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<\/a>But things have changed. June is Pride Month. People are aware. Brodie is the artistic director of Toronto-based chamber-pop ensemble Queer Songbook Orchestra (QSO), who sing a variety of songs through a queer lens, and who are performing in town on June 22 (their debut album, Anthems and Icons<\/em>, came out on June 15). It\u2019s a bit of a homecoming, in a way, as Brodie\u2019s coming-out story has a Victoria connection; his first experience in the 2SLGBTQ community was at a Victoria gay bar, with friends from UVic.<\/p>\n \u201cWalking into a gay bar\u2019s a totally cathartic experience,\u201d says Brodie. \u201cIt\u2019s this territory that I was always so terrified of. Setting foot in it\u2014it\u2019s a certain kind of declaration.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time, he wasn\u2019t out to the friends he was with.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of felt undercover,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I knew I had to come out. It was sort of my first peek into what that world might look like.\u201d<\/p>\n After working as a freelance musician and toying with the idea of going to journalism school, he began working with QSO, who currently has a call out to fans to send them their personal stories around queer experience that are connected to a song that means something to them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe incorporate them into our show,\u201d he says, adding that the stories make for a much more intimate show. \u201cThis music has been a part of your life. Queerness has been part of your life all along. I hope people come away from it seeing that queerness is just part of life.\u201d<\/p>\n For Brodie, alterity and queerness do not intertwine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not an other; it\u2019s just part of it, which\u2026 we don\u2019t hammer anybody over the head with that in our shows, but it\u2019s there,\u201d he says. \u201cI kind of hope people walk away from it with that.\u201d<\/p>\n