Making Gay History
Making Gay History is a podcast that brings LGBT history to life through intimate conversations with both known and long-forgotten trailblazers, activists, and allies. Most episodes draw on the three-decade-old audio archive of rare interviews that the podcast's founder and host Eric Marcus conducted for the two editions of his oral history book about the LGBT movement, which he was commissioned to write in the late 1980s.
Background
The first edition of the book, published in 1992 under the title Making History was a Stonewall Book Award winner in 1992 and was described by acclaimed oral historian Studs Terkel as “ne of the definitive works on gay life.”In the late 1990s, Marcus undertook another round of interviews for the updated second edition of the book, entitled Making Gay History.
In 2016, Marcus revisited the archive of his original recordings, which had since been digitized by the New York Public Library, along with executive producer Sara Burningham, who suggested that the interviews be used as the basis for a podcast.
Since its launch in October 2016, the podcast has featured interviews with transgender rights icon Sylvia Rivera; pioneering lesbian writer Edythe D. Eyde aka Lisa Ben; American comedian, talk show host, and actress Ellen DeGeneres; popular advice columnist and LGBT advocate Pauline Phillips ; and others. It has also drawn on other audio archives to highlight the contributions of activists like Ernestine Eckstein and Bayard Rustin, and has used contemporary interviews to chronicle the life and work of Magnus Hirschfeld and Reed Erickson.
Awards and honors
- In September 2017, NBC Out polled its constituents about their "favorite LGBTQ-inclusive podcasts," and Making Gay History was voted #2 out of 11 ranked.
- In October 2017, the Oral History Association honored Making Gay History with its Oral History in a Nonprint Format Award.
- On December 27, 2019, The Atlantic named Making Gay History’s Stonewall 50 season one of the best podcasts of 2019.
- As of January 2020, Making Gay History has been downloaded 3 million times in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.
Seasons and episodes
| Season 1 | Episode |
| Episode 1 | Sylvia Rivera, Part I |
| Episode 2 | Wendell Sayers |
| Episode 3 | Edythe Eyde |
| Episode 4 | Dr. Evelyn Hooker |
| Episode 5 | Frank Kameny |
| Episode 6 | Jeanne and Morty Manford |
| Episode 7 | Chuck Rowland |
| Episode 8 | Pauline Phillips |
| Episode 9 | Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen |
| Episode 10 | Vito Russo |
| Season 2 | Episode |
| Episode 1 | Marsha P. Johnson and Randy Wicker |
| Episode 2 | Shirley Willer |
| Episode 3 | Hal Call |
| Episode 4 | Jean O'Leary, Part I |
| Episode 5 | Jean O'Leary, Part II |
| Episode 6 | Morris Foote |
| Episode 7 | Herb Selwyn |
| Episode 8 | Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen |
| Episode 9 | Evander Smith and Herb Donaldson |
| Episode 10 | Joyce Hunter |
| Episode 11 | Tom Cassidy |
| BONUS | Love is Love |
| Season 3 | Episode |
| Episode 1 | Sylvia Rivera, Part II |
| Episode 2 | Perry Watkins |
| Episode 3 | Ellen DeGeneres |
| Episode 4 | J.J. Belanger |
| Episode 5 | Deborah Johnson and Zandra Rolón Amato |
| Episode 6 | Larry Kramer |
| Episode 7 | Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin |
| Episode 8 | Morris Kight |
| Episode 9 | Paulette Goodman |
| Episode 10 | Greg Brock |
| Episode 11 | Morty Manford |
| BONUS | Edythe Eyde’s Gay Gal’s Mixtape |
| BONUS | Kay Lahusen’s Gay Table |
| BONUS | Farewell Dick Leitsch |
| Season 5 | Episode |
| Episode 1 | Prelude to a Riot |
| Episode 2 | "Everything Clicked... And The Riot Was On" |
| Episode 3 | "Say it Loud! Gay and Proud!" |
| Episode 4 | Live from Stonewall |
| BONUS | Stonewall 50 Minisode: Marsha P. Johnson and Randy Wicker |
| BONUS | Stonewall 50 Minisode: Morty Manford |
| BONUS | Stonewall 50 Minisode: Barbara Gittings and Kay Lahusen |
| BONUS | Stonewall 50 Minisode: Craig Rodwell |