May 25, 2026

Ep. 224: Boxing, Homosexuality & History: The Surprising Connection | Con Chapman

31 minutes

Show Notes:

Guest: Con Chapman, author and attorney based in the greater Boston area

Book: Queer Street: The Curious Connections Between Boxing and the Homoerotic — available for pre-order on Amazon and at lutterworth.com. Publishing April 30.

Episode Summary: Con Chapman spent over a decade researching the parallel histories of boxing rules and laws governing consensual sex between men — and the result is Queer Street, a book that took 30+ publisher rejections before landing with Lutterworth Press, an 18th-century religious tract society (yes, really). In this conversation, Zach and Con trace the unexpected threads connecting ancient Greek gymnasiums, the Sacred Band of Thebes, Oscar Wilde, the Marquess of Queensbury, the etymology of the words "gay" and "queer," and the hypermasculinity of modern sports.

Topics Covered:

How the book came together and why Con describes it as "a double helix"

Ancient Greek gymnasiums as spaces of both athletic training and homoeroticism

The Sacred Band of Thebes — the first all-gay military unit to defeat the Spartans

The Marquess of Queensbury: boxing rules reformer and raging homophobe — and how those two things connect

St. Bernardino of Italy: a 15th-century boxing advocate who was also violently anti-gay (and whose enemies once sawed through his pulpit)

The surprising etymological origins of the words "gay" and "queer" in boxing culture

Oscar Wilde, Lord Alfred Douglas, and how their story intersects with the Queensbury rules

Bisexual boxing legend Emil Griffith and the "down low" phenomenon in sports

Homoeroticism in spectator sports — and why some men are, as Zach puts it, basically "in love with Tom Brady"

How masculinity and sexuality have blurred throughout history — and where things might be headed

Links:

Queer Street on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Queer-Street-Curious-Connections-Homoerotic/dp/0718898516/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ZYYFQ9ZIII59&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1x0uzZKPViBwsAGHnUe-r5q6L_NkfkqQ5BkL1XnSycJwfhmig_CchSH4HSe6wtnUzYk956EKu_QFQxIAtuFcetAdy5BxAR3oHcDGcGsGK7MxfMz9y3l29Qm0MWfqPP0d12z1_YSItrEVgtNMgr1OE8ENF9fZY7il22mMpFi9EuQW8RpdfmEjOFQAEmvGbIVTV49Lyrrp0BUsgOHbmk1rkKkKEBcFYd3m31AJO-i8xiI.qyDQsDG0EUud7xIhOq5O6V40Bz13-ep1WXriYySTeyI&dib_tag=se&keywords=queer+street&qid=1779403387&sprefix=queer+stree%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-1

Publisher website: lutterworth.com

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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