Finding evidence of early lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history often involves reading between the lines. Veiled references in diaries or letters, police reports, records of social work organizations, and legal documents give us insight into the experiences of LGBTQ individuals in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as they navigated a society that ostracized and even criminalized their community. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, the records, papers, publications, photographs, and ephemera of LGBTQ organizations and individuals tell stories of love, community, struggle, the AIDS crisis, and growing public acceptance.
When Missouri was incorporated as a US territory in 1812, it inherited the former Louisiana Territory’s sodomy law, which carried with it a sentence of life in prison. As LGBTQ identity began to take shape in the mid- and late nineteenth century, city and state government in Missouri devised increasingly specific anti-sodomy and anti-crossdressing laws to suppress homosexual and gender-nonconforming behavior. Despite such laws, an underground community could be found in most cities and even some small towns by the 1920s. Through the mid-twentieth century these communities grew and LGBTQ individuals gathered, often clandestinely, in bars and at parties, finding each other through mutual acquaintances and intuition. It was common for LGBTQ individuals to be harassed, arrested, or fired from their jobs for their sexuality, and many remained closeted for their own safety. In spite of such challenges, numerous gay men and lesbians lived together as couples, and some even experienced a kind of tacit acceptance by their local heterosexual community.
During this time, the first gay and lesbian organizations formed on the East and West Coasts. In February 1966 multiple organizations came together in Kansas City for their first national conference, forming the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO). This prompted Drew Shafer, an early Kansas City gay rights activist, to found the first LGBTQ organization in Missouri, the Phoenix Society for Individual Freedom. In 1967 Shafer established Phoenix House, the first LGBTQ community center in the Midwest. It published a magazine, housed a library, provided meeting space, and served as a clearinghouse of gay and lesbian literature for NACHO.
Across the state in St. Louis, the Mandrake Society was established in April 1969, two months before the momentous Stonewall riots in New York City. On Halloween of that year, police in St. Louis raided gay bars and arrested nine men in drag. In bailing the men out of jail, the Mandrake Society became a powerful advocate on behalf of St. Louis’s LGBTQ community. The society began holding an annual Halloween ball and publishing a newsletter.
After the Stonewall riots, gay liberation politics came to the forefront and other organizations formed in Missouri, including the Lesbian Alliance and the Gay Patrol in St. Louis, and, in Kansas City, the 10-400 club, SIS (Sisters in Sin), and several LGBT sports leagues. Numerous gay and lesbian rights organizations continued to form in Missouri throughout the late twentieth century, including student groups on college campuses, advocacy groups, AIDS activist organizations, and religious groups. Cities became host to numerous gay and lesbian bars and nightclubs, drag venues, and LGBTQ-themed events. In the late 1970s, Pride Week began to be celebrated in Columbia, St. Louis, and Kansas City, and by the 1980s groups had formed in cities all over the state, including Springfield and St. Joseph. From that era to the present, LGBT organizations and individuals have continued to fight for equality while organizing around common interests and needs.
In the twenty-first century, the LGBTQ community in Missouri has worked to become more inclusive, bringing together individuals of different racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds and providing support for youths, seniors, veterans, and those who are differently abled. Organizations such as PROMO lobby for a statewide anti-discrimination law, and numerous organizations have been studying ways in which LGBTQ Missourians can be better served by the health care industry. Cities and towns all over Missouri hold Pride celebrations, and most colleges and universities, as well as many middle and high schools, provide support groups for LGBTQ students and allies. After a long series of court battles, in 2014, Missouri began recognizing marriages performed in other states, and in 2015, when the Federal Supreme Court ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), LGBTQ couples across the state earned the right to marry one another without legal barriers.
Articles from Missouri Historical Review and Missouri Times
- Nash, M. A. and Jennifer A. R. Silverman, “An Indelible Mark: Gay Purges in Higher Education in the 1940s." History of Education Quarterly, 55, no. 4 (2015): 441–459. doi:10.1111/hoeq.12135
- Scharlau, Kevin. “Navigating Change in the Homophile Heartland: Kansas City’s Phoenix Society and the Early Gay Rights Movement, 1966–1971.” Missouri Historical Review 109, No. 4 (July 2015): 234-253.
- Richmond, Heather. “From the Stacks: LGBTQ History in the Helen Stephens Collection.” Missouri Historical Review 114, No. 2 (January 2020): 134-137.
Catalog
Many of the State Historical Society’s holdings are included in the SHSMO online catalog. The best terms to search for LGBTQ sources are simply “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexuals,” or “transgender.”
Beginning in the 1970s, local LGBTQ organizations produced newsletters, magazines, newspapers, and directories for members of the community. Some of these can be found via catalog searches.
Historic Missourian Biographies
- Josephine Baker - Baker was an entertainer from St. Louis, Missouri, who became famous for her singing, dancing, and acting in New York City and Paris, France.
- Thomas A. Dooley III - Thomas Dooley was a doctor who organized medical aid clinics in Southeast Asia during the 1950s.
- Helen Stephens - Helen Stephens was an Olympic champion from Missouri. She won two gold medals at the 1936 Olympics.
- Tennessee Williams - Tennessee Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in American history. Between the mid-1940s and the early 1960s, he wrote several award-winning plays, including The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Manuscripts
The State Historical Society of Missouri manuscript collections include collections that document the history, culture, and campaign efforts of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities.
Newspapers
The St. Louis-based Gay News-Telegraph is available online for the years 1981-1988. At SHSMO, the paper is available under its subsequent name, Lesbian and Gay News-Telegraph, in our newspaper microfilm collection for 1988-1994.
On Demand Programs
SHSMO On Demand
Out of the Stacks: Utilizing SHSMO’s LGBTQIA+ Collections
In this virtual program from the State Historical Society of Missouri, Steven Brawley, founder of the St. Louis LGBT History Project and SHSMO trustee, leads a discussion on utilizing the LGBTQ collections at SHSMO and the use of one particular collection–the Helen Stephens Collection (C3552)–for research in an upcoming documentary film.
Photographs
The Mary Jane Barnett Papers (CG0004) provide a remarkable look into the business and life partnership of two Cape Girardeau women, Mary Jane Barnett and Elaine “Tommie” Davis, from the 1930s to the early 1980s. Together, Barnett and Davis owned the long-standing Co-op Cut Rate Drug Store and gained the community’s acceptance in an era when same-sex couples often found it necessary to hide their relationships from public view. This collection provides written and photographic records of the two women’s long experience of living and working together in Cape Girardeau.
Vertical Files
The vertical files contain magazine and newspaper clippings, handwritten information donated by patrons, bibliographies, programs, brochures, flyers, and other materials that, by reason of their physical formats, cannot be placed on the shelves with books. SHSMO's Columbia Research Center has a vertical file titled “Homosexuality—Missouri,” as well as vertical files on numerous LGBTQ Missourians, such as Helen Stephens and Tennessee Williams.