Bammer and Me

In this heartening episode, join Mike as he engages with Mohsin Zaidi, a passionate lawyer, LGBTQ activist, and best-selling author of "A Dutiful Boy". Learn about Mohsin's remarkable journey from a poor London neighborhood to his rise as a celebrated lawyer amidst the challenges and triumphs of growing up as a gay Muslim. Gain deeper insights into the complexities of societal norms, cultural identities, and Mohsin's truth-seeking ...

Steve Gillon recently retired following 40 years as a professor of American history at some of the most prestigious universities in the US and UK where his students appreciated his dedication to storytelling even more than his in-depth knowledge of history. He also served as long-time spokesperson for the History channel on A & E cable network. Listen to Steve share details from his (previously) private life, including his insi...

In her epic roller-coaster of a memoir, "This Time For Me" Alexandra Billings muses on her unlikely journey as an accomplished actor and performer as well as her other lives in sex work, as a HIV positive activist, not to mention a huge LGBTQIA+ icon. Join Mike and Alexandra as she dishes about what she thinks of the next generation of queer activists! We had such a great time with Alexandra and you are sure to enjoy her energy as ...

Barney Frank represented Massachusetts in Congress from 1982 to 2012, thirty years in which he was one of the most powerful, smartest, and wittiest politicians in DC.  He was also the first LGBTQ Congressman to voluntarily come out while in office, a highly controversial move in 1987 during the height of the AIDS crisis.

I interviewed Barney remotely from his home in Ogunquit, Maine (where he now resides with his husband, James Rea...

Today the accidental gay historian interviews a young, credentialed historian illuminating gay history and actively working for representation on TV and beyond. Eric Cervini has been and continues to be incredibly busy; having written a NYT Best Selling and Pulitzer Prize finalist book in 2020, writing and producing "The Book of Queer" TV series in 2022 with more still in production, and most recently starting his own book club and...

We're lucky this week to be joined by Barabara Pomo, staunch ally. Shaped by the loss of her older gay brother to AIDS in the late 1980s, Barbara Poma has become an integral part of the LGBTQ community. First, she bought and managed the Pulse Disco in Orlando, Fla., turning it into a multi cultural haven for queers and their families and after a tragic terrorist shooting and the deaths of 49 patrons by a hate-filled 29 y.o. man in ...

Iconic photographer Stanley Stellar, 77, has been documenting queer life and male nudes since 1976. When he began, most media outlets wouldn’t even feature images of men with their clothes on. Best known for his street photography, Stanley was present and shooting during many milestones in gay history, including the Christopher Street piers, gay pride marches, the HIV epidemic, Mr. Leather competitions, etc. Listen as he traces soc...

Dastan Kasmamytov, a 30 y.o. Kyrgyzstani, is an LGBTQ activist and founder of Pink Summits, an LGBTQ mountaineering team attempting to scale the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. When that's completed, Dastan will become the first Kyrgyzstani citizen to accomplish this feat, which ought to greatly change the perception of LGBTQ people in an Islamic country where mountain-climbing is a national pa...

Growing up in the central Asian nation of Krygystan, Dastan Kasmamytov had no idea he’d ever become an LGBTQ activist. But, when he was outed in national media at 19 and a fatwa was issued by the Islamic religious authorities, urging their followers to stone him to death, that path became inescapable. Find Dastan @dastanik & His Pink Summits Project @pinksummits Follow Our Instagram & Twitter @bammer.co Send Your Stories to Mike@...

Andy Tobias' journey from being the "Best Little Boy in the World" (the title of the best-selling coming out memoir he authored under a pseudonym while still in grad school in 1972) to serving as the first openly-gay Treasurer of the Democratic Party from 1999-2016 is a fascinating one. Growing up in a suburban Jewish household where he was taught that helping others was imperative, Andy has dedicated his life to political and char...