Queer as Fact

If you want to hear more about James, check out our podcast! queerasfact.podbean.com/e/dr-james-b...

Sepia studio photograph of James Barry, an older white man, standing next to a Black man. Both men are dressed in suits. In front of James on a chair is Psyche, a small white dog

Dr James Barry (left) was a trans Irishman born in the late 1700s. He was one of the 1st Europeans in Africa to perform a Caesarean where both mother and baby lived. The baby was named after him. James is pictured here with an unknown man, possibly John, who worked as his servant for many years.

If you'd like to learn more about the history of the Kingdom, we made a whole podcast about it!
queerasfact.podbean.com/e/the-gay-an...

In doing so, Abetz inadvertently became the first Australian politician to acknowledge the secession of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom, which was founded in 2004 in protest against Australia’s refusal to recognise same-sex marriage.
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Dale Parker Anderson, a young white man, stands on a beach beside a rainbow flag as tall as he is

In Feb 2017, Australian senator Eric Abetz complained about a rainbow flag flown in the Department of Finance, saying:

“…this particular flag is the flag of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, which has declared war on Australia. … It is the flag of a hostile nation…”
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We've probably all heard of Oscar, but if you want to learn more about his life in-depth, we have a whole two-part podcast on him for you to check out! queerasfact.podbean.com/e/oscar-wild...

Photograph of Oscar Wilde's tombstone, a large cube of sandstone with an Egpytian-style, sphinx like figure on it. The stone is covered in red lipstick prints.

Queer writer Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Since 2011 the tomb has been surrounded by perspex, to protect it from being eroded by the thousands of kisses left on the stone by admirers.
Have you kissed Oscar’s tomb?

#queerhistory #oscarwilde #gayhistory

I am reliably informed that this episode mentions my article exploring transmasculine readings of Cú Chulainn!

Listeners might also be interested in my recent article looking queerly at Cú Chulainn's relationships with Fer Diad, Láeg and Emer: journal.fi/scf/article/...

Text reads: NEW PODCAST EPISODE! Cú Chulainn. Underneath, there is a photo of a page from the Book of Leinster and the Queer As Fact rainbow Q logo

Today's episode is on the Irish mythological figure Cú Chulainn. Join us to experience tragically poetic anal penetration, some universal themes that have compelled humankind of millennia, and the two coolest cows in the universe.

queerasfact.podbean.com/e/cu-chulainn/

Here's the episode if anyone wants to check it out - a couple of years old but still one of my favourites! queerasfact.podbean.com/e/relationsh...

Having studied Roman history at uni, putting together an episode on Roman women's sexuality had been a goal of mine ever since we started this podcast way back in 2017. There’s so little scholarship on queer women compared to queer men, so I was so excited to discover these two women!

Roman grave relief showing two women clasping hands

This 1st-century BCE grave relief shows two women, Fonteia Eleusis and Fonteia Helena, clasping their right hands - a Roman symbol of marriage. It was one of the few real-world examples of female-female relationships I was able to find researching our podcast on women in ancient Rome. #queerhistory

Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche: Queer Food and Gendered Nationalism in the Late Twentieth-Century USA Rachel Hope Cleves ABSTRACT More than simply an international bestseller, Bruce Feirstein’s satirical guidebook to masculinity, Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche (1982), became a ubiquitous catchphrase of the 1980s. The title’s success drew on a long tradition of gendered food nationalism in Anglo-American culture that associated French cuisine with effete masculinity. During the 1970s, quiche in particular was seen as a quintessentially queer dish, served at brunch spots frequented by gay men. Through analysis of Feirstein’s text, as well as the writings of James Beard, Craig Claiborne and others food journalists, this article examines how sexuality, gender, food and nationalism intersected in the late twentieth-century Anglosphere.

Settling in for a nice evening of finding out why quiche is gay... #queerhistory

We made a whole podcast on Hildegard if you want to learn more about her, including thorny theological questions, savage letters to the Pope and a medieval description of the female orgasm: queerasfact.podbean.com/e/hildegard-...

Key for a code, consisting of the Latin alphabet, and corresponding letter-like symbols, handwritten with a nib pen.

By now we all know about 19th-century lesbian Anne Lister's coded diaries but what about of Hildegard of Bingen?
A 12th century nun, Hildegard (also likely queer), invented Litterae Ignotae, her very own alphabet designed for writing in her own constructed language, Lingua Ignota.

Oh my God! Thank you for putting that up online so that we could easily find and read it!

It's a pretty wild read if you want to check it out: web.archive.org/web/20020811...

Or if you're more of a listener, you can check out our podcast where we read and discussed this and more queer readings of Holmes! queerasfact.podbean.com/e/sherlock-h...

Drawing of Sherlock Holmes playing the violin for John Watson, who reclines on a couch beside him.

Happy birthday Sherlock Holmes!
Although not mentioned by Conan Doyle, 6 Jan is traditionally celebrated as Holmes' birthday.
At Holmes' birthday party in 1941 that Rex Stout made a speech titled 'Watson Was a Woman', arguing that the only way to understand Holmes and Watson was as husband and wife.

If you'd like to learn more about Audre, check out our podcast! queerasfact.podbean.com/e/audre-lord...

Audre Lorde and Gloria Joseph, two middle-aged Black women, laughing uproariously, leaning against each other, with their eyes closed.

Black lesbian writer and activist Audre Lorde (right) and her partner and fellow activist Gloria Joseph. Audre and Gloria lived together in Gloria’s home of St Croix in the Carribean until Audre’s death in 1992. The last thing Audre wrote was a note reading “Gloria, I love you.”
#queerhistory

Artistic nude painting of Henrietta Bingham

Happy birthday to jazz-age heiress Henrietta Bingham, born #onthisday in 1901! Henrietta's lovers included the artist Carrington, who painted this nude portrait of her.
Check out our podcast to hear more about her! queerasfact.podbean.com/e/henrietta-...
#bisexualhistory

New Podcast Episode: Sa Bangji (1988) Text is above the film poster of Sa Bangji, showing two Korean women, characters Sa Bangji and Lee So-sa, naked and kissing, above another picture of Sa Bangji posing in her underwear.

Today we're discussing the 1988 Korean intersex lesbian film Sa Bangji! Join us as we learn about the historical events behind the film, discover how government policy inadvertently led to the creation of a queer movie, and admire some historical hats.
queerasfact.podbean.com/e/sa-bangji-...

So glad to hear you enjoyed it! And yes, the novel was absolutely worth getting to - I am retroactively annoyed at myself from 10 years ago who was recommended it and ignored that rec for so long.

-Jasmine

New podcast episode: Otzi the Iceman Picture of a snippet from a magazine, reading "Otzi war schwul!" with text below in German

We have a new episode! Today we're talking about the ancient Italian ice-mummy known as Ötzi the Iceman. Join us to learn about the world's oldest pants, the ethics of archaeology, and and whether there really was sperm in Ötzi's anus.
queerasfact.podbean.com/e/otzi-the-i...

Listen Here: www.podbean.com/ew/pb-gdcvx-...

A poster for the film 'The Blue Caftan' featuring the title in a sky blue, as well as the three major characters looking at each other affectionately.

NEW EPISODE!

This time we're discussing Maryam Touzani's 2022 drama film, The Blue Caftan.

Join us for a discussion of queerness in Morocco, the "ostentatious nudity" of the bathhouse, and resolving the tension between differing modes of love with grace and deep affection.

Four books: 'Eros' by Zoe Terakes; 'Rainbow Universes', a zine by Andrew Goodman; 'What is Queer Food?' by John Birdsall, and 'You Weren't meant to be Human' by Andrew Joseph White

Close-up of an artwork in an exhibition. Bubble text reads 'Rainbow Universes' in large, dark letters. Below it in a similar font are the words 'Adventures in the Mycelliaverse. Around the text are pictures of worlds connected by lines, and people showing various types of family and reproduction, such as a person splitting in half to form a new person, and a child hatching from an egg.

We had a lovely time last week visiting the Vic Pride Centre - picked up a bunch of queer books (possible future podcast episodes?) and also saw an exhibition by the artist Andrew Goodman, exploring worlds with different modes of gender, sexuality and reproduction, and inspired by Ursula K Le Guin!

If you'd like to know more about Harvey, check out our podcast episode! queerasfact.podbean.com/e/harvey-milk/ It's an old one, but it was very moving and emotional recording for us, and one we love to share.

Aware that he was at risk of assassination, Harvey had recorded a tape to be played in the event of his death, in which he stated, “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door in the country.”

Harvey Milk, a white man wearing a suit and tie, laughing uproariously

#OnThisDay in 1978, Harvey Milk, one of the USA’s first openly gay politicians, was assassinated by one of his fellow San Francisco Supervisors, who opposed his policies fighting for gay rights.