“Did you play with Barbies and stuff when you were little?” Javier Morales asked his podcast co-host.
“I don’t remember honestly,” a puzzled Gerardo Zubiri responded, eventually recounting a moment when he tried on his mom’s heels to make his sister laugh.
In The Papiverse, no topic is off-limits. The podcast, which premiered in July, is hosted by Morales and Zubiri. The program delves into issues facing the Latine LGBTQ community, childhood memories, queer awakenings and other topics from the host’s extended universe – their Papiverse.
Morales, 34, and Zubiri, 31, met online and have been friends for 10 years. Mexican natives, they both grew up in Dallas. Both identify as gay and use their podcast to talk about topics from a local, Latino and queer point of view.
Zubiri and Morales speak casually and on their own terms about sex, circuit parties, religious upbringings, family and body image.
The show sounds like two friends hanging out. The hosts’ banter has become a trending topic on TikTok. One viral video talked about the work ethic of Latinos despite many in the community living in poverty.
“You could never tell me Kim Kardashian works harder than my mom, or any other Latina,” Zubiri said on the episode.
Growing up queer in a less-than-accepting society has its challenges, Morales said. After initial reluctance about embracing his queer identity, Morales now celebrates being gay.
“I don't want to take away the good in being queer. I don't hide my gayness.” Morales said. “As a 34-year-old man, I love being gay. I love being queer and I think that queer people are just so unique.”
From a religious background, Zubiri hid his queer identity starting at a young age so as to not attract attention to himself. When he did come out as a teenager, his relationship with his parents struggled.
Eventually, Zubiri attended Sunset High School and, to his surprise, found the space to grow in an environment he didn’t expect to. The friends he met gave him the strength to stop hiding.
“Every time I came out to someone, I was no longer scared,” Zubiri said.
Being queer and Latino introduces distinct family struggles: religious and traditionally conservative upbringings and the expectation to display an aggressively masculine, “machismo” mentality, Zubiri said.
“We walk around hurting a lot,” Zubiri said in a recent episode. “That comes from the fact that we don’t get a lot of things from society that make us feel safe or honored or happy. We have to fight for them. We don’t get the safety that our parents got or heterosexual people have.”
The hosts unpack those expectations and, at times, reject them. Zubiri believes the show is resonating with a growing audience who are learning to do the exact same thing.
The topics are supposed to be fun and edgy, but Morales and Zubiri also want their stories to be learning opportunities.
Morales recently decided to step back from his hosting duties. Confronting many aspects of his personal life and openly discussing them on a public platform is something Morales wants to put on hold for now.
That leaves Zubiri, who is currently rotating guest co-hosts each episode and also expanding the “Papiverse” by including guests and co-hosts of different backgrounds and identities. Still, the core of the program remains in ensuring the amplification of Latine and LGBTQ voices that for too long have been hidden.
“Anything and everything is gonna come from a brown, queer lens,” Zubiri said. “There’s no choice. It has to be.”
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
