At first I through "wow a retro show" when I read the descriptive text, but then I remembered there are still a lot of fools out there.

About the gay guy whose female friend thinks has internalized homophobia... just to mention a possibility, could it be that his straightish behavior (pursuing/groping girls, etc.) might be because he's really bi? How does one tell, by looking at the outside behavior, the difference between a gay guy who 'doesn't want to look like he's completely gone to the Dark Side', as Dan put it, and a bisexual guy?

Dan! Dan! Flame leotardant made my day!

To the high school sophomore who was outed: First, it was totally not okay for you to be required or pressured to read your essay by your teacher(s). In fact, given the possibility of humiliation or even violence directed at you, it was completely irresponsible and possibly illegal (as it may have created an unsafe environment for you) to suggest such without your full and enthusiastic consent. That's one issue to bring up with the ACLU.

Second, as Dan said, if you're school administrators are either failing to protect you from harassment/violence or actively contributing to it, that's another issue to bring up with the ACLU. You should also check out GLSEN if you haven't already. All they do is deal with LGBT issues in schools settings, and they have a lot of resources for people in your position. It doesn't sound like your school has a Gay-Straight Alliance or anything similar, so you might want to consider feeling out whether there's any interest. It can be a good way to create visible, public social support for any/all LGBTQetc. kids at your school, out or not, members or not, and also a good way to make friends.

Your safety is absolutely paramount. If you feel like anything anyone is suggesting to you or even requiring of you threatens your personal safety or makes you a target for violence, you have every right to refuse, and you don't owe anyone anything that risks your safety. Scarleteen.com also has some great resources for dealing with things like figuring out sexuality, coming out (and dealing with others' responses), bullying, navigating various kinds of relationships, and bodily autonomy and personal safety. Their message boards are continuously monitored, so people can often get responses to requests for help or advice (if necessary) from the trained volunteers very quickly.

Good luck!

Hey Dan - Thanks for your advice to the girl who is being bullied. I think too many kids think that they don't have options like getting a GED or turning to the school or ACLU for help. If the bullying is getting physical, she may want to turn the bullies into the police, especially if the school is ignoring the problem: http://bit.ly/n7j2NJ.

Dan-

I've been a fan for years, but as a friend of friends of Tim (I never got a chance to meet him in person, though everyone else I know was close to him), this cast was the first time I was touched in a personal way. Thank you for ending the cast in his honor. I made sure all his close friends on my FB had the link to this cast. It... was just very touching. Thank you.

Dan -

I have been listening since the start and have always enjoyed the popovers intro. Thank you for the update about Tim, I never knew him but am really saddened that his talent has been silenced. Thank you for sharing more of his music with us.

I also had the thought that the "gay" guy who gets drunk and hits on women may actually be bi. I once knew a guy who was the mirror image of this, he identified as straight but would go out drinking at the local gay bar and come home with another man. I'd suggest that the next time he tries something like that just ask him if he's really bi. He'll either stop, admit he's bi, or both.

Does the gay-porn-loving girl really not realize that most of the actors in gay porn are straight?

I was sorry to hear about Tim LaFolette. I didn't know him, but he made some great music.

Hey Dan,
Just wanted to let you know the Jesus that was struck by lightning is not "Touchdown Jesus", that is the jesus at the Notre Dame football stadium in Indiana. The one in Ohio, which I used to see driving through, is a completely different thing.

To the guy who phoned up to say that Dan should've suggested that the previous episode's caller (the woman who'd had a lot of surgery so found intercourse uncomfortable) should explore having sex with women:

Newsflash: bisexual people can't just decide to feel sexually attracted to people of the other gender simply because it's more convenient to their post-surgery physiology - like everyone, they fall for *people*, not a set of genitals, it just happens to be that the people they fall for might be male or might be female. A bisexual person can't just go 'okay, I'm only going to be sexually attracted to women [or men] now because that's easier'. Well, not without, potentially, a lot of heartache.

She was obviously asking about her options for having sex with men, so for Dan to have talked about her options for having sex with women (ie, something that she didn't ask about) would have been totally beside the point and condescending. It sounds like you maybe got a bit overexcited at the mention of female bisexuality and stopped listening to her talking about what was really concerning her, just waiting for a titillating mention of girl-on-girl cunnilingus or something.

Just wanted to throw this documentary out there for all the gay peeps coming out to Christian friends parents and get the Bible drama about it.

"Fish Out of Water" It is an amazing theological explanation done in a cool short documentary with cartoons even, on the whole "The Bible is against gays" BS argument. Awesome awesome cant recommend enough. Its on Netflix and here's the website http://fishoutofwaterfilm.com/

I doubt anyone that can do anything about this will pay any attention to it whatsoever, but when Dan flittingly throws out a URL would it be too much trouble to stick that link in the podcast description? I'm thinking of johnshore.com, in particular. Like with many listeners I listen on a portable mp3 player and have no way to make a note or even easily check the player to see where in the podcast the link was spoken. The one person who posts the podcast description, however, is right in front of a computer and can link the hundreds (thousands?, tens of thousands?) of listeners from right here! What a glorious world that would be!

To the girl who was outed in high school by her essay:

There is a program called Running Start in Whatcom and Skagit counties where high school students can trade up to community college classes and earn credit for both high school and college.

When I was in high school I was awkward, anti-social, bisexual, and entirely too East Coast for Bellingham. I joined Running start and things got better, right. away.

Protect yourself, stay if you can, but don't feel guilty if you just need to get the fuck out of there and find some actual human beings to go to school with.