Bammer and Me

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).

Jacob Tobia: A Coming-of-Age Gender Story

Jacob Tobia is a gender-nonconforming Los Angeleno who’s on a roll. Three years ago, they landed a job as an executive assistant on the hit Amazon series "Transparent." Shortly after, Jacob released a New York Times best-selling memoir, "Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story," and secured an option from Showtime to develop a TV series inspired by their life. Jacob talks about their life journey and brings some clarity in understanding the complexity of sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity.

Stu Fenton Part 2: Confessions of a Male Escort turned Addiction Counselor

What do you do after you’ve been a Colt porn model, male escort, and drug addict? After kicking his drug addiction, Stu Fenton spent ten years getting his degrees in psychotherapy and gestalt therapy, opened a private therapy practice, and now counsels LGBTQ chemsex addicts in a private clinic, R 12, in Thailand on how to overcome their addiction. Stu shares his story of how he turned his life around. (Part 2 of 2 podcasts).

Rob Smith: Creating Gender-free Fashion

Rob Smith, founder of The Phluid Project, talks about his journey from his life as a successful fashion executive to creating the world’s first gender-free clothing brand.

Cliff Morrison Part 1: The World’s First AIDS Ward

Cliff Morrison arrived in San Francisco as a nurse in the late 1970s, as AIDS was about to erupt. In 1983, while working at SF General Hospital, one of the epicenters for the new disease, he was tasked with forming the world’s first hospital ward dedicated to serving people with AIDS. In the first of two episodes, Cliff tells Mike Balaban about that time.

Stu Fenton Part 1: Confessions of a Male Escort turned Addiction Counselor

Stu Fenton has had quite the life! In his early twenties, Stu was a Colt model and a male escort. That high life led to drug addiction, multiple near-death overdoses, and eventually rehab. Currently, he manages a chemsex treatment center in Chiang Mai, Thailand, one of only five in the world focusing on LGBTQ patients.