Frank Kameny lived by three rules: have absolute confidence in your beliefs; fight for what’s right; never, ever give up.... more

In 1983 Evan Wolfson wrote a law school thesis that asserted that gay people had a constitutional right to marry.... more

Like so many other acts of LGBTQ resistance, the 1969 Stonewall riots could have become a footnote in history. But... more

The Stonewall uprising began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. Revisit that moment, and the hours and... more

Conflict has context. In this first episode of Making Gay History’s Stonewall season, we hear stories from the pre-Stonewall struggle... more

Can historical and emotional truth coexist? For the 55th anniversary of the uprising, Eric and fellow LGBTQ history expert Ken... more

As a bookish lesbian growing up in working-class England, June Thomas developed an early love of bookstores. After moving to... more

Valerie Reyes-Jimenez called it “The Monster.” That’s how some people described HIV and AIDS in the 1980s. Valerie thinks as... more

Eric is joined in conversation by Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth and Dr. Ilan H. Meyer to delve into the past and... more

A half-century ago, millions of homosexuals were cured with the stroke of a pen when the American Psychiatric Association decided... more

In the 1950s, psychiatrists diagnosed all homosexuals with a mental illness, and the sickness label created new forms of oppression... more

In 1978 Harvey Milk calls on gay people to gather in D.C. the next year to protest the anti-gay campaigns... more

Eric gets an A on his freshman sociology paper, “Marginal Man: The Alcoholic and the Homosexual.” But his sunny predictions... more

Gay rights activists in NYC are first out of the gate to propose anti-discrimination legislation, confident it will sail through... more

When Jeanne Manford’s gay son is badly beaten at a 1972 GAA protest, the shy elementary school teacher takes a... more

While activists are demonstrating, filing lawsuits, and pushing for anti-discrimination laws, 16-year-old Eric is on a ferry to Fire Island,... more

The Stonewall uprising ignites an explosion of protests and organizing that transforms a small, often tentative homophile movement into a... more

The decade between Stonewall and the 1979 March on Washington lives in the shadow of the AIDS crisis and all... more

Known for her smashing parties, lighter-than-air soufflés, and comedic wit, Lucy Hicks Anderson never let anyone tell her how to... more

Wait, THAT Harvey? When activist Craig Rodwell told Eric in 1989 who his first serious boyfriend had been, Eric was... more

When Kathleen Boatwright fell in love with a woman at church, she fell hard. But this was no carefree romance.... more

In 1980, conservative congressman Robert Bauman was caught soliciting sex from a 16-year-old boy. The scandal landed the married father... more

Indian-born activist and lawyer Urvashi Vaid was fiercely attuned to injustice from an early age. Adamant that the fight for... more

In 1972, Faygele Ben-Miriam’s penchant for wearing dresses to the office got him fired from his government job in Seattle.... more

Growing up in the segregated South, Rev. Carolyn Mobley-Bowie knew the challenge of finding an accepting place in the world—a... more

In 1954, Craig Rodwell was just 14 when he was arrested for having sex with a man. The experience set... more

We’re back with more engaging voices from Eric Marcus’s MGH archive! Meet six history makers as they share stories of... more

This special guest episode is from Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast about things misunderstood and overlooked. Gladwell does a deep... more

What made Stonewall different? How can we carry the lessons of the uprising with us today? Eric is joined by... more

Like so many other acts of LGBTQ resistance, the 1969 Stonewall riots could have become a footnote in history. But... more

The Stonewall uprising began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. Revisit that moment, and the hours and... more

Conflict has context. In this first episode of Making Gay History’s Stonewall season, we hear stories from the pre-Stonewall struggle... more

Women can’t get AIDS—or so Michelle Lopez thought until she tested positive for HIV in 1990. Viable treatments were years... more

As a complement to our episode featuring Ann Northrop, meet Peter Staley, another seminal member of ACT UP, in this... more

Fierce and unflappable, veteran journalist Ann Northrop is a natural activist. In this episode, she discusses her most dramatic ACT... more

Randy Boyd’s “gay agenda” was to be radically open about who he was: a gay, HIV-positive writer—not the straight professional... more

From her home in Juneau, Alaska, Sara Boesser watched with alarm as the AIDS epidemic rolled across the lower 48... more

Dr. Ronald Grossman treated his first AIDS patient before the disease even had a name. But with a New York... more

Out gay journalist Randy Shilts desperately wanted to work for a big-city newspaper. No one wanted him. But reporting on... more

We’re back with more stories from the AIDS crisis. Hear Eric Marcus in conversation with six people whose lives and... more

Marc Thomson was just getting his footing as a young Black gay man in South East London when AIDS hit.... more

In commemoration of World AIDS Day, MGH host Eric Marcus introduces a poignant episode about the early years of the... more

Being HIV+ was a virtual death sentence. So why get tested? But by 1988 there is a promising, if toxic,... more

“You’re doing too many stories on AIDS.” The word had come down from on high at CBS This Morning. Eric... more

“I hope you both die of AIDS,” the young man in the pickup truck yells at Eric and Barry as... more

A straight drug addict. A gay waiter on a ventilator. Eric is confronted with the reality of AIDS when he... more

Even as the epidemic spreads, a rousing AIDS fundraiser at the circus, a new boyfriend, and journalism school combine to... more

“Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals,” said the New York Times headline on July 3, 1981. It was the first... more

AIDS first made national news 40 years ago. MGH host Eric Marcus was 22 at the time, a gay kid... more

In memoriam: Kay Lahusen, January 5, 1930 - May 26, 2021. Kay was a monumental figure in the LGBTQ civil... more

Olivia Records cofounder Meg Christian helped ignite the women’s music movement of the 1970s with lesbian classics like “Ode to... more

When Leonard Matlovich was thrown out of the Air Force for being gay, he sued for reinstatement. It was 1975... more

Sparks flew when radical lesbian feminist Jill Johnston sat down for an interview with Studs Terkel in 1973. Jill had... more

A half-century ago, Studs Terkel interviewed three members of the homophile group Mattachine Midwest: the organization’s president, a student activist,... more

From a young age, Quentin Crisp was determined to be himself—makeup, painted nails, dramatically dyed hair, and all—even if it... more

Canadian female impersonator John Falk Tomkinson appeared around the globe under the stage name Les-Lee for over three decades. In... more

In 1959 Lorraine Hansberry became the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Soon after “A Raisin... more

Author Christopher Isherwood left England for Germany in 1929. His stories about his years there inspired the musical “Cabaret,” which... more

Making Gay History is back! Join us as we mine the Studs Terkel Radio Archive in Chicago for stories from... more

When high schooler Larah Helayne heard MGH’s episode with Jean O’Leary, it changed the course of her life. Plans to... more

MGH is Eric Marcus’s first love. But he also co-produces Those Who Were There. Have a listen to this episode... more

Making Gay History stands with the countless Americans protesting systemic racism and the deaths of black and brown people at... more

June 25, 1935 - May 27, 2020. In the early ’80s, author and playwright Larry Kramer was one of the... more

When Perry Watkins was drafted in 1968, he assumed the Army would reject him for being gay. They didn’t. When... more

In 1939 Joyce Hunter was born into a world so hostile it’s a wonder she wasn’t crushed. Instead, the challenges... more

In late 1955, the police of Boise, Idaho, started a sweeping investigation into an alleged “homosexual underground.” Fearing arrest, Morris... more

Today, Ellen DeGeneres needs no introduction. But as she explained in a 2001 MGH interview, her very public 1997 coming... more

When did you make gay history? Join host Eric Marcus, pioneering photojournalist Kay Lahusen, and a group of LGBTQ history-making... more

Vito Russo’s legacy—as a film historian, activist, and co-founder of GLAAD and ACT UP—is hard to overstate. In this 1988... more

“I’ve spent a large percent of my life being angry.” That was Shirley Willer, reflecting on the death of a... more

Wendell Sayers understood isolation. Born in western Kansas in 1904, Wendell was the first black lawyer to work for Colorado’s... more

Musical uplift for anxious times. When Eric Marcus interviewed lesbian publishing pioneer Edythe Eyde in 1989, she treated him to... more

In 1957, Frank Kameny was fired from his job at the U.S. Army Map Service for being gay. He went... more

In 1970, a young radio reporter recorded an interview with Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and other members of the... more

Damien Martin grew up in foster care and on the streets of Philadelphia, so he knew all too well about... more

In 1976 Nancy Walker joined the Gay Community News, an influential Boston-based weekly paper. She was in her 40s, an... more

For nearly half a century, Barbara Smith has been speaking truth to power—as a woman against misogyny, as an African... more

In 1975, long before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Navy asked, and Officer Copy Berg told: “Yes, I am gay.”... more

There’s a war on out there. That was Ruth Simpson’s Stonewall takeaway—and she was ready to fight. But when Ruth... more

Making Gay History mines Eric Marcus’s 30-year-old audio archive of rare interviews to create intimate, personal portraits of both known... more