Out Loud

by Ed Madden, Candace Chellew Hodge

Overview

From a small radio studio in the heart of the Deep South, the voices of gay and lesbian Southerners suddenly filled the AM airwaves. “For far too long,” the announcer stated, “talk radio airwaves have been dominated by the people who talk about us. Starting this fall, we speak for ourselves!” What began as an experiment—Rainbow Radio, South Carolina’s first gay and lesbian radio show—has grown into a grassroots-driven community radio show that, since 2005, has offered diverse, accurate, and often unparalleled stories of gay and lesbian Southerners, their families and their friends. Citadel cadets and drag queens, a slam poet from Columbia and a Spartanburg schoolteacher, a seminary student in Atlanta and a gay Army vet just back from the Middle East, West Columbia rednecks and rural Texas tomboys, as well as South Carolina’s first lesbian Congressional candidate. A young man talking about his gay uncle and a retired attorney talking about her gay son. Two boys who dare to dance at the prom, a psychic who may be attuned to the gay agenda, and a dying man who makes his last visit to church on Christmas. These voices have now been collected in a book, Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio, edited by Ed Madden and Candace Chellew-Hodge. Their stories will inspire you, enrage you, and transform the way you think about what it means to be gay and lesbian in the South.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781891885761
Publisher:	Hub City Press
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ed Madden is a poet, political activist, and associate professor of English and women s studies at the University of South Carolina. He has served as president of the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement. Candace Chellew-Hodge is the author of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians. Both editors reside in Columbia, SC.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements VII

Rainbow Radio: An Introduction IX

listening

My Uncle Greg is Gay Tommy Gordon 1

A Soundtrack for Coming Out Ed Madden 4

Do You Like Cris Williamson? Candace Chellew-Hodge 7

Opening Up Bruce Converse 10

A Psychic Made Me Do it Jim Blanton 14

Highway Bernard Dewley 18

Rainbows Stacy Smallwood 21

Gay Shame Ed Madden 25

Torn Melissa Gainey 29

Mother's Day Stacy Smallwood 32

Slipper Socks Shaun Alexander 35

For John, at Christmas Becci Robbins 39

The Bridge That Has Fallen In Ed Madden 43

The Death of My Friend Linda Ketner 46

Out at the State Fair Candace Chellew-Hodge 49

learning

Total Little Lesbian Lauren Wiggins 54

Tinabeth Sheila Morris 57

Breaking the Barbie Habit Brian Breitenstein 61

Becoming a Man Ed Madden 63

Sheila Gets a Shave Sheila Morris 67

At the Corner of Sex and Dixie David R. Gillespie 70

Don't They Know That's Dangerous? Connor Gillis 73

Prom 2002 Ashleigh Witt 76

Smear the Queer: Lessons from the Playground Ed Madden 79

Bullies Trixie Trash 83

From Phobe to Friend Nick Slaughter 87

More Than Just Sex: The Folder in the Archive Santi Thompson 90

My Religiousness, My Queerness David R. Gillespie 93

Shipwrecking My Faith Candace Chellew-Hodge 96

Words for Things Ed Madden 99

resisting

Leaving Exodus Darlene Bogle 107

Walking into the Light Christopher Renz 110

Labels and the Gay Soldier Jonathan Jackson 112

I Voted for Reagan Ed Madden 115

AIDS Activism in South Carolina Tony Price 118

Who Let the Bears Out? Charles Carson 121

Lesbians of a Certain Age Patricia Voelker 125

A Journal of Transitions Wilhelmina Hein 128

Strong Southern Women Melissa Moore 131

Fight the Lies of the Anti-Gay Right Alvin McEwen 133

Just Desserts: Family Recipies and Red Velvet Cake Ed Madden 136

Marriage Equality Week2004 Blanchard Williams 140

The Power of One Bert Easter 143

Walking Down the Street, Holding My Son's Hand: Gay Pride 1990 Harriet Hancock 147

Contributors 151