We’re delving into some culinary history tomorrow and recording a bonus episode for our patrons on a notoriously queer food!
I want to hear your thoughts – what do you reckon is the queerest dish?
Can't speak for all of us, but I didn't!! Amazing to hear ❤️ -Alice
This episode was originally released on our Patreon in 2024.
Listen Here: www.podbean.com/ew/pb-4gpra-...
NEW PODCAST EPISODE: Subaru's Lesbian Ad Campaign. A black and white Subaru ad featuring the caption "Loves Camping, dogs and long-term commitment. Too bad it's only a car" is centred on a black backdrop with a rainbow soundwave. The Queer as Fact rainbow Q logo is at the bottom of the image.
NEW EPISODE
Today's episode is a nice light-hearted look at something near and dear to many sapphic hearts - Subaru!
We take a look at WHY lesbians loving Subarus is such a stereotype, what the car company did to encourage this, and laugh at some pretty saucy innuendos.
All photos from the GALA Queer Archives, via the Digital Transgender Archives
Listen to the podcast here: queerasfact.podbean.com/e/kewpie/
A group of 7 people posing in the middle of a street in fashionable outfits. One of them is Kewpie, a coloured trans woman, wearing a red chiffon headscarf, a light-blue shirt with sleeves rolled up, and royal blue pants. She is posing with one arm around the should of the person next to her, and a ponted foot propped on the shoulder of the person in front of her, and staring directly at the camera.
Portrait of Kewpie, a coloured trans woman on a Cape Town street in the 1960s. She is wearing a fur hat, a striped blazer, and a collared shirt. She is looking into the camera.
Kewpie, a coloured trans woman, wearing a Marie Antoinette costume, featuring a wide ball gown, black gloves, and a feathered headpiece. Her friend Sodia stands next to her in a similar outfit. Kewpie is smiling and offering her hand to someone out of frame.
“I’m naturally, naturally born Kewpie. The gay. The lady. The woman. The sister.”
Some of our fave photos of South African hairdresser and performer, Kewpie.
We learnt so much not just about Kewpie, but about the queer coloured community in Cape Town, while making our podcast on her! ❤️
#transhistory
On 18 June 1983, Sally became the first US woman in space and the first known queer woman in space when she took part in the Challenger shuttle mission. She described it as “the most fun I’ll ever have in my life”.
Check out our podcast to learn her story: queerasfact.podbean.com/e/sally-ride/
Sally Ride, astronaut, on a 1983 mission, smiling, in her blue NASA suit in space, with various control panels visible behind her
We were very emotional watching the #ArtemisII mission this week, and celebrating Christina Koch, the first woman to travel to the moon, and Victor Glover, the first Black man do the same!
Here’s another space first for you - Sally Ride the first (known) queer woman in space!
NEW PODCAST EPISODE: Kewpie A sepia photograph of South African performer and hairdresser, Kewpie set against a black background with a rainbow soundwave and the Queer as Fact rainbow Q logo at the bottom of the image.
New Episode!
Today’s episode is on the South African performer and hairdresser, Kewpie! Join us to learn about queer life in Cape Town’s coloured community under apartheid, find out how you can get your hair done at 3am, and hear about a prize-winning Marie-Antoinette costume.
Link in the replies.
NEW PODCAST EPISODE: Kewpie A sepia photograph of South African performer and hairdresser, Kewpie set against a black background with a rainbow soundwave and the Queer as Fact rainbow Q logo at the bottom of the image.
New Episode!
Today’s episode is on the South African performer and hairdresser, Kewpie! Join us to learn about queer life in Cape Town’s coloured community under apartheid, find out how you can get your hair done at 3am, and hear about a prize-winning Marie-Antoinette costume.
Link in the replies.
New podcast episode The Catterick Skeleton Painted image of an ancient Roman transfeminine person, wearing a blue headscarf, orange shawl, and white dress, and jewellery.
New podcast! We're discussing the Catterick skeleton, the remains of person buried in 4th c CE Roman Britain. Join us to hear about what a bead can tell us about gender, how press reactions to the skeleton have changed over time, and a Roman board game!
queerasfact.podbean.com/e/the-catter...
New podcast episode The Catterick Skeleton Painted image of an ancient Roman transfeminine person, wearing a blue headscarf, orange shawl, and white dress, and jewellery.
New podcast! We're discussing the Catterick skeleton, the remains of person buried in 4th c CE Roman Britain. Join us to hear about what a bead can tell us about gender, how press reactions to the skeleton have changed over time, and a Roman board game!
queerasfact.podbean.com/e/the-catter...
Two moving boxes in front of a bookshelf. A handwritten label on one reads 'Books, History 4, Classics 1'
Hey listeners! We are in the middle of moving house, so today’s podcast episode with be delayed until tomorrow. Looking forward to sharing it with you then!
Listen Here: www.podbean.com/ew/pb-iuube-...
#queer #queerhistory #gay #gayhistory #lgbt #lgbthistory #podcast #lgbtqia+ #queerbooks #gaybooks #books
Front cover of the Dennis Altman's book, Righting My World, featuring a black and white photo of a younger Dennis lounging against a fence and a cover photo from Marieke Hardy calling the book "A stunning and passionate reflection of a political life"
In today's episode we interview author Dennis Altman about his new book - Righting My World: Essays from the Past Half-Century.
Join us for a discussion that spans 60 years of queer activism, from the HIV/AIDS crisis to the state of queerness as an inherently revolutionary act in 2026.
If you want to learn more, we made a whole podcast on Wú Zǎo!
queerasfact.podbean.com/e/wu-z%C7%8Eo/
“We both are talents who paint our eyebrows.
Unconventional as I am,
I want to possess the promised heart of a beautiful woman like you.”
This poem was written in the 1800s by the Wú Zǎo, describing her love for another woman, Qīng Lín.
#queerpoetry
Ancient Roman silver cup with a design showing two men having sex
In 1999 the British Museum bought the Warren Cup for £1.8 million. The cup, made in 1st century Roman empire, depicts explicity male-male sex. It was the most expensive object the museum had ever bought.
Want to learn more? We made a whole podcast on it! queerasfact.podbean.com/e/the-warren...
Righting My World : Essays from the past half-century by Dennis Altman
We were thrilled last weekend to interview the veteran activist Dennis Altman. Dennis has been writing about and fighting for gay rights since the 70s, and has just brought out his latest book 'Righting My World', featuring 50+ years of his writing. Can’t wait to bring you this interview in March!
Intrigued? Check out our podcast on Carmilla, a lesbian vampire novella from way back in 1872!
queerasfact.podbean.com/e/carmilla-1...
1872 print of Carmilla, a vampire leaning over Laura, a young woman, while she sleeps.
“…with gloating eyes she drew me to her, and her hot lips travelled along my cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, “You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever.”
-Carmilla, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, 1872
Screenshot of a poll on Patreon. The three options are: Ngô Xuân Diệu - A gay Vietnamese poet, journalist and literary critic of the mid 20th century. Bugis Street - An area in Singapore known for its highly visible trans community from the 1960s-1980s Hwarang - A group of elite warrior-poets in 6th-10th century Korea, often associated with homosexuality Bugis Street at Hwarang are tied with only an hour left to vote
If you're a 5 USD patron of Queer as Fact, now is your chance to personally break this tie and singlehandedly choose our upcoming episode topic!
Or if you're not, for just $5, this choice could be yours
Check out our podcast if you'd like to learn more about this tradition: queerasfact.podbean.com/e/albanian-s...
Black-and-white photo of a masculine person in pants, jacket, and scarf, standing in front of a stone wall in a mountainous landscape.
This person, photographed in 1908, was a sworn virgins or burrnesha – practising a traditional Albanian custom that allows someone assigned female at birth to assume a male gender role by taking a vow of chastity. This tradition has been an accepted part of Albanian culture for centuries.
They were welcomed home as a woman, and recrafted their public image, as a cis woman who had been raised as a boy by a father who wished for a son. Nonetheless, they still refused to conform to gendered expectations in their speech or mannerisms, and continued living their life on their own terms.
Born in 1728, d’Éon was amab, and raised as a boy. They had a successful diplomatic career until their relationship with the government broke down, and they ended up in political exile in London.
They negotiated a return home – stipulating the condition that they be publicly recognised as a woman.
Painting of Chevalière d'Éon, a 19th-century French person wearing a large hat with feathers, a lace collar, and black jacket adorned with a medal.
Long before the word ‘transgender’, 19th-century sexologist Havelock Ellis coined the word ‘Eonism’, using the name of French diplomat and spy Chevalière d'Éon to describe “people who took pleasure in behaving and dressing like the opposite sex”.
So, who was d'Éon?
#transhistory