![]() ![]() Shafer had a happy upbringing, says Ray, which can partly be attributed to his extremely supportive parents. Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, University of Missouri-Kansas City Left to Right: November 1964 October 1967 “Sugar Daddy” (far right), Barbara LeMay (center) and others, Colony Club, November 1968 Skip Arnold performs at the Jewel Box, November 1959 February 1963. He once told me he really just wanted to have a club and have fun.” “Naturally, Drew was a big part of that scene… There were always after-hour parties at his home and he easily made friends within every spectrum of the gay and lesbian community. Ray elaborates on a website largely devoted to writing about Shafer: “It was very unusual because in big cities - in particular in New York - most of the '60s was a period of increasing oversight and clamp down on activities in bars," Hinds says. Located on Troost Avenue between Linwood Boulevard and 34th Street, these establishments were mostly untouched by the police. Some of the few places Shafer and other LGBTQ folks could really be themselves were Kansas City's gay bars. Once, Shafer nearly lost his job after acknowledging he was gay on a Kansas City radio show. Back then, you could be arrested for simply “appearing” gay. Openly gay, Shafer gave gay rights speeches at college campuses during a period of rampant LGBTQ discrimination in the United States. “He found early in life that he was able to get others to see his point of view fairly easily,” according to Mickey Ray, Shafer’s longtime partner. And, perhaps most notably, quite the persuasive speaker. Gay And Lesbian Archive Of Mid-America Drew Shafer served as the first president of the Phoenix Society for Individual Freedom in Kansas City.ĭrew Shafer was many things in the 1960s. ![]()
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