Fundraiser and kick-off for Q Fest - St. Louis' LGBTQ Film Festival - scheduled for Thursday, July 12 and Friday, July 13 in Grand Center

Metropolis St. Louis' Out & Urban committee, Cinema St. Louis, the Lesbian Gay Bi Transgender Community Center of Metropolitan St. Louis, and HERE! TV will host a kick-off and fundraiser for Q Fest - St. Louis' LGBTQ Film Festival - on Thursday, July 12 and Friday, July 13. Free screenings of 3 HERE! TV series ("The DL Chronicles," "Lesbian Sex and Sexuality", and "The Lair") will be held on the fourth floor of the Centene Center for Arts & Education, 3547 Olive St. in Grand Center. The screenings are free and open to the public, but donations will be accepted. Snacks and non-alcoholic refreshments will be available for sale. Several local LGBTQ organizations will have representatives and informational brochures available each night.

Q Fest - St. Louis' LGBTQ Film Festival - will have its public debut in March of 2008. This initial event is intended as a fundraiser, social networking opportunity, and awareness builder for the organization. Members of Out & Urban, The Center, and Cinema St. Louis are working hard to create a film festival that addresses issues of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer communities in the St. Louis area. This new event will fill the void left when SLILAG (St. Louis International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival) ended its ambitious annual festival after the 1999 season.

Episodes 1-3 of "The DL Chronicles" will screen on Thursday, July 12. The "DL Chronicles" tells the stories of men of color who by consequence and by choice, live sexually duplicitous and secret lifestyles. The "Down Low" is a slang term sometimes used to refer to African-American men who identify as being straight, but secretly engage in sexual activity with men. They date women, have children, and often marry in an effort to appear heterosexual to the public. Most of these men do not identify as gay or bisexual and refuse to be associated with the gay identity or gay community. Doors open at 7 pm and screenings begin at 8 pm, followed by a panel discussion.

On Friday, July 13 episodes 1 and 2 of "Lesbian Sex and Sexuality" will screen at 8 pm and episodes 1-3 of "The Lair" will screen at 9:30 pm. Doors open at 7 pm. Award winning filmmaker Katherine Linton, offers an unblinking look inside the world of lesbian culture in the provocative new docu-series
"Lesbian Sex and Sexuality." The series takes you on a journey inside the worlds of pornography, erotic dancers and the varying degrees of lesbian relationships. In the ultra-sexy world of "The Lair" the bodies of young nameless men are turning up dead with grisly wounds to their necks. A young journalist named Thom is investigating these mysterious 'John Doe' murders. Clues lead Thom to a private gentlemen's club called The Lair, where the darkest of desires are fulfilled.