Celebrate Pride Month with Radiotopia!
At Radiotopia, we believe in amplifying underrepresented voices and stories told from unique perspectives. Over the years, our shows have produced so much audio exploring and celebrating LGBTQ+ issues. This June, celebrate Pride Month with these amazing episodes. Happy Pride!
This is Love, “A Private Life”
Nino and Drew kept their relationship a secret for more than 40 years, but then an adoption hearing forced them into the spotlight.
99% Invisible, “Remembering Stonewall”
It started with a place called the Stonewall Inn. Gay bars had been raided by police for decades. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people had been routinely arrested and subjected to harassment and beatings by the people who were meant to protect them. But one night, in this place called the Stonewall Inn, when the police stormed in to continue their abuse, the clientele fought back.
The Allusionist, “Pride”
How the word came to be chosen for LGBTQ Pride. Activist and publisher Craig Schoonmaker tells the story.
The Mortified Podcast, “College PRIDE”
Mortified celebrates Pride with an episode devoted to teenagers who come out of the closet after high school and set out to find love for the very first time.
The Bugle, “Sochi Special”
Andy and John report on Sochi — where Vlad Putin should be celebrating just how amazingly gay the Olympics are, rather than getting all homophobic.
Criminal, “P.D.I.D.”
Patti Hammond Shaw is a transgender woman. She’s legally female on her birth certificate and driver’s license, and has been since 1993. But when she was arrested in 2009, male officers strip-searched her in front of male detainees, and held her overnight in a men’s cellblock. Patti hired a lawyer and fought back. Her case was instrumental in changing how the police process and detain transgender individuals in Washington, D.C.
The Kitchen Sisters Present, “The Making of the Homobile”
The Kitchen Sisters ride the nightshift with The Homobile. Homobiles is a non-commercial, volunteer, 24/7 ride service created for the LGBTQRXT and transgender community and others around San Francisco who feel the need safe, dependable rides, outside traditional services. Homobiles is for people who feel at risk because they don’t conform to sexual or gender norms and have been targets of rudeness or shame or violence.
Love + Radio, “Understood as to Understand”
Carey believed she was assigned the wrong gender, but transitioning wasn’t how she expected.
The Allusionist, “Joins”
The vocabulary for sex and associated body parts is tricky to navigate in many ways — but even more so if you are trans or gender non-binary.
The Memory Palace, “A White Horse”
The history of the White Horse bar in Berkeley, CA. Established in 1933, the White Horse is the oldest gay bar in the US.
The Mortified Podcast, “Diary of a Trans Man: Confessions of Kelly Shortandqueer”
A man shares the diaries he kept as an awkward adolescent girl.
Radio Diaries, “Teenage Diaries Revisited: Amanda”
At the age of 17, Amanda knew she was gay. But her parents kept insisting she’d grow out of it. Today, a lot has changed in the country, and within her own family. 16 years later, Amanda goes back to her parents to find out how they came to accept having a daughter who is gay.
Song Exploder, Perfume Genius, “Slip Away”
Mike Hadreas has been making music under the name Perfume Genius since 2008. In May 2017, he put out his fourth album, No Shape, to widespread critical acclaim. In this episode, Mike breaks down the song Slip Away. Host Hrishikesh Hirway also spoke with producer Blake Mills, who also plays on the track, and recording engineer Shawn Everett about the unusual way the song was recorded.
Love + Radio, “The Boys Will Work It Out”
Since a child, Sarz had a deep connection to the Lord of the Rings books. After the movie version came out in 2003, that connection went several layers deeper. This episode delves into the world of homoerotic fan-fiction.
The Kitchen Sisters Present, “The Secret (and not so Secret) Life of Theresa Sparks”
Theresa Sparks, one of San Francisco’s most respected and outspoken transgender activists tells her truth, that she was walking around in the wrong suit for 50-something years.
The West Wing Weekly, “Take Out the Trash Day (with Senator Bob Casey and Liza Weil) “
This discussion comes close on the heels of the massacre in Orlando. Hosts Joshua Malina and Hrishikesh Hirway asked Sen. Bob Casey about the current state of hate crime legislation. They also talked to Liza Weil about her role as Karen Larson, as well as the executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
The Mortified Podcast, “The Only Living Lesbian on Long Island”
A teenage metal head gets desperate when she can’t find any other lesbians in her school. Because, the 80s.
The Allusionist, “Queer”
Strange or obtuse; a stinging homophobic slur; a radical political rejection of normativity; a broad term encompassing every and any variation on sexual orientation and gender identity: the word ‘queer’ has a multifarious past and complicated present. Tracing its movements are Kathy Tu and Tobin Low from Nancy podcast, Eric Marcus from Making Gay History, historian and author Amy Sueyoshi, and Jonathan Van Ness from Queer Eye.
Ear Hustle, “Down Low”
Of the thousands of people incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, no one is openly gay. No one. And only a few people are comfortable enough to talk about LGBTQ life inside. In this episode we dive in: Lady Jae returns to talk about living as a woman in SQ, and another inmate, who identifies as bi-sexual, shares his story.
The Mortified Podcast, “Chicano PRIDE”
Mortified’s celebration of LGBTQ Pride month continues with stories of first generation kids whose search for happiness takes them in unexpected directions.
Criminal, “Lavender Scare”
Helen James grew up in a military family — her great great grandfather fought in the Civil War, her father in WWI, and her uncles in WWII. So when she enlisted in 1952, she felt like she belonged. Shortly after, she realized something was wrong. She was followed, interrogated, and ultimately kicked out of the Air Force because she was a lesbian. She’s 91 now and tells her story beautifully.
