In this episode of The Pinnacle Pod (recorded January 2025), we speak with Star Palmer, the founder and executive director of Our Spot KC and president of the KC Pride Alliance. Star is a passionate advocate for the LGBTQ+ community in Kansas City. Her organization provides housing assistance and other support services to those in need. She discusses her path into activism, the current challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community, and hopes for the future. Star is one of the 2024 winners of The Pinnacle Prize.  

Transcript

Maurice Watson: 

I am Maurice Watson, and this is The Pinnacle Pod where we dive into the stories behind dynamic leaders in Kansas City. Each episode celebrates the spirit of The Pinnacle Prize, an annual award that recognizes and supports passionate people driving significant change in our community, from subtle ripples to citywide movements, join us to listen, learn, and be inspired. In today’s episode, I’m pleased to welcome 2024 Pinnacle Prize winner Star Palmer to The Pinnacle Pod. Star is the founder and executive director of Our Spot KC, a nonprofit founded in 2016 that provides housing rental assistance and other support services to the LGBTQ+ community in the Kansas City area. She is also president of the Kansas City Pride Community Alliance, the organization that runs KC Pride Fest and Parade. Star, thanks for joining me today. 

Star Palmer: 

Thank you for having me. 

Maurice Watson: 

To get us started, tell us about your journey to becoming an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and what drove you to take the lead and to start your own organization. 

Star Palmer: 

I really started being an LGBTQ+ advocate based on act of violence that happened in our Kansas City community with a friend of mine. I was introduced to an organization at the time that really focused on the LGBTQ+ anti-violence work and started having meetings with the FBI and the police, really to look at the disparities as it happened within the LGBTQ+ community and how black and brown individuals were kind of left out and marginalized even further up under the rainbow. And so, when this near and dear friend of mine was murdered, they treated it like just another black person that was gunned down in a violent way. We know that he was targeted, we know that it was based on his orientation and we worked with the family to really bring justice to his name. And so, from there I was introduced to LGBTQ+ specific work and I kind of, you know, always stood in the gaps for our folks living at the intersection of being black and queer. Oftentimes that means standing up to, you know, your black community or standing up within the LGBT community as a black individual and how that looks different. 

Maurice Watson: 

So, your work focuses on meeting the needs of LGBTQ+ community in the area of houselessness. So tell us something about the difference between what members of the community, your community faced in the in houselessness as compared to the community generally. 

Star Palmer: 

Well, when you think about most mega shelters here in Kansas City, most of them are religiously affiliated. And I don’t have to go into why that may or may not be the safest for our community. Transphobia, homophobia are very real. Most shelters tend to live still in the binary, meaning there’s a male side and the female side. Well, what happens when, like I myself identify as gender non-conforming, where do I go? Right? Again, religion plays a big part in it, and you can have the most protective policies, but there’s still those underlying biases from other peers within that space are those entry level folks. I myself have struggled and overcame homelessness as a young adult and oftentimes you’re made to co-opt a piece of yourself or follow their belief system in order to have a place to live and a hot meal. And so a lot of people still struggle, 20 plus years later still, with those same issues. 

Maurice Watson: 

So it sounds like though houselessness or homelessness is a challenge for everyone. The challenges that the LGBTQ+ community faces are even greater.  

Star Palmer: 

Oh, absolutely. 

Maurice Watson: 

Securing funding for the work that you do is historically difficult. Yes. But with the changes in Washington DC and what constitutes the majority in a state like Missouri, you are facing even greater challenges to funding. Is that right? 

Star Palmer: 

Absolutely. This last three weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions, not just for our community before. Most people where DEI has been stripped away, LGBTQ+ rights, specifically trans rights. Yesterday there were over 20 bills this year alone in session, there were over 20 anti LGBTQ+ bills introduced in the state of Missouri. Most states around the nation are still in the single digits. Unfortunately, Missouri is leading the pack in the anti-LGBTQ+ bills on the floor. But we saw our community stand tall yesterday and show up in droves that were disproportionate to those that were introducing these bills. And what we see now is a, a space where our community comes together and we become more resilient and we stand up for what is right. And that’s, that’s a great thing in the last past decades and the current administration, of course has changed that. There were tremendous strides towards equality and what that looks like for our community specifically. And we’re seeing those, all of those efforts being dialed back and, and step back tremendously. We know that the current climate and the years to come will be hard, but I am putting my faith in the community that we know, you know, we’ve been here in the eighties, we’ve been here in the nineties. Of course things are a little different and unprecedented as we see that happen. But it’s just gonna take time and it’s gonna take money, attorneys, and people coming together as a community to stand up against the hate. 

Maurice Watson: 

So given the challenges that you face in securing funding from the federal and resort state government, what are the other options you’ve got including receiving funding from private donors? 

Star Palmer: 

Foundations. We’re leaning into our community as a whole. Those $5 and $10 and $20 a month, they all add up, those $5,000 grants, they add up. Federal funding, as you know, most nonprofits depend on it tremendously. And that for us, they’re looking for organizations like ours. And so we know we’re looking to cultivating and doubling down on those relationships we already have with some foundations and donors to really look at how we can, how we can increase those dollars, right? How we can increase those in-kind donations. Everybody doesn’t have, you know, an extra a hundred grand laying around, but maybe they can roll their sleeves up and come help us paint or you know, help us on the admin side or, things of that nature. We’re just looking at creative ways to really dial into our community’s resilience and strength where we know that there’s strength in numbers and we know that there we’re, we’re here, we’re not going anywhere, and we are just asking all community members to kind of step up. 

Maurice Watson: 

You spoke a little bit earlier about the role that advocacy and organizing plays in your focus, in the work that you do. Tell us more about that. 

Star Palmer: 

For sure. As, as a nonprofit, lobbying of course gets tricky, but we lean into organizations like PROMO and ACLU, Trans Women of Color Collective. There’s a ton of organizations that are standing in those gaps that don’t have those restraints like we do. Advocacy is hard, activism is hard. It is a toll on your mental, on your physical, all of those things. So most of my community members and employees, we stand in those gaps. We are on the front lines of most things that happen in the LGBTQ+ realm, in the Black Lives Matter realm. And there’s so many more that, historically queer people have stood tall in. And so we will just continue to do what we’ve been doing. Um, and resource sharing. I think it’s the biggest change this time around is being able to spread the knowledge toolkits, any kind of way. Whether it’s a script to write to your politicians in your area and lawmakers to, to get it right. We saw, you know, the administration really buckle under the pressure last week even of the communities coming together and saying, no, this is unlawful and we’re not having it. 

Maurice Watson: 

Star, you couldn’t do all you do without hope. Tell us a little bit about where you go to find hope and where do you go to find some renewal of your passion for your work? 

Star Palmer: 

Over this last year, there’s been a tremendous shift in the focus on mental health and self-care. And so sometimes I go to the nail shop or to the massage parlor, but most of the times I lean into my community, right? I have a wonderful staff that often tells me to sit down, right, sit down, we got this. You just sit there and relax. And I am grateful for the community that I serve and the communities that I’ve built to be able to tap in and tap out as needed. 

Maurice Watson: 

Tell us how you work through what are systems and people who oppose your work? 

Star Palmer: 

Well, sometimes it’s hard. This has been, I won’t hold you, it’s been a really rough month. But again, leaning into the community, there’s always somebody, and maybe it’s just a word in passing, like, I see you, I support you, whatever it is that you need, we have you, and I’m doing a better job personally at calling those favors in, right? This last week alone, I had to lock my door and just sit there because while everyone is looking to us as an organization and my staff is looking to me, I’m figuring it out as well too. And so there is a network of not only the local Kansas City community, but there is a national community that I tap into executive directors from organizations from the LA LGBT Center all the way to New York. We have been holding extra meetings, holding space, sending emails, sending any information as soon as we get it, and that’s been a breath of fresh air to be able to share the load with other folks. 

Maurice Watson: 

How can the Kansas City community support you in our spot? 

Star Palmer: 

Absolutely. You can join in on volunteering or donating. Our website is www.ourspotkc.org. That’s O-U-R-S-P-O-T kc.org. We have this year’s our 50th anniversary of our PrideFest here in Kansas City, so it’s gonna be a big deal. The parade is coming as well too. We’re standing strong in the face of adversity. There’s a lot of organizations pulling their DEI, pulling their sponsorship, but there’s also a lot of people that are doubling down. So we’re seeing that equal out and we’re super excited for what Kansas City has stood strong in. One, being a trans sanctuary city; two, having a mayor and a city manager that has been very supportive from infrastructure to just making phone calls or providing grant dollars for our community. And we’re super excited and hopeful that that continues even through the current administration and the sanctions and the executive orders we’re seeing come down. 

Maurice Watson: 

Thank you to our listeners and thank you Star for sharing your work and story with us. 

Star Palmer: 

Absolutely. Thanks for having me. 

Maurice Watson: 

The Pinnacle Prize believes in the power of one person’s vision to spark collective change. If you enjoy hearing directly from people pushing Kansas City forward, please share this episode with your family and friends. To learn more about people creating change in our community, follow The Pinnacle Prize on LinkedIn. Check out previous Pinnacle Pod episodes and sign up for our newsletter@pinnacleprizekc.org. 

 

Hosted By Maurice Watson

Maurice is a recognized community leader and has more than thirty years of experience working in law, social and public policy and board governance as a lawyer, advisor, and board member. He is the co-founder and principal of Credo Philanthropy Advisors.