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“This feeling I was nurturing… was punishable by death.”This week on Outcast World, Graeme speaks with writer and doctor Majid Parsa, author of The Ayatollah’s Gaze — a compelling story about growing up queer in the Islamic Republic of Iran.We explore forbidden desire, the underground queer scene in Tehran — full of joy, glamour, and danger — and what it means to party knowing your social gathering at home with friends could be raided at any moment.Majid opens up about gender performance, state surveillance, religious expectation, and the power of queer intimacy in places where even the word “gay” is unspeakable.A conversation about...

This week we’re going full cultural yin and yang.First, Harry Eric Derbidge (The Only Way Is Essex, ITV2 & ITVX) spills on the brand-new TOWIE season kicking off this Sunday at 9pm – expect sun, sea, and classic Essex drama.Then, we swap spray tans for sculptural blooms with Hamish Allan Powell, the Instagram-famous florist making waves in high-end floral design. This conversation comes from The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast – for all things ART, QUEER.CULTURE.From reality TV to floral fantasy – two very different worlds, one episode.Everything you do online is tracked, fix it in two minutes, get up to 75% off NordVPN on outcastworld.net-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This helps us...

Kuan-wen Huang is a queer, Taiwanese comedian, writer, and actor based in London. He’s appeared on Comedy Central, BBC, and Channel 4, and has become a standout voice on London’s comedy circuit. Now, he’s bringing his brand-new one-man show Andrews Are The Worst to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.In this episode of Outcast World, Graeme Smith sits down with Kuan-wen to talk about heartbreak, hookup disasters, Fringe burnout, and the suspicious pattern that every villain in his life seems to be called Andrew.They dive into Kuan-wen’s experience growing up gay in Taiwan, how his mum reacted when he came out, his time doing mandatory military service — and...

The Church of England just met to decide the future of LGBTQ+ people in the Church — again. Still no equal marriage. Still no full acceptance. Still a fight.This week, Graeme speaks to Phillip Baldwin — a gay man, HIV-positive, and one of the few openly queer members of the Church’s General Synod. From inside the Church’s governing body, Phillip takes us behind the scenes of a system still struggling to recognise LGBTQ+ lives with dignity.It’s a raw conversation about faith, identity, and what it means to stay in the room when the institution you serve refuses to fully welcome...

What happens when you gather some of the most fabulous, fearless minds in queer media around a breakfast table? OUTCAST WORLD takes you inside the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Breakfast Club — with legendary Attitude Editor-in-Chief Cliff Joannou front and centre.Cliff is a defining voice in queer journalism — shaping the stories, covers and controversies that have marked a generation. In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, we talk about:🌈 The power and pressure of queer media🗞️ How Attitude stays relevant in a digital world💬 Coming out journeys, culture wars & cancel culture✨ And what the next wave of queer storytelling might look likeOriginally recorded for The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast — the...

In this episode, Graeme Smith is joined by Stu Oakley and Lotte Jeffs — co-authors of Do Ask, Do Tell, the bold, funny, and radically honest new book that lays queer life, love and culture bare.Stu is a film publicist who’s worked on Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Jurassic World. Lotte is a genderqueer journalist, novelist, children’s author, and former ELLE editor. Together, they’re also the co-hosts of the award-winning podcast Some Families — the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ parenting show.In Do Ask, Do Tell, they take on everything from sexuality and gender to body image, mental health, HIV stigma, open relationships, queer parenting and faith. And yes — they explain what a darkroom...

Bob Vylan at Glastonbury sent the outrage machine into overdrive.We’ve scoped 24 hours of GB News to bring you every pearl-clutching reaction from the self-declared defenders of free speech.But here’s the twist: our guest, sex educator and writer Topher Taylor, actually knows someone from Bob Vylan personally — and brings rare, real-life insight into the kind of person behind the noise.THIS EPISODE CONTAINS AUDIO OF RECENT NEWS EVENTS THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND UPSETTING.Everything you do online is tracked, fix it in two minutes, get up to 75% off NordVPN on outcastworld.net-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This helps us become easier to discover. Please take...

As the Glastonbury Festival heatwave rolls on, the political outrage is just warming up. Graeme and Nick Charles unpack Kneecap's headline-grabbing set and the pearl-clutching reaction from MPs and a media desperate to censor a culture they don’t understand. Did The 1975 let us down with the announcement mid set they didn't want to do politics.. to only then go and sing a load of inherently political songs. There's also Bob Vylan and the stage chants that got police attention. Are we all compelled to comment on the issues tearing the world apart, or is it ok to sit things out like The 1975...

Reality star Jordan Burrow won hearts on I Kissed a Boy—the BBC’s flagship queer dating show hosted by Dannii Minogue—but his story goes beyond the groundbreaking global hit show.In this episode, Jordan opens up about using his platform to start real conversations: from coming out in a remote rural village, his love of football and sports, to his bold message on the biggest billboard in Manchester UK, dedicated to his dad during Men’s Mental Health Week. The powerful image, featured in Attitude, made headlines—because saying “I’m doing okay” shouldn’t feel radical, but it often does.Also how many queer footballers are there in the top leagues? We...

Graeme Smith sits down with UK drag royalty Kitty Scott-Claus, who opens up like never before.As a finalist on worldwide TV show - RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars, Kitty is riding high — but the past year has brought huge personal change. She speaks movingly about her friend and fellow queen The Vivienne, and the impact her tragic passing had on the drag community. Kitty reflects on Viv’s strength, visibility and vulnerability — and how her loss underscores just how much pressure drag performers are under right now, both on and off stage.We also dive deep into Kitty’s remarkable transformation — losing...