Courage to Be Courageous

David Cotton is a retired Brigadier General with the United States Air Force. He got his Masters Degree in Computer Data Management and another Masters in National Security studies. After serving over 29 years in the Air Force and doing consulting work for the Pentagon, he had to deal with who he was authentically. This sent him on a journey of reading all types of literature related to the LGBTQ...

David   Cotton interviewed Dan Bolen from his podcast/website  www.outlatewithdavid.com . David  is doing a tremendous amount of work through his podcast for the LGBTQ + community.  David  is a retired Brigadier General from the Air Force who also came out as gay after retirement. You will get the opportunity to hear part of my life story which will be up on my audio portion on my website  www.dan...

Steve Petersen grew up in a farming town in Audubon, Iowa. He went on to get his BS degree in Fashion Merchandising from Iowa State University. He struggled with his sexuality and it wasn't until after college that he had to deal with who he authentically was. He went on to several different retail organizations, and ended up at Macy's in Manhattan, New York, in their merchandising group. Steve la...

Nate Rhoton is the CEO of an organization in Phoenix called OneNTen. This organization has 18 satellite locations and helps the LGBTQ+ community with individuals in ages 11 to 24 years and homeless people between the ages of 18 and 24 years to be a support system for them. Nate has a BS degree in Economics from Arizona State University and after spending five years with General Mills and 12 years...

Harry Fox got his B.I.D. (in industrial design) from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and his M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He spent 30 years in the IT industry and ended as a Chief Information Officer for one of the large insurance firms. Harry struggled to find who he was and spent 12 years in therapy. He's always had an interest in the "mind"...

David Gurzenski Luke grew up in upstate New York in the city of Albion . David was a soft-spoken introvert and had tragedy hit him at 11 years old when his father died of a heart attack. He eventually moved to Arizona, where he attended Arizona State University, and got his Bachelors Degree  in Journalism in 1969. He also became the editor of the school newspaper at ASU in his first year of school...

David Pederson grew up in a mining town in Leadville Colorado, where his father was a miner. When the family moved to Wisconsin, David worked in a retail outlet for Amity Leather and later, as a property manager for over 500 apartments. He later worked in furniture sales and decorating, and then started to work more on his writing, which was his real passion. David knew he was different and especi...

Gypsy Haake who became known as just "Gypsy" became a Hollywood star. He was featured in over 118 shows both in films TV and on stage. This is an incredible podcast about Gypsy who is now 91 years old and served as the Master of Ceremonies for the Palm Springs gay pride parade. Gypsy, who worked with numerous Hollywood stars such as Mel Brooks and his wife Ann Bancroft, Lana Turner, Lucille Ball,...

This podcast is an incredible, powerful story from Patrick Harkness, who lost his brother Scotty being senselessly murdered. Scotty was a beautiful human being who had  "special needs "  who showed courage throughout his entire life. He was active, his whole life in Special Olympics playing basketball, baseball, track, and field, and golf. Scotty, who died at almost 60 years old, was passionate ab...

This is an incredible podcast of two great men who have persevered through the odds and have used courage and optimism, to get through their fear and setbacks. Cam Davis has a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science/ Psychology and English, a JD degree, and an MBA. He is presently the Managing Director of Investments for Wells Fargo Advisors. Sam Randazzo has a Bachelors of Science in Adve...

Dennis lived in a generation where you could not come out as gay because it was considered a psychiatric disorder. He even made a couple attempts at suicide. Dennis lived in a generation where there was no moral support and no role models for LGBTQ individuals. He used education to bury his feelings, receiving a bachelors degree two masters degrees, and a PhD in Public Health . He connected to The...

Crystal Waltman was extremely good at softball, and got a scholarship for Central Arizona College for softball and won two national championships in softball . After receiving her Associate Degree she went on to Arizona State University, and  received her Bachelor Degree in Communications . After the death by suicide of her best friend, she started to bury her feelings and become numb to any emoti...

Rich T graduated with a Bachelor's of Science Degree from San Jose State University in Hospitality Management. Rich was raised in a sports environment and played all different types of sports and was particularly good at swimming and diving which he did in college . He volunteered to go into the army and was sent to Korea . Rich knew he was attracted to older men and he struggled with that trying...

Mike Klein graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in finance from Arizona State University, and received his Master in International Management (MIM) at Thunderbird University. He grew up in Mesa Arizona where he was a member of the LDS church. He also went on a mission for the church and became a high achiever in all the leadership positions in the Mormon church thinking that if he did all...

Steve Gumble is founder of SBG productions which is a special event production company located in Telluride Colorado. He has Bacheors of Arts from the University of Hampshire, in Parks and Recreation /Tourism. He married a beautiful woman that he met in college, named Lynn and they stayed married for 12 years. This produced two beautiful girls, Katy and Taylor. Steve showed courage by coming out a...

Jalene Murphy overcomes life's obstacles, mental health, the stigma of divorce, pervasive perfectionism and shame and guilt from the Catholic Church to find her authentic self. After a deep discovery, of who she is, she divorced her husband, who was her best friend because she knew she was gay/lesbian. This podcast will talk about sexual affirmation, self love, and the power of courage and inner s...

Ralph Kellog was an only child raised by a single mom who was emotional and physical abusive to him. He knew at four years old he was different ;he liked playing with dolls, didn't fit in with the other boys, was bullied at grade school and middle school, and would run home to hide. He had no one that he could talk to about who he was, and he learned not to fully trust adults .In high school he me...

Larry Smith is our guest from Toronto, Ontario Canada. He has a BFA in Drama (Acting and Directing). He was the son of an evangelical minister of the Church of Christ . The church was very restrictive., no alcohol, no dancing and took the literal word.of  God in the Bible fundamentally. Larry knew that he was different. He's always like speech and drama,love the fine arts , wanted to be an actor a...

Andy Vaughn is the president of Alliant University which is headquartered in San Diego, and has  six campuses. They are the leading university training license clinical psychologists in the United States. They also opened a nursing division in training individuals to get a degree in nursing. He started in his earlier years in radio broadcasting ; broadcasting sporting events, and eventually news r...

After doing 27 episodes of the podcast "the courage to be courageous" I wanted to do a reflective interview to my Podcasters. It's really a podcast of thankfulness and having a voice for our community and I am so appreciative that I'm able to do this . .I also want to ask those who are my listeners to give me input on what they would like to hear in future podcasts. I also want them to have a voic...

Jahn Curran was a member of the Mormon church served on a mission. He came out as gay late in life and went through a tumultuous life of coming out as a gay person. He also was a patient of conversion therapy and the damage that it caused giving him PTSD. This story is powerful with elements of sadness and acceptance. He also is battling cancer along with having open heart surgery. I believe you'r...

Marisa   Butler  is the Director of development for the Phoenix Theater Company. You're going to find an incredible community at the Phoenix Theater Company . The theater just started their 104th season and are expanding their facilities. In fact, Steven Spielberg showed his first production as a high school senior in the Phoenix Theater, and still considers it to be the start of his movie career....

Andrew Suozzo is a marathon runner and completed the New York marathon , the Boston marathon, and the Tucson marathon at the age of 76 and 77 years old. He was number one in his group in all three marathons. This is an incredible podcast which shows the importance of commitment to exercise by running which Andrew pursued . He will also be running the Chicago marathon in October 2023 where he is in...

David Matheson was formally a member  of the Later Day Saints church, and even went on a  mission for the church. He got his bachelor,s  degree from BYU in counseling. Because he wanted to help people, especially those that were part of the Mormon church he went into counseling, which eventually led to "conversion therapy counseling" . After spending many years, doing conversion therapy counseling...

Ian Jenkins MD wrote a book called "three dads and a baby". He is in a throuple relationship with Alan Mayfield and  Jeremy  Hodges. This is a powerful podcast for all three dads wanted to be on the birth certificate and went to court to get this approved. This shows the courage of all three dads in the face of odds to make this happen. They received international recognition from all five contine...