These Old Queers

Megan takes us on a ride through the life of Anita Berber: Weimar Germany's Priestess of Depravity. Dancer and legendary bisexual bad girl, Anita was the first true star of her era and her short life was shocking even for hedonistic Berlin of the 1920s.

Content Warning:

MAJOR warning for underage grooming, inappropriate adult/child relationships, animal mistreatment, drug use, violence. Please take care while listening.

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Sources:

Appignanesi, Lisa. The Cabaret. London: Yale University Press. 2004

Lauren Butterworth and Alicia Carter. "Anita Berber" Deviant Women podcast.19.9.2019.

Gordon, Mel. The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber: Weimar Berlin's Priestess of Depravity. Port Townsend, Washington: Feral House. 2006

Gordon, Mel. Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin. Port Townsend Washington: Feral House. 2000

Willett, John. The Weimar Years: A Culture Cut Short. New York City: Abbeville PR. 1984

LEGAL

NO THESE OLD QUEERS CONTENT MAY BE USED FOR TRAINING, TESTING, OR DEVELOPING MACHINE LEARNING OR AI SYSTEMS WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION - TO SAVE YOU THE TROUBLE OF ASKING: WE WON'T GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY.

In this episode, Thomas tells us about the life of Black, lesbian blues singer, pianist and entertainer: Gladys Bentley. A star of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, Bentley seemed in every way someone living their life on their terms. Until, that is, her star power began to dim and Bentley began to doubt her identity.

Content Warning:
This episode contains discussion of medical abuse and fatphobia. Listeners are strongly encouraged to consider to exercise caution. 

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Sources:

Bentley, Gladys. "I am a Woman Again." Ebony Magazine, August of 1952, pp. 93-98. Available courtesy of Queer Music Heritage, at https://www.queermusicheritage.com.

Bentley, Gladys. "Worried Blues/Ground Hog Blues." Lyrics attributed to Bentley, Bentley/J.C. Johnson on piano. Okeh Records,1928. Available courtesy of NYFOS: New York Festival of Song, at https://nyfos.org. 

Delaney, Anthony and Maddy Pelling."Who was the 'Man-Monster' of New York?" After Dark Classics from the After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal  podcast. 29.12.2025.

Hurwitt, Elliott. "Gladys Bentley: Worried Blues." Song of Day blog post. NYFOS: New York Festival of Song. Originally published on 26.10.2015. Available at https://nyfos.org. 

Jones, Regina. "How does a Bulldagger Get Out of the Footnote? Or Gladys Bentley's Blues." Ninepatch: A Creative Journal for Women and Gender Studies 1, nr. 1 (2012).

Torres, Bianki. Lay it on the Line: The Life and Music of Gladys Bentley. (PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, 2024.) Available via https://scholarworks.umass.edu.

Wilson, James. Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010.

LEGAL

NO THESE OLD QUEERS CONTENT MAY BE USED FOR TRAINING, TESTING, OR DEVELOPING MACHINE LEARNING OR AI SYSTEMS WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION - TO SAVE YOU THE TROUBLE OF ASKING: WE WON'T GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY.

In this second part of our two part story about the lives of AMAB femmes, Fanny and Stella, we dive into the trial that shocked Victorian England, its outcome, and what became of the bold Stella and Fanny in the remainder of their lives.

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Sources:

Boyd, Jason. Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II. London: Psychology Press. 2002

McKenna, Neil. Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England. London: Faber & Faber. 2014

Joyce, Simon. “Two Women Walk into a Theatre Bathroom: The Fanny and Stella Trials as Trans Narrative”. Victorian Review. 44, nr. 1 (2018): 83-98.

Kaplan, Morris. “Who’s Afraid of John Saul?: Urban Culture and the Politics of Desire in Late Victorian London”. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 5, nr. 3 (1999): 267-314

Rowbotham, Judith. “A Deception on the Public: The Real Scandal of Boulton and Park”. Liverpool Law Review. 36, nr. 2 (27 March 2015): 123-145

LEGAL

NO THESE OLD QUEERS CONTENT MAY BE USED FOR TRAINING, TESTING, OR DEVELOPING MACHINE LEARNING OR AI SYSTEMS WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION - TO SAVE YOU THE TROUBLE OF ASKING: WE WON'T GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY.

In the first episode of our second season, Megan shares the story of Fanny and Stella: two gender non-conforming young people from Victorian England who presented female (and sometimes male) while carousing the exciting streets of 1860s/70s London. That is, until their antics got them in hot water with the law in what would be one of the most significant trials in British queer history. In this first part of our two part episode we learn about their lives leading up to their arrest.

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Sources:

Boyd, Jason. Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II. London: Psychology Press. 2002

McKenna, Neil. Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England. London: Faber & Faber. 2014

Joyce, Simon. “Two Women Walk into a Theatre Bathroom: The Fanny and Stella Trials as Trans Narrative”. Victorian Review. 44, nr. 1 (2018): 83-98.

Kaplan, Morris. “Who’s Afraid of John Saul?: Urban Culture and the Politics of Desire in Late Victorian London”. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 5, nr. 3 (1999): 267-314

Rowbotham, Judith. “A Deception on the Public: The Real Scandal of Boulton and Park”. Liverpool Law Review. 36, nr. 2 (27 March 2015): 123-145

In this episode, Thomas takes us through the life and times of convicted swindler, Victor Barker. From his time in Holloway Prison to the sideshows of Blackpool and beyond, Barker insisted on maintaining a male identity throughout his adultlife despite often being described as a cross-dresser. This early-twentieth century trans-man was not an admirable character, but he was definitely an interesting one.

CW: This episode contains a brief mention of SA and domestic violence. 

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If you're into what we do, please share/like/subscribe/contact us and share! It really helps us out.

Sources:

Collis, Rose. Colonel Barker's Monstrous Regiment. A Tale of Female Husbandry. London: Virago, 2001.

Gottlieb, Julie V. Feminine Fascism: Women in Britain's Fascist Movement, 1923- 1945. London: Tauris Publishers, 2000.

Lemmey, Huw and Juliette Jacks. "Christmas Special: Colonel Victor Barker.” Bad Gays podcast. 25.12.2019.

Manion, Jen. "Female Husbands.A Trans History." Presentation for Cary Memorial Library. 2.9.21. Available on YouTube.

Pavda, Gilad. "Joseph/Josephine's Angst: Sensational Hermaphroditism in Tod Browning's Freaks." Social Semiotics 28, nr. 1 (2017): 1-17.

Portnoy, Edward A. "Freaks, Geeks, and Strongmen: Warsaw Jews and Popular Performance, 1912-1930." TDR: The Drama Review 50, nr. 2 (2006): 117-135.

Pugh,Vicki. “Problem Bodies and Sideshow Space: A Study of the Twentieth Century Sideshow in Blackpool. 1930-1940.” (PhD. diss., University of Sheffield, 2020).

Szoradova, P.E. “LGBTQ+ History: The Red Rose of Colonel Barker.” Blog post from The National Archives. 2.25.2029.

In this episode, Megan talks about The Pansy Craze - a period of increased LGBT visibility in popular culture from the late 1920s until the mid-1930s, that came to an end following the Great Depression, The Hays Code and the rise of World War Two.

During the "craze," drag queens, drag kings, masculine women and femme queer men — known as "pansy performers" — experienced a surge in underground popularity, especially in US cities such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

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Sources:

Music: Harry Macdonough and the Orpheus Quartet, “Pretty Baby,” written by Egbert Van Alstyne, Tony Jackson and Gus Kahn. 1916. The Library of Congress.

Bunyon, Patrick (1999). All Around the Town: The Amazing Manhattan Facts and Curiosities. Fordham University Press.
Wilson, James (June 16, 2010). Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies. University of Michigan Press.

Starr, Kevin (2002). The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s. Oxford University Press.

Ames, Jack. “Remembering Ray.”RaeBourbon.com. https://raebourbon.com/remembering-ray/

Bullock, Darryl W. “Pansy Craze: the wild 1930s drag parties that kickstarted gay nightlife.” The Guardian, Thu 14 Sep 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/14/pansy-craze-the-wild-1930s-drag-parties-that-kickstarted-gay-nightlife

Doyle, Dave. “The ‘Pansy Craze’ Pioneered LGBT Acceptance in America.” The Syncopated Times, 30 Dec 2023.https://syncopatedtimes.com/the-pansy-craze-pioneered-lgbt-acceptance-in-america/

Vandenburg, Margaret. “Rise and Fall of the ‘Pansy Craze.’” The Gay & Lesbian Review, January – February 2025 issue,https://glreview.org/article/rise-and-fall-of-the-pansy-craze/

In this episode, Thomas talks about the discovery, investigation, and historiography of the “Weerdinge Couple” bog bodies.

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Sources:

Music: Harry Macdonough and the Orpheus Quartet, “Pretty Baby,” written by Egbert Van Alstyne, Tony Jackson and Gus Kahn. 1916. The Library of Congress.

Aerts-Bijma, A.T., Wijnand Sanden, Johannes Plicht, and H.J. Streurman. “Dating bog bodies by means of 14C-AMS.” Journal of Archaeological Science. 2004. Nr. 31.

Bianucci, Raffaella, Wijnand Sanden, Grazia Mattutino, Andreas Nerlich, and Bob Loynes. “Unravelling the Weerdinge Couple.” Presentation for the Drents Museum, The Netherlands. 2003.

Black, Sue. All that Remains. A Life in Death. New York City: Doubleday Press, 2018.

Miller, Kristyn. J. “Displaying the Lindow Man. A Case Study.”Blog Post. 1.11.2023. Available at BogBodyResource.com.

National Geographic. "Mysterius Double Murder." Ancent Bodies, Secrets Revealed. 2024. Season 1,  Episode 3.

Sanders, Karin. Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.

In this episode, Megan shares the secret-not-so-secret queer history of their hometown, Kansas City. Whether on the Missouri or the Kansas side, you might be quite surprised at just how much queer history can be found in this mid-size Midwestern city in what a lot of people consider a "flyover state."

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If you're into what we do, please share/like/subscribe/contact us and share! It really helps us out. Sources:

Bailey, Hannah. March 8, 2022. Womontown: How 12 city blocks in Kansas City became a radical enclave by and for women. ⁠www.kcur.org⁠. ⁠https://www.kcur.org/history/2022-03-08/womontown-how-12-city-blocks-in-kansas-city-became-a-radical-enclave-by-and-for-women⁠

Curators: Cantwell, Christopher D. Carpenter, Kathryn B., Hinds, Stuart. Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights. https://info.umkc.edu/makinghistory/

Hawley-Bates, Savannah. April 2, 2023. Kansas City has a long history of drag shows, drawing performers from around the U.S. ⁠www.kcur.org⁠. ⁠https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2023-04-02/kansas-city-drag-shows-gay-history-queer-performance-prohibition-bans⁠

Our Community Roots. July 30, 2015. InLoving Memory of Edye Gregory. https://ourcommunityroots.com/?p=379

Mid-America Regional Council. March 2, 2023. The history of racial discrimination in housing still impacts the Kansas City region today. www.marc.org. https://www.marc.org/news/economy/history-racial-discrimination-housing-still-impacts-kansas-city-region-today

Montalvo, Nasir. May 17, 2022. Remembering Edye and Ray: The First (Well-Documented) Black Drag Queens of Kansas City. www.kansascitydefender.com. https://kansascitydefender.com/lgbtqia2/black-drag-queens-kansas-city/

Szczepanski, Carolyn. June 3, 2010. KC’s new Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America remembers a pioneer town. www.thepitch.com. https://www.thepitchkc.com/kcs-new-gay-and-lesbian-archive-of-midamerica-remembers-a-pioneer-town/

A People’s History of Kansas City. How Kansas City blazed a path for gay liberation. May 30, 2022.https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aeHC3zZ85Z0R7OBVZtuGU?si=EZyX9RpVS2SeqEegNB5lQw

In this episode, Thomas discusses the history and complexity of Two-Spirit identities.

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If you're into what we do, please share/like/subscribe/contact us and share! It really helps us out.

Sources:

Chrystos. Not Vanishing. Vancouver: Press Gang Publishing, 1988. Driskill, Qwo-Li. Asegi Stories. Cherokee

Queer and Two Spirit Memory. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2016. Driskill, Qwo-Li, Chris Finley, Brian JosephGilley, and Scott Lauria Morgensen, eds.

Queer Indigenous Studies. Critical Interventions in Theory, Politics, and Literature. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011. Driskill, Qwo-Li, Daniel Heath Justice, Deborah Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti, eds.

Sovereign Erotics. A collection of Two-Spirit Literature. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011. Jacobs, Sue-Ellen, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang, eds.

Two-Spirit People. Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality. Champaign: University of IllinoisPress, 1997.

Roscoe, Will. Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America. London: Macmillan, 1998. Sigal, Pete, ed.

Infamous Desire. Male Homosexuality in Colonial Latin America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Smith, Merril, ed. Sex and Sexuality in Early America. NewYork: New York University Press, 1998.

image: A widely used Two-Spirit flag

In this episode, Megan shares the stories of lesbian action during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, as well as her own experience growing up in the shadow of AIDS.

CW: this episode mentions homophobia as well as death and dying of AIDS, please take care while listening

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If you're into what we do, please share/like/subscribe/contact us and share! It really helps us out.

Sources:

Gonsalves, Jordan. “The Lesbians Who Led the AIDS Response.” But We Loved with Jordan Gonsalves. May 22,2024. 46:50.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5qQmFXJSy3rcwLlCiDtIGH?si=Qn7WPRWVRrGms7vtgVlBuw

Hansford, Amelia. 28 April 2023.Lesbian icon Lisa Power explains how AIDS crisis healed riftbetween lesbians and gay groups. Pink News. Accessed 31 May 2025.https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/04/28/lesbians-lesbian-visibility-week-lisa-power/

National AIDS Memorial. “Marcy Fraser – Women and AIDS – Surviving Voices.” YouTube. Uploaded by National AIDS Memorial. 5 December, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKY0JfZp6us&t=482s

Office of the Mayor. 7 February 2025. Part of Mayor Lurie’s Continued Focus on Keeping San Francisco Safe and Helping Residents Prepare for Emergencies. www.SF.gov. Accessed 4 April 2025. https://www.sf.gov/mayor-lurie-announces-fire-commission-appointments-marcy-fraser-to-remain-on-commission-allan-low-to-join

San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. 1985. “AIDS: An Incredible Epidemic.” YouTube. Uploaded by San Francisco Public Library. 7 December, 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjDIoLlOWQo

Yale University Library Online Exhibitions. We Are Everywhere: Lesbians in the Archive: Lesbian AIDS Activism. Yale Library Website. Accessed 31 March 2025.https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/we-are-everywhere/page/lesbian-aids-activism