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Part 1 aired on Oct. 11, 2022, Part 2 on Oct. 18, and Part 3 on Oct. 25.

Communists in Closets

Communists in Closets

Tune in for Bob Lederer's two-part interview with Bettina Aptheker, author of the exciting new book, Communists in Closets: Queering the History, 1930s–1990s. This discussion will include the histories Aptheker covered of queer communists Lorraine Hansberry, Harry Hay, Angela Davis, and others. Aptheker will share the devastating impact of the Party’s six-decade ban on open LGBTQ members – and the heroism of the queers who played crucial roles despite it.  

Bettina Aptheker

Bettina Aptheker - author

Aptheker's book explores the history of gay, lesbian, and non-heterosexual people in the Communist Party USA, which banned lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from membership between 1938 and 1992. Based on a decade of archival research, correspondence, and interviews, Bettina Aptheker explores this history, also pulling from her own experience as a closeted lesbian in the Communist Party in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Bettina Aptheker is Distinguished Professor Emerita in Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also wrote Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech and Became A Feminist Rebel, and The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis, and she co-edited with Davis If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance.

Bettina has been a lifelong radical activist who helped lead the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley for which she did a month in prison in 1967, as well as working for years with the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis. Bettina joined the Communist Party USA in 1962; she came out as a lesbian in 1979 and left the party in 1981 after 17 years in the closet.

This program has been produced by Out-FM's Bob Lederer. Thanks to John Riley for production assistance.

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On both programs, we'll be offering copies of Bettina's e-book as thank-you gifts to those who donate at the $50 level. We urge those of you who value this type of programming to make a donation so this listener-sponsored, progressive radio station can survive. Only by refusing to take corporate funding can this station, and its parent Pacifica network, keep radical voices on the air. Funding is more at risk now than ever. Any donation, however small, will make a real difference. Please visit give2wbai.org or call (any time) 212-209-2950. Thanks so much for your support.


About Out-FM
Out-FM is a weekly progressive, intersectional queer show on listener-sponsored, noncommercial WBAI/Pacifica Radio. It airs at 99.5 and wbai.org, generally on Tuesdays from 8-9 PM.  Please support us by donating to WBAI. Become a member for $25 or a BAI Buddy (sustainer) for $10/month or more. Go to give2wbai.org or call 212-209-2950 and let the station know you listen to Out-FM by supporting the station with a donation. Be sure and mention our show when you donate.

Details

Out-FM aired on Sept. 27, 2022

Havana

Havana Street Scene

A major reform of Cuba's Families Law was approved by a wide margin in a referendum on 9/26/22. This includes the rights of lesbians and gay men to marry, enter civil unions, and adopt children. The decision to enhance rights of LGBTQ Cubans follows decades of organizing by queer Cubans.
 

Mariela Castro Espin

Mariela Castro Espin

Mariela Castro, niece of Fidel, daughter of Raul and of Vilma Espin, and director of the National Center for Sex Education, played an essential role in these developments. Out-FM airs sound from a 2012 NYC public event in which Mariela responded to questions about the treatment of LGBTQ Cubans in the early years of the revolution. She discussed the work she has initiated to educate Cuban society about sexual issues. 
 
After airing that recording, co-host Naomi Brussel had a dialogue with Rev. Dorlimar Lebrón, Lead Pastor of the First Spanish United Methodist Church, aka The People's Church, of El Barrio/East Harlem and a Vice Chair of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, which sponsors frequent trips to Cuba to oppose the illegal U.S. blockade of that country.
 
This program was produced by Naomi Brussel and John Riley.