{"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":"The Boy Who Skated Anyway: Stef Vachon's Story","slug":"the-boy-who-skated-anyway-stef-vachon-s-story","published_at":"2026-07-17T04:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/coming-out-beyond-support-for-women-questioning-their-sexuality-3916256/the-boy-who-skated-anyway-stef-vachon-s-story","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/54fca46c-c621-4d40-aa1f-90fcabd06306.mp3","summary":"Content note: This conversation includes language that references homophobic slurs and a discussion of suicidal ideation and mental health struggles. Please listen with care, and reach out for support if you need it. What happens when the thing you love most is the very thing the world tells you is wrong? This week we sit down with Stef Vachon, a proud queer man, husband, father, keynote speaker, and former international professional figure skater with over 30 years of experience performing around the world. Stef grew up in a small French speaking town in Quebec where every boy was expected to play hockey. Instead, he fell in love with figure skating, and the bullying began almost immediately. Stef shares his decades in survival mode, the breaking point that led him to write his entire life story and hand it to a therapist, and the piece of homework that sent him back onto the ice and back to himself. We talk about learning to be alone before finding love, the pressures of image and perfection in gay male culture, chosen family, and the movie that opened the door to fatherhood in his fifties. Today Stef hosts the Together Moving Forward podcast and speaks on moving from survival into self respect, self love, and pride. His story is a reminder for all of us that it is never too late to come home to who we are. Resources and Mentions Together Moving Forward podcast, hosted by Stef Vachon: https://www.youtube.com/@TogetherMovingForwardPodcast Reinventing Your Life by Jeffrey Young and Janet Klosko, the book Stef's therapist recommended: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43866.Reinventing_Your_Life Lion (2016), the film that opened the door to fatherhood for Stef and his husband: https://youtu.be/-RNI9o06vqo?si=YvZBBnQhp24aX3XY Heated Rivalry, the series we cannot sto…","meta_description":"Content note: This conversation includes language that references homophobic slurs and a discussion of suicidal ideation and mental health struggles. Plea…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2445,"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/the-boy-who-skated-anyway-stef-vachon-s-story/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/the-boy-who-skated-anyway-stef-vachon-s-story.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}