Zahra Stardust shares her worst - and most hilarious - stripper fails. Zahra has travelled the world as an award winning striptease artist, pole instructor, porn star and Penthouse Pet. Since realising corporate law was not the best fit for her, she has worked in sexual health and human rights with the United Nations, in policy and leadership p ...…

Robyn Kennedy tells her tale of victory over the Sisters of Malevolence. Robyn has worked at senior levels in both the public and not for profit sector working across social and affordable housing, homelessness, Aboriginal housing, disability and health. Robyn is a proud 78er with a long history of involvement in LGBTIQ activism commencing in 1 ...…

Patrick Lenton tells us a story in which he tries to throw a cool party for his friends and instead ends up interrogating the concept of masculinity. Patrick is a writer and author living in Sydney, Australia. He is a staff writer at pop-culture and entertainment publication Junkee. He has a book of short stories called A Man Made Entirely of B ...…

Peter Mitchell AKA Sister Mary Sit-On-My-Face reveals her adventures with the San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during the 1983 gay and Lesbian Freedom Parade. Peter came into this world in 1957 in metropolitan Sydney and spent his formative years between rural Maitland and industrial Newcastle. Now residing in Lismore in Bundajalun ...…

Alex Ward has a taste of what it would be like to be an only child. Turns out it tastes like revenge with more than a hint of defeat. Alex is a Melbourne based stand-up comedian who has performed around the country, including at Brisbane and Melbourne International Comedy Festivals. Following a successful debut with sold out shows in 2017, Alex ...…

Kate Rowe reflects on her marriage to a dear friend. Kate worked in medical administration and is a fitness and health fanatic who went to her first Gay Games as a cyclist in New York in 1994. She went on to participate as an athlete, a volunteer and board member for 20 years. She is still is a triathlete hoping to qualify or the World Triathlo ...…

Kelly Azizi talks about the shittier side of what makes up 'community'. Kelly is a writer whose field of interest includes the politics of ethno-cultural identity, the diaspora, and non-white feminism. In 2016, she completed her Master of Cultural Studies degree at the University of Sydney. Kelly plays an active role in Sydney's art community, ...…

Emily Wilkinson contemplates the consequences of getting what you wished for. Emily is someone you typically find behind the scenes. An IT sysadmin by day and a theatrical audio tech by night, both careers in which success is defined as no one noticing when she screws up. She writes short stories that she shows to no one, and has a blog with al ...…

Nayuka's in love...but then her worst nightmare comes true.

Peter Taggart attempts to satisfy his curiosities in a rural heterosexual wasteland. Peter is a writer and podcaster from Brisbane. He was born on the glittering Gold Coast and raised in St George – a small farming township in southern Queensland. Peter has written for Junkee, The Guardian, Meanjin and SBS, has hosted shows on 2SER/Star Observe ...…

David Abello shares stories about his dear friend, Paul Young. David was born in the inner-west of Sydney where he still lives. He became involved in the lesbian and gay movement in 1975 and in 1980s was a member of the Gay Liberation Quire and the Gaywaves Gay Radio Collective amongst other things. He's been active in the disability movement s ...…

In which Ben McLeay contemplates the worst thing that could possibly happen to him: rudeness. Ben is a Brisbane-based writer at Pedestrian.tv and co-host of political comedy podcast Boonta Vista Socialist Club. Ben will be featured in the new Queerstories book which can be pre-ordered on Booktopia. Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night ...…

Toby Halligan explains a very personal contribution to the queer community. Toby is a writer, broadcaster, and comedian. He's written for Mad As Hell, the Weekly, the Project, and Legally Brown, and his writing has appeared in the Monthly, Junkee, and the Age. He runs Australia's longest running political comedy night, Political Asylum. He love ...…

Deirdre Fidge tells us a story about fluttering and fear. Dee is a writer and social worker whose work has been featured in Archer magazine, Daily Life, SBS, ABC, Crikey and Junkee. Her writings on LGTBQ issues saw her shortlisted for Out for Australia's Role Model of the Year in 2017. She also authored a chapter in Doing It, an anthology of se ...…

Davey Thompson shares his story of how an awkward, flamboyant gay Aboriginal met his ride-or-die-best-friend. Davey is an Inningai, Bidjara, Wakka Wakka and Gubbi Gubbi man from a small town named Barcaldine in Queensland. As a child, he wished to grow up and become Princess Leia, who taught him to strangle his oppressors with the very chains t ...…

Quinn Eades grew up in the Sydney lesbian community during the 70s and 80s, was assigned female at birth. He lived as a dyke for 25 years before becoming a transmasc person at the age of 41. This story is a tracery of his lesbian heritage, and a letter to all the lesbians he's loved before. Quinn Eades is a researcher, writer, and award-winning ...…

Tarneen Onus-Williams has always been a scammer, but in 2018 she managed to scam the whole country. Tarneen is a Yigar Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, Bindal and Torres Strait Islander woman, passionate about decolonisation, resistance and young black people. Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular eve ...…

Karen Therese tells us a story about women. Part mystery, part documentary, part forensic investigation, Sleeplessness maps a remarkable Australian story. Karen is an interdisciplinary artist, creative producer and cultural leader. In 2010 Karen was awarded the inaugural Cultural Leadership Grant by The Australia Council to investigate innovati ...…

Author Peter Polites remembers his visits to the Greek and Gay Group - GAGG. Peter Polites is a writer of Greek descent from Western Sydney. As part of the SWEATSHOP writers collective, Peter has written and performed his work all over Australia. Alongside SMH Best Young Novelists Luke Carman and Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Polites wrote and perfor ...…

Vonne Patiag takes a strange look at the behind the scenes drama during a short film production, involving voodoo shamans and a hate-criming pineapple. Vonne is a Writer and Director working in theatre and film. His most recent short film ‘Window’ had its World Premiere at St. Kilda Film Festival 2016 where it won Best Short Film in its categor ...…

Courtnery Thompson tells us a fictional tale of good wine and cheap life choices. Courtney won the ‘Queerstories’ prize as part of the Outstanding Short Story Competition. If you haven’t heard of Outstanding before, it’s an LGBTQI writing competition run by Robert Tait, Gail Hewison of Feminist Bookshop fame, and Teresa Savage, who among many a ...…

Candy Bowers writes a love letter to her black lesbian hero, Audre Lorde. Candy is an award-winning writer, actor, social activist, comedian and producer. The co-artistic director of Black Honey Company, Candy has pioneered a fierce sub-genre of hip hop theatre that delves into the heart of radical feminist dreaming. Born of multi-racial South ...…

David Cunningham shines a light on the complicated relationship of having a fuckbuddy and the illusion of intimacy it creates. David is a writer/researcher on ABC TV's The Checkout, who occasionally plays large men in top hats, togas and so on when no one else is available. He was the runner up in the Raw National Stand-up Comedy Competition in ...…

Zoe Coombs Marr gets advice. From her parents, her audience, her peers and her dentist. Some of it is good. Some is unusable stories about wafflecones. Zoe is a performer, writer, artist and comedian. She grew up in Grafton, where she and her best friend staged a musical instead of going to schoolies week, woman after my own heart. Zoe has perf ...…

David Marr tells us how the inescapable truth finally dawned on him one day late in 1975. David has won four Walkley awards for journalism in his 45 year career. He’s now at Guardian Australia and is widely regarded as one of Australia's most influential commentators. Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, w ...…

Poet Candy Royalle on the road to belonging. Candy was an award winning writer, performance artist, poet, storyteller, activist, educator and vulnerability advocate. Candy’s album “Birthing the Sky Birthing the Sea,” a collaboration with the band The Freed Radicals, explored a fusion of rock and roll, funk, experimental soundscapes, hip hop, po ...…

Allison Gallagher explores the re-negotiation of their relationship to masculinity after coming out as a trans woman. Allison is a writer and poet from Sydney. Their chapbook ’Parenthetical Bodies' was released in 2017 by Subbed In. Their poems have appeared in places like Overland, Potluck, Scum Mag and Moonsick, while other writing has appear ...…

Nell gives us a Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted, Hard On For Love, Artist's Prayer, Yellow Glove and banter. Nell’s practice traverses performance, sculpture, music, and painting. Small, intimate objects are just as probable as immersive installations. In creating her dramatic, idiosyncratic works Nell draws on an eclectic selection of materi ...…

George Tillianakis tells us a true story from 1999. George is a Sydney based video performance artist, composer, and musician. George has been active in the arts for over 15 years, exhibiting and performing in galleries internationally, most notably in New York City. George has written, produced, and released music, under the name Melodiqa, a s ...…

AJ Brown and Lisa Freshwater talk about healing the past through renovating a house and switching genders. AJ is a landscape designer as well as an admin for a number of online groups including Trans Sydney Pride and Transgender International. Lisa is a co-founder of The Theatre Division. Currently her production of Miracle City is playing at t ...…

Tilly Lawless talks about her experiences at a massage parlour she worked at and the fling she had with another working girl there. Tilly is a queer, Sydney-based sex worker who is passionate about horses, sex worker rights and feminism. She utilises her online platform to speak about her personal experiences within the sex industry, in an atte ...…

Jordan Raskopoulos tells the sordid tale of her battle with the Logies. Jordan is a writer, comedian and singer. She’s been on tele, she’s toured the world with her band The Axis of Awesome, had a few viral hits and then had a supporting role in a telemovie about Julian Assange. Since coming out and transitioning she’s also taken on a lot of sp ...…

Theatre critics Cassie Tongue and Ben Neutze tell a story of musical theatre legends, glitter emerald eye-shadow, and pants-wetting in the presence of a Minogue. Cassie and Ben are two of Sydney’s leading theatre critics and are among the most influential performing arts commentators in the country. Cassie writes regularly for Time Out Sydney a ...…

Amy Coopes muses on sacraments, sacrificial siblings, and the mindblowing power of the Catholic confessional. Amy is a writer, journalist, and editor at Croakey News. Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemar ...…

Jonny Seymour shares his reflections on a lifetime of creating chosen family, logical rather than biological. DJ and composer Jonny is one half of Stereogamous, the Sydney-based duo he formed with Paul Mac. Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. For Quee ...…

Bhenji Ra and Christina Radburn tell their story of being two sisters growing up and growing together. Christina is an award-winning independent film producer based in Melbourne. Bhenji is an interdisciplinary artist. She belongs to the collective Club Ate and she is the overall mother of the house of Slé, a western Sydney based community perfo ...…

Ginger Turner reflects on their realisation that they identify as asexual. Ginger is a writer, a podcaster and a pop-culture commentator, pastimes that feel as natural to them as breathing. And, like breathing, they'll keep doing it even when no one's listening. You can buck the trend, and listen to their podcast, Common Sense with Burt Frankla ...…

Kate Jones and Ted Cook tell us the story of a pair of twins, some snow and slamming it down fast, the perfect analogy for Teddy and Kate's beautiful queer life. Kate launched The Vegan Teahouse in 2012, the Vegan Collective night market in 2014, and last year established MAKER, a queer feminist run shared commercial kitchen, education space an ...…

Vicki Melson tells us a short tale of heroes, cock and cancer. Vicki is a Sydney based aromatherapist with a background in graphic design. She has recently completed an Arts degree majoring in English and Film which she hopes will encourage her to write more. She escaped from the UK in 1987 and has since been trapped in Australia due to her lov ...…

Francis Voon and James Adcock know the lead up to marriage equality may not be easy, but they are saying YES to love, even if that means wearing matching merchandise. Francis and James have been together for 5 years. James is an architect and Francis works on the marriage equality campaign. Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night program ...…

Nic Holas opens up for the first time about something very personal that happened to him, his sisters, and his Dad. Nic Holas is an activist, writer, and co-founder of The Institute of Many (TIM), Australia's largest grassroots movement for People Living with HIV. Nic's writing on HIV/AIDS, LGBTIQA issues, human rights, and pop culture has appe ...…

Kirsty Webeck tells us how a trip to Peru changed the way she sees the world. Kirsty is a Melbourne-based stand up comedian. She has notably performed in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, hosted The GLORIAs at NSW Parliament House and performed at Mardi Gras. Kirsty is currently touring her 2018 festival sho ...…

Julie Low talks about the wide variety of names she's collected throughout her life, along with what they mean to her and why she loves them all. Julie is an artist, writer, photographer, and podcast host. She is a graduate of the National Art School with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and is currently in the first year of her Masters of Teaching (Se ...…

Leona Beasley tells us the story of Onnie Armstrong who kisses her first girl inside a shabby doghouse in the backyard, but the sheer joy of lips locking doesn’t last when her hotheaded Southern father discovers his daughter isn’t like the other girls. Writer Leona Beasley was born and raised in in Atlanta, Georgia. Her debut novel Something Be ...…

Heather Grace Jones tell us three short pieces. They are a small reminder that 'love is love' has many meanings, and while this moment in history feels unbearable in many ways, together we continue to celebrate our communities, our unconditional affections and our lives. Heather is a journalist, community worker and writer. For the past decade ...…

Maxine Kauter tells us the story of her amazing adventure right into the heart of Evangelical Christianity and advice that you should be careful how well you make your bed because you may be asleep in it for longer than you think. Maxine is a singer, songwriter and storyteller. She is best known for her role as the titular character in the long ...…

Tina Dixson tells us a story about queer search for safety. When home and exile become one, how does one belong? Tina is a queer woman and an advocate for human rights both here and overseas, specialising on the issues faced by LGBTIQ communities, people from refugee backgrounds and women who’ve experienced violence. In Australia she has worked ...…

Kaya shares a tale of transitioning after a near fatal accident and discovering the joys of google incognito. Kaya is a scientist researching the tsunami threat to NSW, working closely with the SES to develop emergency management policies. In their career as an ocean mapping scientist they spent several years at sea working for the government a ...…

A heartfelt account of how artist Guy James Whitworth's troubled childhood in the North East of England fuels and fires him on to negotiating the straight art scene in Sydney. Guy is one of those intense and creative types. Originally hailing from Northumberland in the North East of England he has for the past decade called Australia home and r ...…

Simon Copland's polyamorous relationships seem to concern many gay people. But accepting diversity means accepting all of it, even when it comes to sex. Simon is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the Australian National University. He is a freelance writer who has been published in the Guardian, SBS Online Australia, BBC Online, and co-produces a ...…