#66 - On Politics, Genderspeak and a Queer New World (Part I)

A Way Beyond the Rainbow

With this episode, we commence the fifth and final season of the podcast which focuses on sociopolitical and religious topics, themes related to gender and transgenderism, as well as broader topics of relevance to the larger community.
The season premieres with a 2-episode series that addresses the history and politics of the gay liberation movement, the influence of the LGBT movement on countless aspects of everyday life and how far things have progressed in a few decades.
How did the gay liberation movement start and progress over the past few decades? In what ways was the book After the Ball foundational in laying out the vision and plans for society's desensitization towards the LGBT community, as well as the acceptance and even celebration of queerness and homosexuality, as part of a fight towards civil rights and integration into mainstream politics? In what ways have the Orwellian themes of Newspeak, thought crimes and thought police become a tangible reality in today's world? These and other questions are explored in this episode.
Resources used in the episode:
- After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen
- A Queer Thing Happened to America: And What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been by Michael Brown

Chapters

1. #66 - On Politics, Genderspeak and a Queer New World (Part I) (00:00:00)

2. Episode Introduction (00:00:37)

3. Gay Liberation: Then and Now (00:07:00)

4. After the Ball: An Introduction (00:11:59)

5. The Waging Peace Campaign (00:23:50)

6. Outlining the Faults from Within (00:42:18)

7. Alternatives? (00:55:35)

8. Critiques and Reflections (01:02:03)

9. An LGBT Agenda? (01:12:37)

10. Identity and Civil Rights (01:22:24)

11. Ending Remarks (01:37:42)