Power Beyond Pride

Court Byer( she/they) joins Mattie and Shane bringing both heart and strategy to a conversation about queerness, humanism, and the power of community care. They reflect on growing up feeling “different,” navigating political spaces that felt transactional, and ultimately redefining their values outside traditional systems. The episode highlights the importance of mutual aid, moral courage, and cre...

In this Reply All episode, Shane, Kenyon, and Mattie move from breaking news into the personal stakes behind it—what it feels like to live inside systems that can shift overnight. They celebrate a federal court block protecting access to gender-affirming care for trans youth, while naming how fragile “wins” can feel when other rulings and policies move in the opposite direction. The conversation t...

Michael Barrett Jones - Activist, Director of a Nonprofit and Storyteller —joins Mattie Bynum and Shane Lucas as he shares a powerful journey from grassroots HIV activism to leading fundraising efforts that center equity and inclusion. Reflecting on his time at Iris House, he unpacks how women of color were historically excluded from funding and strategy conversations—and what it means to challeng...

Miss Mei  (they/them) — co-founder and executive director of Decrim305 and a 14-year sex worker — joins co-hosts Mattie Bynum and Shawn Aaron to share the origin story of Miami’s most unapologetic sex worker advocacy org. Born out of the George Floyd protests in 2020, Decrim305 launched with a Slut Walk that nobody expected to pop — and it did. Mei traces the through-line from Josephine Baker...

This episode explores Two-Spirit identity as both spiritual and gendered, and how Indigenous frameworks can expand what many people think they know about gender, community, and sacredness. In a discussion with co-hots Melodie KG and Mattie Bynum, Soul connects personal deconstruction from Christianity with a broader decolonizing shift—moving from “invisibility as safety” to visibility that demands...

Author and HIV Activist Mark S. King shares with co-hosts Mattie Bynum and Shane Lukas a clear framework for movement work: credibility comes from truth-telling, and leadership means learning to hand the microphone to someone else. He breaks down what mentorship can look like in practice—spotting talent, offering encouragement, making introductions, and helping amplify voices without strings attac...

Domenico Ruggiero shares with co-hosts Hunter and Mattie Bynum how his leadership began “at the margins” as a first-gen, biracial, queer student from an immigrant background who often felt like he didn’t fully belong anywhere. He describes becoming a bridge-builder across siloed campus spaces, a throughline that shaped his career in multicultural and LGBTQ centers before leading We Are Family in S...

In this episode, musician and artist Shirlette Ammons digs into what it means to be an interdisciplinary artist—moving between music, poetry, and page-based writing with different tools, stakes, and intentions. She reflects on influences ranging from church music and mass choirs to Janet Jackson, Meshell Ndegeocello, Tribe, De La Soul, Outkast, and Lauryn Hill, describing a “rich” musical palette...

From Kansas ID rollbacks to the State of the Union, co-hosts Mattie Bynum, Melodie KG, Daniel WK Lee, and Shane Lukas discuss how power uses narrative, bureaucracy, and selective “exceptions” to justify broader harm. The co-hosts unpack how “freedom” gets framed as individual impunity rather than collective safety—and how that framing fuels policies like the SAVE Act’s documentation requirements....

Co-hosts Daniel WK Lee and Kata d’Adamo sit down with Eliazar Posada to talk about what community protection looks like when national politics turn hostile. Eliazar breaks down practical local strategies—non-discrimination ordinances, language access plans, and building trust so people feel safe seeking help. He also reflects on the emotional weight and responsibility of being a “first,” and his c...

Mattie Bynum and Shane Lukas welcome Ryan Cassata (along with bandmates Top Surgeons, Kyle and Lauren) to talk about life on tour and the surprising ways different cities show up for queer communities. They dig into why house shows feel intimate, safer, and more sustaining—especially when traditional venues and platforms feel shaky. Ryan reflects on the long arc of trans and queer musician visibil...

Savannah Sly brings a movement-builder’s lens to the question of what actually changes things—beyond catharsis—by pairing passion with strategy, mentorship, and resources. She reflects on how she learned to communicate about s** work in ways people could hear, and how stigma shifts depending on the language people use (and the assumptions they bring). The hosts dig into how anger shows up across “...

This Reply All episode of Power Beyond Pride brings Mattie Bynum, Kenyon Farrow, and Shane Lukas together to unpack what it means to organize, stay connected, and tell the truth in a moment of escalating harm. Kenyon frames the rapid mobilization in Minneapolis as a continuation of the 2020 George Floyd uprisings, arguing that visible “mass response” is built through sustained, long-term organizin...

Co-hosts Daniel W.K. Lee and Kenyon Farrow talk with podcaster Randy Kim about what it took to feel whole inside his intersecting identities as Vietnamese, Khmer, queer, and American—especially after growing up without language fluency and with pressure to assimilate. Randy shares how finding queer Asian community helped unlock a deeper sense of belonging across Vietnamese and Khmer spaces. He ref...

In this episode, Co-hosts Mattie Bynum and Kate d'Adamo sit down with Jessie Cockerham, a therapist and founder of Wolf’s Refuge Counseling and Healing Services in North Carolina. Jessie shares how growing up in Appalachia shaped their understanding of trauma, survival, and community care—and what it means to heal in the same places that harmed you. They break down modalities like DBT and EMDR in...

On Power Beyond Pride, Melodie KG and Shane Lukas welcome Susanna Shaul, a NYC-based art director and designer with deep roots in immigrant advocacy and LGBTQ+ community support. Susanna describes how queer and immigrant justice work often runs on parallel tracks, even though many asylum seekers are fleeing anti-LGBTQ+ persecution. She shares sobering examples of how fear is shaping community life...

Rodrigo Brandão joins co-hosts Kate d'Adamo and Daniel W.K. Lee to explore the evolving role of media, activism, and art in driving social change. Rodrigo recounts his path from film student to communications leader, highlighting the value of storytelling and community in organizing. The episode examines the struggle for independent journalism, the strategic use of social media, and the need for i...

The sugar cookies get extra sprinkles with this December Reply All episode recorded LIVE at the end of 2025 featuring Mattie Bynum, Kenyon Farrow, Daniel W.K. Lee, and Shane Lukas as the team concludes with a "year-in-review" analysis of the most overlooked and over-focused LGBTQ+ stories of 2025, including the impact of government funding cuts on HIV/AIDS programs and the often-ignored role of cl...

Shawn Aaron takes the guest seat in conversation with co-hosts Mattie Bynum and Shane Lukas to discuss the origins of his organization, Dem Bois Inc., which advocates for access to gender-affirming care and surgeries for trans men of color. He shares deeply personal accounts of past homelessness and family struggles, emphasizing his core philosophy that "visibility equals possibility". By being op...

In this episode, co-host team members Mattie Bynum and Shane Lukas talk with The New York Times-lauded author Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore about the "urgency" of queer storytelling and the importance of refusing the terms of dominant culture. Mattilda describes their process of meshing fiction with historical reality to capture the "spectacular intimacy" of queer life in the 1980s and 90s. They sha...

In this episode, podcast co-host team members Mattie Bynum and Daniel W.K. Lee hang out with William Torres Fuentes to discuss the "rainbow of colors" in Puerto Rican culture and how moving to North Carolina forced him to redefine his identity in his 30s and 40s. He details the specific challenges facing the undocumented community, such as the fear that ICE raids create, which often prevents peopl...

Kitty Stryker, activist, journalist, and author of Ask: Building Consent Culture , joins co-hosts Shane Lukas and Hunter to delve into the complex conversation surrounding consent culture. She shares the origins of her work in the Bay Area kink community, her background driving attention to mutual aid and the importance of sustainable communities, and embracing accountability to move clo...

"Tub Talks" vlogger and therapist Damon Jacobs shares the evolution of sexual health conversations, the impact of PrEP, and the importance of integrating personal and political positions for a more satisfying life with co-hosts Mattie Bynum and Kate d'Adamo.

As the founder of the Outlaw Project, Monica Jones shares her story with hosts Mattie Bynum and Shane Lukas, detailing how her lived experience and the impact of activist Sharmus Outlaw the organization's work on secure housing, harm reduction, and policy to support trans people.

Co-hosts Kenyon Farrow, Mattie Bynum, Melodie KG, and Shane Lukas explore the struggles faced in memorializing trans lives, the comfort found in chosen family for LGBTQ+ people during the holidays, and the urgent need for community vigilance and non-compliance trainings against federal enforcement actions like ICE raids. Plus, we take listener questions to the classroom!