Isn't It Queer

Isn't It Queer

A weekly LGBT talk show on community radio station WDBX 91.1 covering news and topics of interest to Southern Illinois LGBTQ communities.

Episodes

2025-08-20 - Voda: AI Used Well

August 20, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather review some recent stories about the impact of AI on the LGBTQ+ community. While some of that is chatbot horror stories, much of it also shows possibilities for building stronger communities. In that latter vein, in the back half of the show Jonny interviews Jaron Soh, co-creator of Voda, a mental health app for the LGBTQIA+ community. They discuss what Voda provides, how AI ethically assists with that, and how th...
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IIQ-2025-08-13

August 13, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather adapt to warming conditions and the failure of AC in their ecording studio, bringing an episode made in the virtual space of a Zoom meeting. They assess some particularly aggregious new assaults on trans rights, including the failure to honor the retirement benefits of Air Force members forced into early retirement for being trans. They also weigh in on Pete Buttigieg's mixed messages on trans support and the need...
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2025-08-06 - Seeing Things as They Are

August 6, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather are back from their different trips. They pick up stories they missed while away and tie a common thread through them of the problem with manipulating data when you don't agree with the findings. While this has been common practice when justifying homophobic and transphobic legislation, it is now increasingly becoming the borader practice of an emerging authoritarian state.
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2025-07-23 - Trump is on the List!

July 23, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather ponder the many unsuccessful attempts by the Trump Administration to distract the public from the persistent scandal of the Epstein Files. In the process, they ponder what other important stories the current fascination with that conspiracy might be eclipsing. They look at recent disturbing developments in military and athletic trans-bans. In the back half of the show, they update on stories about eroding gender a...
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2025-07-16 - Systemic Shifts

July 16, 2025 • 57 mins
Jonny is joined by Craig to discuss recent developments that suggest reality is starting to beat attempts to shape it through rhetoric, albeit all while relying on narrative. They look at the pushback against Alligator Alcatraz, the persistence of the Epstein Lists conspiracy, and the pushback on an Indianapolis pastor calling for the execution of LGBTQ+ people as evidence that ideologues can go too far. In the back half of the sho...
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2025-07-09 - Who's Spinning the Spin?

July 9, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather begin with a thesis that the weather is transphobic. This not-entirely-serious claim is used as a foil to discuss disinformation and misinformation campaigns. They examine several current event stories impacted by such spin, including: the Texas floods, the Everglades detention center, myths about undocumented immigration, and trans ban legislation.In the back half of the show, Jonny picks up the thread of AI's ro...
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2025-07-02 - Look Over Here!

July 2, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather celebrate the end of a very busy and very good Pride Month while also taking stock of a lot of bad news for the LGBTQ+ community this past weekend. After reviewing SCOTUS decisions and developments in the BBB, in the back half of the show they turn to why visibility matters, especially at a time when people are trying to erase us.
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2025-06-25 - Surviving Bombshell Decisions

June 25, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather process their weekend, which included domestic packing, Pride celebrations, and the threat of WWIII starting in the Middle East. They turn from this big bomb to the bombshell the SCOTUS dropped in its US v. Skrmetti decision. There is quite a lot of fallout already from that explosive ruling. In the back half of the show they explore queer and trans joy as activists' strategy and tactic, starting with an empowerin...
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2025-06-18 - The Art of Protest

June 18, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and  Heather are joined by local queer and trans artist, Brooke Yandle, creator of Hawthorne Art. Together, they discuss the challenges of making a living as an artist in a small town before turning their attention to assessing this past weekend's Pride on the Strip events, No Kings protest rally, and Trump's Washington DC parade ostensibly honoring the 250th birthday of the US Military. Veteran and aesthetic critiques proves...
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2025-06-11 - Reading Pride

June 11, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather start off with a little reflection on the street actions during Pride Month so far. This includes various offcial Pride maches and activities as well as unrelated yet akin protests in LA. And then, well, the big Pride Month break up of a same sex marriage at the federal level. Shade! They eschew the drama on the streets for drama on the page, reviewing and recommending some trans authored novels, starting with Hea...
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2025-06-04 - Queer Ecology (Archive Repeat)

June 4, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny digs into the archive pulling an episode about queer ecology from Earth Day (April 22) 2024. Jonny and Heather are on the road and unable to make a new episode this week.
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2025-05-28 - Putting Memory in Memorial

May 28, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heatherreflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day and why it is a somber holiday of remembrance. They offer a queer and trans infused contemplation of the military in contrast to the Trump Administration's approach, and link their focus to the real purpose of Pride. In the back half of the show they take a deeper look at the Big "Beautiful" Bill that narrowly passed the House and appears to have stalled in the Senate (fo...
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2025-05-21 - Twisters and Twisting Attention

May 21, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather lead off with recognition of the Agender Day of Visibility (Monday, May 19). They then turn to issues of local concern in Southern Illinois, including recent deadly tornadoes, current summer Pride plans, Governor Pritzker's visit, and Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton's endorsement by 50 Illinois LGBTQ leaders in her bid for the US Senate. In the back half of the show they discuss the Trump administration's attempts t...
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2025-05-14 - The Pope and the Truth Seeker

May 14, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Craig give their recap on Mothers Day. They then turn to a hopeful analysis of the Catholic Church's new Pope, Pope Leo XIV. In the back half of the show, they turn to a discussion of how Trump's federal funding restrictions impact the services national support groups can provide, with a focus on Craig's recent struggles with FND Hope.
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2025-05-07 - Manipulating Visibility

May 7, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather celebrate the official debut of Tesserae, Cabondale's premier queer+ choir and the incredible turnout of community support.They then turn from the audible to the visible to discuss the queer stories this week about photo manipulation. In the back half of the show they briefly review the rotten tomato of the Trump Administration's report and advisement policies for trans youth. They then share some stories of how q...
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2025-04-30 - Divergence and Conflict

April 30, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather discuss disturbing trends in the US and UK to link neurodivergence like autism and ADHD with queer and trans identity. They explore some of the productive correlations and some of the ones more likely to lead to state-sponsored suppression. In the back half of the show they examine some examples of conflict within movements, resistance and/or LGBTQ+ rights--when they can be productive and when they aren't. The two...
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2025-04-23 - Community!

April 23, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather start off the show discussing Jonny's rececent recogntion with the SIU Sturgis Award for Community Service. They talk about local community activism and support, including turnout out at this weekend's "Hands Off" protest, again despite the terrible weather. They talk about the Illinois High School Association's support for trans athletes.The then shift to the Deat of Poe Francis and the likely connections to this...
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2025-04-16 - Nuance vs. Caricature

April 16, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather discuss Heather's new novel, Goodbye Hello, an unconventional romance that begins with grief at a funeral. In the back half of the show, they examine new turns in the anti-trans rhetoric of TERFs and transphobes, turns meant to be rebuttals to arguments for trans righs. They offer rebuttals to the rebuttals and note the pervasive function of caricature as a tool of scapegoating embedded in all the antitrans rhetor...
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2025-04-09 - In the Streets!!!

April 9, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather check in on getting through some intense midwest weather, complete with flooding and tornadoes. Despite these challenges, the "Queer Stories, Queer Spaces" oral history installation had a great opening reception in the Sharp Museum on the SIU campus. Also, despite the cancellation of protests in our area due to the weather, great numbers showed up to join the "Hands Off" event in Carbomdale. They discuss the incre...
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2025-04-02 - Visibility and Remembering

April 2, 2025 • 58 mins
Jonny and Heather are joined by Craig as we record this episode on Trans Day of Visibility. We discuss visibility, the good and the bad kind, as Craig conemplates the consequences of the Trump Admin challenging California's laws aganst teachers mandated to report any and all gender variance in students t their parents. The consequences of related grade school traumas stay with us our entire lives. We also lean into fighting deliber...
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