Queen City Queer History Tours: Sin City

Step into the shadows—and spotlights—of Northern Kentucky’s past on this immersive walking tour uncovering Newport’s hidden LGBTQ+ history.

Led by queer historians, this tour traces nearly two centuries of queer life along the Ohio River, revealing how drag performers, transgender pioneers, entertainers, gamblers, reformers, and gangsters shaped the city in ways rarely acknowledged in traditional histories.

Beginning at James Taylor Park, we explore how early Newport elites, national celebrities, and theatrical icons created unexpected queer networks in the 19th century. From there, the tour moves through the rise of Newport’s notorious vice economy—brothels, nightclubs, and casinos that existed in the gray space between legality and corruption—and how those same spaces became rare havens for queer expression.

Along the way, you’ll encounter:

• One of the earliest known transgender nightclub operators in Newport
• The city’s most glamorous home-grown female impersonators
• Drag revues, go-go bars, and mob-run clubs that anchored regional queer nightlife
• National figures whose lives intersected with Newport in surprising and intimate ways
• The dramatic party-boat raids that helped ignite Cincinnati’s post-Stonewall movement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

General James Taylor Park, 100 Riverboat Row, Newport, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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