What does it mean to be queer in 2020? Author and journalist Amelia Abraham leads this week's look back at WOW London earlier this year with a fascinating panel discussion featuring model and activist Munroe Bergdorf, Executive Editor of VICE UK Zing Tsjeng and campaigner Owl Fisher. Today, the options and freedoms available to LGBTQ+ people living in the West are greater than ever before. But at what cost does this acceptance come? Is same-sex marriage, improved media visibility and corporate endorsement all it’s cracked up to be?
Following the extract from the festival, Jude Kelly caught up in lockdown with Amelia to hear how Covid-19 has affected queer people, from facing isolation to watching trans rights being rolled back in the US.
Plus, don't miss a short interview with Mishcon de Reya's Emma Woollcott who founded the firm's Pride Network and was celebrated as one of the Telegraph's LGBT Top 50 Executives two years running.
And there's a performance by Emel Mathlouthi of 'Everywhere We Looked Was Burning.' Emel's song Kelmti Horra (My Word is Free) generated millions of views during the 2011 Tunisian Revolution. The song served as the anthem for the Arab Spring and she performed it at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert. Listen to more of her work here
Amelia Abraham's book 'Queer Intentions: A (Personal) Journey Through LGBTQ + Culture' is available here
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The WOW Podcast is created by The WOW Foundation, which exists to build, convene and sustain a global movement that believes a gender equal world is desirable, possible and urgently required. Find out more at thewowfoundation.com
The WOW Podcast is created with support from Mishcon de Reya. Produced by Alice Williams.