Proudly On Record sits down with Spencer, who is a non-binary lesbian, YouTuber, and community builder who grew up in a conservative Eastern European country where queerness wasn't visible or discussed.

In this episode, they take us through the slow, nonlinear process of understanding their gender identity after immigrating to Canada as a teenager, encountering queer community for the first time, and eventually discovering trans androgyny as the framework that finally made sense.

This conversation covers a lot of ground: Spencer's theory that sexuality and gender are more deeply linked than we tend to acknowledge, what it means to be a non-binary lesbian, and why androgyny can exist in femme presentations even when nobody tells us it can.

Spencer also shares what it was like to build masculinity-free community spaces and why decentering how others perceive us might be the most important work we can do for our own gender identity.

Topics covered:

Growing up without queer representation
Trans androgyny vs. non-binary identity
The link between sexuality and gender
Being a non-binary lesbian
Androgyny in femme presentations
Gender affirming clothing and binding
Microdosing testosterone
Decentering masculinity and body perception

Religious trauma is real abuse and it's time we stop letting it get minimized.

In this episode, Elise and Kari sit down for a candid conversation about the deep and lasting impact of religious trauma, why it maps almost perfectly onto CPTSD, and how the church runs the same narcissistic abuse cycle that keeps survivors stuck, confused, and doubting themselves for years.

They get into:

• Why religious trauma is still minimized
• Religious Trauma Syndrome and how its symptoms overlap with Complex PTSD
• The four stages of the narcissistic abuse cycle and how churches use every single one of them
• Confession culture used as surveillance and control
• How purity culture and shame disconnects you from your body
• The weaponization of forgiveness against survivors
• How religious gaslighting gets installed before you're old enough to question it
• Why anger is the key to leaving abusive situations (and why the church suppressed it on purpose)
• What actually helps: IFS therapy, somatic work, body-based healing, and learning to trust yourself again

In this episode of Proudly On Record, we sit down with Angela (she,they), a 36-year-old from Houston, Texas, who shares their remarkable journey from charismatic Christian missionary to openly queer woman in recovery.

Angela talks about growing up in a non-denominational church where "God loves you no matter what" was the message, even as subtle signals told her being gay was something to hide. She takes us through her 18+ months living overseas as a missionary intern and the isolation and loneliness she dealt with while there.

We discuss:

• What missionary training is like
• Being outed by a 12-year best friend
• Losing her church community after coming out
• Finding sobriety through AA and rediscovering a "universalist" faith
• Returning to church for the first time in 11 years at an affirming Episcopal congregation

Content Note: Around the 40-minute mark, we discuss culturally insensitive missionary training methods. We do not condone these practices but believe it's important to expose what happens in these institutions.

Schedule Update: We're switching to bi-weekly episodes for the summer! No new episode June 3rd and we'll be back the following week.