Date launched Oct, 2016
Date finished N/A
Still running? Yes
Number of series 8
Number of episodes p/s Varies, 8-12
Length of each episode 15-25 mins
Summary of content – story? Theme? Topic?
Making Gay History is an oral history podcast on the subject of LGBT history, featuring trailblazers, activists, and allies. Most episodes draw on the three-decade-old audio archive of rare interviews that the podcast’s founder and host Eric Marcus conducted for the two editions of his oral history book about the LGBT movement, which he was commissioned to write in the late 1980s.
In the late 1980s Eric Marcus conducted roughly one hundred oral history interviews for his book, Making Gay History: The Half-Century Fight for Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights (New York: Perennial, 2002). Years after publication, Eric returns us to these stories told at dining room tables and in living rooms with the goal to bring the stories back to life and “to create intimate, personal portraits of both known and long-forgotten champions, heroes, and witnesses to history.”
Each episode focuses on individuals who contributed to the LGBTQ civil rights movement throughout life. The format of each episode begins with Marcus’s contextualization of the original interview, the physical appearance of the person, and a few of his own thoughts on the interview, and is followed by interview excerpts. The individuals include immigrants, activists, journalists, authors, attorneys, and military veterans. Some are wellknown mainstream figures, such as actress, comedian, and a talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and “Dear Abby” columnist Esther Friedman Phillips.
The show structure is simple: an introduction so the listener understands the subject’s role in gay history and then about 15 minutes of the interview
Most notable/funny/moving/shocking moments
– Since its launch in October 2016, the podcast has featured interviews with transgender rights icon Sylvia Rivera; pioneering lesbian writer Edythe D. Eyde aka Lisa Ben; American comedian, talk show host, and actress Ellen DeGeneres; popular advice columnist and LGBT advocate Pauline Phillips (“Dear Abby”); and others.
– Season 1 introduces listeners into the world of activist icons like Edythe Eyde, who predicted a gay utopia in her privately published magazine, Vice Versa; Chuck Roland, a cofounder of one of the first gay rights organizations; Wendell Sayers, an African-American attorney once threatened with incarceration after being “diagnosed” at the Mayo Clinic as a homosexual; and trans icon and Stonewall uprising veteran, Sylvia Rivera.
– Season 2 shares the stories of Hall Call, a man who lost his job at the Kansas City Star because of his sexual orientation, and Jean O’Leary, a former nun whose activism got her invited to the White House.
– Season 3 showcases stories from people like Larry Kramer, whose screen-play, Women in Love, was nominated for an Academy Award, and Sergeant Perry Watkins, a Vietnam veteran who fought for gay rights in the military
– Stonewall 50 Episode 1: In this first episode of Making Gay History’s Stonewall 50 season, we hear stories from the pre-Stonewall struggle for LGBTQ rights. The episode features original audio recordings of voices from the turbulent 1960s and take you to the tinderbox that was Greenwich Village on the eve of an uprising. “Oh yeah you knew you were doing something momentous and people would stare at you like they’d never seen self-declared homosexuals parading with signs. There were not many but there were suits ties and dresses. We decided we would wear these, so we would blend into the landscape and be unexceptional”.
– Season 1 – Sylvia Rivera: The conversation between River and Marcus in this episode talked about Sylvia’s experience being part of the LGBTQ community in the 60’s “It was always the effeminate male or the butch woman, that’s what society always looked at. We are the ones that went out there and we didn’t take no shit from them. We didn’t have nothing to lose. Actually, you know, at that point in time, you know, I understand the ones that held their heads down low, because they probably had very nice jobs and they had a family to go to.”
Host/presenters/journalist names and bio
– Founder & Host Eric Marcus is the author of a dozen books, including two editions of Making Gay History (the original 1992 edition is entitled Making History), Why Suicide? and Breaking the Surface, the #1 New York Times bestselling autobiography of Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis.
– Eric is also the co-producer of Those Who Were There, a podcast drawn from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. And he is the founder and chair of the Stonewall 50 Consortium. Learn more about Eric in this NBC News profile.
Description of sound clips sent over
– This clip has Marcus introducing Dr. Evelyn Hooker. Hooker started work on a firstof-its kind psychological study that demonstrated gay men were no different from straight men when it came to their sanity. At that time, just about everyone thought gay people were mentally ill. Homosexuality was a sickness. Even most gay people believed it. The clip has an introduction to her work, followed by the beginning of the conversation the two had.
Anything else interesting about the podcast worth noting? Has it won awards? Is it the “most listened to” in its category? Does someone famous love it? Any controversy? Any fun or quirky facts?
– In February 2020, Making Gay History was adapted for the stage at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
– For the eighth season of the podcast, Marcus partnered with the Studs Terkel Radio Archive to release interviews conducted by the legendary radio host and oral historian, Studs Terkel.
– In September 2017, NBC Out polled its constituents about their “favourite LGBTQinclusive podcasts,” and Making Gay History was voted #2 out of 11 ranked.
– In October 2017, the Oral History Association honoured Making Gay History with its Oral History in a Nonprint Format Award.
– On December 27, 2019, The Atlantic named Making Gay History’s Stonewall 50 season one of the best podcasts of 2019.
Opinion
Making Gay History would be a powerful stand-alone educational tool if the listener investigated only one or two podcasts.
As a whole, the series contributes a substantial insight into the overall body of knowledge about the LGBTQ civil rights movement. This podcast makes me laugh and cry, it’s beautiful and incredible. Stories of Queer history right from real people’s mouths. The use of archival footage makes this podcast so much more than just a podcast. It’s a piece of history and shares the stories of incredibly individuals who changed the world.
I grew up never hearing about the history of LGBTQ movements, or individuals and all the amazing work people did, forming community and fighting for their right to exist with happiness and respect. I feel connected to a past that I wouldn’t have been able to know without the audio recordings of host Eric Marcus.