Project Overview-St. Louis Lesbian History

St. Louis Lesbian History Project

Beginnings

I started this research when I was taking some graduate history coursework at UMSL in hopes I might have enough to write an article. But I found it difficult to find more than a couple individuals to interview so I thought I would just do a blog since this is really just for fun. I will leave it to the professionals some day to pull it all together.

A book called “Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold” which is a lesbian history of Buffalo NY focusing on the forties and fifties particularly inspired me. Two women worked on the project for over ten years, which gives me some idea of the magnitude of a project like this. I am not so ambitious to think that I will end up with anything like that. But I hope to record what I can.

If you are interested in participating in this project in any way, please contact me via e-mail at
travis40@swbell.net

 
Sharon

Lisa's Story

Lisa is a very femme woman as are many of her friends. She came out in 1977 and her first bar was the "Middle of the Road". She was in cosmetology school and so knew lots of gay men and hung out with them. She didn't always know she was gay but when she came out, it felt right.  She remembers a place called Red Bull on St. Louis Ave in East St. Louis. It had a dance floor and a DJ. Downstairs there were drag shows that featured a long list of St. Louis favorites. Some were big time names. She does not have many pictures of the bars as no one in those days wanted their pictures taken, neither the bar owners nor the patrons.  She remembers her first kiss with a woman, it was on a Wednesday night, at the $5 beer bust. She described it this way

" a woman from the group stopped me pushed me agaisest a wall and kissed me like I have never been kissed before and alas , started a new wonderful feeling , I kissed a girl and I liked it (Katy Perry) ..."

Following is more of her story in her own words.  

So from there it was a mixed crowd and then at least at my time , their were still the bars that hated men and vice versa , but I was still that fag hag so to speak not yet sure of what I felt , I liked it all in my time the guy's still wanted to try women and the woman loved the cute guy's sort of twisted , but thats thats the way it was still butch and femme , but a little more libreal, diffrent time , their were even drag queens that married drag kings (yes ) not alot , but I knew a few lot's of those people are gone due to AIDS....But that's later into to my early 30s , I am now 22 , I finally started to have stong feelings for woman , but I really was not into the stone cold butch thing... I girled all my lovers up alittle so I chased a few , this was Faces now and things were changeing ... I was a faces one night my girlfriend and I were not getting along ( ha Ha ) lot's of jelouisy back then I think due to the role playing , if a woman was with a butch and she had been staight that was a medal of honer for the butch girl . Anyway I looked at this women told my girlfriend , I was going home with her and ofcourse the traier backed up and thier was 8 yrs of my life that's the way , but being so young I could not be faithful to one person nor could she we I think many women of that time (the 80's) were free ....