As St. Louis’s LGBTQIA+ community members and allies navigate an onslaught of attacks and discrimination, they can draw inspiration from the pioneering lives of the region’s queer ancestors. Learn how their historic legacies can inform present day activism and resistance.

Steven Louis Brawley is a community historian and Founder of the St. Louis LGBT History Project. He is the first out LGBTQIA+ person to serve as a Trustee of the State Historical Society of Missouri. He is currently the community curator of St. Louis’s first ever full-scale exhibition of LGBTQIA+ history at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis – open through July 6. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Saint Louis University.