I’m Chase, a 28-year-old Black gay brudda from London, and I’m focusing on love. For my episode I’ve picked stories about the love of queer icons, the love of drag and how it can create community, and navigating love in London. I hope you get something from it.

Listen out for Roberto sharing his childhood love of Mexican singer Juan Gabriel, Robert aka drag queen Polka Dot talking about creating the Slav4U drag collective, and Stanley and José discussing looking for love and sex in London as queer men.

If you’re a young person experiencing homelessness of any kind, or want to help someone who is, there’s a charity called DEPAUL. They offer emergency accommodation through their service called Nightstop, which I used when I was 17, and I appreciate it a lot.

You can find a transcript of this episode in pdf and text here.

Queer Roots and Routes is produced for The Love Tank by Aunt Nell

Produced, edited and engineered by:

Tash Walker

and

Adam Zmith

Assistant producers:

Saaqib Afzal

José Carlos Mejia

Amardeep Singh Dhillon

Chase Edwards

Stanley Iyanu

and

Rad Konieczny

Creative design and artwork by:

Richard Kahwagi

Music by Edoy

Recorded at Pirate Studios in Dalston and Hackney Wick, east London

Executive producers:

Marc Thompson

and

Dale Taylor-Gentles

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m Asad, I’m Muslim, 6 foot 2, I speak English, Urdu and Punjabi. I’m pretty hard to miss!

My theme is: flipping the narrative. I was raised in a bubble in east London, wearing clothes for Asian women, and being told “boys don’t dance like that”. But now I’m flipping that narrative and getting my nails done.

In this episode, I listen to a story from Amar about how they no longer feel the need to choose between being queer and being Sikh. Also, Xing teaches me dirty words in Chinese, and Sam and Piero have a chat about how language influences how we have (gay) sex. We love that for them.

This episode contains stories that include homophobia, sometimes within a family setting, and homophobic and transphobic language.

I’d also like to highlight Trans Actual UK, who work to address and highlight issues affecting trans people whilst raising trans voices. You can find more information on the work Trans Actual uk do on transactual.org.uk. Trans lives matter. Black trans lives matter.

You can find a transcript of this episode in pdf and text here.

Queer Roots and Routes is an Aunt Nell Production for The Love Tank, a not-for-profit community interest company that promotes health and wellbeing of under-served communities through education, capacity building and research.

Produced, edited and engineered by:

Tash Walker

and

Adam Zmith

Assistant producers:

Saaqib Afzal

José Carlos Mejia

Amardeep Singh Dhillon

Chase Edwards

Stanley Iyanu

and

Rad Konieczny

Creative design and artwork by:

Richard Kahwagi

Music by Edoy

Recorded at Pirate Studios in Dalston and Hackney Wick, east London

Executive producers:

Marc Thompson

and

Dale Taylor-Gentles

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m Dale and in my episode, we’re going to GO THROUGH IT.

What does community mean to me?

Community is my circle. The collective of people I operate around most often. People who make me feel safe, loved... and that’s reciprocated. In this episode, I’m telling my story of being kicked out of home in London, and finding community with my Grandma, then with friends.

I also hear a painful story from Rad, and a loving conversation between Saaqib and Amar about being queer and Asian on Green Street in east London. Chase and Tokyo also celebrate their friendship, in a way that shows what community between Black queer people can mean.

If you’re aged 16-25 and experiencing homelessness of any kind, there’s a charity called Centrepoint. They have a helpline where you can get confidential advice and support.

You can find a transcript of this episode here in text and pdf.

Queer Roots and Routes is an Aunt Nell Production for The Love Tank, a not-for-profit community interest company that promotes health and wellbeing of under-served communities through education, capacity building and research.

Produced, edited and engineered by:

Tash Walker

and

Adam Zmith

Assistant producers:

Saaqib Afzal

José Carlos Mejia

Amardeep Singh Dhillon

Chase Edwards

Stanley Iyanu

and

Rad Konieczny

Creative design and artwork by:

Richard Kahwagi

Music by Edoy

Recorded at Pirate Studios in Dalston and Hackney Wick, east London

Executive producers:

Marc Thompson

and

Dale Taylor-Gentles

Sound effects from freesound.org.

Full credits and the episode transcript available here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.