QueerCore Podcast

PART ONE:

It’s a queer true-crime story, political mystery, and historical investigation unlike anything the curious world has ever been exposed to.

9:00-9:15 PM, July 8, 1979: Oscar streaker, gallerist, and bisexual political activist Robert Opel is shot in the head from a foot away. Weeks earlier, he had taken on the establishment and the San Francisco police. He was also the owner of Fey-Way Studios, a queer San Francisco gallery that championed artists like photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and Tom of Finland.

Opel was more than a provocateur or a footnote in queer history: he was deeply entrenched in the radical underground of 1970s San Francisco, moving between political activism, art, leather, performance, and the intense queer world. His murder came at a moment when he was increasingly challenging powerful people and institutions—and what happened next remains deeply troubling.

Someone—or ones—wanted Robert Opel dead. And the murderer? He escaped over three times. The first time, he was wearing street clothes and allegedly had money in his pocket. He was gone a month.

In this wild-ride series, we feature the voices of leather goddess and performer Camille O’Grady (she was in the next room when Opel was shot) and even the trigger man himself. Joins us as we name names and walk through the case that has stunned people for decades. Robert Opel did not have to die.

Topics: Political assassinations, police cover ups, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tom of Finland, black magic, leather gods and goddesses, Harvey Milk, Dan White, injustice, justice, escaped murderers, flipping the queer world upside down, queer history, San Francisco underground, Oscar streaking, and MORE!

Bang. 10:40 PM. July 8, 1979: Robert Opel is dead.

We know who pulled the trigger, or do we?

Robert Opel was a bisexual political activist, gallerist, and 1974 Oscar streaker. He was a pioneer: his gallery, Fey-Way Studios, in San Francisco showed artist Tom of Finland and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe before nearly everywhere else.

Prior to being shot in the head from about a foot away, Opel publicly tried to take down the San Francisco Police Department and Dan White, the man who killed out politician Harvey Milk. Someone or someones wanted Opel dead.

No one has ever pieced the pieces together like the QueerCore Podcast. We bring you narration, interviews with performer and leather icon Camille O’Grady—who was in the next room when Opel was shot—and others who were there, in some way.

How did the “murderer” escape from captivity at least three times? The first time, he was wearing street clothes and allegedly had money in his pocket. He was gone for a month... But behind the official story was something darker: strange escapes, spells, conflicting testimony, police misconduct, and questions that have lingered for decades. Who was behind the trigger? We name names.

The decades of whispers are now projected over the airwaves. Robert Opel did not have to die.

It’s a queer true-crime story, political mystery, and historical investigation unlike anything the curious world has ever been exposed to.

Subscribe now.

Topics: Political assassinations, police cover ups, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tom of Finland, black magic, leather gods and goddesses, Harvey Milk, Dan White, injustice, justice, escaped murderers, flipping the queer world upside down, and MORE!

We’re revisiting a 2023 throwback episode about the Mother of Gay Liberation, Martha Shelley. Martha Shelley joined the movement in the mid-1960s and went on to co-found the Gay Liberation Front in New York City in 1969, immediately after the June 28, 1969, Stonewall Rebellion. Martha kept going: Rat magazine, Radicalesbians, radio... We are going to say it, Martha Shelley is the most important woman in the gay liberation revolution era. Thank you, Martha!

Don’t call it “gay lib,” says Ginny Berson, a pivotal member of the Furies. “Gay lib” doesn’t justify it.

This episode is an oral history with Ginny Berson and her comrade in the lacking revolution, Coletta Reid. They were both members of the Furies, a lesbian “separatist” activist group based in Washington, D.C., active from 1971 to 1972. They lived collectively and published a widely circulated and influential newspaper until 1973.

After the Furies, Coletta founded Diana Press in 1972, a significant publisher that amplified women’s voices and lesbian literature. In 1973, Ginny founded Olivia Records, an early and consequential all-woman record label.

This is the story of the Furies, told by two women who lived it.

The Angels of Light are back and are breaking ground. Why have you not heard about them before? It’s a crime. They existed for over a decade. Who are they? A San Francisco free theater troupe founded in the aftermath of the Cockettes. They performed for free and believed theater should be accessible to everyone. Their story is one of the most overlooked chapters in LGBTQ history.

This oral history is from a panel August Bernadicou (The LGBTQ History Project, QueerCore Podcast) moderated, featuring Beaver Bauer, Greg Cruikshank, and Tahara, on July 28, 2026, at the San Francisco Public Library. This has not happened before. Wake up! WOW!

Far out, brother! Sister! We now bring you Tahara, a gender bender who opened doors during the gay liberation revolution. Tahara was part of the Berkeley Gay Liberation Front, the Cockettes, the Angels of Light, and more!

Given the timing, Tahara was one of the first gay liberation activists and performers in history. We're talking Stonewall era—1969.

The Cockettes were a hippie drag performance troupe founded on December 31, 1969. The Angels of Light? A glitter-drenched free theater troupe that carried the revolution forward for years.

Join the madness!

Six years in the making, we are excited to bring you the Mother of Us All, Bambi Lake. Bambi Lake changed the world and broke hearts. She joined the Angels of Light, the legendary free theater troupe founded by members of the Cockettes, in 1971 and went on to perform around the world. She made San Francisco her home base, where she sang, acted, and wrote. A fearless performer, poet, author, and trailblazing transgender artist, Bambi became one of the defining voices of queer counterculture. To celebrate her new posthumous poetry collection, Devour Me, Again, published by Nightboat Books, we are digging seven years back into our archive to bring you the impossible-but-true Bambi Lake story. Features never-before-released songs!

Upcoming Bambi Lake Events:

• July 28: San Francisco Public Library (San Francisco)
• July 29: Tally Ho! Books (Oakland)
• July 30: Tenderloin Museum (San Francisco)
• August 7: Sacramento Poetry Center (Sacramento)

PART TWO: Perry Brass and Don Kilhefner were active in the movement when gay liberation was just beginning and had not yet been recognized as such. Shortly after the Stonewall Riots in 1969, Don became a member of the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front and a founder of what would become the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Perry Brass became active in New York's Gay Liberation Front and worked on Come Out!, one of the first newspapers published during the gay liberation movement. He later co-founded the East Coast healthcare network, Callen-Lorde.

For the past 50 years, both men have remained strong advocates for the gay movement and its history through their work as writers, organizers, activists, and witnesses to the struggles and achievements that transformed American society. The two men discuss the origins of gay liberation, the individuals who created it, the events that defined it, and the lessons today's youth need to learn from it.

Perry Brass and Don Kilhefner were active in the movement when gay liberation was just beginning and had not yet been recognized as such. Shortly after the Stonewall Riots in 1969, Don became a member of the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front and a founder of what would become the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Perry Brass became active in New York's Gay Liberation Front and worked on Come Out!, one of the first newspapers published during the gay liberation movement. He later co-founded the East Coast healthcare network, Callen-Lorde.

For the past 50 years, both men have remained strong advocates for the gay movement and its history through their work as writers, organizers, activists, and witnesses to the struggles and achievements that transformed American society. The two men discuss the origins of gay liberation, the individuals who created it, the events that defined it, and the lessons today's youth need to learn from it.

We’re revisiting a 2020 throwback episode about the legendary Theatre of the Ridiculous — the outrageous, glitter-soaked underground movement that transformed queer performance and Downtown New York culture. Featuring conversations with Ruby Lynn Reyner, Agosto Machado, and Tony Zanetta, this episode captures the chaos, creativity, and rebellion of a scene that shattered artistic boundaries. Revisiting these interviews now feels especially emotional, as Ruby and Agosto have both since passed away. Are you ready? Probably not!