For as long as I can remember, grounding myself in history has provided steady footing. Even an evening at a new restaurant requires a quick Google search to learn the who, what, when, where, and why of the establishment’s history. In the period between 1990 and 1997 when I lived in St. Louis (South County,…
Flowing: “A Kick-Ass Activist”
I met Flowing Johnson in 1994 through the St. Louis chapter of the (then-called) Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Network (GLSTN), which I started that summer. She and I were teachers – community college math for her and high school social studies for me. In her mid-50s at the time, Flowing had long ago developed…
Celebration of Life Scheduled for the World’s Oldest Performing Drag Queen, Bonnie Blake
Bonnie Blake, whose legal name is John Chaney, passed away this month at the age of 96. Blake has owned nearly every building along the 7100 block of South Broadway over the course of her life. The last building she parted with housed her antique store and several apartments, including one she long occupied. She…
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…
All-Star Cast (and Some Filler) to Roast Grey Fox Pub (and One Another) on March 29
Grey Fox Pub. Photo by Justin Lehman Some 25 years ago, Tumara Mahorning and fellow Grey Fox show director Michelle McCausland performed a really long number. I mean crazy long. All to distract everyone from noticing that tons of wigs, gowns and jewelry were being schlepped down the back stairs to waiting vehicles (thieves did…
Laurence Luckinbill Is a Straight Man Who Helped Make Gay History
The first series of events organized in October 1994 for the inaugural LGBTQ+ History Month was a film festival on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where I was completing a graduate degree in history. Ten films were screened on four successive Monday nights: October 3, 10, 17 and 24. Among the selections…
A History of St. Louis’ Drag Scene
St. Louis’ LGBTQ+ ancestral family tree includes countless drag performers and gender nonconforming individuals. Currently, St. Louis lays claim to having the world’s oldest performing drag queen – John Chaney, who performs at the age of 94 as Bonnie Blake, a St. Louis legend. Chaney and others have paved the way to advance LGBTQ+ rights…