To belatedly celebrate Pride, this special month-long podcast series highlights four extraordinary figures—some queer, some allied—whose lives and work shaped LGBTQ+ history in ways both bold and quietly revolutionary.

We begin with the mysterious, evocative collaboration between African American model Thomas McKeller and famed artist John Singer Sargent. Their decade-long connection, hidden in Sargent’s private collection, speaks volumes about art, desire, and survival in the shadows.

Next, we honor Lorraine Hansberry—a trailblazing playwright, civil rights activist, and quiet radical. Though best known for A Raisin in the Sun, her life was filled with passion for justice, intellectual rigor, and unspoken queerness.

We then dive into the wild, theatrical worlds of Charles Ludlam and Ethyl Eichelberger—two avant-garde legends who redefined queer storytelling with flamboyance, wit, and fearless creativity.

Finally, we celebrate Dr. Evelyn Hooker, a straight ally whose groundbreaking 1950s research challenged the psychiatric establishment and helped declassify homosexuality as a mental illness. Her work—alongside activist pressure—paved the way for a seismic shift in how queerness was understood and treated.

It's never too late for an extra dose of Pride.