The Last American Gay Bar

As three gay men come of age and explore their sexuality in 1960s Iowa, the United States goes to war with Vietnam. The young men enlist or are drafted, forced to live in the closet as they face their own mortality. The Stonewall Riots bring gay rights into mainstream conversation, and the men come home to a changed nation.

The war is over and Stonewall has changed the gay community forever, but most gay Iowans are still living in the closet. Cruising and elicit hookups are the only ways people can meet.

Iowa's LGBTQ+ community experiences violence, making safe spaces like gay bars even more important. Bob "Mongo" Eikleberry opens The Blazing Saddle, which quickly becomes a haven and an institution in Des Moines.

The Blazing Saddle crew came of age in Stonewall times and survived the Vietnam War, but nothing could have prepared them for the AIDS epidemic.

Don't Ask Don't Tell raises questions for the men of The Blazing Saddle, who are finally ready to live openly gay. When marriage equality is passed through the Iowa Supreme Court, the LGBTQ+ community feels free - but only for a moment.

COVID and the George Floyd riots bring new challenges for The Blazing Saddle. The iconic gay bar works to evolve with the times as trans issues take the spotlight with Iowa's governor trying to ban gender affirming care.