Happy June! It is Pride Month, a time where we celebrate the creative works, societal strides, and overall brilliance of LGBTQ+ activists, artists, collectives, characters, and trailblazers who have shaped our world. Of course, this extends deeply into pop culture entertainment, from the LGBTQ+ icons who changed TV, film, music, and more to fictional characters who resonate deeply with fans, cementing a permanent place in their hearts. When it comes to dissecting and celebrating entertainment, indie podcasts and YouTube vloggers continue to reign supreme.
Both mediums are a way for fans to ensure that their analysis, joy, and thirstiest of thoughts are heard. More importantly, entertainment podcasts and vlogs with LGBTQ+ hosts provide their needed perspectives on representation and thematic choices in media, whether they are tied to their specific identities or not. So, to celebrate Pride Month, we want to show these creatives a lot of love.
LGBTQ+ Led Nerdy and Pop Culture Centric Podcasts
Midnight Mass (Hosted By: Peaches Christ & Michael Varrati)
Brilliant host Peaches and filmmaker Michael are a podcasting match made in heaven with a deep affinity for cult movies. The pair dives into different aspects of a film, focusing on actors, genres, or perhaps a specific creative along with special guests. There’s lots of great analysis and laughter to be had with this biweekly podcast.
Cerebro (Hosted By: Connor Goldsmith)
Cerebro is a podcast about Marvel’s the Uncanny X-Men. Each episode, Connor focuses on a specific character from the franchise alongside a guest. As we know, there are so, so many X-Men characters that he’s got plenty of material to mine from!
That S**t We Do Like (Hosted By: Bianca & Niq)
This chaotic delight of a pop culture podcast is all about, well, that s**t that Bianca and Niq like, even if it isn’t popular among the masses. They dig into things they love (or love to hate) and talk about its relevance and impact.
The Queer Archive (Hosted By: Skye & Brenna)
Doctor Who fans rejoice! Skye and Brenna expertly break down episodes of the famed sci-fi series, examining it from a queer and feminist perspective. Doctor Who is heading in what seems to be an increasingly (and delightfully) queer direction, so we are sure that this duo will have lots of thoughts as we head into this new era.
Gaylords of Darkness (Hosted By: Anthony Hudson & Stacie Ponder)
There’s no doubt that queerness is a big part of horror, for better or worse. The Gaylords of Darkness podcast traverses through the dark world of horror, touching on everything from mainstream hits to indie works that lurk in the recess of fans’ minds.
The Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Podcast (Hosted By: Talia Franks & Lucia Kelly)
Yes, there are two Doctor Who podcasts on this list because why not? The Doctor does have two hearts, after all, so they deserve a double dose of love. And this podcast has a lot of love (and valid critiques) to give, with two nerds coming together from different time zones to chat about all things Doctor Who.
Podcast Style YouTube Channels with LGBTQ+ Hosts
That Gay Jedi
Would this truly be a Nerdist list without a Star Wars offering? That Gay Jedi is all about covering Star Wars, but they also dig into Marvel and Stranger Things, too. We love their brilliant content, effervescent energy, and insightful roundtables.
Zack Cherry
When it comes to deep horror analysis, especially for the Scream and Halloween franchises, no one does it quite like Zack Cherry. His insight into everything from a killer’s rationale to glaring narrative holes in a franchise will make you want to watch films ten times for closer inspection. Generally speaking, Zack is a horror whiz
Rowan Ellis
Rowan’s video essays about pop culture, history, and representation from a queer viewpoint are well-crafted and extremely thoughtful. There are lots of great recommendations in her shorter vids as well as some wholly unique topics of discussion, like the “tragic potential of queer zombies.”