Queerfully Made

Follow Queerfully Made on Spotify so the next episode lands in your queue. The AFL and the church. Two completely different worlds. The same closet. Mitch Brown became the first openly bisexual player in AFL history in August 2025. In this conversation we talk about what the AFL and the church have in common. The same unwritten rules, the same rewards for performing straightness, the same “get bac...

Becky Bauer planted Melbourne Inclusive Church 15 years ago. They've been affirming from day one. Before anyone was offering them buildings. Before the mainstream church was having this conversation. In this episode, Aaron and Ben sit down with Becky to hear the full story: from being adopted into a family that ministered to hippies in Michigan in the 70s, to finding an affirming church at a Pride...

In 1946, 22 men sat on a Bible translation committee and made a decision. A 21-year-old seminary student challenged them in writing. They admitted he had a point. But the word was already in print. And then it spread. Sharon "Rocky" Roggio is the director and producer of 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted a Culture, the documentary that spent a decade investigating how the word "homosexual" end...

Coming out is the doorway. What happens on the other side is the work no one warned you about.   Part 1 of the ReMade series. Aaron and Ben on how to rediscover your authentic identity after the church handed you one for years. The framework that runs the whole conversation, the friends who saw them first, the calling vs. direction reframe, and the grief that doesn't care about logic.   "Exposure...

Healing is a church word. Recovery is the truth.   Sam Sellers and Elise Herde, co-founders of the Religious Trauma Collective, join Aaron and Ben to unpack what it actually takes to come out the other side of high-control religion. We get into why "just be better, not bitter" is rubbish advice, why anger is information rather than sin, and why your nervous system still flinches in relationships l...

What if one of the biggest voices in Australian Pentecostal theology told you the church got it wrong? Dr. Lynn Moresi is not your average theologian. She has a Doctorate in Theology, lectures at Bible college and university, and has preached from some of the most influential Pentecostal stages in Australia. She is also Aaron's former Bible college lecturer. And she is here, on this podcast, telli...

In Season 1, Pastor Marcy Paynter from Gateway Church told us about a young man in her congregation. He'd grown up in their youth group. He wanted to lead. The leadership team gave her the unenviable job of telling him he could serve, but only if he never acted on his sexuality. No boyfriend. No physical relationship. No future. She told him over dinner. She never saw him again. Years later, a...

So what now? Season 1 of Queerfully Made platformed the stories. Ex-pastors, drag performers, advocates, affirming pastors, mental health professionals. People who had arrived at the intersection of faith, sexuality and gender, and lived to tell us what they found there. But the question we kept circling back to was the one we couldn't answer in twelve episodes. What happens AFTER the intersec...

It’s the Queerfully Made season finale. Aaron and Ben sit down, no guests, just us, looking back on every raw conversation, every tear, every breakthrough from this year. We share the moments that wrecked us (in the best way), the lessons that actually stuck, and the questions you keep asking. We’re taking December and January off to rest, breathe, and come back sharper. New episodes return late F...

In this episode of Queerfully Made Podcast, hosts Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson welcome Andrew Sloan, a Sydney-based psychotherapist, leadership coach, and author whose work blends over a decade of clinical practice with insights on the human mind, behaviour, and nervous system. Known for guiding individuals and teams through disconnection and overwhelm, Andrew draws from his own experiences in Hi...

Trans Christian's aren't detracting from the divine or the church. In fact, they're revealing the true, boundless heart of the divine to the church. In this episode of Queerfully Made, Aaron & Ben sit down with Steff Fenton, a pastor, writer, and speaker who just happens to also be trans. As author of the 2025 book Gender Expansive Faith: How Trans Lives Are Illuminating the Divine...

In this episode of Queerfully Made, hosts Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson sit down with Sam Sellers, a queer woman from NSW and ex-Brethren Church member. Sam is the co-founder of the Religious Trauma Collective, owner of Anchored Counselling Services, and host of the Beyond the Surface podcast. This powerful conversation dives into the raw reality of religious trauma, unpacking what it is, how it l...

In this episode of Queerfully Made Podcast, hosts Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson chat with performer and aspiring comedian Melody Rachel just days before her Melbourne Fringe Festival show, "I'm Gay But I Know Jesus". A trailblazing voice in queer theatre, Melody creates semi-autobiographical works exploring identity, anxiety, and human connection, drawing from her Christian upbringin...

Get ready for a raw and real Q&A in this episode of Queerfully Made Podcast , titled "You Asked For It"! Hosts Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson dive into your questions, sent in by our amazing followers. From navigating the tricky intersection of faith and sexuality to sharing deeply personal moments, Aaron and Ben open up about their journeys as queer Christians with honesty, humour, a...

In this Episode of Queerfully Made Podcast , hosts Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson welcome Max Drag Queen, widely remarked as one of the most electrifying performers in the Australian Drag circuit and competed in Drag Race Down Under Season 4. On their season, Max briefly shared their faith, sparking backlash from parts of the queer community who questioned why an LGBTQ+ person would embrace Christi...

In this episode of the Queerfully Made Podcast, hosts Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson sit down with Ps. Marcy Paynter, Senior Pastor, and Ps. Beth Bolmers, Pastoral Staff, from Gateway Church in Melbourne. This powerful conversation dives into Gateway’s transformative journey to becoming an affirming church, embracing LGBTQ+ inclusion with open hearts. Ps. Marcy shares her personal story, which bega...

Continue the powerful conversation in Part B of our two-part interview on Queerfully Made Podcast, with hosts Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson and our first featured guest, Anthony Venn-Brown OAM. Building on Part A's exploration of his personal journey, Anthony reflects on the legacy he's crafted since coming out. Originally founding Freedom2b, a vital support network for LGBTQ+ people of fa...

Dive into Part A of this two-part interview of Queerfully Made Podcast, where hosts Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson chat with trailblazing advocate Anthony Venn-Brown OAM. Honoured with the Order of Australia Medal for his LGBTIQA+ service, Anthony shares his early sexuality journey, from discovering his homosexuality in an Anglican upbringing to rising as a prominent preacher in Australia's Penteco...

In this episode, Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson dive into the raw, emotional journey of coming out as LGBTQ+ while rooted in faith communities. Trigger warning : This episode includes discussions of suicide, reflecting Aaron’s struggles. Aaron opens up about the intense challenges of coming out as a gay man in evangelical Christianity, including dark moments where he contemplated suicide. Ben share...

Welcome to the debut episode of Queerfully Made Podcast, where we explore the raw, beautiful intersection of faith and sexuality. Titled "Aaron's Testimony" as a cheeky homage to those classic church testimonies, this episode co-host Aaron Kelly chats with Ben Nicholson about his journey as a gay man raised in evangelical Christianity. Aaron paints a vivid picture of his early years:...

In Episode 2 of Queerfully Made Podcast, cheekily titled "Ben's Testimony" as a wink to church-style stories of overcoming, but this one's all about a different kind of freedom. Co-host Ben Nicholson opens up to Aaron Kelly about his hidden journey as a gay man in evangelical Christianity, where purity rules left no room for LGBTQ+ intimacy. Ben shares the exhausting double life: sneaking moments...