Netflix Launches First Gay Agenda LGBTQ+ Podcast to Celebrate Queer Joy

Netflix has announced the launch of its first LGBTQ+ podcast – The Gay Agenda – to celebrate queer joy. The new podcast, produced by MOST, takes an entertaining and honest look into the lives of LGBTQ+ creatives at the top of their fields across different industries; and celebrates their success stories in the community through a loving and humorous lens. The Gay Agenda will launch on Monday, January 10, 2022.

The podcast is created and produced by lesbian actress, singer/songwriter and podcaster Jasmin Savoy Brown (she/her, The Leftovers, Yellowjackets, new Scream reboot), who is also currently recording her first EP. She co-hosts the show with producer and nonbinary actor, comic and playwright Liv Hewson (they/them, Santa Clarita Diet, Yellowjackets, Let It Snow, Bombshell). On the show, Brown and Hewson interview queer trailblazers in the community and explore the wonderful, funny (and sometimes ridiculous) parts of the LGBTQ+ experience. The show is also produced by Multitude, a podcast production company in Brooklyn.

“With our first foray into the podcast space, MOST is entering a new era -- one where the gay agenda continues to expand into all corners of our audience's lives, making it easier and more fun than ever to discover Netflix's LGBTQ+ talent, titles, and storytelling,” said Gabrielle Korn (she/her), Netflix Editorial & Publishing Manager for MOST. “ I love this podcast so much; it's truly a joy to listen to, and I hope it brings that same joy to our followers.” 

Savoy said she is also “proud of The Gay Agenda”: “It’s joyful, it’s inquisitive, it’s welcoming. I think it’s a real reflection of the LGBTQ+ community and I hope our listeners feel the same. Interviewing guests this season made me a better person. Hearing people's unique stories and perspectives on life and happiness was a learning experience and I don't take that for granted.”

“The first item on The Gay Agenda is, of course, for our guests to have fun and be themselves. There's room for all of it, for connection and healing and for irreverence and silliness. it's serious and it isn't,” explained Hewson. “We contain multitudes! Part of the impetus behind this podcast was creating a space to talk about being LGBTQ in entertainment that centered on something other than pain. The pain is there of course, but the joy is too! We want to live in joy.”

The inaugural season has 45-minute episodes released consecutively over eight weeks. The first episode, launching January 10, kicks off with co-hosts Brown and Hewson expressing the importance of celebrating queer joy and welcomes nonbinary actor Bex Taylor-Klaus (they/them), who proudly and humorously identifies as a “problem”. The candid episode dives into their love of Shakespeare and Tegan and Sara, softball and growing up queer and Jewish in the South. Regarding coming out to themself, Taylor-Klaus declares on the show, “Let's stop sitting in a little box that feels comfortable...stick my hand out and make sure the sun's not going to melt me.”

Episode 2, launches on January 17 with director, writer, actor Natalie Morales (she/they, Director of Language Lessons), who waxes nostalgically about the various queer characters they have portrayed including an asexual axolotl on BoJack Horseman, their religious mother’s deep friendships with gay men, along with a spirited bonus rapid-fire game of Gender This!

Additional guests with more humorous personal revelations, life stories and how they will further the gay agenda this season includes actor Ally Beardsley (they/them), actor Javicia Leslie (she/her), comedian Caleb Hearon (he/him), author Carmen Maria Machado (she/her), actor Leo Sheng (he/him), and writer/comedian/actor Fortune Feimster (she/her).

Check out the trailer below.