Bammer and Me

This week I talk with Jacob Butchoff, a British man whom I connected with through a friend I serendipitously sat next to on a plane. His life story is incredibly interesting: he harbored deep self hatred for being gay which sent him on a violent journey, one we’re pleased to say he's on the other side of. Today, he helps kids and adult communities alike with their identity struggles, demonstrating...

Joining me this week is accomplished art historian, genre and sexuality lecturer and gay rights activist, Johnathan Katz. He takes us on a journey through not only his life and career but the discoveries he's made in the history of homosexuality through the lens of art history.

Perry Brass, the accomplished author, playwright and founding member of the Gay Liberation Front joins me to talk about his incredible life as we discover many parallels between us, and discuss many more amazing memories and achievements. It is an honor to converse with a man who has seen and done so much for the gay community as well as art and culture as a whole.

Dastan returns to talk with me about his mountaineering activities around the world and the community he has built with it as well as  his more recent escapades in gay rights activism, an update on his ban from Kyrgyzstan and more. 

Back after almost 1 year! Today's episode is also available as a video on our Youtube at www.youtube.com/@BAMMER47Mike Art Smith of YouTube Channel Gay Barchives fame and David Kennerley, author of Getting In, a history of gay clubs in 90's NYC, join me, Mike Balaban, to talk Gay Bars Through the Ages. We remember our favorite spots, how our coming out stories were hotly formed by gay bars and spa...

Suzie Kruger felt like she just fell into the role, but has maintained one of the most impressive careers organizing Adult Parties across London Europe and the rest of the world. Join Mike on a journey with icon, Suzie Kruger as she tells us all about her trials and tribulations at the vibrant center of the UK sex club scene.

In this heartening episode, join Mike as he engages with Mohsin Zaidi, a passionate lawyer, LGBTQ activist, and best-selling author of "A Dutiful Boy". Learn about Mohsin's remarkable journey from a poor London neighborhood to his rise as a celebrated lawyer amidst the challenges and triumphs of growing up as a gay Muslim. Gain deeper insights into the complexities of societal norms, cultural iden...

It's an honour to have Peter Tatchell on the podcast, a fearless LGBTQ and human right's activist who's launched social movements the world over including in some of the most politically dangerous countries. He and Mike talk early life, influences and trajectory and his own gay journey both in Australia and in the UK, as well as his work founding OutRage! and many other amazing human rights projec...

Steve Gillon recently retired following 40 years as a professor of American history at some of the most prestigious universities in the US and UK where his students appreciated his dedication to storytelling even more than his in-depth knowledge of history. He also served as long-time spokesperson for the History channel on A & E cable network. Listen to Steve share details from his (previousl...

In her epic roller-coaster of a memoir, "This Time For Me" Alexandra Billings muses on her unlikely journey as an accomplished actor and performer as well as her other lives in sex work, as a HIV positive activist, not to mention a huge LGBTQIA+ icon. Join Mike and Alexandra as she dishes about what she thinks of the next generation of queer activists! We had such a great time with Alexandra and y...

Barney Frank represented Massachusetts in Congress from 1982 to 2012, thirty years in which he was one of the most powerful, smartest, and wittiest politicians in DC.  He was also the first LGBTQ Congressman to voluntarily come out while in office, a highly controversial move in 1987 during the height of the AIDS crisis. I interviewed Barney remotely from his home in Ogunquit, Maine (where he now...

Today the accidental gay historian interviews a young, credentialed historian illuminating gay history and actively working for representation on TV and beyond. Eric Cervini has been and continues to be incredibly busy; having written a NYT Best Selling and Pulitzer Prize finalist book in 2020, writing and producing "The Book of Queer" TV series in 2022 with more still in production, and most rece...

We're lucky this week to be joined by Barabara Pomo, staunch ally. Shaped by the loss of her older gay brother to AIDS in the late 1980s, Barbara Poma has become an integral part of the LGBTQ community. First, she bought and managed the Pulse Disco in Orlando, Fla., turning it into a multi cultural haven for queers and their families and after a tragic terrorist shooting and the deaths of 49 patro...

Iconic photographer Stanley Stellar, 77, has been documenting queer life and male nudes since 1976. When he began, most media outlets wouldn’t even feature images of men with their clothes on. Best known for his street photography, Stanley was present and shooting during many milestones in gay history, including the Christopher Street piers, gay pride marches, the HIV epidemic, Mr. Leather competi...

We're lucky enough to have as out guest, Lilly Ann Velez, a 39 yo Ecuadorian woman of trans experience. She explains misconceptions and describes the spectrum of trans experience, all while sharing with us the almost 30 year journey she's taken to becoming the woman she is today.

In 2010, three-time All-American collegiate wrestler Hudson Taylor slapped a gay-equality sticker on his headgear before a match, leading to an interview with OutSports, an LGBTQ media outlet. Afterwards, he heard from 2,000 mostly closeted athletes who were moved to see a straight ally standing up for them.  After that, Hudson founded Athlete Ally, which focuses on getting sports organizations to...

Khalleed Ahmed and his family fled civil war in Somalia, spent eight years in Kenyan refugee camps, and finally were given asylum in the United States. Join us as we listen to Khalleed share his journey to becoming an openly gay, Islamic, cardiac surgeon and an inspiration for others living in countries where they can't be themselves (Part 1 of 2 interviews)

Dastan Kasmamytov, a 30 y.o. Kyrgyzstani, is an LGBTQ activist and founder of Pink Summits, an LGBTQ mountaineering team attempting to scale the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. When that's completed, Dastan will become the first Kyrgyzstani citizen to accomplish this feat, which ought to greatly change the perception of LGBTQ people in an Islamic country where...

Growing up in the central Asian nation of Krygystan, Dastan Kasmamytov had no idea he’d ever become an LGBTQ activist. But, when he was outed in national media at 19 and a fatwa was issued by the Islamic religious authorities, urging their followers to stone him to death, that path became inescapable. Find Dastan @dastanik & His Pink Summits Project @pinksummits Follow Our Instagram & Twitter @bam...

Andy Tobias' journey from being the "Best Little Boy in the World" (the title of the best-selling coming out memoir he authored under a pseudonym while still in grad school in 1972) to serving as the first openly-gay Treasurer of the Democratic Party from 1999-2016 is a fascinating one. Growing up in a suburban Jewish household where he was taught that helping others was imperative, Andy has dedic...

Kevin Jennings grew up in a southern trailer park, son of a homophobic itinerant Baptist preacher, was the first in his family to go to college (on a full scholarship at Harvard), and took the risky step of coming out while he was a high school history teacher in 1989. He quit that job in 1994 to form what has become the leading LGBTQ anti-bullying educational organization in the country, served a...

Jim Fouratt has been in the right place at the right time: he co-founded the leading anti-Vietnam war group in the 60s, he was present at all four nights of the Stonewall rebellion in June 1969, and he was an assistant to legendary music producer Clive Davis at Columbia Records. Listen as he shares his recollections of those momentous experiences.

Khalleed Ahmed and his family fled civil war in Somalia, spent eight years in Kenyan refugee camps, and finally were given asylum in the United States. Join us as we listen to Khalleed share his journey to becoming an openly gay, Islamic, cardiac surgeon and an inspiration for others living in countries where they can't be themselves. (Part 2 of 2 interviews)

David Mixner has been an author, political strategist, and civil rights activist for more than a half-century. He was first involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and later became a prominent LGBTQ rights advocate. A close confidant of President Bill Clinton in the early days of his administration, David had a falling out with Clinton when the new President backed away from his pledge...

Paula Harrowing, a 49 y.o. British queer activist describes what it was like coming out into London's vibrant and diverse lesbian club scene in the late 80s and 90s only to be greeted soon thereafter by the arrival of AIDs. While nursing her gay male friends who were succumbing to that disease, she noticed the paucity of health services for women and children with HIV, prompting her to found a non...