Out in the Bay: Recent Episodes
Eric Jansen
Queer histories, herstories, personalities and issues are explored with humor, insight, and sensitivity each week on Out in the Bay, which resumed production in 2020 after a 4-year pause. Find dozens of past shows on its website, OutintheBay.org
A yearly "Day of Drag" and a drag mall? While many states are restricting drag, San Francisco Drag Laureate D'Arcy Drollinger is spreading the humor and "sparkle" of drag to make positive change in the world.
Dwayne Ratleff grew up poor, Black and gay in 1960s Baltimore. As a youngster, his loving grandma taught him: “Don’t explain yourself, be yourself.”
As we await the reopening of the Pacifica Pier — now closed due to recent storm damage — we bring you poet Toni Mirosevich's stories of connection on this historic pier.
Just in time for holiday gatherings, tips for getting along joyfully with differences. Our guest says "nosy" questions can grease the turkey!
In December 1998, soon after its namesake's savage murder, his parents launched the Matthew Shepard Foundation to erase hate-based violence. We’ve seen big advances since then — and big setbacks. LGBTQ+ leaders discuss where we are now.
25 years ago, a gay college student was savagely beaten, tied to a fence post, and left out to die on a cold Wyoming night. His grief-stricken mother worked to expand hate crime laws. Hear her story.
Why do tens of thousands of people trek to a temporary tent city in an alkaline Nevada desert every August? Is Burning Man worth the heat and dust? What’s queer about it?
Why do tens of thousands of people trek to a temporary tent city in an alkaline Nevada desert every August? Is Burning Man worth the heat and dust? What’s queer about it?
Should drag story hours be banned? With so much fuss, we thought you'd like to judge for yourselves. So we bring some to you! Here’s #3 in our series.
Should drag story hours be banned? With all the fuss, we thought you'd like to judge for yourselves. So we bring some to you! (Episode 2 of 3)
Why ban drag performers? Why all the fuss over drag story hours? Hear some for yourself ... then you decide!
Pump up the volume! In part as a “joyful antidote” to the escalation of anti-LGBTQ laws across the USA, San Francisco’s all-transwomen rock band is back together after 12-plus years.
Dwayne Ratleff grew up Black, poor and gay in 1960s Baltimore. As a youngster, his loving grandma taught him: “Don’t explain yourself, be yourself.” The long-time San Franciscan has written an impressive, insightful, award-winning novel about his childhood.
Quick, what’s your sexuality? Most of us know roughly where we fall on the Kinsey scale that goes from zero (totally straight) to six (flaming fag or butchest of dykes). But have you considered another continuum, the asexual – allosexual one?
What would you do if falsely accused of molesting a child? And you see your career crumble. Matthew Clark Davison’s novel “Doubting Thomas,” about a gay school teacher, challenges assumptions about guilt, innocence and more.
As a young girl, future Supreme Court of California Associate Justice Kelli Evans was more excited about the bookmobile coming through her Denver neighborhood than the ice cream truck.
While a young housewife and mom in the 1950s and ’60s, Ann Bannon wrote lusty lesbian love stories. Scorned by the literary elite then, her and other authors’ “pulp fiction” paperbacks helped advance queer rights and now offer a glimpse of gay and lesbian life in those times.
On our last Out in the Bay of 2022, hear about the amazing life and accomplishments of a Black queer civil rights pioneer left out of history books: Pauli Murray.
Just in time for potentially awkward holiday gatherings, we present a holiday fave: Author and civil rights lawyer Abby Dees tells our allies to go ahead, ask LGBTQ relatives or friends your burning questions.
While they weren’t around for long, the Cockettes left an outsized legacy that we explore this week with exclusive recordings and interviews.
What would you do if falsely accused of molesting a child? And you see your career crumble. Matthew Clark Davison’s novel “Doubting Thomas,” about a gay school teacher, challenges assumptions about guilt, innocence and more.
In our queer nod to Veterans Day, we bring you Lauren Hough. She grew up in infamous Christian cult The Family, which her father had joined to dodge the Vietnam War. At 18, Hough fled to the Air Force, where she got anti-lesbian death threats and her car was set ablaze.
What happens when members of our Bay Area LGBTQ community pay to skip the line? Reporter Corey Antonio Rose has that story, plus a chat with the Oakland LGBTQ Center on Out in the Bay.
Hear about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His new album, I Am A Man, is about his own transition.
The latest production of ItsQwere is inspired by ’90s-era comedy TV like In Living Color, All That, and SNL.
In “Bad Hombres” at San Francisco’s Theatre Rhinoceros, sole actor Rudy Guerrero plays seven characters that comically skewer stereotypes of queer Latinos.
It’s Gunawan’s hope that through PRESS PLAY: Exhibition, he can reach people who are struggling and tell them, “you are good.”
Crucial midterm elections are little more than a month away. How can individuals make an impact? “Paul for Pete” author Paul Mason Barnes lays it out in his book and gives tips on how to get involved on Out in the Bay Queer Radio + Podcast.
The leather activist, author, sex educator, and kink afficianado is Christopher Beale’s guest this week Out In The Bay.
The leather activist, author, sex educator, and kink afficianado is Christopher Beale’s guest this week Out In The Bay.
How do we find human connection? Being “in with the out crowd?" Author and poet Toni Mirosevich finds peers on the pier.
How do we find human connection? Being “in with the out crowd?" Author and poet Toni Mirosevich finds peers on the pier.
Ruth Brinker, a grandmother and retired food service worker at the time, started cooking and delivering nutritious meals to San Francisco gay men debilitated by HIV/AIDS in 1985. Soon after, Project Open Hand, the nonprofit she founded, became a model worldwide.
Ruth Brinker, a grandmother and retired food service worker at the time, started cooking and delivering nutritious meals to San Francisco gay men debilitated by HIV/AIDS in 1985. Soon after, Project Open Hand, the nonprofit she founded, became a model worldwide.
Despite clear evidence that conversion therapy doesn’t work and harms LGBTQ people — with high rates of suicide and other mental health impacts — the practice of trying to conform one’s sexual orientation or gender identity to societal norms continues.
This week, we are tackling two oft-misunderstood subjects on Out In The Bay. Open relationships, and professional wrestling.
Dwayne Ratleff grew up Black, poor and gay in 1960s Baltimore. As a youngster, an older Southern neighbor and his loving grandma both told him: “Don’t explain yourself, be yourself.”
Monkeypox has primarily affected men who sleep with men, but it has been diagnosed in children and women, and health experts says it’s likely to move more widely into the general population. What are we to do?
Escape with us to a simpler place and time. Before monkeypox, before COVID, before traveling got so fraught. To a place its promoters claimed then was gayer than San Francisco – and where September is superb. Sit back, relax and hit “play.”
“I grew up in a very blue collar, working class, homophobic, and racist environment,” he recalled. Through literature, performance, and eventually writing and performing his own intentionally queer works, Rolston found his sexuality and his voice.
This week 7/28/22 - On the Arts, KALW’s radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, guest host Sarah Cahill talks with American Bach Soloist Artistic Director and Conductor Jeffrey Thomas | BAMPFA Artist Whitney Bradshaw OUTCRY photography series | Bowerbird Collective co-founder & producer Anthony Albrecht | West Edge Opera General Director Mark Streshinsky | Join us Thursdays at 1:00PM PST
Meet artist and actor Fayette Hauser, a co-founder of the Cockettes, the 1969-‘72 experimental San Francisco performance troupe known for eye-popping costumes, glittery beards and sexy musicals.
Hear about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His new album, I Am A Man, is about his own transition.
How do we find human connection and meaning? An author and poet finds peers on the Pacifica Pier.
This week Out In The Bay, we have the hosts of San Francisco Pride 2022 – Honey Mahogany and the legendary Sister Roma from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
This week on Out In The Bay, meet Rick Thoman, a track and field athlete who shares 40 years of memories with the San Francisco Track and Field Club. Plus, Alice Smith joins us to preview the 14th Annual Pride Meet, taking place June 18th at San Francisco State University.
Meet the team working to bring life, art, and community back to the historic site of Harvey Milk’s Camera Shop in the Castro – Queer Arts Featured (Queer AF).
This week we feature our discussion with late gay ambassador James C. Hormel on Out In The Bay.
The Cockettes were a flamboyant, gender-bending, hippie drag troupe active in San Francisco beginning in 1969. Scrumbly Koldewyn was one of the original creators of the group and shares the story of their creation and his view of their legacy on this week’s Out in the Bay.
Monique Jenkinson, a.k.a. Fauxnique, was the first cisgender woman to win the title "Miss Trannyshack" in 2003, raising many glittered eyebrows and launching a performance career that has taken her around the globe.
How greatly are LGBTQ civil liberties threatened by abortion cases now before the conservative-heavy U.S. Supreme Court? Federal courts journalist Lisa Keen told host Christopher Beale the leaked draft opinion, by Justice Samuel Alito, is “shocking” on many levels.
Airing 5 p.m. Friday: Canada's conversion therapy ban took effect in January. Why no national ban in the US? Despite clear evidence that conversion therapy doesn’t work and severely harms LGBTQ people, the practice continues.
The chair of the San Francisco Democratic Committee, and RuPaul's Drag Race alum Honey Mahogany is our guest on Out In The Bay.
In 2020 the news was filled with data and fear, and — in those earliest days — the coverage of folks who had actually contracted COVID-19 was often second hand. So, when a longtime friend tested positive, host Christopher Beale got in touch.
Liberace was one of the most successful, popular (and gayest) entertainers of the 20th century. Although he wasn't “out” — the concept barely existed in his lifetime — he is remembered as a queer icon.
At "Queens Read Celebrity Autobiographies," the presenters read directly from a memoir while adding their own hilarious flare. This year's event promises to be a riot and benefits an organization called Foglifter Press.
We are quite literally out in the bay for this episode, walking through San Francisco’s historic gay neighborhood, The Castro. Along the way we’ll take a trip down memory lane to the very first episode of Out In The Bay.
Monique Jenkinson, a.k.a. Fauxnique, was the first cisgender woman to win the title "Miss Trannyshack" in 2003, raising many glittered eyebrows in consternation and launching a performance career that has taken her around the globe.
Martin Jenkins is making history as the first openly gay Supreme Court of California justice and is only the third Black man ever to serve on the state's high court. He says personal challenges helped him achieve success.
Singer-songwriter Marilyn Mitchell, a member of San Francisco’s popular 2003-2010 all-trans rock band Lipstick Conspiracy, shares new music and life stories – and hints that her former group may get back together.
Despite massive evacuations after the Taliban takeover in August, many thousands of LGBTQ people remain in Afghanistan fearing for their lives, say two NGOs trying to rescue them. NGO officials and a gay Afghan American helping refugees resettle in California speak about the plight queer Afghans face and how the U.S. and Canadian governments should help.
How deeply are our most personal rights threatened by abortion cases now before the U.S. Supreme Court? Along with abortion, how much are our rights to marry whomever we want, have (consensual) sex the way we like and with whomever we want, and have gender-affirming surgery - for example - also at risk?
Canada's nationwide ban on conversion therapy took effect January 7. Why no national ban in the US? Despite clear evidence that conversion therapy doesn’t work and severely harms LGBTQ people, the practice continues.
... and they was a Black Queer civil rights trailblazer you’ve probably never heard of. In Out in the Bay's final 2021 broadcast, hear Murray in their own voice from the documentary "My Name is Pauli Murray" and from the filmmakers.
Just in time for potentially awkward holiday gatherings, author and civil rights lawyer Abby Dees says go ahead, ask your LGBTQ relative or friend the questions burning inside you. Like “Which one of you is the man?” If you’re queer, she says grin and bear it, even encourage your loved ones to ask those cringy questions.
As our 2nd December under COVID begins - with a new variant - clearly we’ll have another abnormal holiday season. Many are vaccinated and eager to go out; others are wary. Our guests offer tips and lots of in-person and online events. With performance clips!
Brandon Taylor’s highly praised debut novel, Real Life, gets deep into desire, intimacy, sex, abuse, homophobia, racism, misogyny, love, hate and the blurred lines between friends and lovers. Oh, and cut-throat scientific academia.
The chicken-sandwich chain queers love to hate opens shop just outside San Francisco … a California State Assembly race heats up … and a roundup of new laws that will affect LGBTQ Californians.
Despite massive evacuations after the Taliban takeover in August, tens of thousands of LGBTQ people remain in Afghanistan fearing for their lives, say two NGOs trying to rescue them. NGO officials and a gay Afghan American helping refugees resettle in California speak about the plight queer Afghans face and how the U.S. government should help.
As LGBTQ History Month closes, meet someone who very recently made history: Reverend Dr. Megan Rohrer, the first openly transgender bishop in a major Christian denomination, installed Sept. 11 as a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
This third week of LGBTQ History Month, Out in the Bay explores the life and accomplishments of a Black, queer civil rights pioneer left out of history books: Pauli Murray.
It's LGBTQ History Month. In 1996, as AIDS ravaged San Francisco’s gay community, Metropolitan Community Church pastor Jim Mitulski risked imprisonment, dispensing marijuana to alleviate his sick congregants’ pain before it was legal. He did this in church, right after services.
"Gender is queer for everyone,” says scholar and author Kathryn Bond Stockton. She doesn’t mean “queer” only in the LGBTQIA+ sense, she means the dictionary definition: strange. “Gender is strange even when it’s played straight.”
Big Freedia is famous for her "bounce" music and twerking; her life story and anti-gun activism are less well known. She's on tour this month promoting her new EP, BDE — Big Diva Energy — and raising funds for Hurricane Ida relief.
Out in the Bay proudly features a new queer podcast this week: Stereotypes – Straight Talk From Queer Voices. On the pilot episode, “Still Coming Out,” producer and host Christopher Beale brings us two beautifully told coming out stories.
Ten years after Don't Ask Don't Tell's repeal, we hear from writer Lauren Hough, who grew up in the infamous Christian free-love and -sex cult The Family, formerly The Children of God. At 18, she joined the US Air Force, where she got death threats and her car was set ablaze because she’s lesbian.
The first openly LGBTQ California Supreme Court justice is also only the third Black man ever to serve on the state's highest court. He says his struggles helped him achieve success.
On this week's Out in the Bay we bring you the story -- in his own words and voice -- of the late LGBTQ philanthropist, civil rights activist and ambassador James C. Hormel. He died in August after a full and fascinating life.