Cruising: Journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist on queer media, childhood crushes, and what ‘holding space’ means to her

Lez Hang Out | A Lesbian Podcast

Lez Hang Out

Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.7 • 545 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we are 'holding space' for this Wicked good episode from our friends over at Cruising podcast. We hope you’re enjoying our summer swaps. Stay tuned to the feed because Lez Hang Out will be back with Season 9 very soon and we have some really exciting episodes that we cannot wait for you all to hear! -------- You might know this week's guest, Tracy E. Gilchrist (@tracyegilchrist), as "the queen of queer media" or simply "the holding space lady." She reached internet fame last year when her interview with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande went viral during the Wicked press tour. But it goes without saying that Tracy is a whole person, who has lived a whole life, outside of that one video. Tracy has worked in queer media since the 90s - specifically covering queer entertainment and pop culture news for outlets like The Advocate and Out Magazine. We discuss how she ended up in this position of having basically interviewed every queer-adjacent person in Hollywood, first crushes / kisses / girlfriends, and the lesbian pop culture moments that shaped us. In Act II, we break down her viral moment and everything that comes along with that. Who had she seen holding space for the lyrics of defying gravity? When did she first clock the finger-hold? What does she really think of Ariana and Cynthia, and have they exchanged words since? We get into it… Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! 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). For more Cruising adventures, follow @cruisingpod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Check out full episode details, transcripts and more at http://cruisingpod.com/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.4	Let's hang out.
0:32.6	Let's hang out.
0:33.4	And let's talk about what lesons are found.
0:36.0	Let's hang out.
0:37.0	And let's listen to two herzby are found. Let's hang out. And let's listen to two hesby and shout.
0:39.6	Let's hang out.
0:43.7	Hey, let's hang out.
0:44.7	Listeners.
0:45.1	Our next feed swap is for cruising podcast.
0:48.3	We had them on the podcast to talk about why cheers should have been gay.
0:52.2	They're a podcast all dedicated to queer history and
0:56.0	culture. They started by doing a tour of all of the lesbian bars left in the country. So
1:01.8	cool. And they've sort of morphed into more of a queer history and culture documentary podcast.
1:07.4	This episode is with Tracy E. Gilchrist, who is the holding space lady. I'm sure most
1:13.2	of you remember Tracy's viral moment with Cynthia Revo and Arieta Grande saying we were all
	...

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