ENCORE: Secret City with James Kirchick

James Kirchick joins Ron Steslow to discuss his book Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington (01:55) Why he wrote the book (06:43) The interwoven political history and gay history in Washington (14:33) The melting pot of the gay community and why it was seen as a threat (19:55) The trope that whatever is bad must be gay (31:51) The Lavender Scare (35:53) The tension between the gay loyal foot soldiers of Ronald Reagan and courting the religious right (49:00) What was challenging about writing the book You should read Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington: Follow James Kirchick and Ron on Twitter: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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ENCORE: Secret City with James Kirchick is an episode from Politicology by Politicology.

This episode is 60:03 long.

This episode was published on Mar 18, 2026.

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