LGBTQ&A

The history-making politician shares every inspiring, heartbreaking, and drunken moment that led her to become the first openly trans person to serve in a state legislature in the United States. Danica Roem's new memoir, Burn The Page, is out now.  Kate Kelly (who you also hear from in the episode) and Danica co-authored this recent piece in Teen Vogue about why the Equal Rights Amendment is a gender-inclusive document, one that won't be defeated by anti-trans scare tactics. Kate Kelly is the author of the new book, Ordinary Equality. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod

Janelle Monáe (!!!) joins us to talk about her journey to becoming a queer icon, new music, and her debut book, The Memory Librarian. “One of the main points that’s super important is about the threat of censorship, memory censorship. Because as we know, memories are essentially our stories that we tell ourselves to survive.” LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. An edited transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod

Grab your best friend and give them the tightest possible hug: this episode is a celebration of platonic queer intimacy. R. Eric Thomas joins us to talk about being married to a pastor (it's fun!), the importance of queer community (also fun!), and his new YA novel, Kings of B'more.  LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod [A portion of this interview was originally recorded in January 2020.]

As of today, a Black lesbian is now the voice and face of the United States government. Karine Jean-Pierre, the newest White House press secretary, joins us to talk about why there is a place for all of us in politics, no matter what you might think of as the typical background or narrative for a politician. If a queer woman of color who immigrated to the U.S. as a kid could make it in politics, she says, then so can you.  LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod  [This interview was originally recorded in November 2019.]

With his crucial new book, historian Hugh Ryan restores The Women's House of Detention to its rightful place in LGBTQ+ history. "It was one of the Village’s most famous landmarks: a meeting place for locals and a must-see site for adventurous tourists. And for tens of thousands of arrested women and transmasculine people from every corner of the city, the House of D was a nexus, drawing the threads of their lives together in its dark and fearsome cells." Hugh Ryan, author of The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison joins us on the podcast to talk about how years before the Stonewall Uprising, the House of Detention changed queer history. In the interview, we play a clip of Jay Toole talking about her time in prison. Click here to listen to the full interview with Jay. And click here to check out a picture of The Women's House of Detention on our Instagram. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod

Don Bachardy talks about the 33-years he spent with Christopher Isherwood (author of A Single Man and The Berlin Stories, which became the musical, Cabaret) and what it was like being an out gay couple in the 50s and 60s. Born in 1934, Don has gone on to become of the most respected portrait artists of our time.  This is part of our new LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our recent interview with the 73-year-old titan of trans history, Jamison Green. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod [This interview was originally recorded in January 2019.]

Spoiler alert: You are going to die. Shatzi Weisberger works with people to dismantle their fears and worries around dying, helping them to approach their deaths with intentionality. A lifelong activist and former nurse, Shatzi was born in 1930. This is part of our new LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our recent interview with the 87-year-old trans elder, Barbara Satin.  LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website in the afternoon (or earlier, if I get enough coffee). Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod

"When I was in the pool, HIV/AIDS didn't exist. That was a sanctuary for me. It was a place that I could go to, really to seek refuge from the stress of the HIV diagnosis." Four-time Olympic gold medal winner, Greg Louganis joins us to talk about his infamous concussion at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, sharing his HIV status with the world in 1995, and what life's been like since retiring from diving. This is part of our new LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our recent interview with the titan of trans history, Jamison Green. Greg's bestselling memoir, Breaking The Surface, was co-written by Eric Marcus, host of the Making Gay History podcast. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website in the afternoon (or earlier, if I get enough coffee). Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod

Alexandra Billings is redefining what is possible for our community. Before making a name for herself in the Chicago theatre scene and landing her breakout role in the TV show, Transparent, Alexandra was a showgirl and sex worker struggling with addiction. "I ate, I breathed oxygen, I had sex, and I did drugs, all with great, reckless abandon." There is zero precedent for Alexandra's remarkable career—she is currently starring in The Conners on ABC and just completed a run as Madame Morrible in Wicked on Broadway—and she joins us on the podcast to talk about recording it all in her new memoir, This Time For Me.  This is part of our new LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our recent interview with the 87-year-old trans elder, Barbara Satin.  LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website in the afternoon (or earlier, if I drink enough coffee). Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod

After being discovered at a casting for Italian Vogue, Tracey "Africa" Norman's modeling career skyrocketed. In 1975, she memorably appeared as the face on a box of Clairol hair dye sold in drugstores across the U.S. In the middle of this formidable rise, Tracey was outed while on a shoot for Essence magazine. "And that's the day my career ended," she says. "Because the next day I called my agency and there was nothing." Tracey joins us to look back on her legendary modeling career, talk about how being outed affected her relationship with both the Black and LGBTQ+ communities, and says the fashion world has still not fully embraced women of color. "I'm not seeing anyone of color do the things that I have done and sign contracts. It's only been my white counterpart who are working, who are doing the shows, who are on the covers of major magazines."  This is part of our new LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our recent interview with the 87-year-old trans elder, Barbara Satin. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod [This interview was originally recorded in December 2020.]