QUEER KENTUCKY | KENTUCKY'S ONLY LGBTQ+ NEWSROOM

A group of people at Creative House of Art and Design in Covington, Kentucky, pose with their finished winter-themed paintings during a guided art class. The group stands in front of shelves filled with colorful art supplies and craft materials.

10 LGBTQ+-Affirming Businesses Helping Shape Northern Kentucky’s Growing Inclusive Community

November 17, 2025 | Culture, Business, Community, In-State Travel, Kentucky, Magazine, Special Issue: NKY

LGBTQ+-owned and affirming businesses are shaping a more inclusive Northern Kentucky.

Judge Lewis Grant Paisley stands in a Kentucky courtroom wearing judicial robes and a red tie.

Judge Lewis Grant Paisley: Kentucky Man Who Advanced LGBTQ+ Rights Remembered for Courage and Allyship

November 7, 2025 | Culture, Community, Gov & Politics, History, Kentucky, News

Judge Lewis Grant Paisley remembered for advancing LGBTQ+ rights and true allyship in Kentucky.

| Culture, Community, Gov & Politics, History, Kentucky, News

A photo of The Pearl bar in Louisville, Kentucky, featuring a bright pink fabric doorway installation outside the entrance, symbolizing the “Behind the Pink Door” event. Beside it, an illustrated artwork of The Pearl shows the same pink-draped entrance with handwritten text reading “Behind the Pink Door – The Pearl,” and two silhouetted figures walking toward it, capturing the event’s vibrant, welcoming queer energy.

A Safe Haven for Sapphics: Behind The Pink Door Keeps Lesbian Culture Alive in Kentucky

October 23, 2025 | Community, Culture

Behind the Pink Door brings queer joy to Louisville with food, music, and lesbian community.

| Community, Culture

An Interview with Em Joy: Program Director for Louisville Youth Group

October 16, 2025 | Community, Culture, Magazine, Special Issue: Trans Youth

Em Joy on how Louisville Youth Group empowers LGBTQ+ youth with support and resources.

| Community, Culture, Magazine, Special Issue: Trans Youth

Transgender Life at the University of Kentucky

September 25, 2025 Community, Culture, Gov & Politics, Magazine, Special Issue: Trans Youth

A transgender student finds acceptance, community, and hope at the University of Kentucky.

Black Wonderland Builds Joyful Black Queer Community Across Cincinnati, NKY and Beyond

September 24, 2025 Community, Culture

Black Wonderland creates spaces for Black queer joy, connection and regional community.

First Steps for Transitioning: Getting into HRT

September 16, 2025 Art, Community, Culture, Magazine, Special Issue: Trans Youth

Trans Kentuckian share their journeys navigating HRT through clinics and DIY routes.

Support LGBTQ+ Trans Youth in Kentucky By Joining the Rainbow Dash 5K and Wacky Races

September 12, 2025 Community

Louisville Youth Group hosts Rainbow Dash 5K and Wacky Races Sept. 27 at Seneca Park.

Death Before Detransition: A Word from the Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief

September 11, 2025 Community, Culture, Magazine, Special Issue: Trans Youth

Queer Kentucky amplifies trans youth voices amid harmful laws and rising mental health risks.

Death Before Detransition: Queer Kentucky’s Trans Youth Issue

September 9, 2025 Art, Community, Culture, Special Issue: Trans Youth

This issue isn’t about policy debates — it’s testimony, resistance, and survival. Kentucky’s trans youth wrote and designed this magazine themselves, speaking directly to their peers and communities. “Protect. Trans. Youth.”

Melanin Pride Weekend returns September 18-21 in Louisville

September 3, 2025 Community

Melanin Pride Weekend will return to Louisville on Sept. 18–21, 2025, marking its ninth year as one of the region’s largest celebrations of Black culture and LGBTQ+ pride. Founded and self-funded by Desiree Carr, creator of Pride Game Events, the four-day festival has grown from a grassroots gathering into a fixture of the city’s […]

Melanin Pride Weekend returns September 18-21 in Louisville

Queer Cycling Groups in Kentucky and Ohio Claim Space on the Streets, Build Community

August 25, 2025 Community, Culture, Health

From Covington to Louisville, queer cycling groups reclaim the road and build community.

As anti-trans laws pass, Louisville’s Trans Haven group creates community, comfort and lasting friendships

August 12, 2025 Community, Culture, Kentucky

Trans Haven offers support, connection, and joy for trans adults across Louisville and beyond.

A split image showing a promotional graphic for Trans Haven on the left and the exterior of the Louisville Pride Center on the right. The graphic features a pastel living-room illustration with a trans pride flag, plants, lamps, and logos for the Louisville Pride Center and LTMA, advertising a Trans Haven social meetup held Tuesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. The right side shows the Louisville Pride Center’s beige historic building with tall windows, a red front door, and landscaped greenery along the walkway.

Jim Obergefell speaks with Queer Kentucky on storytelling’s power 10 years after Supreme Court marriage ruling

June 26, 2025 Community, Culture, Gov & Politics, History

Jim Obergefell reflects on 10 years since marriage equality and the fight still ahead.

Louisville Pride Says QPOC, Trans Inclusion Critical Under Shifting Political Landscape

February 28, 2025 Community, Culture, Gov & Politics, News

Kentucky’s political climate threatens Queer, Trans and BIPOC communities, but Louisville Pride is still working.

Hip-hop meets community: how a Black queer woman is changing Cincinnati from the underground up

February 17, 2025 Community, Culture

Siri Imani began performing at 9. She struggled with rap but thrived as an artist. She founded Triiibe, a diverse artist collective in Cincinnati.

Chat with Volunteer Lawyers, Notarize Documents, or Say “I Do” with Community Support This Sunday in Louisville

February 5, 2025 Community, Culture, News

This weekend Louisville’s Mandala House is hosting their first LGBTQIA+ Legal Rights Day, a free event offering a wealth of resources designed to inform, educate, and uplift the LGBTQ+ community in an uncertain time. Resources include access to volunteer lawyers and notaries, on-site officiants, mental health resources, and an all day schedule of expert speakers […]

Feed Louisville Executive Chef Callie Critchelow talks working to combat food injustice in Louisville

January 30, 2025 Community, Culture, Health, Hospitality

Feed Louisville is changing the way people in need receive nutritious food.

Supporting LGBTQ+ Rights in Kentucky and Surrounding States: How Community Action Can Combat Legal Uncertainty

January 28, 2025 Community, Gov & Politics

In recent years, the LGBTQ+ community has faced growing uncertainty about the future of their rights, especially following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The ruling not only removed abortion access as a constitutional right but also raised concerns about the stability of other landmark decisions, including Obergefell v. Hodges, which […]

Recovery advocate discusses intersections of Jewish identity

January 18, 2024 Community, Culture, Health, Substance Use

By Aaron Guldenschuh-Gatten he/him One June weekend, on a Friday, I arrived at the crest of a hill on a hundred-acre farm, deep in the rolling wooded hills of Central Kentucky. The setting summer sun bathed the distant pasture in gold as waves of tall grass seemed to whisper to me. A close-by friend, also […]

Rockin’ Community: Central KY Roller Derby Team fostering a place for LBGTQIA

September 19, 2023 Community, Culture

My first real look at roller derby was what I consider to be the cult classic “Whip It,” a combination of bad-ass body slams and young people finding both happiness and the strength to stand in their truth. I felt so empowered by the charm of this coming-of-age film focused on finding oneself with the support […]

Everybody loves queer people

March 28, 2018 Community, Culture

Ty Francis, Louisville, Kentucky I am a man of color and gay. I’m open with it. I like to wear nice clothes and be fashionable. I like to change up my appearance based on where I’m going and how I’m feeling and I love it. Fuck, everybody loves queer people right now. I feel like […]