Best Rick Koonce Podcasts (2024)

1
Interview with Dr. Jane Fleishman | Ep #38 38:09

2M ago38:09

38:09

Dr. Jane Fleishman is an accomplished sexuality educator, writer, program developer, and researcher. In 2016, at the age of 62, she received her doctorate in Human Sexuality from the Widener University Center for Human Sexuality Studies after a successful career as a consultant for a large public mental health system. In this fascinating interview …

1
Interview with Mayor Brett Smiley | Ep #37 35:35

3M ago35:35

35:35

Brett Smiley is the married, gay mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, the first in the city's 400-year history. Elected to office in 2022 on his second try for the job, Smiley got his start in Rhode Island politics years before, serving as Chief Operating Officer for Providence and Director of Administration for the Ocean State, as well as Chief of S…

1
Interview with Rick Miller | Ep #36 37:08

4M ago37:08

37:08

Rick Miller is a psychotherapist who works extensively with gay men. Gay himself, he has pioneered the use of mind-body experiential therapy to assist gay men, and other members of the LGBTQ+ community, in dealing with early life trauma. Through doing such work, Rick has helped many in the community discover inner strength, build personal resilienc…

1
Interview with Mara Betti | Ep #35 40:52

11M ago40:52

40:52

Mara Betti is a successful, 50-something architect, working for one of the leading architectural firms in Boston. She’s also a transwoman and biological father of two sons, ages 18 and 22. In this deeply personal interview with PFLAG Cape Cod’s Rick Koonce, Mara talks emotionally about coming out and accepting herself as trans; a journey that has t…

1
Interview with Jake Wanamaker | Ep #34 39:52

11M ago39:52

39:52

Assigned female at birth, Jake Wanamaker is a 2023 graduate of Nauset High School on Cape Cod who today identifies as a Transman. For Jake, the awareness that he was born into a body of the wrong-gender for him came early, when he was only a few years old. But he didn’t have the knowledge or vocabulary with which to understand the feelings and emot…

1
Interview with Ann Burke | Ep #33 37:17

1y ago37:17

37:17

Ann Burke is a registered nurse and long-time advocate for Transgender people who live on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. She serves as a board member of the Cape and Islands Transgender Resource Fund, and also acts as a counselor and facilitator of Transgender social support meetings, held twice monthly on he Cape, under the auspices o…

1
Interview with Rikki Bates | Ep #32 42:06

1y ago42:06

42:06

Rikki Bates is a rock and roll drummer who has struggled much of her life with gender dysphoria. For years, like many Transgender people, she lived with deep depression, and a lack of adequate employment. Then, she managed to get gender reassignment surgery which changed her life. In the process, she also brought about precedent-setting changes in …

1
Interview with Zooey Zephyr | Ep #31 41:52

1y ago41:52

41:52

Transgender activist and first-time state legislator Zooey Zephyr made national headlines in April 2023 when she spoke out in support of Transgender rights in the Montana state legislature and was banished from legislative debate on the topic as a result. Courageous leadership is often defined by four compelling traits: Confidence in oneself, commi…

1
Interview with Felice Cohen | Ep #30 30:40

2y ago30:40

30:40

At the age of 23, Felice Cohen was, like many other college graduates, hesitant about entering the real world, and at the same time, uncertain about her sexuality. Focused on landing her first job as a writer, falling in love was the last thing on Felice’s mind. But fall in love she did -- with her boss, Sarah, a woman 34 years older than she. It w…

1
Interview with Jere Mahaffey | Ep #29 39:20

2y ago39:20

39:20

Jere Mahaffey is a 35-year-old former Evangelical Christian. He’s also an out, married gay/bisexual man who has retained many of the tenets of his early Christian faith, while leaving other elements of evangelical doctrine behind him. As an adolescent, Jere was drawn initially to girls, and even had girlfriends while he was in junior high school. B…

1
Interview with Connor Ryan | Ep #28 25:51

2y ago25:51

25:51

Connor Ryan is an 18-year-old transgender male and 2022 graduate of Bourne High School in Bourne, MA. He’s also one of three recipients of the 2022 Anne Toran scholarship, an award given annually by PFLAG Cape Cod to high school seniors from the Cape in recognition of their courage and work on behalf of LGBTQ+ rights. In this insightful interview w…

1
Interview with Lilith Rose | Ep #27 41:55

2y ago41:55

41:55

Lilith Rose is a twenty-something individual who identifies as transgender and non-binary. At the time of this interview, they had also just been named executive director of PFLAG San Francisco. Lilith grew up in what she describes as a toxic home environment. Born anatomically male, they first came out as gay before eventually discovering they are…

1
Interview with Jeff Mack | Ep #26 36:07

2y ago36:07

36:07

In October 1998, Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was brutally attacked and tied to a fence outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Five days later he died of deep wounds inflicted in one of the most vicious anti-gay attacks in American history. In this wide-ranging interview with PFLAG Cape Cod’s Rick Koonce, Jeff Mack, a …

1
Interview with Alex Hagler | Ep #25 37:33

2y ago37:33

37:33

Alex Hagler is a Latin and history teacher at a prestigious private school outside Boston. They’re also the recent co-founder of their school’s first Gay Straight Alliance. GSA’s (also known as Genders & Sexualities Alliances) operate in many school systems across the country today. As clubs, they’re intended to serve as safe spaces for LGBTQ+ yout…

1
Interview with Kimberly Brooks Mazella | Ep #24 43:21

2+ y ago43:21

43:21

Imagine being in a traditional heterosexual marriage for many years and then discovering that your husband or wife is gay or lesbian. What would you think? How would you react? What would you do? And where would you go to get help and find understanding in dealing with your situation? In the late 1980s, Kimberly Brooks Mazella found herself in this…

1
Interview with Lady Di | Ep #23 34:52

2+ y ago34:52

34:52

“Vernon Diannah Porter” is probably not a name you readily recognize. But that’s because he’s much better known by his stage name and alter ego, “Lady Di”, host of the popular Friday evening radio show, Leggs Up and Dancing, on WOMR-FM in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Lady Di has been a popular fixture at WOMR for the last 22 years. Each week, she h…

1
Interview with Jane Martin & Helen Malone | Ep #22 39:56

2+ y ago39:56

39:56

Some life partners first spot each other from across a crowded room. But not Helen Malone. With a piece of birthday cake in hand, she literally bumped into her future wife, Jane Martin from behind, at a birthday party for a mutual friend back in 2002. From the moment they met, the lives of both women changed rapidly. And while their lives today on …

1
Interview with Rev. Dr. Joan Beilstein | Ep #21 35:14

2+ y ago35:14

35:14

Dr. Joan Beilstein is a Lesbian Episcopal Priest, and Rector of the Church of the Ascension in Silver Spring MD. Today, though a senior, well-respected pastor in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, there was a time when Joan was rejected by her own priest for being gay. And even after being ordained a priest herself in 1994, Joan struggled to …

1
Hollis L. | Ep #20 32:49

2+ y ago32:49

32:49

Hollis L. is a 25-year-old individual who identifies as both non-binary and transmasculine. That means that, though assigned a designation of female at birth, they don’t fully identify with being a person of either gender. But, in Hollis' case, it does mean they tend to embrace more of a “masculine” identity than a feminine one. In this fascinating…

1
Interview with David Bermudez & Bob Isadore | Ep #19 40:10

3y ago40:10

40:10

David Bermudez and Bob Isadore are a same-sex couple who have been together for 47 years. David, a veteran of the Stonewall uprising of 1969, met Bob, in 1974, when the two were both living and working in New York City. At the time, David was a Manhattan-based interior designer. Bob, was an assistant buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue who hailed from Quee…

1
David Bermudez: Letter from President Barack Obama | Ep #18 2:23

3y ago2:23

2:23

David Bermudez's work on behalf of gay rights has continued since the days of the Stonewall uprising. Listen, as he tells PFLAG Cape Cod's Rick Koonce, about the letter he received in the mail one day, acknowledging his decades of work on behalf of all gay and lesbian Americans. Please click the like button above and leave a review if your favorite…

1
Interview with David Bermudez | Ep #17 47:58

3y ago47:58

47:58

In the history of the gay rights movement, there are few moments as pivotal as the Stonewall uprising – a night in June 1969, when, confronted by a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, members of the gay and lesbian communities fought back against police injustice. The rebellion that ensued that night – and on subsequent nights at the…

1
Interview with Ryan R. | Ep #16 39:02

3y ago39:02

39:02

Ryan R. is a 24-year-old non-binary lesbian. In Ryan’s case, that means that though they are lesbian and like to date women, they don’t identify with being a girl, a woman, or, with the attributes of traditional femininity. It was a discovery that Ryan made after dating boys in high school, faking physical attraction to males at the time, and then …

1
Interview with Nell Fields | Ep #15 31:13

3y ago31:13

31:13

Nell Fields is a born-again Christian, social justice advocate, and a happily married lesbian who’s been with her wife Sarah, a lawyer, for over 20 years. She’s also the minister of Waquoit Congregational church in East Falmouth, MA. The youngest of five daughters whose father was a career Army officer, Nell initially pursued a career in business a…

1
Interview with Deer Sullivan | Ep #14 34:56

3y ago34:56

34:56

Bisexuality... Even among members of the LGBTQ+ community it’s a concept and reality that often is not fully understood – or appreciated. As a result, bisexuals sometimes feel marginalized and rejected, even among people who identify as members of other sexual minorities. And that means being bisexual can be a lonely and misunderstood place to be. …

1
Interview with Dr. Maureen Osborne | Ep #13 37:59

3+ y ago37:59

37:59

Dr. Maureen Osborne is a psychologist and gender therapist who has spent over two decades serving the needs of transgender clients. In this fascinating interview with PFLAG Cape Cod’s Rick Koonce, Maureen talks, in depth, about her work with a variety of transgender men and women over the years. She describes the human anguish, confusion, and shame…

1
Interview with Ali Sands | Ep #12 46:20

3+ y ago46:20

46:20

Ali Sands is an author and professional speaker who writes and speaks frequently on the topics of love, relationships, intimacy, and gender expression and identity. They’re topics she knows a lot about. Married for 23 years to a straight man, and mother of two children, in 2002 Ali began a relationship with a new partner, who, at the time, inhabite…

1
Interview with Dirk Correia | Ep #11 33:26

3+ y ago33:26

33:26

Dirk Correia is a twenty-something transgender male who identifies as nonbinary -- meaning that they don't identify with being either entirely male or female, as society typically understands those terms. As Dirk explains to PFLAG Cape Cod's Rick Koonce in this illuminating interview, their journey to accepting themselves as nonbinary has been a lo…

1
Lori Duron | Ep #10 44:54

3+ y ago44:54

44:54

She calls herself “a fierce Mama bear” when it comes to safeguarding the rights and safety of her two boys. So says Lori Duron, author of Raising My Rainbow, a book that chronicles her family’s adventures raising a gender creative child named C.J., a boy who, from the age of just two and a half, displayed clues that he wasn’t like other kids. While…

1
Elias Lieberman: Ally | Ep #9 29:16

3+ y ago29:16

29:16

Rabbi Elias Lieberman has been Rabbi of the Falmouth Jewish Congregation on Cape Cod since 1990. In that time, he’s been a steadfast champion of LGBTQ rights, signing on early to support same-sex marriage when it first became law in Massachusetts, and later, becoming an outspoken advocate of transgender rights as well. His congregation also served …

1
Joanne Hush: Mother | Ep #8 27:35

3+ y ago27:35

27:35

You might call Joanne Hush a social pioneer. It’s probably not a label she would ascribe to herself. But, Joanne is the mother of a gay son and a lesbian daughter, both of whom came out to her (and her husband Paul) decades ago –- in the 1980s and early 90s -- when having openly gay or lesbian children was far more controversial and uncommon than i…

1
Alex: Trans Man | Ep #7 28:52

3+ y ago28:52

28:52

36-year-old Alex Smith knew, from an early age, that he was different. But, as a child, he didn't have the vocabulary to describe his feelings, or the psychological maturity to understand the emotions that stirred in him. Born female, it would be years before he realized he was, in fact, transgender. In this revealing interview with interviewer and…

1
Susan Smith: Parent | Ep #6 34:28

3+ y ago34:28

34:28

Susan Smith is the mother of a 36-year-old transgender son who she raised with her husband, Roger, on a rural Pennsylvania farm. Back in the 1980s and 90s, sexuality wasn't a topic that even most progressive, open-minded parents eagerly discussed with their kids. But from an early age, Susan realized that something was going on with her daughter. T…

1
Max Archer | Ep #5 33:02

3+ y ago33:02

33:02

Max Archer is the 38-year-old father of an adult daughter and three school age boys. A nurse by training, he works from home for a major health insurance company, and in his spare time, volunteers for several justice organizations on Cape Cod. So, what makes Max different from many other single parents? Max is a Trans man. In this revealing intervi…

1
Robyn Keating | Ep #4 40:18

3+ y ago40:18

40:18

Robyn Keating is a 26-year-old transgender woman. Born into a male body, she knew, from an early age, that she didn't identify with boys, but did identify with being a girl. While her mother (Dina) was always supportive of her being whoever she felt herself to be, Robyn was afraid of her father. Consequently, she remained in the closet for years, u…

1
Dina Guarino | Ep #3 27:37

3+ y ago27:37

27:37

When you have a child who comes out as transgender, it can be an emotional rollercoaster to deal with. You can also feel like nobody in the world understands what you’re dealing with. So says Dina G. of Cape Cod. In 2017, Dina’s 23-year-old son shared with her that he was, in fact, a woman. Since that time, both Dina and her daughter, Robyn have be…

1
Paula Degree | Ep #2 29:43

3+ y ago29:43

29:43

Imagine being in your mid-sixties, married (for the second time) and discovering you’re transgender! The life of Paula Degree is a compelling story of courage, self-exploration, long sought answers, and fearless personal honesty. Married twice and the parent of three children, Paula says the day she realized, in her therapist’s office, that she was…

1
Joey Morisset | Ep #1 25:36

3+ y ago25:36

25:36

Courage is a quality we usually associate with age, wisdom, and years of lived experience. But what if you’re just 18 years old, full of vibrant enthusiasm and energy, and a young gay man who’s already found his voice when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights? You’d be describing Joey Morisset, a young gay man from Cape Cod who is already a profile in LGBTQ+ …

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