Fear Doesn't Get the Final Say

My Identity Is Bigger Than My Bedroom with Jen LeBlanc

Pride didn't get easier, it just got quieter for a while. This episode breaks that quiet. My guest is Jen LeBlanc: out since 1993, founder of the Pride Empowerment Network in southern New Hampshire, and the writer behind a gorgeous piece on why Pride still matters that's been living in my head since the day I read it. We talk about coming out to her mom in a Sears parking lot, the Glad Day Bookstore on Boylston Street where she found her own history hiding in plain sight, the women's studies class that changed everything, and why she thinks the backlash against trans people from inside our own community might be the most urgent conversation we're not having enough. This one's personal and it's exactly why Pride still matters. Why Pride Month Matters by Jennifer LeBlanc: https://www.nashuaindependent.com/why-pride-month-matters-in-our-community/ [https://www.nashuaindependent.com/why-pride-month-matters-in-our-community/] Pride Empowerment Network: https://www.instagram.com/pensouthernnh/ [https://www.instagram.com/pensouthernnh/] New Hampshire Organizations: https://603equality.org [https://603equality.org] https://manchestertrue.org [https://manchestertrue.org] https://blmnh.org [https://blmnh.org] Massachusetts Organizations: https://gayforgood.org/boston/ [https://gayforgood.org/boston/] https://glisten.org/our-chapters/ [https://glisten.org/our-chapters/] https://www.bagly.org/volunteer [https://www.bagly.org/volunteer] SoCal Organizations: https://lalgbtcenter.org [https://lalgbtcenter.org] https://gayforgood.org/losangeles/ [https://gayforgood.org/losangeles/] https://www.eqca.org [https://www.eqca.org] https://www.blmla.org [https://www.blmla.org]

Why Pride Still Matters: Queer Joy and the Original Refusal

Happy Pride, everyone. I'll be honest, I got a bit emotional in all of the ways while recording this one. This week I'm going solo to talk about what Pride actually is, why we celebrate it so loud, and why it matters more this year than it has in a long time. We start with a Margaret Cho bit that had me cackling (thank you, Confession Hole with Eric Willz), we call back to last week with the legendary Jackie Beat, and then we go where this show always goes, which is deep. I tell you the full story of Bobby Griffith and his mother Mary, the one I only gave you the highlight reel of last year. We get into Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard, the brand-new numbers on where this country actually stands, and what is happening to trans rights right now, here and around the world. And then we climb back into the joy, because the joy is the whole point. The joy is the resistance. The joy is what freedom actually is when it gets a body and a dance floor. And if you have ever been on the fence about any of this, I made this one for you too. I promise I don't yell. If this moved you, do the thing I ask at the end. Send it to the person who came to mind while you listened. You know exactly who that is. Want to talk, or need a safe space? My DMs are open, and there's a submission form on the site. I read every single one. If you're a young queer person and today feels like too much, the Trevor Project is there 24/7. Call 1-866-488-7386 or text START to 678-678. You are needed here. Last Week's Episode with Jackie Beat: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Au7bZ7fBsx5oqdPvfFrLF?si=Z2imZV4uRrqAuzO0jZ3wxg [https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Au7bZ7fBsx5oqdPvfFrLF?si=Z2imZV4uRrqAuzO0jZ3wxg] Website Submission Form: https://jonnythyne.com/reflect [https://jonnythyne.com/reflect] Instagram and All: https://linktr.ee/Jonnythyne [https://linktr.ee/Jonnythyne]

Jackie Beat: 36 Years in Drag and Zero Apologies

Drag legend Jackie Beat joins Refuse to Subscribe for a Pride Month conversation about 36 years in drag, queer freedom, comedy, Joan Rivers, Bea Arthur, AIDS, Drag Race, and why there is no expiration date on being fierce, fabulous, and funny. Jackie Beat has been my favorite drag queen since I was fourteen years old, watching her on YouTube in a small New Hampshire town and seeing, maybe for the first time, what it looked like to be loud, hilarious, fearless, inappropriate, and completely yourself. I finally got her on the podcast, and honestly, she did not disappoint. We get inappropriate. We get real. We talk about coming out, the AIDS crisis, gender, fabric, comedy, cancel culture, the rules people make up, the freedoms people pretend to love, and the joy of refusing to shrink yourself for anyone. This one was a long time coming. Happy Pride! Join the conversation: https://jonnythyne.com/reflect https://jonnythyne.com/reflect [ https://jonnythyne.com/reflect] Baby Got Front: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxq6IgkYA50 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxq6IgkYA50]

The Person You Can't Become At Home: On Moving, Starting Over, and Finding Yourself Somewhere New

This week I'm coming in hot with some life updates - the Hacks series finale (UPDATE: I thought it was the series finale, it wasn't. and I couldn't be happier about it) and a book I finished, You've Found Oliver by Dustin Thao, which started slow and then took a turn I did not see coming and had me in my feels for the rest of the day. Dustin, you might be getting a call soon. Then we get into it. First- the dumb phone experiment. I tried it. It was harder than expected, lonelier than expected, and ultimately more clarifying than expected. I'm not back to scrolling mindlessly, but I'm also not pretending the rest of the world is going to slow down and meet me where I am. I found a middle ground, and I share exactly what that looks like now plus an app called Blank Spaces that has been a genuine game changer for anyone not ready to go full dumb phone but desperate for less noise. And then the thing I really wanted to talk about. The belief I have held for over ten years that I think is one of the most radical, most necessary things a person can do for themselves- leave your hometown. Give it at least two years somewhere new. Sit in the discomfort of nobody knowing who you are or who you're supposed to be. Let yourself become a blank canvas again. I moved from Massachusetts to Tucson at 21 with nothing. No job, no money, one connection, zero plan. It was the best decision I have ever made. Then Phoenix. Then LA. And now Paris is on the horizon. Every single move has cracked me open in ways I didn't know I needed. Every city has asked me to shed something and grow something new in its place. This episode is for the person who feels the pull and keeps talking themselves out of it. The person who knows something different is waiting for them but can't quite bring themselves to begin. I've been that person. I know what's on the other side of the fear. And I promise you- it is worth every single uncomfortable, disorienting, lonely, magnificent moment. If you want to talk about any of this - privately or on the podcast- I'd love to hear from you. https://jonnythyne.com/reflect [https://jonnythyne.com/reflect]

Spiritually Awake, Socially Inconvenienced: When Meditation Starts Working

Jen is back, and I have to be honest with you- becoming more spiritually aware has made me a worse bar patron. We talk about what actually happens when meditation starts working: you feel everything, you notice everything, and sometimes you're stuck in a room where the energy is genuinely terrible and you just have to be there anyway. We also get into what it means to love yourself on the days when you're disconnected, why there are no rules in meditation even though it kind of feels like there are, and Jen's origin story (which involves finding the teacher she'd been looking for her whole life and then choosing the bar instead.) She ends us with a question that I'm still sitting with. Head to the link below, drop your answer in the anonymous submission box, and Jen and I are bringing your responses into our next episode together. If you'd still like to join the meditation challenge, that link is below, as well! https://jonnythyne.com/reflect [https://jonnythyne.com/reflect] https://www.lightsourcecenter.org/21day/ [https://www.lightsourcecenter.org/21day/]