Queer as Fact

These were some of their answers:

but when they were represented, they said:

Queer history matters!

We chatted this week on our podcast about these answers – what good queer representation looks like, what’s changed since 2019, and what still needs to change.

This is Nellie Small, known in the first half of the 20th-century as one of Australia’s best jazz singers, but barely recognised today.

Nellie performing in male dress, sporting a wardrobe of at least a dozen tailored suits, ranging from bright crimson to pure white. From the late 1920s, Nellie lived with her manager Edith Meggitt, and Edith’s family. The two women were extremely close, and Nellie was considered a part of the family.

Check out our podcast if you want to learn more about Nellie!

I went to an interesting queer art talk recently which brought up John Singer Sargent in passing and I thought he would be a good podcast episode. Not sure if he's on the list but here is my petition for him!

Loving the recent episodes particularly the one on Rafiki which was a film I watched as a wee queer youth when it came out and I thought was wonderful

Hey! Thanks for the suggestion - John Singer Sargent is indeed on our list of suggested episodes.

So glad you enjoyed Rafiki! Despite the more violent sections, it was such a lovely and colourful film and we really enjoyed it.

Written by Black, queer activist James Baldwin, the 1956 novel ‘Giovanni’s Room’ explores questions of masculinity and sexuality through the eyes of its main character, David, a queer American living in Paris. It is considered one of the most influential novels of the 20th century.

Happy birthday to Mama Tere Strickland, born on the 15th of July in 1963.

New podcast episode: Queer representation in museums

Today's episode is on queer representation in museums - what it looks like, what queer people want it to look like, and how we can get there.

This episode was originally released on our Patreon in 2024. It is based off Alice’s Masters research, which you can read here.

Check out our website, where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact.

Our podcast last week was on Masoud El Amaratly, a trans man born in Iraq at the end of the 19th century. Masoud’s transmasculine identity, known as mustarjil, was recognised and accepted among his culture, the Ahwari people of southern Iraq. We got some comments about whether transfemininity was similar accepted at the time in Ahwari culture, and it looks like the answer is yes!

Happy birthday to Julius Caesar, born on 12 (or possible 13) July in the year 100 BCE!

Caesar was famously described by his contemporary Gaius Scribonius Curio as “every women’s man and every man’s woman”, rumoured to have had a sexual relationship with King Nicomedes of Bithynia in his youth, and mocked for the supposedly ‘effeminate’ care he took of appearance and dress. While it’s impossible for us to make definitive statement about Caesar’s sexuality from the sources available to us 2000 years later, the way he was talked about by his contemporaries is a fascinating insight into how Romans thought and talked about sexuality, sex, and gender.

Happy birthday to the gay US artist Martin Wong, born #onthisday in 1946. His works reflected a diverse range of influences, from Asian mythologies to urban scenes in New York. Many had homoerotic themes, and celebrated his queer sexuality, with his fascination with male firefighters being a common motif.

Martin did of AIDS-related illness in 1999, at the age of 53. The Martin Wong Foundation, founded by his mother Florence, continues to support young artists, providing university scholarships and similar supports.

Trans activist Marsha P Johnson was the founder of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, which provided a home, legal aid, and other support to homeless trans youth. She would readily give away her belongings or her last dollar to those who asked, and is remembered by those her knew her for her kindness and generosity.

Good question, and happy Disability Pride Month! We have covered a few disabled subjects on our podcast, among them:

Bisexual ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, considered one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his late 20.

12th-century German nun Hildegard of Bingen. She led religious communities, had a close relationship with another nun, Richardis of Slade, and preached against church corruption. She saw visions which were quite likely caused by migraines, and other chronic illness, although the specifics are not clear in the sources we have on her.

Bisexual Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who experienced long-term health issues following a bus crash in her teens. She first started to paint after this accident, on a special easel designed to be used in bed.

Gay Hungarian palaeontologist Franz Nopcsa who suffered long-term mental and physical health affects after a severe assault and head-injury. In the 1920s he was the director of the Royal Hungarian Institute of Geology, a job which he mostly did from his bed due to his disability. (Warning this episode includes a murder-suicide)

US lesbian civil rights and feminist activist Audre Lorde, who was so short-sighted as to be legally blind as a child. She was placed in separate classes to non-disabled peers, where she discovered less was expected of her, which she described as a “rude awakening” that “ability had nothing to do with expectation” – something that affected her activism for the rest of her life.

Bisexual Australian labour activist Lesbia Harford – had a serious heart condition from a young age, which saw her lips sometimes turn blue, and led to hospitalisation.

Rosetta Tharpe, the bisexual Black woman known as the godmother of rock and roll. She had diabetes and in her 50s had her leg amputated as a result. She continued to perform, sitting or hopping around on stage.

And bonus mention to Shelly Bauman – she wasn’t queer, but she did own and operate Seattle’s first openly gay bar, Shelly’s Leg, the name referencing the fact that she funded the bar with the payout she received from, apparently, having her left blown off by a confetti canon at a Bastille Day parade.

Happy birthday to bisexual poet, professor and activist June Jordan!

Almost 3000 years ago, the Iliad told the story of the Greek heroes Achilles and Patroclus in the Trojan war. According to myth, they were buried together, with their ashes combined in a single urn. Since then, the two have often been understood as a couple.

Want to get up to speed on millennia of debate over important questions like whether Achilles or Patroclus topped? Check out our podcast!

This track is one of the earliest known recordings of a trans person!

You're listening to Masoud El Amaratly, born in Iraq at the end of the 19th century. Masoud was a mustarjil, a transmasculine identity among the Ahwari people of southern Iraq. He became famous in the 1920s and 1930s, recording traditional Iraqi music, and touring across Iraq and surrounding countries.

Happy birthday to bisexual Mexican artist Frida Kahlo born 6July 1907.

Frida is best known for her iconic self portraits, and her art exploring themes of gender, revolutionary politics, and Mexican nationalism. She married fellow artist Diego Rivera, and had relationships with several women throughout her life.

Check out our podcast on her to celebrate!

Looking for some new music to listen to?

There are over 70 surviving songs written by the 12th-century nun Hildegard of Bingen! Hildegard was a pioneering woman in the Church, preaching against Church corruption at a time when women preaching in public was forbidden, and raising eyebrows with her close relationship with fellow nun Richardis of Stade.