To access the full version of this episode, join our Patreon. Our community awaits with legs open and lips parted 🤤

www.patreon.com/historicalhomos
–
LEATHER. It's hot, it's taut, it's everything everybody else is not.

But when did it become so big in the gay community?

My guest today, Race Bannon, leather community activist and co-host of the On Guard podcast, taught me a few things I never knew about leather that I bet you don't either:

1) Leather is all about play: it seems hyper-masc and dark. But really it's a bunch of beautiful horny people expressing themselves erotically and inventively. In a world where adults are never allowed to play, leather allows all people, queer or not, to explore their true selves.

2) Leather literally saved lives. The leather community was at the vanguard of the AIDS epidemic, providing sex education and support to show gay men in particular how to express desire and intimacy without penetrative/fluid-exchanging sex.

3) Leather is a protest! Leather began because queer men wanted to be seen as masculine - in the 1950s, that was radical. And in the 1980s, The Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, which is now one of the biggest leather festivals in America, launched as an anti-gentrification demonstration uniting queer communities in the SoMa neighbourhood in San Francisco.

Leathermen have much to teach us, in and out of the sack, and you can start by diving into this episode where the water is a deliciously...human temperature.

–

🤑 Subscribe to our ⁠Patreon⁠, if you have the means and the madness to do so.

📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our monthly ⁠newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.

✍️ Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.

–

Episode Credits

Written and hosted by Bash

Edited by Alex Toskas

Produced by Dani Henion

Guest: Race Bannon

To access the full version of this episode, join our Patreon. Our community awaits with legs open and mouth ajar 🤤

www.patreon.com/historicalhomos

–

Why should anyone care about a queen who lived 400 years ago and did nothing but party, spend money, and sponsor musical theatre?

If I have to answer that question for you, you're in the wrong place.

This week, we cover the fabulously insane world of King Christina of Sweden, the lesbian (?), trans (?), or possibly intersex (?) sovereign who abdicated her Scandi throne to move down South and party with the art-loving, wine-guzzling, loose-moraled Catholics.

My guest, Veronica Buckley, wrote the book on Christina, and has another one coming out on European royals next year. I am obsessed with her.

King Christina was a scandal in her own time: a difficult, frustrating figure, but also a brilliant strategist and profound thinker who wrote, 400 years ago, that the soul has no gender.

Her magnificent ego got her into plenty of trouble, but while she abandoned the crown and burned through all her cash, she never stopped making bold plans for her own life.

Selfish, rich, insane, and living in a Roman palazzo? It's giving White Lotus Season 2 but #MakeItBaroque.

So get ready to dive in, because the Swedish meatball water is a tantalising...human temperature.

–

🤑 Subscribe to our ⁠Patreon⁠, if you have the means and madness to do so.

📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our monthly ⁠newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.

✍️ Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.

–

Episode Credits

Written and hosted by Bash

Edited by Alex Toskas

Produced by Dani Henion

Guest: Veronica Buckley

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To access the full version of this episode, join our Patreon at the link below. Our community awaits you with legs open, heart full, and mouth slightly ajar 🤤

www.patreon.com/historicalhomos

–

Welcome to the wild and infuriating world of ancient homophobia!

You know how everyone thinks ancient Greece and Rome were queer free-for-alls, where all holes were goals (as long as you were a male, bisexual top) and pederasty was the only acceptable form of same-sex love between men?

Yeah, well that's not quite the full story.

We're thrilled to introduce to the podcast Harry Tanner, the author of The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Love. Harry joins us to discuss his fascinating research into the Greek, Hebrew, Roman, and Christian origins of homophobia.

We cover:

• The story of two gay lovers overthrowing Athens' last tyrant
• Ancient Greece's porn pot industry (Onlyfans, but make it ceramic!)
• The real meaning of Leviticus and the story of Sodom & Gomorrah in the ancient Hebrew Torah
• The surprisingly homophobic writings of small-time philosophers like friggin' PLATO and ARISTOTLE
• And, for our Patreon subscribers, a deeper dive into the STRAIGHT historian who bequeathed us our current, warped view of ancient Greek homosexuality

If you were ever told that homosexuality or queerness is "unnatural," this episode is required listening for you.

Because we show how homophobia, like homosexuality, is simply a social and cultural construction. As Harry Tanner explains, it is a response to political and economic instability. A desire for control. That's the only human thing about it.

Same-sex desire occurs naturally in every society and culture in history. But condemning it only seems to happen when there is profound economic inequality in those societies.

Get ready to dive into this fascinating story of homophobia's ancient history.

The chastity cages are mandatory and the water is a preposterously inviting...human temperature.

–

🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Semen-stained tunics sold separately.

🤑 Please support the burgeoning Historical Homos empire on our ⁠Patreon⁠, if you have the means – or the madness – to do so.

📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our monthly ⁠newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.

✍️ Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review on Apple or Spotify.

–

Episode Credits

Written and hosted by Bash

Edited by Alex Toskas

Produced by Dani Henion

Guest: Dr. Harry James Tanner

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why is Disney's Hercules one of the greatest LGBTQ+ films ever made?

This episode attempts to answer that fraught and necessary question.

As you may know, Hercules (1997) is a story about a small-town girl who goes to the big city to discover himself, become famous, land a few sponsorship deals, and build a chosen family in an imperfect world.

It's like All About Eve but with much, much better music. (Though Hades and Bette Davis look uncannily alike, I'll admit.)

Hercules was the first anatomically male Disney princess to grace the silver screen – and this innovation changed the lives of every gay boy and girl born between 1987 and 1997.

The fact that it has some of the sharpest writing of the Disney Renaissance – and deeply layered mythological references – did not escape our notice either.

Which is why Bash and his honoured guest, Liv Albert (Let's Talk About Myths, Baby!) have embarked on a heroic quest to explore:

• 🏺 the queer origins of the original Greek hero, Herakles
• 🏺 a VERY close queer reading of the Disney film
• 🏺 Hades' camp, power-hungry effeminacy
• 🏺 Meg's BFH (Big Fag Hag) energy
• 🏺 Hercules' NYC twink to WeHo twunk story arc

By the end of it all you will find out that, honey, we did indeed mean HUNKULES.

So come on in and don't be shy! The water is...human temperature.

–

🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Pain and Panic sold separately.

🤑 Please consider supporting the podcast on our Patreon, if you have the means – or the madness – to do so.

📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.

✍️ Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.

–

Episode Credits

Written and hosted by Bash

Edited by Alex Toskas

Produced by Dani Henion

Guest: Liv Albert

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wait, what’s so gay about witches, you ask?

First of all — sit down.

When I was a young f/hag in the late ’90s, Wicca was having a moment. The Halliwell sisters ruled the WB, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock were burying men in their back gardens, and I gobbled the GAGathon down with glee.

Only later did I realize what made these witchy bitchies so alluring: it wasn’t (just) that they were different — it was that they were powerful.

Outsiders who could fight back. Like the X-men...or democratic socialists.

But were they always outsiders? No! In the ancient world, everyone dabbled in magic. Pagans love a hag with a herb garden.

Then Christianity came along and ruined everything. AS ALWAYS.

By the 20th century, witchcraft was beginning to mean "freedom" to a lot of repressed Westerners. Which might explain why nearly half of Wiccans today identify as queer.

Join us for this Halloween special as we trace The Craft™ from ancient love spells to Victorian occultists, with brilliant guest Professor Marion Gibson.

Together we ask:

🧙‍♀️ When did “wise women” in the woods become “evil hags”?

🔥 Why did we burn so many witches?

🌍 How did colonialism export Europe’s hag-phobia worldwide?

💅 And how did queer people turn witchcraft into a symbol of defiance, glamour, and spiritual fulfilment?

So come on in, the cauldron-water is human temperature.

–

🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Beard and severed thumb sold separately.

📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and do ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.

Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please do leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.

Episode Credits

Written and hosted by Bash

Edited by Alex Toskas

Produced by Dani Henion

Guest: Professor Marion Gibson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Remember when you found out you were gay (iconic of you btw) and you thought:

"Oh this is fine – I'll just have a regular heterosexual wife, a couple of kids, and a very elaborate sex life on the side."

Just me? OK, fine.

But the question remains: why do little gay children like me grow up assuming a straight nuclear family is our only option?

Has family always been one man, one woman, and a couple of snot-nosed heirs to the milkman?

This week, we’re talking to writer and educator Kirsty Loehr, author of A Short History of Queer Parenting, as we uncover:

• What family looked like before “heterosexuality”
• Matriarchal hunter-gatherers for whom all holes were goals, plus Amazons and Jesus' 2 dads
• Victorian respectability politics vs. Oscar Wilde
• DIY lesbian turkey-baster chic
• And why men are obsessed with spreading their seed.

It’s a fluid-filled romp through the history of chosen families, accidental babies, and deliberate love.

JOIN THE CULT

🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Turkey baster sold separately.
📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and do ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.
Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please do leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.

Episode Credits
Written and hosted by Bash.Guest Kirsty Loehr.Edited by Alex Toskas.Produced by Dani Henion.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Hollywood was swarming with gay people."

You know how Pedro Pascal hasn't come out yet? Well: this episode will explain why.

Between the 1930s and 1960s, the Hays Code banned “sexual perversion” of all kinds from the silver screen, which (spoiler alert) meant queers.

That has bequeathed us a predominantly homophobic industry in Hollywood, even if the stars and culture have always been decidedly – how do you say? – VERY GAY.

This week we dive into the queerness of Hollywood’s first Golden Age.

We cover:

• The pre-Code era archetypes of pansies, sissies, butches, and sapphics, oh my!
• The Code's first filmic victim: a 1936 adaptation of Lillian Hellman's thesbian stage classic The Children’s Hour
• Hitchcock’s Rope, featuring two fascist dandy murderers whose day jobs included playing the piano and being fantastically rich
• The legacy of homophobia and queer desire in post-Code films up to the present

This week, Bash is joined by film critic and filmmaker, Michael Koresky, who is the recent author of Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness — a love letter to the sly, coded, and deeply horny films that the uptight, antisemitic, racist, homophobic, Catholic censors forced out of the era's greatest artists.

Hollywood was always swarming with queers, as Michael puts it, but people weren't naïve or stupid. We saw the signs – and we shot each other furtive glances as we hid our brain-boners...

🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Wigs and cigarettes sold separately.

📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.

Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review on Apple or Spotify.

Episode Credits

Written and hosted by Bash.

Edited by Alex Toskas.

Produced by Dani Henion.

Guest host: Michael Koresky.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"An important precedent was set: fascist groups will always use you until you're no longer useful to them."

Welcome to one of history’s darkest (and dumbest) closets: fascists who are also, annoyingly, gay.

From Hitler’s Brownshirt boy toy, Ernst Röhm, to closeted McCarthyists like Roy Cohn, to lesbian “nationalist” hypocrites like Alice Weidel — it seems that the 20th and 21st centuries gave rise not only to modern fascism, but to a couple of queer rightwing nutjobs as well.

Join Bash and his gorgeous guest this week, Alexis Sakellaris, as they wade into the icy swamp water of gay fascism to ask: why do some of our siblings keep ending up on the wrong side of history?

Along the way we discover:

• Ernst Röhm's gay Nazi clique that met in Berlin drag bars
• The Lavender Scare, a lesser known gay witch hunt that issued from the communist-targeting "Red Scare"
• The queer fascination with skinhead aesthetics that no one asked for
• And Alice Weidel, the blonde, blue-eyed German lesbian who hates… well....everyone who isn't that

It’s an episode full of hypocrisy, homophobia, and hidocious messes — proof that queerness doesn’t automatically make you good. Just really, really organized.

🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Hordes of idiotic followers sold separately.

📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.

Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.

Episode Credits: Written and hosted by Bash. Edited by Alex Toskas. Produced by Dani Henion.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.