Lea Hopkins

Lea Hopkins (born 1944) is an American LGBT rights activist and poet from Missouri, best known for founding Kansas City's pride parade.

Early life Hopkins grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1962, she graduated from Sumner High School.

Activism Hopkins moved to New York City in the 1970s, and became involved with the gay liberation movement there. A few weeks later, in July 1977, she organized a protest against Anita Bryant, who was speaking at a bookstore in the city. In August 1980, she was a featured speaker at the Southeastern Conference of Lesbians and Gay Men in Memphis, Tennessee. She was again a speaker at the conference in June 1986 in New Orleans.

In subsequent years, Hopkins worked for GLAAD and was an advisory board member of the Lesbian and Gay Community Centre in the neighborhood of Westport.

In the 1990s, Hopkins served as a spokeswoman for GLAAD on "Out There", a public access program by and about queer people from Kansas City.

In 2022, Hopkins was named Grand Marshal of that year's Kansas City Pride parade.

Personal life Hopkins had one son, Jason (died 1997), whom she conceived with a friend's help.