Queer Times

This week, Kristen and Harrison discuss Provincetown’s season starting and Summer of Sass welcoming eight young adults to move in to the Sass house. They then cover politics: Mayor Mamdani’s taxing of wealthy pied-à-terre owners and balancing New York City’s budget, parallels to Provincetown’s Part-Time Residents Taxpayers Association, and concerns about voter fraud and oligarchy. They touch on California’s jungle primary, Democratic Party identity issues, Citizens United, and Elon Musk losing a lawsuit against Sam Altman/OpenAI. The conversation centers on shifting political divides, especially around technology, and anger over rollbacks of bodily autonomy. QT of the week is Kansas Judge Carl Folsom III temporarily blocking a gender-affirming care ban.

Kristen and Harrison open by discussing clips from the Kevin Hart roast that feel racist, praising Sheryl Underwood for calling out Shane Gillis and criticizing Hart’s past comments about gender roles and child abuse. They debate whether to keep watching Euphoria, arguing season three leans into shock value and meta far-right attention tactics, and pivot to praising Hacks casting and discussing Megan Stalter’s queer Christian faith and whether institutions like religion and sports should be reformed or “burned down” and rebuilt. Kristen recounts attending the Golden State Valkyries home opener, jokingly validated by a Sheila E. drum-heavy halftime show, and they discuss the Michael Jackson biopic, rebranding by his estate, and celebrity “problematic” legacies. The episode ends on the Supreme Court weakening parts of the Voting Rights Act, gerrymandering in Memphis, Virginia Democrats’ court strategy, D.L. Hughley urging Black athletes to avoid anti-voting-rights states, WNBA player fandom, and a QT-of-the-week nod to Sally Field supporting her gay son.

In this episode, Harrison Fish and Kristen Becker move between the glamorous, the frustrating, and the unexpectedly historical, starting in the thick of modern chaos: the everyday realities of being a renter. They dig into the ongoing struggle for accountability from landlords, where basic maintenance can feel like a myth and “responsiveness” is more of a theoretical concept than a lived experience.

From there, they pivot to the Met Gala, unpacking this year’s red carpet spectacle and asking whether the event lost some of its spark—especially with Jeff Bezos’s involvement hovering over the proceedings like an extremely expensive fog.

Next up: Hollywood’s latest shake-up, as they break down the recent layoffs of Marvel’s visual development team and what it might signal about the future of blockbuster filmmaking, creativity, and the increasingly industrial nature of superhero storytelling.

And to close the episode, they step back in time to explore the origins of the term “Luddites”—not as a punchline for tech skepticism, but as a misunderstood movement with a surprisingly relevant history that still echoes in today’s conversations about labor, automation, and control.

It’s part housing crisis commentary, part culture critique, and part history lesson you didn’t know you needed.

This week, Kristen and Harrison recap Provincetown’s Lesbian Visibility Week events and discuss Summer of SASS arriving for Memorial Day weekend. Harrison shares roller-skating outings in the Bay Area, including San Francisco’s Church of 8 Wheels and an Oakland roller-skating-themed drag show, and they chat about roller derby. They then unpack headlines from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and an alleged assassination attempt, debating what’s real versus staged, security response, and broader political anger and mental health. They also cover the FCC moving to challenge Disney/ABC license renewals after Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes, urging contacting Congress, discuss Virginia’s new congressional map and gerrymandering, and spotlight Louisiana congressional candidate Matt Grom challenging Mike Johnson.

Kristen is calling in from Buffalo this week, where she is helping her sister recover from a hip replacement, reflecting on how quickly patients are sent home and what that means for people without support. They celebrate Provincetown’s Lesbian Visibility Week and preview events like bingo, panels, and a Vixen reboot, while Kristen plans to return for shows including Star Crossed and upcoming Sass projects. They discuss the reported breakup of Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe and the pressures on queer athletes, including past expectations that WNBA stars stay closeted. They cover Caitlyn Jenner receiving a passport with an “M” under Trump-era rules tying gender markers to birth certificates, and critique hypocrisy around seeking exceptions. They revisit backlash against Chappell Roan and broader culture of tearing down women celebrities, then name a QT of the Week: the EU court ruling Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ law violates EU values and rights.

Kristen and Harrison return to Queer Times as Kristen recounts watching NASA’s Artemis launch, realizing lingering Challenger-era trauma, and discussing “competency porn,” increased women in mission control, and a touching tribute naming a bright lunar spot in memory of Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife Carol, a NICU nurse. They contrast women’s high standards with men “phoning it in,” citing Justin Bieber’s reportedly low-effort, higher-paid Coachella set and broader festival excess costs, prompting personal frugality goals. Harrison covers an alleged worker-arson at a Kimberly-Clark warehouse tied to living-wage demands, notes other recent commercial fires and a Molotov attack at Sam Altman’s home, and urges support for a May 1 general strike. Their QT of the week is Judge Ebony K. Williams defending an 18-year-old in a conversion-therapy payment dispute and condemning the father’s actions.

Kristen and Harrison catch up as Kristen vacations in Florida—hiking, fishing, seeing local protests, and noting beach life before heading to St. Augustine. Harrison recaps UConn’s college basketball run, a dramatic late game-winner, and a Drag Race crossover involving a women’s Final Four player. Their QT of the week highlights the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement and Nobel economist Claudia Goldin advising the players, plus concerns about the WNBA undervaluing its media-rights share and the Connecticut Sun’s move to Houston. They also discuss Chappell Roan’s Brazil controversy, celebrity privacy boundaries, and claims much of the backlash came from bots.

Harrison and Kristen celebrate women’s sports news: the NWHL “sports bra toss” charity drive and a major WNBA collective bargaining agreement raising the team salary cap to $7 million, the supermax to $1.7 million, and the minimum salary to $300,000, framing it as historic for women and queer athletes; they also discuss WNBA card collecting and NCAA tournament timing. The hosts criticize media priorities around a Cesar Chavez abuse headline amid Epstein-related controversies and war propaganda, discuss Kat Abughazaleh’s Chicago race and AIPAC’s vote-splitting tactics, argue for getting money (and stock trading) out of politics, and name local communities blocking ICE detention-warehouse plans as their “cutie of the week.”

Kristen and Harrison chat about Kristen’s upcoming vacation and her slightly used Subaru Crosstrek. Harrison recaps recent basketball updates, a San Francisco queer daytime party (Daytime Realness) honoring drag performer Helena amid lingering questions about her death, and then cover Oscars highlights QT of the week is Andy Thompson, a Democrat who won Boca Raton mayor after a recount shifted a 1-vote win to 5 votes.

Kristen and Harrison chat about warmer weather and their weekends, including Harrison’s attempt to find a lively place in San Francisco to watch the SEC women’s basketball tournament. Kristen recounts performing comedy at the Rainbow Mountain Resort in the Poconos and describes a disturbing post-show incident. They connect the episode to emotional dysregulation and accountability among men, then discuss Trump firing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after scrutiny over a $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign and his plan to replace her with Senator Markwayne Mullin. Kristen names the Rainbow Mountain Resort staff as QT of the week.