Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive

This special guest episode is from Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast about things misunderstood and overlooked. Gladwell does a deep dive into the ’90s sitcom Will and Grace, which was quietly revolutionary in changing our collective beliefs around gay people and marriage equality. The episode also looks at how television’s ability to change public opinion has faded with the rise of modern-day streaming. 

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What made Stonewall different? How can we carry the lessons of the uprising with us today? Eric is joined by one archivist and four activists to answer those questions in an intergenerational conversation recorded at the Stonewall Inn on May 23, 2019.

First aired June 27, 2019. Visit the episode webpage for background information, archival photos, and other resources, as well as the episode’s transcript. 

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Like so many other acts of LGBTQ resistance, the 1969 Stonewall riots could have become a footnote in history. But the protests and organizing that followed launched a new phase in the fight for LGBTQ rights. Hear how anger found its voice and how joy propelled the first Pride marches.

First aired June 20, 2019. Visit the episode webpage for background information, archival photos, and other resources, as well as the episode’s transcript. 

To hear more from Craig Rodwell, go here. And listen to Barbara Gittings and Kay Lahusen here as they discuss how homophile activists fared in the heady days of post-Stonewall organizing.

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The Stonewall uprising began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. Revisit that moment, and the hours and days that followed, with voices from the Making Gay History archive. Relive in vivid detail the dawning of a new chapter in the fight for LGBTQ rights.

First aired June 13, 2019. Visit the episode webpage for background information, archival photos, and other resources, as well the episode’s transcript. 

To hear more of Marsha P. Johnson and Randy Wicker’s conversation about Stonewall, go here. And listen to Morty Manford’s account of the riots here.

For exclusive Making Gay History bonus content, join our ⁠⁠Patreon community⁠⁠.

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Conflict has context. In this first episode of Making Gay History’s Stonewall season, we hear stories from the pre-Stonewall struggle for LGBTQ rights. We travel back in time to the turbulent 1960s and take you to the tinderbox that was Greenwich Village on the eve of an uprising.

First aired June 6, 2019. Visit our episode webpage for background information, archival photos, and other resources, as well as the episode’s transcript. 

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Women can’t get AIDS—or so Michelle Lopez thought until she tested positive for HIV in 1990. Viable treatments were years away, but the undocumented immigrant from Trinidad would not be defeated. She turned her diagnosis into an opportunity to help others while she fought for her life.

Visit our episode webpage for background information, archival photos, and other resources, as well as a transcript of the episode.

For exclusive Making Gay History bonus content, join our ⁠Patreon community⁠.

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As a complement to our episode featuring Ann Northrop, meet Peter Staley, another seminal member of ACT UP, in this 2021 interview courtesy of the LGBTQ&A podcast, hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate in partnership with GLAAD.

Listen to the LGBTQ&A podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Fierce and unflappable, veteran journalist Ann Northrop is a natural activist. In this episode, she discusses her most dramatic ACT UP arrest, her work as an AIDS education advocate, her blue-blooded upbringing, and the lure of Angie Dickinson.

Visit our episode webpage for background information, archival photos, and other resources, as well as a transcript of the episode.

For exclusive Making Gay History bonus content, join our ⁠Patreon community⁠.

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Randy Boyd’s “gay agenda” was to be radically open about who he was: a gay, HIV-positive writer—not the straight professional athlete he was always assumed to be. Determined to blow up stereotypes about Black people, gay people, and people living with HIV, he had his work cut out for him. 

Visit our episode webpage for background information, archival photos, and other resources, as well as a transcript of the episode.

For exclusive Making Gay History bonus content, join our ⁠Patreon community⁠.

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From her home in Juneau, Alaska, Sara Boesser watched with alarm as the AIDS epidemic rolled across the lower 48 states, threatening lives and hard-won gay rights. The soft-spoken building inspector decided there was no time to waste. She became an activist and got to organizing.

Visit our episode webpage for background information, archival photos, and other resources, as well as a transcript of the episode.

For exclusive Making Gay History bonus content, join our ⁠Patreon community⁠.

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