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We speak with Norma Lize, a trans activist and refugee advocate from Lebanon who has received awards for her advocacy work. We learn about refugee settlement into Canada and what that journey entails especially for LGBTQ+ individuals who are forced to leave their homes due to threats,  violence, and imprisonment. Norma shares her personal story as a refugee and her journey moving into Canada as a transwoman. Norma now helps other LGBTQ+ refugees settle in Canada and works for Rainbow Refugee. Rainbow Refugee is a Vancouver based organization whose aim is to provide safer and equitable migrations for people fleeing persecution based on sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics/expressions and HIV status. 

Rahat Saini is an actor, storyteller, and comedian. Rahat is an actor in Make Me A Match, Hallmark's very first South Asian story! This movie touches on Indian Matchmaking with a twist.  She also starred in the play Unexpecting, a production by Zee Zee Theatre, which celebrates queer love and provides insights into the realities of modern motherhood. Rahat is making herself visible and taking up space with all her identities to help empower other brown women to do just that. Tune in and leave feeling inspired for 2024! 

Parminder Kaur Swaich is a Punjabi writer, social activist, and poet. She is dedicated and passionate about literature and has written 5 books. She writes and directs plays about important deep rooted issues in our Punjabi culture that no one likes to talk about - rape, drugs, addictions, and female infanticide. She is a powerful, fearless, Punjabi Sikh activist who is ready to stand up for marginalized and oppressed individuals. Parminder Swaich believes we must do more for our community too, and not just for our own families. For this special episode, Jolene Queen Sloan, desi drag queen, helped us to translate this episode from Punjabi to English. Tune into this wholesome conversation between different generations and learn about their stories. ਪਰਮਿੰਦਰ ਸਵੈਚ ਇੱਕ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਲੇਖਕ, ਸਮਾਜਿਕ ਕਾਰਕੁਨ ਅਤੇ ਕਵੀ ਹੈ। ਉਹ ਸਾਹਿਤ ਪ੍ਰਤੀ ਸਮਰਪਿਤ ਅਤੇ ਭਾਵੁਕ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਉਸਨੇ 5 ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ ਲਿਖੀਆਂ ਹਨ। ਉਹ ਸਾਡੇ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਸੱਭਿਆਚਾਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਅਹਿਮ ਡੂੰਘੀਆਂ ਜੜ੍ਹਾਂ ਵਾਲੇ ਮੁੱਦਿਆਂ ਬਾਰੇ ਨਾਟਕ ਲਿਖਦੀ ਅਤੇ ਨਿਰਦੇਸ਼ਤ ਕਰਦੀ ਹੈ ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਬਾਰੇ ਕੋਈ ਵੀ ਗੱਲ ਕਰਨਾ ਪਸੰਦ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰਦਾ - ਬਲਾਤਕਾਰ, ਨਸ਼ੇ, ਅਤੇ ਕੰਨਿਆ ਭਰੂਣ ਹੱਤਿਆ। ਉਹ ਇੱਕ ਸ਼ਕਤੀਸ਼ਾਲੀ, ਨਿਡਰ, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਸਿੱਖ ਕਾਰਕੁਨ ਹੈ ਜੋ ਹਾਸ਼ੀਏ 'ਤੇ ਅਤੇ ਦੱਬੇ-ਕੁਚਲੇ ਵਿਅਕਤੀਆਂ ਲਈ ਖੜ੍ਹੇ ਹੋਣ ਲਈ ਤਿਆਰ ਹੈ। ਪਰਮਿੰਦਰ ਸਵੈਚ ਦਾ ਮੰਨਣਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਆਪਣੇ ਭਾਈਚਾਰੇ ਲਈ ਵੀ ਬਹੁਤ ਕੁਝ ਕਰਨਾ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ, ਨਾ ਕਿ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਆਪਣੇ ਪਰਿਵਾਰਾਂ ਲਈ। ਇਸ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਐਪੀਸੋਡ ਨੂੰ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਤੋਂ ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਅਨੁਵਾਦ ਕਰਨ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਾਡੀ ਦੇਸੀ ਡਰੈਗ ਕਵੀਨ ਜੋਲੀਨ ਕੁਈਨ ਸਲੋਅਨ ਨੇ ਮਦਦ ਕੀਤੀ।  ਇਸ ਵਧੀਆ ਐਪੀਸੋਡ ਨੂੰ ਸੁਣੋ ਅਤੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਕਹਾਣੀਆਂ ਬਾਰੇ ਜਾਣੋ। 

Baltej Singh Dhillon became the first turbaned Royal Canadian Mounties Officer (RCMP) officer in 1991 after a long national debate about making religious accommodations to the uniform . Being the first Sikh officer with a turban led to a long journey of being proactive and teaching others acceptance of the Sikhi faith. Baltej understands what it feels to be targeted and attacked for being himself and shares how his faith keeps him grounded and rise above it all. Baltej stands proudly as a father with his lesbian daughter and stands together with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. He wants everyone in the community to know you either choose education or ignorance during this time of misinformation and hatred towards the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Tune in to learn more about the Sikhi faith and how these teachings help Baltej responds to hatred. 

For our Season 2 closer, we bring you a very special guest who is massively popular with over 550K subscribers on YouTube under the name PRINCESSJOULES. Julie Vu is a transgender activist, model, content creator, and entrepreneur. She started her YouTube journey in 2013 where she became one of the first people to share her personal stories of transitioning and documented her transition from male to female. Her raw, unedited videos of her transition provided a safe haven and education for the larger community. She has been a spokesmodel for many brands like Sephora, Aritzia, Ikea, RW&CO., and much more. Julie Vu shares her story of struggle, triumphs, and helps raise awareness of trans people. Julie Vu is truly an inspiration and we highly recommend you tune in to learn more about her!

 We speak with Bianca Maieli who is a DJ/Producer born and raised in Los Angeles. She has both South Indian and Caribbean Colombian roots and uses her multiple identities to create her unique music sounds. She has worked with notable clients such as Nike, Spotify, Adidas & Samsung. Bianca Maieli represents a global dance sound, and has been making waves internationally. She is one of the co-founders of No-Nazar, a creative collective of South Asians DJs in LA, whose aim is to bring various cultures onto the dance floor. We speak with her about the joys and struggles of being a full-time DJ, No Nazar's story, and her wedding video that went viral on the internet gathering over 3 million views on YouTube. 

We speak with Agata Matyszczuk who works for Coast Mountain Bus Company as a transit operator and was the LGBTQ+ rep with her union UNIFOR. She was also elected to the BC Regional LGBTQ+ committee representing all BC locals. With this work, she helped organize the Pride float in Vancouver Pride and marched in many prides across BC through her union. Agata was also part of the first LGBTQ+ group to march in the Vasaikhi parade with UNIFOR. Join us to learn about Agata's advocacy work, love story, and for a special surprise towards the end to celebrate pride! Sher Lotus is a peer support group for queer & trans women, non-binary, and two-spirited people. Agata & Jag Nagra founded this group (previously known as Sher Feline) in 2018. Join us for our monthly Sher Lotus events to meet these two lovely humans!

We sit with two trailblazers who are paving the way for queer Asian excellence in Vancouver. Van Dang is a gender-fluid, queer, Asian revolutionist who founded Ricecake in 2018 when they saw a lack of safe spaces for queer Asians. Bella, part DJ, part Event Producer, and part of the non-binary revolution, joined forces with Van as the house DJ. Together, with their combined expertise they bring you Vancouver's only Asian party. Ricecake is Vancouver’s year-round, non-stop celebration of Queer and Asian Pride. From Drag Dim Sum, to Songkran, to Phulkari, these cultural events are the safe spaces that queer folks didn't know they needed. Tune in to learn more about Ricecake and how our queer Asian siblings are building their own safe havens.

We speak with Finn Liu, a high school transgender Chinese student who is on a mission to spread awareness and inclusion for trans-identifying individuals within the Asian community. Currently in the 11th grade, Finn is heavily involved in and out of school and in extra-curriculars defying a typical high school student's schedule. Finn's resiliency and driven attitude is what got him selected to speak at TEDx Surrey 2023 as the youngest speaker. Tune in to learn how we can break down barriers and work towards better trans inclusion in our community. 

We speak with Surrey-based queer filmmaker and floral designer, Ritesh Matlani. Born and raised in Dubai, Ritesh shares with us his journey into filmmaking in Canada and his immigration struggles as an international student. Ritesh's films center around immigration, queerness, and BIPOC voices. Join us to learn about Ritesh's path into living an authentic life.

We speak with Sameer Ismail, president of Vancouver Friends For Life Society, a holistic wellness centre that provides many services to help people who face the challenges of HIV/AIDS, and other serious illnesses. Our intention is to educate and inform, because knowledge conquers fear. Join us to learn important factual information about HIV, and let's help end HIV stigma and discrimination within our community.  Here are some of the HIV resources mentioned in this episode 1. https://getakit.ca/ 2. https://www.readytoknow.ca/ 3. https://www.cbrc.net/ 4. https://www.catie.ca/catieca 5. http://www.bccdc.ca/ 6.  http://www.bcwomens.ca/our-services/specialized-services/oak-tree-clinic 7. https://jrc.providencehealthcare.org/ 8. https://spectrum-health.net/

We speak with Annie Ohana, a proud public-school educator and Indigenous Department Head at LA Matheson Secondary. She is an Anti Oppression Curriculum Specialist and a devoted community activist. Annie founded and directs Mustang Justice, an Anti Oppression and Justice oriented youth service Leadership group, which is now in its 10th year. If you feel you want to agitate and organize our current societal state, this episode is for you! In this episode we discuss many terms. Here are the definitions for your reference GSA - Gay, Straight Alliance or Gender Sexuality Alliance. Found mainly in Secondary schools and Post-Secondary InstitutionsGroomer - a denigrating term that claims that 2SLGBTQIA+ people are pedophiles/ molestersPansexual - being attracted to all people regardless of gender identity or sexSOGI - Sexual Orientation Gender Inclusion. SOGI is part of the BC curriculum