Revisiting what it's like to live LGBTQ in 2021

48:29

December 29, 2021

This is the Radio Boston rundown for Dec. 29. Tiziana Dearing is our host.

Massachusetts has long centered the LGBTQ community: it was the first state to legalize gay marriage nearly 20 years ago, and Boston’s annual Pride celebration is the largest in New England. This year, however, some activists called for boycotts of Boston Pride as the organization faced accusations of whitewashing and exclusion of transgender people. We revisit a conversation with Gary Daffin, Executive Director of the Multicultural Aid Coalition and Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, about the past and present local LGBTQ community and challenges it faces.

The hit TV series "Pose" on FX wrapped up its final season. The fictional show focused on the real-life legends of New York City's underground ballroom culture in the '80s and '90s. We talk about the impact of the show and ballroom culture as a part of the LGBTQ community. We reprise a conversation with guests London Fleur de Lis Escada, a Vogue instructor who competed on the first season of HBO Max's reality-voguing competition "Legendary," and Dezyre Revlon, New England mother of the iconic House of Revlon, based in Boston.

This spring, proposed legislation in Maine to ban transgender girls from participating in girls sports failed to pass the state Legislature. We revisit a conversation with 17-year-old Lane, a trans, high school soccer player, about why that participation is important.

This program aired on December 29, 2021.