Background
Marcus began interviewing notable figures in the LGBTQ civil rights movement in the late 1980s while writing an oral history of the movement. The first edition of the book, published in 1992 under the title Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights, 1945-1990, was a Stonewall Book Award winner in 1992 and was described by acclaimed oral historian Studs Terkel as "[o]ne of the definitive works on gay life." In the late 1990s, Marcus undertook another round of interviews for the updated second edition of the book, which was titled Making Gay History (2002).
In 2016, Marcus revisited the archive of his original recordings, which had since been digitized by the New York Public Library, along with executive producer Sara Burningham, who suggested that the interviews be used as the basis for a podcast.
Since its launch in October 2016, the podcast has featured interviews with transgender rights icon Sylvia Rivera; pioneering lesbian writer Edythe D. Eyde aka Lisa Ben; American comedian, talk show host, and actress Ellen DeGeneres; popular advice columnist and LGBT advocate Pauline Phillips ("Dear Abby"); and others. It has also drawn on other audio archives to highlight the contributions of activists like Ernestine Eckstein and Bayard Rustin, and has used contemporary interviews to chronicle the life and work of Magnus Hirschfeld and Reed Erickson. In December 2019, they released the earliest known recording of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson.
For the eighth season of the podcast, Marcus partnered with the Studs Terkel Radio Archive to release interviews conducted by the legendary radio host and oral historian Studs Terkel. Marcus cites Terkel and his work as inspiration for his own.
In February 2020, Making Gay History was adapted for the stage at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
The podcast's ninth season, "Coming of Age During the AIDS Crisis," is an audio memoir exploring Marcus's memories of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
