Exceptional Podcasts for June from our Podcast Family!

The provided podcasts cover a range of topics, including LGBTQ+ issues and the church, revisiting Elder Holland's talk, pop culture discussions, radical civility, family dynamics, and a Gospel-centered approach to gender dysphoria.

During this pride month, we wanted to highlight some exceptional podcasts from our Public Square Media family. Some of these episodes focus on LGTBQ issues in the Latter-day Saint community and how we can treat each other with Christlike compassion while still remaining faithful to church doctrines. Other episodes discuss how we can bring an ethic of fidelity and love into our families and the world. We hope you enjoy these diverse and faithful perspectives from our podcasters.

 

Family Bro Evening

Scott and JC dive right into the controversial church baptism policy and other tough questions facing members in their episode “LGBTQ+ Issues and the Church, featuring Sarah Kemp.” Guest Sarah Kemp talks about coming out on her mission and about why she stays a member of the church even when it’s hard. And in “Musket Fire? Revisiting Elder Holland’s Talk,” Family Bro Evening uses Elder Holland’s speech to BYU faculty about defending the gospel position on the family as a jumping off point to ask how we can better discuss LGTBQ issues as church members.

 

Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree

Did you know the Oscar winning movie The Whale was based on a play about a gay Latter-day Saint character? Hosts Liz and Carl get together to discuss the film with Glen Nelson of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts and David Sandhu to try to ask how we can love and serve in a Christlike way those who chose to live a self-destructive lifestyle. Listen in on their episode “The Whale: To Live A Celestial Life, Sometimes You Have to Stare Into the Abyss.” Or look into another dysfunctional family and how they reconcile their clashing identities in their first episode about the Disney film Encanto.

 

Radical Civility

Ben and his guests Thomas Stringham and Meagan Kohler get together to discuss “Men Policing Men and the Sexual Revolution.” Has it fulfilled its promise to liberate women or merely allowed bad actors to take further advantage of women? They ask what role can men play in teaching other men proper sexual ethics.

 

Raising Family

The Raising Family podcast hosts a two-part conversation with Jeff Bennion, founder of North Star, a faith-affirming resource for Latter-day Saints addressing sexual orientation and gender identity. In part one of their conversation, they discuss how identity issues are tied to mental health and what those who want to remain faithful can do to improve their mental health. In part two, Jeff discusses why he chooses not to use an LGTBQ label as well as how he deals with unanswered questions and finds hope in the gospel.

 

Sit Down with Sky and Amanda

In their episode Teens and Transgenderism (Gospel-centered approach to gender dysphoria), Sky and Amanda discuss what worries them with the rise of transgenderism among teens, but also what brings them hope. They discuss what we know and don’t know, and what they believe is the most compassionate, gospel-centered approach to the issue. And in Our Problems with Pride Month, Sky and Preston talk about their feelings about pride month and why they believe “going against” their own sexuality to be in their best interest.

On Key

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Kinda Pregnant, Kinda Forgettable, Mostly Raunchy

Amy Schumer is a mood.  About ten years ago it seemed like she was about to break out as the next great all-American comedian. But her material never softened. She never found a safe sitcom to mold her jokes into something that would be network-approved. She had her hard stand-up audience and she kept it. “Kinda Pregnant” is perhaps the most Amy Schumer film yet made, and certainly the most since “Trainwreck.” If you like the Amy-Schumer schtick, I imagine you will like this movie. The film is mostly an extension of Schumer’s 2019 special “Growing,” in which she talked about her own pregnancy and her experience with it.  In this film we learn that Schumer’s character Lainy has always wanted to be a mom, but she is now forty and her boyfriend is finally ready to propose. But alas he wasn’t proposing marriage, but proposing having sex with another woman. She soon learns that her best friend Kate is pregnant. Worried that Kate is becoming closer friends with their also pregnant co-worker, Lainy tries on a fake pregnancy belly at a maternity store, and when the clerk accidentally sees her wearing it and is very kind, Lainy decides she’ll pretend to be pregnant. She goes to a pregnancy yoga class, and meets Megan who she makes instant friends with. This means Lainy is living a split life, one pregnant and one unpregnant. There is not a lot of territory left to mine in the fake pregnancy category. Between “Glee,” “Gone Girl,” “Labor Pains,” “Preggoland,” “Desperate Housewives,” and “Baby Mama” the plot device has gone from comedy to drama to action and back again. In typical Schumer fashion she goes gross-out raunchy, which occasionally lapses into a serious talk about the physical and emotional realities of pregnancy and how society treats them.  On that final front, the film does have some interesting observations. The physical realities of pregnancy are weirdly under-discussed, for a society that seems to hold pregnancy as a high honor. But ultimately whatever positive message was there falls apart for two reasons. First the film wants to celebrate family and child birth, but feels the constant need to hedge its endorsement so as not to risk Schumer’s progressive bona fides. And the entire thing is lost in a cavalcade of profanity and gross out jokes about everything from masturbation to farting. I watched “Dog Man” a few weeks ago, a movie for 8-year-old boys, and I’m honestly not sure which movie had more juvenile fart jokes.  The movie does have a few very funny scenes, but for a Happy Madison production, it’s unusually slow. And the writing doesn’t give us the kind of endlessly quotable lines Happy Madison is usually known for. In terms of the comedy, the movie is less bad and more just forgettable. The movie has a very female sensibility, given its subject matter, but it’s presented with the kind of raunchy comedy that has a smaller female audience. If you love Amy Schumer’s comedy, especially if you’ve loved her more recent materials, and you have recently had a baby and feel like no one else really gets what you’re going through, there is a good chance this movie will be among your favorites. Though I’d still recommend using a service that will clean up the worst excesses of the vulgarity—this is a film that earns its R-rating. But if you aren’t in that small group, I imagine the movie might amuse you, but otherwise it will leave you feeling insipid and put off.  One and a half out of five stars. “Kinda Pregnant” premiers on Netflix today, February 5, 2025.

A Day to Remember

“Never was so much owed by so many to so few.” That sentiment by Winston Churchill has been deeply felt by many over the years. Do we feel it anymore today?

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