Jonny and Heather discuss Heather’s new novel, Goodbye Hello, an unconventional romance that begins with grief at a funeral. In the back half of the show, they examine new turns in the anti-trans rhetoric of TERFs and transphobes, turns meant to be rebuttals to arguments for trans righs. They offer rebuttals to the rebuttals and note the pervasive function of caricature as a tool of scapegoating embedded in all the antitrans rhetoric.

Heather returns, and she and Jonny recap the Democratic National Convention, parsing their feels and the ways the DNC did and didn’t represent queer community. In the back half of the show, they continue the political campaign analysis with a dive into Twitter/X and who is and isn’t Tweeting (X-crementing?) there these days. They ponder if harsh right wing social media might finally be facing some serious and legal push back.

Jonny is on his own this week and digs into why this current election season is so rough for LGBTQ+ and particualrly trans people. He shows how the Harris-Walz ticket is being challenged with mischaracterizations of their LGBTQ+ advocacy, but also why such advocacy is a distinguishing element of their candidacy. In the back half of the show, he digs into Project 2025 and Agenda 47, which are particulalry focused on restricting queer and trans rights and visibility. He closes with two stories that show the limits and pushback of such anti queer and gender-expasive politicking. If you are interested in applying for the Tim Rice Scholarship through the Rainbow Cafe, you can find the application here: https://www.rainbowcafe.org/scholarship.html

Jonny and Heather process their desire for a month of hibernation following a very active Pride Month. They then turn their attention to recent developments in presidential politics and connections between agism and homophobia/transphobia. Also, maybe why presidential immunity isn’t such a good thing. In the back half of the show, they review a SCOTUS decision on states’ rights when dealing with unhoused people on public lands and connect that to trans-advocacy, including trans- and empathy-advocacy on Dr. Who.

Jonny and Heather, in the wake of Tax Day, discuss a variety of current events including the start of the Trump trial in New York, Arizona’s new/old abortion law from the 19th Century, and the latest excuses from JK Rowling. In the back half of the show they discuss the difference in how the major Presidential campaigns are appealing to LGBTQ+ voters. They also cover new drivers license policy in Illinois as well as end of the school year LGBTQ+ events in Southern Illinois.