{"podcast":{"title":"Coming Out & Beyond | Support for Women Questioning Their Sexuality","slug":"coming-out-beyond-support-for-women-questioning-their-sexuality-3916256","podcast_index_feed_id":3916256,"rss_url":"https://rss.pdrl.fm/61288f/feeds.captivate.fm/comingoutandbeyond/","website_url":"https://annemariezanzal.com/coming-out-stories-beyond-podcast/","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/baa17cb3-0a45-417c-abd2-7bef950f96a4/Z7j4qj8k47aF8JnsB9FSHKaU.png","author":"Anne-Marie Zanzal 1ac1f670-c17c-11f0-806a-ef1502adef07","episode_count":189,"summary":"Coming Out & Beyond is a podcast for women questioning their sexuality later in life — no matter where you are or what your life looks like right now. Maybe you're sitting with a question you've never said out loud. Maybe you fell for a woman or something woke up recently, everything shifted and you can't put it back. Maybe you're untangling years of religious conditioning or compulsory heterosexuality and trying to figure out who you actually are underneath all of that. Whatever brought you here — this space is for you. Hosted by Anne-Marie Zanzal — Yale Divinity School graduate, ordained progressive minister, grief counselor, and LGBTQ+ coach who came out in midlife — Coming Out & Beyond offers real conversations, emotional clarity, and grounded support for women coming out after 30, 40, 50, and beyond. We talk openly about late bloomer experiences, being married with kids and questioning, single and not finding someone who is right for us, catalyst relationships, faith deconstruction, divorce, grief, identity shifts in midlife, and learning to trust the voice inside you that’s getting louder. This isn’t about rushing labels or blowing up your life. It’s about integration. Self-…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-24T12:21:24.406773+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/coming-out-beyond-support-for-women-questioning-their-sexuality-3916256"},"episode":{"title":"Grieving the Living: The Estrangement No One Prepares You For","slug":"grieving-the-living-the-estrangement-no-one-prepares-you-for","published_at":"2026-06-05T04:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/coming-out-beyond-support-for-women-questioning-their-sexuality-3916256/grieving-the-living-the-estrangement-no-one-prepares-you-for","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/coming-out-beyond-support-for-women-questioning-their-sexuality-3916256","url":"https://annemariezanzal.com/coming-out-stories-beyond-podcast/","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/d125b88f-b31d-4d60-b21c-d34fc9185cb3.mp3","summary":"TW: This episode includes honest discussion about grief, estrangement and suicidal ideation. Listener discretion is advised. There is a kind of loss that arrives without a funeral. No casserole on the doorstep, no card in the mail, no ritual to mark it. It is the loss of people who are still alive, of communities that keep meeting without us, of the versions of ourselves we performed for decades. It is called estrangement, and for those of us who came out later in life or left the faith traditions that raised us, it may be one of the most present and least spoken parts of the whole story. In this episode, Anne-Marie and her cohost Anna Empey sit with the word estrangement and everything it holds. Anne-Marie shares her experience of becoming estranged from her child, the devastation of it, and the slow, tender work of repair she is in now. Anna brings her own story of leaving the LDS faith she was raised in and learning to navigate family through boundaries, distance, and a love that refused to disappear. Together they name the things the culture rarely makes room for. That we can grieve someone who is still breathing. That healing does not require reconciliation. That rupture is not failure, and leaving is not always abandonment. Sometimes it is the most faithful thing we can do for ourselves. This is a conversation we offer without tying it up neatly, because some of it is meant to stay open. If estrangement is part of your story, we hope you find some company here. This episode mentions a previous episode about grief and coming out. You can find that episode here: https://youtu.be/DnrRcKN8oT4 Find the episode where Anna shares her coming out story here: https://youtu.be/XD_5QNn5IM8 Learn more about \"The Grief Handbook\" by Bridget McNulty here: https://bridgetmcnulty.…","meta_description":"TW: This episode includes honest discussion about grief, estrangement and suicidal ideation. Listener discretion is advised. There is a kind of loss that…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2549,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/coming-out-beyond-support-for-women-questioning-their-sexuality-3916256/episodes/grieving-the-living-the-estrangement-no-one-prepares-you-for/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/coming-out-beyond-support-for-women-questioning-their-sexuality-3916256/grieving-the-living-the-estrangement-no-one-prepares-you-for.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}