S1: TRAILER: Fluid

Nic is joined by Georgian political researcher Vato Bzhalava, to talk about the political uprising in Georgia and the fight for democracy. We connect the crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights, protest, and media freedom to the UK Supreme Court’s alarming ruling on trans rights.  Show notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vReab45I-TAvvRMGjKhkWOSD5ocp_ON2isDMMrr0clLBQeUkboPe3_Fu6oZXDN4hDtYgBKp6cd2wyqm/pub

I sit down with my friend and priest Fr. Grant to discuss faith and queerness within the church. We explore whether churches can be a space for revolutionary action. I also share a poem. 

Welcome back to Fluid everyone! I open the series touching base on the last few years, discussing politics of the body and mental health. 

For the season finale of Fluid, Nic is wrapping up by exploring the relationship between queers and rural spaces. We're talking gay farmers to the queerness of weeds and undergrowth.  Communities outside of urban environments are often tarnished with a blanket of homophobic sentiments. While this can often be the case, the LGBTQIA+ community exists and flourishes everywhere, both visibly and in more private ways, no matter what the environment. Nic is joined by Lucy Mooring, a Warick university student, and researcher, who explores the intersections and realities of Queer women and rural spaces. 

Nic is joined by K Bailey Obazee, creator of digital storytelling platform PRIM.BLACK, and OKHA, the black + queer bookclub. K and Nic discuss the importance of these spaces for the black queer community, and explore more generally how sober spaces are vital for queer people. 

This week on Fluid Nic's taking a trip down memory lane with ex-colleague and dear friend fraserfab exploring the importance of queer spaces. The Chateau was a queer bar and club in Camberwell, London, which shut in March 2020.  The Chateau became so much more than just a bar, it was, and still is, a community hub and way to explore and meet people. LGBTQIA+ people need not only places for enjoyment but time out from shame and danger. Places to grow and be free. They need investment and protection!

Welcome back to episode three of Fluid, where Nic is joined by psychiatric nurse Deblina Roy, who shares her knowledge of queer mythology, but also helps contextualise the human relationship to gender, to that of the wider natural world.  Deblina's scientific underpinning helps us see the woods from the trees when it comes to sexual relationships and society's relationship to queerness. 

Join Nic for episode two of Fluid, where through the story of American poet Emily Dickinson and her relationship with sister-in-law Susan Gilbert, we will explore how queer history is often coded and difficult to identity.  Nic will explore her reasons as to why she thinks this is the case, and how this relates to contemporary conversations surrounding identity politics regarding the queer community.  Artwork by Melita Tirado

In this introductory episode of Fluid, Nic will explore the history and changing relationship regarding sexuality in Britain, with the help of historian Randolph Trumbach. Probing questions at what is considered “normal”, we catch a glimpse at the constantly evolving societal norms that shape queer people’s lives. Nic will explore her relationship to fluidity, and explain how this is important for everyone, queer or not.  Artwork by Melita Tirado Music by Dominic Gozo

Fluid as a series explores narratives throughout history that have positioned the queer community as abnormal, and probes questions at wider notions of "who" and "what" society thinks we should be. Ultimately, fluidity is important for everyone, both queer and straight. Join Nic on this journey exploring queerness and fluidity in this technological age, issues such as mental health, and wider political issues that affect our generation and our "fluid" lives.  Creative Team: Hosted and Produced by Nic Desborough  Powered by Transmission Roundhouse Artwork by Melita Tirado