LGBeeT: Recent Episodes
Elena Adams
Hosted by Elena Adams, LGBeeT is a fortnightly podcast on Manchester LGBTQ+ culture and the issues faced by the queer community, with a focus on mental health, self-expression and acceptance.
Today I chatted to Jinx and Zainab about self-expression and self-love, drawing on Jinx's experiences as a non-binary person and Zainab's experiences as a queer woman of colour. We also talked about queer representation in the media, TV and film, and the need for dialogue between allies and the LGBTQ+ community.
Today I spoke to my boyfriend David about his journey to coming out and self-acceptance - in terms of creative self-expression, moving to Manchester and finding a sense of community. We touched on many elements of gender expression and identity, particularly toxic masculinity and male body image standards, providing a whole new viewpoint on an issue stereotypically approached from a female perspective.
As queer people, we are constantly subjected to the straight gaze, and society's heteronormative standards - both in terms of excessive sexualisation within everyday life and the porn industry, and through constant judgement of who we love and how we love them. Today I talked to Larry about bisexual erasure, cis-het standards, the lack of safe spaces and education for young queer people and a range of other topics that affect us and many others within the LGBTQ+ community.
Performative intersectionality is one thing, but in a society still tainted by its history of colonialism and racial oppression, it's rare that we really hear the voices of LGBTQ+ people of colour. In this episode of the LGBeeT podcast, I talked to Halima and Safa about their lives as young queer women and the struggles they've faced growing up in Muslim households, as well as the wider lack of representation and white privilege within the LGBTQ+ community.
For many of us, lockdown was a challenge; being forced to lock down with unsupportive families, substance abuse, mental health problems and domestic violence are just a few of the issues that were faced by members of the Manchester queer community. In this fortnight's episode of the LGBeeT podcast, I spoke with Maddie about the mental and physical effects of lockdown on LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as touching on a variety of broader issues - from cyberbullying and biphobia, to diversity and acceptance.