Isnt It Queer

Jonny and Heather offer an overview of trends from 2025, linking the hard lessons learned about AI to the hard lessons learned from the first year of Trump 2.0. In the back half of the show, they turn a prophetic gaze toward the future and make some broad predictions for 2026. They dare to hope that after all of the suffering the world might actually be learning to be a little less phobic toward human diversity.

Jonny assembes a mix tape of 2025's contributors to IIQ as well as a sampling of some of the strange stories he and Heather have discussed in the past year. The show may be queer but the year was just downright WEIRD!

Jonny and Heather lean into the holiday season to see the various factors affecting LGBTQ+ communities as gifts--some are gifts we never wanted, some are incomplete, some come from Secret Santas, and some are true charitable contributions to the community. In the podcast, we mention our Flipboard magazing where you can find lists of good LGBTQ+ Nonprofit organizations to support this holiday season. Go here for the lists: Isn't It Queer on Flipboard.

Jonny and Heather take a deep dive into what "community" means when we reference the LGBTQ+ community and the idea that leanng into community is how we protect ourselves from the abuses of power that threaten us. In the back (not quite) half of the show, they demonstrate how the current infighting and boundary breaking of the MAGA community is a real indication of what can happen when community fails.

Jonny and Heather prepare for a pending brutal cold streak by diving into the heat of ongoing culture wars. It's not just political power that forms authoritarian states; despots gotta change the culture! So far, that aint going so well for our would-be dear leader. Where his cult brings on the pressure, many are pushning back--and not just in this country. Queer and trans folks are definitely increasingly targetted, but we ain't takin' it lying down. It may not be easy as pie, but at least our awards are well earned!

Jonny and Heather discuss a host of current event stories that indicate the political winds are shifting. Ultimately, this is good news for the LGBTQ+ community, even if the current turbulence is still causing us torubles.Real evidence emerges that MAGA is breaking up and the Trump Administration's iron grip of the GOP is crumbling.

Jonny and Heather welcome Thanksgiving with gratitude built on how things are and how they are not. In looking at a few recent stories in the news, they frame them through the lens of "what if things had been different?" In the back half of the show, they share a scene from the recent performance "At a Crossroads" presented in the Marion Kleinau Theatre and directed/compiled by Dr. Shelby Swafford. In the scene, Jessica Paxton, Maddison Marshall, and M Kamara interweave pieces they devised for the show responding to a prompt on alternative histories, contemplating the world and the country at a crossroads and choosing a different path. 

On the other side of auroras in Southern Illinois, Jonny and Heather dive into some weird stories--like the aurora, things they thought they would never see, at least not down here. In the front half of the show they review the more typical good and bad news for the LGBTQ+ community under the current regime. In the back half of the show they dive into the truly strange, not all of it having to do with more released Epstein information.

In the front half of the show, Jonny interviews Junara, Grace, M, and Shelby--the director and some of the devising cast from "At a Crossroads," a performance in the Kleinau Theatre opening this Thursday. They discuss the crossroads metaphor and how the show leans into LGBTQ+ themes. In the back half of the show, Jonny and Heather discuss the crossroads we are currently at, following last week's off-term elections, SCOTUS decisions, and the apparent possible ending of the government shutdown. They also pause to celebrate Veterans Day, noting that LGBTQ+ people have always served in the military and always will. See our Facebook and Webpage for a link to a schedule of events for Trans Aawreness Week leading up to the Trans Day of Remembrance.

Jonny and Heather hike into the landscape of major media stories dropped in just the last week. We know President Trump saturates the airwaves in order to both benefit from the attention economy and distract from his administration's more nefarious moves. Using Heather's background in Army Intelligence, they look for patterns across the stories, and they find evidence of severe vulnerabilities. In the back half of the show they examine the two main competing strategies in the opposition and which they think is likely to be more successful and better for the LGBTQ+ community.

Jonny interviews Rosie in the first half of the show, a co-director of a local presentation of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a shadow cast leading audience participation at The Varisty Center (https://thevarsitycenter.org/). In the back half of the show, Heather and Jonny use one of the show's songs to frame some of our current anti-LGBTQ+ issues as conflict between reality and perception.

Jonny and Heather start out the show reveling in some new media that shows representations of queer and trans identities are still prevalent in popular culture. Even where books and professors have been silenced, there are signs of successful resistance. In the back half of the show they discuss the recent No Kings protest and how the Trump Administration's and GOP's responses to it reveal how weak they really are. 

Jonny and Heather examine what appear to be cracks forming in and between the GOP and the Trump Administration. Although the authoritarian state still continues to form, it is hitting some serious snags. They discuss a wide range of responses to trans rights across a wide political spectrum. The look into military airplanes from Qatar and Texas taking up Florida's obsession with rainbow crosswalks. In the back half of the show they do a quick review of some SCOTUS questioning about conversion therapy. They also lament the power position lesbian TERF Bari Weiss will have over CBS News. They shift to good news, including a history of ice cream in LGBTQ+ protests, and end with some announcements of upcoming events in Southern Illinois. 

Jonny relies on Heather's military background to explain just how awful the Secretary Hegseth and President Trump addresses to the military flag officers was. Heather corrects Pete on what a real "warrior ehtic" is. Despite the abuse of military power, especially in attempts to turn it on the so-called "enemy within" in US cities like Chicago and Portland, the real message is one of weakness. In the back half of the show, they discuss the comedy of errors that is the government shutdown and how it, too, is a sign of growing weakness in the Trump Administration. They then turn to some stories about actual commedians before ending with a revised schedule of upcoming LGBTQ+ History Month events in the Carbondale, IL area.

Heather and Jonny briefly check in on recent assaults on LGBTQIA+ rights, particularly Trans Rights. They quickly move to a celebration of upcoming events this weekend kicking off LGBTQIA+ History Month and other Southern Illinois Pride festivities. In the back half of the show, Jonny interviews Dr. Desiree Rowe about her guest artist visit to the SIU, including her presentation of "Wave 01.12.22"--a performance about grief in the wake of CoVid 19 and the persistence of anti-vax practices within the on-going pandemic. Paulette Curkin Pride Resource Center LGBTQIA+ History Month event schedule: https://smrc.siu.edu/lgbtq/programming/Rainbow Space Magic free online conference: https://www.eventbookings.com/b/event/rainbow-space-magic-2025?occurrence=3b31c1

Jonny interviews Billy of Golden Rainbows of Illinois South (GRIS) and Juniper, the coordinator of the Paulette Curkin Pride Resource Center--Southern Illinois University's LGBTQIA+ resource center. They discuss the upcoming events for LGBTQIA+ History Month in October. In the Back half of the show, Jonny talks with nomadic co-host Heather from the RV about disturbing developments for the trans community in the last week. At the time of posting, the calendar of October events is not yet up. Please connect with the Paulette Curkin Pride Resource Center (https://smrc.siu.edu/lgbtq/) or the Isn't it Queer website (https://isntitqueerwdbxsoil.blogspot.com/) for details and dates about October's MANY events!

Jonny and Heather are joined by Rey and Dan who are visiting Carbondale from Central Texas where they listen to the show. They join the team while they are on vacation to dive back into news they have otherwise successfully avoided for a week. Together, the foursome parse the consequences of Charlie Kirk's assassination last week. In the back half of the show they turn to victories, however small, for the LGBTQ+ community in this increasing hotile environment.. 

Jonny and Heather celebrate Heather's birthday by diving into the rights being taken from trans folks, from right to possess firearms to the right to use the bathroom. They also discuss the current threats to Marriage Equality and some of the ludicrous positions for its dismantlement. In the back half of the show, the move to a recounting of successful protests and challenges to the increasingly threatening choices of the current administration. They also offer resources on enhancing queer independent media. 

Jonny and Heather discuss the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School last week and the attemps on the Right to make the tragedy about the "mental illness" of transgender identity. In the back half of the show, in the spirit of Labor Day when the show was recorded, they lean into the impacts the current administration is having on labor in the nation. They also consider the consequences of loss of expertise in the CDC and the sciences in general all while rumors of President Trump's death circulate on the internet.

Jonny and Heather review some of the recent developments in the US's devolution into authoritarianism, with a focus on impacts to LGBTQ+ communities. It's dire af, y'all! In the back half of the show, they examine some queer heroes or "queeroes" stepping up to the plate. Some of them may be anti-queeroes and none of them are pure queer angels (well, almost none), but the battle is real and how we fight and defend ourselves is what matters most.