Making Gay History

Eric Marcus started recording interviews with LGBTQ activists and everyday pioneers back in 1989, and those tapes became something genuinely irreplaceable. Making Gay History pulls from that deep archive to bring you the actual voices of people who lived through the movement -- from pre-Stonewall resistance to the AIDS crisis and beyond. You'll hear Marsha P. Johnson laughing, activists strategizing, and ordinary people describing moments of extraordinary courage. The format is beautifully simple. Marcus introduces each person with context, then lets the archival audio do the heavy lifting. Episodes run anywhere from nine to forty minutes, and the shorter ones hit just as hard as the longer deep dives. With 154 episodes across 14 seasons, there's a huge library to explore. Recent seasons have tackled LGBTQ experiences during the Nazi era, which shows Marcus isn't afraid to go to uncomfortable places. What sets this apart from other history shows is the intimacy. These aren't actors reading scripts or historians summarizing events from a distance. You're hearing real people in their own words, often recorded decades ago when the outcome of the movement was far from certain. The 4.7-star rating from over 1,300 reviews reflects that -- listeners regularly call it a national treasure, and they're not exaggerating. If you care about understanding how we got here, this is essential listening.