The Queerest Podcast

QUEER HORROR: Monsters, Mirrors & the Power of Fear

Why has horror always felt so familiar to queer audiences? In this episode of The Queerest Podcast, host Andraé BVR is joined by writer-director Amir Moini to explore why fear, transformation, and otherness sit at the heart of LGBTQ+ storytelling. Long before representation was explicit, horror offered queer viewers coded mirrors — outsiders, monsters, and survivors navigating worlds that wanted them erased. From Frankenstein’s forbidden longing to the self-aware slashers of Scream, queer audiences have always recognized themselves in horror’s margins. Amir, the award-winning creator of the short film Slashr, shares how intimacy, vulnerability, and queer trauma shape his work — and why horror allows storytellers to confront what we’re taught to suppress. Together, Andraé and Amir examine how queer horror reframes fear as power, survival as performance, and monsters as mirrors. This episode looks at horror not as a season or a gimmick, but as a language queer people have been fluent in all along. 🎧 Subscribe for more conversations on LGBTQ+ culture, media, and identity.

THE LAST GENTLEMAN: Drag Kings and the Art of Masculinity

What happens when drag kings don’t just perform masculinity—but reshape it entirely? In this episode of The Queerest Podcast, host Andraé BVR speaks with Johnny Gentleman—the Latinx, Indigenous, trans-masc force behind Dapper Puss and The Last Gentleman, two platforms transforming Los Angeles’ drag scene. Through a fusion of artistry and activism, Johnny builds stages for kings, non-binary performers, and BIPOC artists to claim their power and visibility. From Pride main stages to features in Vox and the LA Times, his work blurs the line between entertainment and cultural revolution. This episode dives into how drag kings challenge gender norms, celebrate queerness, and expand what masculinity can mean.

THE OKRA PROJECT: Nourishing Black Trans Liberation

Can a meal be an act of liberation? Okra has long symbolized health, prosperity, and community in Black food traditions—a seed carried through the Middle Passage that continues to grow today. For The Okra Project, it’s more than a vegetable. It’s a promise. In this episode of The Queerest Podcast, host Andraé BVR speaks with Gabrielle Inès Souza, Executive Director of The Okra Project, to explore how this mutual aid collective is nourishing Black trans lives through food, housing, and mental health resources. Gabrielle reflects on her journey as an activist, the cultural legacy embedded in The Okra Project’s mission, and what it means to fight for liberation with radical love and care.

QUEERING CONSTELLATIONS: Belonging Beyond Binaries

What if queerness wasn’t a contradiction, but a compass? In this episode of The Queerest Podcast, host Andraé BVR speaks with author, artist, and equity strategist Dr. Raja Gopal Bhattar about their visually rich and deeply personal new book, Queering Constellations: Mapping This Journey Called Life. Blending memoir, community wisdom, beautiful illustrations, and interactive reader prompts, the book invites us to navigate identity as a constellation—where every point of culture, queerness, ancestry, and experience is connected. Drawing from their lived experience as a queer, gender non-conforming, 1.5 generation immigrant, Raja shares stories of coming out, negotiating family and tradition, and building spaces for collective care. Together, they explore how queerness can be a practice of expansion—whether through personal reflection, intersectional community, or creative self-expression. This conversation offers an invitation: to question, to reimagine, and to find belonging in the constellations of your own life.

PRECIOSA PARENTHOOD: From the Club to the Crib

How are queer couples redefining parenthood today? Eden and Jay Treviño [https://www.youtube.com/@EdenxJay]—creators of Preciosa Night, a grassroots space for queer women of color, gender non-conforming people, and the Latinx/Latiné community—share their journey from nightlife to family life. After navigating in vitro fertilization as a mixed-sexuality couple, they are now raising baby Jayden while continuing to grow community through Preciosa Night and beyond. In this episode of The Queerest Podcast, host Andraé BVR talks with Eden and Jay about queer family building, the lessons and surprises of in vitro fertilization, and how the spirit of Preciosa Night lives on in their parenting. Their story shows how queer families are not only possible, but powerful—and how community can be the blueprint for raising the next generation.