The podcast “Queer Voices” enters its third season on November 2. To kick things off, host Élie Chevillet sits down with Berlin-based publisher Manuela Kay. In the second season, twelve guests shared a wide range of life stories, including a transgender pastor, the intersex frontperson of a death metal band, and a Black literature scholar.
Since September 2024, Chevillet has invited people to talk at length about their lives and the topics that matter most to them. The second season demonstrates how diverse queer life realities can be.
Rap, Religion, and Flight
The kickoff of the second season in November 2025 featured Kerosin95 in a conversation about Rainbow-Washing and why rap for him is inextricably linked to resistance.
The theologian and activist Irene Löffler looked back on decades of queer history and spoke about religion and aging. Fatou, who fled from Gambia, shared experiences that can be hard to listen to at times. The episode makes clear how privileges are distributed unevenly even among queer people.
With journalist Abby Baheerathan, the discussion touched on eelam-Tamil identity, the civil war in Sri Lanka, and the question of what happens when queer people break the silence within their own communities.
Besa Kaziu spoke about growing up on the Balkans and finding a home in Germany. The single mother artist Alice Schöndorfer challenged conventional notions of family: What happens when parenthood, caregiving, and belonging aren’t automatically organized around a romantic relationship?
Intersexuality and Decolonization
One episode focused on the “I” in LGBTI, which often receives little visibility. Lynn is intersex and was subjected to multiple surgeries in childhood without medical necessity. In the podcast, Lynn discusses systemic violence and the notion that inter* bodies must be “corrected.”
During a European tour, Kimmortal visited, a rap act from Vancouver with Filipino roots. Kimmortal’s track “This Dyke” was heard in the series “The L Word: Generation Q.”
A month later, Chevillet spoke with author and scholar Jenaba Samura about Black queerness and decolonial perspectives—and about the claim that queerness is “not African.”
The stand-up comedy episode with Neo showed that queerness can be “damn funny” too. Topics included dating apps, lap dances, and Neo’s second puberty.
First Live Recording
In the first live recording of the podcast, Chevillet spoke with transgender pastor Tovja Mascha Heymann about transgender femininity and faith, about caregiving, ableism, and a school system that excludes children with disabilities.
To close out the season, the drag queen and lip-sync artist Envy Mor LaRue appeared, introducing herself as “Your Bavarian Turkish Delight.”
Augsburg Pop Culture Award
Early 2026, the city of Augsburg awarded “Queer Voices” the ROY 2025 pop culture prize in the “social” category. The podcast places people and perspectives at the center that often quickly find themselves on the margins even within queer communities, according to the justification.
Season Kickoff with Manuela Kay
Manuela Kay had been the publisher of the magazines “L-Mag” and “Siegessäule” until a few weeks ago, she helped launch the Berlin Dyke March, and she is active at the Berlin Porn Film Festival. The conversation focuses on Kreuzberg and the punk scene there from past decades, on lesbian sexuality and pornography.
Kay is skeptical of the notion that queer emancipation is complete when queer people can live as openly as heterosexuals. She views marriage equality as a dangerous adjustment.
Around World AIDS Day on December 1, a follow-up episode will explore living with HIV. The topic deserves attention not only on that day, Chevillet emphasizes.
“Queer Voices” streams on the major podcast platforms. All episodes and additional information are freely available at queer-voices.de. The podcast can be found on Instagram at @queervoices_podcast. (pm)
