History is Gay

What would an exploration of the Wilde family be without taking a closer look at Oscar Wilde's 'virulently lesbian' niece Dolly Wilde? Gretchen and Leigh take you on a journey to learn more about this elusive personality. Unlike her uncle, Dolly left little written work behind and is best known from her letters and from what other people have to say about her. Come join the ouroboros of gay that i...

Hello again, guys, gals and ghouls, and welcome to a fun Halloween minisode! This week, Leigh & Gretchen bring you an interview with our second Queer Ghost Hunter of the month, Shane McLelland! Shane is one of the co-founders of the Stonewall Columbus Queer Ghost Hunters group, and he had lots to say about the paranormal, queer entities, and his favorite spooky stories growing up.  You can learn m...

In honor of his 164th birthday, Leigh and Gretchen talk about the life and times of Oscar Wilde with special guest K. W. Moore from the blog "A Scholar of No Importance ." Wilde's unwillingness to conform to Victorian sensibilities regarding keeping his private life private and the famous trials that resulted from it changed the shape of Western discussions of sexuality thereafter. His writing, to...

  Happy Halloween everybody! As good Halloween gays, Leigh and Gretchen bring you a special, spoopy episode for Halloween. In the first half, they bring tales of gay and lesbian ghosts and lavender apparitions of all kinds, though of the kindly and perhaps a bit cheeky variety rather than bloody or scary. For the second half, they interview Joe Applebaum, one of the producers of Queer Ghost Hunter...

Way back in the first episode, Leigh and Gretchen formed a historical 'murder wives' ship starting with Anne Bonny; in this episode, they take a closer look at murder wife #2: Lizzie Borden! That's right folks, she too may very well have had a thing for the ladies as well as possibly murdering her father and stepmother. Just how queer was she? Did she have an affair with her maid and her stepmothe...

Leigh and Gretchen have a special History is Gay treat for you this Labor Day. Join them as they discuss the history of the labor movement as it relates to the struggle for queer civil rights in America. You may not know, but the labor and LGBTQ+ movements have been allies for a long time. Just how far back does the partnership go? Listen and find out! Learn about Jewish lesbian feminists fighting...

Gretchen and Leigh are pleased to announce their very first special guest to History is Gay , Dan Arndt of Write to Survive Podcast and The Fandomentals, to talk about Virginia Woolf and Vita-Sackville-West. This episode has everything: modernism, gay love letters, dramatic queers, queers with mommy issues, and a truly cinematic adventures. Join us for Part 1 of an ongoing series. 2:05 – Introduct...

Welcome to our very first extra special collaboration! Joining Leigh and Gretchen this episode are our friends over at Queer as Fact, a queer history podcast from Australia. Our topic of choice? Queer slang! Join us as we discuss lavender linguistics, the history of queer slang in Australian penal colonies, and our favorite slang words, both American and Australian! So brush off your oysters, pitc...

Instead of a regular episode this week, Leigh & Gretchen treat you to a very special sneak peek into Sappho's Salon, an exclusive place where the sighs, yearnings, tragedies, and triumphs of queer love are brought to life. If you enjoyed this minisode and would like more of these queer readings, keep an eye out for our upcoming Patreon launch and consider becoming a patron to get all the secret go...

Leigh and Gretchen welcome you to their first Pride month special and the first of an ongoing series on Queer civil rights movements in the United States. And what better way to do both than to dive into the lives of Gilbert Baker---the maker of the first rainbow pride flag---and Brenda Howard---one of the primary organizers of the first Pride march commemorating the Stonewall riots and Pride week...

In this episode, co-hosts Gretchen and Leigh will take you on a tour of medieval Arabo-Islamic erotic literature and the many delightful descriptions of queer female experience it contains. Remember way back in episode two when 'thigh fencing' came up? Well, that and other martial imagery for wlw sexual experience come from medieval Arabo-Islamic poetry! Like shield banging, jousting without a lan...

Leigh & Gretchen are bringing you a special bonus episode this week! Wow, three whole episodes in a month, Happy Pride! In this bonus, Leigh sits down with Robert Philipson, producer and director of the documentary T'Aint Nobody's Bizness: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s, which we discussed in our episode Bulldaggers and Lady Lovers, about his process, the importance of telling queer stories and ex...

As you know, we're not a fan of Nazis. In part two of our (what will very likely be ongoing) series on badass Nazi-fighting queer anti-fascists we discuss the genderqueer, surrealist artist and Nazi resistance fighter Claude Cahun! Teen love to stepsisters to lifelong partners in art and resistance? Lovers literally saving each others lives more than once? Taking a break from sunbathing and walkin...

We're not a fan of nazis around these parts, and not just for the obvious reasons. Did you know that one of the most iconic images of them burning books is from when they burned the library of a gay, Jewish, communist sexologist well known for his research on sexuality and gender, including trans identity? Until this episode, we didn't either! In this first part of a two part series (so far!), we...

  Welcome to a special first here in History is Gay: our first ever minisode! As Gretchen has been busy traveling this month, she and Leigh are filling in with a special guest interview with Sarah Prager, author of Queer, There, and Everywhere  and creator of the Queer history app Quist. If you love queer folks from history and learning fun, daily facts about queer history, then this interview sho...

R is for Revolutionary War, which is where hosts Leigh & Gretchen are headed in this, the very first episode dedicated to a single person from history: the Publick Universal Friend. The Friend presented as something entirely new: a genderless spirit from God who eschewed gendered pronouns and dressed and spoke in ways that purposefully blurred the lines between male and female in early American so...

In today's episode, Leigh and Gretchen head way back in time to Ancient Egypt. That's right, get ready to walk like an Egyptian! Take a tour through Egyptian mythology to discuss what Set and Nephthys imply about Egypt having a concept of third gender. Plus, the dancing woman mummy, gender transformation in burial, the gender presentation of women pharaohs like Hatshepsut, and Gretchen's favorite...

In this very special episode, hosts Leigh & Gretchen travel to the red carpet and the silver screen to hear stories about queer actors from the golden age of Hollywood. Along for the ride is a room full of queer people who came to listen to the podcast being recorded live at TGIFemslash , a convention dedicated to the queer ladies of media, the ladies who love them, and the fans who love them. Joi...

In this episode, your hosts Leigh & Gretchen take a stroll down Jungle Alley and bring you stories of the vibrant black lesbian and gay subculture of the Harlem Renaissance and the blues legends who sang of its glory. With wild parties, bathtub gin, clandestine orgies, and crooning bulldaggers, the lesbian and bisexual blues legends of the 1920s and 1930s were definitely not as straight as you thi...

As your hosts return to examine the unexplored corners of history to highlight overlooked queer ladies, gents, and gentle-enbies, they bring a conversation about homosexuality in Imperial China. They will discuss the unique tradition of male homosexuality present for over 2500 years, what made it possible, and how tragic it's loss is for modern China. And don't worry, even though female homosexual...

In this episode, your hosts Gretchen and Leigh continue to examine the overlooked and underappreciated queer ladies, gents, and gentle-enbies in the unexplored corners of history by traveling to the cloisters of Medieval Europe. They'll uncover unique views of sex and sexuality that made the practice of 'brother making' possible both within and outside the monastic community but also made it hard...

In our first episode, your hosts Gretchen & Leigh begin their series examining the overlooked and underappreciated queer ladies, gents, and gentle-enbies from the unexplored corners of history with a discussion of the high seas. Meet Anne Bonny, Mary Read, John "Calico Jack" Rackham, and Pierre "the pansy pirate" Bouspet, a quartet of pirates from the golden age of piracy with a flair for the dram...

Introducing History is Gay, a new podcast where your hosts Gretchen & Leigh examine the overlooked and underappreciated queer ladies, gents, and gentle-enbies from the unexplored corners of history. Whether shining a light on queer pirate adventures, emo lesbian Sappho, or your other faves from the pages of textbooks you never knew were queer, it's time to bring our stories out of the shadows. Bec...