Isn't It Queer

Jonny interviews Alex Socorro about a new 501(c)(3) organization in the area, Southern Illinois Pride Collective (https://www.soilpridecollective.org/), that will cooridinate local LGBTQ+ community events, including local Pride festivities. In the back half of the show, Jonny reviews the details of Internal Revenue Code 501(c) organization designations, what kinds of organizations typically coordi...

Jonny interviews Carrie Vine, Executive Director of The Rainbow Cafe, noting both the many upcoming events and services for the community and how RC is part of a local and statewide network of advocacy orgaonizations. In the back half of the show, he looks at two recent and local vollies in efforts to ban books or resist book bans in public libraries. Finally, Sister Mothra Stewart of the SOIL Sis...

Jonny interviews Christina Garnette, a local drag performer and trans activist, about her work in the community. In the back half of the show, Jonny and Christina discuss the importance of solidarity in the queer community, leaving room for diversity but not allowing differences and interpersonal conflict to derail the important work of promoting and protecting a vulnerable community.

Jonny interviews Alex Waller of Golden Rainbows Illinois South (GRIS) about the new program, "Get Up, Get Out" -- providing social interaction and physical activity for older members of the LGBTQ community in Southern Illinois. In the back half of the show, he reviews how most legislative bans on gender affirming care for trans youth have been failing in Federal appeals court until this past weeke...

Fresh off a 10 day silent meditation retreat, Jonny sits down with Craig Gingrich-Philbrook to talk about US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decisions that landed while he was away, particularly the Creative LLC decision. Craig is a queer theorist and scholar of Performance and Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University. He is also Jonny's husband. In the back half of the show, they frame furthe...

Jonny interviews Priscilla Pimentel, an SIU employee currently doing community outreach for the just-forming LGBTQ Constituency Group on campus. They discuss what constituency groups are, why they are important, and what goes into forming one. In the back half of the show, Jonny rebroadcasts his interview with Keri, Cassandra, and Mitchell of the Carbondale Assembly for Radical Equity (CARE) about...

In the front half of the show, Jonny curates several stories about the threats facing public gatherings for Pride and Juneteenth. He leads with a tragic story about a Juneteenth mass shooting in Willowbrook, IL. He then reviews the impacts of enhanced security and sponsor caution on Pride. In the back half of the show, he updates the LA saga about the Dodgers honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indu...

Jonny interviews Heather O'Malley about the release of her new novel, Transitioning Home . They spend the bulk of the show talking about the novel, which chronicles the gender transition of an Iraq War veteran after transitioning out of the Army due to battle injuries. Heather and Jonny also discuss the recent SI PrideFest, how Heather and her wife Kaye come to live in Carbondale, her own experien...

Jonny talkes with Tara Bell about the weekend lineup of PrideFest events in Carbondale, IL. In the back half of the show, he reviews why the activism in Pride is even more important this year as the LGBTQ community faces challenges and pushback across the country. We remember that Prid is a riot, in origin. We honor that legacy even as we plan for a weekend of festive events.

Jonny talks with Tara Bell of Pride in Action, Southern Illinois about the pre-Pride festivities this coming weekend (6/2-6/3). Events include a gallery showing of art titled "Seen" at The Varsity Center on Friday at 5:00, the County-to-County Pride Run starting at 8 am Saturday at the Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, and the Pride Kickoff Fundraiser trio of bands at Hangar 9 at 9 pm o...

Jonny interviews Sister Unity of the LA Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence about recent interactions with the LA Dodgers and their off-again, on-again recognition by the team as community heroes for 27 years of community service. In the back half of the show, Jonny talks with Alexia Stallon, the director of OUT Mt. Vernon about this weekend's (5/27) "Pride Kick-Off" in Mt. Vernon, IL.

Jonny interviews Cassandra, Mitchell, and Keri of the Carbondale Assembly for Radical Equity, a collection of groups welcoming trans and queer people relocating to Illinois from states that do not recognize or affirm them. In the back half of the show, he reviews how Illinoisans responded to a visit from Florida govvernor Rhonda Santis as well as Missourians' pushback against anti-trans legislatio...

Jonny talks with Tara Bell of Pride In Action Southern Illinois about the upcoming PrideFest in Carbondale (June 9-11). They focus their talk on varois pre-Pride fundraisers and events including the "Southern IL PrideFest Royalty Pageant" this weekend (5/13) at The Varsity Center in Carbondale. In the back half of the show, Jonny interviews Sandy Pensoneau-Conway about the Rainbow Cafe, now fully...

Jonny talks with his former co-host, Caleb McKinley-Portee, and O.J. Duncan about some of the staffing issues for the Student Multicultural Resource Center, including the LGBTQ Resource Center, on the Southern Illinois University campus. Both are officers in the Graduate and Professional Student Council and are involved in working with campus administrators to address student concerns. Both are al...

Jonny shares highlights from the SIU "Rally for Diversity," a student protest concerning staffing changes at the Student Multicultural Resource Center (SMRC). Students and others expressed a variety of concerns, including the sudden departure of the LGBTQ Resource Center Coordinator, Dr. Angela Towne. The Vice Chancellor of Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Dr. Paul Frazier, attended...

Jonny covers the Rally for Expression, including SOIL Sister Marjorie Arcana's wonderful address to the crowd about the power of joy as resistance (special thanks to Sister Jewnita Hug for the recording!). Jonny marks the distinction between drag and trans while also showing why Anti-Trans legislators target drag, arguing that the anti-trans, anti-drag, anti-CRT, anti-sex eductation, anti-LGBTQ, b...

Jonny interviews Clare Killman, the first openly trans person in Illinois to be elected to a city council. They discuss the community and Carbondale's future as a sancuary city for folks in surroundling states fleeing anti-LGBT legislation and bans on reproductive healthcare and bodily autonomy. In the back half of the show, Jonny interviews Nancy Maxwell, andother community leader who won a seat...

Jonny curates some news stories in the wake of the school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tenessee last week. He focuses mostly on the aftermath, including Rightwing hysteria over the shooter's reported transgender identity, the student protests on Monday, the ousting of state representatives who joined the protestors, and the general failure to focus in any way on gun reform. In the...

Jonny talks with visiting artist Dr. Jade C. Huell about two upcoming presentations on the SIU campus about storytelling based on skin. They discuss how performance and storytelling create spaces for conversations about shared and sometimes charged expereicnes related to how we "read" skin. In the back half of the show, Jonny interviews Sarah Dubach, the assistant director of the upcoming Stage Co...

Jonny shares the highlights of a town hall scheduled for March 13 in Carbondale with candidates running for local School Boards. Many were invited to attend, three indicated that they would, none showed up. So, the community that did come to listen and ask questions had a conversation about the serious issues facing public education, especially re: LGBTQIA+ youth. The questing and the comments wer...

Jonny and Dr. Shannon Green, both Beloved Puppetistas, discuss the beginning of public puppet making workshops in anticipation of the All Species Puppet Parade on Earth Day (April 22) in Carbondale, IL. Along the way, they discuss the challenges of public pedagogy, especially for queers. They note smilarites in resistance to environmental reform and LGBTQ rights advancement. But mostly, they celeb...

Jonny interviews Ky Chameleon (a.k.a. Jelly Lizard) about the myriad local queer and flow arts projects they are involved in. From fire work to clowning to drag to Dancing Bear Tribe to publishing to music festivals to summer camps, Ky is involved in A LOT. As a long time friend of the show, Ky catches Jonny up about their journey through addiction and in and out of Southern Illinois. Throughout t...

Jonny interviews ChatGPT about trans rights and the logic and accuracy of legislative assaults on trans rights. He then digs into an explanation of what Large Language Model AI Chatbots really are and what conclusions we can and cannot draw from what they say. In the back portion of the show, he examines the good and the bad of what the Internet has done for LGBTQ+ community, equity, and acceptanc...

Jonny leans into the holiday spirit and turns to what Valentines Day can teach us about diversity of love. He begins with the often violent history of the holiday. He notes how St. Valentine is held up by some as a hero of marriage equality. He then turns to what the animal kingdom can teach us about love. In the back half of the show, he reviews two stories about the charge of "grooming" that rev...

Jonny currates some recent stories about LGBTQ-affirming education and the lie of "parental choice" and "freedom." In the back half of the show, he tries to counter the news of evergrowing amounts of proposed legislation limitiing LGBTQ rights with some stories about places where equity and acceptance are being advanced. He concludes with a rundown of upcoming LGBTQ commnity events in Southern Ill...