Coming Out Pod

Kerry Spencer Pray and Jenn Lee Smith met in Affirmation, an organization for LGBTQIA+ Mormons. Kerry had just realized that she was queer; Jenn had been out for longer, but as an Asian-American, she was struggling with the overwhelming whiteness (not to mention maleness) of the only available queer Mormon spaces. Jenn and Kerry clicked immediately as friends, and Jenn pitched the idea for what wo...

We're capping off a fantastic Pride Month with the publisher of DIVA, the world's largest LGBTQIA+ magazine for female-identifying and non-binary people! DIVA has been around since 1994, but Linda Riley became the title's first ever lesbian owner in 2015. She shares the story of how she came out to her mother at fifteen and was offered the choice of "psychiatry" (aka electroshock therapy), or leav...

We have a *hilarious* conversation with actor Erica Luttrell (Lost Girl; Salvation; Mayans M.C.), who voices lesbian icon Sapphire on Steven Universe! Back when she was younger, Erica made a point of differentiating between her platonic female crushes (Gillian Anderson) and her non-platonic male crushes (you will genuinely never guess who). But the formative experience of seeing Shakespeare in Lov...

Activist and author Edafe Okporo ("Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto") is a truly incredible human being. Born and raised in Nigeria when homosexuality was heavily condemned (but not yet criminalized), Edafe hid his sexuality by joining the ministry in college. Though he eventually left to become an activist and work at an HIV/AIDS clinic, everything changed in 2014 when homosexuality was made illegal...

A Functional Medicine Nurse Practitioner! A Certified Breathwork Meditation Guide! A self-identified "Deep Lez!" Victoria Albina (she/they; Feminist Wellness podcast) was born in Argentina, but by her early teens, her family had immigrated to the greatest state in the union (Rhode Island), and she was secretly attending a "tiny homo support group." Victoria shares how her queer Latina origins led...

It's officially Pride Month, and we're kicking things off with an UN-F$@#!NG-BELIEVABLE guest!! At thirteen years old, Jay Toole (known to all as Super Butch) came home with a flat top hair cut, and was promptly kicked out for good. Jay headed straight for the West Village, and before long, she was taken in by a community of homeless queer kids in Washington Square Park. What followed was over twe...

Get ready to FEAST YOUR EARS on the Southern drawl of public speaker, advocate, and Lesflicks writer, Sarah-Cate! From living alone by age nine, to bouncing around group homes through her teens, to years spent unhoused as a young adult, Sarah-Cate's story is equal parts devastating and deeply inspiring. And despite living her entire life in very conservative parts of Texas, Sarah-Cate always, *alw...

Not only is queer relationship coach Liana Griebsch an absolute joy, she is also one of the most SELF-AWARE people we've encountered! By the end of high school, straight-A-rule-follower Liana had already cleared the massive hurdles of accepting her gayness, and coming out to her Mexican Catholic mother. But a series of unsatisfying partnerships in college ultimately led her to a bold declaration:...

Strap in and strap-on for this VERY HORNY EPISODE!! Unflinchingly-authentic comedian and actor Abe Farrelly (Curb Your Enthusiasm; Netflix Is A Joke Fest) is back as our first ever post-transition guest! Abe discusses how his standup - which used to lean heavily on the butch lesbian jokes - was "a big tell" when it came to realizing he needed to transition, and how he sees comedy as an opportunity...

Actor, writer, and VO artist Lisa Cordileone heard "no" so many times that it prompted her to create her own work, which led to the lesbian web series Easy Abby and the feature Freelancers Anonymous! But while Lisa's queer life away from home was thriving, the time she spent with her family back in North Carolina was radically different. Lisa gets candid about her lifelong journey with shame, and...

We've had a number of asexual-identified guests on the podcast, but for the first time ever, we are thrilled to be speaking to an asexual couple! Courtney and Royce (who go by "The Ace Couple" online) are about to celebrate eight years of marriage. They share how they each came to understand their asexuality prior to meeting, and regale us with their UNFATHOMABLY cinematic love story! We also answ...

Ben Siemon is an animation writer at Disney, and he loves his job. But when the infamous "Don't Say Gay" bill was on its way to becoming law in Florida and Disney didn't come out against it (AND was revealed to have donated to the politicians behind it), Ben got upset. So upset, in fact, that one day last month he made a video explaining why Disney's silence was dangerous in general, and hurtful t...

Nicky Endres (they/she; Hulu's The Dropout) contains so many intersecting identities that they've come up with a comprehensive way to introduce themself: "I am an adopted, Asian-American, non-binary, transfeminine, queer actor, comic, voice artist, and audiobook narrator." How's THAT for a mic drop?? Growing up with white parents in a small town in Wisconsin, Nicky was aware of the ways in which t...

It's International Asexuality Day, and we're absolutely thrilled to have on activist, model, and writer, Yasmin Benoit! Throughout school, Yasmin was constantly singled out by the other girls for not being Team Edward *or* Team Jacob (it was 2009, y'all). When she learned about asexuality online, Yasmin immediately identified with it, but when she tried to come out, she found herself consistently...

Nicole met the gorgeous-inside-and-out Koren Porras (he/they) in a dance class, and the two of them immediately bonded over being bisexual (and "very woo woo"). Koren grew up in the "deep, deep south" of New Orleans and Texas, and found himself othered more for his North African/Native American heritage than for his burgeoning sexuality/non-binary identity. He explains how not fitting into any par...

We have a *delightful* time with writer, film analyst, and green-haired swamp queen GODDESS, BJ Colangelo! BJ breaks down the ways in which queerness and the horror genre are intrinsically linked, and details the incredible impact that Chris Sarandon - NOT Susan! - has had on her understanding of attraction. She also shares her experiences as a cis woman married to a trans woman, and discusses rec...

Kelly Whelan is a human trafficking researcher for the UN *and* a former professional ice hockey player who has lived all over the globe! But it was Ukraine specifically that captured her heart; partly because the country and its people figure so prominently into her own coming out story. In fact, Kelly's gradual embracing of her own queerness seemed to run parallel to similar strides Ukraine itse...

We sit down with our first ever Bi+ identified guest, the warm and wonderful Joe Shaw! Joe grew up in a very religious family in Texas (dad was a pastor; Church was part of the Southern Baptist convention; you get it), and got married at twenty-one. He and his wife went on to have two children, but it wasn't until his youngest - a son - was born that Joe realized he had never dealt with his own pe...

Kathy grew up in an Evangelical family in Texas, where gay people were described with words like "abomination" and "contagious." For decades, she walked the path she was expected to: getting married, having children, and unconsciously training herself to just "Christian harder" whenever "the gay would start to come up." It wasn't until last year at the age of fifty that Kathy finally realized she...

BOY OH BOY, ARE WE EXCITED FOR THIS EPISODE! We're reunited with Episode 9 guest Lauren Ludwig (she/they), who has had some major life-developments since we last spoke! For one thing, they now "identify more aggressively as gender non-binary," but an even bigger development is that Lauren and their husband have opened up their marriage, and are now poly [that sound you just heard was Nicole SQUEAL...

As you're no doubt aware, there is some *truly* awful legislation making headlines lately. These bills and laws not only severely impede teachers' ability to, well, teach, but also make educators vulnerable to lawsuits for simply talking about race and gender issues in the classroom. It's real Handmaid's Tale stuff. To better examine how dire the situation is, we brought on two *tremendous* queer...

We've got award-winning author Mariko Tamaki (DC's "Crush & Lobo"), whose queer YA novel "Cold" just came out this week! Mariko came of age at an all-girls private school in Toronto, and thought her disinterest in boys was just because she was a late bloomer...until she got to university, and discovered Montreal's '90s queer scene. Mariko's story includes being schooled by lesbian elders about the...

In a real lovefest of an episode, we're joined by Nicole's former youth group advisor, Jenn McCalley, who Nicole came out to twenty years ago as a wee baby queer! But that's not all: in true "circle of life" fashion, Jenn is now recently out as a baby queer HERSELF!!! Now a social worker and married mother of two, Jenn realized early in the pandemic that not living her full truth was affecting bot...

We sit down with Nicole's dear friend and concert-going buddy, Mike Mizwicki! Mike grew up in an Irish Catholic family in Chicago, so suffice to say he was surrounded by an ever-present machismo factor. But even as a child, he could tell from other people's reactions to his behaviors and interests that there was something about him that was "wrong or different." Mike pays homage to Billy's Hollywo...

In a mere twenty-two years on this planet, Regan Aliyah (Club Mickey Mouse) has already forged a career as an actor, rapper, spoken word artist, choreographer, and more! Regan started working professionally at the age of twelve; as a result, she never really focused on herself or her personal life because she felt she had to prioritize her outward-facing persona. She teaches us all about The Lesbi...