Listen Up Girl — Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Segment 1 — Kennedy Center pays out $252,480: A DC judge ruled there was no valid contract, ending Richard Grenell's retaliatory lawsuit against jazz musician Chuck Redd over a canceled New Year's Eve performance.

Segment 2 — Jadon MacCormack's landslide loss: The Connecticut candidate who called for executing LGBTQ+ people and declared June "Straight Month" lost his primary with under 20% of the vote. He declared himself "the true winner" anyway.

Segment 3 — Darren Bailey's predator ties: The Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate shared a stage with a registered child sex offender turned "ex-gay" minister, and separately accepted campaign donations from — and attended church with — another convicted sex offender.

Segment 4 — Shevrin Jones primary-day smear: A homophobic text blast falsely claimed the Florida state senator — who could become the state's first openly gay member of Congress — is HIV positive, falsely attributing the message to Equality Florida. The attack landed on primary day itself.

Segment 5 — DeSantis administration hypocrisy: A Florida newspaper called out officials for letting religious schools discriminate against LGBTQ+ students while denying religious-freedom protections to schools requiring vaccines.

Segment 6 — Fresno church rebuild: After vandals crushed a church's rainbow "God's doors are open to all" Pride display, neighbors rebuilt it before Sunday service had even ended.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

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Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

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Today on Listen Up Girl: JD Vance and HHS accuse hospitals of fraud for providing gender-affirming care, a trans activist confronts the Massachusetts AG live on the radio, Lauren Boebert's son heads to jail while she lectures on parenting, two directors reject Harry Potter money over JK Rowling's transphobia, Neil Patrick Harris reflects on his 2006 coming out, and a gay beach party refuses to be scared off by death threats. Six stories, eleven minutes, every day.

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Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

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Today's Listen Up Girl covers six stories from Sunday, August 16, 2026. A federal judge dismissed Minnesota's lawsuit challenging the federal government's stance on trans kids in school sports, ruling the state hadn't yet shown concrete legal harm — though a separate federal lawsuit against Minnesota over the same issue continues elsewhere. In Europe, Slovakia is defying a European Court of Justice ruling by refusing to register the marriage of Ivan Novotný and Metod Špaček, a Slovak gay couple married in Austria, prompting a rebuke from the European Commission. Matrix director Lilly Wachowski revealed that her new $10 million film, The Hunted, has stalled in Hollywood funding despite being fully scripted and ready to shoot, because its cast is entirely trans — part of a broader industry pullback that saw zero trans characters across 225 major studio films this year. A Republican candidate faced backlash after telling a female opponent she seemed "more masculine" than a man. Rudy Giuliani falsely claimed New York City's new universal childcare plan would teach babies to change gender — a claim entirely disconnected from the actual policy, which simply expands free childcare access starting with two-year-olds this fall. And the episode closes with Rosie O'Donnell's candid, funny, and moving account of learning to consistently use her nonbinary child's pronouns — including the "they" tattoo she got on her wrist to help her remember.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

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Today on Listen Up Girl: The Senate narrowly confirms Todd Blanche as Attorney General, raising fears about DOJ independence. Fox News host Tomi Lahren calls her own party an "utter embarrassment." A Connecticut candidate who called for executing LGBTQ+ people gets humiliated in his primary. Swiss Olympic-track volleyball star Leo Dillier comes out as gay. A bagel shop worker makes history in one of Tennessee's reddest counties. And Bolivia celebrates its first same-sex civil marriage.

Listen Up Girl is your daily LGBTQ+ news podcast — keeping you informed and in the fight.

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Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

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Listen Up Girl — Thursday, August 13, 2026

Today's episode covers six LGBTQ+ stories spanning the U.S. and the globe:

The Department of Justice quietly dropped its appeal in a case seeking the private medical records of transgender kids treated at a Pennsylvania hospital, ending a year-long legal campaign a federal judge had already called "unprecedented" and cruel.

In Dodge City, Kansas, a protest group of transgender men wearing "Compliance Crew" shirts followed the state's new bathroom law to the letter — entering women's facilities as legally required — to demonstrate the law's absurdity in real time.

An arcade is facing consequences after forcing two transgender women to have their IDs scanned before entering while a cisgender friend walked past unchecked.

In the UK, newly appointed Defense Secretary Wes Streeting is speaking out about a wave of homophobic abuse he's faced since taking office — a jarring turn for a politician who spent two years extending bans on trans youth healthcare while in his previous role.

In Senegal, 71 men were arrested and charged with "unnatural acts" as the country's crackdown on homosexuality continues to escalate following stiffened penalties passed in March.

And Karamo Brown is hosting the 8th annual .ORG Impact Awards this October, honoring 35 individuals and organizations worldwide for grassroots community work, with winners receiving up to $50,000 for their causes.

🎙️ New episodes daily | listenupgirl.com

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: Australia's census includes a sexual orientation and gender identity question for the first time ever. Senegal's anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown hits 71 arrests. British tennis announces a full ban on trans women in competitive matches. Ofcom finally investigates GB News after a guest linked Pride to pedophilia. And a MAGA-linked bot campaign gets caught faking support for an anti-trans gun rule.

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Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Monday, August 10th on Listen Up Girl: a trans New Hampshire state rep says a fellow Democrat pressured her out of a congressional race, a children's hospital caves to DOJ pressure and ends trans youth care, two New York lawmakers try to repeal a 40-year-old bathhouse ban, the internet has thoughts about a certain someone's suspiciously fuller hair, a new women's baseball league puts queer athletes front and center, and Jeopardy's Ken Jennings sets the record straight on where he stands. New episodes every day. Follow, subscribe, and leave a review — it helps more than you know. Find us everywhere @TheRealZachRE.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.