Leaving Home, Finding Family: A Queer Story of Activism & Belonging with Eugene MaySky

Leaving Home, Finding Family: A Queer Story of Activism & Belonging with Eugene MaySky

What does it mean to build a home when you've been forced to leave one behind? This week on Unpacking The Closet, we sit down with Eugene MaySky, activist, journalist, community organizer, two-time Emperor of the Imperial Court, tenant rights advocate, and one of the most influential leaders in Los Angeles' Russian-speaking LGBTQ+ community. Eugene's journey spans continents and decades of activism. In 1999, he helped organize Russia's first Gay Pride event during a time when visibility came with enormous personal risk. Since then, he's built LGBTQ+ media platforms, supported refugees, fought for housing justice, preserved queer history, and become the first Russian Emperor in the 56-year history of the Imperial Court System. Together, we unpack what it means to be a queer immigrant, the grief of leaving home behind, building chosen family in exile, and why showing up for your community is one of the most radical acts of love. In this episode, we discuss: • Organizing Russia's first Gay Pride in 1999 • The challenges facing Russian-speaking LGBTQ+ immigrants and refugees • The history and impact of the Imperial Court System • Why culture, music, and community are powerful forms of activism • Housing justice, tenant organizing, and supporting displaced communities • Building belonging through chosen family and collective care • What resilience really looks like after displacement Whether you're passionate about LGBTQ+ history, immigration, activism, community organizing, or simply love hearing stories of extraordinary people creating lasting change, this conversation is one you won't forget. Connect with Eugene MaySky 📸 Instagram: @eugenemaysky 🎵 TikTok: @eugenemaysky 📘 Facebook: facebook.com/eugene.maysky Follow Unpacking The Closet 🌐 www.unpackingthecloset.com [http://www.unpackingthecloset.com/] 📸 Instagram: @unpackingthecloset 🎵 TikTok: @unpackingthecloset ▶️ YouTube: @unpackingtheclosetpod 🎧 Follow Unpacking The Closet wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed this conversation, please take a moment to subscribe, leave a 5-star rating, and share this episode with a friend. Every share helps us amplify LGBTQ+ voices, preserve queer history, and continue bringing you conversations that matter. #UnpackingTheCloset #LGBTQPodcast #EugeneMaySky #QueerHistory #ImperialCourt #RussianLGBTQ #QueerImmigrants #ChosenFamily #HousingJustice #TenantRights #CommunityOrganizing #LGBTQHistory #PrideHistory #Activism #QueerVoices

More Than an Identity: Queerness as Practice and Resistance with Anna Storti

What does it mean to carry violence in your body? Author Anna Storti joins Unpacking the Closet to unpack her book Torn and the layered intersections of queerness, race, and inherited trauma. In this conversation, Geri and Caitlin sit down with Anna to explore how systemic violence lives inside us and across generations, what it means to hold a mixed-race Asian-white identity in queer spaces, and why Pride has always been as political as it is joyful. They also dig into the cultural legacy of The L Word, racism within queer communities, and how education and community can become sites of genuine resistance. This one is deep, honest, and full of the kind of clarity that only comes from someone who has lived and studied these questions from the inside. 🎧 New episodes every Tuesday. 📖 Find Anna's book Torn wherever books are sold. 👉 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Connect with Unpacking The Closet: Instagram: @unpackingtheclosetpod TikTok: @unpackingtheclosetpod YouTube: @unpackingtheclosetpod Have a coming out story, identity journey, or life experience you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for listening, and remember: every story unpacked helps make a little more room in the closet for someone else to step out.

Litha: The Longest Day

The Solstice Series follows the eight points of the Celtic Wheel of the Year as living mirrors for queer identity, mental health, and the rhythms of becoming. Beltane (May) asked: what do you allow yourself to want? The Summer Solstice asks something harder: what do you do when you have it? When you're fully seen, fully lit, at the height of your energy and something in you still wants to hide?

The Politics of Pleasure: From Heated Rivalry to Bridgerton and the Double Standard of Desire

By now you've probably heard of Heated Rivalry, the steamy queer hockey romance that became one of streaming's biggest hits, driven overwhelmingly by a female audience. And if you've been paying attention, you've also clocked the very different reaction some of those same women had when Bridgerton announced its first WLW season. Dr. Yamissette Westerband is here to unpack all of it: what female desire actually looks like when women have the freedom to explore it, why queer male stories feel safe in a way queer female stories apparently don't, and what it means that two shows in the same cultural moment are revealing very different things about whose pleasure we're actually comfortable with. We post new episodes every tuesday and you can follow us on all socials: @unpackingthecloset Have a question or want to be on the show?! Message us by going to our website: www.unpackingthecloset.com #heatedrivalry #bridgerton #ThePoliticsOfPleasure #UnpackingTheCloset #FemaleDesire #FeministPodcast #QueerRepresentation #WLW #QueerRomance #GenderStudies #PopCulturePodcast #MediaAnalysis #LGBTQPodcast #WomenAndCulture #PodcastRecommendations #Franchaela #FrancescaBridgerton #MichaelaStirling #ShaneAndIlya

Stonewall, Juneteenth, and the History of Pride

Pride didn't start as a parade, it started as a riot led by Black and brown trans women who were tired of surviving. This episode is about knowing whose shoulders we're standing on, what they actually built, and how we honor that by refusing to be quiet about our joy. #Pride #PrideHistory #Juneteenth #blackhistory #queerhistory #June