What do all those letters mean?
Most people are familiar with the traditional LGBT of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender, but as our understanding of gender and sexuality has evolved, more letters have been added. You may see things like LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIAA. What do all of those letters mean? The following video can help explain ten common types of sexuality that you may or may not be aware of.
What is the difference between gender and sexuality?
It is important to know that there is a difference between gender and sexuality. This video can help explain how they are different and explain terms like "cis gender."
LGBTQ+ In Kansas
The following resource reflect the LGBTQ+ history of Kansas as well as some Kansas-specific resources available for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
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Books on the Kansas LGBTQ+ Experience
No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas by
Far from the coastal centers of culture and politics, Kansas stands at the very center of American stereotypes about red states. In the American imagination, it is a place LGBT people leave. No Place Like Home is about why they stay. The book tells the epic story of how a few disorganized and politically naïve Kansans, realizing they were unfairly under attack, rolled up their sleeves, went looking for fights, and ended up making friends in one of the country’s most hostile states.
With its close-up view of the lives and work behind LGBT activism in Kansas, No Place Like Home fills a prairie-sized gap in the narrative of civil rights in America. The book also looks forward, as an inspiring guide for progressives concerned about the future of any vilified minority in an increasingly polarized nation.
Rainbow Warrior by
In 1978, Harvey Milk asked Gilbert Baker to create a unifying symbol for the growing gay rights movement, and on June 25 of that year, Baker's Rainbow Flag debuted at San Francisco's Gay Freedom Day Parade. Baker had no idea his creation would become an international emblem of liberation, forever cementing his pivotal role in helping to define the modern LGBTQ movement. Rainbow Warrior is Baker's passionate personal chronicle, from a repressive childhood in 1950s Kansas to a harrowing stint in the US Army, and finally his arrival in San Francisco, where he bloomed as both a visual artist and social justice activist. His fascinating story weaves through the early years of the struggle for LGBTQ rights, when he worked closely with Milk, Cleve Jones, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Baker continued his flag-making, street theater and activism through the Reagan years and the AIDS crisis. And in 1994, Baker spearheaded the effort to fabricate a mile-long Rainbow Flag--at the time, the world's longest--to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York City. Gilbert and parade organizers battled with Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the right to carry it up Fifth Avenue, past St. Patrick's Cathedral. Today, the Rainbow Flag has become a worldwide symbol of LGBTQ diversity and inclusiveness, and its colorful hues have illuminated landmarks from the White House to the Eiffel Tower to the Sydney Opera House. Gilbert Baker often called himself the "Gay Betsy Ross," and readers of his colorful, irreverent, and deeply personal memoir will find it difficult to disagree.
Kansas LGBTQ+ History
Kansas LGBTQ+ Organizations