Coming Out Pod

For the first time ever, we're having a guest back on to give us an update about their evolution, and the hot takes are FLYING! A lot has changed since Daisy Eagan (Episode 5) was on the pod during this *exact* same week in 2018: for one thing, Daisy still identifies as queer, but she's recently embraced the term "non-binary female." She's also become a doula, and her relationship status is...unex...

We're deviating a bit from our format today with Dr. Regina Baker, a surgeon at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. But Dr. Baker isn't just any surgeon: gender affirming surgery specifically constitutes at least 50% of her practice! Dr. Baker details the full process of transitioning, from that first moment of "I don't feel right in this body" to when surgery may (or may not) enter the picture. S...

We're closing out Pride Month with Lauren's old Wild 'N Out castmate, Chaunté Wayans! Chaunté (who is indeed from *that* Wayans family) identifies as a stud, and says of women, "They would be my definition of what home is like, when they're not super-crazy." In terms of her stand-up, Chaunté has always aimed to "change the game" for queer people...even if that sometimes means unintentionally offen...

Our Pride Month extravaganza continues with the fabulous Fortune Feimster of The Mindy Project, Chelsea Lately, and much more! Fortune identifies first and foremost as "A lady!" and says "I'm a little daintier on the inside than people realize." In true lesbian fashion, her story includes a gay softball league, a Chinese restaurant, and a Lifetime movie called "The Truth About Jane." Fortune share...

Hot on the heels of our "Flirting & Dating" episode, we sit down with queer dating coach Ariella Serur and ask her YOUR burning questions! Ariella bases her coaching on transparency, kindness, generosity, curiosity, and fun, and offers advice on questions like "What should I do if I'm freaking out on a date?!" She also discusses where to meet potential romantic partners, and talks about how and wh...

Pride continues with the goddamned hilarious E.R. Fightmaster, who plays NON-BINARY ICON Em on Hulu's Shrill! E.R. (who identifies as "a huge dyke") grew up in '90s Ohio, where gay people were regarded as "kind of mentally ill." They regale us with a high school enemies-to-lovers story so heart wrenching, it's worthy of a YA novel, and share how their present-day confidence was hard-won. We also d...

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH, Y'ALL!!! We thought we'd do something a little different this week and kick off Pride with an episode wholly devoted to the number one question we hear from our community: "How do I meet/flirt with/date other queer peeps???" We cover it all, from dating apps (which are the best?!) to IRL interactions (what should I say?!), and everything in between! We share our strategies and p...

Non-monogamy advocate Michelle Hy (@polyamorouswhileasian) began practicing polyamory in 2012 at nineteen years old, before the term was even in the mainstream lexicon! She talks about how she made the choice to become the visible representation she couldn't find, and offers her theories as to why poly seems to have a reputation for being "white people sh*t." We also dissect the concept of the rel...

After three long years, we FINALLY sit down with co-founder of Tello Films/filmmaker extraordinaire, Christin Baker (Season of Love; I Hate New Year's)! Christin's new production company was just written up in Variety, but there was a time when her mom told her that making LGBTQ+ films would ruin her career. Christin discusses her family's (and her own) journey to acceptance, and why we don't want...

We have an absolutely BANANAS time with Lauren's old buddy, Jeff MacKinnon: comedian, writer, actor, and unintentionally-straight-passing bro! Jeff shares hilarious stories about his first guy/guy experience at Bonnaroo (yup), and the night he came out as bi during his stand-up set. He also tells us all about the baby he's expecting with his girlfriend, the previous engagement he broke off, and "t...

Amazin LeThi was left in an orphanage in Saigon and raised by a white family in Sydney, only to suffer abhorrent racism and bullying. On top of this, she genuinely believed she was "the only Asian LGBTQ kid in the world," because she had literally never met anybody who looked and felt like she did. But things unexpectedly began to change for her at six years old when she discovered bodybuilding! A...

English author Diana Souhami was born in 1940, and began her career at a time when she couldn't even put the word "lesbian" in a book title. Today, she's written multiple biographies about queer women, and her latest one is, in fact, called "No Modernism Without Lesbians." Diana discusses how the four women in her book shaped history between the World Wars, shares her journey of going from apologe...

We talk to filmmaker Jessica Ellis, whose female-led coming of age movie "What Lies West" premieres May 11th! Jessica describes "continually interrogating" herself about her own bisexuality, and talks about queer people shading her on Twitter with comments like "ugh; STRAIGHT women!" when she is very much not in that category. Also, the difficulties of hitting on women ("I feel like I'd be hitting...

We GEEK OUT about language with Chloe Davis, who literally wrote the queer dictionary! "The Queens' English, The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases" was compiled by Chloe over the course of fifteen years(!), and helped her to crystalize her own identity for herself. Chloe discusses the pressure she felt as a bisexual woman to "pick a side," the process she went through to document...

We get our spirits lifted by disability/mental health/body positivity advocate Claire Raymond, who is A LITERAL RAY OF SUNSHINE! Claire went through so many traumatic surgeries in high school that she already had a difficult time relating to her peers; the burgeoning realization that she was queer was just one more layer of separation. But in a surprise twist, Claire found THIS VERY PODCAST! She s...

There's "baptism by fire," and then there's "going to your first gay club ever with Madonna." But that's exactly what happened to dancer/choreographer Kevin Stea! At only twenty years old, Kevin was cast in the world-famous Blond Ambition Tour. He shares what it was like to both discover and explore his sexuality amidst the utmost extremes of gay culture; all while the specter of AIDS was looming....

Only three months into 2021, we've already broken our country's record for the highest number of anti-transgender bills in history; many of which are aimed at trans youth. To discuss the specifics of the anti-trans legislation that our community is currently battling, we brought back someone with a very personal connection to this fight: Episode 45 guest Dalila Ali Rajah, whose 18-year-old son, Ph...

NICOLE IS BACK, Y'ALL!!! And to celebrate, we've brought on a guest who's near and dear to our hearts: writer, director, and queer-space-creator Gina Young, who has been referred to *multiple* times on the pod as "L.A.'s Lesbian Godfather." Gina tells the squeal-inducing story of her first girl/girl kiss, and discusses making herself more femme for the purposes of dating, despite feeling like her...

Lauren is joined by Dyking Out's Carolyn Bergier for a conversation with the PAINFULLY charming and charismatic Tien Tran (Work in Progress)! Tien had a Vietnamese-American *and* Roman-Catholic upbringing, so she truly believed she was "saving herself for the perfect man." She shares the agonizingly-relatable near misses she had in college, and discusses not being out to her family during her firs...

It's a hilariously off the rails episode of the podcast when Lauren and Mav Viola talk to actor/writer Carrie Brennan, whose film BLOCK is an incredibly autobiographical retelling of her own coming out experience! Despite having gay role models within her own family, fear kept Carrie closeted for a decade. Our discussion covers finding an LGBTQ therapist on the dark web (yes, really), queer icon R...

If Rivkah Reyes (they/them) looks familiar to you, it's probably because they played Katie, the *epically* cool bass player in School of Rock. But now they're all grown up, and A GODDAMNED DELIGHT! Rivkah identifies as fluid "across the board," and discusses their recent name change, their work with the Akashic Records, addiction and sobriety, and *so* much more! Plus, we all share our first queer...

Lauren and Episode 104's Makeda Declet have THE THRILL OF THEIR LIVES talking to former WNBA player Crystal Robinson, the pod's first professional athlete! Crystal grew up in Oklahoma in a racially segregated town of only 425 people, yet still had the wherewithal to come out to her mother in the third grade. She discusses the early days of the WNBA when being out was largely shunned, and shares a...

Comedian and writer Guy Branum (Chelsea Lately; The Mindy Project) grew up in a conservative farm town with a family that liberally used the "F" word (the slur; not the cuss), and came of age in the 1980s during peak AIDS panic. WHAT A START! Guy talks about not looking like "what a gay guy is supposed to look like," and the prison-of-its-own-making aspect of gay male culture. Plus, a surprise cam...

Lauren and guest co-host Mandahla Rose have a conversation with 21-year-old PJ Hase that could have gone on for HOURS! PJ identifies as both asexual and aromantic, and tells us about being in a friend group that "tried on labels...like trying on clothes at the mall." PJ shares what it's like when friends are at the top of your relationship hierarchy, and explains concepts like the split attraction...

We have an amazing conversation with the ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL Alayna Joy! Alayna grew up in a half Lutheran/half Mennonite family in "the Canadian Bible Belt," and amassed a large following on YouTube making bisexual-focused LGBTQ content. But then quarantine happened, and she realized...she actually *wasn't* bi. Alayna shares her epic journey of multiple coming outs, and talks about where she fi...