Zach Stafford joins us for our big gay holiday spectacular. You'll also hear from Margaret Cho, Roxane Gay, Don Bachardy, Cyrus Grace Dunham, and Ivy Bottini. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Just like the queer experience, what it means to be Jewish is dramatically changing. TV writer and comedian H. Alan Scott has a new documentary, Latter Day Jew, that captures this change as Scott, a former Mormon, converts to Judaism, prepares for their bar mitzvah, and tries to figure out exactly what being Jewish looks like for them on a personal level. On this week's episode, H. Alan Scott talks about surviving cancer, why they're uncomfortable with how gendered Judaism is, and how that gendering is something that will hopefully fade away.

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

In her new memoir, Camgirl, Isa Mazzei writes about just how much work goes into being a camgirl, calling it the hardest job she's ever had. On top of coming up with and executing fresh show ideas to make sure regular viewers were never bored, Mazzei's energy was focused on the online community she was building: remembering viewer's birthdays, checking in after job interviews, and responding to emails and private messages, playing the role of a de facto therapist. "There's so much work that goes in for it to look so effortless." Mazzei talks on the podcast about what she learned about herself as a camgirl, how transformative it was to finally feel a sense of control over her body, and how it reshaped her views on consent in sexual relationships. LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

After more than five years, Mary Lambert's second full-length album, Grief Creature, is here. She talks about the highs and lows of "Same Love" with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, coming out in the church, growing up with a bisexual mom, and the life-saving importance of talking about your trauma.

LGBTQ&A is produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

LGBTQ+ people — all people, really — often turn to porn to make up for the failures in sex education. "We copy what we see," says Davey Wavey, the YouTube personality and creator of Himeros.tv. 

And that creates problems.

With Himeros.tv, Wavey is creating a more intentional and carefully crafted type of porn. Videos are created by a team of sex coaches, tantric instructors, and sexologists to make sure that you get turned on while also learning something constructive about the ways in which queer men have sex. 

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

Cyrus Grace Dunham has written a complicated, necessary addition to the trans literary canon. A Year Without A Name, Dunham's debut book, recontextualizes gender dysphoria as something that is not solely exclusive to binary trans people. Readers get to know Cryus as Dunham gets to know Cyrus, and the memoir makes clear that one's journey to figuring out their gender is a messy, life-long process.

He joins us this week to talk about how his experience of gender is still evolving, how it's affected by privilege and whiteness, and why using he/him pronouns feels "scary and erotic."

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

Hayley Kiyoko grew up watching the other girls around her as they'd fawn over pop stars; singers who were always male. Kiyoko resolved to be just like those pop stars one day. "I've always loved the attention of women and I never had the attention of women." She wanted that validation, to experience the unrestrained enthusiasm Justin Timberlake inspires. 

And now she's achieved just that. Women throwing their bras on stage are a permanent feature of a Hayley Kiyoko show. The singer, known as "Lesbian Jesus" to her fans — a nickname whose origin is unknown, even to her — joins us to talk about feeling unwanted as a youth, how the music industry talks about her queerness, and why it was her fans that helped her fully come out of the closet.

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

It wasn't until she found out her character would be returning for the second season of Transparent that Trace Lysette was able to quit her job at Scores, the infamous New York City strip club made newly famous in the movie Hustlers. Lysette was working at Scores and other clubs, taking acting classes, and booking small roles on shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She was only open to a few people about being trans because, as she says, that's just what you were told to do at that time. 

"If you can pass, girl, just live your life. That's what we were taught to survive. And so it wasn't until the trans movement became a national conversation that I felt like I was doing a disservice to my community by not saying anything." 

The national conversation around trans people changed in part because of shows like Transparent and characters like Trace Lysette's Shea. Trace Lysette talks on this week's episode about working at Scores, the financial realities of a being an actress, and why she's still figuring out her place in Hollywood. 

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