The largest metropolis in the Show Me state may fly well below the gaydar of most queer travelers, but its got a knockout industrial-chic hotel, a state-of-the-art new LGBTQ night club, and a boomlet of stylish gay-owned B&Bs and restaurants.
All of this is complemented by a handful of top-notch museums, an endless barbecue battle, and a world-class jazz scene. Kansas City is also home to one of the country’s most enthusiastic queer sports fandoms: beyond intense civic pride/lust over Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, it’s one of America’s most enthusiastic soccer towns and is currently constructing the first U.S. stadium built ever for a women’s pro sports team, the Kansas City Current.
The city even boasts the world’s most celebratory corrective to the marginalization of minority athletes: The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (16 E. 18th St. Tel: 816-221-1920. nlbm.com). It is worth mentioning that this small collection of memorabilia is focused on Toni Stone. She was one of the only three women to ever play in the leagues.
Negro Leagues Museum Photo by Jim Gladstone
The male-presenting Stone, who played in the 1950s was never “You can find out more about it here.” by contemporary standards, but once told a reporter “I was in love with my…
