🏳️‍🌈 In the episode "Queer Story", Meili and Flo shed light on the experiences and challenges of queer athletes, talk to prominent people from the world of sport and discuss the deep-rooted homophobia and gender discrimination in sport.

In conversation: sports scientist Tanja Walther-Ahrens, track and field athlete Balian Buschbaum and footballer Anja Mittag

Queer Story is a production of BosePark Productions from Berlin. We have also translated this podcast into other languages with the help of artificial intelligence so that you can listen to it in your native language.

🇹🇷 Queer Story in turkish - Queer Hikayesi - link to Spotify 🏳️‍🌈

🇷🇺 Queer Story in russian - История “Квир” - link to Spotify 🏳️‍🌈

🇩🇪 Queer Story in german - queer story - link to Spotify 🏳️‍🌈

🪩 Chapter

00:00:00 Introducing Queer Story: Exploring Germany's Queer History

00:00:56 Examining Queer Experiences in Sports

00:01:56 Discrimination Against Queer Athletes in Team Sports

00:02:27 Trailblazing Queer Athletes Throughout German History

00:06:17 Tanja Walter-Ahrens on Discrimination in Sports

00:07:52 Gender Binary: A Major Issue in Sports

00:13:01 Balian Buschbaum's Journey as a Trans Athlete

00:17:33 Balian Buschbaum on Gender Segregation in Sports

00:21:09 Homophobia in Men's Professional Soccer

00:22:57 Tanja Walter-Ahrens: Combating Homophobia in Soccer

00:26:56 Anja Mittag's Experience as a Lesbian Footballer

00:32:30 The Need for Progress in Sports Reporting

📔 Summary of this episode

In the latest episode of "queer story", the podcast dedicated to exploring and telling Germany's queer history, Meili and Flo take a deep dive into the world of sport. The episode begins with an introduction to the central theme of the series: exploring the people and movements that have fought for the rights and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community. Meili and Flo ask who has led these struggles, who is continuing them today and what struggles are still outstanding.

This episode focuses on the specific question of what it means to be "queer" in sport. The discussion centres on the treatment of queer athletes and the problematic practices of gender control in sport. Particularly interesting are the interviews with well-known personalities such as Tanja Walter-Ahrens, a former Bundesliga footballer and sports scientist, and Balian Buschbaum, a former pole vaulter who ended his sporting career to make his trans identity public.

In addition, Anja Mittag, one of Germany's most successful female footballers, provides insights into her experiences of coming out in professional football. These personal stories are backed up by hard facts, as a 2018 survey shows that 96% of queer people surveyed recognise problems with homophobia and transphobia in sport.

From a historical perspective, the episode also refers to early queer athletes such as Otto Peltzer and Gottfried von Cramm, who were persecuted for their sexuality despite their successes. A more positive example is Karin Büttner-Janz, one of the most successful German gymnasts, who was also known to be openly queer.

This episode of "queer story" is not only a powerful exploration of the intersections of sport, gender and sexuality, but also a call for dialogue and change in one of the most traditional and binary areas of our society.

🎙️About

Queer Story is a production of BosePark Productions from Berlin. This podcast was translated with the help of artificial intelligence so that you can listen to the episode in your native language. We originally recorded it in 2021, then only in German. We really wanted to try out the possibility of speaking with our voices in your language. So bear with us if we still have an awkward way of speaking sometimes. We are very interested to hear what you think. If you have any comments or questions, please write to us at queerstory@bosepark.com 

🏳️‍🌈BosePark Productions GmbH 2024 

www.bosepark.com