Welcome!

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A few years ago, I made a trip to the Peoria Public Library to read up on Peoria. After all, if you want to know about local history, what better place to go? So much has been written about the River City, it is hard to imagine anything that has not already been said. But as I thumbed through volume after volume, shelf after shelf one question grew louder and louder in my mind - where is my community in all of this? From what I can tell, next to nothing has been formally documented regarding the LGBTQ+ history of the area. Although I left the library that day empty-handed, I also left with the determination that it is past time for this to change. 

Research and history are passions of mine (after all, I've built careers on them),  so if anyone was going to get this historical research ball rolling, I figure it may as well be me. While there is a lot that can be found digging through "the stacks," most of our history is contained in the people that lived it. One of my hopes is to eventually conduct formal oral history interviews that can be transcribed and cataloged for preservation. 

I fully recognize that I am just one man, and there is only so much I can do. While I might not be able to recover anything that has been lost to time, my hope is that as a community, we can preserve a snapshot of what we currently have for the benefit of future generations.

Peoria is a beautiful kaleidoscope of people and experiences. Now, it is time to hear the rest of the story.

NOTE: The goal of this page is historical documentation and preservation. I have no intent on this page being a source of gossip, monetization, or political debate.

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