Bad Gays

For a special episode, Huw is joined the writer and filmmaker Juliet Jacques to discuss Colonel Victor Barker.    As a military nurse, ambulance driver, kennelman, horse trainer, fascist, car salesman, thief, and actor, Colonel Victor Barker was the embodiment of early 20th century upper-class British masculinity. But he became famous after his trial and imprisonment for committing perjury on his marriage certificate to his wife —because Victor Barker was assigned female at birth. Juliet and Huw explore his life, and the questions it raises around gender identity a century ago.   SOURCES:   Collis, Rose. Colonel Barker's Monstrous Regiment: A Tale of Female Husbandry, Boston: Little, Brown Book Group, 2001    Zagria. A Gender Variance Who's Who https://zagria.blogspot.com/   Oram, Alison: Her Husband was a Woman! Women's Gender-Crossing in Modern British Popular Culture, London: Routledge, 2008   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.

The other polestar of human evil. "Justice is incidental to law and order." Johnny and Clyde.  ----more---- SOURCES:   Johnson, David K. The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004. Medsger, Betty. The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI. New York: Knopf, 2014. Simkin, John. "Clyde Tolson." Spartacus Educational: https://spartacus-educational.com/USAtolson.htm Summers, Anthony. Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1993.  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.

Dive into the intriguing life of Piers Gaveston, a controversial figure in medieval Britain linked to Prince Edward. The discussion unveils the hypocrisy surrounding elite sexual norms and the complexities of male relationships of the time. Explore Gaveston's dramatic rise and fall, marked by exiles and a gripping execution. Delve into historical sexual identities and how modern interpretations can distort past realities. Finally, uncover Gaveston's reckless persona and the political chaos that followed his shocking demise.

The podcast dives into a bold 1970s proposal for a 'Stonewall Nation' in California, exploring the radical visions of gay liberation juxtaposed with mainstream urban life. It examines the struggles for safe queer spaces in repressive climates and the ambitious Alpine Valley project, revealing ideological rifts and racial challenges. The discussion critiques the allure of starting anew on 'virgin land,' unpacking the complex realities of building inclusive communities. Throughout, it reflects on the humorous yet poignant journey of seeking a powerful gay identity.

A young white London lad driven by a passion for extreme violence and racial hatred, who climbed pretty easily through the ranks of a small fascist party, and went on to become something of a big fish in the far-right's murky, polluted, poisonous pond. But in 1992, the Sun ran the following story, under a photo of Nicky Crane in his White Power vest: "Nazi Nick is a Pansy."  ----more---- SOURCES: Eden, Jon. Uncarved. http://www.uncarved.org/ Forbes, Robert, and Eddie Stampton. The White Nationalist Skinhead Movement: UK and USA, 1979-1993. London: Feral House Press, 2015. Kelly, Jon. "Nicky Crane: The Secret Double Life of a Gay Neo-Nazi." BBC News Magazine, December 6, 2013. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25142557 "Today in London Anti-Fascist History: 1978 Blockade Against National Front March on Brick Lane." Past Tense: Radical Histories and Possibilities, September 24, 2018. https://pasttenseblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/24/today-in-london-anti-fascist-history-1978-blockade-against-national-front-march-on-brick-lane/ Schaefer, Max. Children of the Sun. London: Soft Skull Press, 2010. 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.

The fairy godmother of the new European far-right. A vile racist named "The Greatest Dutchman of All Time" in a 2004 TV poll. A lens into how a particular version of homosexuality is compatibile with a particular kind of far-right politics – how a certain kind of “live and let live” attitude at the heart of white liberal gay politics can immediately turn into a wave of immigrant-bashing hatred that turns, inevitably, on queer people themselves. “I don’t hate Arab men," he said. "I even sleep with them.”  ----more---- Kolbert, Elizabeth. "Beyond Tolerance: What did the Dutch see in Pim Fortuyn?" The New Yorker. September 9, 2002. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/09/09/beyond-tolerance Margry, Peter Jan. "The Murder of Pim Fortuyn and Collective Emotions. Hype, Hysteria and Holiness in The Netherlands." Etnofoor: antropologisch tijdschrift 16 (2003): 106-131.  Osborn, Andrew. "Dutch Fall for Gay Mr. Right." The Observer. April 14, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/14/andrewosborn.theobserver 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.

A colonialist and conqueror, upholder of ideals of English masculinity, and religious fanatic; possessed of a powerful death wish. “Yes, that is flesh, that is what I hate, and what makes me wish to die.” ----more---- Ellis, Heather, and Jessica Meyer, eds. Masculinity and the Historical Other. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009. Faught, C. Brad. Gordon: Victorian Hero. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009. Pollock, John. Gordon: The Man Behind The Legend. London: Constable Books, 1993. 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.

Enlightenment monarch! Composer of hundreds of flute concertos. Emerged from the “sandbox of the Holy Roman Empire" to conquer vast swaths of Europe! Built a giant pink palace his wife wasn't allowed to visit. Worst dad in Bad Gays history? "Everything that speaks to eyes and touches hearts, Was found in the fond object that enflamed his parts."  ----more---- SOURCES: Blanning, Tim. Frederick the Great: King of Prussia. New York: Random House, 2016. Gaines, James. Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment. New York: Harper Collins, 2010. Hadley, Kathryn (with Vanessa de Senarclens). "Frederick the Great's Erotic Poem." HistoryToday, 21 September, 2011. https://www.historytoday.com/frederick-greats-erotic-poem The brief excerpt of Frederick the Great's Flute Concerto in C Major, No. 3, is performed by Emmanuel Pahud and the Kammerakademie Potsdam, led by Trevor Pinnock at the Harpsichord; we claim "fair use" for quotation and illustration purposes and encourage listeners who appreciate the extraordinary performance to purchase or legally stream it in full. 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.

A vituperative satirist who made kings tremble. Also, he wrote this: My fingers are but stragglers at the rear, Who go a-foraging for what they find; And they are not ashamed to lag behind, Since there’s no foe in front they need to fear. They’ve wandered through a tufted valley near. And you yourself have said they were most kind, And so, I know, my lady will not mind If they see other booty, nor think it queer.  And yet, it may be, you prefer the Lance; Then, let your stragglers reconnoiter, sweet, And guide him like a blind man to safe cover. He is no coward, since he takes a chance. Though he, my dear, has neither eyes nor feet; For a soldier always makes a perfect lover! ----more---- SOURCES: Aretino, Pietro. The school of whoredom. London: Hesperus, 2003.   ———. The secret life of nuns. London: Hesperus, 2004.   Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. Penguin Classics. London, England ; New York, N.Y., USA: Penguin Books, 1990.   Marrapodi, Michele, ed. Shakespeare and the Italian Renaissance: Appropriation, Transformation, Opposition. Anglo-Italian Renaissance Studies Series. Farnham, Surrey ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014.   Talvacchia, Bette. Taking Positions: On the Erotic in Renaissance Culture. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1999. 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.

"The man who shot Versace." Vague intimations of homosexuality as a form of bloody death. A pure expression of the poisonous narcissism of American celebrity culture. The dark heart of evil twink energy. A black hole of gay narcissism. Black holes are attractors. We risk being sucked in.  ----more---- SOURCES: Goldberg, Michelle. "The Gay Golem." Metroactive, May 13-19, 1999. http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/05.13.99/cunanan-9919.html Indiana, Gary. Three Month Fever. (Reprint.) Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2017. Orth, Maureen. Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U. S. History. New York: Doubleday, 1999.  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.