After leaving Chile for Australia as a child, Huey has persistent questions about where he comes from, til a family secret is revealed that changes everything. Huey Acuna aka Ru Bella came to Australia from Chile in 1975 as a refugee with his family of 6. Huey has been performing as a Drag Queen for the past 15 years, and has been performing more broadly since 1988 including stage, TV and events, as well as teaching singing and dancing. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project ...
May 30, 2022•11 min•Ep 45•Transcript available on Metacast Jex shares a story about healing from trauma through therapy and music while working as a children's performer in regional NSW. Jex Lopez is mostly known amongst queers as a singer songwriting pianist. A vaudevillian cabaret noir artist, her music and style is intrinsically tied to her identity as a queer Latina Meztiça with Portuguese Indian heritage. Jex creates unconventional and elaborate costumes and projections to accompany her unique sound stories. She released her irreverent debut album ...
May 23, 2022•13 min•Ep 44•Transcript available on Metacast Through their encounters with ghosts - sexual, familial, always magical - Peter questions what is real, and finds such encounters are more common than you'd think. Peter Lehner lives in the rainbow region and travels to connect with communities. Their many years of experience includes acting, directing and production of short films, TV, theatre and cabaret. Best known for their work with choirs and singing, the Universal Peace Federation, a worldwide, non-profit organization founded to advance t...
May 16, 2022•10 min•Ep 43•Transcript available on Metacast Soon after moving to Naarm, Travis moves into a sharehouse in Footscray, finding a sense of belonging that inspires him to research his local family history. Travis Larcombe is a local queer writer and proud resident of Tuggeranong. They have been writing funny, sad and inspiring stories since they were old enough to pick up a crayon. Their work has previously been published in SBS Voices, The Chaser, and Perspektif magazine. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by...
May 09, 2022•8 min•Ep 283•Transcript available on Metacast Yenn shares a story about contending with their past. Yenn Purkiss is an autistic and non-binary author, advocate, public speaker and community leader. They also have a diagnosis of schizophrenia. They are the author of nine published books on elements of autism and blog regularly. Yenn is a public speaker of almost 20 years’ experience and has presented at a range of events including for TEDx Canberra in 2013. Yenn facilitates an autism support group which has been running since 2011. They...
May 02, 2022•9 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast When Joo-Inn and her brother meet Liz from the crematorium their grief turns to delirium as they try to plan their father's funeral. Joo-Inn Chew is a writer and doctor working in general practice and refugee health. She has had short stories, memoir and poetry published in various anthologies, most recently 'Growing Up Queer in Australia' and 'These Strange Outcrops: Writing and Art from Canberra'. She lives in Canberra with her partner and two children. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ st...
Apr 25, 2022•9 min•Ep 40•Transcript available on Metacast Dale shares a story about facing her fears relating to transition during a trip to Nepal. Dale Sheridan is a writer, transgender advocate and lawyer. Her writing on transgender and broader LGBTIQ+ issues has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Canberra Times, Stuff.co.nz and snowsbest.com . She has also appeared on ABC Radio and at various public speaking engagements to share aspects of her lived experience as a woman with a transgender history. Queerstories an award-winning LG...
Apr 18, 2022•10 min•Ep 39•Transcript available on Metacast Feeling disconnected from her body, Krissy signs up for a burlesque class. Krissy Kneen is the author of the bestselling memoir Affection; the novels Steeplechase, Triptych, The Adventures of Holly White and the Incredible Sex Machine; and the Thomas Shapcott Award–winning poetry collection Eating My Grandmother. Her novel An Uncertain Grace was shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the Norma K Hemming Award and the Aurealis awards, while Wintering was longlisted for th...
Jan 24, 2022•9 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast Rebecca leans in to the trope of lesbians and cats, adopting not one but seven to appease her animal loving wife. Rebecca Starford is the author Bad Behaviour: A Memoir of Bullying and Boarding School and novel The Imitator. She is the Co-founder and Publishing Director of Kill Your Darlings magazine and a former editor at Text Publishing and Affirm Press. Bad Behaviour is currently in development with Matchbox Pictures for adaptation into a TV series. Rebecca recently completed a PhD at the Uni...
Jan 17, 2022•8 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast Alistair briefly dates a man who tries multiple times to convert him to his cult. Alistair Baldwin is a writer, comedian, thought leader and sometimes blonde. He has written for The Weekly, Hard Quiz, Get Krack!n and At Home Alone Together. He is a member of experimental comedy duo Nemeses with Vidya Rajan. He has been published in Metro, Archer, The Guardian and ACMI Ideas – and is a contributor to Growing Up Disabled In Australia. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project...
Jan 10, 2022•12 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast Kaya goes hiking with his mother in the Himalayas, an extract from his memoir As Beautiful As Any Other: a memoir of my body, published by Pan McMillan in 2021. Kaya Wilson is a writer and tsunami scientist whose work has been published widely. In 2019, Kaya was the recipient of the Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship where he completed his first book As Beautiful as Any Other: A memoir of my body, published by Pan Macmillan. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve...
Jan 03, 2022•9 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast Hayden shares his experience being the first transgender person to compete in Irish Dancing competitions in so-called "Australia". Hayden Moon is an out and proud 26 year old Queer, legally blind, transmasculine person. He is a PhD candidate in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Sydney, a Pinnacle Foundation Scholar and a competitive Irish dancer. In any spare time he can find, he advocates for the LGBTQIA+, disabled and First Nations communities through his roles in various ac...
Dec 27, 2021•11 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast Joe shares a moving story of family, love, dance and Parkinson's Disease. Joe Levitt moved to Australia from America in 1996 at the age of 36. He recently retired from work in clinical trials, but has also been a dance instructor, flight attendant, registered nurse, pharmaceutical rep, and bartender. When not contemplating what to be when he grows up, he can be found biking, swimming, at the dog park, or dancing with his husband. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directe...
Dec 20, 2021•12 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast In the mid-90s, balancing the hedonism of being embedded in the queer community with the formalities of her growing profile as a writer, Fiona takes a memorable trip to Queensland. Fiona Kelly McGregor has published seven books, most recently the essay collection Buried not dead. Her novel Indelible Ink won the Age Book of the Year. Her other books include the photoessay A Novel Idea, travel memoir Strange Museums, short...
Dec 13, 2021•13 min•Ep 31•Transcript available on Metacast A brief career as some sort of cult leader lands a young Tamara in trouble after she preaches self-discovery from the top of the school slippery dip. Tamara Natt (she/her) is a queer poet, essayist and playwright living with her wife and the local bird gangs on the semi-rural Australian coastline. Spanning her beat poetry play ALPHA (Edinburgh Fringe Festival) to A Letter to Everyone I Have Ever Met, an online project that interrogates the significance of f...
Dec 06, 2021•10 min•Ep 30•Transcript available on Metacast A queer reboot of the Arthurian table of legend, but this time with lesbians, drag queens and a ghost. Brendan Hancock is a Sydney based comedian who is well-known on the scene. You've heard him on FBi radio, seen him host the rave-reviewed Two Queers Walk Into a Bar at Giant Dwarf Theatre, and as the resident MC of Darlo Underground at Darlinghurst Theatre. Not one to let 2020 get him down, he also co-produced the Two Queers Festival, Australia’s first queer comedy festival! Already a crowd fav...
Nov 29, 2021•13 min•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast Rosie doesn't have great luck with showing vulnerability in the world of romance. Here are but a few embarrassing calamities from a life well (read: poorly) lived. Rosie Piper is Australia’s premier transgender lesbian comedian*. “A long-running favourite of Sydney’s comedy scene, you might’ve seen Rosie perform her stand-up at the Sydney Opera House, Enmore Theatre, on Tonightly , at Splendour in the Grass or just at gigs all around the country, supporting th...
Nov 15, 2021•11 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast Frances shares a story of migration, Mills and Boon, and a daughter finally recognising her mother. By day, Frances Lockie is a public servant turned corporate sellout clinging desperately to the vestiges of her soul by working on human services projects. By night, she is a mouthy dork who has strong opinions about pro wrestling, One Direction, and sex playlists. Her first crush was Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by M...
Nov 08, 2021•8 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast Imogen reflects on bodies, history, gender and connection, remembering her mother, an ex-partner and her childhood. Imogen Kelly is a performance artist, writer, director and producer. Hailing from the queer underground, Imogen is renowned as Australia’s Queen of Burlesque and was officially crowned World Queen of Burlesque in 2012 (Burlesque Hall of Fame, Las Vegas). A La Clique/ La Soiree veteran and creator of award winning burlesque theatre shows, Imogen has performed in The Sydney Opera Hou...
Nov 01, 2021•11 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast Dan shares a story about his relationship to smoking, and its connection to family, community and his sense of self. Dan Murphy is a DJ and filmmaker, and is not to be confused with the liquor shop, although they both are full of cheap booze. He's been the opening DJ for Cher, Kylie and Dannii Minogue, created community videos for marriage equality, GetUp! and Mardi Gras, and was a regular columnist for QX Magazine and Same Same. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directe...
Oct 25, 2021•8 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast After a stark realisation that childhood dreams aren't always the best realities, Trent decides to move to Meanjin. Trent Wallace lives on Gadigal country and is a First Nations Advisor and Pro Bono Lawyer in a global law firm - the first and only Aboriginal person to hold this position. Prior to this, Trent was the first Aboriginal lawyer on the Disability Royal Commission and was with Australian Government Solicitor. In between these positions, he developed postgraduate course content that equ...
Oct 18, 2021•10 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast Evie tells a tale about learning how to ride through transition. Evie Ryder is a Skateboarder, Trans Female, pansexual, Film maker, Community activist .She has 20 years social work experience working with LGBTIQAP+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy people and communities. Evie has a history of working in AOD, mental health, sexual health, group work and training. Evie is passionate about visibility and empowerment of all parts of the community. Biggest Achievement for 2020 being voted as ...
Oct 11, 2021•11 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast Yen-Rong attempts to let go of a decade-long grudge over a missing atlas. Yen-Rong Wong is a writer of of non-fiction based in Meanjin (Brisbane), on unceded Jaggera and Turrbal land. Her work has appeared in many print and online publications, including The Guardian, Meanjin, and Griffith Review, and she is currently working on her first full length manuscript, Things Left Unsaid. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events aro...
Oct 04, 2021•8 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Fletcher's obsession with a particular piece of rainbow paraphernalia drives this radiographer round the bend. Fletcher Quilty was found face-down in a lovely bog when grunge was on the rise. He writes short-stories, poetry, and theatre. His words can be found in Jacaranda Journal, The Tundish Review, Sugarcane, PASTEL Magazine, and occasionally on a stage. By day (and also by night—it's shift work) Fletcher is a radiographer with Queensland Health. He still smells of peat. Queerstories an award...
Sep 27, 2021•11 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Roj tells a story about going out, and about the sacred wonder of a queer bar. Roj Amedi is a writer, strategist and human rights campaigner. She is currently the Engagement and Communications Manager at Justice Connect, where she leads a team on advocacy, communications and fundraising. She also serves as a Director of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival and Overland Journal. Previously, Roj was the Senior Human Rights and Racial Justice Campaigner at Getup, where she expanded the work of C...
Sep 20, 2021•7 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast Michael has a chat with his foster son on one of their regular visits to the dog park. Michael James is a teacher, writer, producer and the current entertainment editor for Qnews magazine. In 2011 Michael and his husband came to prominence as part of the “RipnRoll” campaign that gained international attention and spurred his involvement in queer activism. He has served on the Brisbane Pride Festival committee for 8 years and been an active part of the Brisbane queer community. In 2011 Michael an...
Sep 13, 2021•10 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Mads joins the Model UN, changing her life's course and shifting her relationship to expressing her emotions. Madhuraa Prakash, also known as Mads, is an activist, formerly working with PLAN International Australia, and a drag king who performs under the name 'Manish Interest'. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Australia, she has spoken of her experiences as a queer brown woman on panels for organisations like Women's Agenda and is keen to have another chance to share her voice with her community....
Sep 06, 2021•10 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast David ponders maps, memory and a sense of place, while sharing a story of his time in the Sydney University Catholic Society, David Moutou has worked in local government in Western Sydney for the last ten years. Prior to this, he worked for Twenty10, and was a Director and Chairperson of The Aurora Group, a LGBTIQ philanthropic foundation. In the years before YouTube and Smart Phones, David performed as Sandy Toggs at The Imperial Hotel. David is addicted to 1980s style aerobics and has a s...
Aug 30, 2021•10 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast Mark, Doonside's resident hopeless romantic, is yet to find his Mr Right. Is he just down on his luck? Or have rom-coms set an astronomically high standard that this chubby gaysian just cannot seem to shake? Mark Mariano is an Australian-born Filipino editor, writer, model, and social media whiz from Doonside on Darug land. Mark works at SBS in an editorial role and is also an active member of SBS Pride’s steering committee. He is also part of the Sweatshop Western Sydney Literary Movement, thro...
Aug 23, 2021•12 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast An unexpected encounter in the hospital cafeteria awakens Jane, then a young nurse, to a career as a lesbian and an activist. Jane Marsden is a learning and development professional and project manager. She commenced her career in LGBTI+ community organizing and activism in the early eighties. In the early nineties she was appointed to the Board of Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras on which she served for five years. Shortly thereafter she joined the Board of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Community P...
Aug 16, 2021•11 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast 
