IN THE KEY OF Q

Queer Music, Queer Stories, Queer Lives

Why Vinyl Albums Still Matter in the Age of Streaming

When ‘In the Key of Q’ host Dan Hall asks Minute Taker’s Ben McGarvey about his thoughts on the album format, there’s a reverence in McGarvey’s response that feels almost elegiac. “I’m very, very much an album person,” he states. “When I’m making my own albums, I literally make them for vinyl. I’m thinking about…
Creating Mixed Spaces: Dancing Across Differences

An Unexpected Dance Floor “One of my greatest memories is two years ago, I was performing in a small hick bar.” There’s a lilt in Rita de Los Angeles’ voice as she recalls this moment during her In the Key of Q interview. It’s not the setting one might expect to hear described with such…
Hugs Are Not Weak

Introduction In the episode, Ty McKinnie says something that was gorgeous to hear,: “Hugs are not weak.” It’s a deceptively simple statement, tucked into his story about persisting with physical affection towards his father, even when it’s met with resistance. That insistence of hugging anyway might seem small. But it challenges a lifetime of messages…
The Mythology of Passing: Why Perfect Performance Never Protects

The Impossible Bargain Vincent di Geronimo tried everything to disappear into acceptability in small-town Connecticut. He shut down his theatrical nature, suppressed his natural expressions, attempted to become invisible. The result? “There was not a day that went by that I was not called fairy queen faggot.” The violence found him anyway – slammed into…
Queer Time: Navigating Aging and Youth Anxiety

“I don’t like getting old,” Erik Lenfair confesses during his interview, “but I cry every birthday I have ever since I was like 16 years old, thinking I’m too old now.” This startling admission—a teenager convinced they’re “too old”—offers a poignant window into how Queerness can complicate our relationship with time, aging, and lifecycles. Across…
Roderick Woodruff: The Future of Queer Black Pop

“I’ve always wanted to be the Black Elton John,” Roderick says with palpable enthusiasm. “I wanted to be this huge pop star. I wanted the campy outfits. I wanted to be the one sitting down at the piano sometimes, the one prancing around the stage at other times.” What makes Elton John such a compelling…
Finding Connection: The Shift from Apps to In-Person Dating

I’ve been thinking about Mickey Taylor’s observation that he hadn’t approached someone in person to ask for their number in sixteen years. Sixteen years. That’s an entire generation of queer people who learned to flirt through screens rather than eye contact, who developed their romantic literacy through swipes rather than conversations, who came of age…
Unlocking Identity: The Clark Kent to Superman Journey

“I felt like Clark Kent and now I’m Superman because I was able to come out to my parents.” – Fan of Not From Concentrate’s song “Clark Kent” This striking image of Clark Kent transforming into Superman as a metaphor for coming out or transitioning offers a rich framework for understanding how we conceptualise personal…
The Impact of Forced Migration on LGBTQ+ Lives

The Forced Exodus Around Christmas time we often think of family (biological and logical) and those who are far and impossible to access. When Rita de Los Angeles fell in love with a German woman in a Cologne gay bar twenty-three years ago, she couldn’t have predicted the forced migration that would follow. After maintaining…
Mel Lennon and the Politics of Music Genres

In his conversation on my podcast, Mel Lennon speaks candidly about the limiting narratives imposed on Black artists: “We don’t need to be a violent group of people that they make us out to be, or dumb group of people that they make us out to be, or low brow type of people that they…