UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton

About UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton

UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton is a podcast that investigates the people, money and power behind anti-LGBTQ ecosystems. Join Spencer twice a month as he interviews newsmakers about the most pressing issues facing the LGBTQ community today. From highlighting the voices of people fighting back against systems of injustice to challenging the forces attempting to undermine queer rights, UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton offers a perspective on LGBTQ issues you don’t find anywhere else. Spencer Macnaughton is a Gracie Award-winning and Emmy-nominated journalist. He has written and produced for 60 Minutes, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Vice, Vox, Time, NBC News, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone, and he teaches LGBTQ journalism at New York University. He founded Uncloseted Media, a nonprofit news publication focused on investigative journalism, in 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Spencer Macnaughton

Category

news · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Mar 2026

Latest episode

3 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

23 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Trump Is Trying to Silence the Press. Don Lemon Is Holding the Line.

   Don Lemon is one of the most well-known journalists in America. He became a household name during his 17 years working for CNN before breaking out on his own in 2023 and starting Lemon Media Network the year after. That project has grown into one of the most successful independent news outlets in the U.S. The Don Lemon show, for example, boasts 1.4 million YouTube subscribers and 2.9 million Instagram followers. In the midst of this success, Lemon has been one of the biggest targets of the Trump administration. In January, he was arrested (https://abcnews.com/US/don-lemon-arrested-connection-minnesota-protest-sources/story?id=129699476) by federal agents for his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Officials from the Trump administration, of which Lemon has been a longstanding critic, charged (https://abcnews.com/US/former-cnn-journalist-don-lemon-plea-church-charges/story?id=130143511) him with obstruction and conspiracy against rights of religious freedom—charges to which he has pled not guilty and is fighting (https://abcnews.com/US/vindictive-motivations-don-lemon-seeks-dismiss-charges-stemming/story?id=135457988) in court. Outside of this legal battle, Trump has been cracking down on press freedom more broadly, attempting to ban (https://www.npr.org/2026/09/29/nx-s1-5984349/news-organizations-court-white-house-ban) multiple news outlets from the White House. In the meantime, billionaire Paramount CEO David Ellison has installed (https://www.unclosetedmedia.com/p/a-complete-timeline-of-how-bari-weiss) Trump-friendly leadership at CBS News and is quickly moving forward (https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/30/media/paramount-warner-bros-merger-settlement) on a merger with Warner Bros., which owns CNN. In this episode of “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton,” we speak with Lemon about the all-out assault on the First Amendment, as well as his place in it as a high-profile Black, gay, independent journalist with a target on his back. We also talk about his advice for American journalists moving forward as well as the likelihood that he’ll run for president, which he pegged at about “65 to 70%.” “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton” is a new podcast by Uncloseted Media, an investigative LGBTQ-focused nonprofit news publication. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChu2TFT8tC_1kNxZTlExOkw) // Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/0naD6C9bz6pYhSpddWSxid?si=c14a127b8f024bd3&nd=1&dlsi=3f2b9586a8c24d8f) // Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncloseted-with-spencer-macnaughton/id1886465537) Subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@unclosetedmedia). Read our full investigations on Substack (https://www.unclosetedmedia.com/). Find us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/unclosetedmedia). Host: Spencer Macnaughton Editor: Laury Peyssonnerie Reporting: Hope Pisoni Social producer/Design: Sophie Holland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   19 Sept 2026

   Trans Sports Dominate Culture Wars. But What Do Scientists Think?

   The debate over trans athletes has reached a fever pitch. Riley Gaines (https://www.unclosetedmedia.com/p/how-riley-gaines-uses-sports-to-spread), a former collegiate swimmer who tied for fifth place with a trans swimmer in 2022, has become a star in the world of conservative politics. Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White recently announced (https://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2026-08-24/enes-kanter-freedom-and-royce-white-are-not-eligible-for-the-wnba-draft-ap-source-says) their intentions to enter the WNBA draft and “expose” the league’s lack of policy for transgender players. And less than two months out from the November midterms, trans athletes are shaping up to be an issue on voters’ minds (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/why-republicans-are-focusing-on-transgender-issues-in-competitive-2026-campaigns)as they head to the polls. All of this noise has created little room for thoughtful conversation. We wanted to change that. In this episode of “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton,” we sit down with three of the leading researchers and scientists in this field to get an evidence-based understanding of what we know—and don’t know—about the physiological differences between cis and trans women and girls in sports. “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton” is a new podcast by Uncloseted Media, an investigative LGBTQ-focused nonprofit news publication. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChu2TFT8tC_1kNxZTlExOkw) // Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/0naD6C9bz6pYhSpddWSxid?si=c14a127b8f024bd3&nd=1&dlsi=3f2b9586a8c24d8f) // Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncloseted-with-spencer-macnaughton/id1886465537) Subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@unclosetedmedia). Read our full investigations on Substack (https://www.unclosetedmedia.com/). Find us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/unclosetedmedia). Host: Spencer Macnaughton Editor: Laury Peyssonnerie Reporting: Bella Sayegh Social producer/Design: Sophie Holland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   Meagan Morris Speaks From Jail After Being Sentenced to 50 Years by the Trump Administration for an Alleged Terrorist Attack

   On July 4, 2025, a protest (https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/texas/2026/06/24/555395/prairieland-shooter-gets-100-years-others-30-70-in-ice-detention-center-antifa-protest/) outside of the Prairieland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility near Dallas, Texas, escalated as some protestors broke off and committed acts of vandalism (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/ten-individuals-charged-attempted-murder-federal-officers-and-firearms-offenses). The protest had started hours earlier as a noise demonstration where activists set off fireworks and used other noise makers to alert detainees in the facility that they supported them. But when law enforcement arrived to respond to the vandals, a police officer was shot nonfatally (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/ten-individuals-charged-attempted-murder-federal-officers-and-firearms-offenses) in the neck area. Authorities later charged protester Champagne Song (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-antifa-cell-members-north-texas-sentenced-100-years-prison-terrorist-attack-ice) for the shooting. Meagan Morris, who says she was a half-mile away playing Pokémon in her car when she heard the gunshots, was soon after stopped (https://prairielanddefendants.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/JohnsonCounty_Probable_Cause_Affidavit.pdf) by police and taken into custody. Three months later, the Trump administration accused (https://theintercept.com/2025/10/17/antifa-ice-protesters-terrorism-texas-prairieland/) her and eight other defendants—three of whom, including Morris, are trans—of being (https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2069815861314036000?s=20) “Antifa terrorists” and (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-antifa-cell-members-north-texas-sentenced-100-years-prison-terrorist-attack-ice) “Antifa Cell operatives.” Morris and her codefendants were eventually sentenced in part for providing material support for terrorists in what the Department of Justice called (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-antifa-cell-members-north-texas-sentenced-100-years-prison-terrorist-attack-ice) “the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa,” a name which refers to a decentralized movement based on militant opposition to fascism. The sentencing comes after Trump signed (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/designating-antifa-as-a-domestic-terrorist-organization/) an executive order declaring antifa, short for anti-fascism, as a terrorist organization, despite no such unified organization existing. And in May, the administration’s counterterrorism strategy (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-USCT-Strategy-1.pdf) listed “radically pro-transgender” groups as a national security threat. Morris was sentenced (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/23/prairieland-ice-protesters-texas-sentenced) to 50 years in prison, which has caused legal experts concern. They noted (https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/article/texas-test-case-experts-worry-trump-use-limit-22338112.php) that her sentence is unusually harsh, more than double the longest sentence for a Jan. 6 rioter, and that it could set a precedent for strict crackdowns on freedom of speech and assembly. After speaking to Morris’ codefendant and girlfriend, Autumn Hill (https://www.unclosetedmedia.com/p/autumn-hill-speaks-from-jail-after), we wanted to hear from Morris. In this episode of “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton,” she’s calling in from Johnson County Jail in Texas, where she is currently serving her sentence. “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton” is a new podcast by Uncloseted Media, an investigative LGBTQ-focused nonprofit news publication. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChu2TFT8tC_1kNxZTlExOkw) // Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/0naD6C9bz6pYhSpddWSxid?si=c14a127b8f024bd3&nd=1&dlsi=3f2b9586a8c24d8f) // Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncloseted-with-spencer-macnaughton/id1886465537) Subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@unclosetedmedia). Read our full investigations on Substack (https://www.unclosetedmedia.com/). Find us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/unclosetedmedia). Host: Spencer Macnaughton Editor: Laury Peyssonnerie Reporting: Hope Pisoni and Sophie Holland Social producer/Design: Sophie Holland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Contact UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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