From raucous Pride parades and festivals to intimate LGBTQ+ support groups and book clubs, there are dozens of ways to celebrate Pride Month this June (and July, and August) in Iowa. Browse more than 50 options below. Iowa City area Tuesday, June 10, 7 p.m., Pride at FilmScene: I Am My Own Woman, FilmScene Satuday, […]
Pride
Posted inCommunity/News
What’s the point of Pride? Trans/genderfluid Iowans discuss persistence, fear and how to spite the bigots in power
Dr. Emma Denney (she/they) is the community resource navigator at the LGBTQ Iowa Archives & Library in Iowa City. She regularly tracks anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the state legislature, traveling to Des Moines to speak against them. She holds a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Iowa and makes music under the name .em. V […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Sue Gilbert — Saint Suzie to queer nuns everywhere — recalls all the drag, drama and action of Iowa City’s gay scene in the ’70s
It’s time for Sue Gilbert to come clean. At least, that’s what she told me in an email leading up to this interview. Gilbert played a supporting role in the growth of Iowa City’s drag and Gay Pride scene in the ’70s — and, thanks to a bizarre and surely predestined string of circumstances, planted […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa mayor bans Pride group from local parade in apparent violation of the First Amendment
The small southwest Iowa town of Essex banned an LGBTQ group from marching in its Labor Day parade Monday. The Page County town of about 700 boasted that its parade welcomes participants from all around southwest Iowa, but that welcome was withdrawn by Essex’s mayor for Shenandoah Pride, a group of LGBTQ residents from across […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Bears bare all at this adult-only, LGBTQ-friendly campground in ‘middle of nowhere’ Iowa
Sloshed on Busch Light and a little sun-dazed after my first pool day in ages, it was 11 p.m. when I finally went to set up my tent at the L.V. Campground in Coggon, Iowa. My sister, two friends and I had rented a cabin ($135/night) — sturdy, spacious and best of all air-conditioned, with […]
Posted inCOVID-19
City Park Pool will open for the season on Saturday
City Park Pool will open for the 2021 season on Saturday, the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department confirmed on Wednesday. There had been the possibility of delaying opening day because of a leak in the pool’s surge tank, but repairs were finished on schedule. The pool will be open on Saturday from 6:15 to […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa City giving away free Pride yard signs at City Hall
With Pride Month fast approaching, the Iowa City Office of Equity and Human Rights is offering free Pride yard signs to city residents. “The reusable sign is waterproof, making it perfect for any home or business outdoor space,” the office said in a news release. Signs can be picked up at the information desk in […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Portrait of the artist: Amelia Bucks, burlesque dancer
Muscatine native Irene Jara has been a burlesque dancer for just shy of a year, dancing with local burlesque troupe the Heartland Bombshells. While Jara identifies as genderfluid, their burlesque identity, Amelia Bucks, embodies all things feminine.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Alisabeth Von Presley will bring her ‘pink-painted world’ to Iowa City Pride Fest
When Alisabeth Von Presley was a little girl, she believed she was the reincarnation of Elvis. She’d perform in front of a mirror, singing into her dad’s hairbrush. The 30-year-old entertainer now embodies the King of Rock and Roll in other ways, from her name — changed from Caraway to Von Presley — to the Elvis portrait tattooed on her left forearm. She’s taken up guitar, and often performs in glam, eye-catching outfits that harken back to Elvis’ sequined jumpsuits.
