Outward: Slate's LGBTQ podcast

This month, in honor of Pride, we’re going to be bringing you an Outward episode every week. You’ll still get the biggie on June 22, with Pride and Provocations, the Gay Agenda, and all the usual fun, but we’re also going to supply some shorter snacks of gay goodness every Wednesday. We’ve got some great things lined up--interviews, coverage of the big queer summer movie, and of course reflections...

This month Bryan, Christina, and Jules explore the intersection of queer life and incarceration. How has America’s prison-loving penal system shaped our history and present, and how does that experience get channeled—or not—into the culture we make and consume? The hosts are joined by Hugh Ryan, author of the new book The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison , which us...

This month Bryan, Christina, and Jules take a break from talking about the hostile legislation queer and trans people are fighting against to talk about what they’re fighting for. Brooklyn kindergarten teacher Eliza Cutler joins the hosts to share what it looks like when teachers are free to speak about LGBTQ lives in the classroom. Then they discuss the queer family drama at the heart of the new...

Bryan, Christina, and Jules respond to the anti-trans attacks coming out of state legislatures across the country, particularly in Texas, where the governor and attorney general have tried to make caring for trans kids into a form of child abuse. Jules sketches out what a trans child’s life would look and feel like over the coming years as a result of these draconian bills and administrative attac...

Christina, Bryan, and Jules discuss a proposed Florida bill that would ban all discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state, and the 4K-restored re-release of John Cameron Mitchell’s senimal 2007 film Shortbus . The Gay Agenda includes an East Williamsburg trans enclave. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christina Cauterucci and Bryan Lowder welcome our new third co-host, Jules Gill-Peterson, and talk to author Dr. Kevin Guyan about his new book Queer Data . The crew then explores the trans storylines and general weirdness of And Just Like That , the “next chapter” in the Sex and the City universe, before adding more items to the Gay Agenda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

Christina and Bryan discuss the finer points of new queer Christmas movies—like, how realistic is Netflix’s Single All The Way ?—and why that harness joke in Lifetime’s Under The Christmas Tree was so jarring. We’re also joined by some special guests who share Prides and Provocations from the past year and explore Premonitions for 2022. We close the year with bell hooks and trans triumphs in the G...

Christina and Bryan welcome guest host Carolyn Bergier, co-host of the podcast Dyking Out . The crew explore the ups and downs of the Amazon lesbian reality TV show Tampa Baes . They then talk about Billy Porter’s fashion beef with Harry Styles, what queer fashion and signifiers actually mean, and whether they matter anymore. And finally, queer burlesque, queer DJ sets, and butch dykes for our Gay...

Christina and Bryan take us into Queer History Month with thoughts on Reba McEntire and queer inclusion in historically misogynistic places. They welcome Adam Zmith, author of Deep Sniff , a book on the queer history of poppers, and writer Jude Doyle, who talks about what we missed in the recent documentary about transmasculine Black feminist icon Pauli Murray. Finally, our guests add supersmart,...

Christina, Bryan, and Slate Senior Managing Producer June Thomas say farewell to outgoing host Rumaan Alam, then welcome journalist Casey Newton to discuss Grindr's data security problem and its inherent potential for ruining self-esteem. They then delve into Todd Stephens' Swan Song , a beautiful new film about an old queen, his cross-town journey to find hair products fit for styling his dead cl...

It’s August, and Outward is leaning into the heat. First, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan gab about the beach. Why, exactly, are queer beaches so delightful? Is there a secret geography of finding the gay beach? They then talk to GirlFlexx, a female dom stripper who performs largely for straight women in a traditionally male style -- and kills it in adoration and tips. Items discussed on the show: An...

A year-and-a-half into the pandemic, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan look back at all the times we did not get to share our milestones -- good, bad, or just big -- with other queers. If a queer comes out in the forest where no one can hear them are they still queer? Yes, but perhaps less joyfully than if they had been in community. The hosts then speak with Lucia Lucas, the first female baritone to p...

It’s Pride month, which means Outward is feeling particularly festive! Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan are joined by musician Julien Baker to discuss her feelings about Pride, queerness, fluidity, and ways of interpreting queer art. Then Jillian Hanlon, a trans cop in upstate New York, joins to offer her take on the recent debate over cops at Pride. Items discussed on the show: Skittles go gray for P...

The Waves is back, and we thought Outward listeners might enjoy this week's episode about Season 3 of Master of None , which focuses on a Black lesbian relationship. But is it worth watching? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan are joined by Sarah Schulman, whose new book Let the Record Show sets out to correct inaccurate representations of ACT UP New York, its tactics, and its philosophy of direct action in response to the AIDS epidemic. Then they discuss three collections of photographs of LGBTQ people. Who are they for, and will they be seen by the people who need them most? It...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan are first joined by Diana Souhami, whose new book, No Modernism Without Lesbians , tells the story of Sylvia Beach, Bryher, Natalie Barney, Gertrude Stein, and the artistic community they built in Paris between the wars. Then June Thomas joins them for a discussion of the recent spate of period dramas featuring women in love. Why can’t the women in these fi...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan discuss a New York magazine piece about fashion designer Alexander Wang, the dynamics of power and consent, and the swiftly changing norms of gay spaces. Then they’re joined by science writer Riley Black to discuss her recent Slate piece about how science might not be the best tool to argue with those who oppose trans rights. This podcast was produced by Da...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan are first joined by June Thomas to discuss Jeremy Atherton Lin’s new book Gay Bar , their own personal histories with gay bars, and if such queer spaces have a future. Then they’re joined by Autostraddle’s Shelli Nicole to talk about the Lex app, a text-based dating app aimed at queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming people. They discuss how the app got its...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan discuss the New Year’s drama in Puerta Vallarta, the Instagram account that popped up to shame gay people for traveling during COVID, and if shaming ever works as a health and safety tactic. Then they interview Torrey Peters about her new book Detransition, Baby . They talk with her about writing for a trans audience and expecting cisgender readers to keep...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan speak with Ruth Coker Burks, author of the new book All the Young Men: A Memoir of Love, AIDS, and Chosen Family in the American South , about her work in the 1980s, helping Arkansans with AIDS. Then they discuss three of 2020’s bumper selection of LGBTQ holiday movies: The Christmas Setup , Happiest Season , and A New York Christmas Wedding . Should we be...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan speak with Ria Tabacco Mar, the ACLU’s director of the Women’s Rights Project, about what the future for LGBTQ people looks like with president-elect Biden and an even more conservative Supreme Court. Then they discuss  Uncle Frank , a film from Alan Ball about a gay man and his partner on a road trip with his niece from Manhattan to South Carolina in the 1...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan look at fact and fiction in gay history. First, they examine Netflix’s recent version of The Boys in the Band in the context of the original, and how it captures a specific moment of gay life. Then they discuss the new HBO series EQUAL , which seeks to tell the stories of important figures from the history of the LGBTQ movement. They discuss how the utter m...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan interview journalist Angela Chen about her new book, Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex . They talk about asexuality’s rise in visibility, where ace people fit in the queer community, and how asexuality can lead us to question so many of our assumptions about social constructions that depend on who your sexual partner...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan talk to Slate sex-advice columnist Rich Juzwiak about the state of sex six months into the COVID-19 crisis. They discuss the sorts of questions he’s fielding, the limits of sexual creativity, and navigating casual sex during this time. Then the team digs into Ellen DeGeneres, how she fits into the history and modern landscape of queer media, and why she see...

This month, Christina, Bryan, and Rumaan interview journalist David France about his new documentary Welcome to Chechnya on the atrocities happening there and the work being done by activists to liberate queer Chechens. Then they discuss the new audio documentary by Evan Roberts, “ Caring for Lesbian Icon Phyllis Lyon, With Love and Deceit. ” June shares how important Naya Rivera and her Glee char...