Christina, Bryan, and Slate Senior Managing Producer June Thomas say farewell to outgoing host Rumaan Alam, then welcome journalist Casey Newton to discuss Grindr's data security problem and its inherent potential for ruining self-esteem. They then delve into Todd Stephens' Swan Song, a beautiful new film about an old queen, his cross-town journey to find hair products fit for styling his dead client, and the closure it brings. Items discussed in the show: Swan Song, directed by Todd Stephens Gay Agenda Christina: Eric Cervini's Queer History 101 June: Olivia on the Record, by Ginny Berson Bryan: two-room tents! This podcast was produced by Katya Kumkova. Please send feedback, topic ideas, and advice questions to outwardpodcast@slate.com. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Outward: Slate's LGBTQ podcast

Summer's Swan Songs

It’s August, and Outward is leaning into the heat. First, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan gab about the beach. Why, exactly, are queer beaches so delightful? Is there a secret geography of finding the gay beach? They then talk to GirlFlexx, a female dom stripper who performs largely for straight women in a traditionally male style -- and kills it in adoration and tips. Items discussed on the show: An ice cream cake you can make "in the back of your car." The upcoming Chromatica remix album, confirmed by Lady Gaga. Outsports.com's coverage of the Olympics. Provincetown's citizen scientist effort to contact trace a Delta variant outbreak. A lawyer who fought for marriage equality helped disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo discredit abuse victims. A primer on lesbian dom strippers. Gay Agenda Bryan: Lindsay Morris and Ruth Padawar's photo essay about Camp I Am. Rumaan: Colm Toibin's The Master. Christina: The L Word: Generation Q. This podcast was produced by Katya Kumkova. Please send feedback, topic ideas, and advice questions to outwardpodcast@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hot Queer Summer, Hot Queer Strippers

A year-and-a-half into the pandemic, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan look back at all the times we did not get to share our milestones -- good, bad, or just big -- with other queers. If a queer comes out in the forest where no one can hear them are they still queer? Yes, but perhaps less joyfully than if they had been in community. The hosts then speak with Lucia Lucas, the first female baritone to perform a principal opera role on the American stage as Don Giovanni. Items discussed on the show: A recent assault at Nellie's gay bar in DC draws protests. Richard Branson wore a rainbow ribbon during his space flight. Breakthrough COVID infections strike Provincetown. The Sound of Identity, a documentary about Lucia Lucas's appearance as Don Giovanni. Gay Agenda Bryan: director's cut of Studio 54 Christina: How Twitter Can Ruin a Life by Emily VanDerWerff Rumaan: two wistful and sexy short stories read by author Douglas Stuart on The Writer's Voice podcast. This podcast was produced by Katya Kumkova. Please send feedback, topic ideas, and advice questions to outwardpodcast@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Milestones Mourned and Celebrated

It’s Pride month, which means Outward is feeling particularly festive! Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan are joined by musician Julien Baker to discuss her feelings about Pride, queerness, fluidity, and ways of interpreting queer art. Then Jillian Hanlon, a trans cop in upstate New York, joins to offer her take on the recent debate over cops at Pride. Items discussed on the show: Skittles go gray for Pride month. A Twitter thread about kink at Pride. Out in the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America, by Mary Gray Julien Baker interview on Working Julien Baker on the Queerology podcast The October 2018 Outward episode that includes interviews with members of No Justice No Pride and Reclaim Pride “A Mistep by the Organizers of Pride,” by the New York Times’ Editorial Board “The New York Times Doesn’t Know What Pride Is For,” by J. Bryan Lowder, in Slate Gay Agenda Christina: Drew Gregory’s interview with Daniela Sea in Autostraddle Bryan: Hola Papi, by John Paul Brammer Rumaan: You are enough, queer comrades!   This podcast was produced by Margaret Kelley and June Thomas. Please send feedback, topic ideas, and advice questions to outwardpodcast@slate.com. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now at slate.com/outwardplus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julien Baker’s Quantum Queerness and Cops at Pride

The Waves is back, and we thought Outward listeners might enjoy this week's episode about Season 3 of Master of None, which focuses on a Black lesbian relationship. But is it worth watching? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Re-Introducing The Waves

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan are joined by Sarah Schulman, whose new book Let the Record Show sets out to correct inaccurate representations of ACT UP New York, its tactics, and its philosophy of direct action in response to the AIDS epidemic. Then they discuss three collections of photographs of LGBTQ people. Who are they for, and will they be seen by the people who need them most? Items discussed on the show:  "How to Be a Queer Person in the World Post-Quarantine," by Naveen Kumar The section of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass that begins, "I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough.” Let The Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-93, by Sarah Schulman  Sarah’s appearance on the June 10, 2020, episode of Outward, “ACT UP and Larry Kramer's Legacy” The ACT UP Oral History Project Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America, by IO Tillett Wright Queer Love in Color, by Jamal Jordan  Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians, by JEB (Joan E. Biren) Gay Agenda Bryan: Taylor Mac’s "Whitman in the Woods"  Christina: Call My Agent  Rumaan: Halston This podcast was produced by Margaret Kelley. Please send feedback, topic ideas, and advice questions to outwardpodcast@slate.com. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ACT UP History and Queer Portraits

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan are first joined by Diana Souhami, whose new book, No Modernism Without Lesbians, tells the story of Sylvia Beach, Bryher, Natalie Barney, Gertrude Stein, and the artistic community they built in Paris between the wars. Then June Thomas joins them for a discussion of the recent spate of period dramas featuring women in love. Why can’t the women in these films get a little electricity or running water? Items discussed on the show:  Dan D’Addario on Colton Underwood’s coming out, in Variety Daniel Schroeder on what Underwood’s coming out revealed about the Bachelor franchise, in Slate “Transgender Childhood Is Not a ‘Trend’,“ by Jules Gill-Peterson in the New York Times  No Modernism Without Lesbians, by Diana Souhami Saturday Night Live’s take on lesbian period dramas Ammonite Carol Portrait of a Lady on Fire (and Slate Spoiler Special episode) The World to Come Gay Agenda Bryan: The Lady and the Dale on HBOMax Rumaan: Julie Mehretu’s exhibit at the Whitney Museum, and the New York Times T Magazine conversation between Mehretu and her former partner Jessica Rankin June: The audiobook Hoosier Daddy, by Ann McMan and Salem West, and Not the Real Jupiter, by Barbara Wilson Christina: Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians, by JEB, and June’s interview with JEB on Slate’s Working podcast about the making of the book This podcast was produced by Margaret Kelley. Please send feedback, topic ideas, and advice questions to outwardpodcast@slate.com. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lesbians in Paris … and in Period Dramas

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan discuss a New York magazine piece about fashion designer Alexander Wang, the dynamics of power and consent, and the swiftly changing norms of gay spaces. Then they’re joined by science writer Riley Black to discuss her recent Slate piece about how science might not be the best tool to argue with those who oppose trans rights. This podcast was produced by Daniel Schroeder. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Power Dynamics and Trans Discrimination

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan are first joined by June Thomas to discuss Jeremy Atherton Lin’s new book Gay Bar, their own personal histories with gay bars, and if such queer spaces have a future. Then they’re joined by Autostraddle’s Shelli Nicole to talk about the Lex app, a text-based dating app aimed at queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming people. They discuss how the app got its start, the ways it’s changed in just one year, and if queer women will ever have an app that’s just for sex.   This podcast was produced by Daniel Schroeder. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gay Bars and Hookup Apps

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan discuss the New Year’s drama in Puerta Vallarta, the Instagram account that popped up to shame gay people for traveling during COVID, and if shaming ever works as a health and safety tactic. Then they interview Torrey Peters about her new book Detransition, Baby. They talk with her about writing for a trans audience and expecting cisgender readers to keep up, why so much adult queer fiction resembles YA, and how elephants fit into it all. This podcast was produced by Daniel Schroeder. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Detransition, Baby and #GaysOverCOVID

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan speak with Ruth Coker Burks, author of the new book All the Young Men: A Memoir of Love, AIDS, and Chosen Family in the American South, about her work in the 1980s, helping Arkansans with AIDS. Then they discuss three of 2020’s bumper selection of LGBTQ holiday movies: The Christmas Setup, Happiest Season, and A New York Christmas Wedding. Should we be grateful for the gift of representation, or should we be searching for the receipt? Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Queer Holiday Movies: Naughty or Nice?

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan speak with Ria Tabacco Mar, the ACLU’s director of the Women’s Rights Project, about what the future for LGBTQ people looks like with president-elect Biden and an even more conservative Supreme Court. Then they discuss Uncle Frank, a film from Alan Ball about a gay man and his partner on a road trip with his niece from Manhattan to South Carolina in the 1970’s. They talk about how this differs from last month’s Boys In the Band, and the importance of remembering past queer struggles. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. (edited)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barrett, Biden, and Backwards Bryan

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan look at fact and fiction in gay history. First, they examine Netflix’s recent version of The Boys in the Band in the context of the original, and how it captures a specific moment of gay life. Then they discuss the new HBO series EQUAL, which seeks to tell the stories of important figures from the history of the LGBTQ movement. They discuss how the utter modernity of interpretation and style leave the series lacking, but how useful it could be as a teaching tool and reminder of pre-Stonewall activism. Producer Daniel pops in for a short segment about the Ryan Murphy of it all. This podcast was produced by Daniel Schroeder. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caught in Gay Amber

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan interview journalist Angela Chen about her new book, Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex. They talk about asexuality’s rise in visibility, where ace people fit in the queer community, and how asexuality can lead us to question so many of our assumptions about social constructions that depend on who your sexual partners are. Then they unpack the story of gay politician Alex Morse, whose recent congressional campaign was plagued with accusations of sexual impropriety, and what a politician’s queer sex life is allowed to look like. This podcast was produced by Daniel Schroeder. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Being Horny Is Thorny

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan talk to Slate sex-advice columnist Rich Juzwiak about the state of sex six months into the COVID-19 crisis. They discuss the sorts of questions he’s fielding, the limits of sexual creativity, and navigating casual sex during this time. Then the team digs into Ellen DeGeneres, how she fits into the history and modern landscape of queer media, and why she seems so disappointing. This podcast was produced by Daniel Schroeder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who Is Ellen to Us?

Outward, Slate's queer podcast, is a whip-smart monthly salon in which hosts and guests deepen the audience’s understanding of queer culture and politics, delight them with unexpected perspectives, and invite listeners into a colorful conversation about the issues animating LGBTQ communities.

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Outward: Slate's LGBTQ podcast

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