the Macabre” and proprietor of the Historic Museum of Torture Devices. I had first been drawn to Alton while exploring…
Supporting Our Supporters: The Missouri Historical Society and LGBTQ+ History
In 1994, the editor of the quarterly magazine of the Missouri Historical Society (MHS), then called Gateway Heritage, had to push hard to bring to publication an article I had written about Rev. Carol Cureton, the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis, and the impact the twenty-seven-year-old out lesbian and the nascent “homosexual church”…
St. Louis LGBTQ History: MCC, Our World Too, Magnolia’s, and John D’Emilio
By Rodney Wilson I live in the past as much as I live in the present, and often I’m more comfortable in an imaginary conversation with the dead than when engaging with the living. In visiting the physical spaces that once sheltered people, dreams, movements, and institutions, I exchange the imagined, or the only read…
Roast Weekend: Property Researcher Michael McKinley’s Complete History on The Grey Fox Site
Michael McKinley, who will roast Grey Fox Pub tomorrow as Erica Foxx, works for the St. Louis Public Library and scours public records to learn about city properties. The following is his report on the Grey Fox site from 1893 to 2020. 3501-3503 South Spring Avenue SPRING AVENUE (N-S). Took its name from a…
The 10 Most Influential People in LGBTQ+ St. Louis in 2024
Meet this year’s Out in STL Awards honorees
Missouri History Museum Illuminates St. Louis’ LGBTQ+ History in Gateway to Pride Exhibit
It’s the museum’s first-ever exhibition dedicated to celebrating the history and contributions of LGBTQ+ St. Louisans.
A History of Pride in St. Louis
The year after Stonewall in 1970, what we now call Pride events began taking place across America. While St. Louis did not host its first Pride until 1980, many foundational events paved the way for modern era Pride celebrations across the St. Louis region. In 1977 and 1978, local gay rights rallies were held in…
Mid-20th Century LGBTQ History Revealed in Newly Released Tell-All Memoir — ‘Farm Boy, City Girl: From Gene to Miss Gina’
ST. LOUIS, May 27, 2020 – MiRiona Publishing and author John “Gene” E. Dawson recently announced the official release of his historic memoir, “Farm Boy, City Girl: From Gene to Miss Gina.” The book details Gene’s life growing up in Depression-era Iowa in a poor farming Irish-Catholic family and his adult years spent living on…
Looking Forward, Looking Back: LGBTQ History in St. Louis
It’s important to remember that Pride, social highlight and party extraordinaire that it’s become, started with a riot. Half a century ago the LGBT community (with trans women of color right up front) had enough of institutionalized bigotry and fought back hard against a pointless police raid at the Stonewall Inn. Our community comes together…
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