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Liberace & His Spectacular Crystal Closet

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:42

A half-hour music-rich documentary on Liberace and the former Liberace Museum. His story is told using historical clips from Liberace himself in performance, and interviews/ tours with museum curators and Liberace's only approved tribute artist.

Playing: Liberace & His Spectacular Crystal Closet
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

L_pink_feather_cape_247x264_small Th e hoopla over "Behind the Candelabra," HBO's Liberace movie , gave us reason to re-air a sound-rich half-hour documentary on the late "Mr. Showmanship"’s fabulous life and legacy, produced by Out in the Bay's Eric Jansen and told with love by Liberace Museum curators , a Liberace impersonator, and featuring Liberace’s own voice and music . So sit back ( preferably in marble tub with champagne in hand!), close your eyes and enjoy a trip back in time with the most spectacular, fabulous, outlandish, and ground-breaking closeted entertainer of the 20^th century.
(Intro and outro tracks may be tailored; stations please contact producer to arrange.)

Music rights note:
All music in this piece is Liberace in concert with the London Philharmonic in 1982. C opyright owned and permission granted to use in this piece, for worldwide broadcast, by the Liberace Foundation.

Big Freedia, “Queen of Bounce” — no guns, more twerking!

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:29

New Orleans musician Big Freedia is famous for her music and twerking; her life story and anti-gun activism are less well known.

Playing: Big Freedia, “Queen of Bounce” — no guns, more ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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“Queen of Bounce” Big Freedia is famous for her music and twerking; her life story and anti-gun activism are less well known. Big Freedia was shot twice in 2004 and her brother was killed on the streets of New Orleans in 2018. Music has gotten her through these and many other challenges.

The performer, author and activist talks about her life, her documentary Freedia Got A Gun, and her memoir Big Freedia: God Save the Queen Diva! on this week’s Out in the Bay. You’ll hear plenty of her bounce music – including her new single, “Platinum” – and she gives us twerking tips.

As a teen, Freddie Ross, Jr., was a choirboy, singing gospel in one of New Orleans’ toughest neighborhoods. He confronted poverty, racism, homophobia, fat-phobia and street violence on his road to becoming Big Freedia, ambassador of New Orleans Bounce, expanding queer visibility along the way.

She decided to use her platform for change after her brother’s killing. Her activism is chronicled in Freedia Got A Gun, a documentary The New York Times calls “a call to arms to address the gun violence epidemic in New Orleans.”

Big Freedia hopes the film will draw local and national attention to the tragedies of gun violence on communities, families and individuals. “I wanted to make sure that his death was not in vain.”

Big Freedia is a hip-hop artist, author, reality TV star and activist. She headlined San Francisco’s 2020 virtual Pride celebration last June, was the New Orleans host for ‘Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve with Ryan Seacrest’ Dec. 31, and served as Grand Marshal for New Orleans’ 2021 Mardi Gras “parade-at-home.”

Her 2015 memoir, Big Freedia: God Save the Queen Diva!, written with Nicole Balin, was re-issued in paperback in December 2020. Her documentary, Freedia Got A Gun, was released in June 2020. You can watch Freedia Got A Gun for free on Peacock, Comcast / NBCUniversal’s streaming service.

The A in LGBTQIA: Learning from Asexuals About Sex & Relationships

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

Quick, what’s your sexuality? Most of us know roughly where we fall on the Kinsey scale that goes from 0 to 6. But have you considered the asexual – allosexual continuum? Science writer Angela Chen enlightens us.

Playing: The A in LGBTQIA: Learning from Asexuals About ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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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 fairy or butchest of dykes). But have you considered another continuum, the asexual – allosexual one?

Science writer Angela Chen explains it much more eloquently, but in crude shorthand: this continuum has on one extreme end folks repulsed by sex, to horny-as-hell on the other, with most folks — gay, straight and otherwise — somewhere in between. Chen shares some of her journey in discovering her own asexuality and discusses her book, Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex, on this edition of Out in the Bay.

Topics include how “compulsory sexuality” compels many of us to seek or consent to sex more than we really want to. It’s a freeing concept that illustrates how societal pressures influence not only our behavior along the Kinsey scale, but also how much sex we have - or don’t - and why we pursue it - or don’t.

Ace blends reporting, memoir and provocative commentary on the relationship between sex, power and politics. In Chen’s words, her book “invites everyone to rethink pleasure and intimacy.”

Angela Chen is a science and technology journalist and was previously a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal, Vox Media’s The Verge, and MIT Technology Review. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and other publications. Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex, is Chen’s first book. It was named one of 2020’s Best Books by NPR, Electric Literature, and Them.

A special Pride Month request: We’re participating in Give OUT Day, a national fundraiser for LGBTQ non-profits that runs all June! Please help us bring queer voices and stories to the world. When you give any amount to Out in the Bay via Give OUT Day, you’ll help us qualify for bonuses on top of your $$s. Bonuses are based on the number of donors, not the dollar amount. So even $10 can make a big impact. Please donate today and spread the word to help us keep sharing LGBTQ voices with the world. THANK YOU!!

LGBTQ people stuck in Afghanistan fear execution

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

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. and Canadian governments should help.

Playing: LGBTQ people stuck in Afghanistan fear execution
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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Queer people in Afghanistan are in deadly danger.

The world watched in shock as the Taliban swiftly took control of Afghanistan in August after 20 years of US-led occupation. More than 120,000 people were evacuated by late September, but tens of thousands of LGBTQ Afghans remain there, in extreme danger and fearing for their lives, say agencies trying to rescue them.

Same-sex activity was already criminalized in Afghanistan. The Taliban, however, has vowed to institute strict Sharia law. A Taliban judge stated in July that gay men would be subject to death by stoning or being crushed by a wall toppled on them.

With heightened discrimination and violence, many queer Afghans have gone into hiding while they desperately hope to be rescued or to find successful ways out of Afghanistan on their own – ways that won’t lead to their own deaths or the death of loved ones.

LGBTQI+ activists are especially endangered and are “actively being pursued by the Taliban,” says Dane Bland of Rainbow Railroad. “It’s the equivalent of having an arrest warrant out, except it’s essentially an execution warrant.”

We bring you an important and disturbing conversation with representatives of two non-profits trying to get queer Afghans to safety — Rainbow Railroad and the Human Rights Campaign — and a gay Afghan American who is helping resettle refugees in the San Francisco Bay Area. They spoke with Out in the Bay about the challenges queer people in Afghanistan face and what the U.S. and Canadian governments should be doing to help people out of a deadly dangerous crisis.

Our expert guests are Jean Freedberg, Director of Global Partnerships at the Human Rights Campaign, based in Washington, D.C.; Dane Bland, Director of Development & Communications at Rainbow Railroad, a Canadian and U.S. non-profit that helps persecuted LGBTQI+ people around the globe get to safety; and Harris Mojadedi, an activist with the Afghan Coalition in Fremont, CA, which is helping Afghan refugees resettle.

How to help: Click links in above paragraph to learn more about Bay Area and national organizations. Action items: See the Ten-Point Plan to Protect LGBTQI Afghan Refugees . Sign urgent appeal to the Biden administration to protect LGBTQI Afghan refugees. Your signature can help save lives.

Please help us keep bringing queer air to your ears. Out in the Bay is an independent non-profit production. Your gift will help keep LGBTQ voices and stories coming to you and others who might not be able to give. (Donate tabs on our website will take you to a Media Alliance interface. Media Alliance is our non-proft 501(c)3 fiscal agent. Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay.)

Gay Calif. Supreme Court Justice values struggle

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

Martin Jenkins makes history as the first openly gay Supreme Court of California justice, and only the third Black man ever to serve on the state's highest court. He says his struggles helped him achieve success.

Playing: Gay Calif. Supreme Court Justice values struggle
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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The first-ever openly gay Supreme Court of California justice, Associate Justice Martin Jenkins, is not only the first openly LGBTQ justice on the high court, he’s also only the third Black man ever to serve on it.

Jenkins talks with Out in the Bay about his biggest personal struggle, and about the importance of being Black and gay on California’s Supreme Court and of diverse representation generally.

Life experience, says Jenkins, “can illuminate the fabric of the law as it’s being discussed” in court deliberations. “The law is about people and for people. … That kind of cross-pollination, that kind of education about the impacts of what we’re deciding is crucial.”

Jenkins, now 68, came out fairly late in life – in his fifties – after repressing his orientation for decades. When he accepted the Supreme Court nomination in October 2020, he addressed young people “struggling with their identity.” He said coming to terms with being gay had been “perhaps the greatest challenge of my life,” and went on to say that he had accomplished what he had “because of the struggle,” not in spite of it.

“Struggle brings you to grips with the reality of who you are,” he elaborated for Out in the Bay. “The lack of struggle does the opposite: it allows us to believe things about ourselves that are not anchored in reality. … When you can show up as who you are, authentically, that’s a power beyond measure.”

Jenkins grew up in San Francisco the son of a nurse and a janitor. He was a pro football player briefly after college, before being convinced by a coach and a college dean that he’d be a great lawyer. In his mid-twenties, after being an Alameda County prosecutor, he investigated police misconduct, KKK cross-burnings and other racial violence in states nationwide for the U.S. Justice Department.

Democrat and Republican governors alike later appointed Jenkins for judgeships on courts from Alameda County to federal and state courts, culminating in Gov. Gavin Newsom nominating Jenkins to California’s Supreme Court, where he was sworn in Dec. 4, 2020.

Meet the USA’s first transgender bishop

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

Reverend Dr. Megan Rohrer has made LGBTQ and religious history as the first openly transgender bishop in a major Christian denomination. Rohrer spoke with Out in the Bay about the significance of this first, their faith journey and about replacing fear with love.

Playing: Meet the USA’s first transgender bishop
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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Reverend Dr. Megan Rohrer was installed September 11, 2021, as a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, making them the first openly transgender bishop in a major Christian denomination.

Bishop Rohrer now oversees nearly 200 congregations in California and Nevada. They spoke with Out in the Bay about their faith journey; about moving away from fear towards greater acceptance, love, and hope; and about the significance of the Sierra Pacific Synod electing its first transgender bishop.

“If a trans person can be a bishop,” Rohrer told us, “that means there’s nobody – literally no type of body – that can’t be a faithful person, can’t be a leader in the church, can’t be someone who prays in the pews or receives communion at our altar.”

While working in a shelter for abused children 20 years ago, a South Dakota six-year-old told Rohrer that he had attempted suicide 12 times because “he had heard from a pulpit” that he might be “bad,” and he thought he’d rather die than get “so bad” that he’d go to hell.

That “twisted my heart,” said Rohrer, inspiring their move to Berkeley, Calif. in 2001 to study theology and become a pastor so that the pulpit would have one more voice offering messages of love rather than fear. Rohrer relieves stress by roller-skating with their family at San Francisco’s Church of 8 Wheels, a former Catholic church reborn as a disco roller rink.

Don’t ‘pray away the gay’ - we’re ‘Born Perfect’

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

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.

Playing: Don’t ‘pray away the gay’ - we’re ‘Born Perfect’
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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Canada's nationwide ban on conversion therapy, which attempts to conform one’s sexual orientation or gender expression to societal norms, took effect January 7. There is no national ban in the USA.

Despite clear evidence that it doesn’t work and severely harms LGBTQ people, an estimated 700,000 U.S. adults have undergone conversion therapy. The practice is linked to high rates of serious mental health issues with sometimes fatal consequences.

Yet there is hope. Many former “ex-gay” group leaders, after finally accepting their own queerness, now speak out against conversion therapy. 20 states and 130-some U.S. municipalities have banned the practice — at least on minors — and Canada now has outlawed it nationally.

This week’s Out in the Bay guests share their personal connections with conversion therapy, the challenges survivors face, and the work they’re doing to eliminate the practice.

Kristine Stolakis directed and produced Pray Away, a Netflix documentary inspired by her uncle’s experience that takes viewers inside the history and current state of the “pray the gay away” or “ex-gay” movement, which she calls “a movement of hurt people hurting other people, of internalized homophobia and transphobia wielded outward.”

Her uncle endured a “lifetime of mental health challenges” that Stolakis now knows, through her film research, are common for people subjected to conversion therapy: depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol addiction, suicidality and other self-harm.

In a Pray Away scene included in our podcast, Julie Rodgers reads from the draft of her now-published book Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story: “The first time I burned myself, I was sitting on a curb outside of the church after a ‘Living Hope’ meeting. As my cigarette burned low … I shoved the burning end of it into my shoulder and listened as the skin on my left arm sizzled.”

Mathew Shurka co-founded the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Right’s Born Perfect campaign in 2014. It seeks to end conversion therapy by passing laws to protect LGBTQ children and adults, fights in courtrooms to ensure their safety, and raises awareness about the practice’s dangers.

Shurka’s conversion therapy ordeal, from age 16 to 21, included separation from his mother and sisters for three years “based on the false belief that being gay is caused by a man being too close to his mother or other female relatives.” He later “went to therapy to overcome conversion therapy,” and since co-founding Born Perfect, says he’s “in a great place” now.

Hear much more from Shurka and Stolakis – and film clips – on this edition of Out in the Bay. Just hit the listen arrow at the top of this page.

Please help us keep bringing LGBTQ news, voices and stories to the world by making a tax-deductible donation. We’ve been promised $1,500 from a generous donor if we get that much from other donors by January 10. That would mean a lot to our lean operation, so please show us some love and chip in what you can now! Out in the Bay – Queer Radio & Podcast is a non-profit, independent production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms, NPR, nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. We rely on listener support.

Clicking links in paragraphs above or any donate tab on our website should take you to a Media Alliance donation page with the notation: “Purpose: Support Out in the Bay.” Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay, which is under Media Alliance’s 501c3 non-profit umbrella.

This episode was produced by Kendra Klang, with sound design and editing by Christopher Beale.

How SCOTUS abortion cases could affect us all

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

How much are our most personal rights threatened by abortion cases now before the U.S. Supreme Court? For example, in addition to abortion, our rights to marry whomever we want, have (consensual) sex the way we like and with whomever we want, and have gender-affirming surgery. Out in the Bay's federal courts analyst breaks it down.

Playing: How SCOTUS abortion cases could affect us all
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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Until recently, it seemed it had been many years since our most basic rights were being debated in the Supreme Court of the United States. Not anymore. Abortion rights are under attack in a way they have not been for decades, and federal courts journalist Lisa Keen tells Out in the Bay that those attacks also jeopardize LGBTQ and other "personal bodily integrity" rights.

In December, SCOTUS justices heard arguments in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health over a Mississippi law that bans abortion after just 15 weeks of pregnancy. Many legal observers believe the court’s conservative 6-3 majority could undercut the precedents set in Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the 1973 and 1992 decisions that have upheld abortion rights. How deeply are those rights threatened and what could be the domino effect on queer rights especially?

"If it becomes OK for states to say whether or not a woman must carry her pregnancy to term whether she wants to or not, whether it threatens her life or not," said Keen, "then it doesn't seem at all far-fetched for the court to say it's OK for states to regulate other very personal decisions concerning one's bodily integrity ... who you have sex with, whether you choose to have your uterus or breasts removed, whether you request transition surgery, or use PrEP or use a condom."

Keen is a national politics and legal affairs correspondent for the Bay Area Reporter and other LGBTQ publications nationwide. She shared her expert analysis on this week’s Out in the Bay – Queer Radio + Podcast on key abortion cases and on other cases directly attacking LGBTQ rights, including challenges to queer-friendly books in libraries and schools.

Please help us keep bringing LGBTQ news, voices and stories to the world by making a tax-deductible donation. Out in the Bay – Queer Radio + Podcast is a non-profit, independent production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms, NPR, nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. We rely on listener support. Donate links on Out in the Bay’s website should take you to a Media Alliance PayPal interface with the notation: “Purpose: Support Out in the Bay.” Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay, which is under Media Alliance’s 501c3 non-profit umbrella.

This week’s edition was hosted and edited by Christopher Beale; produced by him and Out in the Bay founding producer and host Eric Jansen. Christopher J. Beale is a queer independent radio host, producer and journalist based in San Francisco. His website is christopherjbeale.com.

Their name was Pauli Murray

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

Pauli Murray was a 20th century Black Queer civil rights trailblazer and legal scholar you’ve probably never heard of. On this edition of Out in the Bay, hear Murray in their own voice from the documentary "My Name is Pauli Murray" and from the filmmakers.

Playing: Their name was Pauli Murray
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

Mynameispaulimurray-scaled-1024x1024_small Pauli Murray (1910-1985) was a Black Queer civil rights trailblazer you’ve probably never heard of. On this edition of Out in the Bay -Queer Radio & Podcast, hear Murray in their own voice from the documentary "My Name is Pauli Murray" and from the filmmakers.

Activist, lawyer, poet and priest, Dr. Anna Pauline Murray lived a life of firsts. Yet their extraordinary achievements remained largely unknown until recently, a historical omission filmmakers Julie Cohen and Betsy West sought to correct with their Amazon original documentary, “My Name is Pauli Murray.”

Called “ahead of their time” in many arenas, Murray’s legal writings are credited with laying the foundation for Brown v. Board of Education – the 1954 US Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial segregation in public schools – and other landmark civil rights cases, including 2020’s US Supreme Court decision extending protections in the 1964 Civil Rights Act to LGBTQ employees. This ruling, 35 years after Murray’s death, made it illegal to fire anyone for sexual orientation or gender identity in all 50 US states.

Despite their contributions to gender equality, Murray had a life-long struggle with gender identity. As a child in the 1910s, young Pauli and supportive Aunt Pauline had a deal: Pauli could wear pants all week but had to wear a dress on Sundays for church.

Later in life, doctors were not supportive when Pauli sought, for example, testosterone many decades before it was seen as a viable treatment. Pauli’s self-description in a note to one doctor: “One of nature’s experiments: A girl who should have been a boy.”

Hear more about Pauli Murray’s remarkable life from our Out in the Bay guests: Julie Cohen, co-director of “My Name is Pauli Murray” and of “RBG,” the 2018 Oscar-nominated documentary about the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Dolores Chandler, former coordinator at the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice in Durham, North Carolina, who appears in the film.

You’ll also hear directly from Murray in their own voice, as Murray recorded many hours of film and audio – and saved boxes and boxes of written documents – about themself and their life, leaving behind a documentarian’s dream treasure trove. Much of that footage is in “My Name is Pauli Murray” and some is also in this week’s Out in the Bay. The film streams on Amazon Prime Video.

Please help us keep bringing LGBTQ news, voices and stories to the world by making a tax-deductible donation to Out in the Bay now. Out in the Bay is independent and non-profit. (Donate tabs on our website will take you to a Media Alliance interface. Media Alliance is our non-proft 501(c)3 fiscal agent. Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay.)

This episode was produced by Kendra Klang with audio editing by Christopher Beale.

Utah prof: ‘Gender is queer for everyone’

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

“Gender is queer for everyone,” says author and professor 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.” In her new book, Gender(s), she unveils the history and dismantles the concept of the gender binary, and much more.

Playing: Utah prof: ‘Gender is queer for everyone’
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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According to author and professor Kathryn Bond Stockton, “gender is queer for everyone.” She doesn’t mean “queer” only in the LGBTQIA+ sense — she means the dictionary definition: strange. “Gender is strange,” she writes,” even when it’s played straight.”

In her new book, Gender(s), she takes a questioning approach and encourages her readers to do the same. Stockton, a dean and English professor who teaches queer theory and theories of racialized gender at the University of Utah, asserts that gender is always racialized (“Gender norms in this country have been white norms”) and is intimately associated with money.

In Gender(s) and on this week’s Out in the Bay, she dismantles the concept of the gender binary, helps us understand the difference between “sex” and “gender” and argues that for many of us, our surfaces – from genitalia to hair and clothing – may disagree with our internal biological layers, our mysterious thoughts and behaviors and our sense of self. Essentially, she contends, everyone’s gender is queer in these ways.

“Look at the definition that is most common right now for transgender: ‘Somebody who does not feel right in their sex assigned at birth,’” says Stockton. “To be defined as trans, you need not have a hormonal regimen, … biomedical intervention or surgery. You just need to not feel right in your sex assigned at birth. That defines many of us.”

Kathryn Bond Stockton is Distinguished Professor of English, former Associate Vice President for Equity and Diversity, and inaugural Dean of the School for Cultural & Social Transformation at the University of Utah, where she teaches queer theory, theories of race and racialized gender, and twentieth-century literature and film.

Please help us keep bringing queer air to your ears. Out in the Bay is an independent non-profit production. Your gift will help keep LGBTQ voices and stories coming to you and others who might not be able to give. (Donate tabs on our website will take you to a Media Alliance interface. Media Alliance is our non-proft 501(c)3 fiscal agent. Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay.)

Marilyn Mitchell melds life, politics on new solo album

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

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. She has granted permission for radio stations to broadcast all music heard in this half-hour.

Playing: Marilyn Mitchell melds life, politics on new solo album
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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Singer-songwriter Marilyn Mitchell, who played in 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.

Her new album, Lives Aligned, has 12 songs inspired by politics and personal life. Mitchell wrote all of them; we hear four on this week’s Out in the Bay. Two of them skewer former President Trump. Over hard-driving rock, “I’m So Glad (You’re Gone)” includes the lines:

Blatant lies, fallacies, fabrication
All a part of your planned occupation
In spite of this, they took it in, an illusion
With all your help, tried to rid the constitution

Mitchell, a kinesiology professor at San Francisco State University, tells guest host Christopher Beale that she started transitioning around 1999, while teaching in Colorado with some “macho … over-masculinized” colleagues who were “getting on everybody’s nerves” – especially hers.

“I think my brain was looking for some kind of escape, and I started experimenting around with makeup and things like that.” Looking in the mirror, she said to herself, “Oh my gosh, there’s somebody else in here that I don’t even know!” So she took the SF State job and started to get to know “this other part of me.”

Lipstick Conspiracy fans may be stoked to hear that Mitchell and two other co-founders recently laid down some tracks that could lead to at least one new song and that the threesome has “some other ideas,” she told us. Stay tuned!

Hear much more on this week’s Out in the Bay, produced and hosted by Christopher J. Beale.

Marilyn Mitchell‘s “Lives Aligned” album, co-created with musician and audio engineer Craig Dukes, was released in November 2021. Hear it and more of Mitchell’s music on her Bandcamp page. She also plays lead guitar in Mott the Hoople tribute band Nott the Hoople.

Please help us keep bringing LGBTQ news, voices and stories to the world by making a tax-deductible donation. Out in the Bay – Queer Radio + Podcast is a non-profit, independent production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms, NPR, nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. We rely on listener support.

Clicking links in paragraphs above or any donate tab on our website should take you to a Media Alliance donation page with the notation: “Purpose: Support Out in the Bay.” Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay, which is under Media Alliance’s 501c3 non-profit umbrella.

SCOTUS abortion case leak shows queer rights at risk too

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

How deeply are LGBTQ civil liberties threatened by abortion cases now before the conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court? Federal courts journalist Lisa Keen told Out in the Bay a draft majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, leaked May 2, is “shocking” on many levels.

Playing: SCOTUS abortion case leak shows queer rights at ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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How deeply are LGBTQ civil liberties threatened by abortion cases now before the conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court? Federal courts journalist Lisa Keen told Out in the Bay a draft majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, leaked May 2, is “shocking” on many levels.

"The draft shows that the majority is planning to go to an extreme,” Keen said, in its anticipated ruling in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health, the case over a Mississippi law severely limiting abortion.

She said especially alarming for LGBTQ people in the leaked draft is language saying courts should defer to state legislatures.

“If it becomes okay for states to say whether or not a woman must carry her pregnancy to term whether she wants to or not, whether it threatens her life or not,” said Keen, “it doesn't seem at all far-fetched for the court to say it's okay for states to regulate other very personal decisions concerning one's bodily integrity … who you have sex with, whether you choose to have your uterus or breasts removed, whether you request transition surgery, or use PrEP or use a condom.”

Hear much more from Lisa Keen on this week's Out in the Bay.

Lisa Keen is national politics and legal affairs correspondent for the Bay Area Reporter and many other LGBTQ publications nationwide. See her article on “the leak” and her other reporting at keennewsservice.com.

Please help us keep bringing queer air to your ears. Out in the Bay is an independent, non-profit production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. Your gift will help keep LGBTQ voices and stories coming to you and others who might not be able to give. (Donate tabs on our website will take you to a Media Alliance interface. Media Alliance is our non-profit 501(c)3 fiscal agent. Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay.)

This week's Out in the Bay was produced by Eric Jansen and Christopher Beale, who hosted and engineered this episode.

Flashback to Provincetown, 2013 - 'gayer than San Francisco'

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

Escape with us to a simpler place and time. Before COVID, before monkeypox, before traveling got so fraught. To a town promoters claimed then was even gayer than San Francisco (and where September is superb!). Sit back, relax and enjoy Provincetown, 2013!

Playing: Flashback to Provincetown, 2013 - 'gayer than San ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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Escape with Out in the Bay to a simpler place and time. Before monkeypox, before COVID, before traveling got so fraught. To a town its promoters claimed then was gayer than San Francisco – and where September is superb.

In Out in the Bay's time-travel, here’s what we found in our 2013 vault: "How did Provincetown, MA, get to be “gay, gay, GAY,” as the Provincetown Business Guild puts it? Let the locals tell you – the lounge pianist who’s been there 50 years, The Fabulous Dyketones founder, the activist-artist who made a dress out of tampon applicators, and the town clerk who married 200+ same-sex couples in one day.

They and others talk of Portuguese sailors, fine art, sand-filled cars, mass weddings, the dunes, the “dick dock,” San Francisco connections and more on this documentary-style romp with Out in the Bay host Eric Jansen through what is likely the gayest little city in the world – at least per capita."

Please help us keep bringing queer air to your ears. Out in the Bay is an independent non-profit production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. Your gift will help keep LGBTQ voices and stories coming to you and others who might not be able to give. (Donate tabs on our website will take you to a Media Alliance interface. Media Alliance is our non-profit 501(c)3 fiscal agent. Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay.)

PTown people, places and links: For more PTown info, check out the Provincetown Business Guild (LGBT tourism promoters) or the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce.

Transgender Experience: Musician, educator sings and talks about transition

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 53:59

Hear and learn about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His album "I Am A Man" is about his own transition.

Playing: Transgender Experience: Musician, educator sings ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

Nick_hopmonk_2_tight_small

Hear about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His latest album, I Am A Man, is about his own transition.

In our conversation, Nick dove deep into emotional and physical details, demystifying the transition process with passion, grace and a healthy dose of humor. (Note: the discussion includes graphic surgical details.)

We also hear three songs from I Am A Man, including “I’m Still Your Mother,” a soulful ballad about being estranged from his daughter because of his transition, and “Before (I Became a Man),” an upbeat celebratory number that starts with:

I’m looking in the mirror and liking what I see. I really don’t remember this happening to me, Before, before I became a man. I started loving myself right — just the way I am

Nick says his friends call him a changeling. “I was a daughter and a son. I was a mother and a father, I was a brother and a sister, I’ve been a grandma and a grandpa, a heterosexual woman, a bi woman, a lesbian, a straight guy, a bi guy and a gay guy.”

“I think I’ve hit all the stops,” he adds with a laugh. “Each one of those has its own realm of blessing and joy.”

Hear much more from Nick Lawrence on this special Out in the Bay hour.

Please help us keep bringing LGBTQ news, voices and stories to the world by making a tax-deductible donation*. Out in the Bay – Queer Radio + Podcast is a non-profit, independent production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms, NPR, nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. We rely on listener support.*

You can find Nick’s music on most streaming platforms by searching for “Nick Lawrence FTM.” He also has a children’s book – for parents too – called “I Am A Boy.” Find info on his website: https://nicklawrenceftm.com

Transgender Experience: Musician, educator sings and talks about transition

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 53:59

Hear and learn about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His album "I Am A Man" is about his own transition.

Playing: Transgender Experience: Musician, educator sings ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

Nick_hopmonk_2_tight_small

Hear about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His latest album, I Am A Man, is about his own transition.

In our conversation, Nick dove deep into emotional and physical details, demystifying the transition process with passion, grace and a healthy dose of humor. (Note: the discussion includes graphic surgical details.)

We also hear three songs from I Am A Man, including “I’m Still Your Mother,” a soulful ballad about being estranged from his daughter because of his transition, and “Before (I Became a Man),” an upbeat celebratory number that starts with:

I’m looking in the mirror and liking what I see. I really don’t remember this happening to me, Before, before I became a man. I started loving myself right — just the way I am

Nick says his friends call him a changeling. “I was a daughter and a son. I was a mother and a father, I was a brother and a sister, I’ve been a grandma and a grandpa, a heterosexual woman, a bi woman, a lesbian, a straight guy, a bi guy and a gay guy.”

“I think I’ve hit all the stops,” he adds with a laugh. “Each one of those has its own realm of blessing and joy.”

Hear much more from Nick Lawrence on this special Out in the Bay hour.

Please help us keep bringing LGBTQ news, voices and stories to the world by making a tax-deductible donation*. Out in the Bay – Queer Radio + Podcast is a non-profit, independent production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms, NPR, nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. We rely on listener support.*

You can find Nick’s music on most streaming platforms by searching for “Nick Lawrence FTM.” He also has a children’s book – for parents too – called “I Am A Boy.” Find info on his website: https://nicklawrenceftm.com

Grandma inspired first lesbian Calif. Supreme Court Justice

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 29:30

California Supreme Court Associate Justice Kelli Evans, the first out lesbian on the state's high court, was raised by her grandmother in public housing. She buried her U.C. Davis law degree original with her grandmother because of her grandma's "deliberate, intentional actions to make sure we had opportunities that she was denied.”

Playing: Grandma inspired first lesbian Calif. Supreme ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

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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.

“I was a voracious reader,” the first out lesbian on California’s highest court told Out in the Bay Queer Radio + Podcast. Evans says she read an entire set of encyclopedias from A-Z and again from Z-A bought for her by her grandmother, who “probably paid a usurious amount” for them, along with countless more books while a child.

Sworn in January 2, 2023, Evans joined Associate Justice Martin Jenkins as the second out LGBTQ person on the state’s high court. Jenkins, a gay man who joined the high court in late 2020, spoke with Out in the Bay in 2021. They are both Black.

At her swearing-in ceremony, Governor Gavin Newsom noted that Evans was raised by her grandmother and highlighted that she was raised in public housing.

“I understand what it’s like to live in poverty. I understand what it’s like to be raised by a single parent – by a grandparent. I have a perspective and an experience that not a lot of lawyers have, not a lot of judges have,” Evans told Out in the Bay.

“I think that may have stood out to the governor,” said Evans, as well his recognition “that there are lots of brilliant, extremely hard-working, ingenious poor people.”

Evans said she buried her original U.C. Davis law degree original with her grandmother “because it belonged to her.” Evans said she and her family members are “direct manifestations of her [grandmother’s] deliberate, intentional actions to make sure we had opportunities that she was denied.”

She knew she wanted to be a lawyer from the age of 6 or 7. “I used to watch ‘Perry Mason’ with my grandmother. I don’t know if that was the spark or not, but in my child mind I thought being a lawyer had something to do with fairness. And lawyers got to argue! Maybe I was an argumentative child, I don’t know.”

But Evans did know at that young age that her grandma, other relatives, friends and neighbors were “incredibly smart, incredibly funny, incredibly hard-working, [yet] didn’t have the opportunities or creature comforts that I saw on TV and in movies and that so many other people in society had.” The inequality “didn’t sit right” with her, so she aimed to do something about it.

Find information on the Supreme Court of California and upcoming cases on its website, https://www.courts.ca.gov.

Please help us keep bringing queer air to your ears. Out in the Bay is an independent non-profit production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. Your gift will help keep LGBTQ voices and stories coming to you and others who might not be able to give. (Donate tabs on our website will take you to a Media Alliance interface. Media Alliance is our non-proft 501(c)3 fiscal agent. Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay.)

Transgender Experience: Musician, educator details transition in song and talk

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 28:59

In the condensed version of our March special, hear about transgender experience from singer-songwriter and foster-parent educator Nick Lawrence. His latest album, "I Am A Man," is about his transition.

Playing: Transgender Experience: Musician, educator ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

Nick_l_hopmonk_2_tight_thumbnail_small

Hear about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His latest album, I Am A Man, is about his own transition.

In our conversation, Nick dove deep into emotional and physical details, demystifying the transition process with passion, grace and a healthy dose of humor. (Note: the discussion includes graphic surgical details.)

We also hear two songs from I Am A Man on this week’s Out in the Bay: “I’m Still Your Mother,” a soulful ballad about being estranged from his daughter because of his transition, and “Before (I Became a Man),” an upbeat celebratory number that starts with:

I’m looking in the mirror and liking what I see. I really don’t remember this happening to me, Before, before I became a man. I started loving myself right — just the way I am

Nick says he and his friends call him a changeling. “I was a daughter and a son. I was a mother and a father, I was a brother and a sister, I’ve been a grandma and a grandpa, a heterosexual woman, a bi woman, a lesbian, a straight guy, a bi guy and a gay guy.”

“I think I’ve hit all the stops,” he adds with a laugh. “Each one of those has its own realm of blessing and joy … and is a wonderful aspect of what life has to offer. I feel hugely blessed.”

Please help us keep bringing LGBTQ news, voices and stories to the world by making a tax-deductible donation. Out in the Bay – Queer Radio + Podcast is a non-profit, independent production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms, NPR, nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. We rely on listener support.

You can find Nick’s music on most streaming platforms by searching for “Nick Lawrence FTM.” He also has a children’s book – for parents too – called “I Am A Boy.” Find info on his website: https://nicklawrenceftm.com

Transgender Experience: Musician, educator sings and talks about transition

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 53:59

Hear and learn about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His album "I Am A Man" is about his own transition.

Playing: Transgender Experience: Musician, educator sings ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco

Nick_hopmonk_2_tight_small

Hear about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His latest album, I Am A Man, is about his own transition.

In our conversation, Nick dove deep into emotional and physical details, demystifying the transition process with passion, grace and a healthy dose of humor. (Note: the discussion includes graphic surgical details.)

We also hear three songs from I Am A Man, including “I’m Still Your Mother,” a soulful ballad about being estranged from his daughter because of his transition, and “Before (I Became a Man),” an upbeat celebratory number that starts with:

I’m looking in the mirror and liking what I see. I really don’t remember this happening to me, Before, before I became a man. I started loving myself right — just the way I am

Nick says his friends call him a changeling. “I was a daughter and a son. I was a mother and a father, I was a brother and a sister, I’ve been a grandma and a grandpa, a heterosexual woman, a bi woman, a lesbian, a straight guy, a bi guy and a gay guy.”

“I think I’ve hit all the stops,” he adds with a laugh. “Each one of those has its own realm of blessing and joy.”

Hear much more from Nick Lawrence on this special Out in the Bay hour.

Please help us keep bringing LGBTQ news, voices and stories to the world by making a tax-deductible donation*. Out in the Bay – Queer Radio + Podcast is a non-profit, independent production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms, NPR, nor from radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. We rely on listener support.*

You can find Nick’s music on most streaming platforms by searching for “Nick Lawrence FTM.” He also has a children’s book – for parents too – called “I Am A Boy.” Find info on his website: https://nicklawrenceftm.com

Transgender Experience: Musician, educator details transition in song and talk

From Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco | 28:59

In the condensed version of our March special, hear about transgender experience from singer-songwriter and foster-parent educator Nick Lawrence. His latest album, "I Am A Man," is about his transition.

Playing: Transgender Experience: Musician, educator ...
From: Out in the Bay - Queer Radio from San Francisco