How did you come up with the idea to do gay talks?
« I never really intended to cover the theme of ‘being gay’ on my Youtube channel. I just made vlogs about my life, in which my boyfriend often happened to be. I regularly received reactions to this. Especially from young boys who were not yet out of the closet. They asked me for advice. I could tell many of them had a lot of difficulties and were really struggling with their coming out. Then I realized I was a sort of role model for them. This gave rise to the idea of starting a kind of advice section for LGBTQ+ people, which eventually became ‘gay talks’. »
What kind of subjects do you touch upon? Are there still taboo subjects, even within the LGBTQ+ community?
« The topics being discussed are very diverse because viewers can submit questions themselves. This can vary from ‘I’m in love with a boy, but I don’t know if he’s gay’ to ‘tips for a non-awkward trio’ and everything in between. Together with a guest, we answer these questions based on our own experiences. In theory, we can talk about everything, but of course, some subjects are more taboo than others. For example, asexuality. I recently recorded a gay talk with an asexual boy. It turned out that there is still a lot of obscurity surrounding this theme. Thus came the question ‘do you also watch porn?’. It turned out that my guest did watch porn quite frequently, but he just didn’t want any physical contact. We have all have those stereotypes in mind, but within every group, there is such a wide variety of people. That’s basically the conclusion of every episode. »
We have all have those stereotypes in our mind, but within every group, there is such a wide variety of people. That’s basically the conclusion of every episode.
Who were your guests this week?
« This week I invited illustrator Gerdien (@thisis_gary), dancer Denzel (@denzel.ian), and photo strip maker Ype Driessen (@fotostrips.nl). A very diverse group of people with a lot of interesting knowledge and insights. I am a cisgender white gay man and I always try to look for people who are not exactly like me. You already see so many of ‘my kind’ in the media, haha. »
What is your main goal with the gay talks?
« I actually have two main goals. First, I very much hope that non-straight people can find my channel if they want to know more about certain LGBTQ + topics. Secondly, I also hope that straight people watch the ‘gay talks’ and learn things about topics that they may not know much about. In my introduction, I always explicitly mention that straight people are also welcome. It’s all about inclusivity, haha »
Check out all the gay talks via Bram’s Youtube channel.
