Proudcast: The Proud Changemakers' podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

The UK's General Election is happening on 4 July 2024 and in recent years LGBTQIA+ people's lives have been used as a political football - and in the past few weeks of the campaign this has ramped up even more.

So in this episode our Lucy Straker (she/they) and Catherine Goodall (she/her) walk us through the manifestos of the Conservatives, Labour, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats - to see what is and what isn't being proposed for LGBTQIA+ people.

The aim of this isn't to tell you who to vote for - but to help cut through the spin and bring the conversation of LGBTQIA+ people into the foreground. Because largely that has been absent in the past few weeks.

Below are the links to the full manifestos for the parties discussed:

• The Conservatives
• Labour
• The Green Party
• The Liberal Democrats

In order to keep this episode to a reasonable length we only selected the main parties operating across most of the UK nations. We decided against covering Reform as they did not have any positive elements for LGBTQIA+ people in their manifesto.

If you are unsure of who to vote for we recommend using the Vote for Policies tool which shows you the various policies without the affiliations. You can see that here.

But most importantly on 4 July 2024 please go and vote, it really does matter, think of Emily Davison when you do and please remember you ID!

And if you want to chat about this or any other episode you can catch us at proudchangemakers@gmail.com or follow us at https://linktr.ee/proudchangemakers

Please note that after this we are taking a break over the summer period and our next episode will be with you on 4 September 2024. Thank you for all your support.

What if the relationship model that is centred as the "norm" isn't right for everyone?

What parallels are there between the LGBTQIA+ community and the growing ethical non monogamy community?

And why as a society are we so keen to other people for their differences?

We tackle these questions and many more with our special guest comedian, write, speaker, actor and charity mental health advocate - Juliette Burton (she/her). In this episode, Juliette talks about her pathway into ethically non monogamous relationships and the parallels between the stigma of being queer, mental health and non monogamy - AND tells us why all of this feeds into her comedy.

TRIGGER WARNING - there is discussion of mental unwellness within the episode.

You can follow Juliette on socials - and go to her shows. Click here to see where she is performing next, and see her socials below.

• Facebook - Juliette Burton Writer Performer
• Twitter - JulietteBurton
• Insta - juliette_burton

The Proud Changemakers involved in bringing this podcast to you were your hosts Paige Hughes (she/her) and Graysen Whittaker (he/they), and the show was produced by Amy Whitelock-Gibbs (she/her).

If you would like to become a Proud Changemaker volunteer, check out our two volunteer roles:

• Deputy CEO (Governance)
• Marketing and comms lead

Find out more about the work we do and who we are here.

If you would like to nominate someone to come onto the podcast, maybe you'd like to come on yourself or pose a question or topic - then get in touch with us at proudchangemakers@gmail.com. We'd love to chat with you.

Music was by Vitary Levkin.

Listen to the second of our LGBTQ+ History Month episodes! In this we have SAYiT's Fiona Moorcroft (she/her) and Oliver Harrap (he/him) discussing their project - 'bury your gays' - where they research the cemeteries and archives in Sheffield to see who and what LGBTQIA+ history they could find.

They were inspired by a similar project that ran in Birmingham - so if you are interested in following them and doing some LGBTQIA+ history research in your local area please get in touch.

The podcast was recorded at the offices of SAYiT - a charity based in Sheffield which works with young people aged 8-25 and professionals to provide practical support to LGBTQ+ young people, host parent and carer groups, and trains organisations improve knowledge and address discrimination. You can find out more about SAYiT here.

The podcast was produced, edited and hosted by the Proud Changemakers team who are all lovely volunteers and whose names are Amy Whitelock Gibbs, Becky Emery, Catherine Goodall, Cathy Swift, Claudia Baldacchino, Ellis Black, Graysen Whittaker, Lucy Straker and Paige Hughes.

Please rate, review, subscribe, email us, follow us, report us, ask us out for coffee, whatever. We love to chat (that's why we run a podcast) and we also do so much more than this. Email is proudchangemakers@gmail.com and click here to find others ways to see us, engage with us etc.

Find out what we do by getting in touch! And remember no matter what life throws at you - be proud, stand together and make change.

Music was by ⁠⁠⁠Vitaliy Levkin⁠⁠⁠ from ⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠

Join us for the first of our LGBTQ+ History Month episodes!

In this we have SAYiT's Fiona Moorcroft interviewing Dr Helen Smith, University of Lincoln, who is a historian specialising in LGBTQ+ history in the working class communities of South Yorkshire.

During this episode we discuss what it was like to be LGBTQIA+ from the 1850s to 1960s in South Yorkshire where the majority of people were working class, what the regional attitudes and culture differences were between different parts of the UK, and how hard it is to research LGBTQIA+ women in history.

This is the first part of the interview with Dr Helen Smith (with part two coming out later in the year) who has also written a book on this topic called 'Masculinity and same sex desires in industrial England 1895-1957' which you can see here (but be warned its a tad expensive).

You can find our more about Dr Helen Smith here.

SAYiT is a charity based in Sheffield which works with young people aged 8-25 and professionals to provide practical support to LGBTQ+ young people, host parent and carer groups, and trains organisations improve knowledge and address discrimination.

You can find out more about SAYiT here.

The podcast was produced, edited and hosted by the Proud Changemakers team who are Catherine Goodall, Cathy Swift, Graysen Whittaker, Amy Whitelock Gibbs and Lucy Straker.

Please rate, review, subscribe, email us, follow us, report us, ask us out for coffee, whatever. We love to chat (that's why we run a podcast) and we also do so much more than this. Find out what we do by getting in touch!

And remember no matter what life throws at you - be proud, stand together and make change.

Music was by ⁠⁠⁠Vitaliy Levkin⁠⁠⁠ from ⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠

Come and say hello to the Proud Changemakers team!

In this episode, we - the Proud Changemakers team - got together to talk about why we set up Proud Changemakers, what our hopes and aspirations are, what we are really excited about and what we have already gained.

So who are we? We are Amy Whitelock Gibbs (she/her), Catherine Goodall (she/her), Cathy Swift (she/her), Graysen Whittaker (he/they) and Lucy Straker (she/they).

Catherine is a Policy and Influencing Manager at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). In this role she leads influencing work on government policy relating to volunteering. She works closely with stakeholders across the voluntary sector, using evidence and insight to create positive change.

Lucy is the Campaigns Manager for Brake, the road safety charity. Here Lucy leads on the charity’s national campaigns which can include calling for new legislation to support all road users, raising public awareness of road dangers or advocating for road crash victims. Lucy is responsible for creating and delivering the charity’s campaign strategy plus is one of the key media spokespeople.

Graysen worked in the charitable sector for their first salaried employment and progressed into the position of LGBT+ Service Development Manager for a charity in Kent called Porchlight.

Graysen also worked for City, University of London as Senior EDI Officer: Gender and LGBTQI+, striving to support the institution more equitable for LGBTQI+ people and women.

Graysen has been a Board of Trustees member of Mosaic, LGBT+ Young Persons’ Trust for two years, and is currently the Vice Chair of this Board.

Have a question or want to learn more about Proud Changemakers?

Then reach out to us across any of our networks at ⁠https://linktr.ee/proudchangemakers⁠

Music was by ⁠Vitaliy Levkin⁠ from ⁠Pixabay⁠

Proud Changemakers exists to empower the LGBTQIA+ voluntary sector and civil society leaders of tomorrow. The community supports and champions LGBTQIA+ and other leaders and civil society organisations. Proud Changemakers is a community, a network and a group, organised and coordinated by volunteers. This is a new, emerging and developing community, which welcomes new members, connections, funders and supporters.

Proud Changemakers aims to:

• Champion and support LGBTQIA+ leaders, staff and volunteers and organisations 

• Provide advice, guidance and support to educate non-LGBTQIA+ leaders and organisations 

• Create and improve cultures of inclusion and belonging for all LGBTQIA+ staff and volunteers, and organisations 

• Provide a safe space and community for LGBTQIA+ people, to celebrate each others’ achievements, demonstrate solidarity and share learning and experiences.  

Proud Changemakers was formed in 2023.

Ever wanted to build a network for LGBTQIA+ staff in your organisation but were unsure where to start?

In this first episode of the Proud Changemakers podcast, we talk to Ed Drew (he/him), Rei Kanemura (she/her) and Amy Walton (she/her) who are the architects of NCVO's Rainbow Network - a staff network for LGBTQIA+ folks and allies - which has 25% of NCVO staff as its members.

NCVO is the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and is the membership body for charities, voluntary organisations and community groups in England.

In this episode, we discuss why they set up the network, what were the challenges and lessons learned, their messages to anyone thinking of setting up a network and how we can expand this kind of peer support to those in small charities who may be the only LGBTQIA+ person in their organisation.

Guest bio: Rei is a former co-lead of NCVO's Rainbow Network as well as Research and Insight Manager and is currently a Senior Researcher at NatCen. There's not a letter in LGBTQ+ that represents her, but she considers herself an ultimate ally. She firmly believes in the power of alliance and in the role of allies in fighting for LGBTQ equality. She is also a researcher with decades of experience in research for the voluntary sector, and outside work, she is busy raising her small Rainbow family.

Proud Changemakers:

This podcast is hosted by Catherine Goodall (she/her) and Lucy Straker (she/they).

Catherine is a Policy and Influencing Manager at NCVO. In this role she leads influencing work on government policy relating to volunteering. She works closely with stakeholders across the voluntary sector, using evidence and insight to create positive change.

Catherine has long been involved in supporting the LGBTQIA community. She has been involved in developing and leading staff networks at several organisations, and volunteering in the wider community.

Lucy is the Campaigns Manager for Brake, the road safety charity. Here Lucy leads on the charity’s national campaigns which can include calling for new legislation to support all road users, raising public awareness of road dangers or advocating for road crash victims.

Lucy is also a public speaker and trainer on creating inclusive workplaces specifically regarding the LGBTQIA+ community. Lucy has co-founded and led a number of inclusion networks and activism groups across the voluntary sector during their 15 years of communications and campaigning work in the sector.

Have a question or want to learn more about Proud Changemakers?

Then reach out to us across any of our networks at https://linktr.ee/proudchangemakers

Music was by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay

Proud Changemakers exists to empower the LGBTQIA+ voluntary sector and civil society leaders of tomorrow. The community supports and champions LGBTQIA+ and other leaders and civil society organisations. Proud Changemakers is a community, a network and a group, organised and coordinated by volunteers. This is a new, emerging and developing community, which welcomes new members, connections, funders and supporters.

Proud Changemakers aims to:

• Champion and support LGBTQIA+ leaders, staff and volunteers and organisations 

• Provide advice, guidance and support to educate non-LGBTQIA+ leaders and organisations 

• Create and improve cultures of inclusion and belonging for all LGBTQIA+ staff and volunteers, and organisations 

• Provide a safe space and community for LGBTQIA+ people, to celebrate each others’ achievements, demonstrate solidarity and share learning and experiences.  

Proud Changemakers was formed in 2023 by Catherine Goodall, Lucy Straker, Cathy Swift, Amy Whitelock Gibbs and Graysen Whittaker.

The Proud Changemakers podcast is here to support, elevate and celebrate the amazing work and contributions by LGBTQIA+ people across civil society - and to amplify the LGBTQIA+ perspective across key issues affecting society today.

The first episode drops at the beginning of January 2024 where our guests will be Amy Walton (she/her), Rei Kanemura (she/her) and Ed Drew (he/him) who were essential to the building of NCVO's rainbow network. They will share the joy and safety the network has brought them plus the challenges they faced along the way.

Proud Changemakers is brought to you by Catherine Goodall (she/her), Graysen Whittaker (he/they), Amy Whitelock Gibbs (she/her) and Lucy Straker (she/they).

If you want to follow us, subscribe, ask a question for us to discuss, or suggest a guest for a future episode get in touch with us - https://linktr.ee/proudchangemakers

Music is by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay

Proud Changemakers is a group made up purely of volunteers. So when Pride month and Volunteers Week collided we knew we had to make an episode celebrating the queer volunteers in our group and across civil society.

Here we have our Lucy Straker (she/they) and Catherine Goodall (she/her) talking about the benefits volunteering has especially for LGBTQIA+ folks. Choice, community and a chance to develop skills - that's what good volunteering can give you when done right.

Lucy and Catherine have spent a lot of time working on improving the landscape for volunteering over the years in their day jobs - which is why they (and a bunch of other lovely folks) decided to set up a volunteer based group called Proud Changemakers. And here they talk us through some of that knowledge.

Also we take a moment to thank all LGBTQIA+ volunteers across civil society who are making a massive difference even if they don't always know it.

If you would like to volunteer with Proud Changemakers we currently have two volunteer roles open:

• Deputy CEO (Governance)
• Marketing and communications lead

Find out more about the work we do and who we are here.

This episode was inspired by it being Volunteers Week. Find out more about that here.

Music was by ⁠Vitaliy Levkin⁠ from ⁠Pixabay⁠

And how does it intersect with the queer community?

That's the challenge we set ourselves with this podcast. So join Graysen, Paige and Lucy as they discuss all the various terminology, the history of non monogamy, their personal experiences, the myths and assumptions, and finally how non monogamy sits within the LGBTQIA+ community.

If you have any questions for the team about this topic or anything else connected to the LGBTQIA+ community then get in touch. Our email is proudchangemakers@gmail.com or take a look at our socials and sign up to our newsletter at https://linktr.ee/proudchangemakers

What do you know of Annie Hindle? Betsy Bonehill? Ella Shields and Hetty King? Maybe even Vesta Tilley?

Well they were all successful drag kings from history - or male impersonators as they were known then.

In this episode, SAYiT's Fiona Moorcroft (she/her) takes us through a brief history of these amazing humans and how they dominated the stage impersonating men of their eras - some more inclusively than others.

Photos of these drag kings will be shared on our socials so use this link to find your preferred social media outlet and take a look at these fabulous humans. Whilst you are there please do give us a follow.

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience as part of our LGBTQ+ History Month series in February 2024 at Weston Park Museum in Sheffield - which forms part of Sheffield Museums who are also a charity.

SAYiT, who researched and organised the talk, is an LGBTQIA+ youth charity in South Yorkshire.

If you enjoyed this episode why not rate, review and subscribe as this helps others find the podcast. Plus take a look at our other episodes - especially those from our LGBTQ+ History Month series. Thank you to Vitaly Levkin for the music and to all the Proud Changemakers out there.