Gays Against Briggs | 5. Strange Bedfellows

Slow Burn

Slate Podcasts

News, Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Politics

4.6 • 25.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2024

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As Election Day approached, the campaign to defeat Proposition 6 faced formidable odds. John Briggs’ fundraising juggernaut was churning out cash, and public opinion polls were solidly in his favor. To turn the tide, gay rights activists unveiled a powerful symbol and gambled on the support of an improbable ally: Ronald Reagan. (If you—or anyone you know—are in crisis, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, anytime: Dial 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.) Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock all episodes of Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs. Your subscription also gets you ad-free access to all your favorite Slate podcasts, plus other member exclusive content. Join now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen. Season 9 of Slow Burn was written and produced by Christina Cauterucci. Slow Burn is produced by Joel Meyer, Sophie Summergrad, and Kelly Jones. Josh Levin is the editorial director of Slow Burn. Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Susan Matthews is Slate’s executive editor. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. We had engineering help from Patrick Fort and Madeline Ducharme. Our theme music is composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Artwork by Ivylise Simones, based on an image of Silvana Nova and a poster designed by Larry Hermsen and the Too Much Graphics Collective. Join host Christina Cauterucci and special guests as they record a special, live episode of Slow Burn at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 13. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Sign up to the economist for in-depth
0:03.0	expert analysis of world events
0:06.0	and topics ranging from business and culture
0:08.0	to science and technology.
0:10.0	You'll get the weekly digital edition, online only articles,
0:13.6	curated newsletters on politics, the markets, science, culture and China.
0:18.3	And full access to The Economist Podcast Plus.
0:21.6	The Economist is Independent Journalism for Independent Thinking.
0:26.0	Go to Economist.com and get your first month free.
0:30.0	Before we get started, a heads up, this episode contains strong language and mentions suicide.
0:37.0	It may not be appropriate for some listeners.
0:41.7	In 1978, Cleve Jones and his circle of gay friends in San Francisco were trying to solve a problem.
0:48.0	About how we need a symbol to unify us.
0:52.0	Across the country, gay people were starting to recognize
0:55.1	themselves as part of a broader politicized identity group and the movement was
0:59.5	searching for a visual marker to rally around. The options that were out there were imperfect.
1:07.6	There was the Lambda, the Greek letter L. What the hell does that mean? Lesbians had the labress, a double-sided axe.
1:15.0	Again, kind of obscure.
1:18.0	There were intertwined gender symbols, two males or two females.
1:22.0	Sounds dreadfully binary now, doesn't it? gender symbols, two males or two females.
1:23.0	Sounds dreadfully binary now, doesn't it?
1:26.0	There was also the pink triangle.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.