LGBTQ&A

Before writing the landmark classic, Rubyfruit Jungle, Rita Mae Brown was a young activist moving through nearly every major movement of the era. She was kicked out of the National Organization for Women by Betty Friedan, and left both the Student Homophile League and the Gay Liberation Front due to their lack of support for lesbian issues. She ultimately went on to help write the Radicalesbians' manifesto, The Woman-Identified Woman, and the queer coming-of-age story, Rubyfruit Jungle. “Two steps forward is better than no steps at all. And I was willing to fight for that, and I did.”LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠ and learn more about how to support our work.LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠⁠⁠

When Nasty Pig launched in 1994, the gay community was still heavily defined by the AIDS crisis, and the public conversation around gay sexuality was dominated by stigma and shame. But Nasty Pig co-founders, David Lauterstein and Fred Kearney, refused to play into those fears, building a brand that embraced gay male sexuality. Backlash quickly followed, but now, thirty years later, Nasty Pig is a beloved part of the community. David talks about why the brand never apologized for being sex positive, what it took to outlast the backlash, and his memoir, Sodomy Gods. LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠ and learn more about how to support our work.LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠⁠⁠

Bob Mackie, the legendary fashion designer who created costumes for everyone from Cher and Judy Garland to Elton John and Carol Burnett, died on Monday. He was 87. In our interview last year, he talks about his ongoing collaboration with Cher, the infamous Gone With The Wind curtain dress from The Carol Burnett Show, and gay life in Hollywood in the 1960s and 70s. LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Consider supporting our work by joining our ⁠Substack.LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

Carmelita Tropicana was created almost by accident: a made-up name, blurted out at a radio broadcast in the 1980s. But Carmelita, and the woman behind the character, Alina Troyano, went on to become one of the pillars of downtown New York theatre. Alina talks about the ongoing evolution of her iconic camp character, spoofing both masculinity and femininity in her work, and her relationship with the queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz. LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠ and learn more about how to support our work. LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠⁠⁠

Longtime activist Karla Jay recalls the early days of the Gay Liberation Front, the all-women's dance that ended in a mafia raid, and the Lavender Menace's 1970 takeover of the Second Congress to Unite Women that produced The Woman-Identified Woman manifesto: "A lesbian is the rage of all women condensed to the point of explosion."LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see photos of Karla and to learn about how to support our work.LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠⁠⁠

"Because I didn't learn the photo rules it was very easy for me to abandon them." The pioneering photographer Duane Michals talks about discovering his love for photography in the 1950s, not looking down on commercial work, his half-century-long relationship with his partner, and why talking about "art" makes him want to vomit. Duane died last week at the age of 94. LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠ and learn more about how to support our work.LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠⁠⁠[Recorded in 2024]

At 100 years old, Alan Shayne's life has spanned the entirety of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. He got his start acting on Broadway in the 1940s, then became a casting director (casting Barbra Streisand, Diane Keaton, Cicely Tyson, and Dustin Hoffman in many of their earliest roles) before becoming president of Warner Bros. Television. Alan did this all while living a gay life that defies simple labels. Alan's new book, And It Only Took 100 Years, is out now. LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠ and learn more about how to support our work.LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠⁠⁠

"Silence = Death" has become the defining image of ACT UP and the AIDS crisis. Avram Finkelstein, co-creator of the Silence = Death poster and a founding member of ACT UP, takes us back to where it all began: how the image came together months before ACT UP was even formed, how the artist collective Gran Fury created the visual language of the AIDS crisis, and why he believes ACT UP was a far more radical group than history remembers.LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠ and learn more about how to support our work.LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠⁠

Rep. Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Congressman who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for over thirty years, died at the age of 86. The first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay, Frank became one of the most consequential openly gay politicians in American history. He was instrumental in repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, passing the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, and advocating for marriage equality. In our interview, we talk about his career, his legacy, and what it meant to be an openly gay lawmaker at the height of the AIDS crisis.LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠ and learn more about how to support our work.LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠[This interview was originally recorded in April 2024.]

The legendary transgender elder and activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy died yesterday. She was 78. A veteran of the Stonewall uprising, Miss Major dedicated her life to the transgender movement. She worked for multiple HIV/AIDS organizations and spent a decade at the Transgender, Gender-Variant, and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), which works with and advocates for trans people of color inside of prisons, jails, and detention centers in California. [This was originally recorded in February 2021.] LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠ to check out our ⁠Substack⁠ and learn more about how to support our work.LGBTQ&A features interviews with the most interesting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world. Hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠