We are thrilled to finally introduce Queer Joy, a new podcast series by Homoground featuring queer-identified artists sharing what queer joy means to them through storytelling and songs.
Queer Joy was created as a response to the lack of positive representation of the queer experience in popular media. Homoground asked artists to share their songs celebrating the things that bring them joy! We received beautiful, vulnerable, and thoughtful pieces from musicians all over the world.
In each episode, you’ll hear those songs along with anecdotes from the creators themselves.
Homoground is incredibly grateful to everyone who submitted. Your voices brought this Queer Joy series to life!
PART 1 – BE YOURSELF

We danced, we cried, and we’re honored to release Queer Joy Part One: Be Yourself.
Listen to anthems celebrating the process of being comfortable with who you are from Papa Molly, JayceJanae, Boy Bowser, and Kamerin. Stream the episode below or on whatever you listen to podcasts.
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This podcast is available for free, but it is not free to make.
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider contributing to our Patreon to support our work.
http://patreon.com/join/homoground
Our wonderful Patreon supporters will have access to extra tracks submitted by the artists along with some extended interviews.
CREDITS
This episode was produced by D Orxata.
Our executive producer is Lynn Casper.
Artwork for this series was created by Morgan Diep.
Our social media coordinators are Morgan Dean and Rowan Blackwood.
The segment on Focus/Time was produced by Cheer up Charlye of Breakfast and Beats.
Major thanks to our sponsors SPACES, Workfrom and our Patreon Supporters
PART 2 – LOVE CRUSH

This is part 2 of our Queer Joy series featuring songs and personal stories from LGBTQ musicians.
On this episode we’re celebrating Queer Joy with rose-colored lenses and songs about love and crushes from Giuliano from Worcester Massachusetts, Hana Katana from Austin Texas, Rascal Miles from Minneapolis Minnesota and Lucy Opazo from Brooklyn NY. ENJOY!
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Worcester, MA
website | Instagram: @musicbygiuliano
Songs: “Joshua” and “The D”
Cover Design: Joshua Croke, Photo: Erika Sidor

Austin, Texas
website
Instagram: @TheHanaKatana
Songs: “Friends Don’t Make You Cry”
Photo credit: Nicole Lemberg

Minneapolis, MN
website
Instagram: @rascalmiles
Song: “Baby Baby”
Photo credit: Sam Gehrke

Brooklyn, NY
Instagram: @lucyopazomusic
Song: “Isolation Station”
Photo Credit: Crisoula Lazaridis

This podcast is available for free, but it is not free to make.
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider contributing to our Patreon to support our work.
http://patreon.com/join/homoground
Our wonderful Patreon supporters will have access to extra tracks submitted by the artists along with some extended interviews.
CREDITS
This episode was produced, mixed and engineered by CheerUpCharlye, Breakfast & Beats.
Our executive producer is Lynn Casper.
Artwork for this series was created by Morgan Diep.
Our social media coordinators are Morgan Dean and Rowan Blackwood.
Major thanks to our sponsors SPACES, Workfrom and our Patreon Supporters.
PART 3 – THE FUTURE WAS ALWAYS QUEER

Four queer time travelers sent us records of queer joy from the past, the present, and several possible futures. If you’ve ever found yourself trapped inside of a moment, this episode is for you.
Part 3 of our Queer Joy series features songs and personal stories from Creatrx, Sara Renberg, Oxeye, and Carry The Branches.
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creatrx
Instagram: @creatrx
Songs: “Baptism” and “Sunday”
Photo credit: Danika Karolinski

Sara Renberg
Pittsburg, PA
sararenberg.com | Instagram: @sara.renberg
Songs: “It’s a Beautiful Day to be Gay”
Photo credit: Leah Brennan

Oxeye
Stockholm, Sweden
Facebook| Instagram: @oxeye.music
Songs: “Standing Proud”, “Det Här Är För Oss”, “The Only Good Thing”
Photo credit: Clara Veneziano Coen
Carry The Branches
Brooklyn, NY
Instagram: @carrythebranches
Songs: “Zombie Telegram”

This podcast is available for free, but it is not free to make.
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider contributing to our Patreon to support our work.
http://patreon.com/join/homoground
Our wonderful Patreon supporters will have access to extra tracks submitted by the artists along with some extended interviews.
CREDITS
This episode was produced by D Orxata.
Our executive producer is Lynn Casper.
Artwork for this series was created by Morgan Diep.
Our social media coordinator is Rowan Blackwood.
Major thanks to our sponsors SPACES, Workfrom and our Patreon Supporters.
SPONSORS

This episode of Homoground and this Queer Joy series is sponsored by SPACES, an app that lets LGBTQ+ people find and build the communities we wish to exist. Initially conceived as a response to the shortcomings of heteronormative social platforms SPACES is designed by queer people, for queer people. You can create your own space about whatever topic you want, or you can search to join the many SPACEs that others from around the world have already created. It’s a cool way to connect with others, in a safe and like-minded atmosphere. Personally, for me, joy is when I’m able to connect with people I can be my true authentic self around.
How do you experience joy?
Join us on the SPACES app and tell us your stories of queer joy! It’s easy! Download the app from the App Store, create an account and search for Queer Joy to join our space. Or visit homoground.com/queerspaces for more info.
Be Yourself. Find Your Space.

Focus/Time is a dedicated virtual space for LGBTQIA folks to work on their personal and/or work projects in an accepting environment. It’s the perfect place to work on projects you’ve been putting off or to start the projects that have been incubating in your mind. This is a space for you to focus on the things you want to do but struggle to do. Sign up to attend a guided session.

Homoground’s Virtual Cafe is powered by a platform called Workfrom that lets us customize the space so we have an inspirational mural as our background along with a killer playlist and some ASMR options like rain sounds. It’s a cool online space that we use to bring the Homoground and Focus/Time community together. Folks pop in and out and we share updates about our lives and what we’re working on in the chat box. It’s a great place to socialize while working from home while also getting some chores and work tasks done.

Anyone can create their own virtual coworking space using Workfrom and you can control the privacy and customizations.To try out your own space visit homoground.com/workfrom.
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SPONSORS
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Follow Madeline at madelinefinnmusic.com
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider contributing to our Patreon to support this free podcast.
http://patreon.com/join/homogroundTranscription of Madeline Finn’s Story:
“Same ground. Different sound. You’re listening to Homoground. This is Madeline Finn from Nashville, Tennessee and I identify as queer.
“Since COVID-19, I’ve had to cancel a full European tour, a full living room tour that I had booked for the summer and a couple other really awesome opportunities like opening up for Brent Cobb and Rainbow Girls and some other festivals as well. It’s been weird shifting into an online presence as opposed to a live performance, because I feel personally that the live performance is where I thrive; the live performance is the part I love most about my job other than connecting with people and to not have it in my current reality is tough. Shifting to an online presence has been challenging for me, mostly because I’m not great at technology, but we’re learning! The livestreams have been cool, but it’s been more of an introspective time. You know, when I perform, I feed off the energy of those listening. I feed off the crowd interaction and all that. And with that gone, because when you play, you know, people can comment, but you don’t hear applause. You don’t get to see people reacting or get to share that emotional energy that’s just in the room with them. So it’s been more introspective. I’ve been able to, like, play a song and feel it for myself and kind of go inward. This has been a time of a lot of self-reflection. And as I start to try and bring that out on my social media and on my livestreams and on things like this, it’s brand new for me. But I think it’s taking me to a place of more integrity and more vulnerability. And I’m really excited for how this time is going to shape my live show in the future.”
You can read the full transcript of Madeline’s story on our patreon.
CREDITS
This episode was produced and hosted by Lynn Casper.
Intro Jingle by data.data.data
Transcription was made possible by Queer Public Podcast who let us use their transcription software.
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Follow Ahli online at ahlismusic.com
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider contributing to our Patreon to support this free podcast.
http://patreon.com/join/homogroundFull transcription of Ahli’s story:
Same ground, different sound. You’re on Homoground. This is Ali from Stockton, New Jersey. I identify as a pansexual gender-neutral. I grew up in Stockton, New Jersey. It’s a really small rural town on the Delaware River. It’s biggest claim to fame is that we’re pretty close to where Washington crossed. I grew up in a more divided area. People would go to Pride in Pennsylvania, but there would also be people who fly the Confederate flag where I went to high school.. In high school, it wasn’t the best place to come out for a lot of reasons. One of them was there weren’t a lot of people who were out. I probably knew like definitely finger counting the amount of people who were LGBT and all of them were in the closet and not really outspoken about it. I think everybody was kind of in that zone like it’s kind of a toss up. We’re not really sure what to do. And it just kind of spread to me. I was like, OK, like, I definitely like girls, but I’m gonna hold off on that.
I waited till my senior year when I had transferred out and gone to boarding school. I was 200 miles away from my parents before I told them. I was like, hey, I am pansexual.
You can read the full transcript of Ahli’s story on our patreon.
CREDITS
This episode was produced and hosted by Lynn Casper.
Intro Jingle by data.data.data
Transcription was made possible by Queer Public Podcast who let us use their transcription software.
Our affiliate sponsor for this episode is Pride Counseling. Homoground listeners receive a 1 week free trial when they sign up through this link. We also receive commission from each sign up that becomes a paid member. These funds helps us produce episodes like this 🙂