Isn't It Queer

Jonny and Heather conduct separate interviews in this episode, featuring talks with transgender writers doing presentations in Carbondale this coming weekend. In the front half of the show, Heather interviews Nico Lang, an impressive award winning journalist who will be giving a talk about their book, American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era. In the b...

Jonny and Heather review a serise of recent current events where "kicking out" rather than "coming out" rings the queer content. They look at hypocritical standards for expulsion in Congress, in the Trump Cabinet, and in the military. They also discuss celebrities like Caitlen Jenner, Pete Buttigieg, Megan Rapinoe, and Sue Bird. They conclude with a quick scan of some of the cases the Supreme Cour...

Heather and Jonny extend April Fools to make sense of the foolishness of the Trump Administration in the last week. Behind the clearly mockable "accomplishments" of the administration this week is a persistent theme of targeting the LGBTQ+ community. In the back half of the show they offer even more shade to the growing list of states pursuing toxic anti-LGBTQ+ policies and legislation while they...

Jonny and Heather are a bit disturbed about recording Wednesday's show before the destructive deadline Trump has set for Iran. They discuss the posturings and firings of the administration recently, worried about what they might do with the power they have and no supervision or experienced counsel. In this light, the see Kristi Noem's hypocrisy around her husband's (perfectly okay!) kink a telling...

Jonny and Heather are joined by T--Dr. T!--who recently defended his dissertation about leaving a local cult. They discuss the No Kings protest, the Supreme Court's decision on conversion therapy bans, and the cult like qualities of MAGA all through the lens of surviving an actual cult. Now that the dissertation is done and the degree is earned, Dr. T moves on to diving into local engagement throu...

Jonny welcomes Heather back from complications with a routine operation removing a kidney stone. They dive right into the hot mess that is the war/not war with Iran, noting the slipperyness of the Administration in sticking with or abanding strict definitions when it suits their purposes. They connect this to the rationales for demonizing trans people for not fitting their rigid gender definitions...

Jonny is joined by Craig to discuss queer neurodivergence and bullying. In the front half of the show they focus on a TikTok video by Christopher Macken who responds to a woman who promises to be her son's first bully if he ever "acts gay." In the back half of the show they share an example of the work of TikTok and Instagram content creator, Emile Ennis Jr. and his regular videos on the "Gay Agen...

Jonny and Heater interview Samantha Boucher, Founder and Executive Director of Trans Liberty, the first US political action organization dedicated solely to defending the civil rights of transgenderAmericans. In the front half of the show they explore Samantha's background and the creation of Trans Liberty. In the back half of the show they talk about some of Trans Liberty's current projects, incl...

Heather and Jonny commiserate over the eruption og globala military actions and the controversyies around the Trump Administrations actions and (lack of) explanations. They posit the role of conflict in controling and manipulating others. They then take this theme of x vs. y to other conflicts recently impacting the LGBTQ+ community, some further illuminating the US vs. Iran conflict eclipsing all...

After taking a break for a few weeks from the Epstein Files, Jonny and Heather return to discuss them and other stories that show the limits of trying to control what the public can know. Even so, an administration and a party desperate to control our attention continues to go to extraordinary lengths to scapegoat minorities for ridiculous reasons. After reviewing some of those distractions by ass...

Heather and Jonny confront two stories of mass shootings this week, one in Canada with a confirmed transgender assailant and one in Rhode Island with an alleged transgender shooter. They approach this difficult topic with a couple of key reminders: First, an inventory of their local organizations and meeting groups available to help people struggling to know that they have support and a community....

Jonny and Heather celebrate an unnexpacted and probably lasting warmer rest of February. They turn their attention to the World Human Rights report that notes the USAmerican impact on LGBTQ+ rights globally. They examine several examples of this unfortunate trend in Democratic Recession. In the back half of the show they turn to the great cultural distraction of ahtletics where two big sporty ritu...

Jonny welcomes Heather back to the show, although there is still snow on the roads and the cold is only now slowly loosening its grip. They vortex out from Southern Illinois, discussing new assaults on LGBTQ+ rights, beyound ICE protests or the Epstein Files. In the back half of the show, they look to entertainment, significant political wins, and polling from a surprising source that this assault...

Jonny and Heather are both snowed in this week, but Jonny has a good mic and computer and power at home, so he offers this episode born from staying home during snow and SERIOUS cold. He begins with acknowledgement of the weather and the hypocrisy of climate change denial before moving to Trump administration hypocrisy about Anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis, especially around the shooting of Alex...

Jonny is fresh back from the annual winter retreat of Gay Spirit Visions' winter gathering where the theme was protecting our joy while we live through a dumpster fire. Heather helps him unpack the necessity to be aware of the dumpster fire even as we choose to put our energies elsewhere. They review several of the last week's turns in the news that build the flames even as Minnesota learns to use...

Jonny and Heather dive deep into the implications of an ICE agent's killing of Rene Good in Minneapolis this past week. The murder of a queer mother of three is bad enough, but the government's reactions demonstrate an  accumulating pattern of response that is most disturbing. In the back half of the show, they examine rights and retirements under fire and the court cases to defend the rights and...

Jonny and Heather offer an overview of trends from 2025, linking the hard lessons learned about AI to the hard lessons learned from the first year of Trump 2.0. In the back half of the show, they turn a prophetic gaze toward the future and make some broad predictions for 2026. They dare to hope that after all of the suffering the world might actually be learning to be a little less phobic toward h...

Jonny assembes a mix tape of 2025's contributors to IIQ as well as a sampling of some of the strange stories he and Heather have discussed in the past year. The show may be queer but the year was just downright WEIRD!

Jonny and Heather lean into the holiday season to see the various factors affecting LGBTQ+ communities as gifts--some are gifts we never wanted, some are incomplete, some come from Secret Santas, and some are true charitable contributions to the community. In the podcast, we mention our Flipboard magazing where you can find lists of good LGBTQ+ Nonprofit organizations to support this holiday seaso...

Jonny and Heather take a deep dive into what "community" means when we reference the LGBTQ+ community and the idea that leanng into community is how we protect ourselves from the abuses of power that threaten us. In the back (not quite) half of the show, they demonstrate how the current infighting and boundary breaking of the MAGA community is a real indication of what can happen when community fa...

Jonny and Heather prepare for a pending brutal cold streak by diving into the heat of ongoing culture wars. It's not just political power that forms authoritarian states; despots gotta change the culture! So far, that aint going so well for our would-be dear leader. Where his cult brings on the pressure, many are pushning back--and not just in this country. Queer and trans folks are definitely inc...

Jonny and Heather discuss a host of current event stories that indicate the political winds are shifting. Ultimately, this is good news for the LGBTQ+ community, even if the current turbulence is still causing us torubles. Real evidence emerges that MAGA is breaking up and the Trump Administration's iron grip of the GOP is crumbling.

Jonny and Heather welcome Thanksgiving with gratitude built on how things are and how they are not. In looking at a few recent stories in the news, they frame them through the lens of "what if things had been different?" In the back half of the show, they share a scene from the recent performance "At a Crossroads" presented in the Marion Kleinau Theatre and directed/compiled by Dr. Shelby Swafford...

On the other side of auroras in Southern Illinois, Jonny and Heather dive into some weird stories--like the aurora, things they thought they would never see, at least not down here. In the front half of the show they review the more typical good and bad news for the LGBTQ+ community under the current regime. In the back half of the show they dive into the truly strange, not all of it having to do...

In the front half of the show, Jonny interviews Junara, Grace, M, and Shelby--the director and some of the devising cast from "At a Crossroads," a performance in the Kleinau Theatre opening this Thursday. They discuss the crossroads metaphor and how the show leans into LGBTQ+ themes. In the back half of the show, Jonny and Heather discuss the crossroads we are currently at, following last week's o...