KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In order to see where we’ve gotten to today in our equality rights, it’s inevitable to look back to our history.
KSHB 41 News met with Kansas City’s first Pride Parade organizer
“I’m 78 years-old, I would have never imagined this in my wildest dreams,” Lea Hopkins said.
1979 was the year people took to the streets to celebrate equality in love in Kansas City, Missouri.
The pride parade began by the efforts of Hopkins.
Hopkins could tell you vibrant stories from her past for days.
These stories include emotion, passion, humor, activism and a long list of firsts.
“I was Kansas City’s first African-American Playboy bunny, and fourth in the country,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins is a model, mother, partner and gay woman.
“The closet is no place to be, that’s not a life,” she said. “I basically came out because of my son. I knew I was gay when I was 13, but being Afro-American and coming from that community, you just don’t talk about it, you don’t.”
Until that became her stage.
“If you don’t stand up in the space that God has given you, then why bother,” she said.
Her activism started at the March on Washington back in Kansas City.
When Anita Bryant was in town with anti-gay rhetoric, Hopkins organized a protest.
“What do we need to do? How do we need to do this? At that point, it was the largest Kansas City protest in its history,” Hopkins said recalling her experience.
It was all to stand up to discrimination and prejudice in the Kansas City area.
“It’s always been about doing what’s right,” she said.
She remembered the first pride parade. Hopkins said 100 people showed up.
With no planned route, they marched on.
“We had signs, we had flags,” she said.
Hopkins says she never received hate because of her sexuality, and there was never adversity she couldn’t face.
“I’ve never had a problem, I don’t know if it’s my attitude or my will,” she said.
Fast forward to 2022, thousands came to celebrate love at a Kansas City's Pride Parade.
“I would have never imagined that in my wildest dreams ever,” she said. “We’re getting there, there will always be discrimination. It is arduous getting there and you have to be committed to what you’re doing,”
Hopkins continued to organize Pride month even for years, bringing national speakers to come to the Heart of America.
—
