Out in the Bay

A yearly "Day of Drag" and a drag mall? While many states are restricting drag, San Francisco Drag Laureate D'Arcy Drollinger is spreading the humor and "sparkle" of drag to make positive change in the world.

Dwayne Ratleff grew up poor, Black and gay in 1960s Baltimore. As a youngster, his loving grandma taught him: “Don't explain yourself, be yourself.”

As we await the reopening of the Pacifica Pier — now closed due to recent storm damage — we bring you poet Toni Mirosevich's stories of connection on this historic pier.

Just in time for holiday gatherings, tips for getting along joyfully with differences. Our guest says "nosy" questions can grease the turkey!

In December 1998, soon after its namesake's savage murder, his parents launched the Matthew Shepard Foundation to erase hate-based violence. We've seen big advances since then — and big setbacks. LGBTQ+ leaders discuss where we are now.

25 years ago, a gay college student was savagely beaten, tied to a fence post, and left out to die on a cold Wyoming night. His grief-stricken mother worked to expand hate crime laws. Hear her story.

Pamela Sneed's prose and poetry can reach out and grab you. They did me.

In October 1998, a gay college student was savagely beaten, tied to a fence post, and left outside to die on a cold night in Wyoming. Matthew Shepard's murder shocked the world. Where are we now with LGBTQ civil rights?

Why do tens of thousands of people trek to a temporary tent city in an alkaline Nevada desert every August? Is Burning Man worth the heat and dust? What's queer about it?

Why do tens of thousands of people trek to a temporary tent city in an alkaline Nevada desert every August? Is Burning Man worth the heat and dust? What's queer about it?

Should drag story hours be banned? With so much fuss, we thought you'd like to judge for yourselves. So we bring some to you! Here's #3 in our series.

Should drag story hours be banned? With all the fuss, we thought you'd like to judge for yourselves. So we bring some to you! (Episode 2 of 3)

Why ban drag performers? Why all the fuss over drag story hours? Hear some for yourself ... then you decide!

Pump up the volume! In part as a “joyful antidote” to the escalation of anti-LGBTQ laws across the USA, San Francisco's all-transwomen rock band is back together after 12-plus years.

Dwayne Ratleff grew up Black, poor and gay in 1960s Baltimore. As a youngster, his loving grandma taught him: “Don't explain yourself, be yourself.” The long-time San Franciscan has written an impressive, insightful, award-winning novel about his childhood.

Quick, what's your sexuality? Most of us know roughly where we fall on the Kinsey scale that goes from zero (totally straight) to six (flaming fag or butchest of dykes). But have you considered another continuum, the asexual – allosexual one?

What would you do if falsely accused of molesting a child? And you see your career crumble. Matthew Clark Davison's novel “Doubting Thomas,” about a gay school teacher, challenges assumptions about guilt, innocence and more.

As a young girl, future Supreme Court of California Associate Justice Kelli Evans was more excited about the bookmobile coming through her Denver neighborhood than the ice cream truck.

While a young housewife and mom in the 1950s and '60s, Ann Bannon wrote lusty lesbian love stories. Scorned by the literary elite then, her and other authors' “pulp fiction” paperbacks helped advance queer rights and now offer a glimpse of gay and lesbian life in those times.

On our last Out in the Bay of 2022, hear about the amazing life and accomplishments of a Black queer civil rights pioneer left out of history books: Pauli Murray.

Just in time for potentially awkward holiday gatherings, we present a holiday fave: Author and civil rights lawyer Abby Dees tells our allies to go ahead, ask LGBTQ relatives or friends your burning questions.

While they weren't around for long, the Cockettes left an outsized legacy that we explore this week with exclusive recordings and interviews.

What would you do if falsely accused of molesting a child? And you see your career crumble. Matthew Clark Davison's novel “Doubting Thomas,” about a gay school teacher, challenges assumptions about guilt, innocence and more.

In our queer nod to Veterans Day, we bring you Lauren Hough. She grew up in infamous Christian cult The Family, which her father had joined to dodge the Vietnam War. At 18, Hough fled to the Air Force, where she got anti-lesbian death threats and her car was set ablaze.

What happens when members of our Bay Area LGBTQ community pay to skip the line? Reporter Corey Antonio Rose has that story, plus a chat with the Oakland LGBTQ Center on Out in the Bay.

Hear about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His new album, I Am A Man, is about his own transition.

The latest production of ItsQwere is inspired by '90s-era comedy TV like In Living Color, All That, and SNL.

In “Bad Hombres” at San Francisco's Theatre Rhinoceros, sole actor Rudy Guerrero plays seven characters that comically skewer stereotypes of queer Latinos.

It's Gunawan's hope that through PRESS PLAY: Exhibition, he can reach people who are struggling and tell them, “you are good.”

Airs 5 p.m. Friday: Crucial midterm elections are little more than a month away. Can individuals make an impact? “Paul for Pete” author Paul Mason Barnes says yes. He shows it in his book and gives advice on how to get involved on this week's Out in the Bay Queer Radio + Podcast.

The leather activist, author, sex educator, and kink afficianado is Christopher Beale's guest this week Out In The Bay.

How do we find human connection? Being “in with the out crowd?" Author and poet Toni Mirosevich finds peers on the pier.

Ruth Brinker, a grandmother and retired food service worker at the time, started cooking and delivering nutritious meals to San Francisco gay men debilitated by HIV/AIDS in 1985. Soon after, Project Open Hand, the nonprofit she founded, became a model worldwide.

Despite clear evidence that conversion therapy doesn't work and harms LGBTQ people — with high rates of suicide and other mental health impacts — the practice of trying to conform one's sexual orientation or gender identity to societal norms continues.

This week, we are tackling two oft-misunderstood subjects on Out In The Bay. Open relationships, and professional wrestling.

Dwayne Ratleff grew up Black, poor and gay in 1960s Baltimore. As a youngster, an older Southern neighbor and his loving grandma both told him: “Don't explain yourself, be yourself.”

Airs 5 p.m. Friday: Monkeypox has primarily affected men who sleep with men, but it has been diagnosed in children and women, and health experts says it's likely to move more widely into the general population. What are we to do?

Escape with Out in the Bay to a simpler place and time. Before monkeypox, before COVID, before traveling got so fraught. To a town its promoters claimed then was gayer than San Francisco (and where September is superb). Sit back, relax and hit “play.”

“I grew up in a very blue collar, working class, homophobic, and racist environment,” he recalled. Through literature, performance, and eventually writing and performing his own intentionally queer works, Rolston found his sexuality and his voice.

This week 7/28/22 - On the Arts, KALW's radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, guest host Sarah Cahill talks with American Bach Soloist Artistic Director and Conductor Jeffrey Thomas | BAMPFA Artist Whitney Bradshaw OUTCRY photography series | Bowerbird Collective co-founder & producer Anthony Albrecht | West Edge Opera General Director Mark Streshinsky | Join us Thursdays at 1:00PM PST

Meet artist and actor Fayette Hauser, a co-founder of the Cockettes, the 1969-‘72 experimental San Francisco performance troupe known for eye-popping costumes, glittery beards and sexy musicals.

Hear about the transgender experience from singer-songwriter Nick Lawrence, a family coach and former foster-parent educator on LGBTQ topics. His new album, I Am A Man, is about his own transition.

The true story behind the first gay punk rock band today on Out In The Bay!

How do we find human connection and meaning? An author and poet finds peers on the Pacifica Pier.

This week Out In The Bay, we have the hosts of San Francisco Pride 2022 – Honey Mahogany and the legendary Sister Roma from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

This week on Out In The Bay, meet Rick Thoman, a track and field athlete who shares 40 years of memories with the San Francisco Track and Field Club. Plus, Alice Smith joins us to preview the 14th Annual Pride Meet, taking place June 18th at San Francisco State University.

Meet the team working to bring life, art, and community back to the historic site of Harvey Milk's Camera Shop in the Castro – Queer Arts Featured (Queer AF).

This week we feature our discussion with late gay ambassador James C. Hormel on Out In The Bay.

The Cockettes were a flamboyant, gender-bending, hippie drag troupe active in San Francisco beginning in 1969. Scrumbly Koldewyn was one of the original creators of the group and shares the story of their creation and his view of their legacy on this week's Out in the Bay.

Monique Jenkinson, a.k.a. Fauxnique, was the first cisgender woman to win the title "Miss Trannyshack" in 2003, raising many glittered eyebrows and launching a performance career that has taken her around the globe.

How greatly are LGBTQ civil liberties threatened by abortion cases now before the conservative-heavy U.S. Supreme Court? Federal courts journalist Lisa Keen told host Christopher Beale the leaked draft opinion, by Justice Samuel Alito, is “shocking” on many levels.