Bammer and Me

Michela Griffo talks about the battle for LGBTQ civil rights from the first NYC Pride March in 1970 onward, the arrival of AIDS in 1981, the formation of real gay and lesbian community after that, and where the LGBTQ movement goes from here.

Mike talks with Michela Griffo about her life as an early and active member of the National Organization for Women in the late 1960s, a link to the Stonewall era, and one of a dozen or so participants from the first Gay Pride March in NYC in 1970 who’re still with us. She joins us today to talk about the sense of community that existed then and how different things are today

Dave Kopay was the first prominent athlete to come out and the first male athlete in a major professional league to do so when he publicly disclosed he was gay in 1975. A hero to many LGBTQers for his courage, he paid a permanent price in being shut out of coaching jobs in colleges and at the pro level.

Mike interviews Joel Tucker twenty years later: one of six survivors of the horrendous Backstreet Cafe shooting in Roanoke, Va. on September 20, 2000.

Cliff Morrison talks about forming the first AIDS ward in San Francisco General Hospital in 1983, as well as, his recent involvement in the making of “5B”, an award-winning documentary about that experience (now available on Amazon).

Jacob Tobia is a gender-nonconforming Los Angeleno who’s on a roll. Three years ago, they landed a job as an executive assistant on the hit Amazon series "Transparent." Shortly after, Jacob released a New York Times best-selling memoir, "Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story," and secured an option from Showtime to develop a TV series inspired by their life. Jacob talks about their life journey and brin...

What do you do after you’ve been a Colt porn model, male escort, and drug addict? After kicking his drug addiction, Stu Fenton spent ten years getting his degrees in psychotherapy and gestalt therapy, opened a private therapy practice, and now counsels LGBTQ chemsex addicts in a private clinic, R 12, in Thailand on how to overcome their addiction. Stu shares his story of how he turned his life aro...

Rob Smith, founder of The Phluid Project, talks about his journey from his life as a successful fashion executive to creating the world’s first gender-free clothing brand.

Cliff Morrison arrived in San Francisco as a nurse in the late 1970s, as AIDS was about to erupt. In 1983, while working at SF General Hospital, one of the epicenters for the new disease, he was tasked with forming the world’s first hospital ward dedicated to serving people with AIDS. In the first of two episodes, Cliff tells Mike Balaban about that time.

Stu Fenton has had quite the life! In his early twenties, Stu was a Colt model and a male escort. That high life led to drug addiction, multiple near-death overdoses, and eventually rehab. Currently, he manages a chemsex treatment center in Chiang Mai, Thailand, one of only five in the world focusing on LGBTQ patients.

Mike talks with Frank Carucci, a life-long New Yorker, about working in the NYC avant-garde theatre scene, the Stonewall riots and life in NYC over the last 60 years.

Ninety-five-year-old renowned poet Edward Field shares stories about gay life in NYC amid the social change of the 1950s, and life with his partner of 58 years, Neil Derrick.

Renowned poet and author Edward Field discusses with Mike, his colorful and bohemian life after WWII, including his life in France and Greece developing his craft as a fledgling poet, and 1950s gay life in Manhattan and McCarthyism.

Mike Balaban interviews renowned poet and author Edward Field. At 95 years old, Edward shares his experiences as a gay man in the military during World War ll, talking about his affair with his master sergeant in boot camp under the noses of his fellow recruits; his adventures as a navigator on bombing raids over Germany; and experiencing gay life in post-war Europe.

Mike talks with 25-year-old documentarian, Caleb Holland, and compares their experiences coming out. In 1975, Mike, in his mid-twenties, was attracted to other guys, but successfully hid it from all who knew him. Almost 40 years later, Caleb relates how he was constantly told he was gay by others, even though he had no awareness of it until he was 19 in 2012.

In this episode, Mike interviews Dave Nimmons on gay male bonding and how gay men can find meaningful ways to connect and create community. David Nimmons, a former president of NYC’s Lesbian and Gay Community Center, is the author of “The Soul Beneath The Skin: The Unseen Hearts and Habits of Gay Men” and has conducted workshops and guerrilla actions across the U.S. to help gay men tap into their...

Mike Balaban talks with LGBT Activist Eric Sawyer about the Queer Liberation March on Sunday, June 30, 2016, which runs three hours before the NYC World Pride March, and why we need this more than just a celebration of LGBTQ rights.

Cross-generational perspectives on LGBTQ issues and themes from a 66-year-old gay activist/historian and a 25-year-old. millennial documentarian.