These eight LGBTQ+ Kansans make Pride Month worth celebrating. And all the other months, too.
This Pride Month, writes Clay Wirestone, we can find inspiration among LGBTQ+ Kansans. (Getty Images)
LGBTQ+ Pride Month in a red state tends to have a certain edge. Even the most earnest celebration of freedom and belonging can feel like one of those disposable plastic ponchos, quickly unwrapped to keep off the rain. You appreciate it, you value it, but it can't last forever.
Yet us gay people persist in living across all 50 states, and in every country around the globe besides. We're most definitely here in Kansas.
You can make a joke or two about the Wizard of Oz (heck, I even wrote a column about it), but we're still here, we're still queer, and we're still asking everyone to get used to it. Rather than opine about the meaning of the exercise, I thought I'd kick off the month by highlighting eight LGBTQ+ Kansans. (A hat tip to our friends over at the Manhattan Mercury, who published a similar list last year.)
If I left off important folks, please let me know. We have a lot of June left!
Melissa Etheridge
The Leavenworth-born singer-songwriter rocketed to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A husky-voiced rocker, she blazed trails by coming out publicly all the way back in 1992. She's since recorded a live album at the Topeka Correctional Facility.
William S. Burroughs
Beat-adjacent writer Burroughs was born in St. Louis and notably lived in Tangiers and New York. He relocated to Lawrence in 1991, however, and lived there until his death in 1997. The city's Burroughs Creek Trail now bears his name.
Rep. Sharice Davids
The state's Democratic representative for the 3rd District made history in 2018 as the first LGBTQ+ and Native American member. She has now been re-elected three times, which perhaps should raise some eyebrows among national Dems.
Cassandra Peterson (Elvira)
Any child of the 1980s (and I was one) knows the vampy Elivira on sight. The woman below the wig was Manhattan-born Cassandra Peterson, who revealed her two-decade relationship with a woman in her 2021 memoir.
Janelle Monae
This Kansas City, Kansas, native first caught my husband's eye through her 2010 album, 'The ArchAndroid.' She has since recorded more albums, acted in movies and now identifies as nonbinary, using she/her or they/them pronouns.
Gilbert Baker
Born in Chanute and graduating from Parsons High School, Baker created the iconic rainbow pride flag in 1978. Queer icon Harvey Milk, the San Francisco politician and activist, asked him to do so. As an unwelcome note, the Trump administration plans to remove Milk's name from a Navy ship. Just to show that Making America Great Again includes insulting a slain veteran.
Stephanie Byers
Former State Rep. Stephanie Byers of Wichita was elected in 2020 as the state's first transgender lawmaker. Suffice to say, she put up with an awful lot during her term in office. However, I found her grit and vibrant personality a constant inspiration.
Matthew Vines
The Wichita native Vines attended Harvard and caused a sensation by arguing that Christianity doesn't condemn same-sex marriage or relationships. He founded the nonprofit Reformation Project and wrote the book 'God and the Gay Christian.'
Bonus: your Kansas Reflector opinion editors
This might sound like a bit of a cheat, but so be it. Both founding Reflector opinion C.J. Janovy and yours truly have written about our community many times. Janovy even published a book on the subject. Listen, living here might not always be easy. But there's still a heck of a lot to celebrate.
I plan to spend at least a bit of time doing just that.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
‘Miami Vice' star Don Johnson admits to smoking weed in White House during Carter administration
Don Johnson pulled the curtain back on some wild visits to the White House. Johnson, 75, claimed he once smoked a joint at the White House, and got former President George H.W. Bush to gamble on a game of golf. During an appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!,' host Jimmy Kimmel showed the actor a photo from 1975 featuring Johnson with President Jimmy Carter and musicians Chuck Leavell and Dickey Betts taken at an Allman Brothers concert. 'I don't remember that photo, but we were all stoned,' Johnson admitted. He clarified that Carter was likely not stoned. 'Well, I don't know about him,' Johnson said. 'I don't want to cast any aspersions on the former president. God rest his soul.' Johnson landed his invite to the White House after working with the Allman Brothers on a concert for Carter's presidential campaign in 1976. 'Then the fun began,' he told Kimmel. 4 Don Johnson appears on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' on June 4, 2025. The late-night show host questioned what kind of fun they had at the White House. 'Nobody has fun at the White House,' Kimmel said before adding, 'I have heard Willie Nelson had fun there.' 'Is that the kind of fun you had there?' he asked Johnson. 'Did you smoke at the White House?' The 'Miami Vice' star seemingly struggled to answer. 'I don't know how to answer this. Well, yes… I guess I did,' admitted Johnson. According to the veteran actor, he's visited the White House during each president's administration since Carter. Johnson continued to tell Kimmel about his escapades, including a time he played a round of golf with Bush. 'He wanted to gamble when we played golf out at Camp David,' Johnson said. 'And so I took his money,' he recalled to laughter and applause from the audience. 4 A photo from 1975 featuring Johnson with President Jimmy Carter and musicians Chuck Leavell and Dickey Betts taken at an Allman Brothers concert. 4 Don Johnson and Patti D'Arbanville attend a state dinner at the White House in Washington, DC, on Sept. 10, 1985. Penske Media via Getty Images 'I'll tell you something else: He's a trash talker, and he ran into a buzzsaw, because so am I.' When questioned about how much Bush bet, Johnson said 'it wasn't that much.' 'Eighteen or 20 bucks,' he told Kimmel, adding, 'But that's the best 18 or 20 bucks you'll ever get.' Johnson isn't the first celebrity to share wild stories from the White House. Country legend Willie Nelson originally claimed he smoked weed with someone in Carter's administration during his infamous trip to the White House. However, Carter later clarified that Nelson actually smoked with his son, James Earl 'Chip' Carter III. 4 According to the veteran actor, he's visited the White House during each president's administration since Carter. 'When Willie Nelson wrote his autobiography, he confessed that he smoked pot in the White House one night when he was spending the night with me,' Carter said in the 2020 documentary, 'Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President.' 'And he says that his companion that shared the pot with him was one of the servants in the White House. 'That is not exactly true — it actually was one of my sons, which he didn't want to categorize as a pot-smoker like him.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Wicked For Good: Your Questions About The Cast And Release Date (Plus The Scarecrow And Tin Man) Answered
Excitement for the musical sequel Wicked For Good is really starting to build following the release of the new film's first trailer. We'll admit that when we first heard that the stage musical Wicked was being split into two, we rolled our eyes a little – but after seeing Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in action last year, we now can't wait for the second instalment. There are still a few months to go until our next trip to Oz, but we know you might have a few questions between now and then. So, here's everything we know about the second movie… Initially billed as Wicked Part 2, it was revealed towards the end of 2024 that the sequel would be given the subtitle For Good, based on the show-stopping eleven o'clock performed as a duet between Elphaba and Glinda towards the end of the musical. The decision was met with a mixed response, but Ariana has claimed that Wicked For Good was actually already being touted as a title for the project when it was being filmed. 'I'm glad it's official now because we grew rather attached to it,' she said last year. 'It's just the perfect title because this project really has changed us for good.' Fans of the original musical will know that the second act begins with Thank Goodness, an ensemble number that helps catch us all up with what's gone down among the cast of characters since we last saw them. Besides that, we can look forward to the dramatic Elphaba number No Good Deed, her duet with Fiyero, As Long As You're Mine, and, as mentioned above, For Good, which has become one of Wicked's signature tunes. There's also another solo for the Wizard, Wonderful which… yeah… let's not even go there. While Wicked's original composer extended the One Short Day sequence in the first film, he's gone one step further in the sequel, and penned two new songs. Director Jon M Chu recently confirmed that one of these will be a new solo for Cynthia, while another will be performed by Ariana. Wicked itself is a retelling of the events of The Wizard Of Oz, retold from the perspective of its witches, Elphaba (known in the 1939 film as simply the Wicked Witch Of The West) and Glinda (who comes to be known as the Good Witch Of The North). Act one begins with Munchkinland celebrating the news of Elphaba's death, before taking us back through her younger years to explore her years at school. The second act – on which Wicked For Good is based – revisits the characters later in life, with Elphaba exiled and a public enemy, thanks to efforts from the Wizard Of Oz and Shiz professor Madame Morrible, and still harbouring feelings for Fiyero, to whom Glinda is now engaged. It also addresses more directly how specific events in the Wizard Of Oz came to be, including Dorothy's arrival in Oz, and her becoming friends with the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. Evidently, yes. While Dorothy is never seen on stage in the original production of Wicked, we've already caught a glimpse of her in the opening moments of the first film. Dorothy is also seen – once again from behind – in the latest trailer for Wicked For Good, suggesting the character will be more prominently featured in the movie than the stage musical. Chu told Vanity Fair: 'We tread lightly, but try to make more sense of how [Dorothy's arrival] impacts our girls and our characters than maybe the show does.' 'We're delicate. We're delicate. We're delicate,' he then insisted, reassuring anyone concerned about him taking any big swings away from the source material. It was previously reported that Matilda star Alisha Weir portrays Dorothy in the movie, though this is yet to be confirmed. Alright – we're going to be giving away some major Wicked spoilers now, so if you've never seen the stage musical and want to avoid these twists, just keep scrolling down to the next section. Did you hear that? Spoilers are ahead. Scroll to the next section if you want to avoid them. OK, we think they're gone. Let's proceed… So, Elphaba inadvertently creates the Scarecrow when she casts a spell on Fiyero – played by Jonathan Bailey – in an attempt to save his life in No Good Deed. The Tin Man, meanwhile, is created by Nessarose, who is played in the film by Marissa Bode. She attempts to use magic herself for the first time on Boq (Ethan Slater's character) to prevent her from leaving him, only for it to go awry, and turn him into the mechanic woodsman. As you've probably guessed, the Cowardly Lion is that same cub who Elphaba and Fiyero rescue in the first movie. Right here! Enjoy: The film will hit cinemas on Friday 21 November, with the film expected to be re-released in selective cinemas before then, to allow everyone to revisit the events of the first film. 9 Things We Need To Talk About Immediately In The New Wicked For Good Trailer 22 Weird And Wonderful Behind-The-Scenes Secrets You Probably Never Knew About How Wicked Was Made
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
WWE SmackDown results, highlights (June 6): John Cena hit with R-Truth chants
John Cena finally went out with the last word on one of his final WWE TV appearances. (Photo by Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images) WWE returned to Bakersfield, California, for "WWE SmackDown" before the big weekend of action in Los Angeles. The time for talk about the Money In the Bank briefcases is over, and beatings to get the upper hand were dealt. Those were mostly delivered by the faces trying to run the place over on "WWE Raw." ⚔️ Crossover of the Night An appearance from the "Sethriders" wasn't expected to open "WWE SmackDown," but that's exactly what happened, and they ran roughshod throughout the night. Advertisement It instantly became a turf war when Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman, Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker were interrupted by Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu and JC Mateo. That was an unexpected cherry on top of what was already transpiring. Rollins' promo beforehand was nothing special other than your typical pre-Money In the Bank "I'm going to win the briefcase" claims. This was all a fresh, pleasant surprise, though. Sikoa and Rollins' sides did an incredible job of creating tension without ending the segment in a brawl. Well done, Triple H. I'll give you your flowers for avoiding the implosion between two heel stables — something rare enough in its own right. That's the beauty of matches like the Money In the Bank ladder match. Sikoa shined in this interaction, saying Rollins had his own version of The Bloodline, and questioned which roles his henchmen were. He specifically called back to Reed's history, teaming together at War Games. That only further added to how silly and nonsensical Reed being with Rollins was, but there clearly won't be a reasonable explanation too soon. Advertisement Ultimately, this whole opener made me want Fatu vs. Breakker as soon as possible, and preferably on a PLE so that it doesn't end in a bogus DQ finish. WWE teased that match heavily, so fingers crossed that it happens one day. Another feud I never knew I needed was LA Knight vs. Rollins. 🙄 DQ of the Night Not that a reminder was needed of how good he is when speaking, but Knight received some solid mic time before his match with Aleister Black to cut a fantastic promo for Money In the Bank. He targeted all the participants and highlighted how he and Rollins haven't interacted much, which added to the intrigue of that pairing. Advertisement Then there was the surprise that shouldn't have been a surprise, which was Rollins giving Knight the win over Black with a DQ when he attacked him. Every. Single. Show. It's so damn annoying, man. Any match between decently pushed talent can't end cleanly on TV anymore. It takes the wind out of everything beforehand. 🫠 Miss of the Night WWE had the opportunity to keep all this Rollins momentum going after his trio took out Penta and Andrade. Heyman jumped on the mic to cut a promo and get cut off by Cody Rhodes, which led to the final segment between him, Uso, John Cena and Logan Paul. Advertisement You know what Rollins and crew did? They hit the bricks and just left the ring. What? They attack numerous wrestlers throughout the night, then decide not to be a part of the "biggest" angle in the company. In kayfabe, that couldn't have made less sense. Once Cena arrived, the crowd erupted with the loudest cheers of the night. Some heel champion, huh? Outside of Cena and Paul coming out on top for a change, hitting finishers on Uso and Rhodes, it was another nothing interaction, with Cena repeating everything he has already said in recent weeks. He's going to ruin wrestling, they're humble, blah, blah, blah. Fittingly, it was all capped off with "We want Truth" chants. Cena then appeared to riff off the cuff, saying, "You can't handle the truth." That was the best part of all of this, but still, the absence of Rollins was absurd. Somehow, the closing segment wasn't the... 😂 Joke of the Night WWE has to have some inside rib going on with the attempts to make as many Zelina Vega vs. The Secret Hervice matches as possible. This time, it was Vega vs. Piper Niven in a "Bakersfield Brawl." It's absolutely stunning to see the level of repetition that there's been in this women's U.S. title scene. Thankfully, this has to be the end. Advertisement Vega won with the help of Giulia, powerbombing Niven through a table. Then she attacked the champion. Overall, it was whatever. Before the match, the teasing between her and Giulia continued, which was enough evidence that Giulia won't win her ladder match tomorrow night. Regarding Giulia, she had one hell of a night overall. 👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑 The women's Money In the Bank ladder match is the better of the two on tap for the event, and with that much talent packed into one match, that should be no surprise. Put each half of the match against each other in a trio match, and you're destined for a banger. That's what we got as a little appetizer before Saturday. Advertisement The babyface squad of Rhea Ripley, Alexa Bliss and Stephanie Vaquer got the win over Roxanne Perez, Giulia and Naomi when the latter let Perez get hit with the Riptide. It was a smart move, honestly, and the commentary team pointed it out. There was essentially no point to that match other than for one team to weaken some of the competition, which was what Naomi did despite it being her partner. It was just a great match from start to finish, with everyone getting their hits in, mixing some together for fun spots. Circling back to Giulia, however there was a reference from Wade Barrett on commentary to Giulia possibly cashing in on Vega if she wins the ladder match after what she did earlier. With Vega as one of the weakest champions in recent memory, I don't know if a stupider and more unnecessary booking decision could possibly come to mind. 👍 FRIDAY NIGHT FIRE 👍 1. Interferences and dirty finishes are almost mandatory in WWE now, so if they're done even somewhat creatively, it's a plus. And that's what happened when Jimmy Uso defeated Mateo with a roll-up after Sikoa and Fatu's failed distraction attempt. Advertisement Mateo clocked Fatu off the apron, furthering the dissension in the group. That's all the match was good for. 2. To springboard off that latter highlight, Sikoa talking smack behind Fatu's back was too good not to give a separate bullet. When this guy gets really into character, it's hilarious, man. 3. The King and Queen of the Ring tournaments are back starting next week. WWE appeared to give us a possible tease for the Queen of the Ring finals between Jade Cargill and Charlotte Flair. I know the fans certainly won't like that with Flair's side, but that's a great match and rivalry we need to see, especially with Cargill going over. 4. All of the top tag teams on "WWE SmackDown" gathered around backstage with general manager Nick Aldis to try and solve the Wyatt Sicks problem. This was pretty clever and cool to see, actually. It ended with Fraxiom being the ones to call for a match first. Nothing was made official, but I'm very curious to see how this whole overbooked tag team scene is handled. 🤷 IT HAPPENED 🤷 1. Penta and Andrade defeated American Made. This was a great match and showed how awesome of a team Penta and Andrade can be together. Why isn't this an overall positive, though? Because they're not a real tag team like the Creed Brothers are. So, the Creeds were just used at the expense of Chad Gable and his story. It's fine and to be expected at this point, but it would be better to see them secure wins for the division, as "WWE Raw" is currently lacking. Advertisement To make it even worse, and more hilarious, considering what happened to Knight, Rollins and crew attacked Penta and Andrade afterward. Poor American Made isn't even worth enough of a damn to Triple H to lose via his beloved DQ. 👎 DOWN & OUT 👎 1. Regarding the Wyatt Sicks, a cryptic and non-explanatory vignette preceded the tag team meeting with Aldis. All Bo Dallas said was that he and his crew were now family, and would take what they're owed. OK. Honestly, Dallas resembling a young Jack Black was more distracting than anything. 2. Jey Uso legitimately felt like nothing more than a meme, catchphrase wrestler next to Rhodes. 👑 This "WWE SmackDown" was really weird, and you felt the three hours. As usual, a lot of mixed feelings. I give this show a Crown score of: 6/10. 👑
