Pride Is One Day. The Work Is Every Day.
Meet the LGBTQ+ podcast you’re about to get obsessed with.
There are podcasts you listen to because you need something playing while you drive. Then there are podcasts where you finish one episode, immediately scroll through the back catalog, spot three more people you want to hear from, and suddenly your afternoon is spoken for.
Power Beyond Pride feels like the second kind.
The weekly podcast focuses on queer changemaking. Each episode introduces LGBTQ+ people from across the identity and expression spectrum who are organizing, advocating, creating, questioning, and working for change in their communities. The subjects range from climate and housing to HIV, harm reduction, queer history, sex-worker rights, immigrant rights, art, mental health, and community organizing.
And with dozens of episodes already waiting for you, this isn't one of those recommendations where you listen to two shows and then sit around waiting for next Tuesday.
These Aren't the Same Conversations Over and Over
One week you might hear scientist Dr. Shuntai Zhou talking about HIV research, scientific funding, and the relationship between researchers and the public. Another episode features Pose star Dominique Jackson discussing visibility for Black trans women, mental health, activism, and her own experiences as a community organizer.
Keep scrolling and you'll find conversations about Two-Spirit identity, queer hip-hop, censorship, leather and kink communities, sex-worker advocacy, immigrant safety, queer storytelling, youth activism, and what meaningful community organizing looks like when the political climate gets ugly.
That's part of what makes Power Beyond Pride worth adding to your podcast rotation. LGBTQ+ life is huge. Our community has never had one story, one concern, one political issue, or one definition of what creating change looks like. The podcast gives people room to talk about all of it.
You Don't Have to Consider Yourself an Activist
Don't let the word "activism" convince you this is going to feel like homework.
Power Beyond Pride focuses on the people behind the work. Episodes explore how guests got involved, what shaped them, what keeps them going, where they find joy, and what they've learned along the way. The host team itself consists of queer changemakers from around the country, with two hosts leading each guest conversation.
Sometimes those conversations also wander into places you might not expect.
In one episode, organizer Terrell Dungee talks about community organizing alongside his involvement in kink and leather communities. He describes working with everyone from parents in school pickup lines to day drinkers, arguing that organizing starts by listening to people and meeting them where they are. The conversation eventually turns toward pleasure, karaoke, queerness, and the places where LGBTQ+ identity intersects with the rest of the world.
That's a lot more interesting than listening to somebody recite talking points into a microphone for an hour.
Pick an Episode and See Where You End Up
You don't need to start with episode one. Scroll through the titles and choose whatever grabs you.
History? There's an episode for you.
HIV? Yep.
Leather and kink? Absolutely.
Music and art? They're there.
Sex-worker rights? Covered.
Trans visibility? Yes.
Immigration, housing, climate, mental health, community organizing, storytelling, censorship, queer joy? Keep scrolling.
Power Beyond Pride releases new episodes weekly and is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Podcasts, and iHeartRadio.
Pride gives us a chance to celebrate who we are. Power Beyond Pride spends the rest of the year introducing us to some of the LGBTQ+ people asking what we want our communities to become next.
Fair warning. You might want to clear some room in your podcast queue.