BT on Love Across Borders, the AIDS Crisis, and Good Vibrations

Episode 3 of Under the Brown Rainbow welcomes BT – a poet, artist, and beloved figure in Sydney's South Asian queer community whose story spans Kenya, London, and Australia across four decades.

In this conversation with host Kashif Harrison, BT shares a love story straight out of a Bollywood film – meeting his English partner at a members-only bar in London where you needed a tie to get in, the key left in an envelope, and the impossible choice between love and family obligation. He also opens up about living through the AIDS crisis as a brown queer man in 1980s Sydney and London — the fear, the loss, and how his partner helped raise millions for those who had nowhere to turn.

We also hear about what it was like to be the only brown face in queer spaces for decades, why he never formally came out to his mother (but she knew everything anyway), and his philosophy on vibrating good energy as the foundation for everything else.

Under the Brown Rainbow is hosted by Kashif Harrison and produced by Kunal Mirchandani. Presented by Trikone Australia.