QueerAF | Inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories told by emerging queer creatives

To celebrate 20 years of National Student Pride - in 2025, we were back on stage as a media sponsor, for a special live recording for a panel about disability and healthcare in the queer community. It was particularly special because the last time we covered the topic in this way, it was also at Student Pride - check back for the Access All Rainbows episode in season four for that. 

National Student Pride is an incredible event, and as well as giving QueerAF an incredible launchpad - it's been helping students get graduate jobs, and driving critical conversations in our community, and to mark 20 years of it this year is quite something. 

The panel is hosted by @char_bailey_, with guests:

💜 @iamsteffilynn

💙 @jessicaoutofthecloset

💚 @_ali.bromley

💛 @hausofasad

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Figures like Wendy Carlos not only defined the genre but were also instrumental in developing the modern synthesizer. Meanwhile, SOPHIE redefined the boundaries of pop and experimental music. And then there are the musicians and sound artists working today. All Trans+.

Learning about how they came to their craft, exploring where they have blurred the lines between music and other mediums as well as asking why transgender musicians and artists are drawn to these genres in particular, this episode (the final of season five) explores Trans+ History Week's theme: We are more than Trans+, with guests:

• Cai Gwilym Pritchard (they/them) – Sound Designer, Noise Artist and Writer
• Chi B Williams (she/her) – Sound Artist, Writer
• Zoe Blade (she/her) – Musician, Writer and Programmer
• Roshanak Kheshti (she/her) – Writer and Academic – University of Berkeley 

Read more stories from Trans+ History Week:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Here is the article we recommended:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/raves-reflect-my-transness-back-at-me-theyre-joy-as-a-form-of-rebellion/

Watch the Transcending Words poetry night:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmbn900ekPM

Plus, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to understand the LGBTQIA+ news every Saturday:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rehangs at art museums are rare. The last one at Tate Britain was in 2012. Whilst galleries will make small changes to their on-display collections, these are small, only happen every few months and usually happen for specific reasons (such as an item going on loan to another gallery).

But each rehang gives an art gallery to make a statement on what its mission as an institution is. A statement that visitors will likely see for ten or more years. So it's a big deal that Tate Britain and the National Gallery both increased the amount of LGBTQIA+ representation in their recent rehangs. This week's producer, Mills Dyer explores some key Trans+ history they reveal, with guests:

• Abi Penton – A Tate tour guide and expert on Gluck
• Cas Bradbeer - A queer historian and V&A Tour guide
• Prof Matt Cook – Professor of Queer History at Oxford University

View the art discussed in today's show:

• Flora’s Cloak c.1923, Gluck
• Chevalier d'Eon by Thomas Stewart, after Jean-Laurent Mosnier
• Prints of Chevalier d’Eon at the National Portrait Gallery

Read more stories from Trans+ History Week:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Here is the article we recommended:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/the-jewish-transgender-couple-who-fell-in-love-and-escaped-the-nazis/

Watch the Transcending Words poetry night:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmbn900ekPM

Plus, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to understand the LGBTQIA+ news every Saturday:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

This episode is made possible with the support of Publicis Groupe UK.

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A live panel recording on "How do we win our rights?" with three Trans+ change and history makers, Roz Kaveney, Jude Guaitamacchi, Sabah Choudrey interviewed by Nancy Kelley.

This episode was recorded in front of an audience of 200 people in London's Canary Wharf at our first-ever Trans+ History Week community event.

Read more stories from Trans+ History Week:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Watch the Transcending Words poetry night:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmbn900ekPM

Plus, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to understand the LGBTQIA+ news every Saturday:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a busy Pride month at QueerAF HQ - a rewind episode, while we prepare the final few episodes of an already stunning set of stories from emerging and marginalised LGBTQIA+ audio producers. 

This Week Rosa Eaton ponders: Do they need to get a queer haircut to feel part of the community? 

In their university town of Bristol they meet the towns local queer hairdresser who has been helping trans, non-binary and LGBT+ people feel more at home with the identity they want to show to the world. 

And despite Rosa’s love for long, femme hair, they wonder after seeing so many people get empowered by having the chop – whether to have a 'queer haircut' too. Something, by the end of this episode Rosa resolves – for better or worse. 

Looking for more QueerAF content? Read more stories from Trans+ History Week:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Watch the Transcending Words poetry night on our YouTube:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmbn900ekPM

Plus, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to understand the LGBTQIA+ news every Saturday:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a story many of us know, but in a new telling of the classic tale, Harry Woodgate has reimaging Oscar Wilde's Happy Prince.

This week, Jamie Wareham meets the author and explores, along with groups who donate books to schools, why diverse and LGBTQIA+ inclusive books are so valuable for children.

Harry Woodgate shares how and why they reimagined the classic tale, The Happy Prince, first written by historical queer icon Oscar Wilde. We also explore the many themes in the book that remain strikingly relevant today and reflects on the groups who are getting their books into schools.

With guests:

• Harry Woodgate - author of The Happy Prince, Grandad's Pride and many more children's books
• Sammy James-Dodds - co-founder of Bude Pride and Bude Pride Education
• Alison Wareham - Teaching assistant in a local Cornish school

Get a copy of Woodgate's reimagining of The Happy Prince in all good bookstores, and pick up all their books now:

• The Happy Prince
• Grandad's Pride
• Grandad's Camper

Plus, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to understand the LGBTQIA+ news every Saturday:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Produced and hosted by Jamie Wareham. This episode was made possible thanks to Andersen Press.

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all know the trope: the supportive bestie who helps the main character finally achieve their dreams, gives the advice that helps them land the heartthrob or drops hard truths that lead to epiphanies. We all know that’s producers and casting directors' favourite place to tick their diversity boxes. I should know, I’m the actor playing them.

But what this week's producer Ki Griffin wants to know, especially as an actor and a black trans-masculine person who uses he/they pronouns is: "When do I get to be the main character?"

Looking at black trans-masc representation in TV, film, and theatre - while connecting the dots with wider social conversations about black masculinity - join Ki as they explore where the black trans-masc representation is in TV and film?

With guests:

• Rico Jacob Chace - a speaker on Intersectionality and Non-Binary Equality
• Tatenda Shamiso - a multidisciplinary artist, writer and director
• Lane Webber - actor and composer

Read more stories from Trans+ History Week:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Here is the article we recommended:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/we-have-always-been-here-a-poetic-ancestral-history-of-trans-nigerians/

Watch the Transcending Words poetry night:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmbn900ekPM

Plus, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to understand the LGBTQIA+ news every Saturday:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

This episode is made possible with the support of Publicis Groupe UK.

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I’ve been taking PrEP for almost 7 years now. During that time, I’ve been crazy enthusiastic about making positive changes to reduce health inequalities. But I have seen how queer health has been mishandled time and time again."

So today Phil Samba is here to help us all discover the untold story behind PrEP, the revolutionary pill that's transforming HIV prevention and sexual health.

In the first episode of our new six-part limited series documentary, we dive into the battle for PrEP access in the UK by not only looking at the court case fought here in England for the drug - but the advent of HIV and AIDS in the 80s.

Did you know we knew PrEP was effective from the early 2000s? Why did it take until 2020 to get it on the NHS you ask?

Join host Phil Samba as he uncovers the legal struggles, the historic activism, and the groundbreaking moments that made PrEP a reality. From the early days of HIV awareness to the modern fight for equitable healthcare, this is the compelling journey of The Other Blue Pill.

This week, we understand the past of this HIV game-changer, so in the first episode of a series about the the present, and future of The Other Blue Pill.

Hosted by Phil Samba, it is a QueerAF production for The Love Tank, supported by National Aids Trust.

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-other-blue-pill/id1744532072
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1kOezXQXHp4ZnVXJLzBaZe?si=bf88e76133ee4da2
• QueerAF: https://www.wearequeeraf.com/theotherbluepill/

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seeing your own experiences reflected back in history is often challenging when your identity has been erased, as many queer people know.

As an Irish lesbian living in Dublin, Oran Keaveney spent a great deal of time documenting and discovering the queer women who shaped modern Ireland. It was a huge turning point and they felt like they fit into their country’s mythology.

Now that they’ve transitioned and moved to London, they're here on QueerAF to look for this moment of self-recognition in Irish history again - but this time through the lens of transmasculinity, with a search for a trans masc hero from Irish history, with guests:

• Dr Mary MacAuliffe a lesbian historian and expert on Margaret Skinnider
• Eliott Rose, a trans, post-graduate historian at the university who specializes in queer studies speaking on Dr James Barry
• Iarfhlaith O’Connell, Oran's co-host on the In Awe of Mná podcast for Near FM

Read more stories from Trans+ History Week:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Here is the article we recommended:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/every-time-you-wash-your-hands-you-honour-this-transgender-doctors-legacy/

Plus, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to understand the LGBTQIA+ news every Saturday:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you love a queer punch up too? The comedic kind of course.

Lucie's first gig was in the basement of an Italian restaurant in Edinburgh, during the fringe:

Back then I was presenting as a straight guy, and performing routines about how terrible my hometown was. I stopped performing for a while as I went on other adventures, but after an 8-year, hiatus, I’m back as a transgender woman."

This week, comedian Lucie takes us on a trip to the 80s where, set against a backdrop of an HIV/AIDS moral panic, a comedy scene emerged as a direct challenge to the widespread racism, sexism and homophobia in the press and wider society.

The diverse 80s comedy scene began as underground, grassroots Alternative Cabaret, with stilt walkers, drag acts, prop comics, sketch troupes and stand up on a regular old lineup. But this underground alt-punk comedy scene that challenged the punch-down culture is still alive today. Lucie and co-host Jamal Utting explore it's roots, as well as having a right old giggle along the way:

• Meet Dr Olly Double, reader in Comic and Popular Performance at the University of Kent to hear about the scene's roots
•  Jeremy Topp, comedian, host and co-owner of The Queer Comedy Club in London - the UK's only dedicated queer comedy venue
• Plus a modern analysis of this, and the queer comedy and cabaret scene now with Lauren Bryant, aka the Punk King of Drag, Will Power.

Read more stories from Trans+ History Week:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Here is the article we recommended:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/how-section-28-and-sex-ed-denied-us-knowledge-crucial-to-our-lives/

Plus, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to understand the LGBTQIA+ news every Saturday:

• https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Sign up as a QueerAF member to listen along ad-free and support our not-for-profit work, investing in a new generation of queer audio professionals:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/membership/

If you like our podcast, you'll love our free weekly newsletter that thousands of readers use to understand the LGBTQIA+ 🏳️‍🌈 headlines, learn new perspectives and stay on top of the latest queer content. Try it now:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/

Make sure to sign up for updates about Trans+ History Week, a QueerAF launchpad project:

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.