Queerstories

Poet Candy Royalle on the road to belonging. Candy was an award winning writer, performance artist, poet, storyteller, activist, educator and vulnerability advocate. Candy's album “Birthing the Sky Birthing the Sea,” a collaboration with the band The Freed Radicals , explored a fusion of rock and roll, funk, experimental soundscapes, hip hop, poetry with song. She published two solo co...

Allison Gallagher explores the re-negotiation of their relationship to masculinity after coming out as trans. Allison is a writer and poet from Sydney. Their chapbook ' Parenthetical Bodies' was released in 2017 by Subbed In. Their poems have appeared in places like Overland, Potluck, Scum Mag and Moonsick, while other writing has appeared on i-D, The Sydney Morning Herald and Junkee. They also si...

Nell gives us a Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted, Hard On For Love, Artist's Prayer, Yellow Glove and banter. Nell's practice traverses performance, sculpture, music, and painting. Small, intimate objects are just as probable as immersive installations. In creating her dramatic, idiosyncratic works Nell draws on an eclectic selection of material, ranging from the sacred to the popular. Her great...

George Tillianakis tells us a true story from 1999. George is a Sydney based video performance artist, composer, and musician. George has been active in the arts for over 15 years, exhibiting and performing in galleries internationally, most notably in New York City. George has written, produced, and released music, under the name Melodiqa , a solo electronic project that saw two albums relea...

AJ Brown and Lisa Freshwater talk about healing the past through renovating a house and affirming gender. AJ is a landscape designer as well as an admin for a number of online groups including Trans Sydney Pride and Transgender International. Lisa is a co-founder of The Theatre Division . Currently her production of Miracle City is playing at the Sydney Opera House. Together, Lisa and AJ have...

Tilly Lawless talks about her experiences at a massage parlour she worked at and the fling she had with another working girl there. Tilly is a queer, Sydney-based sex worker who is passionate about horses, sex worker rights and feminism. She utilises her online platform to speak about her personal experiences within the sex industry, in an attempt to shine a light on the every day stigma that sex...

Jordan Raskopoulos  tells the sordid tale of her battle with the Logies. Jordan is a writer, comedian and singer. She's been on tele, she's toured the world with her band The Axis of Awesome , had a few viral hits and then had a supporting role in a telemovie about Julian Assange . Since coming out and transitioning she's also taken on a lot of speaking and advocacy work, hosting the ABC podc...

Theatre critics Cassie Tongue and Ben Neutze tell a story of musical theatre legends, glitter emerald eye-shadow, and pants-wetting in the presence of a Minogue. Cassie and Ben are two of Sydney's leading theatre critics and are among the most influential performing arts commentators in the country. Cassie writes regularly for Time Out Sydney and Guardian Australia , and Ben is Deputy Editor of Da...

Amy Coopes muses on sacraments, sacrificial siblings, and the mindblowing power of the Catholic confessional. Amy is a writer, journalist, and editor at Croakey News. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com , and follow  Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories b...

Bhenji Ra and Christina Radburn tell their story of being two sisters growing up and growing together. Christina is an award-winning independent film producer based in Melbourne. Bhenji is an interdisciplinary artist. She belongs to the collective Club Ate and she is the overall mother of the house of Slé, a western Sydney based community performance group. They grew up in Moruya, a small c...

Jonny Seymour shares his reflections on a lifetime of creating chosen family, logical rather than biological. DJ and composer Jonny is one half of Stereogamous , the Sydney-based duo he formed with Paul Mac.  Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com , and follow&nbs...

Ginger Turner reflects on their realisation that they identify as asexual.   Ginger is a writer, a podcaster and a pop-culture commentator, pastimes that feel as natural to them as breathing. And, like breathing, they'll keep doing it even when no one's listening. You can buck the trend, and listen to their podcast, Common Sense with Burt Franklap.    Ginger is featured in the Queer...

Jones Jones and Teddy Cook tell us the story of a pair of twins, some snow and slamming it down fast, the perfect analogy for Teddy and Jones' beautiful queer life.  Jones Jones launched The Vegan Teahouse in 2012, the Vegan Collective night market in 2014, and established MAKER , a queer feminist run shared commercial kitchen, education space and coffee bar in Petersham. Their identical...

Vicki Melson tells us a short tale of heroes, cock and cancer.   Vicki is a Sydney based aromatherapist with a background in graphic design. She has recently completed an Arts degree majoring in English and Film which she hopes will encourage her to write more. She escaped from the UK in 1987 and has since been trapped in Australia due to her love of its flora and fauna.   Vicki Melson i...

Nic Holas opens up for the first time about something very personal that happened to him, his sisters, and his Dad.     Nic Holas is an activist, writer, and co-founder of The Institute of Many (TIM), Australia's largest grassroots movement for People Living with HIV. Nic's writing on HIV/AIDS, LGBTIQA issues, human rights, and pop culture has appeared in Archer, The Guardian, Sydney Mor...

Francis Voon and James Adcock know the lead up to marriage equality may not be easy, but they are saying YES to love, even if that means wearing matching merchandise.   Francis and James have been together for 5 years. James is an architect and Francis works on the marriage equality campaign .   Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular even...

Kirsty Webeck   tells us how a trip to Peru changed the way she sees the world. Kirsty is a Melbourne-based stand up comedian. She has notably performed in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, hosted The GLORIAs at NSW Parliament House and performed at Mardi Gras. Kirsty is currently touring her 2018 festival show, 'I Get It Now!,' Queerstories...

Julie Low talks about the wide variety of names she's collected throughout her life, along with what they mean to her and why she loves them all. Julie is an artist, writer, photographer, and podcast host. She is a graduate of the National Art School with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and is currently in the first year of her Masters of Teaching (Secondary) at the University of New South Wales. Her rec...

Leona Beasley tells us the story of Onnie Armstrong who kisses her first girl inside a shabby doghouse in the backyard, but the sheer joy of lips locking doesn't last when her hotheaded Southern father discovers his daughter isn't like the other girls. Writer Leona Beasley was born and raised in in Atlanta, Georgia. Her debut novel Something Better than Home is a 2018 Lambda Literary Award fi...

Heather Grace Jones tell us three short pieces. They are a small reminder that 'love is love' has many meanings, and while this moment in history feels unbearable in many ways, together we continue to celebrate our communities, our unconditional affections and our lives. Heather is a journalist, community worker and writer. For the past decade Heather Grace has worked in Australia, Afghanista...

Maxine Kauter tells us the story of her amazing adventure right into the heart of Evangelical Christianity and advice that you should be careful how well you make your bed because you may be asleep in it for longer than you think.  Maxine is a singer, songwriter and storyteller. She is best known for her role as the titular character in the long-running soap opera, 'The Maxine Kauter Band' ....

Tina Dixson tells us a story about queer search for safety. When home and exile become one, how does one belong?   Tina is a queer woman and an advocate for human rights both here and overseas, specialising on the issues faced by LGBTIQ communities, people from refugee backgrounds and women who've experienced violence. In Australia she has worked for the Refugee Advice and Casework...

Kaya shares a tale of transitioning after a near fatal accident and discovering the joys of google incognito.   Kaya is a scientist researching the tsunami threat to NSW, working closely with the SES to develop emergency management policies. In their career as an ocean mapping scientist they spent several years at sea working for the government and private industry. Kaya also writes and publi...

A heartfelt account of how artist Guy James Whitworth ' s troubled childhood in the North East of England fuels and fires him on to negotiating the straight art scene in Sydney. Guy is one of those intense and creative types. Originally hailing from Northumberland in the North East of England he has for the past decade called Australia home and resides in Surry Hills wandering the s...

Simon Copland's polyamorous relationships seem to concern many gay people. But accepting diversity means accepting all of it, even when it comes to sex.  Simon is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the Australian National University. He is a freelance writer who has been published in the Guardian, SBS Online Australia, BBC Online , and co-produces and presents the podcast Queers . Simon is the c...