TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones

Today, we're speaking with Rula Avila Munoz, the host of Las Reinas De Queens - which translates to The Queens of Queens. It's a 10-part podcast series from Radio Ambulante Studios and iHeartRadio and brings you the story of the vibrant, long-standing trans community that has flourished for decades along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, New York. At the center of the community was Lorena Borjas, an activist and mother figure who helped generations of trans women navigate life in New York City. When Lorena died in 2020, the community was left with a difficult question: What happens when the person who took care of everyone is gone?You can watch this episode on youtube! https://www.youtube.com/translashmediaListen to Las Reinas De Queens athttps://radioambulante.org/audio/central-las-reinas-de-queens-santa-madre-reina and find English transcripts at https://centralpodcast.audio/ Follow Rula Avila Munoz on Instagram (@rulaamunoz) This week's Trans Joy features Juno Hill, a Maryland-based DJ. Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)

This Pride season, why not take a moment to feel proud of your period? For the past four years, Mass NOW, a feminist organization in Massachusetts, has been working with other groups to organize Trans Period Pride, a space for open and honest conversation about what it’s like to be a trans person who menstruates. This year, the event has, unsurprisingly, attracted the ire of right-wing news. But this only highlights the importance of these conversations—and of period equity for all genders. This episode features a conversation with two of the organizers of Trans Period Pride: Mass NOW Executive Director Sasha Goodfriend and Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition Kelsey Grunstra.This week’s Trans Joy features Melani Midas, a Caribbean-American fashion designer and DJ. Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Mass NOW on social media (@MassNOW)Follow the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition on social media (@masstpc)Follow Melani Midas on social media (@melani.midas @melani.midas.wav @melani.eyez)

As anti-trans laws pass across the country, more and more trans folks are leaving their home states for better access to legal protections, healthcare, and safer social environments. Today, we’re hearing from two LGBTQ advocates in progressive cities about what’s needed to support the internally displaced trans people in their communities. Jessa Davis is a co-chair of the Seattle LGBTQ Commission, which issued the state of emergency recommendation. Honey Mahogany is the Director of the Office of Transgender Initiatives in San Francisco. This week’s Trans Joy features Caro Caden, a theatre artist, oral historian, and archivist.Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Jessa Davis on Instagram (@davisjessa28) and visit her website (https://jessagavrielle.com)Follow Honey Mahogany on social media (@honeymahogany)

Today’s episode is all about The Twinks vs. Dolls Olympics, a gnarly, nasty, and very queer competition that’s taken New York—and the world—by storm. Twinks vs. Dolls was created in 2022 by the Brooklyn gay bar Singers; videos of the lube wrestling and cigarette smoking contests from that year went viral. Since then, it’s exploded in size and notoriety and similar queer physical contests have sprung up all across the country. Today, we’re speaking with Twinks vs. Dolls co-creator Erik Escobar and 2025 champion Tasi Taimanglo to get the inside scoop. This week’s Trans Joy features Madeline Clere, a Junior Vocal Instructor at the Seattle Voice Lab, which specializes in voice lessons for trans students looking to experiment with or change their voice. Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Tasi Taimanglo on Instagram (@tasinyc / @tranmagazinenyc)Follow Erik Escobar on Instagram (@eeeeeeeeeeeeeeerik)Follow Singers on Instagram and Letterboxd (@SingersNY) Follow Madeline Clere on TikTok (@madeclere)

With trans people under attack like never before, trans people need to be resourced like never before. Today, we’re hearing from two people working hard to secure those resources. Elisa Crespo is the Executive Director of the Stonewall Community Foundation, a nonprofit that invests in LGBTQ+ organizations, projects, and leaders. Rickke Mananzala is the President of New York Foundation, which funds community organizing and grassroots advocacy led by and for people who live in NYC. Both Elisa and Rickke draw on their identities and ties to their communities to inspire their work.This week’s Trans Joy features Randy Truong, a Memphis-based organizer and civic changemaker.Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Elisa Crespo on Instagram (@elisacre_)Follow New York Foundation on Instagram (@thenewyorkfoundation)Follow Randy Truong on Instagram (@r.andytruong)

This week, we explore the controversy surrounding Amy Sherald’s painting Trans Forming Liberty, which depicts a Black trans woman posing as the Statue of Liberty.In the summer of 2025, Amy Sherald canceled her highly anticipated and historic exhibition, American Sublime, at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery after Sherald said she faced pressure from museum officials to remove Trans Forming Liberty and show a video of it instead.Rather than compromise, Sherald pulled the show and brought American Sublime to the Baltimore Museum of Art, where it became the museum’s most attended exhibition since 2000, drawing more than 80,000 visitors.Explaining her decision, Sherald said, “The video would have opened up for debate the value of trans visibility, and I was opposed to that being a part of the American Sublime narrative.”First, we hear from Grace Byron, an art critic who wrote about the chilling effect of Trump’s anti-trans executive orders on trans artists in a piece for the New Yorker called “The War on Trans Art.” Then, we hear from the model depicted in Trans Forming Liberty, Arewà Basit, who is also an artist herself.This week’s Trans Joy features Gericault De La Rose, a Chicago-based artist.Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Grace Byron on social media (@emotrophywife)Follow Arewà Basit on Instagram (@arewabasit)Follow Gericault De La Rose on Instagram (@im.ubae)