Sandra Moran Radio Book Club

LGBT History Month! We are celebrating our community’s history with Mark Segal’s “And Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality.” We also have an outstanding panel to discuss it. Info, bios, and photos below. The show will be aired on our 100,000-watt community radio station KKFI 90.1 FM, and streamed live at www.kkfi.org

THE BOOK:
“Mark Segal is one of the major actors in the struggle for LGBT equality in the U.S. … A life as eventful as Segal’s demands that a book be written about it.” — South Florida Gay News

“Mark Segal is living proof that each and every one of us has the power to create tremendous change….He has made America a better place for everyone in the LGBT community.” — Curve Magazine

THE AUTHOR:
Mark Segal has established a reputation as the dean of American gay journalism over the past five decades. From the Stonewall demonstrations in 1969 to founding the Philadelphia Gay News in 1975, along with his more recent forays into TV and politics, his proven commitment as a tireless LGBT advocate has made him a force to be reckoned with. Respected by his peers for pioneering the idea of local LGBT newspapers, he is one of the founders and former president of both the National Gay Press Association and the National Gay Newspaper Guild. Segal was recently inducted into the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist Association’s Hall of Fame and was appointed a member of the Comcast/NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Board, where he advises the entertainment giant on LGBT issues. He is also president of the dmhFund, though which he builds affordable LGBT-friendly housing for seniors. He lives in Philadelphia.

THE PANELISTS:
HOLLY BAGGETT is a Professor of American History at Missouri State University where she has taught for 20 years. Her fields of specialization are Women in American History and LGBTQ American History. She is the editor of Dear Tiny Heart: The Letters of Jane Heap and Florence Reynolds, 1908-1949 (New York University Press) and author of numerous articles on the history of lesbians in America. She has been politically active concerning LGBTQ issues in Southwest Missouri.

JOHNDA BOYCE is an attorney in Kansas City, Mo. She recently worked on two campaigns for local nondiscrimination ordinances, and she is a longtime supporter of LGBT History Month. In 1994, she assisted Rodney Wilson on the first Coordinating Council for his brainchild, a nationwide celebration of LGBT history in October. Johnda and Rodney have recently donated their personal LGBT History Month papers to the Missouri History Museum as part of that institution’s initiative to collect and preserve LGBT artifacts.

JOHN LONG has more than 37 years of experience in magazine and book publishing. Since 2004 he has been the owner and publisher of Kansas City’s magazine, “Camp,” for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities. He is the co-founder with Jim Gabel (who is also a co-founder of Camp), of PrideRide from 2001 to 2005, which was a fundraising bicycle ride for organizations and services benefiting the LGBT communities of greater Kansas City. John is a native of Chicago, Ill., and has lived and worked in Chicago, San Francisco and Bay Area of California, Washington, D.C. metro and Kansas City, Missouri. He lives in Kansas City, Mo., with his beloved two Scotties and Westie terriers.

RODNEY WILSON has been a teacher since 1990. He has taught in secondary, correctional, community-based, and now post-secondary institutions. He holds master’s degrees in history and religion. In 1994, he became the first openly gay K-12 teacher in Missouri’s public school system and also founded LGBT History Month. Recent essays can be found atwww.huffingtonpost.com/rodney-wilson

ELIZABETH ANDERSEN has been immersed in LGBT history through film, music, and books for more than a decade. She has been involved in Kansas City’s LGBT Film Festival for 16 years. She has been on crew for the National Women’s Music Festival, the Iowa Women’s Music Festival, and the Amazon Music Festival. Apparently in preparation for hosting the Sandra Moran Radio Book Club show, she founded and led lesbian book groups, in addition to attending Homollectuals, a gay men’s book group. She has two degrees in English literature, has taught English composition, and is a full-time copy editor.


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