As the year draws to a close, I think I join most of humanity in wishing this particular one a hearty good riddance. We’ve been through an utterly bruising year: a brutal political season, a pandemic that is killing record numbers of people — most especially Americans — and related economic ruin that’s seeing livelihoods…
Letter from the Editor: Chris Andoe
The roar is seared in her memory. Writer Elizabeth Van Winkle recalls waiting for her first Pride Parade to start and not knowing what to expect — and then the Dykes on Bikes revved their engines. Van Winkle digs all the way back to the 1940s while researching the history of motorcyclists in our community,…
Venus in Furs: Inside a Man-Free BDSM Play Space with GutterGlitter’s Elizabeth Van Winkle
On a rain-threatening Wednesday night in August, the Crack Fox downtown has a few indicators that something unusual is happening inside. A hand-lettered sign bears the quote people posted in the ’70s supporting Angela Davis: “Sister, you are welcome in this house.” Another right by the door handle is less subtle: “No Men.” Inside, past…
Letter from the Editor: Chris Andoe
If you’ve been around the St. Louis scene a while, what I’m about to say might make you feel really old: Many LGBTQ twenty-somethings don’t know who Nancy Novak is. The five years she’s been in exile (or retirement) is a lifetime in the bar scene where Novak reigned. But for those of us who…