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June is synonymous with Pride, as cities and organizations recognize the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ rights through parades and rainbow regalia. Kansas City's own Pride celebration can trace its start back to one activist: Lea Hopkins. Plus: Meet a Kansas City singer who hasn't let her newfound fame take away her hometown roots.
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Kansas City’s first Pride parade in 1977 was spearheaded by Lea Hopkins, whose organizing sparked a wider gay rights movement that continues today. But it was only a few weeks after that successful event that Hopkins found herself on the defense again, when a prominent anti-gay activist came on a crusade through town.
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Since Kansas City was established, drag in various forms has evolved from entertainment for power and control into a liberating art. Attempts to regulate the practice have also persisted.
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Spread across two coffee shops and a bookstore, the “Black/Queer Kansas City” exhibit will showcase forgotten figures of local LGBTQ history — and hopefully encourage more Kansas Citians to share their own stories.