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Due to personal circumstances, including a recent personal tragedy, Queer as Fact is going on hiatus for the immediate future. We still love this podcast and are dedicated to bringing queer history to you all, but do not have the capacity to do so right now. We look forward to returning in 2024.

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the Marsha P Johnson and stonewall podcasts mentioning Anita Bryant gives me flashbacks of when I remember learning that someone threw a fruit pie in her face on live TV.

Hahaha yes, I am always pleased to be reminded of Anita Bryant having a pie thrown in her face.

For anyone who hasn't seen the video yet...

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Hi guys! I'm listening your latest episode (Frieda Belinfante) and as a Dutch lesbian, it's very moving to hear this part of Dutch history told to me, especially because I was kinda unaware that it existed. Willem Arondeus's words moved me a lot as well.

You guys make my favourite podcasts, I share them with everyone who might be interested and re-listen to many episodes. Thank you so much for all the work and effort you put into your research, so I can listen to your cheerful voices when I'm commuting, cycling, working out or doing the dishes.

Lesbian salute!

Thank you so much for both your kind words and for sharing the podcast! We don't advertise and with social media increasingly a hellscape (it's such a worrying sign that Tumblr is by far our most functional platform), word of mouth is a BIG source of new listeners for us.

Lesbian salute right back at you! <3

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Frieda Belinfante

Today's episode is on the Dutch cellist, conductor, and WWII resistance fighter Frieda Belinfante. Join us to hear about Frieda's groundbreaking career as a female conductor, the many women who fell in love with her, and how to forge a 1940s Dutch ID card in excruciating detail.   

Listen here

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

If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon, checking out our merch, and following us on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook.

[Image: Frieda dressed in a men's jacket and tie with a masculine haircut, smoking a cigarette and looking directly at the camera.]

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We've had some delays in editing, so our episode intended for the 1st of October won't be out for a couple of days. Thank you for your patience!

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Did you known that the first person to hijack a plane was a gay palaeontologist?

When the Romanian army marched into Transylvania at the end of WWI, Franz Nopcsa - a Hungarian aristocrat - made the decision to flee. He didn’t have the necessary papers to leave the country, but he was able to use forged papers to get him a chartered flight to the border. Halfway there, he pointed a gun at the pilot, and demanded he fly all the way to Vienna, where they landed safely. The Romanians invited Franz to return in 1920 to work for the Geological Institute in Bucharest.

Learn more

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Bajazid Elmaz Doda (left) and Franz Nopcsa (right).

Bajazid and Franz met in Bucharest in 1906. Bajazid was a young man who had left his Albanian village looking for work. Franz was an aristocratic palaeontologist and ethnographer with an interest in Albania. The two men became lovers, and spent the next 27 years together, travelling Albania and then settling in Austria. Bajazid wrote his own ethnographic work, recording the culture of Upper Reka Valley where he had grown up, and his fears for its destruction in WWI. His village, Stirovica, was razed by the Bulgarian army in 1916.

Sadly, suffering from depression, on 25 April 1933, Franz shot Bajazid, and then himself, killing both men.

Learn more

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Two highlights from the sketches of gay Hungarian palaeontologist Franz Nopcsa (1877-1933). After his sister discovered dinosaur bones on the family estate when Franz was 17, he dedicated his life to their study, often working alongside his partner, Bajazid Elmaz Doda.

Sadly, in 1933, suffering from poor mental health, Franz shot himself and Bajazid, killing both men.

Learn more

Top image: 1907 illustration of the 'running proavis' theory of the development of flight in dinosaurs. Source

Bottom image: Sketch of Struthiosaurus, 1915. Source

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Happy birthday Horace Walpole!

Horace was born on 24 September 1717. Here he is, the probably gay, asexual inventor of gothic fiction, enjoying a relaxed afternoon in the library with his dog. To share some key facts about Horace on this important day:

He authored the seminal gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, and also coined the incredibly gothic word 'gloomth'

He once wrote to a possible lover “My satisfaction arises from your passion not from my own…” and was described by friends as “untost by [sexual] passions”.

He wrote poetry about a fairy named Patapan, after his dog.

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Happy Celebrate Bisexuality Day!

While many parts of the queer community mark visibilty or awareness days, the word "Celebrate" was conciously chosen for Celebrate Bisexuality Day on the 23rd of September.

To quote one of the day's founders, Wendy Curry (left):

"Pride is an outward act - letting the world know we were not ashamed of who we were. C[elebrate] B[isexuality] D[ay] was meant to be an inward act. Getting our community together to celebrate who were we and how privileged we were to be who we are."

Shout out to all our bi followers on this day!

[Image: Wendy Curry with the day's two other founders, Michael Page (centre) and Gigi Raven Wilbur (right).

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Happy bi week! The first American woman in space was bi astronaut Sally Ride!

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Just learned a teeny bit about Barbara Jordan from equalitytexas on Instagram. She was a black Texan politician, first black woman in the Texas Legislature and first Southern Black women in the US House of Representatives. She also had a long-time partner.

I saw the video on their page today and was immediately like “I need a Queer as Fact episode about her”

You’re not the first person to think this! She is on our list of suggested episode topics and I think she would make a very interesting discussion.

-Alice

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Just a thought, I have some strong feelings for some of the historic people you have spoken about e.g. I feel like I would have not really liked Oscar Wilde nor gotten on well with him, that's also the same with Mary Shelley (although I think with both of them I'd still be like I love your works, I just don't like them as a person, like I wouldn't want to hang out with them).

I feel like I would have liked to spend time with Tchaikovsky, mainly because he seems like a chill kind of guy and yeah :) (I also appreciate his music a whole lot more after I've listened to your podcast <3). I'll think of some more but those three stood out to me the most. ANyway thank you for listening <3

Thank you for sharing! I definitely find as we research people we start to feel very close to them, and form opinions on whether we would have liked to hang out. Though really I would take the chance to meet pretty much any of them! -Alice

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Happy bi week! Julius Caesar was described by contemporary Gaius Scribonius Curio as “every woman’s man and every man’s woman.”

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[Image: marble bust of Caesar]

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Happy bi week! Christina, 17th century monarch of Sweden, had a relationship with a lady-in-waiting, abdicated the throne, and left the country to pursue a life of arts and scholarship in Rome, where they wrote coded love letters to a cardinal.

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[Image: portrait of Christina painted by Sébastien Bourdon]

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Happy bi week! Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was married for much of her life to fellow artist Diego Rivera, and also had relationships with several women.

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Happy bi week! This is 8th-century Arabic poet Abu Nuwas, who wrote love poems for both men and women!

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[Image: sketch of Abu Nuwas drawn by Khalil Gibran in 1916]