Queer as Fact

Today's episode is on the story of Pope Joan, the 9th-century woman who disguised herself as a man and became pope. Tune in for popes, antipopes, medieval Catholic pageantry, and the truth about Pope Joan. Sources (Image: Pope Joan in papal garb holding an infant in her arms. Engraving from Hartman Schedel's Chronica Universalis or Nuremberg Chronicle, published in 1493 by Anton Koberger. Via Wiki...

Today's episode is on Horace Walpole, 18th century man of letters and writer of the world's first gothic novel. This episode features a number of firsts for Queer As Fact, including our first possible asexual person, and the first Queer As Fact Historical Goth-Off!  Transcript available here Sources (Image: Portrait of Horace Walpole by Pierre Subleyras, via Wikimedia Commons)

For our second episode of Queer as Fiction, we'll be talking about Mike Nichols' 1996 comedy film 'The Birdcage'. Join us as we discuss gender performance, gay fatherhood and unnecessary sequels. 

Today's episode is about the life of Sofya Parnok, an early 20th century Russian poet who wrote openly about her relationships with women, owned a pet monkey, and died surrounded by her loving girlfriends. Transcript available here Sources

Today's mini-episode is on Dutch World War II resistance fighter Willem Arondeus. Learn about his life as an artist, incredibly brave efforts to combat the Nazi regime and the origins of his famous last words. Sources

Today we have our first episode on an Indigenous American two-spirit person - Crow warrior and craftsperson Osh-Tisch, whose batée gender was not only recognised but respected and supported by their community. Tune in to learn about the Crow understanding of gender, the best poker player in the region, and the Battle of the Rosebud, in which Osh-Tisch fought alongside the female warrior The Other...

Today's episode is on the publisher and bookseller Sylvia Beach. Learn about the delightful history of her bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, Sylvia's instrumental role in publishing James Joyce's Ulysses, and her fateful meeting with her long term partner Adrienne Monnier. Sources

Today's episode is on male sexuality in Ancient Rome! Listen on for ancient same sex marriages, dirty Latin poetry, and the wittiest retort you'll hear all week. Also: some weird facts about hyenas! (Note: the image above is an 1827 sculpture by French artist Jean-Baptiste Roman on the theme of Ancient Roman sexuality. It's not a genuine Roman work.) Transcript available here Sources

Today's surprise episode is an ad we produced with CAMP Magazine, the University of Melbourne's newest autonomous publication for queer people. Listen for some new poetry from the unimelb graduate and bisexual labour activist Lesbia Harford!  Listen to our other episodes to learn more about Lesbia Harford , or, as mentioned in this episode, writer Mary Shelley , Moomins-creator Tove Jansson , or q...

Unlike sex between men, sex between women was never illegal in Britain. Could it have been because Queen Victoria refused to believe that it could happen? Find out in the second of our mini episodes, exploring myths and shorter stories from queer history. Sources

Today's episode is our second and final look at the life of the activist, lawyer, priest and poet, Pauli Murray. Learn about his involvement with the landmark women's rights case Reed v. Reed, the mischief he got up to as a self-described "pixie priest", and how his transgender identity has been handled (and mishandled) by scholars. Transcript available here . Sources If you haven't heard Part 1 y...

Today's episode is the first of Queer as Fiction, a series in which we talk to you about the intersection of the historical and the queer in the media. We'll kick things off with J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 lesbian vampire novella Carmilla, and talk about just how gay it actually is, the pop culture it has influenced and, apparently, 300 years of Anglo-Irish conflict. 

Today's episode is on Pauli Murray, the activist, lawyer, poet and priest who did so much with his life that it's going to take us two episodes to fit it all. In this first half we're covering the period from 1910 to 1965, including Pauli's time at university, and his work as a lawyer and activist fighting segregation and sexism in the USA. We'll be talking about everything from his ground-breakin...

Today we're bringing you the first of our mini episodes which will come out on the 8th of every month! In them, we'll explore shorter stories as well as either confirming or debunking myths from queer history. Today's episode examines whether Swedish people called in gay to work as protest when homosexuality was classified as an illness in Sweden.  Sources

In today's episode we're talking about Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Tune in for adventures in gothic horror, the truth behind whether Mary really lost her virginity on her mother's grave, and of course her rarely-discussed relationships with women. Transcript available here. Sources

We have a special episode today, featuring an exciting announcement about what's coming up for Queer as Fact in the future! We're also talking about the phrase "friends of Dorothy", how it baffled the US navy, and what it really means. Transcript available here.

We have a special guest this episode - Jessie has just completed her thesis on queer film in Australia, and talks with us about its birth, its development, and the role it has played in Australian gay rights movements. Featuring gay film festivals, censors embarrassing themselves, and the first Australian Pride. Transcript available here. Image: Still from the film Adam (1975)

In this episode we are talking about Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay politicians elected in the USA. Tune in for incredibly theatrical political campaigns, an even more dramatic love letter, and recordings of speeches from the man himself. Transcript available here

Today's episode is on Tove Jansson, a Finnish author and illustrator, and creator of the world-famous Moomins. Tune in for queer women living on a remote island, adorable chubby anti-fascists, and the best euphemism for same-gender love that we've heard in a while. Transcript available here !

Today we're talking about Baron von Steuben, who served in the American army during the Revolutionary War, and over the winter of 1777-1778 turned them from a mismatched bunch of volunteers into a group of professional soldiers. Join us for flaming shots, daring escapes from the British, and an important discussion of Steuben's role as Alexander Hamilton's gay dad. Transcript available here.

In this episode we're talking about Edward II, 14th-century king of England, who almost ruined a country by being too gay. Featuring pirates, several nasty executions, and your hosts' ancestral Scottish rage. Happy New Year! Transcript available here

Happy Christmas! Queer as Fact is celebrating by bringing you this bonus episode, covering the second half of the life of lesbian diarist and land-owner Anne Lister. Improve your Christmas with first-hand accounts of 19th-century lesbian shenanigans, Anne's struggles to find a suitable wife, and an unfortunate touch of voter fraud that's not truly in the spirit of the holiday. Transcript available...

This episode focuses on Lesbia Harford, an early 20th century Australian woman poet. Lesbia was one of the first female graduates of Melbourne University, a dedicated political activist, and once had someone drink champagne out of her shoe. Transcript available here .

Today, on World AIDS Day, we discuss the history of HIV and AIDS in Australia, from its first arrival in 1982 until the present day. In this episode you’ll learn about the infamous Grim Reaper ad campaigns, the tireless battle of queer Australians to help each other in this time, and how the country’s positive response to the epidemic saved the lives of many gay and bisexual men. Transcript availa...

Today's episode focuses on the Warren Cup, a silver cup from the Roman Empire in the 1st century, which has artistic depictions of male/male sex on it. Expect to learn a lot about ancient Greek and Roman sexuality! Transcript available here!