Laura Wilkinson is the managing director of the LGBT Foundation, the UK's largest health and wellbeing charity for LGBTQIA+ people.

She's also one of my best friends.

I met Laura in our first month at Manchester University, and we've stayed close as queer siblings ever since. Not only am I enormously proud of her professional achievements and contributions to queer life in the UK, but she's also got an excellent music taste.

Find Laura online here, and the LGBT Foundation here.

Support the show

• Follow the pod on Insta at @tracksofourqueers, or email me at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Help keep the show ad-free by shouting me a coffee right here
• Enjoy the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers Spotify playlist

Thanks besties.

Pete Crighton is an author from Toronto.

Last year, he published The Vinyl Diaries: Sex Deep Cuts and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy, a memoir of his life through vinyl, and 33 1/3: Cosmic Thing, a tribute tour de force to the B-52s' legendary album.

Find Pete online here.

Support the show

• Follow the pod on Insta at @tracksofourqueers, or email me at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Help keep the show ad-free by shouting me a coffee right here
• Enjoy the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers Spotify playlist

Thanks besties.

Willis Chimano is a singer-songwriter, author, and performer from Kenya.

A member of one of Kenya's most successful musical acts ever, Sauti Sol, Chimano has branched out in recent years to create his own solo musical ventures informed by his experience as Kenya's first, and only, openly gay popstar.

Outed in 2018 by the press, Chimano was supported by his bandmates who went to release the most successful work of their career. His EP, Heavy is the Crown, tells the story of his journey, as does his recent memoir of the same name.

Sydney listeners: Chimano arrives with his one-man show, from 24-28 March, at Qtopia in Darlinghurst. Get your tickets here.

Support the show

• Follow the pod on Insta at @tracksofourqueers, or email me at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Help keep the show ad-free by shouting me a coffee right here
• Enjoy the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers Spotify playlist

Thanks besties.

Over 600,000 queers and non-queers alike follow content creator and activist Mardi P for her gripping testimonials on a long, and fabulous, life lived trans.

Born to a Polish-Canadian Catholic family, Mardi escaped across the Rockies in the 1970s to the bright lights of Calgary and Vancouver, where she began shaping her life as a trans woman.

Decades later and outraged by the tsunami of misinformation online regarding trans people, Mardi decided to pick up her phone and start sharing her testimonials to TikTok. Her intention: To document a fascinating, challenging, fulfilling life lived for many years.

Mardi presents and produces her own podcast, A Life Lived Trans, with her fellow presenter Lenny Z. I follow her on Instagram here.

In Canada, creators cannot make ad revenue from their videos. You can support Mardi's testimony and work through donating to her on PayPal here, or celebrating her birthday by covering some of her bills on Gofundme. Worth every penny.

Tracks of Our Queers is produced and presented by Andy Gott on Ngarigo land.

Support the show

• Follow the pod on Insta at @tracksofourqueers, or email me at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Help keep the show ad-free by shouting me a coffee right here
• Enjoy the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers Spotify playlist

Thanks besties.

Mitch Brown is an advocate, father, and a former AFL player.

Last August, Mitch came out publicly as bisexual in an interview with The Daily Aus, sparking a tsunami of conversations in Australia around queerness and masculinity in sport. Mitch is the only player in the AFL's 130 year history to come out.

Mitch is also my first sportsperson on the pod, and we have so much fun!

Follow Mitch online here, and watch his coming out interview here. It's beautiful.

Tracks of Our Queers is produced and presented by Andy Gott on Ngarigo land.

Support the show

• Follow the pod on Insta at @tracksofourqueers, or email me at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Help keep the show ad-free by shouting me a coffee right here
• Enjoy the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers Spotify playlist

Thanks besties.

Peter Tatchell is an activist and human rights campaigner.

Not long after leaving Australia for the UK, Peter joined the Gay Liberation Front and became one of the co-organisers of the UK's first Pride march. He hasn't missed a London Pride since.

After a brief but violently homophobic parliamentary career in the 80s, Peter co-founded OutRage! in 1990 and helped spearhead the campaign for same-sex marriage.

Today, he's the director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, and shares a weekly newsletter with updates on human rights campaigns around the world.

Follow Peter online here.

Tracks of Our Queers is produced and presented by Andy Gott on Ngarigo land.

Support the show

• Follow the pod on Insta at @tracksofourqueers, or email me at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Help keep the show ad-free by shouting me a coffee right here
• Enjoy the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers Spotify playlist

Thanks besties.

Welcome back to Tracks of Our Queers.

Travis Alabanza is an award-winning writer, playwright, and theatre maker from Bristol. They've sold out the Southbank Centre, toured their writing globally, and their Edinburgh Fringe-award-winning play BURGERZ is currently on it's return visit to Australia.

You can catch Travis performing BURGERZ in:

• Sydney at the Carriageworks from January 7-18
• Melbourne at the Malthouse Theatre from January 21-31

We recorded this episode live in Sydney – and it was so good! Travis came with some brilliant musical selections, and I hope you enjoy hearing about them.

Follow Travis on Instagram, or at their website.

Tracks of Our Queers is produced and presented by Andy Gott on Ngarigo land.

Support the show

• Follow the pod on Insta at @tracksofourqueers, or email me at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Help keep the show ad-free by shouting me a coffee right here
• Enjoy the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers Spotify playlist

Thanks besties.

Trailblazers, queeroes, and fascinating folk feature in Season 6, launching in early January.

Support the show

• Follow the pod on Insta at @tracksofourqueers, or email me at tracksofourqueers@gmail.com
• Help keep the show ad-free by shouting me a coffee right here
• Enjoy the Selections from Tracks of Our Queers Spotify playlist

Thanks besties.