Loading AI tools
Lea Hopkins (born 1944)[1] is an American LGBT rights activist and poet from Missouri, best known for founding Kansas City's pride parade.
Hopkins grew up in Kansas City, Missouri.[2] She realized she was gay at age 13.[2][3] In 1962, she graduated from Sumner High School.[1]
Hopkins was the first Black Playboy Bunny in Kansas City, and the fourth overall in the country.[2][3] She later became a professional model with the Barbizon Agency, and helped her coworkers negotiate for higher pay.[2]
Hopkins has published several books of poetry, and has written for The Kansas City Star.[2][4]
Hopkins moved to New York City in the 1970s, and became involved with the gay liberation movement there.[2] She returned to Kansas City in 1974.[2] Shortly afterward, she joined the city's chapter of the Metropolitan Community Church.[2] She also went on to co-found Kansas City's Christopher Street organization and the Gay Injustices Fund.[1]
In 1977, Hopkins organized Kansas City's first pride parade, which numbered about 25-30 people.[2][5] A few weeks later, in July 1977, she organized a protest against Anita Bryant, who was speaking at a bookstore in the city.[2][3]
In April 1980 she was featured in Essence.[6] In August 1980, she was a featured speaker at the Southeastern Conference of Lesbians and Gay Men in Memphis, Tennessee.[7][8] She was again a speaker at the conference in June 1986 in New Orleans.[9]
In subsequent years, Hopkins worked for GLAAD and was an advisory board member of the Lesbian and Gay Community Centre in the neighborhood of Westport.[10][11]
In the 1990s, Hopkins served as a spokeswoman for GLAAD on "Out There", a public access program by and about queer people from Kansas City.[10]
In 2022, Hopkins was named Grand Marshal of that year's Kansas City Pride parade.[2]
Hopkins had one son, Jason (died 1997), whom she conceived with a friend's help.[2]
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
