
Hidden Histories: Queer Lives in the American South
LOCATION
Virtual event - links will be provided to all RSVPs prior to the event
ADMISSION
$15 (Access to all three films & panel discussion); Free for GLBT Historical Society Members
Join the GLBT Historical Society in partnership with the Faulker-Morgan Archive and Media Working Group for a groundbreaking virtual film trilogy exploring the rich, overlooked history of LGBTQ+ communities in the American South spanning 150 years.
Throughout LGBTQ History Month, each of the three films will premiere for streaming a week apart for watching through the end of October, culminating in a live virtual panel discussion with the filmmaker and historians.
Film Series:
PREMIERING: Mon. Oct. 6
Sweet Evening Breeze and Sue Mundy. Henry Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Rock Hudson, Bob Morgan and Bradley Picklesimer. These are some of the personalities who shape the story of “The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies” (2017). The documentary excavates a 150 year, gender-bending, sexual outlaw community in the Southern, genteel town of Lexington, Kentucky.
This Kentucky lineage of gay pioneers and rebels grew strong underground. They documented their identity and history as a community through shared storytelling, saving troves of personal photographs, home movies, and early video. The archives include cross-dressing guerilla soldier Sue Mundy, who fought in the Civil War and Sweet Evening Breeze, the notorious Black transgender drag queen who was born in the 1880s and nurtured a community in Lexington until 1987. Artists Henry Faulkner and Bob Morgan worked and partied with Tennessee Williams. Hollywood movie star Rock Hudson would come through town as the owner of its only gay bar, and there’s more.
PREMIERING: Mon. Oct. 13
“Under the Southern Cross” (2024) is an unflinching portrayal of Appalachian queer painter and poet Henry L. Faulkner from Egypt, Kentucky (1924 – 1981). The most documented queer man in the history of Kentucky and possibly the country, Faulkner documented his life and lovers as an adolescent in the 1930s until the day he died. This film tells a raucous, unapologetic and unfiltered story told with Faulkner’s photographs, painting, poetry, rare film and audio recordings, and interviews with people who knew him. Through his national reputation as a painter, Faulkner befriended many well-known LGBTQ+ artists, including out queer painter Edward Melcarth and playwrights Bertolt Brecht, Stefan Brecht Jamie Herlihy and Tennessee Williams. Under the Southern Cross describes a boy and a man who was unwilling to hide who he was and was willing to face the consequences for his authenticity.
PREMIERING: Mon. Oct. 20
“Native Daughter: CD Collins, A Reckoning” (2025) is a biographical portrait told through words and music, an investigation into how stories are created and told. Donohue explores one woman’s lifelong journey for beauty, love, and survival. It examines how domination, abuse and post-traumatic stress works through one’s life. Native Daughter relies solely on the words, music and images of the artist. The film explores sexual identity, growing up queer and an artist in rural America, feminism, eco-feminism, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the cutting-edge treatments for PTSD, and the profound and necessary endurance of the creative impulse.
Culminating Panel Discussion
Thursday, October 30th
5:00 p.m. PDT / 8:00 p.m. EDT
Following the third film, award-winning filmmaker Jean Donohue will be joined by scholars and archivists from the Faulkner-Morgan Archive and the GLBT Historical Society for a virtual panel discussion on Thursday, October 30 at 5:00 p.m. PDT / 8:00 p.m. EDT. They will discuss the importance of preserving queer histories around the country, the challenges and unique considerations for their respective geographical focus, and answer audience questions.
MORE ABOUT THE SERIES
This film series reveals how marginalized individuals created vibrant communities despite facing rejection from both mainstream society and within LGBTQ+ spaces, documenting resilience across intersections of race, gender identity, class, and regional difference. The trilogy deliberately recovers and preserves forgotten and hidden queer histories, with a specific focus on Southern LGBTQ+ experiences—a geographic and cultural context often overlooked in mainstream queer historical narratives that privilege coastal urban centers.
Together, these films and the culminating discussion preserve crucial perspectives from those who faced rejection from both mainstream society and within queer communities themselves, documenting resilience across intersections of race, gender identity, class, and regional difference.
Speakers
Jonathan Coleman, Ph.D. (he/him) is Co-founder and President of Faulkner Morgan Archive, Inc., a nonprofit with a mission to share Kentucky’s LGBTQ history. He was the James Still Fellow at the University of Kentucky, earning his doctorate in history in 2014. He often lectures on queer history and was a consultant for the Kentucky LGBT Heritage Initiative funded by the National Park Service. Dr. Coleman is also the Executive Director of the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation.
Jean Donohue (she/her) is a documentary maker, writer, and traveler. Her films are about land, culture and what it means to be human in relation to the natural world. Much of her work is about people whose lives, situations, and thinking illuminate a path through the challenges of living in the 21st century (globalization, climate change, human rights). Donohue has been producing video art and documentaries since the early 1980s. Her work has been seen on BBC 2 and BBC World Service, Independent Lens, POV, WNET-NY, Learning/Discovery Channels, and public television throughout the U.S. Her latest films, known as The Queer Trilogy, The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies, Under the Southern Cross and Native Daughter: CD Collins, A Reckoning have been screened at film festivals throughout Europe and the U.S. As a media educator, Donohue worked for the International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (UNESCO) in Ethiopia and Uganda training educators on how to integrate HIV/AIDS prevention across the curriculum, using digital media. Donohue is a founding member of Media Working Group, a non-profit media education and production organization.
Molly June Roquet (she/they) has been in library and archives leadership for over a decade; most recently, she served as the Assistant Library Director for Public Services and Research Support at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Molly holds a B.A. in History from San Francisco State University and a Master's in Library and Information Science from Wayne State University.
A lifelong queer and trans history nerd and inveterate researcher, Molly is thrilled and honored to steward the incredible collection and to collaborate with the fantastic people at the GLBT Historical Society and in the broader community. Outside of work, Molly is a musician; you can catch her playing drums with the Homobiles and Maggie Gently.
Members Perks
Interested in becoming a member of the GLBT Historical Society? Members enjoy all sorts of perks, including free access to this event. Learn more.