Queer Roots and Routes

Queer Roots and Routes is made by a collective.

We are queer. We are migrants or descended from migrants. And we want to tell our stories. Stories of where we’ve come from and how we move in the world today.

We don’t have a boss or a Beyoncé. So each episode of this six-part first series of Queer Roots and Routes has a different host and a different set of voices from our group. Our promise to you is that our podcast is GORGEOUS, FIERCE, SUPERGAY and... REVOLUTIONARY!

We all met through the MAUREEN project by The Love Tank, a not-for-profit community interest company that promotes health and wellbeing of under-served communities through education, capacity building and research.

An Aunt Nell Production

Produced, edited and engineered by:

Tash Walker

and

Adam Zmith

Assistant producers:

Saaqib Afzal

José Carlos Mejia

Amardeep Singh Dhillon

Chase Edwards

Stanley Iyanu

and

Rad Konieczny

Creative design and artwork by:

Richard Kahwagi

Music by Edoy

Recorded at Pirate Studios in Dalston and Hackney Wick, east London

Executive producers:

Marc Thompson

and

Dale Taylor-Gentles

Sound effects from freesound.org

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

Last refreshed: July 21st, 2025 at 6:43 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Love

I’m Chase, a 28-year-old Black gay brudda from London, and I’m focusing on love. For my episode I’ve picked stories about the love of queer icons, the love of drag and how it can create community, and navigating love in London. I hope you get something from it. Listen out for Roberto sharing his childhood love of Mexican singer Juan Gabriel, Robert aka drag queen Polka Dot talking about creating the Slav4U drag collective, and Stanley and José discussing looking for love and sex in London as que...

May 04, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 6

Flipping the narrative

I’m Asad, I’m Muslim, 6 foot 2, I speak English, Urdu and Punjabi. I’m pretty hard to miss! My theme is: flipping the narrative. I was raised in a bubble in east London, wearing clothes for Asian women, and being told “boys don’t dance like that”. But now I’m flipping that narrative and getting my nails done. In this episode, I listen to a story from Amar about how they no longer feel the need to choose between being queer and being Sikh. Also, Xing teaches me dirty words in Chinese, and Sam and...

Apr 27, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 5

Community

I’m Dale and in my episode, we’re going to GO THROUGH IT. What does community mean to me? Community is my circle. The collective of people I operate around most often. People who make me feel safe, loved... and that’s reciprocated. In this episode, I’m telling my story of being kicked out of home in London, and finding community with my Grandma, then with friends. I also hear a painful story from Rad, and a loving conversation between Saaqib and Amar about being queer and Asian on Green Street i...

Apr 20, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Re-invention

Hola! I’m Roberto and my episode is about re-invention... I had a good job in Mexico, but I needed a change. So I said BYE BITCHES and moved to London. Seven years later... you can take the girl out of Mexico but you can’t take Mexico out of the girl. I have my roots in Mexico, as well as my new roots in London... In my episode of Queer Roots and Routes, Amar shares a story about the hypocrisy of the police who wear Pride badges. Then Rob and Asad have a conversation about drag, coming out, and ...

Apr 13, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 3

MEN ARE TRASH

I’m Rad Konieczny, I’m hosting this episode, and my theme is MEN ARE TRASH. I’m joking. Am I though?... In the past two weeks I got heartbroken, I got rejected, I got ghosted AND I got catfished. My life is a telenovela, and I’m trying to MAKE SENSE of it all. So for my episode of Queer Roots and Routes, I got some of our podcast collective to share their stories of dating and sex. There’s Stanley, who’s written a poem called “I fell in love with a boy who then blocked me on Grindr”. Then Xing, ...

Apr 06, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Belonging

I’m José Carlos Mejia, I’m hosting this episode, and the theme is “belonging”. For a long time I was only in the UK temporarily, with a visa just for a year or two. I struggled for London to feel like home, and I still don’t find it easy. So for my episode of Queer Roots and Routes, I’ve picked some people from our collective to share their stories about how they manage to belong — if they actually feel like they do. I’m hoping that these stories will make me feel at home. Stories include Sebast...

Mar 30, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 1

Introducing Queer Roots and Routes

Queer Roots and Routes is made by a collective. We are queer. We are migrants or descended from migrants. And we want to tell our stories. Stories of where we’ve come from and how we move in the world today. We don’t have a boss or a Beyoncé. So each episode of this six-part first series of Queer Roots and Routes has a different host and a different set of voices from our group. Our promise to you is that our podcast is GORGEOUS, FIERCE, SUPERGAY and... REVOLUTIONARY! We all met through the MAUR...

Mar 23, 2023•2 min

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