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Conversations at the Intersection Featuring Dr. Kaila Adia Story

On this episode of the podcast Conversations at the Intersection, Rev. Kelli X., Director of Racial Justice Ministries at Scarritt Bennett Center welcomes Dr. Kaila Adia Story.

Kaila Adia Story, PhD is a full professor in the Departments of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Pan-African Studies, as well as the Audre ‪Lorde Endowed Chair at the University of Louisville. She is the author of The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf: On The Myth of LGBTQ+ Solidarity (Beacon Press 2025) and Patricia Hill Collins: Reconceiving Motherhood (Demeter Press, 2014). She is also the co-creator, co-producer, and cohost of Louisville Public Media’s “Strange Fruit: Musings on Politics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life,” a popular award-winning, 8 year running podcast. Dr. Story was named as an LGBTQ+ community leader and change maker as a part of NBC’s inaugural #Pride30, as well as and recently, Dr. Story was chosen as the 2022 Champion of Pride for the state of Kentucky by The Advocate. Dr. Story has also received recognition from Michelle Obama’s non-profit organization, Reach Higher for creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students in and out of higher education.

In their conversation, Dr. Story unpacks the myths around the LGBTQIA+ community which is often perceived as a united monolithic group of society. In fact, she outlines that queer people intersect all spaces in society. Dr. Story points out that queerness does not make a person naturally progressive and that if we want to be in community in a real way, we can’t bring our bigotry and bias with us.

Watch the podcast and find other installments of Conversations at the Intersection here.