On this week's Out Here in America, Justin shares his final story for the show. His colleague Margaret Baker is the lead investigative reporter for the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi. She's covered a lot of murders but one about a transgender woman brought her closer to her identity and became a federal hate crime case. Hear Margaret's story abo…

On this episode of Out Here in America, Pass Christian, Miss.-native Shelby Peranich shares her story of falling in love in college, and subsequently being forced out back home. Today, she lives with her partner in Memphis, and talks to host Justin Mitchell about feeling accepted in the LGBTQ community there — as well as the proud LGBTQ community s…

On this week's Out Here in America, Austin Gaddis shares his story of being closeted in one of the University of Alabama's largest fraternities. He also shares how he participated in a covert, underground gay dating system right under his brothers' noses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

On this episode, host Justin Mitchell sits down with Carson Jones–-the son of Alabama Senator Doug Jones. Justin and Carson look back at the 2016 election the campaign against Roy Moore. They also look to the future of Alabama during a tough political climate. Hear more on Out Here in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad…

On this episode, host Justin Mitchell sits down with Pomona College student Daniel Garcia, along with Victoria Penny — the woman Daniel proudly calls “mom” — and his new sister, Brailey Penny, to look back at Daniel’s difficult childhood in the Mississippi foster care system, and to look ahead at what they all believe is his very bright future. Lea…

On this week's episode, trans man Dillon King takes us into the world of CrossFit in a small town in Louisiana. Hear all about King's fight to make trans lives matter in the town with the help of his family and the little gym that could, all on Out Here in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

On this episode, host Justin Mitchell sits down with Teddy Mars, host of the Carnival Kings’ long-running late-night New Orleans drag shows, to talk about the evolution of LGBTQ communities down South, being a visible ally for LGBTQ equality along the Gulf Coast, and balancing fatherhood with his life in a drag king troupe. Learn more about your ad…

On this week's Out Here in America, Daniel Desrochers guest hosts this week's episode. The Lexington Herald-Leader reporter sits down with Judge Ernesto Scorsone--a circuit court judge with a long history of standing up for LGBTQ rights in the conservative state of Kentucky. Hear how the judge broke down sodomy laws in the state and paved away for …

On this episode, host Justin Mitchell sits down with Devin Ladner — a stripper in the heart of New Orleans' Bourbon Street — to talk about emotional labor as a dancer, losing family, and the rules of the road when it comes to being a gay stripper in the Deep South. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

On this episode, host Justin Mitchell sits down with 16-year-old Pass Christian High School graduate Jorden Blosser — the first out transgender student to receive a diploma from the 600-student school on the Mississippi Gulf Coast — to talk about ageism in the LGBTQ community, unexpected allies in public education, and coming of age as a trans teen…

On this episode, host Justin Mitchell sits down with Ann Madden — co-owner of Smith & Lens gallery in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and the leader of a growing protest movement against the state’s “religious freedom law” — to talk about House Bill 1523, the role of small businesses in protecting LGBTQ rights, and loving Mississippi despite its faults. Lear…

On this episode, host Justin Mitchell talks with Dannie Landry, managing partner of Biloxi staple Veaux Bar & Grill — home to one of the most popular ongoing drag shows on the entire Gulf Coast — about his Vixens of Veaux, Mississippi being more open-minded than a lot of people give it credit for, and how Landry’s passion for serving his community …

On this episode of Out Here in America, host Justin Mitchell talks with Kimberly Davis, and her son Thomas Davis, about Kimberly’s transition away from her life as a husband, father and son named Richard — and the unexpected support she’s found from her community in rural Georgia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Out Here in America returns, with Kidd Kraddick Morning Show staple "Part-Time Justin” talking to host Justin Mitchell about religion, celebrity, and using his role on the nationally syndicated radio show to increase opportunity for the LGBTQ community throughout the South. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

On the Season 1 finale of "Out Here in America," Gulf Coast mainstay Lynn Koval talks to host Justin Mitchell about opening Just Us Lounge, perhaps the oldest gay bar in Mississippi; creating safe space for the LGBTQ community in the Deep South; and where the "Pride" movement goes from here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch…

On this episode of "Out Here in America," Freedom to Marry founder Evan Wolfson, and Eddie Rosenstein, director of the new documentary “The Freedom to Marry,” join host Justin Mitchell and a live audience at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts and Education near Biloxi, Miss., to talk about the battle for nationwide marriage equality, and t…

On this episode of "Out Here in America," newlyweds Mollie and Jillian Nunez talk to host Justin Mitchell about finding love and happiness in the Deep South, where their parents didn’t support their marriage, the church no longer embraced them—and for some people, “traditional family values” changed more slowly than even the law. Plus, a special an…

On this episode of "Out Here in America," former Air Force medic Jenna Lockwood talks to host Justin Mitchell about her military service, the grandmother who inspired her dedication to a larger cause, and fulfilling that mission even when it meant hiding who she truly was. Plus, a special announcement from Evan Wolfson and our friends behind the ne…

On this episode, Rev. Errol Montgomery-Robertson, pastor at Biloxi's LGBTQ-friendly Lighthouse Community Church, talks to host Justin Mitchell about preaching inclusion, and rejecting the traditional image of God he’d been taught so that he could give comfort to others. Plus, a special announcement from Evan Wolfson and our friends behind the new d…

On this bonus episode of "Out Here in America," close friends and drag performers Allan “Kara Mel D’Ville” Cramer and AJ “Lexis Redd D’Ville” Lawson talk to host Justin Mitchell about their troupe “Orphan Haus,” putting Mississippi drag on the map, and why straight audiences enjoy their shows far more than gay audiences do. Learn more about your ad…

On this episode, Trevor Ladner — Harvard student, and in small-town Mississippi, the drag artist known as “Miss Annie Thang” — talks to host Justin Mitchell about discovering his passion for performing, and defining his own sense of self. Plus, a special announcement from Evan Wolfson and our friends behind the new documentary “The Freedom to Marry…

On this bonus episode of "Out Here in America," Grammy- and Emmy-nominated comedian Tig Notaro talks to host Justin Mitchell about filming her Amazon show, "One Mississippi" at home in the Deep South; the show's portrayal of her stepfather, Bill; and how the upcoming second season will be packed with "more truth, and more fiction, equally." Learn m…

On this episode, Grammy- and Emmy-nominated comedian Tig Notaro talks to host Justin Mitchell about marrying her partner Stephanie in the Deep South; the birth of their twin boys, Max and Finn; the parts of Notaro's show, "One Mississippi," that mirror her own LGBTQ experience; and her hope for equality in the state that she loves. Learn more about…

On the debut episode of Out Here in America, Pulse nightclub shooting survivor Chris Hansen talks to host Justin Mitchell about his role helping to save the lives of Jose "Junior" Martinez and Kaliesha Andino during the massacre, his decision to leave small-town Arkansas for a city more welcoming of the LGBTQ community, and finding hope and strengt…

Recorded in McClatchy's Biloxi, Miss., Sun Herald newsroom, Justin Mitchell hosts an interview-driven narrative podcast featuring military veterans, church leaders, celebrities and others giving voice to the LGBTQ experience in the historically conservative, traditionally religious Heartland and Deep South. Season 1, “Southern Roots,” debuts June 1…