Rep. Barney Frank served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 2013. He talks about being one of the first members of Congress to come out, how the AIDS crisis forced Congress to act, and the current state of the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement. Plus, his "Trophy Husband", Jim Ready, drops by to say hello. LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our ⁠Substack⁠ to help support our work. Click here to learn more. The book mentioned in this episode is Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington by James Kirchick. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. ⁠Click here⁠ to listen to our recent interview with Martha Shelly, activist and co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

LGBTQ&A

Barney Frank: The Gay Agenda, Then and Now

(This interview contains explicit sexual content.) Gigi Raven Wilbur talks about learning that they were intersex in college, the transformational power of BDSM in their life, and how they&#39;re feeling living in Texas right now among the current onslaught of anti-trans legislation. LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our Substack to help support our work. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our interview with Martha Shelly, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Gigi Raven Wilbur: Talking BDSM With the Bisexual Intersex Elder

Martha Shelley talks to poet Audre Lorde in an episode of her radio show, Lesbian Nation. This was originally recorded in 1972 and is a part of Martha&#39;s archive at the Lesbian Herstory Archive. Martha is a pre-Stonewall activist who got her start in the 1960s with the Daughters of Bilitis. Click here to listen to our new sit-down interview with Martha that aired last week. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our Substack to help support our work. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Lesbian Nation: Martha Shelley and Audre Lorde (Bonus Episode!)

Martha Shelley began her life as a gay activist before the Stonewall uprising. She talks about joining the Daughters of Bilitis, co-founding the Gay Liberation Front, the first pride march, and her memoir, "We Set The Night On Fire". LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our Substack as a paid Subscriber to help support our work. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our interview with the 91-year-old drag queen, Bob &#39;Rose&#39; Levine. Bob has been doing drag in Cherry Grove since 1955. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Martha Shelley: Gay Activism Before Stonewall

Mia Yamamoto talks about her work as a criminal defense attorney, the racism she faced growing up as a Japanese-American after World War II, and coming out as trans later in life. LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider subscribing to our Substack in order to help support our work. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our interview with Duane Michals, the 92-year-old pioneering photographer. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Mia Yamamoto: The Trans Lawyer 'Liberating' The Judicial System

Bob "Rose" Levine talks about his first trip to Cherry Grove in 1955, being a part of the original drag "Invasion of the Pines" in 1976, and how the AIDS crisis changed Fire Island in the 1980s. LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our Substack to help support our work. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our interview with Joan Jett Blakk (a.k.a. Terence Alan Smith), the legendary drag queen who ran for president in 1992.   LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Bob 'Rose' Levine: Has Been Doing Drag in Fire Island Since 1955

Ma-Nee Chacaby talks about learning that she was Two-Spirit as a kid, her rural upbringing, and the challenges of being an out indigenous lesbian in Thunder Bay, Canada in the 1980s. Ma-Nee is the author of A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder. (Note: This episode discusses domestic violence.) "Put love in front of you when you get up in the morning and it&#39;ll guide you to a beautiful place. It&#39;ll guide you." LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our Substack as a paid Subscriber to help support our work. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our interview with the 92-year-old pioneer photographer Duane Michals.  LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Ma-Nee Chacaby: 'I'm Old, But So What?' Says The Two-Spirit Elder

Sandy Stone talks about working with the lesbian separatists of Olivia Records, why the attacks on the trans community today mirror the attacks from the 1970s, and the moment that led her to write "The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto"—an essay that became a founding document of trans studies. You can learn more about Girl Island, the documentary that&#39;s in the works about Sandy&#39;s life here: girlislandfilm.com The song that you hear in the interview from Olivia Records is "Sweet Woman" by Cris Williamson. LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our Substack as a paid Subscriber to help support our work. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Sandy Stone: From Lesbian Separatist to Trans History

Joan Jett Blakk (a.k.a. Terence Alan Smith) talks about her historic 1992 presidential campaign, why the AIDS crisis influenced her run, and what it was like to be an out gay teenager in the &#39;70s.  "They still ask the same questions that they asked in the &#39;90s. &#39;Drag queens run for president in America?&#39; I&#39;m like, &#39;Well, they told us anybody could run for president. Anybody.&#39; So, okay, we&#39;ll make them stick to that word." LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. If you enjoy our show, please consider joining our Substack and becoming a paid Subscriber to support our work. We couldn&#39;t do this with you.  This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. If you want to recommend an elder, connect with us on Substack or social media (@jeffmasters1). And if it’s someone who isn’t well-known, it&#39;s most helpful if you can share as much info as possible. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters.

Joan Jett Blakk: The Drag Queen Who Ran for President

Duane Michals has never followed the rules. The pioneering photographer, now 92 years old, says, "Because I didn&#39;t learn the photo rules it was very easy for me to abandon them. You&#39;re either defined by the medium...well, I redefined the medium." Duane 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. To see all of the photos that Duane talks about, come check out our Substack. And if you&#39;re able, becoming a paid Substack subscriber is also the best way to support our work. Click here to do that. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed. This show wouldn&#39;t be able to continue without you. This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. If you want to recommend an elder, come find me on Substack or social media (@jeffmasters1). And if it’s someone who isn’t well-known, it&#39;s most helpful if you can share as much info as possible. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters.

Duane Michals: Redefined Photography, But Don't Call Him an Artist

Hi! We&#39;re coming back! On February 27th! And we&#39;re continuing our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. I can&#39;t wait for you to hear it. For more info, come check out our Substack. Do you know an amazing elder and want to hear from them on the show? Come find me on Substack or social media (@jeffmasters1) and let me know. I&#39;d love to hear all about them. Ok, I&#39;m off to finish editing the first episode. Love you!! Bye!!!

If You Can Read This, You're Gay (We Are So Back)

When Amy Ray first started playing music with her Indigo Girls bandmate, Emily Saliers, her "head felt like it was going to explode". She remembers thinking, "This is amazing. Not, we sound amazing. But this feels amazing. It was always about, This feels amazing." They&#39;ve been playing together for over 35 years now and it&#39;s their music that the queer community (and Greta Gerwig in the new Barbie movie) continues to return to again and again. Amy joins us to talk about the band&#39;s legacy, coming out publicly in the &#39;90s, and the lasting power of "Closer to Fine". LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1 Want to recommend a guest for our new season? I&#39;m currently interviewing LGBTQ+ elders for our upcoming season and would love to know if there&#39;s anyone you&#39;ve been wanting to hear from. You can send me a message here: www.lgbtqpodcast.com

Amy Ray: How The Indigo Girls Became The Greatest Band of All Time

Darcelle XV (Walter Cole), the world&#39;s oldest drag queen, died on March 23, 2023. She was 92. Since 1967, Darcelle has been performing and running the Portland drag venue, Darcelle XV Showplace, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. I had the opportunity to speak with Darcelle and her friend and collaborator, Poison Waters (Kevin Cook) a few weeks before her death. This is part of our special series, the LGBTQ+ Elders Project. You can listen to previous interviews with LGBTQ+ elders like Angela Davis, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, André De Shields, and Dr. Charles Silverstein. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1 

Darcelle XV: The Oldest Drag Queen in the World (ft. Poison Waters)

Dr. Charles Silverstein died this week at the age of 87. Best known for making the 1973 presentation before the American Psychiatric Association that led to the removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual’s list of mental illnesses, he was also a co-author of the landmark book The Joy of Gay Sex. More than simply a sex manual with graphic drawings (though there was plenty of that), The Joy of Gay Sex, first published in 1977, was a first-of-its-kind guidebook for every aspect of the gay experience. This interview was originally recorded in August 2021 and was one of Silverstein's last. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Charles Silverstein: Remembering The Joy of Gay Sex Author (1935-2023)

Shatzi Weisberger died this week at the age of 92. A lifelong activist, Shatzi was a fixture at marches and protests here in NYC and was affectionately known as The People’s Bubbie. "I was a political lesbian for many years. I just loved being around lesbians...one of my earlier demonstrations was here in New York City and we did a die-in along with other people lying on the ground. And I started to cry because I felt that I was in the right place, doing the right things with the right people. I felt very together about it. I have been an activist ever since." In the later part of her life, Shatzi became a death educator and helped people to dismantle their fears and worries around dying. This interview was originally recorded in April 2022 and was one of her last. We wanted to reshare it today to help honor her and remember her remarkable life. Click here to listen to the full interview with André De Shields that is excerpted at the end of the episode. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Shatzi Weisberger: Remembering The People's Bubbie (1930-2022)

*Nominated for Outstanding Podcast at the GLAAD Awards* Weekly interviews with the most interesting LGBTQ+ people in the world. Recent guests include Laverne Cox, Janelle Monáe, Pete Buttigieg, Brandi Carlile, Alok Vaid-Menon, and Angela Davis. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters.

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LGBTQ&A

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