To celebrate Pride in Toronto this week, we brought in five LGBTQ-themed songs to play and talk about. The songs spanned from 1983 to 2017, and included a diverse range of songwriters and topics. Musical book writer Stephen Witkin joined us for the show. Special thank you’s to Hema for handling our social media, and @SharonRose2012 for tweeting in!

We talked about:

* Bruce and Stephen’s own coming-out stories

* Heavy-handed vs. light and fun approach with the “message” in LGBTQ-themed songs

* Acceptance of LGBTQ songwriters and songs in popular culture

* Universal vs. LGBTQ-specific messages in the songs

* Stephen’s blog: From Here to Epiphany

We featured these songs (click on the titles to download the lyrics):

* I Am What I Am – written by Mark Owen, performed by Gloria Gaynor, featured in the musical Les Cage aux Folles

* Small Town Boy by the Bronski Beat

* Boys in the Street by Greg Holden — check out the article on Time Magazine

* Boyfriend by Tegan and Sara

* I’m Gonna Make Him Fall in Love With Me by Josh ‘Hat’ Lieberman

Listen to the show