SBS Audio’s “Queer Renegades” Podcast Puts Queer Trailblazers Back In The Story
Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) has a new SBS Audio podcast on the way, and it’s built around one simple idea: a lot of queer history gets told through someone else’s lens, or not told at all.
A new series timed for Mardi Gras season
SBS Audio is launching Queer Renegades as Mardi Gras approaches, with eight episodes dropping weekly from 11 February 2026.
It’s hosted by Iranian-Australian writer and broadcaster Farz Edraki, and it leans into rebels, resistance, and the people who pushed things forward when it was risky to do so.
What the podcast covers
Across the series, Edraki traces key moments of activism through events, communities, and individuals. The episodes move from the legacy of Dykes on Bikes to stories about newly arrived refugees finding queer connection, and First Nations artists and curators creating new cultural spaces.
Who gets centred this time? The people who were there, the people who organised, and the people who kept building community anyway.
At DNA, we’re always up for a history lesson that doesn’t feel like homework, especially when it connects the dots between then and now.
What Farz Edraki says the series is trying to fix
Edraki is direct about why this project exists: “Let’s be honest – when it comes to history, queer stories are often erased by a default lens we’re rarely challenged to question.” She adds that queer people exist in every culture, and that shared identity can connect “deeply diverse lives”.
The voices you’ll hear
SBS says each episode marks a key moment of activism, whether that’s an event or a specific person. Guests include President of Sydney Dykes on Bikes, Kendal Walton, ballroom leader Xander Khoury from the House of Silky in Western Sydney, and Sam Lewis from the Flying Bats Football club, described as the biggest LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club in the world.
The series also looks back at the HIV and AIDS era through the experiences of people who worked on the front lines, including St Vincent’s Hospital nursing leader Sister Claire Nolan and 78er Ken Davis.
Queer Renegades will be available via the SBS Audio App, plus Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, LiSTNR, and SBS On Demand.
