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.
01.03.2026 06:50
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βWe both are talents who paint our eyebrows.
Unconventional as I am,
I want to possess the promised heart of a beautiful woman like you.β
This poem was written in the 1800s by the WΓΊ ZΗo, describing her love for another woman, QΔ«ng LΓn.
#queerpoetry
22.02.2026 00:34
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Ancient Roman silver cup with a design showing two men having sex
In 1999 the British Museum bought the Warren Cup for Β£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...
20.02.2026 23:48
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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. Canβt wait to bring you this interview in March!
20.02.2026 04:08
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1872 print of Carmilla, a vampire leaning over Laura, a young woman, while she sleeps.
ββ¦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, βYou are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever.β
-Carmilla, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, 1872
17.02.2026 10:18
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Screenshot of a poll on Patreon. The three options are:
NgΓ΄ XuΓ’n Diα»u - 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
16.02.2026 08:51
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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 β 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.
05.02.2026 10:19
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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.
04.02.2026 09:05
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Born in 1728, dβΓon 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 β stipulating the condition that they be publicly recognised as a woman.
04.02.2026 09:05
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Painting of ChevaliΓ¨re d'Γon, 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 βtransgenderβ, 19th-century sexologist Havelock Ellis coined the word βEonismβ, using the name of French diplomat and spy ChevaliΓ¨re d'Γon to describe βpeople who took pleasure in behaving and dressing like the opposite sexβ.
So, who was d'Γon?
#transhistory
04.02.2026 09:05
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Qiu Miaojin, a young Taiwanese woman. She has short hair and round glasses, and is wearing a large blue coat.
β- this creature is animated by a spirit in perpetual motion, always ready to take-leave, to spring into action, which is to say passion, and to leap from one form to the next - β
- French writer Hélène Cixous describing Taiwanese lesbian author Qiu Miaojin
03.02.2026 10:00
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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.
23.01.2026 09:19
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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 Australiaβs refusal to recognise same-sex marriage.
(2/3)
19.01.2026 09:37
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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:
ββ¦this particular flag is the flag of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, which has declared war on Australia. β¦ It is the flag of a hostile nationβ¦β
(1/3)
19.01.2026 09:37
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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 Wildeβs tomb in PΓ¨re 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 Oscarβs tomb?
#queerhistory #oscarwilde #gayhistory
18.01.2026 00:03
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I am reliably informed that this episode mentions my article exploring transmasculine readings of CΓΊ Chulainn!
Listeners might also be interested in my recent article looking queerly at CΓΊ Chulainn's relationships with Fer Diad, LΓ‘eg and Emer: journal.fi/scf/article/...
15.01.2026 18:16
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Text reads: NEW PODCAST EPISODE! CΓΊ 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 CΓΊ 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/
15.01.2026 11:14
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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. Thereβs so little scholarship on queer women compared to queer men, so I was so excited to discover these two women!
11.01.2026 01:24
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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
11.01.2026 01:24
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