“I'm at an age when writers are supposed to say finally what mattered most to them—for me, it would be thousands of sex partners."

Edmund White died this week at the age of 85. Earlier this year, I got to speak with him at his home in N.Y.C. about his latest novel, "The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir", co-writing "The Joy of Gay Sex" with Dr. Charles Silverstein, and his evolving relationship to sex.

⁠LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠Click here⁠ to check out our Substack and learn more about how to support our work.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠

Why is the world so threatened by the existence of trans people? Historian Susan Stryker joins us to break it all down. She talks about how she's thinking about the onslaught of attacks targeting the trans community, her time with the activist group Transgender Nation, and why she views transness as "a practice of freedom". 

This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. ⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠ to listen to our new interview with Edmund White.

⁠LGBTQ&A⁠ is an independent, listener-supported podcast. ⁠Click here⁠ to check out our Substack and learn more about how to support our work.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠⁠@jeffmasters1⁠

Edmund White talks about his groundbreaking 1982 novel, A Boy's Own Story, co-writing The Joy of Gay Sex, his evolving relationship with sex now that he's in his 80s, and his new book, The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir. 

This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. ⁠Click here⁠ to listen to our recent interview with Dr. Charles Silverstein, co-author of The Joy of Gay Sex.

LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Click here to check out our Substack and learn more about how to support our work.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

Throughout his decades-long career, Bob Mackie has designed costumes and gowns for some of the most legendary names in entertainment history: Cher, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, Carol Burnett, and Elton John, among many others. He joins LGBTQ&A to talk about his longtime (and still ongoing) collaboration with Cher, the infamous Gone With The Wind curtain dress from The Carol Burnett Show, and gay life in Hollywood in the 1960s and 70s.

His new documentary, Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion is now streaming on Prime Video. 

This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. ⁠Click here⁠ to listen to our recent interview with Martha Shelly, activist and co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front.

LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our ⁠Substack⁠ to help support our work

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

Randy Wicker talks about joining the Mattachine Society in 1958, one of the first gay rights groups in the U.S. He also talks about leading what's considered the first pro-gay protest in the U.S., the 1966 "Sip-in" at Julius' in New York City, and sharing his home with Marsha P. Johnson.

The Randy Wicker and Marsha P. Johnson Archive: https://queerserial.com/randywicker

Pay It No Mind - The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson directed by Michael Kasino: https://youtu.be/rjN9W2KstqE?si=gd8XQeytNkQqLnaJ

This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. ⁠Click here⁠ to listen to our recent interview with Martha Shelly, activist and co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front.

LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our ⁠Substack⁠ as a paid Subscriber to help support our work.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

Mark Segal moved to New York City in May of 1969 and a month later found himself at The Stonewall Inn as the now-infamous police raid began.

"The police came in, pretended that they were doing their duty, got their pay off," he says. "The difference here was they barged in, they threw people up against the wall, they extorted money from some of the older people, they harassed the drag queens. It was pretty violent."

Stonewall sparked Mark Segal's lifelong commitment to activism, which memorably included interrupting Walter Cronkite in the middle of CBS Evening News by yelling and waving a banner that read, "Gays Protest CBS Prejudice".

He joins us on the podcast to look back on the last 50 years of the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement and shares the secret ingredient that underlies all of his activism: a sense of humor. 

Click here to listen to our interview with Gay Liberation Front co-founder, Martha Shelley.

LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our ⁠Substack⁠ as a paid Subscriber to help support our work.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

[The was originally recorded in November 2020]

Laverne Cox talks about being on the cover of Time magazine ten years ago, the pressure she's faced as one of the most visible members of the trans community, and how the Bostock v. Clayton County Supreme Court case with Aimee Stephens impacts all LGBTQ+ people.

LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our ⁠Substack⁠ as a paid Subscriber to help support our work.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

[The was originally recorded in September 2019]

Rep. Barney Frank served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 2013. He talks about being one of the first members of Congress to come out, how the AIDS crisis forced Congress to act, and the current state of the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement. Plus, his "Trophy Husband", Jim Ready, drops by to say hello.

LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our ⁠Substack⁠ to help support our work. Click here to learn more.

The book mentioned in this episode is Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington by James Kirchick.

This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. ⁠Click here⁠ to listen to our recent interview with Martha Shelly, activist and co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. ⁠@jeffmasters1

(This interview contains explicit sexual content.) Gigi Raven Wilbur talks about learning that they were intersex in college, the transformational power of BDSM in their life, and how they're feeling living in Texas right now among the current onslaught of anti-trans legislation.

LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our Substack to help support our work.

This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our interview with Martha Shelly, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Martha Shelley talks to poet Audre Lorde in an episode of her radio show, Lesbian Nation. This was originally recorded in 1972 and is a part of Martha's archive at the Lesbian Herstory Archive.

Martha is a pre-Stonewall activist who got her start in the 1960s with the Daughters of Bilitis. Click here to listen to our new sit-down interview with Martha that aired last week.

This is a part of our special series, The LGBTQ+ Elders Project. LGBTQ&A is an independent, listener-supported podcast. Please consider joining our Substack to help support our work.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1