LGBTQ&A

LGBTQ+ people — all people, really — often turn to porn to make up for the failures in sex education. "We copy what we see," says Davey Wavey, the YouTube personality and creator of Himeros.tv.  And that creates problems. With Himeros.tv, Wavey is creating a more intentional and carefully crafted type of porn. Videos are created by a team of sex coaches, tantric instructors, and sexologists to make sure that you get turned on while also learning something constructive about the ways in which queer men have sex.  LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Cyrus Grace Dunham has written a complicated, necessary addition to the trans literary canon. A Year Without A Name, Dunham's debut book, recontextualizes gender dysphoria as something that is not solely exclusive to binary trans people. Readers get to know Cryus as Dunham gets to know Cyrus, and the memoir makes clear that one's journey to figuring out their gender is a messy, life-long process. He joins us this week to talk about how his experience of gender is still evolving, how it's affected by privilege and whiteness, and why using he/him pronouns feels "scary and erotic." LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Hayley Kiyoko grew up watching the other girls around her as they'd fawn over pop stars; singers who were always male. Kiyoko resolved to be just like those pop stars one day. "I've always loved the attention of women and I never had the attention of women." She wanted that validation, to experience the unrestrained enthusiasm Justin Timberlake inspires.  And now she's achieved just that. Women throwing their bras on stage are a permanent feature of a Hayley Kiyoko show. The singer, known as "Lesbian Jesus" to her fans — a nickname whose origin is unknown, even to her — joins us to talk about feeling unwanted as a youth, how the music industry talks about her queerness, and why it was her fans that helped her fully come out of the closet. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Rufus Wainwright steps into the hosting chair to take a trip down the yellow brick road. He talks with Renée Zellweger, the star of the new Judy Garland biopic, about their mutual devotion for the gay icon. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate.

It wasn't until she found out her character would be returning for the second season of Transparent that Trace Lysette was able to quit her job at Scores, the infamous New York City strip club made newly famous in the movie Hustlers. Lysette was working at Scores and other clubs, taking acting classes, and booking small roles on shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She was only open to a few people about being trans because, as she says, that's just what you were told to do at that time.  "If you can pass, girl, just live your life. That's what we were taught to survive. And so it wasn't until the trans movement became a national conversation that I felt like I was doing a disservice to my community by not saying anything."  The national conversation around trans people changed in part because of shows like Transparent and characters like Trace Lysette's Shea. Trace Lysette talks on this week's episode about working at Scores, the financial realities of a being an actress, and why she's still figuring out her place in Hollywood.  LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

For Travis Coles, coming to terms with their gender has been a lifelong process, one that's been accelerated with their new role on David Makes Man, the new TV show written by Moonlight's Tarell Alvin McCraney and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Michael B. Jordan. Coles, like their character, Mx. Elijah, is genderqueer, Black, and brings a sense of fun and play to their gender performance. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Live from the Big Queer Pod Fest in NYC, Shakina Nayfack talks about how subversive it can feel to be a trans woman learning to embrace herself as a sexual being who is worthy of love. She also talks about Manifest Pussy, the musical she wrote about her gender confirmation surgery, having to learn how to have sex again after transitioning, and why watching porn that stars trans women has been so life-changing for her. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Rodney Evans, best known as the writer-director of the 2004 film Brother to Brother, has a career that's spanned over 20 years. In his new documentary, Vision Portraits, Evans chronicles the lives and creative processes of four visually impaired or blind artists, including Evans himself. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

As a young boy, Gamal Palmer — Senior Vice President of Leadership Development at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles — would sit in his local synagogue, wearing a yarmulke and in mid-prayer, as people would routinely approach to ask if he was Jewish. As a Black man, his participation, even his presence, was treated with disbelief.  There are many stereotypes about Jewish people; that they are Black or People of Color is not one of them. In fact, a recent study found that the American Jewish community has been chronically undercounting the number of People of Color who are Jewish. They estimate the number is roughly 12-15 percent.  Talking on this week's episode, Palmer says he has just now begun to feel comfortable voicing his blackness in Jewish spaces, and also talks about why he's been comparatively less vocal about his sexuality. "A lot of it had to do with my own not wanting to lead with my queerness. Therefore, not only did I not lead with it, but I actually didn't really explore it." LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

"If you want to write history, you need to be brave with what you think." Before becoming the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, Israel — the first openly gay person to hold the post and one of only a few women — Chen Arieli was an activist, one of the most visible and influential in the country. Now adjusting to life as a public official, she talks about working behind the scenes to assure that 2018 protests against Israel's discriminatory surrogacy law included other issues and to why the treatment of trans people is such an urgent matter in the nation. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1