Jonny and Heather check in on getting through some intense midwest weather, complete with flooding and tornadoes. Despite these challenges, the “Queer Stories, Queer Spaces” oral history installation had a great opening reception in the Sharp Museum on the SIU campus. Also, despite the cancellation of protests in our area due to the weather, great numbers showed up to join the “Hands Off” event in Carbomdale. They discuss the incredible turnout for this protest around the country and in Europe, noting especially the involvement and recent protests held by LGBTQ+ and other veterans. In the back half of the show, Jonny interviews photographer Nick Blair, whose exhibit “Castro to Christopher: Gay Streets of America 1979-1986” opens in the Sharp Museum this Friday. They discuss the art of photography and the incredible power of visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in their neighborhood streets and in public. 

Jonny compiles a montage show of interviews, stories, and topics from 2024, painting a picture of what the year lin LGBTQ concerns, particularly in Southern Illinois, sounded like.It is a sampling, incomplete to be sure, but illustrative of 2024 nonetheless.

Jonny and Heather interview Shay Miller, the director of Mae West’s “The Drag,” a Stage Company performance coming up for the last two weekends of Pride Month. A 1931 play by queer icon Mae West adapted by Darrin J. Pufall Purdy and Minerva Jayne, “The Drag” has many resonances with current attempts to ban drag performance. While focusing on the play, Jonny, Heather, and Shay also touch on other events going on in Southern Illinois to celebrate Pride.

Jonny interviews Carrie Vine of Rainbow Cafe and the Southern Illinois Pride Collective about the incredibly full weekend of SI PrideFest activities in Carbondale this coming weekend (June 15). In the back half of the show, he and Heather discuss some recent “historical moments” impacting the LGBTQ community. 

After a brief digression on the challenges of travel on aging queer bodies, Jonny and Heather review the slew of Pride activities coming up in Southern Illinois in June. In the back half of the show, th discuss “rules” for those non-queer folks resistant to Pride festivities and some of the various people or practices banned from Pride. They conclude with a study of the obvious, that X (formerly Twitter) is the most hostile social media platform for LGBTQ+ folks.

Due to winter weather impacting travel and access to our recording studio, this week we bring you a rebroadcast of Jonny’s interview of T. Brown in early October 2023. In the interview they discuss a web site sharing survivor stories of those who got out of a local cult in Carbondale as well as T’s first expereice at GSV and how that differs from a cult.

Jonny and Heather discuss the the impact of restrictive legislation in many Red States and the subsequent loss of intellectuals and professionals they are experiencing. They then contemplate a European study that provides evidence gay male parents are, on average, more successful than cis/het parents at parenting. In the back half of the show, they return to Doctor Who toe gush over the queer woderful and transtastic first installment of the 60th Anniversary.

Jonny interviews Juniper Oxford, the new coordinator of the SIU LGBTQ Resource Center. She recaps SIU LGBTQ History Month events, discusses the upcoming Trans Week of Awareness including TDOR, and shares future plans of the Resource Center. In the back half of the show, Jonny puts two stories in dialogue that are about hard right politics eating their own over transphobic agendas.

Jonny sits down with T Brown, a whistleblower about a local Sufi cult, to discuss recent efforts to share the stories of those who have gotten out of it. In the back half of the show, T discusses his experiences at the Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference and how that both triggered cult-based traumas and significantly contrasted with them. T’s story details some of the lasting damage that can be caused by structured intentional communities with charismatic and dogmatic spiritual leaders.

Jonny interviews a new colleague in SIU’s School of Communication Studies, Dr. Christina Ivey, who joins the faculty as the Introductory Course Director and with research interests in gender and queer theory. The interview focuses, in part, on queer faculty getting out of “red states,” seeking employment in states that support and affirm LGBTQ citizens and do not intrude in the classroom. They also discuss projects like Rainbow Refuge, that are assisting queer and trans folks in moving to states that will support them. In the back half of the show, they discuss Christina’s dissertation which is about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.