Earlier this year, Ariana and I collaborated with the team at Pineapple Street Media to bring you an episode of a Netflix podcast called Prism: Tales of your City. The show features queer stories from across American cities and we have the Atlanta Episode. The story you’re about to hear is a is the continuation of our last episode, The Atlanta Letters. The story starts over again but is told a different way, and follows Diane back to Atlanta, the place where the story first started. 

This story was produced and narrated by Erin McGregor. Editing and sound design by Ariana Martinez. Editorial Oversight from Josh Gwynn and Anne Hepperman at Pineapple Street. Scripting help from Josh Gwynn. You heard music from The Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to Phoebe Petrovic and Melissa Rucci for their support in the making of this story. 

And listeners if you want us to make more episodes, consider becoming a Patron on Patreon. You can donate as little or as much as you want. We think $5 a month is fair for the work that we do for free and out of our own pockets, but in all honesty, we can’t do it without you. Invest in us the way we invest in bringing you stories from real life queer life. Become a patron today. 

Until next year, follow us on Twitter, and Instagram. Follow me at on twitter at erinmcgregorPHL for updates on stuff I am working on outside of Queer Public. Lots of other gay stuff! 

I am your host, Erin McGregor. Thanks for being here.

Diane Giles wrote letters to a volunteer on the Atlanta Gay Helpline, a woman she had never met, from May to December 1984. This episode is a reading of those letters.

Queer Public is produced by Erin McGregor, and edited and sound designed by Ariana Martinez. A transcript of this episode is available at www.queerpublic.org/transcripts 

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This week on the show I am pulling a story from the queer public archives. I recorded and released this content in 2015 and a ton of people downloaded it. It’s actually how I knew that people wanted more real-life queer life in their earbuds. Dani and Scott’s story was one of the first I reported on - but it’s remained entirely relevant. 

You see, I’ve always been curious about what makes two people candidates for friendship after a breakup. My politics about staying friends with exes formed while I was a tiny liberal arts school in Quebec, barely out and with a very small friend circle of queer friends and lovers. I thought it was a no brainer, we stay friends with our exes because there weren’t that many of us queers around. But now that I live in a large city and not a tiny liberal arts school, I’m more critical of that concept because sometimes it’s not a good idea, sometimes people aren’t good for each other. Sometimes not enough time passes and it gets messy. But more often than not, a relationship without romance and intimacy is just a really solid friendship. That’s what we miss in a breakup. The companionship. The mutual support and respect. Someone to confide in. We miss having a teammate. I think Dani and Scott are the perfect example of that. This is Friends with Exes.

All the music you heard this episode is by them under their bandname Team Mate. You heard “Hi” “All heart” “Don’t let me let you go” and this song - called “Sequel” which chronicles their journey together.

Follow Teammate on Instagram and stream them now on Spotify and Apple Music. 

This story was produced by me, Erin McGregor and the interview was edited by the multi-talented multimedia producer Andy Alseri. 

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