"Let's Ban Gay Teachers"
The astonishingly great new season of Slow Burn is a must listen
A Riveting Story
Should gay and lesbian people be allowed to teach in public schools?
That was the basic question California voters were asked to decide when they voted on Proposition 6 in 1978.
In a fantastic new season of Slate’s Slow Burn podcast, Christina Cauterucci frames this first-ever statewide vote on gay rights as one of the most consequential civil rights battles in American history. The whole season is masterfully done, and its a perfect listen for Pride month.
Putting Rights To A Vote
Known as The Briggs Initiative, Proposition 6 was spearheaded by state legislator John Briggs, and it was part of a wave of efforts to oppose LGBTQ rights in several states.
Anita Bryant, a singer and former beauty queen, lead a successful effort to repeal an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in Dade Country, Florida. This high profile campaign inspired a movement of people opposed to LGBTQ rights, and multiple cities across the country voted to ban gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. Proposition 6 was an attempt to majorly escalate these efforts, and the fight against it mobilized the LGBTQ community in ways that had never occured before.
The seven episodes of this season’s Slow Burn tell the story of that fight. They will be released for free weekly during June, or you can subscribe to SlatePlus to hear them all now. Episodes will be available in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and on other podcast platforms, as well as on YouTube. Here’s the first one:
I binged the whole series this weekend, finishing episode 7 yesterday, and I just want to tell you how fantastic it is.
If you haven’t listened to Slow Burn before, think of it as an audio documentary more than a “let’s chat about things” podcast. Made with historical recordings, excerpts from oral history projects, and new interviews with people who were there, the series is smart, reflective, sometimes funny, and incredibly emotional.
I live in the Bay Area and have taught in San Francisco public schools for most of my adult life, so this story felt very close to home, but regardless of where you live, I think you’ll find it compelling. So many of the arguments people were having in the 1970s are coming up again now - some with the exact same talking points! - that its good to have a grasp on this history and a blueprint for how to fight back.
Some particular moments from the podcast that will stay with me:
The power of coming out: Sharing personal stories remains one of the most effective ways to change people’s hearts and minds
Coming out cards: As part of the anti-Prop 6 campaign, people used small paper cards to raise awareness. They provided a way to come out to people that they sat next to on the bus, or served at a diner —basically to let straight people know they were already sharing space with LGBTQ folks even if they didn’t realize it
Talking to Ronald Reagan: The gutsy tactics advocates used to convince one of California’s top Republicans to take a stand against Prop 6.
The view from the streets: The breathtaking “in the moment” storytelling about the White Night riots and what it felt like to be there
The first rainbow flags: What it took to use hippy-style natural hand dying techniques to create the first of the now-ubiquitous flags, which were so huge each one required three people to carry it, and no one knew if they would actually flap in the wind
Building coalitions to fight back: This series beautifully illustrates how important it for people with different skills and political views to work together towards a common cause, even while acknowledging their differences
What The Host Learned
Here are some reflections from the show’s host and creator, Christina Cauterucci, about what she learned while making it, from an essay on Slate:
The six months I spent immersed in this story transformed my relationship to queer history. For one thing, it’s given me a much more intimate understanding of what gay life was like for the people who fought the Briggs Initiative. When some of them first realized they were gay, they had heard about gay people only in the context of criminal behavior reported in the news. In pop culture, lesbians and gays were either malicious abusers or tragic figures leading sad, isolated lives. Few people in positions of high regard—doctors, lawyers, teachers—were out as gay. Young gay people often found it impossible to imagine a life for themselves. Their futures looked empty.
This is all fairly recent history. Some of the people you’ll hear from in Slow Burn are younger than my parents. But the gay worlds we came up in feel lifetimes apart.
I remember the exact moment in college when I realized that this thing I’d thought I was just trying on for size—dating women—might actually be a thing I wanted to do forever. The future I had imagined for myself since childhood suddenly seemed less solid, then started to slip away. But despite the abrupt sense that I was coming unmoored from my own life—and despite all the hard things I immediately knew I’d have to do, like come out to a family whose reactions I could not predict—my strongest emotion in that moment was excitement. This was about 15 years ago; there were fewer gay rights then, and queer women were not yet the hypervisible, pop culture–shaping force we are today. Even so, I trusted that I’d find my place. I knew I’d be able to make a life for myself that felt fulfilling and free.
There are a lot of reasons for the rapid pace of change that created such different experiences for me and the people I interviewed in the making of this podcast. The fact that the gay community is represented across every race, gender, and class—and, thus, includes wealthy white men—is one thing that led to the shift in public opinion, the statutory changes, and the court victories that have made it safer and easier to be gay. But it is also because of the relentless, risky, oftentimes punishing work of queer activists in the 1970s that some part of me knew in the 2000s, in my destabilizing moment of gay revelation, that I’d get to live my big, beautiful gay life today.
Behind The Scenes
Want more? On this episode of Outward, Christina Cauterucci talks about her experience making ‘Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs’ and diving into the first-ever statewide vote on gay rights.
Enjoy the listen, and Happy Pride!
Recent Teen Health Today Highlights
Why We Need To Talk To Teens About Economic Abuse
Listen to the youth telling us to take this seriously
Helping Boys Express Masculinity Without Masks
Ashanti Branch has spent 20 years helping boys get real with their emotions - here's what he's learned
How To Better Understand Teens In 10 Minutes
Is the uniqueness of teen brains a super power? A new documentary says yes.
Teaching Teens How To Use Condoms Is Messy, Funny, and Awkward - And Totally Worth Doing!
The case for hands-on condom practice as part of health class
How Dr. Lisa Damour Helps Adults Understand (And Appreciate!) Teens
Lessons from America's Teen Whisperer
How To Talk To Boys So They Grow Into Better Men
Many boys are struggling right now. Here are some concrete ideas for helping them become caring, emotionally engaged men..
If you enjoyed this post, please consider forwarding it to someone who might like it, and click the ❤️ or 🔁 button so more people can discover it on Substack. Thank you! 🙏
Thank you for the heads-up!! Slow Burn has always been one of my favorites, but I didn’t know there was a new season!