QueerAF | Inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories told by emerging queer creatives

Do you know who Lynn Conway is? Without her work on the microchip - you wouldn’t be listening to this podcast. Did you know that there are genderqueer ballroom voguing scenes in both India and Wales? How much do you know about the eccentric Reed Erikson, who funded research into dolphin telepathy and pioneering gender-affirming surgeries when no one else would? This season on the award-winning QueerAF podcast, we’re back for more of the history lesson we never had - with Trans+ History Week.Six Trans+ budding audio producers are here with stories from Trans+ history to help us understand the queer world we live in now  - plus how we can march for our future.Knowledge of our past, is fundamental for our liberation. So we’re back with our trademark stamp, investing in Queer and Trans+ creative talent, buying them equipment to keep forever, supporting them to change the media, and yes - telling you beautiful stories. Season 6 of QueerAF, is for the millennia-old history of Trans+ communities all over the world. Look out in your podcast app for a special live recording with Philsophy Tube and House of Dragon’s Abaigial Thorn with Netflix’s Sex Education’s Anthony Lexa May 7th, and the whole series comign out in June, and all the way through Pride season. We are QueerAF, and so are you.

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

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 WriterChi B Williams (she/her) – Sound Artist, WriterZoe Blade (she/her) – Musician, Writer and ProgrammerRoshanak 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/

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 GluckCas Bradbeer - A queer historian and V&A Tour guideProf Matt Cook – Professor of Queer History at Oxford UniversityView the art discussed in today's show:Flora’s Cloak c.1923, GluckChevalier d'Eon by Thomas Stewart, after Jean-Laurent MosnierPrints of Chevalier d’Eon at the National Portrait GalleryRead 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.

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/

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/