Navigating a Lesbian Interracial Relationship (with Rica Charleston)

This week, Mal is joined by her friend of 18 years, Rica Charleston, to discuss growing up in the South, being outed, navigating being gay in the black community, and the challenges of being in an interracial relationship. Rica brings an honest, unfiltered, and hilarious perspective to this conversation, and Mal shares a picture of her high school hairstyle - we are not holding back. You must've been nice this year, cause Santa brought you a great episode!

Follow our guest Rica at @thericacharleston

Please remember to subscribe, rate, review and share this podcast with your best friend from middle school! Follow the show at @madeitoutpodcast and follow Mal at @malglowenke

[lokie]

As a lesbian, finding this podcast has been the highlight of the end of 2023 for me. Thank you for making such amazing content!

[sofiairigoyen]

just wanted to say how much i love the convos you guys are having on this pod 💗 it feels like a safe space to explore feminism, identity, and the queer experience and i appreciate your value for intersectionality. thank you for elevating our voices and perspectives 😇

[debbiebeveridge]

When she teared up sharing the story about her conversation with her mom it made me tear up because it brought back my experience with Shannon when she told me she was gay. You need to love your kids no matter what. Love all of your episodes on your podcast.😘

[junevertucci]

Rica is your funniest guest so far. Her insights were refreshing. Mal was rockin' the fishnet top with the puffy vest (love it). Laughed pretty hard at this episode (while being educated by it of course.) Good one. Thanks.

[nai]

It’s crazy how similar me and Rica’s stories are. I’m a lesbian black woman who grew up in a predominantly white community my entire life. I pushed down my queerness for so long because I was already so ostracized for being black and I didn’t want to give people any more reason to put me into a box. I just recently came out to my friends and family and just want to say thank you so much for doing this podcast, it really helps so many people in their journey and provides so much support for people who really need it ❤️

[HighwaytoHobbs]

Thank you for sharing your story, Rica! “What is your Alaskan ass doing in the middle of Louisiana?” 😂 Dead. As a Louisiana girl myself, love that your experience here was awesome!

[downtomarz]

Wow so rarely do we see black queer content…. I love it 😭🙏🏾

[ssceneryy]

I haven’t finished the ep but Im also blk and see white woman very attractive, “shouldn’t matter who ur with love has no color or gender” (from my mom💕)🌸✨
Edit: U don’t know how much I relate to this beautiful woman, being christian n gay n trying to accept myself for being both was a challenge. Then the stereotypes on blk ppl but having friends that aren’t those stereotypes is amazing to see. ✨🎀🖤

[souki]

I loveeee this episode, not enough POC lesbian representation in general. Love it!

[KayBassie]

@11:06 me BAWLING 😭😭 I love this podcast so much, loving these conversations. "I pay these gay @ss bills" 😂Rica I love waking up with a Made It Out notification😊

[chrrislowe]

I love this podcast. Such interesting perspectives presented with necessary levity lol. Thank you for bringing a Black woman on. Race and culture often play such significant roles in our queer experiences. I’ve really enjoyed every episode so far (watched them all lol) but as a Black, queer, Caribbean woman who grew up in a religious house hold Rica’s and Zoya’s have definitely been my favorite. ✨

[sdavis]

Loved this! I am older than you girls, but I grew up in the Catholic Church and grew up in Iowa! 😂 yes, there are black folks in Iowa!
I met my person in my 30s and she was white from a small town in Illinois. We always talked about things and never had issues with race, because we didn’t deal with people who had an issue with us. Anyway, together for 25 years before she died from uterine cancer in 2019 😢 she was my
best friend! I miss her terribly!
Enjoy each other and don’t take what you have for granted! 🫶🏾

[mybrainismagiccity]

As a brown person, everything Rica said resonated with me - I personally couldn’t be with who doesn’t share my experience (cultural or spiritual) - for me, we have to align

[kellycontreras]

Stories like the one with her mom made me tear up 😢 we all wanted and want that kind of treatment from the people that is important, is so sweet and captivating seeing the happyness it brought to you and idk but it is transmited to us

[Koah]

The people that get it. Do get it. Facts. I feel like the irony of my high yellow existence is though I am Black, creole af, people think Im forever in an interracial relationship because of how ethnically ambiguous I am.
Really appreciated this talk. Thanks so much for sharing.

[siphowarrior]

“You gotta learn how to make chickpeas taste like eggs” 😂


The religious trauma in the black community be strong

[michelle_]

So I’m black and grew up with bunch of white friends and someone has to unpack why all black people like Paramore cause I love them!!😂

[yudie]

I loved this episode. This resonated with me so deeply. Also, when Mal cried with Rica, that meant so much to me. Not everyone feels our pain and that was very moving to see. Thank you.

[JennSarracenia]

I have been out of the closet for 20 years. I have 0 internalized homophobia. I thought I was bi, but it was other trauma. I recently came to terms with this (so much to process) and have been diving into lesbian content because I am a lesbian! What a weird thing to figure out at my age after being out for 2 decades. Anyway, this podcast has made me feel so close to this community and has felt so nurturing. This is the right place for me. It is making me so secure in my identity. I really appreciate the format and the guests and the interviewer for giving space while naturally guiding. It’s just all around a great podcast and I want you to know how much it’s helping me, who thought I was done coming out and finding the “right” community!

[taramercado]

Rica is so much fun! Have her on again. I love seeing a long-term friendship like this.