Public opinion about LGBT people in America has shifted dramatically in recent decades toward acceptance. Even in a state as famously conservative as Kansas.

C.J. Janovy, former editor of The Pitch and now the digital content editor for public radio affiliate KCUR 89.3 FM, examines that evolution in a discussion of her new book No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas. Traveling through a state whose national reputation is all too tied to Topeka’s gay-degrading Westboro Baptist Church, she found LGBT activists who fought in ways big and small for the respect of their neighbors, their communities, and their government, lending hope to those alarmed by the treatment of minorities in an increasingly polarized country.

Joining Janovy are a couple of the activists spotlighted in her book.

To view the presentation, click here.

Related blog: FYI Book Club Spotlights C.J. Janovy’s No Place Like Home and LGBT Advances in Kansas