Being Lgbtq

Andres is co-executive director of LATV, a national TV network which aims to empower Latino voices. In this episode Andres talks about the digital series ‘My Health Agenda’ which covers Latinx and LGBTQ communities and the unique challenges they face. The series features influencers and activists, most of which are HIV+ and have had substance abuse problems. More about the series: http://latv.com/series/myhealthagenda 

Former CTO of Huffington Post and founder of ‘Rebel Mouse’ Andrea Breanna joins us about becoming the first transgender person on the board of directors at LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings, which describes itself as a “financial methodology and media company that quantifies corporate equality alignment with the LGBTQ community and its supporters”. Andrea also chats to Sam about being a transgender parent, her coming out experience, what it’s like to be LGBTQ in business, THAT transphobic Netflix ‘comedy special’ and much more.LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings: http://lgbtqloyalty.com

Nicky is a Seattle based gay pop artist who wants to normalise ‘a boy singing about another boy’ in music. His track ‘Thirsty’ was classed as his coming out track. Nicky’s new track ‘Boy Crazy’ is about the initial excitement of falling for someone for the first time and the butterflies it brings about. In this interview Sam chats to Nicky about representation of LGBTQ music, his latest project and more.Find out more about Nicky: http://www.nickybuell.com 

In this episode we speak to Indian author Farhad Dadyburjor about his new book which has been described as the first gay rom com to be set in modern-day Mumbai. Farhad was born, raised, and is based in Mumbai and has been an entertainment and lifestyle journalist for over 20 years. Farhad joins us to discuss the new book, growing up gay in India, progress since India decriminalised same sex relationships in 2017 and more.Find out more about Farhad: http://www.farhadjd.wordpress.com

Sifu has over 15 years of training in Chinese martial arts and is known as the ‘spiritual wellness warrior’. In this interview Sifu talks about spirituality, how he discovered ‘healing kung fu’, the impact it had on his life and how he has now gone on to help others especially those from the LGBTQ and black community. Sifu has an MA in Spiritual Psychology and won a gold medal at the 2018 Gay Olympic Games.Find out more about Sifu: http://www.healingkungfu.com

Gay author and comedian Shawn Hitchins joins us to talk about his latest book ‘The Light Streamed Beneath It’ which is described as a ‘memoir of grief and celebration’. Shawn is based in Toronto, Ontario, and his book details how he has dealt with grief and heartache following the deaths of two great loves 5 months apart. Please note this episode features discussions of suicide and grief.Find out more about Shawn: www.shawnhitchins.com

Drag performer and music artist Victoria Williams joins Sam to talk about her new debut single ‘Lemonade’ which Victoria says, ‘embodies everything I have to tell the world’. Victoria is a star of the NYC drag scene and appeared as a final contestant on season 15 of ‘American Idol. Victoria was crowned Miss Rockbar 2020 and comments on the current state of drag and the impact of Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

Ibtisam is policy and research manager at the LGBT Foundation, a foundation based in Greater Manchester which was established in 1975 to support LGBT people. Ibtisam immigrated to the U.K. from Bangladesh to study in 2010 In Bangladesh same gender relationships are illegal under laws dating back to British colonialism. Ibtisam chats to Sam about the current situation in Bangladesh, his work with the LGBT Foundation and much more!

Social media influencer Nick Metos joins Sam to discuss the latest chapter of his music career with the release of his third single in three years ‘Right Side Of The Bed’. Nick wrote the song about his boyfriend Max and adds to his collection of heartfelt tracks. As well as a singer Nick is also a professional make-up artist and model, originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Nick is now based in Los Angeles and has done makeup for Drag Race alumni including Bianca Del Rio.

Co-creator and star of the new LGBTQ slasher movie ‘Death Drop Gorgeous’ joins us to talk about the film which has been tipped to become a potential cult classic. The plot centres around “A dejected bartender and an aging drag queen who fight to survive the eccentric and hostile nightlife of a corrupt city, as a masked maniac slaughters young gay men and drains them of blood”. The film is streaming on demand now including on Amazon Prime. 

Nic is the co-founder of ‘CanWe’ and was formerly a business development lead in the Global Diversity and Inclusion Department at Cargill. ‘CanWe’ is a new kind of dating app aimed at making dating less complicated. The idea came about in 2018 and has had over 1000 hours of input from therapists, sociologists, and psychologists. But for LGBTQ people what sets this one apart from the others?

Soman Chainani is a New York Times bestselling author known for ‘School for Good & Evil’ which has been adapted into a Netflix film starring Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington which is due out in 2022. Soman joins Sam to talk about the Netflix adaption and Soman’s latest book ‘Beasts and Beauty’, a collection of stories which turns classic fairy tales on their head with creative retellings which include LGBTQ themes.

Transgender actor, writer and poet Reece Lyons joins us to discuss the one woman show ‘Overflow’ running at the Bush Theatre, London until October 9th and the rise of transphobic sentiment in the UK. Reece is represented by ‘The Queer House’ agency which was ‘built by queer people for queer people’ – Char Boden is the lead agent and producer at the agency and also joins us to talk about the agency and working with the Bush Theatre.

Author of the new book ‘Greedy: Notes From A Bisexual Who Wants Too Much’ Jen Winston joins us to discuss bisexuality and her 2019 coming out experience. Jen is also the creator of the ‘Bi Monthly’ newsletter and talks about the misconceptions of bisexuality, bi-erasure, biphobia, feeling ‘queer enough’ and much more!

George Richmond Scott is the director of non-profit production company ‘Both Barrels’ and is set to put on his 2nd play at Omnibus Theatre – a production of Peter Gill’s small change, a play set on the east side of Cardiff in the 1950’s and 70’s. George is also associate director for the critically acclaimed West End show ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’.

Actor Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman joins Sam to talk about his role in the new Disney+ series ‘Doogie Kamealoha MD’ – Jeffrey plays Charles an openly gay character. Jeffrey’s previous credits include being a judge and host on season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race, he also plays Jay in the Emmy nominated series ‘Unreal’. In this interview he talks about the importance of openly gay characters and shares his thoughts on the toxicity of social media.

Author CB Lee joins Sam to discuss her latest book ‘Clash of Steel’ which is a reimagining of the classic story ‘Treasure Island’. The book is a complete retelling with LGBTQ themes including a queer love story and the exploration of ‘found family’. CB is also known for the ‘Sidekick Squad’ series as well as contributing to the Star Wars universe, writing a story for the book ‘A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back’.

Gay country music artist Tommy Atkins joins us to talk about his newly released album ‘Truth Be Told’. The album is a culmination of tracks written over a period of years based on Tommy’s late teens through to his mid-twenties. Each track has significance in his life, and many contain overtly gay lyrics as Tommy hopes to bring an authentic experience to listeners. We also chat to Tommy about progress in terms of visibility of LGBTQ artists in country music and much more!

Dr Rachel Katz is a digital media sociologist and research assistant at the University of Salford specialising in dating app technologies. Salford Uni in collaboration with a number of other Universities are doing a series of ‘COVID Sex Lives’ surveys. Rachel joins us to talk about the results of the first survey which focussed on men who have sex with men and how they felt about COVID restrictions easing in terms of dating and hooking up during the pandemic. The aim of the survey is to establish better methods of public health messaging as the survey found very few respondents engaged with things like in app ads and some felt there was no messaging aimed at them specifically. 

‘Just Like Us’ is a UK charity which sends recent school leavers called ambassadors into schools to give talks and workshops about being LGBTQ. They aim to champion equality and challenge prejudice and have reached over 2 million young people through ‘Schools Diversity Week’. On this episode Sam is joined by ‘Just Like Us’ CEO Dominic Arnall who has previously worked for the mental health charity ‘Mind’ and LGBTQ charity ‘Stonewall’. Joel Groves is a transgender ambassador for ‘Just Like Us’ and talks about what inspired him to get involved, growing up without any representation, the impact it has had on his life and inspiring future generations by sharing his story.