Gateway to Pride virtual exhibition launches

Digital exhibit is part of a larger Missouri Historical Society initiative to collect LGBTQIA+ history.

The Missouri History Museum has launched its first entirely digital exhibit, Gateway to Pride. The new virtual exhibit begins to uncover the rarely shared, often untold stories of St. Louis’ LGBTQIA+ communities. 

Visitors to the Gateway to Pride virtual exhibit will get a taste of St. Louis’s fascinating LGBTQIA+ history. The interactive digital experience features oral history interviews, artifacts with in-depth stories, and multiple opportunities for online visitors to share their own experiences.

“MHS staff have been working with members of the LGBTQIA+ communities to record and preserve their histories,” said Dr. Frances Levine, president of the Missouri Historical Society. “Our team is constantly seeking to add diverse experiences and untold stories to our collections. This virtual exhibit is one way we are reaching out to the community to seek additional voices and artifacts that will aid us in telling the story of the LGBTQIA+ experience and fight for rights in St. Louis.”

The virtual exhibit is a milestone step in the Missouri Historical Society’s larger Gateway to Pride Initiative. Serving as a call to action, the virtual exhibit asks LGBTQIA+ communities and the St. Louis community at large to share their stories and contribute to the growing knowledge of this often-hidden history. Submitted artifacts and stories could be included in a major special exhibition which will open at the Missouri History Museum in 2024 and run through the 10th anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court case that guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry.

Explore the Gateway to Pride virtual exhibit here. For more information on the Missouri Historical Society’s entire Gateway to Pride Initiative visit mohistory.org/collecting-initiatives/gateway-to-pride/.