In the middle of the 20th century, St. Louis’s gay and lesbian bars were risky refuges. In a city that was often hostile to LGBTQ people, these drinking establishments offered their customers a vital space to meet, mingle, and build community. However, these bars operated on the margins of the law, and their patrons sometimes risked arrest during police raids and victimization by violent criminals. Ian Darnell will cover a period from the repeal of Prohibition to the dawn of the modern gay and lesbian rights movement, exploring the bars’ troubled relationship with the police and their central role in St. Louis’s LGBTQ history.

Sign language interpretation will be provided at this program.

Presented in collaboration with the St. Louis LGBT History Project.