Faulkner Morgan Archive

09/04/2026

Make sure to mark your calendars for Friday, October 9 for a full evening of celebrating Kentucky's LGBTQ history! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

First, from 5pm-7pm, join FMA at Lussi Brown Coffee Bar for the official pre-party of "Local Legends: A Drag Show Fundraiser"! Come on by, grab coffee or a cocktail, and chat with us to learn more about our organization and some of the wonderful LGBTQ stories that we hold. ☕️🍸

Later in the evening, hop on over to Crossings at 10:30pm as we honor some of Kentucky’s drag legends, celebrate LGBTQ history month, and raise money for the Faulkner Morgan Archive! Hosted by Uma Jewels & Petty Poussey, this show will include some iconic Kentucky queens: 💃✨

⭐️ Sasha Grant
⭐️ LaNora Takie
⭐️ Cadillac Seville
⭐️ Lady M
⭐️ Latoya Bacall
⭐️ Jenna Jive (performing in honor of Chelsea Pearl)

So bring your dollars and help us share Kentucky’s !

09/01/2026

We are so excited to announce this year's cast for Local Legends: A Drag Show Fundraiser! 🎉🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Hosted by Uma Jewels & Petty Giuliana Poussey, this show will include some iconic Kentucky queens:

⭐️ Sasha Grant
⭐️ LaNora Takie
⭐️ Cadillac S Seville
⭐️ Lady M
⭐️ Latoya Bacall
⭐️ Jenna Jive (performing in honor of Chelsea Pearl)

Join us as we honor some of Kentucky’s drag legends, celebrate LGBTQ history month, and raise money for the Faulkner Morgan Archive!

📅 Friday, October 9 @ 10:30pm
🪩 Crossings Lexington
📍 117 N Limestone
✨ 21+ Only • $5 Cover
🔗 https://www.facebook.com/share/1DZrokB4gJ/

We are grateful for the support of our sponsors Evergreen Community Supports, LLC and Custom LogoWare!

08/26/2026

Today we remember the legacy of Tim Curry and his impact on the LGBTQ community ❤️

For five decades, The Rocky Horror Picture Show film has served as an iconic piece of q***r culture with its embrace of sexual liberation and androgyny. As it became a cult classic, interactive showings of the film have become a crucial part of its legacy. These performances have been happening across the world, including here in Lexington at The Kentucky Theatre, to this day. This t-shirt, designed in the late 1970s by a worker at the Kentucky Theatre, was donated to FMA in 2014, and memorializes this iconic piece of q***r culture. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

This Saturday's screening is dedicated his memory. 💋

08/19/2026

With UK students moving in this week, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to showcase the first LGBTQ group at the university!

In 1970, students from the University of Kentucky formed the "Gay Liberation Front" (GLF). In November of 1971, the group applied for formal recognition as a student organization at the University of Kentucky but was denied by then UK President Otis Singletary.

Led by Peter Taylor, a sophomore from Whitley County, the GLF sued for recognition. The GLF lost its case and was described by Kentucky’s Attorney General as “a lawful group sprinkled with unlawful activity.”

The Gay Liberation Front, however, did successfully organize the first LGBTQ event at the University of Kentucky—the Gay Rights Dance, held in the Student Center Ballroom.

The University of Kentucky refused to recognize LGBTQ student groups until 1982.
📷 1-3: "Gay Times," UK Gay Caucus, Fall 1972
📷 4-5: Gay Rights Dance Poster, UK, 1976

08/03/2026

SAVE THE DATE and join us for "Local Legends: A Drag Show Fundraiser!"

📅 Friday, October 9 @ 10:30pm
🪩 Crossings Lexington
📍 117 N Limestone
✨ 21+ Only • $5 Cover

Join us as we honor some of Kentucky’s drag legends, celebrate LGBTQ history month, and raise money for the Faulkner Morgan Archive! Hosted by Uma Jewels & Petty Poussey, this show will include some iconic Kentucky queens. (Cast to be announced). So bring your dollars and help us share Kentucky’s LGBTQ history! Which legends would you love to see on stage?

Join the Facebook Event! https://www.facebook.com/share/1HrwVi8yoU/

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤

For this year’s show, we are planning to honor some of Kentucky’s drag legends by inviting them to perform. Since we are hoping to compensate these performers to thank them for their incredible service to their community, we are looking for sponsorships to ensure that this event remains a profitable fundraiser.

We have options available from $100 to $2,500, and you can view below to see the specifics of each sponsorship level. If you or your organization interested or want to learn more, you can reach out to [email protected]. We look forward to working with you!

07/20/2026

FMA is excited to announce that, thanks to funding from JustFundKY we are creating an additional panel to add to our traveling exhibition Q***r, Here, & Everywhere: The Roots of Kentucky’s LGBTQ History that began as part of Lexington’s 250 celebration. 🎉

This additional panel will expand coverage of le***an history in Kentucky. We wanted to ask you for input on what to highlight next. Existing panels cover The Country, Womin Energy, The Lexington Six, Amber Moon, Jones v. Hallahan, and the Lexington Women's Collective.

💜🩷🤍🧡💛

Want to provide feedback on this new panel? Visit www.tinyurl.com/newle***anpanel!

07/15/2026

The Metropolitan Community Church began in Los Angeles in 1968 by Rev. Troy Perry as an LGBTQ-affirming denomination. In Kentucky, there have been two MCC congregations. Opening in 1975, the Louisville MCC remains in operation.

There were at least three attempts to start an MCC congregation in Lexington. The third attempt was successful under Rev. Rex Van Alstine, a former Eastern Orthodox priest and gay man. On Easter Sunday, April 11, 1993, Rev. Van Alstine offered the first sermon at the Greenleaf Motel on Nicholasville Road. He expected 15 people but had a relatively large crowd of 28 show up. Within a year the congregation moved to a small room in the Actors Guild building on Short Street. Outgrowing this small space for 22 people, the church relocated in 1996 to 387 Waller Ave. The church soon expanded to a larger sanctuary at 389 Waller Ave.

By 1997, the Pride Center of the Bluegrass and Lexington MCC entered into a lease agreement. Under this rent-sharing agreement the Pride Center opened at 387 Waller Ave, the former site of the MCC. The MCC moved downstairs to 389 Waller Ave. When Terry Mullins became a GLSO board member, GLSO took over the management of the Pride Center. In 2000 the MCC moved out of 389 and after some discussion of other sites, the Pride Center relocated to the more accessible 389 location. The Lexington Pride Center remains at this location to this day!

Photo from the collection of Terry Mullins and Bill Chandler, 1990s, Faulkner Morgan Archive.

Information from “Hidden histories, proud communities : multiple narratives in the q***r geographies of Lexington, Kentucky, 1930-1999." By Jeff Jones, 2001.

07/13/2026

Congrats to Maryjean Wall on her newest book "'She's the mother of us all': Sweet Evening Breeze and the Q***r Community of Lexington, Kentucky"! 💜

‘An integral part of Lexington.’ Book details life, mystique of Sweet Evening Breeze

07/13/2026

Did someone say Butch Girl Summer? ☀️🏳️‍🌈🧢💪👔

We're throwing it back to this article we wrote for Q***r Kentucky's issue on Reimagining Masculinity last year! "A Brief Butch History" provides a glimpse of early 20th century photography and the way that masculine clothing and other non-femme appearances often acted as visual cues to subtly, or not so subtly, signify q***rness to others. 🌈✨

The term “butch,” commonly associated with q***r women, originated from a robust le***an subculture in the mid-1900s. While its cultural meaning has shifted and is more widely used amongst many different genders and sexualities, it is still predominantly used to describe more masculine-presenting, le***an women. In our collections at Faulkner Morgan Archive, we have a wide range of items showcasing a deep history of butch women, long before the term even came to be used as a q***r marker. 📖📦

Check out the full article online at www.q***rkentucky.com/from-the-archives-a-brief-butch-history/