A new podcast aims to amplify the voices of LGBTQ Vermonters of color. It's called Brown 'n Out and it's hosted by Reggie Condra.
Condra says he saw a need in the community for queer people of color to have their voices heard.
"I'm just a queer person of color myself," he says. "And I had an idea and no one stopped me. So I went ahead and just did it."
The first two episodes feature an interview with Elena Littlebug.
"Elena is a local woman. I want to say just a regular person, you know what I mean?" Condra explains. "She, I want to say, is remarkable in that she's unremarkable. She's just a regular person but happens to be a trans woman, and a trans woman of color. And I just wanted to speak with her. I just wanted to know what she was thinking, feeling, and that's what we did."
Other episodes in the first season will feature Drag Idol winner Shani Stoddard and Jarvis Green, who runs a theater production company in White River Junction.
Condra says he has no agenda for the podcast other than to talk to interesting people. He says the buzz around the show has introduced him to LGBTQ people of color in Vermont whom he had never met. And that's part of why he wanted to put the podcast out into the world.
"I think it's super important that other queer people of color hear the stories," he explains, "just so that they know that folks are out here listening, caring about what they have to say.
But he hopes straight white people will also find the podcast interesting.
"The audience is really anyone at all who's interested in hearing queer people of color speak...at all...about anything. So I want that to be everyone! I think that everyone should want to hear these stories."
Condra is producing the first season of Brown 'n Out in his spare time with no funding. So he expects he'll publish seasons, in 6-episode batches, so he can manage the workload of producing the show without too much stress.
"Honestly, I'm surprised at how easy it's been," he admits. "Therefore I would really really encourage anyone and everyone with an idea to make a podcast out of it and allow yourself to be surprised at how it's received."
Broadcast live on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
