Episode Title: From Small-Town Connecticut to 200K Followers — Spencer Thomas Gets Bit Gay Episode Summary: Spencer Thomas is a 23-year-old NYC-based TikTok creator, writer, and author of Goodbye to Boyhood — a self-published collection of short stories about queer identity, solitude, and growing up. He's amassed over 200K followers on TikTok by doing exactly what he set out to do: more gay shit. In this episode, Zach and Spencer go deep on coming out in a conservative Connecticut town, the community and chaos of gay bar culture in New York and Boston, queer spaces being colonized by straight crowds, his solo trip to Peru, and what it really means to find your people. Episode Notes: Spencer grew up in Redding, Connecticut — a small town with little more than trees and a church — where boredom led him to writing and creativity. He came out at 16 after years of suspecting something was "different," including a pivotal moment watching The Goonies at age five. A memorable summer camp kiss with a girl was the final confirmation: not the path for him. He came out as bisexual first (a common gateway, as he notes with love), then didn't look back. After dreaming of New York City through childhood visits to his grandmother on the Upper West Side, Spencer enrolled at NYU, double-majored in journalism and English, minored in creative writing, and wrote his first book while still in school. Goodbye to Boyhood — 10 chronological short stories spanning birthday parties, father relationships, first hookups, and grief — was self-published on his own terms at 21. He paid for the editor and cover designer himself, kept the rights, and used his platform to get it into readers' hands. Signed copies with handwritten letters are available via his TikTok Shop. Zach and Spencer swap gay bar origin stories — Boiler Room in its decrepit, beloved old form, Playhouse before the TSA scanners, Flaming Saddles pre-bachelor-party invasion — and have a frank conversation about the state of Boston's queer nightlife. Spencer visited Club Cafe and found it overrun with bachelorette parties and straight couples, which turned into a viral video and a Queerness article that his grandfather called him about from Miami. Zach recommends Trophy Room, Danny's Queer Bar, Blend in Dorchester, and D-Bar as better options — and promises Spencer a proper Boston gay bar tour on his next visit. The conversation turns to community: why queer spaces carry historical weight, what gets lost when those spaces are colonized by people detached from the culture, and why Spencer believes most gay cattiness comes from scarcity of safe space, not character. Spencer also talks about his solo trip to Peru — sand dunes, Nazca lines, altitude sickness in Cusco, a yoga retreat he worked for free, and why he left his phone behind for five days in the desert. Spencer is currently deep in writing his debut novel (title under wraps, publication a couple years out) and planning interview-style video content with queer author Edward Schmidt, whose novel An Open Era drops June 2nd. His next TikTok series is still TBD — he invites listeners to tell him what they want to see. Guest Links: Spencer Thomas on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@byspencerthomas Spencer Thomas on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byspencerthomas/ Goodbye to Boyhood on Amazon: https://a.co/d/08y8sXw6 Mentioned in This Episode: Club Cafe, Boston Trophy Room, Boston Danny's Queer Bar, Boston Blend, Dorchester D-Bar, Boston Boiler Room, NYC (new location on 2nd Ave & 3rd St) Playhouse, NYC Flaming Saddles, NYC Atlas Social Club, NYC Holiday Bar, NYC Montauk (now in the old Boiler Room space on 4th St) NYU, double major journalism/English An Open Era by Edward Schmidt Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
