This image is the cover for the book Out in Evansville, American Heritage

Out in Evansville, American Heritage

From arrests and ostracization to public festivals and drag shows, the LGBTQ+ people of Evansville have walked a twisting path to their current existence. In the early days of the city, local newspapers harassed and bullied members of this group, even going so far as to encourage them to commit suicide. A series of murders in the 1950s and 1960s left Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender population of Evansville without justice and validation. The AIDS epidemic of the 1980s did the same. Happily, things have changed. Today, the city's LGBTQ community is out and proud, and thousands attend the annual Pride parade down Main Street. Looking back on more than a century of uneven progress, Kelley Coures unfolds this often tragic yet at times hopeful story.

Kelley M. Coures

Kelley Matthew Coures was born in Evansville and graduated from University of Southern Indiana. He has served as the executive director of the Department of Metro Development for the City of Evansville since 2014. In 2011, he received the Sadelle Berger Civil Rights Award from the Mayor's Human Relations Commission for work in the LGBTQ community. He served on the board of the AIDS Resource Group in the 1990s, and in 2012, Leadership Evansville presented him the Social Service award. He has been married to Justin Allan Coures since 2017, and together they struggle to parent two spoiled French bulldogs.

The History Press