QueerCore Podcast

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 conse...

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 Pu...

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...

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...

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...

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!

This episode takes us through the life of Jon Platania, a key member of the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front. Jon helped create concrete ways for LGBTQ+ people to support one another through radical ideas. After joining the GLF in 1970, Jon became an active member of a movement focused not only on encouraging queer people to organize and fight back against their oppression, but also to care for one another on an unprecedented level. In 1971, Jon helped establish what we know today as the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the world’s largest LGBTQ center, with over 800 employees. He also he...

In this episode, three individuals describe life during and after the Stonewall Uprising, sharing their authentic accounts of the struggles they faced as they participated in the newly formed gay liberation movement. First-hand accounts are given by Perry Brass (NYC Gay Liberation Front), Don Kilhefner (LA Gay Liberation Front), and Rich Wandel (NYC Gay Activists Alliance)—providing a personal, visceral portrait of how people built a movement based on chaos, radicalism, humanity, and energy, even though it happened nearly 60 years ago.

In this episode you'll hear the unedited audio recording of a Zoom webinar called No Intermission, which took place on March 29, 2026, featuring the legendary underground artists, Cherry Vanilla and Tony Zanetta, and their reflections on the powerful convergence of queer liberation, the avant-garde theater scene, and rock and roll that occurred in New York and London during the latter half of the 1960s and into the early 1970s—including the Theatre of the Ridiculous, Andy Warhol's Factory, and the early development of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust character. The result is a vibrant account of how queerness expressed itself through co...

Tony Zanetta, an influential figure in both the glam rock and Off Broadway scene, helped create a period in which theater, music, and identity came together in spectacular, gender-smashed fashion. He worked as an actor in innovative plays and joined MainMan when David Bowie was at his most popular, one of the major forces behind glam rock. Tony became a part of a performance, persona, and pop culture explosion that created an unforgettable scene.

Tony, who starred in Andy Warhol’s Pork in 1971, takes listeners backstage as he reveals the creative chaos, the risks, and the high-creativity en...

Cherry Vanilla is a fearless, iconic figure in glam rock, punk, and the experimental underground of New York City. She was also a publicist for David Bowie, contributing significantly to the development of the Ziggy Stardust mystique. In the 1970s, she started performing her poetry as songs and released two albums for RCA in 1978 and 1979, in the early days of punk.

Aside from music, Cherry Vanilla collaborated with some of the most provocative and culturally important artists of the time, including her work in Pork (a raucous, surrealistic off-Broadway play by artist Andy Warhol). Cherry has continued...

The rainbow flag is one of the most well-known symbols in the world. It is celebrated as a representation of LGBTQ pride and liberation. It is widely thought to be the work of Gilbert Baker. However, history is often messier than the story we inherit. In this episode, we are joined by Faerie Argyle Rainbow. What she contributed to the flag's creation has largely been forgotten or misattributed, but we have her back! She takes us through how the idea came to be, how she was involved in making the first flags, and her experience of seeing her work...

The episode dives into the life and contributions of John Lauritsen, an early member of the New York City Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance, a historian, and an interesting figure. John aided in the recovery of many lost parts of LGBTQ history, but his views on different aspects within the gay movement have made him one of the most controversial figures, especially his contradiction of the mainstream and scientific AIDS narrative and his transphobia. One thing sets John apart from 90% of the people in the late 1960s and early 1970s. What? He was in the room.<...

A live, one-night-only special podcast episode documenting a famous, rare archived Co*ckette's icon through story, memory, and the contributions of many has been produced. This episode was performed in front of an audience in New York City and featured voices from many different generations and backgrounds. The readings included personal stories, live performance, and select items from his archives; this provided an important insight into a life that greatly influenced the development of underground culture, performance, queer history, and so much more.

The readers for this event included August Bernadicou, Hucklefaery, Mike Payne, Will Shellhorn, Shelby...

In this episode, August returns to Rumi Missabu — Cockette, runaway, and legend — in a raw, intimate conversation recorded less than three months before Rumi’s death on April 2, 2024. Born in Hollywood and self-exiled from official life for decades, Rumi helped found the Cockettes, San Francisco’s glitter-drenched, anarchic performance collective that shattered gender and theatrical norms at the height of gay liberation. What follows isn’t an interview but a phone call: unfiltered, obscene, hilarious, and very much alive.

Rumi talks about being a groupie, sex and celebrity, proximity to genius, and life lived entirely on his own terms...

This episode takes a look at the life of Rumi Missabu, a founding member of the late 1960s and early 1970s Cockettes, a radical drag performer, and a counterculture visionary who spent years reshaping what art and identity were during his time. After the dissolution of the Cockettes, Rumi spent over 35 years off the grid, living in almost complete anonymity; however, his contributions to drag, performance, and queer culture continued to resonate long after his departure.

This episode highlights not only the effects of renouncing one's notoriety but also how an individual can choose to remain anonymous...

In this episode, we have Dr. Rick Huskey, a physician and theologian who was instrumental in the creation of Affirmation: United Methodists for LGBTQ Concerns. As a college student in 1971, Rick was one of the first to help create the Northfield, MN, Gay Liberation Front. He later took the fight for LGBTQ inclusion in the United Methodist Church head-on and challenged the church from within. Doing so cost him nearly 30 years of being able to be ordained. Rick lived his life in faith, quietly resisting the church to the best of his ability until he was finally ordained as...

In 1962, seven years before Stonewall, Robbie Robinson co-founded the Tavern Guild, which was America’s first association of gay bars. A true pioneer for LGBTQ+ rights, he played an integral role in creating the organization that systematized San Francisco's gay nightlife and worked toward visibility and safety for the LGBTQ+ community. In this episode, Robbie talks about his trailblazing work with the Tavern Guild, whose impact on queer history we continue to experience today. Hear the incredible story of courage, solidarity, and rebellion in today’s world of LGBTQ+ individuals from someone who was there in the early days!

Part One was so juicy, we are bringing you Part Two. It's all about Reverend Robert Mary Clement, a pioneer in the LGBTQ religious movement. This is Your Church delves deeper into the life of Reverend Clement, spotlighting his groundbreaking ministry in New York City during the earliest years of gay liberation. We explore how the Church of the Beloved Disciple became a spiritual home for queer people at a time when few institutions offered safety or affirmation. This episode also traces Clement’s close collaboration with the Gay Activists Alliance, where his theology and activism intersected to challenge bo...

In this episode, you will be introduced to Reverend Robert Mary Clement, one of the very first openly gay bishops in the U.S. Before marriage equality was even on the radar, Clement marched in the original Pride parades wearing his clerical collar and conducted some of the first public "Holy Unions" for same-sex couples. You will hear about how he founded the Church of the Beloved Disciple and the queer-affirming radical faith he practiced in his ministry for multiple decades. There will be time for you to sit in the sanctuary carved out of protest and to hear...

This episode focuses on Dave Hayward, a passionate advocate on the front lines of the gay liberation revolution. From calling the pre-gay liberation homophile organization, the Mattachine Society, from his college dorm in Washington, D.C., to organizing the first Pride march in Atlanta, Georgia, his experiences navigate the space between buttoned-up activism and radical revolution. He shares his joyful chaos and courage of coming out when "gay" was still a whisper, and how the struggles for liberation in the 1970s shaped the movement as we currently understand it. It's history told with grit, humor, and heart—by someone wh...

The revolution gets personal. In this episode, three pioneers from the Gay Liberation Front in Washington D.C., New York, and Berkeley share their experiences from the early years of the gay liberation revolution. Gay liberation swept the world, and many actions occurred that are largely unknown to history. Now that changes! This panel discusses the raw and chaotic moments that transformed the movement. From bold protests in Times Square to underground groups meeting to discuss actions, their stories highlight the anger, brilliance, and hope that drove change.

Listeners will hear about blood and ink on the...

The rabbit hole gets wilder. You wanted gay lib and magik? We teased in the last episode—now get ready to dive in! In Part Two, Llee Heflin of the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front shares insights: magik, magik babies, and the surreal, psychedelic queer experiments that pushed the limits of reality. There are outrageous rituals and mind-melting actions. Llee takes us on a journey where activism, art, and enchantment collide; nothing is ever what it seems. Get ready to peek behind the curtain of LA’s wildest queer underground and listen to the magik for yourself.

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He’s back! In this episode, Llee Heflin, an early member of the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front and author of the occult book The Island Dialogues, takes us deep into the intersections of radical activism, queer imagination, and literary exploration. From organizing on the frontlines of Los Angeles' gay liberation movement to crafting visionary works that challenge norms, Llee shares stories of courage, creativity, and community that helped shape a generation of queer thought and action. It’s a whacky and wonderful acid trip that will change your life! Guaranteed!

The QueerCore Podcast returns with an earth-shattering new season. Hear archival interviews with the LGBTQ+ pioneers who sparked the Gay Liberation Revolution after Stonewall—and discover how their lessons shape the fight for equality today.

The QueerCore Podcast returns with an earth-shattering new season. Hear archival interviews with the LGBTQ+ pioneers who sparked the Gay Liberation Revolution after Stonewall—and discover how their lessons shape the fight for equality today.

In this episode, Peter Taylor—once president of the Lexington, Kentucky Gay Liberation Front—revisits the raw, radical beginnings of queer organizing in Appalachia. From attempting to gain official recognition on a conservative college campus to being arrested under the pretext of solicitation, Peter doesn’t shy away from the shame, the fear, and the fierce resistance.

You’ll hear how a simple act—offering someone a couch—was twisted into a legal weapon against him. His reflections reveal the nightmarish absurdities of entrapment laws, the weight of public outing, and the resolve it takes to push back against...

He’s preaching revolution! In this episode, Reverend Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, joins us to chart his unlikely journey from Southern Baptist roots to gay‐affirming ministry and queer liberation. He recalls founding MCC in his living room in 1968, officiating groundbreaking same-sex marriages, and fighting for dignity when society told him faith and queerness could never co-exist.

There were fires—literal and metaphorical—that threatened his church, courtroom battles, and protests in the street. Through it all, he held onto something radical: that God loves us all, fully and without apology. Tune in to witne...

He’s back in the story: Keith St Clare, the trailblazing mind behind Vanguard magazine—“gay liberation pre-gay liberation”—returns to share how he gave voice to the untouchables at a time when many in the movement wanted conformity over difference. From serving in the U.S. Air Force underage, to publishing Vanguard under his own name and address, to producing a youth TV show and fostering hundreds of children, Keith’s life is a testament to radical care and uncompromised visibility.

In this episode, you’ll hear about his fear, his courage, and how he chose writing joy, i...

He’s here and he’s taking us back. In this episode, Adrian Ravarour, founder of one of America’s earliest gay youth liberation groups, Vanguard, returns to share raw, unfiltered stories from the frontlines of queer rebellion in 1960s San Francisco. From organizing the now-legendary Street Sweep protests to quietly igniting the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, Adrian reveals how grassroots action and street-level leadership changed the movement forever.

Adrian’s voice is hopeful, defiant, and deeply personal—equal parts spiritual artist, former Mormon priest, and radical educator. He’ll challenge what you thought you knew about LGBTQ+ history...

She’s back in our hearts: Ruby Lynn Reyner, the dazzling force behind the 1960s Play-House of the Ridiculous and frontwoman of glam-punk band Ruby and the Rednecks, joins us as we dive into her wild, glitter-drenched world. From being plucked off the street and thrust into a leading role in a John Vaccaro play to commanding the Downtown New York club circuit at Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s, Ruby’s story is pure off-off-Broadway legend with a rebellious sparkle.

We explore her fearless theatrical sprawl—from absurdist extravaganzas featuring surreal props (ever heard of a 12-foot...

He’s back! In this episode, Don Kilhefner—an early member of the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front, co-founder of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and co-founder of the Radical Faeries—returns to share unflinching stories from the front lines of queer revolution. With sharp wit and unapologetic honesty, Don revisits the battles, the breakthroughs, and the vision that fueled a movement determined to change the world.

From the tumult of the 1970s to the urgent challenges facing LGBTQ+ communities today, Don’s reflections remind us why liberation is never finished—and why queer love, rage, and imaginatio...

Glitter, rebellion, and radical joy take center stage in this episode as we sit down with Scrumbly, Sweet Pam, and Tahara, legendary members of the Cockettes and their free-theater offshoot, the Angels of Light. From San Francisco’s wild countercultural nights to community stages where anything was possible, they share how outrageous costumes, psychedelic music, and unapologetic queerness redefined performance and politics in the early 1970s.

More than camp and glitter, their stories reveal a revolution in art and identity—where theater was free, gender was fluid, and every show was an act of defiance and love. Step...

Dive into the fiery heart of early gay liberation as Kathy Kozachenko, the first openly gay candidate elected to public office in the U.S., Hiram Ruiz, who organized in the Tallahassee Gay Liberation Front, and Peter Taylor, a leader in the Lexington, Kentucky Gay Liberation Front, trace the movement’s roots beyond the coasts. Early 1970s Gay Liberation. Their stories prove that gay liberation was never confined to New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles—it was taking root in communities across the country.

From underground meetings to brave public declarations, these trailblazers recall the risks, raw...

Step into the heart of the LGBTQ+ revolution with this raw and riveting podcast episode that unearths the power and passion behind the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front. Join Llee Heflin and Don Kilhefner, two trailblazers who fought for the rights we sometimes take for granted today. From fiery protests to breaking down barriers, their stories are a testament to the fierce spirit that sparked a movement. Tune in for a glimpse of queer resistance in its purest form—raw, real, and unapologetic.

2024 is the year for women who have been pushed aside. Did you know that a woman was the catalyst behind creating the LGBTQ+ Rainbow Flag? No? Well, here we go, go go. 

Many enduring symbols that establish an instant understanding and define a diverse community are intrinsically linked with controversy, confusion, and ill-informed backstories dictated by vested interests and those who tell the story loudest. The LGBTQ+ Rainbow Flag is no different. 

While it was the work of many, the people who deserve credit the most have been minimized, if not erased. A woman named Fa...

2024 is the year for women who have been pushed aside. Did you know that a woman was the catalyst behind creating the LGBTQ+ Rainbow Flag? No? Well, here we go, go go. 

Many enduring symbols that establish an instant understanding and define a diverse community are intrinsically linked with controversy, confusion, and ill-informed backstories dictated by vested interests and those who tell the story loudest. The LGBTQ+ Rainbow Flag is no different. 

While it was the work of many, the people who deserve credit the most have been minimized, if not erased. A woman named Fa...

2024 is the year for women who have been pushed aside. Did you know that a woman was the catalyst behind creating the LGBTQ+ Rainbow Flag? No? Well, here we go, go go. 

Many enduring symbols that establish an instant understanding and define a diverse community are intrinsically linked with controversy, confusion, and ill-informed backstories dictated by vested interests and those who tell the story loudest. The LGBTQ+ Rainbow Flag is no different. 

While it was the work of many, the people who deserve credit the most have been minimized, if not erased. A woman named Fa...