Greatest Hits - 'The First Gay Place That I Went Inside...' - with Alex Iantaffi from Gender Stories Podcast

Greatest Hits - 'The First Gay Place That I Went Inside...' - with Alex Iantaffi from Gender Stories Podcast

Author: lost queer spaces August 6, 2025 Duration: 56:58

This episode first featured in 2024, and here's what I had to say...


The lyric to that very famous 80s TV theme song is 'sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name'.

Whilst I think that's true I also think there are times where you want to go where nobody knows your name and where there's absolutely no risk of running in to anybody that you even vaguely know.

It's that type of space that gave this week's guest - scholar, therapist and host of the Gender Studies podcast Alex Iantaffi - the courage to actually go through the front door and start to explore their queerness for the first time.

And so, in this episode, Alex takes us back to the 90s and sits us down in a corner seat in London's First Out Cafe to show us the magical, open, friendly space that made them feel welcome.


Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Lesbian Clubs, and LGBTQ+ Parties is a series of intimate conversations about the venues and parties that have served as crucial backdrops for queer life. Host K Anderson guides each episode with a gentle curiosity, focusing on a single guest’s personal connection to a place that no longer exists in the same way. These are not dry historical accounts, but vivid, emotional recollections. You’ll hear about the specific bar where someone first felt seen, the underground club that provided a sanctuary, or the party where a community solidified. The discussions naturally delve into how these environments fostered identity, provided safety, and built the networks that define so many LGBTQ+ lives. This podcast operates on the understanding that a physical space is often the container for our most formative experiences-first kisses, political awakenings, chosen families. By documenting these lost spaces through personal narrative, the show archives a living history of queer culture that exists beyond official records. The tone is reflective and often poignant, as guests explore not just what these places were, but what their absence means. It’s about the lingering impact of a closed door, and how the memories forged in those rooms continue to resonate. Listening feels like being part of a necessary preservation project, one story at a time, highlighting why these communal hubs were, and remain, vital to health and well-being. Each episode is a specific journey into a memory, making the broader point about collective loss and resilience without ever needing to state it outright.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Lesbian Clubs, and LGBTQ+ Parties
Podcast Episodes
'Queerness As A Kind Of Attitude' - with Emma Frankland [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:50
Lately I keep thinking about that phrase "the past is a foreign country", and how sometimes a space doesn’t have to disappear to feel lost to us. And I know that sounds like a bit of mumbo jumbo, but stay with me! Queer…
'A Lot Of Gay Men Were Kind Of Rude' - with Matthew Hays [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:58
I've been getting increasingly sappy with you recently, and I'm not sure whether that's because I'm just getting softer in my older years, or if there's just an accumulation of gratitude that's bubbling to the surface, b…
'Oh, So You're A Lockdown Queen?' - with Jens Radda [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:37
Sometimes when I'm putting this show together I like to imagine that someone has somehow found this show in 50 years time and are having a good ol' giggle at how quaint and ol'timey the things we are talking about are. A…
'We Can All Kiss Girls (And Nobody's Mad About It)' - with Sinn Sage [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:11
I've just realised that, for a podcast that is for mostly about queer clubbing and nightlife, we don't actually talk all that much about drugs, drug-taking and the impact of that. That's not a good or a bad thing, per se…
'Being Gay Is A Great Superpower' - with Santana Sexmachine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:34
You may have had some wild clubbing nights in your life, but were any ever as wild as obliviously walking around with a shit-stained t-shirt thinking that you were fabulous? No, probably not. But, that's exactly what thi…