Cruising | Queer History and Culture

This episode was taped live at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn! Alongside the release of our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, Sarah hosts a panel of local business owners to discuss the creation and preservation of their queer spaces. Nikke Alleyne: Co-owner of The Bush, Bushwick's newest dyke bar Anna Campbell: Co-founder and Executive Director of Dykes and Dolls, a zine and event calendar conn...

This episode was taped live at Brooklyn's oldest lesbian bar, Ginger's! The community came out to celebrate the official release of our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, and share stories about the queer/lesbian spaces that matter to them. Tune in for a whole new set of tales of queer bookstores, online dating, identity, and (of course) lesbian bars! ... -You can now purchase our book, The Lesbian...

This episode was taped live at Sub Rosa: a queer bar and event space in Northampton, MA. We asked the local queer community to come out to celebrate the release of our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, and share stories about the queer/lesbian spaces that matter to them. And boy, did they! Tune in for stories across generations, including: - how Northampton became a hub for lesbians - first hand a...

We're looking back on the past five years of Cruising with some of our favorite stories from lesbian bars across the country. This episode airs simultaneously with the release of The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, a book adaptation of the first two seasons of the podcast. So let's celebrate with a reflection on some of the stories that are now available for the very first time in print!  Tune in for sele...

This week, we're digging into the rich history activism and resistance in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our guest, Meg Riley, is a political organizer, advocate, and Unitarian Universalist Minister. Meg first moved to the twin cities in 1976, where she very quickly started living in cooperative community housing and immersing herself in local lesbian activism. In 1981, Meg moved into what would become S...

Mandy Carter is a long-time Black lesbian activist and community organizer. Born in 1948, Mandy spent her childhood bouncing between New York state children's homes. While that came with exceptional challenges for a young person, it also allowed her the freedom to grow into exactly who she wanted to be, without the binds of familial pressures and expectations. For Mandy, that meant being a lesbian...

Franco Stevens first made her mark on lesbian history in 1990, with the creation of Curve Magazine (at the time known as Deneuve, but we'll get into that later). Curve would soon become the most successful lesbian magazine in the world, committed to lesbian visibility, community-building, and documenting our history. Its pages have featured change-makers and celebrities from Melissa Etheridge to J...

Angeli Luz was 18 years old when she sat down to research, pen, and post the “Am I A Lesbian?” Masterdoc. Over a decade later, her work has withstood the test of time having reached millions of readers worldwide. The Lesbian Master Doc, for those that don’t already know, is a 30 page research paper asking the question that Angeli herself was parsing out at the time: How do I know if I'm a lesbian?...

The Mary Vazquez Women's Softball League was founded in 1976 in Northampton, Massachusetts. A collection of lesbian feminists (Eileen Stewart, Jean Grossholtz, Susan Tracy, and Maryann Jennings) formed the league around their values of equity, inclusion, and community. Today, Sarah sits down with long-time player, and former league commissioner, Bernie Stark to discuss:  -The league's history and...

They called it "The Service," the world has called them "The Janes" - this episode follows the story of Chicago's underground abortion network. From its 1965 inception, through their devastating police bust, and the eventual legalization of abortion on the federal level in 1973. Act I features Heather Booth, a Civil Rights activist who first founded the service and trained other women in her proce...

Iconic comedian Margaret Cho joins us on the podcast to discuss the ups and downs of her career, and all of the ways queerness has always been part of her life. We cover topics like:  discovering gay people at her parents' gay bookstore  working at a lesbian BDSM leather shop the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in her communities being a self-proclaimed life-long *** hag starring in the first Asian...

Our friend Diane took the internet by storm this winter, when she started to tell her story of coming out and falling in love as a late-in-life lesbian. With over 5 million views, and thousands of adoring commenters, we figured it was time Sarah sat down with Diane to discuss her life in more detail. They unpack everything about Diane's 77 years of compulsive heteronormativity (she is, understanda...

Guest Carmen Maria Machado is a writer of queer horror, essays, and short stories. She is most well-known for her memoir, In the Dream House, which came out in 2019, and really took the queer lit world by storm. In it, she brings light to a concept often shied away from - domestic violence and abuse within queer relationships. While writing the memoir, Carmen did a lot of research into the history...

Elaine Stott charmed audiences back in 2019 on the 39th season of CBS's Survivor. She was a shining light on her season and proved that a lesbian could, quite easily, win over the hearts of America, as well as her fellow castaways. This is Elaine's story - one of tomboyishness, and skipping school, and fierce independence. We discuss growing up in small-town Kentucky (where she broke records for t...

Some of the most beloved lesbian bars of the past few decades have been the creations of our guest, Brooke Webster. This week, Brooke shares the stories behind Meow Mix (1996-2004) and Cattyshack (2005-2009). Her bars quickly became cultural phenomenons - from shoutouts on Ellen's coming out episode to features in Kevin Smith's cult classic lesbian film, Chasing Amy (1997). We also get to know Bro...

In 1999, Jess Dobkin and Lisa DeBoer formed the activist group Lesbians for Liberty. Their purpose was to push for visibility in the WNBA and specifically, at the New York Liberty games. In Act I, Jess and Lisa sit down with Sarah to discuss the history of lesbians and the WNBA, the story of the Lesbian Time-Out Kiss-In, and their experiences in activist groups like the Lesbian Avengers. In Act II...

Radical lesbian activist Oak Chezar spent three years protesting nuclear war at Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, and another five living on lesbian women's lands. Some of Oak's stories were aired on our original Greenham Common episode with Sue Say and, due to popular demand, we bring you Sarah's full conversation with her here today. Tune in for never-before-seen tales of creative actions, ann...

Ronnie D. Ron (also known as Ronnie-Ron and Sha'ron Harris) came up in the LA Black gay disco scene, and soon went on to found Shakedown in 1996. Shakedown was a special place - where women celebrated each other, danced freely and exotically, and found lovers and family. Ronnie discusses the origins of Shakedown, the making of Leilah Weinraub's 2018 documentary, and why they eventually had to clos...

In this episode, we sit down with Tricia Cooke — the creative force behind the recent lesbian comedies Drive-Away Dolls and Honey Don’t. Married to filmmaker Ethan Coen (yes, of the Coen brothers), Tricia has long identified as a lesbian, and we dive into how that identity intersects with her decades-long, straight-presenting poly marriage. The conversation spans two interviews a year apart: first...

Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with Lisa Cannistraci, the owner of Henrietta Hudson, the longest running lesbian bar in the country, (@henriettahudson), to chat about her experience running the bar. From taking Madonna on a tour of all of the lesbian bars in NYC, to Melissa Etheridge taking over the stage when the band started playing "Come to My Window", Lisa has seen it al...

Another feed swap this week - with The Queer Family Podcast with Jaimie Kelton! . . . Jaimie sits down with Brian Rosenberg, longtime advocate, dad of three, and founder of Gays With Kids and GWK Academy. From navigating HIV and homophobia in the '80s to building a beautiful family through adoption and surrogacy, Brian shares his powerful story with honesty, humor, and heart. He opens up about the...

Cruising is taking a a short summer hiatus and, in the meantime, sharing episodes from other queer podcasts we love! First up is Shame Spiral with psychotherapist-turned-comedian Ely Kreimendahl. This is her hilarious interview with comedian Robby Hoffman (Hacks, Workin' Moms, The Chris Gethard Show, Odd Squad, Just For Laughs), which originally aired April 18, 2023:  "This week I spiraled out wit...

Womencrafts is one of only 13 feminist book stores left in the country, and a pillar of Provincetown, MA. This week, we sit down with Michelle Axelson, the owner of Womencrafts since taking over in 2015. Michelle shares the history of the shop (first owned by lesbians in 1976), how she found her place in Ptown, and why so many people have come out for the first time at Womencrafts (they offer a dy...

We're diving into the rich history and culture of queer country western dancing. First, Sean Monaghan will share the story of Stud Country - how he discovered queer line dancing at the historic Oil Can Harry's, and how (along with his cofounder, Bailey) Sean founded Stud Country and brought about a renaissance of country western dancing to a younger generation of queers. In Act 2, Susanna Stein sh...

Our Guest this week, Heather Purser, made headlines back in 2011 when she single handedly passed same-sex marriage in the Suquamish tribe in Seattle, Washington. Today, Heather is a Suquamish lesbian activist and commercial diver! She shares her story of accepting her own identity, finding her childhood crush, and making space for herself within her community. Thank you for listening to Cruising P...