Bammer and Me

Kevin Jennings: LGBTQ Activist, Author, and Historian

Kevin Jennings grew up in a southern trailer park, son of a homophobic itinerant Baptist preacher, was the first in his family to go to college (on a full scholarship at Harvard), and took the risky step of coming out while he was a high school history teacher in 1989. He quit that job in 1994 to form what has become the leading LGBTQ anti-bullying educational organization in the country, served as Assistant Secretary for Education for Safe Schools under President Obama, and is now CEO of Lambda Legal, the leading nonprofit fighting for LGBTQ rights in the US.

Jim Fouratt: From Civil Rights to Gay Rights

Jim Fouratt has been in the right place at the right time: he co-founded the leading anti-Vietnam war group in the 60s, he was present at all four nights of the Stonewall rebellion in June 1969, and he was an assistant to legendary music producer Clive Davis at Columbia Records. Listen as he shares his recollections of those momentous experiences.

Khalleed Ahmed Part 2: The Journey of a Gay Somalian Refugee

Khalleed Ahmed and his family fled civil war in Somalia, spent eight years in Kenyan refugee camps, and finally were given asylum in the United States. Join us as we listen to Khalleed share his journey to becoming an openly gay, Islamic, cardiac surgeon and an inspiration for others living in countries where they can't be themselves. (Part 2 of 2 interviews)

David Mixner: Longtime Civil Rights, Anti-war, and LGBTQ Rights Activist

David Mixner has been an author, political strategist, and civil rights activist for more than a half-century. He was first involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and later became a prominent LGBTQ rights advocate. A close confidant of President Bill Clinton in the early days of his administration, David had a falling out with Clinton when the new President backed away from his pledge to allow gays to serve in the military. Mike and David discuss his efforts on behalf of equal rights for LGBTQ people and other minorities.

Paula Harrowing: British queer activist

Paula Harrowing, a 49 y.o. British queer activist describes what it was like coming out into London's vibrant and diverse lesbian club scene in the late 80s and 90s only to be greeted soon thereafter by the arrival of AIDs. While nursing her gay male friends who were succumbing to that disease, she noticed the paucity of health services for women and children with HIV, prompting her to found a non-profit that filled that gap and still exists today.

Michela Griffo Part 2: A Pioneer in Women’s and LGBTQ Rights Movement

Michela Griffo talks about the battle for LGBTQ civil rights from the first NYC Pride March in 1970 onward, the arrival of AIDS in 1981, the formation of real gay and lesbian community after that, and where the LGBTQ movement goes from here.

Michela Griffo Part 1: A Pioneer in Women’s and LGBTQ Rights Movement

Mike talks with Michela Griffo about her life as an early and active member of the National Organization for Women in the late 1960s, a link to the Stonewall era, and one of a dozen or so participants from the first Gay Pride March in NYC in 1970 who’re still with us. She joins us today to talk about the sense of community that existed then and how different things are today

Dave Kopay: First NFL Player to Come Out of the Closet

Dave Kopay was the first prominent athlete to come out and the first male athlete in a major professional league to do so when he publicly disclosed he was gay in 1975. A hero to many LGBTQers for his courage, he paid a permanent price in being shut out of coaching jobs in colleges and at the pro level.

Joel Tucker: The Backstreet Cafe Shooting

Mike interviews Joel Tucker twenty years later: one of six survivors of the horrendous Backstreet Cafe shooting in Roanoke, Va. on September 20, 2000.

Cliff Morrison Part 2: The World’s First AIDS Ward

Cliff Morrison talks about forming the first AIDS ward in San Francisco General Hospital in 1983, as well as, his recent involvement in the making of “5B”, an award-winning documentary about that experience (now available on Amazon).