QR Code

In Episode 8 of QR Code, James McKenzie speaks with four queer people who have experienced conversion practices or ideology.Thank you to Nathan, Roe, Katecia, and Abba for sharing their insights and experiences.For more information about queer conversion practices and ideologies from survivors' perspectives in Australia, visit the Brave Network.To contact or access QMEACA (Queer African and Middle Eastern Christians in Australia), visit facebook.com/QMEACA.Content warning: This episode contains descriptions or discussions of homophobia, transphobia, violence, mental health, and suicide, that may be distressing to some listeners. If you need assistance, please contact Qlife (1800 184 527), Lifeline (13 11 14), or your state-based service. 

In Episode 7 of QR Code, Michele Vescio discusses the mental health effects of erasure, othering, and lateral violence experienced by people in queer communities - with Azlan, a queer Asian-Muslim man, refugee, former asylum seeker, and an advocate for anti-racism and human rights; Callan Hales, an intersex trans woman, sex worker, performance artist, and musician; and Charlotte Sareño, a queer non-binary bisexual mixed-race woman of colour, social worker, poet, and creative producer with physical and psychosocial disabilities. They discuss mental health in the context of inaccurate portrayals of identities, visibility and exclusion in queer spaces, notions of equality and representation, and negotiating mental health barriers within individual intersections.View and download the episode's audio transcript here.Content warning: This episode contains descriptions or discussions of mental health and illness, lateral violence, othering, queer erasure, trauma, racism, microaggressions, medicalised bodies, and graphic language, that may be distressing to some listeners. If you need assistance, please contact Lifeline, Switchboard Victoria, or your state-based service. 

In Episode 6 of QR Code, James McKenzie speaks with three queer sex workers speak about their sexual health, testing, peer support, community attitudes, and the legal framework that regulates their work.Thank you to Gio, Peaches, and Maeve for so candidly sharing their insights and lived experiences about working in the industry and its impacts on their lives.For more information about sex workers' peer support and rights, go to Vixen Collective and Scarlet Alliance. Content warning: This episode contains adult themes and discussions.

In Episode 5 of QR Code, George Maxwell explores the topic of intimate partner violence in queer relationships with people who've experienced it, and discuss the additional challenges queer people face in recognising abuse and seeking support, community accountability, and what can healthy relationships look like - with Laura McLean, a Wiradjuri woman and union organiser, Shamini, a worker in the LGBTIQA+ family violence sector, and Libby Jamieson, Teleweb Manager at Switchboard. For further links on family violence services, visit Undercurrent Victoria for the following upcoming events:Supporting People Who Have Experienced HarmAccountability for People Who Have Caused Harm Content warning: This episode contains descriptions or discussions of intimate partner violence, that may be distressing to some listeners. If you need assistance, please contact Qlife, Switchboard Victoria, or your state-based service.  

In Episode 4 of QR Code, Anya Saravanan discusses what access for health care for trans and gender diverse folks looks like.Anya speaks with Hemei/Jordan Fong, a human rights advocate, and researcher. Her work centers around building safer and fairer societies, and gendered harm and sexual assault prevention, access to justice, and disability and LGBTIAQ+ rights; and Dr Asiel Adan Sanchez, a non-binary doctor, writer, LGBTIQ health advocate, and Department of Health LGBTI Working Group member, their work explores the intricacies of race, culture, gender, and sexuality.  This episode contains an excerpt from 'I don't know how emotions work', a written work by Fury, and 'Big Art Museum', a track by June Jones. Content warning: This episode contains descriptions or discussions of mental health, transphobia, medicalised bodies, and queerphobia, that may be distressing to some listeners. If you need assistance, please contact Lifeline, Switchboard Victoria, or your state-based service.  

In Episode 3 of QR Code, Michele Vescio unpacks the term neuroqueer - the intersection of being queer and neurodivergent - with queer folk who are on the autism spectrum; including Alison Bennett, a non-binary person, artist, lecturer, and parent; Mellem Rose, a non-binary person, advocate for queer and neurodiverse rights, and founder of Spectrum Intersections; and William Elm, a Kabi Kabi man, multi-instrumentalist, and avant-composer. They discuss neuroqueer in the context of disability, ableism, visibility, and representation, and the complex navigation of access to healthcare resources, queer spaces, and societal expectations.View and download the episode's audio transcript here.Content warning: This episode contains descriptions or discussions of trauma, queerphobia, abuse, and harassment, that may be distressing to some listeners. If you need assistance, please contact Lifeline, Switchboard Victoria, or your state-based service.

In Episode 2 of QR Code, Anya Saravanan speaks to Zoya Gill, a non-binary mixed-race migrant working in early childhood policy and strategy, Peter Waples-Crowe, a Ngarigo queer artist and Aboriginal health worker at Thorne Harbour Health, and Ana Maria Gomides, an Afro-Latina writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. They discuss the intersections between cultural and queer identities, racism in the queer scene, and access to healthcare for folks that don't fit a particular mould.

In the first episode of QR Code, George Maxwell discusses structural factors that impact LGBTIQA+ mental health with Roj Amedi, Senior Human Rights and Racial Justice Campaigner at Colour Code and Get Up; Nadine Chemali, writer, social worker, and founder and director of Femmo Collective: and Fin Healy, a psychology and gender studies student. They discuss their experiences navigating the cisheteropatriarchy and ongoing challenges within queer communities in terms of addressing and improving mental health. Content warning: This episode contains descriptions or discussions of mental health and illness, queerphobia, and discrimination, that may be distressing to some listeners. If you need assistance, please contact Qlife, Switchboard Victoria, or your state-based service.