History

St. Louis LGBTQ History: MCC, Our World Too, Magnolia’s, and John D’Emilio

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

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

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

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

Rudis: Not Your Dad’s Leather Club

Rudis: Not Your Dad’s Leather Club

“More leather cycles through here in a week than most people will see in ten lifetimes,” says Thom Glowski as he looks around the workshop in the basement of the home he and his husband share in south city.  Home to his business, LDD Leather Works, the workshop is where the self-taught leather maker creates

True Tales of Transgender Aging

True Tales of Transgender Aging

Too often, the narrative on transgender people is simplistic: it either focuses on the very real tragedies of bigotry and hate-based violence, or it is entirely youth-focused. But there’s a whole cohort of trans people who are facing another obstacle, one that comes for everyone eventually: age. Photographer Jess T. Dugan and her partner, professor

Coming of Age in Popular Culture: For Author Donald Miller, It’s Academic

Coming of Age in Popular Culture: For Author Donald Miller, It’s Academic

With several LGBT plays under his belt, Donald Miller felt confident that he could tackle writing a media focused textbook due to his love of all things pop culture and his master’s degree in media communications from Webster University. The task proved far more daunting and time consuming than he could’ve ever imagined. Even with

Top