Free Daily Podcast Summary
Cruising | Queer History and Culture: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Sarah Gabrielli, Rachel Karp, and Jennifer McGinity
Conversations about lesbian bars, sapphic spaces, and beyond! Not sure where to start? You don’t have to listen in order! Pick your favorite city, space, or LGBTQ+ icon and dive in. Season 1 follows creators Sarah Gabrielli, Rachel Karp, and Jen McGinity on their 2021 cross-country road trip to every lesbian bar in the U.S., sharing the stories of the humans that run these spaces and the humans that call them a home. Season 2 features 14 more spaces, chronicling the current lesbian bar resurgence AND taking you back in time to lesbian bars of decades past.In Season 3, host Sarah Gabrielli sits down with history-making lesbians and LGBTQ+ folks to discuss all kinds of queer spaces - from bookstores, to farms, to peace encampments and more!New episodes air every other Tuesday.
Latest Episodes
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- 1 weeks ago51 min
LIVE: Community Story Share at Gossip Grill and Diversionary Theatre (San Diego, CA)
We're comin at you live from San Diego, California! Here, we held two different events on our book tour -- both filled with some incredible intergenerational sapphic storytelling! In Act I, we visit Gossip Grill, San Diego's iconic lesbian bar (also featured in season 1 of Cruising and now in The Lesbian Bar Chronicles). Then, Act II finds us at The Clark Cabaret & Bar with Diversionary Theatre, the third oldest LGBTQ+ theater in the country! Many thanks to the folks at Libélula Books & Co. who also stopped by Diversionary to sell some copies of the book! ... -You can now purchase our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, anywhere books are sold or at cruisingpod.com/book -Buy tickets and browse the schedule for our BOOK TOUR -Submit a story for our COMMUNITY STORY SHARE ... Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook -Check out Cruising's Substack for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago51 min
Making Queer Space in Brooklyn: LIVE Panel at Greenlight Bookstore
This episode was taped live at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn! Alongside the release of our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, Sarah hosts a panel of local business owners to discuss the creation and preservation of their queer spaces. Nikke Alleyne: Co-owner of The Bush, Bushwick's newest dyke bar Anna Campbell: Co-founder and Executive Director of Dykes and Dolls, a zine and event calendar connecting the NYC lesbian/trans/queer communities Tiffany Dockery: Owner of Gladys Books and Wine, a Black lesbian bookstore and wine shop in Bedstuy Rachel Karp: Co-creator of Cruising, and author of The Lesbian Bar Chronicles ... -You can now purchase our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, anywhere books are sold or at cruisingpod.com/book -Buy tickets and browse the schedule for our BOOK TOUR -Submit a story for a COMMUNITY STORY SHARE ... Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook -Check out Cruising's Substack for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 23, 202642 min
LIVE: Community Story Share and Book Launch (Ginger's Bar, Brooklyn / 05.26.26)
This episode was taped live at Brooklyn's oldest lesbian bar, Ginger's! The community came out to celebrate the official release of our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, and share stories about the queer/lesbian spaces that matter to them. Tune in for a whole new set of tales of queer bookstores, online dating, identity, and (of course) lesbian bars! ... -You can now purchase our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, anywhere books are sold or at cruisingpod.com/book -Buy tickets and browse the schedule for our BOOK TOUR -Submit a story for our COMMUNITY STORY SHARE ... Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook -Check out Cruising's Substack for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 9, 20261h 11m
LIVE: Community Story Share (Northampton, MA / 06.01.26)
This episode was taped live at Sub Rosa: a queer bar and event space in Northampton, MA. We asked the local queer community to come out to celebrate the release of our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, and share stories about the queer/lesbian spaces that matter to them. And boy, did they! Tune in for stories across generations, including: - how Northampton became a hub for lesbians - first hand accounts of the lesbian bars of our past - queer sexuality and the spaces that nourish this - sapphic love stories - encounters with lesbian icons like Charlene and Holly Near - finding home in unlikely places - a live reading of the book's preface ... -You can now purchase our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, anywhere books are sold or at cruisingpod.com/book -Buy tickets and browse the schedule for our BOOK TOUR -Submit a story for our COMMUNITY STORY SHARE ... Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook -Check out Cruising's Substack for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- May 26, 20261h 24m
Highlights From Our Lesbian Bar Road Trip
We're looking back on the past five years of Cruising with some of our favorite stories from lesbian bars across the country. This episode airs simultaneously with the release of The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, a book adaptation of the first two seasons of the podcast. So let's celebrate with a reflection on some of the stories that are now available for the very first time in print! Tune in for selections from: Wild Side West | San Francisco, CA - "Thank you for the planters, but I'm not leaving" Pearl Bar | Houston, TX - "The first time I saw my sister really come out of her shell" Lipstick Lounge | Nashville, TN - " All the people that touched my mom's life" Nancy Valverde | Los Angeles, CA - " Sh*t come, sh*t go, I'm gonna be myself" Charlene's | New Orleans, LA - " I came in the front door and I'm damn well going out that way" Les Pierres | New Orleans, LA - "We needed a place of our own" The Sports Bra | Portland, OR - "Ask for what you need" Hershee Bar | Norfolk, VA - " This place means something, and you need to know what it means" Femme Bar | Worcester, MA - "The biggest hype man I've ever known" ... -You can now purchase our book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, anywhere books are sold or at cruisingpod.com/book -Buy tickets and browse the schedule for our BOOK TOUR -Submit a story for our COMMUNITY STORY SHARE ... Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook -Check out Cruising's Substack for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -Preorder our book, THE LESBIAN BAR CHRONICLES -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- May 12, 20261h 28m
Organizer Meg Riley on living in a lesbian co-op, the history of radical resistance in Minneapolis, and the ICE surge
This week, we're digging into the rich history activism and resistance in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our guest, Meg Riley, is a political organizer, advocate, and Unitarian Universalist Minister. Meg first moved to the twin cities in 1976, where she very quickly started living in cooperative community housing and immersing herself in local lesbian activism. In 1981, Meg moved into what would become Sweet Willa - a cooperatively owned, lesbian home. Today, she still lives in Minneapolis, where she's settling into her new role as movement elder. Meg joins the podcast to discuss: -the ins and outs of community living with a bunch of lesbians -the local lesbian coffeehouse, bookstore, lez brunch, and more queer infrastructure -why so many sober people come to Minneapolis -the struggle to pass down leadership and knowledge to the next generation of queers -her experience with ICE and local mutual aid networks ... Buy tickets and browse the schedule for our BOOK TOUR Submit a story for our COMMUNITY STORY SHARE ... Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook -Check out Cruising's Substack for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -Preorder our book, THE LESBIAN BAR CHRONICLES -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Apr 28, 20261h 2m
Activist Mandy Carter on war resistance, the Quaker tradition, and the search for her long lost siblings
Mandy Carter is a long-time Black lesbian activist and community organizer. Born in 1948, Mandy spent her childhood bouncing between New York state children's homes. While that came with exceptional challenges for a young person, it also allowed her the freedom to grow into exactly who she wanted to be, without the binds of familial pressures and expectations. For Mandy, that meant being a lesbian, a quaker, and a radical agitator (at one point in jail for 90 days). In this episode, Mandy shares stories of: -discovering the Quaker tradition as a teen -sleeping in central park and hitchhiking all the way to San Francisco -finding a home at Maud's Study -protesting the war in Vietnam -the impact of Harvey Milk's assassination -reconnecting with her brother after 50 years, and continuing to search for her sister to this day **Help us find Delores!!! It's been six decades and Mandy is still looking for her sister. Please share any leads with us at cruisingpod@gmail.com and help us spread the word by sharing our related posts on social media (@cruisingpod) ... Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook -Check out Cruising's Substack for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -Preorder our book, THE LESBIAN BAR CHRONICLES -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Apr 14, 202657 min
Franco Stevens on the history of Curve Magazine, lesbian visibility, and extremely creative fundraising
Franco Stevens first made her mark on lesbian history in 1990, with the creation of Curve Magazine (at the time known as Deneuve, but we'll get into that later). Curve would soon become the most successful lesbian magazine in the world, committed to lesbian visibility, community-building, and documenting our history. Its pages have featured change-makers and celebrities from Melissa Etheridge to Jenny Shimizu to the cast of the L Word and everyone in-between. But it was, by no means, easy for Franco to get there. She joins the pod to detail: -coming out to her (then) husband as a teenage bride -raising money for the project when no one else believed in it -her controversial decision to display the word "lesbian" on the cover -bouncing back from a devastating lawsuit -the real reason Franco had to sell the magazine, and how she eventually bought it back ... Follow Franco on Instagram and Facebook Follow Curve Magazine on Instagram and Facebook Browse Curve's digital archive Watch Ahead of the Curve, the 2020 documentary about Franco and the magazine Browse the schedule for 2026 Lesbian Visibility Week (April 20-26) Learn more about the Curve Foundation ... Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook -Check out Cruising's Substack for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -Preorder our book, THE LESBIAN BAR CHRONICLES -Support Cruising here! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by Joey Freeman. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
About Cruising | Queer History and Culture
Conversations about lesbian bars, sapphic spaces, and beyond! Not sure where to start? You don’t have to listen in order! Pick your favorite city, space, or LGBTQ+ icon and dive in. Season 1 follows creators Sarah Gabrielli, Rachel Karp, and Jen McGinity on their 2021 cross-country road trip to every lesbian bar in the U.S., sharing the stories of the humans that run these spaces and the humans that call them a home. Season 2 features 14 more spaces, chronicling the current lesbian bar resurgence AND taking you back in time to lesbian bars of decades past.In Season 3, host Sarah Gabrielli sits down with history-making lesbians and LGBTQ+ folks to discuss all kinds of queer spaces - from bookstores, to farms, to peace encampments and more!New episodes air every other Tuesday.
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