S2. Ep. 15 This is Calpernia Addams!

I’m on my way to Reykjavík for Pride but we spent some time with producer, actress, vocalist, musician, and author Calpernia Addams! 

We get into the weeds about how language can change, casual activism, and reflect on fighting and surviving the queer liberation. Calpernia shares some of her experiences growing up in a strict fundamentalist Christian cult and her journey coming to adulthood serving in the military as a combat medic in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. Then she tells us all about how Navy lesbians contributed to her post-service glow up! 

Calpernia gives us an insider perspective on Hollywood casting of transgender, gay, and lesbian roles and she tell us about the work of her production company Deep Stealth Productions with Andrea James. We ask her about the film Soldier’s Girl (2003) which portrayed the 1999 hate crime murder of her real life boyfriend PFC Barry Winchell at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, USA. 

We ask her all about her very fun and irreverent podcast with Alec Mapa and Rachel True called Nooner. The podcast is on a hiatus but you can still catch the gang dishing with some of Hollywood’s most interesting people in all of the past episodes! But you will have to listen-in to this very sweet episode of Drag Time with Heklina to find out what’s next from Calpernia Addams!

Episode Artwork Photograph by José Guzmán Colón and graphics are by Nancy French.