LGBTQ+ news gets its moment on the mic

• "Think 'Meet the Press' ... but gayer" is its tagline.

What they're saying: "As LGBTQ+ issues continue to be at the forefront of media coverage and as LGBTQ+ journalists don't have a dedicated platform, the show killed a couple of rainbow birds with one microphone," host Ken Schneck tells Axios.

Catch up quick: Schneck is the founder and editor of The Buckeye Flame, Ohio's only newsroom dedicated to LGBTQ+ issues.

• He says the idea for the show has been percolating for more than three years, but his participation in the CUNY Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership "lit a fire" under him.

Follow the money: Financial support from the Cleveland Foundation facilitated a partnership with Evergreen, the Cleveland-based podcast production company.

• It also meant the show could pay panelists for guest appearances.
• "That's important to me because I really do believe journalists should be paid for their time," Schneck says, "especially historically marginalized journalists."

Driving the news: The podcast's first episode, which debuted Wednesday, covers LGBTQ+ health care access and reflects on marriage equality 10 years after the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell decision.

• It features panelists Orion Rummler, a reporter for the Texas-based The 19th; Missy Spears, the executive director of Queer Kentucky; and Joseph Darius Jaafari, the founder and editor-in-chief of Lookout Publications.

The last word: "Some news podcasts can be yawn-inducing and some LGBTQ+ podcasts can be entertaining but fluffy in content," Schneck says.

• "'This News is So Gay' was created to be substantive, personality-driven and entertaining."