The Lighter Side with Jay

Stacy Lentz - The Stonewall Inn and the Origin of Pride

June 23, 2020 Season 5 Episode 68
The Lighter Side with Jay
Stacy Lentz - The Stonewall Inn and the Origin of Pride
Show Notes

Stacy Lentz is an LGBTQ activist who was born in a small christian, conservative town in the middle of a cornfield in Kansas in 1970.  She has had a unique perspective watching the LGBTQ movement change by being a partner at the Stonewall Inn, widely regarded as the birthplace of the Pride Movement, for a part of the last 13 years. She is the bar's first lesbian owner, and has used the platform of the Stonewall to launch the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, raising money to help support the LGBTQ community, as well as producing events with stars like Taylor Swift and Cyndi Lauper.

Stacy is a force of nature. We talked through the history of the Stonewall, the role that black trans activists played in the advancement of Pride, and the monumental recent SCOTUS ruling. We also hit some of the highlights of her prolific activism career, and managed to find time to laugh.

Please consider a donation to the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative. In Stacy's words: As the CEO of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative I am able to help people in places like where I grew up, where daily stigma still exists in 2020.  I am lucky to see my story come full circle and to be able to give back and to help my community in small towns and rural areas across the country where being LGBTQ is still a struggle.

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