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Hey everyone, welcome to Outward Slate's podcast about queers, talking, laughing, loving, breathing, fighting, fucking, crying, drinking, riding, winning, losing, cheating, kissing, thinking, and dreaming.

A little L-word reference there for all you real ones. I'm Brian Lauder and editor at Slate.

And this week, we're going to be talking about a lot of those things, a lot of the things in that list, especially the ones related to relationships and love. Yes, I know it's after Valentine's Day. And yes, I understand that many of us might not have romance at the top of our minds right now as American democracy crumbles around us. At least that's not a turn on for me, but you do you.

But for those of us, not have romance at the top of our minds right now as American democracy crumbles around us.

At least it's not a turn on for me, but you do you. But for those of us committed to resisting

the Trump administration's attacks on trans and queer people and especially those organizing

and working in activist circles, our guests today would argue that strengthening and healing

our relationships with other people is essential if we want to have a

successful opposition movement. That guest is noted activist and writer Dean Spade, and his new

book, with the excellent title, Love in a Ficked Up World, offers a Roadmap and a Toolkit for

Becoming a Better Lover, whether that's of friends, comrades, co-conspirators, hookups, or even

romantic partners. As Dean underscores in the book,

in the face of all, the suppression and violence, we're going to need each other more than ever,

but the best ways of nurturing those crucial networks of care aren't always obvious. We're going to

take a short break, but after that, we'll talk with Dean about self-help for radicals, the insidious

romance myth, and something called

revolutionary promiscuity. I'm excited about that. But first, listeners, I want to remind you that,

you know, we're doing our best here at Outward to cover this frightening and tumultuous time for our

community, and we could really use your help. If you have any news stories, social media, like discourses

you're following or pressing questions or anything else about this moment that you would like

to hear us cover, please contact us at outwardpodcasteslate.com. We want to know what's concerning

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