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Bad Gays

Bad Gays

136 episodes — Page 1 of 3

Mandelson: A Homosexual History - Episode Three

May 13, 20261h 8m

Mandelson: A Homosexual History - Episode Two

May 6, 20261h 2m

Mandleson: A Homosexual History–Episode One

Apr 29, 202652 min

S9 Ep 135Special Episode: Daniel Dunglas Home

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Daniel Dunglas Home always knew he wasn't like the other boys. Not because he was gay, but because, while they were out on the sports field playing rugby, he was communicating with the dead. Despite being a huge celebrity in Victorian England, today Home is almost unknown. In this special episode, academic and novelist Avery Curran talks to Huw about one of the most significant mediums of 19th century Spiritualism, and what his life and reputation can tell us about gender and sexuality in high society at the time. ----more---- SOURCES: Heyday of a Wizard - Jean Burton The First Psychic - Peter Lamont Experiences in Spiritualism with DD Home - Viscount Adare ‘Very hot indeed’: Intimacy between men in Experiences in Spiritualism with Mr. D. D. Home - Avery Curran, Journal of Victorian Culture Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Apr 2, 20261h 17m

S9 Ep 134TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays February 2026: Mandelson, Gay Mafias, And Liza's Floor Mop

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THIS IS A TRAILER! SUBSCRIBE ON APPLE OR PATREON TO HEAR THE FULL EPISODE We have heard your pleas. The news has made them even more urgent. We're going to do a whole main feed Peter Mandelson episode in Season 10: but for now, here's a taste of our legally-bounded musings on his arrest and what it says about UK political culture. We also talk about a Wired article about a supposed gay mafia in the tech world that doesn't deliver on its promises, and take Gaggony Guncles questions from an enby worried about their relationships with their cis family and a cis woman wondering what to call her enby coparent. Plus, we descend into madness imagining Liza Minnelli hosting a floor mop infomercial.

Feb 27, 202612 min

S9 Ep 133Tom of Finland

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Live from Helsinki, we close out our season with Tom of Finland, the man who advertised the concept of gay masculinity to gays becoming men. Originally his illustrations were controversial because of his graphic depictions of gay sex, of sodomy and cocksucking and fisting in a pre-liberation, pre-internet age. Today, things have changed so much you can buy Tom branded products in department stores like Selfridges, and books of his drawings in Barnes and Noble. But at the same time, his representations of Black men and of Nazi aesthetics have drawn new criticisms, even while the fisting and piss and cock-sucking have become perfect home decorations. And the influence of his work on gay male sex cultures, on ideals of queer masculinities, and especially on leather scenes, remains enormous and contested. ----more---- SOURCES: F. Valentine Hooven III, Tom Of Finland: His Life And Times (St. Martin's, 1992) Arnie Kantrowitz, Swastika Toys, in Leatherfolk, edited by Mark Thompson, pp. 193–209. Hunter Scott, “Facing Sameness: Reconsidering the Radicality of Tom of Finland.” InVisible Culture 36, https://doi.org/10.47761/494a02f6.262a8f58. Carta Monir, "Morally Erect," Lux Magazine, https://lux-magazine.com/article/tom-of-finland/ https://worldcrunch.com/in-the-news/tom-of-finland-double-life-of-the-gay-icon-who-changed-a-nation/ https://www.myhelsinki.fi/visit/lgbtqia-in-helsinki/tom-of-finlands-helsinki/ https://kunstkritikk.com/the-cult-of-iconified-homosexuality/ Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Feb 10, 20261h 25m

S9 Ep 132William Beckford

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William Beckford, who was born not in Bath but in London in 1760, is someone for whom property, in every sense of the word, was the defining factor in his life. He was a novelist, a member of parliament, a collector of art, antiquities, and books, a travel writer, and a builder of great palaces; he regarded himself as a man of culture, but he made his cultural qualities known by buying and building things. And he could afford to buy and build things - ridiculous things - because he was rich, extraordinarily rich, richer than we can possibly imagine. So all his status, his legacy, the thing that made him who he was, came from his wealth, and his wealth came from another form of property he owned: chattel slaves. And that wealth also enabled him to pursue troubling relationships with boys. ----more---- SOURCES James Lees-Milne, William Beckford (Compton Press, 1976) J. W. Oliver, The Life of William Beckford (Oxford University Press, 1932) Guy Chapman, William Beckford (Scribner, 1937) Caroline Stanford, Beckford’s Tower History Album (National Trust) A number of essays on Rictor Norton’s website about him including “The Fool at Fonthill” https://www.rictornorton.co.uk/ Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Feb 3, 20261h 9m

S9 Ep 131TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays January 2026: Heated Rivalry

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This trailer is just a preview–for the full episode, click here to subscribe on Patreon, or subscribe directly through Apple Podcasts. We heard you, we see you, we're here for you: it's our take on Heated Rivalry, or at least on the Discourse surrounding it––straight women loving gay romance, social media shitstorms targeting out actors, and shipping. Then we take Gaggony Guncles questions from someone in love with an English public school boy who can't open up and a woman demanding our analysis of the fg hg (or fruit fly!) phenomenon.

Jan 29, 202612 min

S9 Ep 130E. M. Forster

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Live from Sheffield DocFest, it's E. M. Forster: who in his 91 years of life was one of Britain’s most successful novelists. He was raised in a climate of Victorian propriety so extreme he went to university without understanding human reproduction, and then fell in with a secret society known for alternative thinking and "aggressive" homosexuality. Italy — and later India — represented paradises of freedom and liberation in comparison to the cramped, horrid Edwardian upper middle classes. Erotic contact with the working-class/brown Other was the waters of Lourdes for this uptight Englishman, who was never able to transcend his own position. ----more---- SOURCES Wendy Moffat, E. M. Forster: A New Life (Bloomsbury, 2010). https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-man-out-of-time-e-m-forsters-a-passage-to-india-at-100-and-the-legacies-of-colonialism-236324 https://www.varsity.co.uk/features/25279 http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/cambridge_apostles_S.pdf https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/11/06/forster-love-story/ https://variety.com/2017/film/global/james-ivory-why-wont-u-s-actors-do-nude-scenes-starting-with-call-me-by-your-name-stars-1202581485/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/03/23/man-with-a-past https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/diversity/lgbt-history/fwwhomosexuality/forster-fww/# https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/17/e-m-forster-my-policeman https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n01/alan-hollinghurst/poor-dear-how-she-figures https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/books/review/Toibin-t.html Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Dec 30, 20251h 2m

S9 Ep 129TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays December 2025

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It's never too late to give the gift of Bad Gays this holiday season: invite a friend or loved one into our community at https://www.patreon.com/badgayspod/gift This month, we discuss Christmas spirit, the cancellation of the Netflix Marines drama Boots and the death of homonationalism, and then take a Gaggony Guncles question from a listener who needs to hear that He's Just Not That Into You.

Dec 24, 20258 min

S9 Ep 128Captain Moonlite

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Another episode down under: Andrew George Scott is best remembered to history as the enigmatic “Captain Moonlite”, and the story of his short but eventful life is a fascinating tale of personal conscience, colonialism, and criminality. Born in Ireland, he was taken by his family to New Zealand, became a military man, attempted to become a priest, robbed a bank, toured as an inspirational speaker, held up a sheep station, and requested to be buried in the arms of his lover. ----more---- SOURCES: Paul Terry, In Search of Captain Moonlite: Bushranger, Conman, Warrior, Lunatic (Allen & Unwin, 2013) Stephan Williams, The Wantabadgery Bushrangers: A Partial Study (Popinjay Publications, 1991) https://www.themonthly.com.au/november-2015/essays/queer-bushranger https://queergoldfields.au/ Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Dec 23, 202552 min

S9 Ep 127Tracey Wigginton

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! The place: Queensland, Australia; a state just recovering from decades of rule by "hillbilly dictator" Joh Bjelke-Petersen, a petty authoritarian with a reputation for brutal homophobia and the even more brutal repression of street protest. The time: the late Eighties, at the height of the AIDS epidemic and public fear about queers and blood. The woman: Tracey Wigginton, a deeply disturbed woman from an abusive background who committed a horrifying crime. The media saw a potential scandal, and created one: it was easier to believe lesbians are vampires than to believe in the endemic nature of family abuse and violence in our society. ----more---- SOURCES: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265940376_Biting_the_hand_that_breeds_the_trials_of_Tracey_Wigginton https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/paroled-lesbian-vampire-killer-tracey-wigginton-will-get-away-with-lies/news-story/d7f1890bf3cb800c110a63d9afae6573 https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-news-vampire-killer-tracey-wigginton-facebook-posts/09282693-2a38-4a28-b774-e4e13ce75528 Wiggington, Tracey. "A perspective on long term imprisonment." Hecate, vol. 28, no. 1, May 2002, pp. 163+. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A90137673/LitRC?u=fub&sid=summon&xid=a75e4729. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025. https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/paroled-lesbian-vampire-killer-tracey-wigginton-will-get-away-with-lies/news-story/d7f1890bf3cb800c110a63d9afae6573 https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/lesbian-vampire-killer-who-drank-victims-blood/news-story/09102844937bc5d7f8ae57a6ecaa7d23 https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/crime-and-justice/the-dark-secrets-of-queenslands-lesbian-vampire-killer/news-story/f06485d6f4bedf7aff10c6d0cc0493de https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_266021/UQ266021_OA.pdf?Expires=1754556877&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=RiTUjU3wloJ5ID8FOocSjpBlGCjqSx3tWOlsGk-yjs6t97RfzrIL12lmEqpNzte66K4qvtNWannQlBkdGFt3fpxYMX6BfAPVooV0jWn9XIbe8mtv7dlNoMlY8qlGP12i3ys2cjGijliWW~FlUbT49K78sSDqF2s07VLL2B-joR7iV5IM2SDPzz~mPK9P1GtWClFsA32y3nD7zDGD01owIidTuQEq5iG4eVdJBsdd0Ttam40sGbLnpxE5KH1chiHdDLUn9L7ysMnsfUuU-iFb7LFOuRRFVIRGEP0xfMR7WMKLw-WAJuzldNop789xaNYyIfoohViG7F2D3LeMxrzdZg__ https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/shock-revelation-in-brisbanes-infamous-lesbian-vampire-killing/news-story/ac7ebac0af6c24f5a97d73d200078a38 https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/new-book-reveals-six-personalities-of-vampire-lesbian-killer/news-story/d41b346be98738676f41b52717a3f721 https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/crime-week-dark-secrets-of-australias-lesbian-vampire-murderer/news-story/83ed596770511fa459c4a7feab36ce1c https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/lesbian-vampire-killer-who-drank-victims-blood/news-story/09102844937bc5d7f8ae57a6ecaa7d23 Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Dec 16, 202550 min

S9 Ep 126TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays November 2025: Tourism House Down Boots

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With apologies for the delay, it's your episode of Extra Bad Gays for November of this year. We start by breaking down Ben's fight with a gay underwear brand, Huw's writing residency in an abandoned Austrian castle, and the Netflix series Boots: come for the homonationalism, stay for the shower scenes. Then we premiere our new Gaggony Guncles theme song and tackle a listener question about the ethics and practice of tourism. For the full episode, subscribe on Patreon or Apple Podcasts.

Dec 4, 20257 min

S9 Ep 125Angela Calomiris

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Today we’re discussing a strange and compelling figure, the photographer Angela Calomiris. We can start at the end of her life, as a denizen of Provincetown, the little resort at the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts that has long been a haven for LGBTQ people. Angie had a reputation as a formidable figure in the town as a tough, and not always fair, businesswoman. She had made good money through some stiff deals. But she was also regarded as generous, if eccentric, by others. Yet behind Angie’s role as a local doyenne, she trailed a dark secret about her life as a young photographer in New York. How did Angela end up in Provincetown, and why was the mere sight of her name enough to induce horror in a fellow photographer? In today’s episode, we’ll discuss Angela’s life of FBI collaboration, naming names, secrets and lies. ----more---- Lisa Davis, Undercover girl : the lesbian informant who helped the FBI bring down the Communist Party (Imagine, 2017) Lisa Davis, The Spy Who Came in from the Closet https://glreview.org/article/the-spy-who-came-in-from-the-closet/ David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare (Chicago University Press, 2004) Mason Klein, The radical camera : New York's Photo League, 1936-1951 (Yale University Press, 2011) Carol A. Stabile, The Broadcast 4: Women and the Anti- Communist Blacklist (Goldsmith's Press, 2018) Sophia Starmack, The rise and fall and P’town rebirth of Angela Calomiris https://eu.wickedlocal.com/story/provincetown-banner/2017/05/18/the-rise-fall-p-x2019/4502034007/ Veronica A. Wilson ‘I chose the values I regarded as American’: Sexuality, ethnicity, and FBI informant Angela Calomiris https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/lwish/tcc/2021/00000020/00000020/art00005 Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner. This podcast may contain copyrighted material, and its use is under the principles of fair use for purposes such as commentary, criticism, and parody. All rights belong to the respective copyright holders.

Dec 1, 202548 min

S9 Ep 124Jacob Israël de Haan

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Today's subject, Jacob Israël de Haan, wrote one of the first gay dutch novels. "What is it that I long for," he asked. "The sanctity of Israel or an Arab male prostitute?" Born in 1881 in the Netherlands, he was assassinated by the Haganah paramilitary at the age of 42 in Palestine, having moved there to establish Zion, and then having turned on the Zionist project because of its treatment of the Arabs. His love of young Arab men was both a source of scandal and a very troubling source of evolving solidarity. ----more---- SOURCES https://archive.ph/wkF8y#selection-1069.0-1074.0 https://www-literatuurgeschiedenis-org.translate.goog/teksten/pijpelijntjes?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp http://www.corpse.org/archives/issue_5/critical_urgencies/giebels.htm https://www.gerthekma.nl/ewExternalFiles/Jacob Israël de Haan. Pederast poet between Amsterdam and Jerusalem.pdf https://rabbidunner.com/assassination-in-the-holy-city/#_edn12 https://glreview.org/article/article-964/ https://archive.ph/wkF8y https://www.the-low-countries.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/TLC_24_Chronicle_WASSING_NASSAU.pdf https://www.the-low-countries.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/TLC_24_Chronicle_WASSING_NASSAU.pdf https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/jacob-de-haan-political-poet https://glreview.org/article/article-964/ https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/haan-jacob-israel-de https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/c9843d1e-4703-45eb-a317-4de724d686a1/The multiple lives of Jacob Israel de Haan.pdf https://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/jq-articles/Jacob Israel de Haan - A Queer and Lapsed Zionist in Mandate Palestine.pdf

Nov 25, 202546 min

S9 Ep 123Charles Hitchen

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Let us take ourselves back to a very exciting time: we’re talking London, at the turn of the 18th century. The city is the largest in Europe, and growing - it’s passed the half a million mark and by the end of the century will have doubled. Crime was rife, and getting worse. The law was administered by a pay-to-play criminal justice system: and today's subject, Charles Hitchen, got rich playing both sides while touring through London's infamous "molly houses," back rooms of taverns or gin houses, where queer men could meet, cruise, and even fuck. These developed a much richer culture, with their own slang, faux marriage rituals, and drag performances including a queen giving birth to a wheel of cheddar cheese. ----more---- SOURCES: Gerald Howson, Thief-Taker General: Jonathan Wild and the Emergence of Crime and Corruption as a Way of Life in Eighteenth-Century England (Routledge, 1985) Peter Linebaugh, The London Hanged: Crime And Civil Society In The Eighteenth Century (Verso, 2006) Rictor Norton, The Georgian Underworld, https://rictornorton.co.uk/gu00.htm. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner. This podcast may contain copyrighted material, and its use is under the principles of fair use for purposes such as commentary, criticism, and parody. All rights belong to the respective copyright holders.

Nov 18, 202554 min

S9 Ep 122Dorian Corey

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Many people in our audience will have seen Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning, an exploration of Black and Latinx ball culture in New York City. One of the film’s primary interview interlocutors is Dorian Corey, who is one of the film’s most quotable characters. Corey's life helps us explore the history of drag from balls for enslaved people in the 1870s to today. And did you know that Corey knew, during all those serene interviews in Paris Is Burning, that the man she had murdered in self-defense and not trusted police to handle it (would you?) was mummified in the closet behind her. ----more---- SOURCES https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19931218/1737662/deceased-drag-show-star-leaves-mummy-mystery-behind-in-closet https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/24/burning-down-the-house-debate-paris-is-burning https://files.eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5381/2016/06/16101213/hooks_paris-is-burning.pdf https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/18/style/paris-has-burned.html https://www.swervmagazine.com/entertainment-2/pioneers/ https://queermusicheritage.com/drag-pearl.html https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2005/The-Gay-30S/ https://www.thenation.com/article/society/drag-queen-slave-ball/ https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-legendary-hamilton-lodge-ball-home-at-the-rockland-palace-dance-hall-in-harlem/ https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/queens-and-queers-rise-drag-ball-culture-1920s https://www.jstor.org/stable/2935316?seq=1 https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/24/burning-down-the-house-debate-paris-is-burning https://zagria.blogspot.com/2010/08/dorian-corey-1937-1993-performer.html Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Nov 11, 202558 min

S9 Ep 121Little Richard

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Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Today's episode is about three very different men and how their lives overlapped. The first was a pioneering rock and roll musician who stunned audiences with his fast-paced hits in a quite macho rock world: a huge influence on musicians from Elvis and The Beatles to James Brown, Prince, Patti Smith, Andre 3000, and more. It was a very eclectic mix and he lived an equally fast-paced private life off stage. The second man was a Seventh Day Adventist preacher from the deep south of the United States who preached about sin. The third person was a young Black queer man thrown out of his home by his domineering pastor father in the late 1940s who became a drag performer under the name Princess LaVonne, performing in clubs and for traveling medicine shows and dressing in capes and turbans, singing obscene songs about anal sex while cruising bathrooms for sexual contacts with men. These were all one and the same man: Richard Wayne Penniman, better known by his performing name, Little Richard. ----more---- SOURCES Abdurraqib, Hanif. "What Little Richard Deserved." The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/what-little-richard-deserved Freeman, Scott. "Remembrance: How Little Richard Invented Rock'n'roll in Macon, Georgia." ArtsAtlanta. https://www.artsatl.org/remembrance-how-little-richard-invented-rock-n-roll-in-macon-georgia/ Little Richard: I Am Everything. HBO, dir. Lisa Cortes Little Richard, Live in Paris, 1966: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7TWclEcASU&themeRefresh=1 Nyong'o, Tavia. "Too Black, Too Queer, Too Holy." The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/12/too-black-queer-holy-why-little-richard-never-truly-got-his-dues-turbaned-drag-queen-sexual-underworld Smith, Jami. "The Drag Queens Who Helped Little Richard Invent Rock And Roll." https://www.songsthatsavedyou.com/p/drag-queens-who-helped-little-richard White, Charles. The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Quasar of Rock (Da Capo Press, 1994) Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner. This podcast may contain copyrighted material, and its use is under the principles of fair use for purposes such as commentary, criticism, and parody. All rights belong to the respective copyright holders.

Nov 4, 20251h 5m

S9 Ep 120TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays October 2025

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Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Patreon for the full episode. It's Extra Bad Gays LIVE! from Helsinki, where we discuss Donald Trump–our first straggot President–and his pardoning of George Santos. Then, Ben plugs an upcoming queer leftist novella you'll probably love, freshly translated into English. And two questions from gay guys in their forties invite the Gaggony Guncles to reflect on sex, desire, and the number homophobia has done on our psyches. Cruise carefully, catamites! Smalltownnovella: https://uglyducklingpresse.org/product/smalltownnovella/

Oct 29, 20253 min

Ep 119TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays September 2025

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This month on our subscriber-only show, we discuss the supposed A-Gays of Trump's Washington. Will the people working for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party get their faces eaten, or is their work paradoxically evidence that LGBT liberalism, now in its flop era, actually did deliver something on its own terrible terms? Then, we take on a Gaggony Guncles question from a listener curious how to navigate coming out to a friend who has learned to use their pronouns correctly but seems to take them as an individual exception to broader enby- and transphobia. Join our subscriber community to support our work and hear the full episode.

Sep 30, 202512 min

Ep 118TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays August 2025

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For the full conversation, subscribe in Apple Podcasts or on our Patreon.

Aug 21, 20254 min

S8 Ep 117Special Episode: Coil (with Hannah Pezzack)

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Today, we welcome music writer Hannah Pezzack to talk about the experimental electronica band Coil – namely, its two frontmen and only consistent members: vocalist Geoff Rushton, who performed under the stage name John Balance, and Peter Christopherson, nicknamed “Sleazy." At the heart of it all was an intense interest in the occult: in magic, alchemy, and esoteric symbolism. But just as central was their homosexuality: a queerness expressed through sexualised violence, the taboo, bodily fluids — blood, sweat, and scat — and an obsession with self-annihilation. Subscribe to EXTRA BAD GAYS on Patreon or Apple Podcasts to join the community of subscribing members who make episodes like this possible, and get our monthly chat show about gay culture and politics! ----more---- SOURCES: Hayes Hampton. The Invocation of the Black Sun: Alchemy and Sexuality in the Work of Coil, in Folk Horror Revival: Harvest Hymns Volume I – Twisted Roots (Durham, UK: Wyrd Harvest Press, 2018) David Keenan. England's Hidden Reverse: A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground, Revised and Expanded Edition (London: Strange Attractor Press, 2023; originally published 2003) Cormac Pentecost. Man is the Animal, zine issues 1–4, (Temporal Boundary Press) Genesis P‑Orridge. Nonbinary (New York: Abrams Press, 2022) Nick Soulsby. Everything Keeps Dissolving: Conversations with Coil (London: Strange Attractor Press, 2023) Spencer Sunshine. Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege (London: Routledge, 2024) Cosey Fanni Tutti. Art Sex Music (London: Faber and Faber, 2017) “AN INTERVIEW WITH COIL (Harvest History Month Pt. I),” conducted by Malahki Thorn, Heathen Harvest (originally published 1 April 2004), https://4ibrecords.com/2014/03/05/an-interview-with-coil-harvest-history-month-pt-i/ Hannah Pezzack on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hanapezzack/?hl=en Hannah Pezzack on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hannah-pezzack Many thanks to Alina Valentina and Ruben Verkuylen for their invaluable technical assistance. Gratitude to Elina Tapio (who first introduced me to Coil!) and Marco Segato – both part of eoobe – for keeping the spirit of John and Sleazy alive through their music: https://eoobe.bandcamp.com/ Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Aug 12, 202559 min

S9 Ep 116TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays July 2025

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A preview of our conversation about Mayor Pete this week. For more, subscribe at Patreon or Apple Podcasts.

Jul 31, 202512 min

S8 Ep 115TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays June 2025, The Second: Touring, Representation, and Gaggony Guncles

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For full episodes of Extra Bad Gays, subscribe on our Patreon or directly through Apple Podcasts. Join our community of nefarious nellies and help support the show!

Jun 24, 202512 min

S8 Ep 114Special Episode: Gavin Arthur (with Maurice Casey)

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Join our community of Extra Bad Gays on Patreon or Apple Podcasts for special episodes and more! Have you ever wondered who the sexual link between Edward Carpenter and Allen Ginsburg was? Wonder no more, and meet Gavin Arthur: grandson of US President Chester Allan Arthur, astrologer, sexologist, Irish Republican, sometime Communist, sometime Democrat, Haight-Ashbury hippie rabble-rouser, and chaotic bisexual. Our guide to his life is longtime friend of the show Maurice J. Casey, historian and author of Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism's Forgotten Radicals. This episode is based on research carried out as part of the Queer Norther Ireland: Sexuality before Liberation project at Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University. If you have a moment, do fill out their survey. ----more---- SOURCES: Maurice J. Casey, ‘”I want to be to Ireland what Walt Whitman was to America”: Esotericism and Queer Sexuality in an Irish Social Circle, 1890s-1920s’, History Workshop Journal: https://academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/hwj/dbaf004/8096618?searchresult=1 Lisa Cohen, All We Know: Three Lives, New York, 2012 Philip Longo, ‘Between the Sheets: Gavin Arthur’s Sexual Circulation’, in The Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric, ed. Jacqueline Rhodes and Jonathan Alexander, London, 2022, pp. 140–7 Martin Murray, ‘Walt Whitman, Edward Carpenter, Gavin Arthur and the Circle of Sex’, Walt Whitman Quarterly 22: 3, 2005, pp. 194–8: https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/wwqr/pdf/anc.00943.pdf The 1930 film starring Gavin Arthur and Charlotte Arthur: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_(1930_film) Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Jun 10, 20251h 7m

S8 Ep 113Extra Bad Gays June 2025, The First: Weird Vibes Pride, Edmund White, and Bisexual Dilemmas (TRAILER)

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This is just a trailer! For the full episode, join our community of Extra Bad Gays on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Weird Vibes Pride Month, nefarious nellies! What is this Pride Month's vibe? Who is its target audience? We're confused. How do we build power as queer movements hollowed out by corporate sponsorship appear to crumble? Then, we mourn the late, great Edmund White before turning to our now-standard Gaggony Guncles segment, in which a listener writes in with an exciting bisexual dilemma.

Jun 5, 202516 min

S8 Ep 112Come See Us Live!

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We're coming to a city near you! Berlin on June 7, Sheffield June 20, and Bath June 22! Tickets and info: badgayspod.com/live

May 27, 20250 min

S8 Ep 111TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays - The Sex We Cannot Have

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This month, it's all about a fantastic reader question about the sex we cannot have. What do we learn from it? How do we think about it? What can it teach us? Please keep sending your Gaggony Guncles questions to us: emailbadgays[at]gmail[dot]com. And for the full segment, and to support the show, subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Patreon or Apple Podcasts.

May 7, 20255 min

S8 Ep 110Special Episode: Alexander von Humboldt (with Michael Huldt)

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Today we welcome Michael Huldt, host of Worm From Home, an environmental history podcast focused on East London, to discuss the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. Born in Berlin in 1769, he would travel the world amassing a wealth of botanical, geological, and human knowledge. Working in Europe, Russia, and South America, Humboldt became a pioneer of Western environmental thinking, breaking with contemporary scientific norms to forge an interconnected, ecological view of the world that still resonates today. His life was one of illuminating contradictions, and he is a fascinating figure for thinking about the creation of new concepts of 'Nature' as racial capitalism was in its ascendancy - a vocal anti-slavery advocate, who was personal friends with Thomas Jefferson; an early European proponent of the idea that colonial extraction created massive environment destruction, who also forged a career through that colonial infrastructure; and a man with many famous friends whose very private - and homosexual - private life is still shrouded in mystery and historiographic embarrassment. Support our show and enjoy monthly extra episodes! Subscribe to EXTRA BAD GAYS on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. ----more---- SOURCES https://www.andreawulf.com/about-the-invention-of-nature.html https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/pioneering-maps-alexander-von-humboldt-180973342/ https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/antarctica-2/people-in-antarctica/alexander-von-humboldt/ https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/explore/alexander-von-humboldt/the-sensual-humboldt-is-yet-to-be-discovered https://qnews.com.au/on-this-day-january-6-von-humboldt-tainted-love/ Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Apr 30, 20251h 18m

S8 Ep 109TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays Gaggony Guncles

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Subscribers to our monthly "extra" show get to hear advice segments that we, (hopefully) charmingly refer to as the Gaggony Guncles. Here's last month's sample–for one or two juicy questions and thoughtful answers each month, plus conversations about the latest in queer history, culture, and politics, subscribe at Patreon.com/badgayspod or on Apple Podcasts.

Apr 10, 202511 min

S8 Ep 108Jacques de Molay

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Today’s subject, Jacques de Molay, was the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, or to give them their full title, the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. Ever since their dissolution, the Knights Templar have been associated with all sorts of apparent manifestations - of occultism, of shadowy transnational powerbrokers, as the Guardians of the Holy Grail or whatnot. Today we’re going to steer away from these fantastical theories, because the reality of the Templars is far more interesting. Support us on Patreon and listen to our subscriber-only show EXTRA BAD GAYS. Check out our merch! ----more---- SOURCES: Michael Barber, A New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) Dan Jones, Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Land (New York: Viking, 2019) Dan Jones, The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors (New York: Viking, 2007) Amin Maalouf, The Crusades through Arab Eyes (New York: Schocken Books, 1984) Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix, by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Mar 11, 202551 min

S8 Ep 107TRAILER–Extra Bad Gays February 2025: German Elections and How To Sauna

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This month, we begin with a conversation about the just-occurred German elections. The far right made gains: but the elections offer a ray of hope for the Left, and a conclusive disproving of the "anti-woke" left thesis. Then, we turn to a discussion of a Gaggony Guncles question: how to gay sauna? We give some tips and tricks for a smooth entry into the exciting world of cruising. For the full story, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or here on Patreon.

Feb 28, 202512 min

S8 Ep 106Adele Spitzeder

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Adele Spitzeder, born into operatic royalty, washed up when she tried a career on the stage: so instead, she started accepting bank deposits for 10% monthly interest, and paying old customers with new customers' money. In three years, she amassed deposits of 38 million Gulden, or the equivalent of more than 500,000,000 euros: the world’s first Ponzi scheme. Attempts to squirrel away some money by smuggling it with her girlfriend went about as well as expected. Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays for monthly episodes, our advice segments, and to support our work. Check out our new merch, including hats, shirts, and socks. ----more---- SOURCES: “Adele Spitzeder.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://www.literaturportal-bayern.de/themen?task=lpbtheme.default&id=697. “Betty Vio – Biographische Informationen aus der WeGA.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://weber-gesamtausgabe.de/de/A008536.html. “‘Die Zehn Gebote Der Adele Spitzeder’, Bild 1 von 14 | MDZ.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10999593?q=%28adele+spitzeder%29&page=1. “Digitale Bibliothek - Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum.” Accessed February 18, 2025. https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0006/bsb00067974/images/index.html?fip=193.174.98.30&id=00067974&seite=1000. Dokumentation, Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon und biographische. “Spitzeder, (Johann) Josef.” Text. ISBN 978-3-7001-3213-4. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2003. https://www.biographien.ac.at/oebl/oebl_S/Spitzeder_Josef_1794_1832.xml. Freiberger, Harald. “Geld - Adele Spitzeder und ihr Schneeballsystem.” Süddeutsche.de, November 11, 2017. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/schneeballsystem-es-begann-in-der-au-1.3743735. “Germany - Metternich, Unification, 1815-71 | Britannica,” February 18, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-age-of-Metternich-and-the-era-of-unification-1815-71. Schumann, Dirk. “Der Fall Adele Spitzeder 1872: Eine Studie Zur Mentalität Der ‘Kleinen Leute’ in Der Grübderzeut.” Zeitschrift Für Bayerische Landesgeschichte 58, no. 2/3 (1995): 991–1025. Spitzeder, Adele. Geschichte meines Lebens. Stuttgarter Verlagscomptoir, 1878. Zeno. “Lexikoneintrag zu »Spitzeder-Vio, Betty«. Damen Conversations Lexikon, Band 9. [o.O.] ...” Accessed February 18, 2025. http://www.zeno.org/DamenConvLex-1834/A/Spitzeder-Vio,+Betty. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner. Image via.

Feb 19, 20251h 0m

S8 Ep 105Anne Lister

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She was an industrialist, a lesbian, a landlord, a traveler, a businesswoman, a womanizer, a butch, a snob, a pioneer of gay marriage, a Tory. She was the original Tory girlboss, and19th century English diarist who coined such terms as "grubbling," for mutual masturbation. Ey up love, been grubbling? She was, of course, Anne Lister. Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays for monthly episodes, our advice segments, and to support our work. Check out our new merch, including hats, shirts, and socks. ----more---- SOURCES: Caroline Gonda and Chris Roulston, eds., Decoding Anne Lister: From the Archives to ‘Gentleman Jack’ (Cambridge, United Kingdom New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2025) Jill Liddington, Female Fortune: The Anne Lister Diaries, 1833–36: Land, Gender and Authority: New Edition (Manchester University Press, 2022) H. Whitbread, I Know My Own Heart: The Diaries of Anne Lister, 1791-1840 (New York: New York University Press, 1992) “Packed With Potential,” https://www.packedwithpotential.org/. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Feb 11, 20251h 7m

S8 Ep 104Larry Kramer

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Today we profile Larry Kramer, the writer and AIDS activist. Kramer took space, took credit, operated in the world with tremendous privilege, and was somewhere between actively and passively misogynist and racist. But politically effective people are not always as we imagine them. We document Kramer's exclusions and blind spots, and explore how his hatred and fear of gay male sex culture, one that predated the AIDS epidemic, made his political work less effective; his gay male supremacism that led actual gay men to constantly disappoint him; and his prefiguring of a moralizing social media politics understanding rhetorical maximalism as the proof of radicality. We address Kramer as one of his narrators addressed his stand-in in the first volume of his last novel, The American People: “You fuckster! You are so fucksome. I love you very much.”’ Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays for monthly episodes, our advice segments, and to support our work. Check out our new merch, including hats, shirts, and socks. ----more---- SOURCES: Larry Kramer, Faggots, reprint edition (New York: Grove Press, 2000) Larry Kramer, “March 27, 1983: 1,112 and Counting,” Los Angeles Blade: LGBTQ News, Rights, Politics, Entertainment (blog), May 27, 2020, https://www.losangelesblade.com/2020/05/27/march-27-1983-1112-and-counting/ Larry Kramer, TheNormal Heart and The Destiny of Me: Two Plays (New York: Grove Press, 2000) Ben Miller, “Larry Kramer’s Great Expectations,” Literary Hub (blog), June 11, 2020, https://lithub.com/larry-kramers-great-expectations/ Sarah Schulman, Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc, 2021) Michael Shnayerson, “Kramer vs. Kramer | Vanity Fair,” Vanity Fair | The Complete Archive, accessed February 4, 2025, https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/1992/10/kramer-vs-kramer “Larry Kramer’s Anger Is Essential in Historic ‘Plague’ Speech,” accessed February 4, 2025, https://www.advocate.com/news/2020/5/27/larry-kramers-anger-essential-historic-plague-speech Jane McAlevey on How To Organize for Power,” Current Affairs, April 20, 2019, https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2019/04/jane-mcalevey-on-how-to-organize-for-power. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Feb 5, 20251h 10m

S8 Ep 103TRAILER - Extra Bad Gays: Extra Bad Gays January 2025: Unity Mitford, Lavender Scares, and Gay Guys With Girlfriends

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In this month's subscriber-only episode, we examine some recently discovered diaries from Unity Valkyrie Mitford, odious sister of the odious Tom. How precisely was her brother supposed to be a devoted Nazi but "not an anti-semite?" Only British journalists can tell. Then, we discuss Trump's executive orders in the context of lavender scares past and present before diving into a slutty advice segment about a woman dating two gay guys. She's confused! So are we! Subscribe on Patreon or Apple Podcasts for the full story.

Jan 31, 202512 min

S8 Ep 102Abd Al-Ilah

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The Crown Prince of Iraq, Abd Al-Ilah, ruled the country as a prince regent on behalf of his nephew, from 1939-1953 - although not interrupted. A member of the powerful Hashemite dynasty, Al-Ilah was also an authoritarian antisemite who once took refuge on a British naval ship called the HMS Cockchafer. A dandy, he charmed MP Chips Cannon into writing: "We are very intimate …I never can resist a Regent.” Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays for monthly episodes, our advice segments, and to support our work. Check out our new merch, including hats, shirts, and socks. ----more---- SOURCES: Bloch, Michael. Closet Queens: Some 20th Century British Politicians. London: Little, Brown UK, 2016. Channon, Chips. Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 3): 1943-57. Penguin, 2025. Cole, Juan. “Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the Twentieth Century” 23 (n.d.). Draper, Morris. Interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy, February 27, 1991. https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Draper,%20Morris.toc.pdf. Finnie, David. Shifting Lines in the Sand: Kuwait’s Elusive Frontier with Iraq. London: I.B. Tauris, 1992. Hashimoto, Chikara. The Twilight of the British Empire: British Intelligence and Counter-Subversion in the Middle East, 1948–63. Edinburgh University Press, 2017. Mansfield, Peter, and Nicolas Pelham. A History of the Middle East: Fifth Edition. Updated edition. New York/N.Y: Penguin Books, 2013. Schwartz, Adi. “The Adas Affair.” Tablet Magazine, December 9, 2022. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/adas-affair-jews-iraq. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Jan 29, 202540 min

S8 Ep 101Reed Erickson

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Today's episode profiles an eccentric, wealthy businessman––with the pet tiger, Mexican nudist ashram, ketamine and cocaine habits, and baroque legal battles over the title to various compounds to prove it––who also financially supported trans research, gay history, and dolphin ESP. Reed Erickson forged his own path in a difficult world and his life helps us understand two connections that were crucial for the developing gay and trans liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s: sexology and the New Age. Today's episode of our podcast was recorded before the 2024 United States Presidental election. Given yesterday's executive orders, discussion of the anti-trans backlash and fighting transphobia are more important than ever. Today, please consider contacting Trans Lifeline if you need support, or donating if you are able. ----more---- SOURCES: One From The Vaults, on Reed Erickson: https://soundcloud.com/onefromthevaultspodcast/oftv-5-the-trans-howard-hughes Making Gay History, on Reed Erickson: https://makinggayhistory.org/podcast/reed-erickson/ Bello, Ada. “Reed Erickson, Pioneering Transgender Activist and Philanthropist, 1917-1992.” Outhistory. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/erickson/essay. Devor, Aaron, and Nicholas Matte. “Building a Better World for Transpeople: Reed Erickson and the Erickson Educational Foundation.” International Journal of Transgenderism 10, no. 1 (October 12, 2007): 47–68. https://doi.org/10.1300/J485v10n01_07. Devor, Aaron, and Nicholas Matte. “ONE Inc. and Reed Erickson: The Uneasy Collaboration of Gay and Trans Activism, 1964-2003.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 10, no. 2 (2004): 179–209. Gill-Peterson, Jules. A Short History of Trans Misogyny. London: Verso, 2024. Gill-Peterson, Jules. Histories of the Transgender Child. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2018. Lewis, Abram J. “I Am 64 and Paul McCartney Doesn’t Care: The Haunting of the Transgender Archive and the Challenges of Queer History." Radical History Review 120 (Fall 2014), 13-34. Nunn, Zavier. “Trans Liminality and the Nazi State.” Past & Present 260, no. 1 (August 2023): 123–57. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtac018.

Jan 20, 202556 min

S8 Ep 100Albrecht Muth

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For today’s episode, I we take you into the murky world of the Washington foreign policy elites, and one of its murkiest characters, a man named Albrecht Muth. Who is Albrecht Muth? Well, that’s another question entirely. He claimed to be a dashing German aristocrat and married into Washington's foreign policy elite. The shocking truth became one of official Washington's biggest mysteries... Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays for monthly episodes, our advice segments, and to support our work. Check out our new merch, including hats, shirts, and socks. ----more---- SOURCES: Alexander, Keith L. “Albrecht Muth, 49, Convicted of Murder in Death of Socialite Wife Viola Drath, 91.” Washington Post, January 16, 2014. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/muth-found-guilty-of-murder-in-death-of-socialite-wife/2014/01/16/5a942d9e-7ecd-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html. Foer, Franklin. “The Worst Marriage in Georgetown.” The New York Times, July 6, 2012, sec. Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/magazine/albrecht-muth-and-viola-drath-georgetowns-worst-marriage.html. Meredith Somers. “Drath Murder Case Exposes Bizarre Lifestyle of Georgetown Couple.” The Washington Times. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/24/drath-murder-case-exposes-bizarre-lifestyle-of-geo/ Martin, Adam. “The Odd Behavior of a Husband Arrested for a D.C. Socialite’s Murder.” The Atlantic (blog), August 17, 2011. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/08/unfortunate-behavior-husband-arrested-dc-socialites-murder/354256/. The Daily Beast. “Inside D.C.’s Socialite Murder,” September 8, 2011. https://www.thedailybeast.com/socialite-murder-viola-drath-and-albrecht-muths-tumultuous-marriage/. “Upon Reflection: Albrecht Muth and Viola Drath - Washingtonian,” February 27, 2012. https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/02/27/upon-reflection-albrecht-muth-and-viola-drath/. Washington City Paper. “Viola Drath’s Cultural Legacy: A Look at the Works of a Murdered D.C. Writer,” August 25, 2011. http://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/423666/viola-draths-cultural-legacy-a-look-at-the-works-of-a-murdered-d-c-writer/. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Jan 14, 202552 min

S8 Ep 99Elisar von Kupffer

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A fascist femboy, a Baltic count, an orientalist white supremacist, editor of the first anthology of gay literature, painter of a 30-meter cyclorama featuring 90 androgynous twinks disporting themselves in the nude in a fantasia of the four seasons, devotee of Adolf Hitler, founder of a new religion, and poet: it's Elisar von Kupffer. Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays for monthly episodes, our advice segments, and to support our work. Check out our new merch, including hats, shirts, and socks. ----more---- SOURCES: Marhoefer, Laurie. “Queer Fascism and the End of Gay History.” NOTCHES (blog), June 19, 2018. https://notchesblog.com/2018/06/19/queer-fascism-and-the-end-of-gay-history/. Marhoefer, Laurie. “Was the Homosexual Made White? Race, Empire, and Analogy in Gay and Trans Thought in Twentieth-Century Germany: Race, Empire, and Analogy in Gay and Trans Thought in Twentieth-Century Germany.” Gender & History 31, no. 1 (March 2019): 91–114. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12411. Miller, Ben. In Search Of Lost Time: Primitivist Homomythopoetics and the Self-Invention of the White Gay Man. (Dissertation: Freie Universität Berlin, 2024). Miller, Ben. “Rejecting the Klarwelt: How Elisàr von Kupffer Complicates Queer History.” In To Be Seen: Queer Lives 1900-1950, edited by Miriam Zadoff and Karolina Kühn, 62–75. Munich: Hirmer, 2023. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Jan 7, 20251h 5m

S8 Ep 97Tom Mitford

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Today's episode profiles a very bad bisexual: the lawyer, soldier and society favourite, Tom Mitford. But the idea of featuring Tom is partly a ruse. This will be not just a profile of Tom himself, but of his whole family, and especially his six siblings, the famed Mitford Sisters, whose intense, often conflicting relationships have become something of an obsession for English culture - and not always a very healthy one. They embody so much about the English elite: eccentric, vicious, often listless and desperately sad. We also promise to you, as has become a theme of the podcast, some DBNs - Disturbingly British Names. And an indescribable cover of Right Said Fred by Jessica Mitford and Dr. Maya Angelou, on both voice and kazoo. Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays for more from us. Check out our new merch. ----more---- SOURCES: Lovell, Mary S. The Mitford Girls: The Biography of an Extraordinary Family. New edition. Abacus, 2002. Mitford, Jessica. Hons and Rebels. New York Review Books Classics. New York: New York Review Books, 2004. Mitford, Nancy. The Pursuit of Love. First Edition. New York: Vintage, 2010. Mitford, Nancy. Love in a Cold Climate. 1st edition. Vintage, 2010. Mosley, Charlotte, ed. The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters. UK ed. edition. Fourth Estate, 2012. Thompson, Laura. The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters. St. Martin’s Press, 2016. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.

Dec 31, 20241h 5m

S8 Ep 96Olive Yang

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From almost the first season of the show, we’ve been tantalised by stories of the Burmese gangster Olive Yang. Now, to open season 8, we have their story: Olive was a lesbian — or possibly transmasculine — gangster born royal in 1927 British colonial Burma, who when first married off to a man threw a pot of their own urine at him to prevent the marriage from being consummated. They ran away from polite society, dated actresses, ran opium, were involved with the CIA, and helped negotiate settlements between ethnic groups. Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays for more from us. Check out our new merch. ----more---- SOURCES: Paluch, Gabrielle. The Opium Queen: The Untold Story of the Rebel Who Ruled the Golden Triangle. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2023. Scott, James C., ed. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. Yale Agrarian Studies Series. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner

Dec 24, 202448 min

S7 Ep 95Extra Bad Gays December 2024: Luigi Mangione, Folk Hero? (Trailer)

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available with easy shipping to both sides of the Atlantic. On this month's episode of Extra Bad Gays, we discuss Luigi Mangione, who has now been charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City earlier this month. How do some assassins become folk heroes? Why is there such a groundswell of support for Mangione? Is it just because he's really hot? (He's really hot.) For the full story, and the charming Gaggony Guncles segment that concludes the show, subscribe on Apple or Patreon.

Dec 19, 202415 min

Ep 94Extra Bad Gays November 2024: The Transatlantic Anti-Trans Post-Election Backlash (Trailer)

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Our new merch–evil twink energy socks, camo hats, and more–is now available with easy shipping to both sides of the Atlantic. In the wake of Donald Trump's dismaying reelection to the Presidency, the most cynical consultants and commenters on both sides of the Atlantic have decided it's trans people who are to blame. We break down how ascending through the media breaks your brain––and the differences between US and UK center-left transphobia. For the full story, and the charming Gaggony Guncles segment that concludes the show, subscribe on Apple or Patreon.

Nov 30, 202413 min

S7 Ep 93Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie (with Indigo Dunphy-Smith)

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Today's special guest is the researcher and museum worker Indigo Dunphy-Smith, who is bringing her expertise to the case of Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie, two Edinburghian school teachers who found themselves embroiled in a sex scandal and court case in the early years of the 19th century. Their legal woes followed accusations by a pupil about sapphic goings-on at their small private school, and raised issues regarding attitudes to sex, race and colonialism in late Georgian era Scotland. Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays, our monthly subscriber-only show for conversations about contemporary queer culture and advice segments from your favorite Gagony Guncles. ----more---- SOURCES: Clerk, John, The notorious Drumsheugh Case of 1810: Miss Marianne Woods and Miss Jane Pirie v. Lady Cumming Gordon of Altyre, The Signet Library, Roughead Collection R343.1 H865 Singh, Frances B, Scandal and Survival in Nineteenth-Century Scotland: The Life of Jane Cumming, NED-New edition, Boydell & Brewer, 2020 Rupp, Leila J, Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women, Beacon Press, 2009 Donoghue, Emma, Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture 1668–1801, HarperCollins, 1993 Faderman, Lillian, Scotch Verdict: The Real-Life Story That Inspired “The Children’s Hour”, Columbia University Press, 1983 Faderman, Lillian, Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present, William Morrow & Co, 1981 National Records of Scotland, Burgh Register of Sasines for Edinburgh B22/4/31 Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrienn, distributed under a Creative Commons license. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Oct 30, 20241h 7m

S7 Ep 92Extra Bad Gays October 2024: Meet Your New Gaggony Guncles

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Say hello to your new agony uncles: or is that Gaggony Guncles? A gay guy wonders if he's having enough sex! People ask about moving to Berlin. A freshly out transmasc wonders: am I becoming an evil twink? For the full story, subscribe to EXTRA BAD GAYS directly in Apple Podcasts or on Patreon.

Oct 28, 202410 min

S7 Ep 91Jerome Robbins (with Liz Rosenfeld)

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Today, special guest Liz Rosenfeld discusses the choreographer Jerome Robbins. Born in New York to Jewish immigrants, Robbins pursued dance and radical politics––until, under the threat of being blacklisted and exposed for his sexuality, reporting on his former comrades to the House Committee on Unamerican Activities. As one of Broadway's star choreographers, he helped define Broadway's Golden Age with striking dance theatre that integrated ballet technique into storytelling. His charisma, abuses of power, and boundary-obliterating working methods helped define an idea of choreographer-as-genius that still disfigures dance today. Support our show by subscribing to our monthly podcast EXTRA BAD GAYS by clicking this link and visiting our Patreon or directly through Apple Podcasts. ----more---- SOURCES: https://www.npr.org/2011/02/24/97274711/the-real-life-drama-behind-west-side-story https://www.dummies.com/article/academics-the-arts/performing-arts/what-was-the-golden-age-of-broadway-297863/ https://www.commentary.org/articles/terry-teachout/what-jerome-robbins-knew-that-leonard-bernstein-didnt/ https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news-jerome-robbins-west-side-story-un-american-activities-committee-32460/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/19/happy-hundredth-jerome-robbins Jerome Robbins: By Himself: Selections from his letters, journals, drawings, photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir (ed. Amanda Vaill) Wendy Lesser: Jerome Robbins: A Life in Dance Jerome Robbins - Something to Dance About, dir. Judy Kinberg Our intro is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Aug 25, 20241h 4m

Ep 90Extra Bad Gays June 2024: Pride From Stonewall to Subaru (Trailer)

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Starting with a reading from Martin Duberman's book Stonewall about the riots that kicked off a revolution, we reflect on the history of increasing corporate involvement in Pride, some unreasonably horny Subaru ads, a Raytheon Pride slogan from this year that made both of us momentarily speechless, and the politics and ethics of engaging with corporate pride in a moment of backlash. Enjoy this sneak preview of EXTRA BAD GAYS, our monthly, subscriber-only show on contemporary queer politics and culture. For the full episode and a new episode every month, click 'subscribe' on Apple Podcasts or join our Patreon by clicking here.

Jul 3, 202420 min

S7 Ep 89Christopher Marlowe (with Will Tosh)

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Today's special guest is Will Tosh, Head of Research at Shakespeare's Globe, London, and the author of a new book, “Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare.” Having answered the obvious question in the prologue, the book becomes a sort of emotional biography of Shakespeare’s private life, but uses that his life and his work to ask broader questions about Elizabethan England, and especially how they understood their own sex gender system at the time. On today's special episode, we talk about one of his contemporaries, someone probably less well known but who has been deeply influential for queer writers and theatre practitioners through the ages: Christopher Marlowe. ----more---- SOURCES: Lukas Erne, 'Biography, Mythography, and Criticism: The Life and Works of Christopher Marlowe', Modern Philology 103.1 (2005), 28-50 Constance Brown Kuriyama, Christopher Marlowe: A Renaissance Life (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002) Stephen Orgel, 'Tobacco and Boys: How Queer Was Marlowe?', GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 6.4 (2000), 555-576 Christopher Shirley, ‘Sodomy and Stage Directions in Christopher Marlowe’s Edward(s) II’, Studies in English Literature 54.2 (2014), 279–296 Sydnee Wagner, 'New Directions: Towards a Racialized Tamburlaine', in David McInnes (ed.), Tamburlaine: A Critical Reader (London: Bloomsbury, 2020) Our intro is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner

Jun 25, 20241h 16m

S7 Ep 88Rotha Lintorn-Orman

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We close out our season with the story of a dashing tomboy who was the first woman to found a British political party. The only problem: that party was the British Fascists. Subscribe to EXTRA BAD GAYS, our monthly conversation about queer life, culture, and politics. ----more---- SOURCES: Colin Cross, The Fascists in Britain (London: Saint Martin's Press, 1963) Julie Gottlieb, Feminine Fascism: Women in Britain's Fascist Movement, 1923-1945 (London: Bloomsbury, 2021) Asa Seresin, "Lesbian Fascism on TERF Island," 2021 https://asaseresin.com/2021/02/11/lesbian-fascism-on-terf-island/ Richard Thurlow, Fascism in Britain: From Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts to the National Front (London: I. Thurbis, 1998) Edward White, "Conservatism with Knobs On," The Paris Review, December 2, 2016, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/12/02/conservatism-with-knobs-on/ Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Apr 25, 202451 min