From Cape Cod Roots to State Senate: Julian Cyr's Story

From Cape Cod Roots to State Senate: Julian Cyr's Story

Author: Rick Koonce September 5, 2025 Duration: 43:20

In this episode of Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage, I sit down with Massachusetts State Senator Julian Cyr, who represents Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. Julian shares his powerful journey of growing up as a young gay man on the Outer Cape, finding his voice through activism, and ultimately stepping into leadership to serve his community.


We talk about how his early experiences shaped his commitment to public service, the lessons he learned from the AIDS epidemic, and why authenticity is a core value in both politics and personal life. Julian also opens up about the pressing issues facing Cape Cod today—including the housing crisis, climate change, and public health—and how his lived experience informs the way he leads.


This conversation is both inspiring and practical, offering wisdom for anyone navigating their own journey of courage, leadership, or advocacy.


Key Takeaways:

  • Growing up LGBTQ+ on Cape Cod shaped Julian's values and resilience.
  • The importance of authenticity in leadership and advocacy.
  • Housing, climate, and public health challenges on Cape Cod today.
  • Why the LGBTQ+ community must stand united—especially for trans rights.


I'd love to hear your thoughts—reach out and share your own story of courage.


Please click the button to subscribe so you don't miss any episodes and leave a review if your favorite podcast app has that ability.


For more information, visit the PFLAG Cape Cod website: https://www.pflagcapecod.org/podcasts.html


© 2020 - 2025 PFLAG Cape Cod


Hosted by Rick Koonce, Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage: Real Stories of Identity & Acceptance is built around intimate, unscripted conversations that go beyond headlines. This podcast lives in the personal moments-the difficult family dinner, the quiet realization, the supportive friend’s first question. You’ll hear directly from LGBTQ+ individuals, their parents, siblings, and allies, sharing narratives that are less about grand declarations and more about the daily, nuanced journey toward living authentically. The stories encompass coming out, gender transition, and the complex, ongoing search for belonging, offering a raw and moving look at what courage actually sounds like in real time. Produced by Huntington Northstar Productions in partnership with PFLAG Cape Cod, each episode functions as a personal audio journal, focusing on a single portrait where vulnerability and strength are inseparable. Listening feels like being invited into a deeply meaningful, private conversation that highlights our shared humanity. The collective result is a powerful and necessary tapestry of voices that celebrates resilience while honestly examining the challenges within families and communities. Tune in for a series that connects through specificity, where every story adds a vital thread to the broader fabric of human experience.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 56

Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage: Real Stories of Identity & Acceptance
Podcast Episodes
Interview with Finn Allen (Wanda Mae) | Ep #45 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:51
Finn Allen (formerly Wanda Mae). Wanda Mae was a little girl raised in a household with an alcoholic mother, an abusive father, and two sisters. She never felt "at home" in her female body, even though at an early age sh…
Interview with Joan and Rick Francolini | Ep #44 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:24
Joan and Rick Francolini are the parents of a bisexual daughter, Renee, who's about to marry a transgender man. They're also committed social justice advocates who recently organized the first-ever Lower Cape Pride celeb…
Interview with Roger Smith | Ep #43 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:58
The Trump Administration's explicit animus toward transgender people is a well-documented and very public fact. Starting in his first term and now in his second, President Trump and his Administration have carried out a…
Interview with Susanne Bennett | Ep #42 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:49
Susanne Bennett describes herself as a white, queer, cis-gender, able-bodied, and educated elder woman. At 78, this former college professor and retired clinical social worker also describes herself as a questioner, a do…
Interview with Lindsey Straus | Ep #41 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:28
Lindsey Straus is a 73-year-old trans woman who's also the biological father of three sons -- triplets -- now in their early 40s. The story of Lindsey's transition --- from husband, devoted dad, and little league coach t…
Interview with Linda & Gloria Bailey-Davies | Ep #40 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:45
In the prolonged, often contentious battle for marriage equality in the United States, it can truly be said that Linda and Gloria Bailey-Davies are pioneers. Together now for over 50 years, the happily married Cape Cod c…
Interview with Avery & Sarah | Ep #39 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:31
Sarah Messeck and Avery Condon are a young couple very much in love. The two met at a Cape Cod Pride event in June 2022 and soon afterwards began dating. Eventually they plan to marry. Sarah, an animal welfare advocate a…
Interview with Dr. Jane Fleishman | Ep #38 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:09
Dr. Jane Fleishman is an accomplished sexuality educator, writer, program developer, and researcher. In 2016, at the age of 62, she received her doctorate in Human Sexuality from the Widener University Center for Human S…
Interview with Mayor Brett Smiley | Ep #37 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:35
Brett Smiley is the married, gay mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, the first in the city's 400-year history. Elected to office in 2022 on his second try for the job, Smiley got his start in Rhode Island politics years b…
Interview with Rick Miller | Ep #36 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:08
Rick Miller is a psychotherapist who works extensively with gay men. Gay himself, he has pioneered the use of mind-body experiential therapy to assist gay men, and other members of the LGBTQ+ community, in dealing with e…