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Transgender rock band Lipstick Conspiracy reunites

Cover photo for Lipstick Conspiracy's 2006 album “A Perfect Alibi” shows members (L-R) Sarafina Maraschino, Marilyn Mitchell, Tori Tait (no longer in the band) and Shawna Love.
Larry Utley
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Lipstick Conspiracy
Cover photo for Lipstick Conspiracy's 2006 album “A Perfect Alibi” shows members (L-R) Sarafina Maraschino, Marilyn Mitchell, Tori Tait (no longer in the band) and Shawna Love.

Pump up the volume! In part as a “joyful antidote” to the escalation of anti-LGBTQ laws across the USA, San Francisco’s all-transwomen rock band is back together after 12-plus years.

Lipstick Conspiracy was big in the Bay Area and much of the West Coast from soon after their 2003 formation right up to their last public performance in late 2010, when they were riding high after being featured in the award-winning film Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance. They’re set to perform Thursday, June 29, in West Hollywood’s WeHo Pride Arts Festival at a screening of Riot Acts.

Founding members Sarafina Maraschino, Shawna Love and Marilyn Mitchell share recent music, past hits, political insights and their comeback plans with host Eric Jansen on this edition of Out in the Bay.

(Mitchell appeared on Out in the Bay previously, sharing music from her solo album Lives Aligned and speaking with host Christopher Beale in early 2022. Hear it here.)

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Sound design and editing for this edition by David Kwan.

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Eric Jansen is a long-time broadcaster and print journalist. A former news anchor, producer and reporter at KQED FM, San Francisco; KLIV AM, San Jose; and Minnesota Public Radio, Eric's award-winning reports have been heard on many NPR programs and PRI's Marketplace. His print work has been in The Mercury News, The Business Journal, and LGBTQ magazines Genre and The Advocate, among other publications. He co-produced the June 2007 PBS documentary Why We Sing!, about LGBTQ choruses and their role in the civil rights fight.