Queer Words Podcast

Jesse Scott, HIV/AIDS Case Manager

Sudi (Rick) Karatas, screenwriter, songwriter, and poet

Shawn Stewart Ruff, Lammy Award winner, fashion, beauty and lifestyle copywriter

Wayne Scott, psychotherapist and educator

Soizick Jaffre, comic book artist and avid windsurfer

Daniel Meltz, retired technical writer and teacher of deaf young people

It is with great sadness we report the passing of one of our community’s stalwarts, Felice Picano. Here is my 2019 conversation with him

Rainie Oet, drawn to mermaids, robots, half moons, rainbows, aliens, ghosts, reality, the speculative, transness, justice, and hope

Roxie Key, copywriter for a global brand

Sara Ryan, teen services librarian and writing instructor

Samantha Ryan, S.E. Hinton Endowed Scholarship for Creative Writing winner

Cris Ascunce, LGBTQ rights advocate, copywriter, graphic designer, and web designer

Orlando Ortega-Medina, criminal, appellate, and deportation defense attorney who assists with post-conviction relief

Jason June, lover of dinosaurs, unicorns, Pomeranians, and anything magical that takes you to a different world or time

Howard Miller, business consultant, performer, and avid tennis player

Alexandra Swarens, screenwriter, filmmaker, and performer/Mak Shealy, playwright and performer

John Garrison, scholar of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature

Rich Rubin, former globe trotter and travel writer

Michael Leali, bookshop worker and former high school instructor

H.N. Hirsch, former professor and dean of arts and sciences

Eliot Schrefer, New York Times best-selling science writer with an affinity for the natural world

Mala Kumar, technology developer, formerly with GitHub and the United Nations, co-host of the podcast “Desi Women Diaspora”

Charles K. Carter, poet, mental health advocate, and former educator

Robert Bruegmann, historian of architecture, and a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago 

Peter E. Fenton, playwright and paleontologist

Erin Becker, marketing and content strategist

Lee Airton, Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario

Ronald Hunter, former hustler who sees himself as a successful survivor, rather than a victim

Trent Clifford, teller of stories, proclaimer of uncomfortable truth, queer survivor of domestic abuse, and insatiable artist

Jess Vosseteig, illustrator specializing in queer, feminist, and inclusive illustrations that focus on inclusivity, empowerment, and breaking gender stereotypes

Finnian Burnett, educator who explores the intersections of the human body, mental health, and gender identity

Jewelle Gomez, poet, playwright, and author of “The Gilda Stories,” the original Lesbian Vampire book.

Gar McVey-Russell, co-founder of ActUp-East Bay and host of the blog The Garspot

Natasha Dennerstein is an Australian-born trans poet living in the San Francisco Bay area. In a former life she functioned as a psychiatric nurse.

Richard May, my partner for over 10 years, was the first conversation I had for Queer Words Podcast. He has hosted several reading series in and around San Francisco.

Leon Acord, award-winning actor, writer, and occasional producer

Jeffrey Dale Lofton, senior advisor at the Library of Congress, and former actor

Patrick E. Horrigan, memoirist and former literature professor

Rob Kirby, cartoon/graphic novel creator, collaborator, and editor

Richard D. Mohr, journalist, and professor of philosophy, classics, and queer literature

Royce Hall, actor, recording artist, screenwriter, poet, spoken word artist, musician, and sketch artist

Robert Hofler, theater critic, former entertainment and managing editor

Lisa Bunker, former state legislator and radio station program director

Jasper Fforde, an ally who has queered English Literature

Benjamin Alire Saenz, award-winning poet, and author of “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” which has been banned in several places

Curtis Chin, writer, producer, director, and activist

Anne Myles, poet and professor of early America literature

Wayne Goodman in conversation with Jesse Leon, social impact consultant

Wayne Goodman in conversation with Larry Duplechan, actor, singer, and award-winning author

Wayne Goodman in conversation with Juliet Patterson, creative writing and literature instructor at St. Olaf College