Watching Two Porcupines Mate (The Thomas Crown Affair/Mike)

My guest this week has a track record of going viral — whether he wanted to or not. Mike Aylesworth’s first brush with fame was as a teenager in the late 90s when he challenged the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay members… then in adulthood when he dreamed up an invention in the bathtub that changed his life, first for the better and then for the worse. He’s written about his work with the Scouts (and how that turned into work against the Scouts for awhile) in an upcoming book entitled Boy Pageant. As you’ll hear, Mike’s always been drawn to stories about strangers who are surprised to discover that they fit together, from the Golden Girls to art thieves to the crowned heads of Europe; those stories set the stage for the work he does now, helping young people figure out how they fit into the world. We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads up that I have a new video on YouTube about Dolly Parton’s surprising connection to the gay community… and I have a video coming soon about the many ways in which Tim Curry shaped our lives.