Historical Homos

To access extended episodes of Historical Homos, join our Patreon. Our community awaits with legs open and lips parted 🤤www.patreon.com/historicalhomos–2,500 years ago, two gay guys and an extremely toxic third inadvertently gave birth to Greek democracy.Yes, my proud brethren, long before anyone threw the first brick, we stabbed the first tyrant. In typical straight fashion, over the course of two millennia, the straight world forgot about our sacrifice.But that stops NOW.Harmodius & Aristogeiton are little known to us modern queers, but in antiquity they were notorious. The Ladies Liberty of the ancient world.But were they actually gay lovers? Did their boy-on-boy love usher in the world's first radical democracy? Can one top and one bottom really change the world?The answers await in the warm, milky hot tub that is queer history – so come on in, the water is...human temperature.🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Sandals and olive-scented Gun Oil sold separately.📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and do ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.⭐ Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify.Episode CreditsWritten and hosted by BashEdited by Alex ToskasProduced by Dani HenionGuest: Harry Tanner© Sebastian Hendra 2026 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

To access the full version of this episode, join our Patreon at the link below. Our community awaits you with legs open, heart full, and mouth slightly ajar 🤤www.patreon.com/historicalhomos–Welcome to the wild and infuriating world of ancient homophobia!You know how everyone thinks ancient Greece and Rome were queer free-for-alls, where all holes were goals (as long as you were a male, bisexual top) and pederasty was the only acceptable form of same-sex love between men?Yeah, well that's not quite the full story.We're thrilled to introduce to the podcast Harry Tanner, the author of The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Love. Harry joins us to discuss his fascinating research into the Greek, Hebrew, Roman, and Christian origins of homophobia.We cover:The story of two gay lovers overthrowing Athens' last tyrantAncient Greece's porn pot industry (Onlyfans, but make it ceramic!)The real meaning of Leviticus and the story of Sodom & Gomorrah in the ancient Hebrew TorahThe surprisingly homophobic writings of small-time philosophers like friggin' PLATO and ARISTOTLEAnd, for our Patreon subscribers, a deeper dive into the STRAIGHT historian who bequeathed us our current, warped view of ancient Greek homosexualityIf you were ever told that homosexuality or queerness is "unnatural," this episode is required listening for you.Because we show how homophobia, like homosexuality, is simply a social and cultural construction. As Harry Tanner explains, it is a response to political and economic instability. A desire for control. That's the only human thing about it.Same-sex desire occurs naturally in every society and culture in history. But condemning it only seems to happen when there is profound economic inequality in those societies.Get ready to dive into this fascinating story of homophobia's ancient history.The chastity cages are mandatory and the water is a preposterously inviting...human temperature.–🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Semen-stained tunics sold separately.🤑 Please support the burgeoning Historical Homos empire on our ⁠Patreon⁠, if you have the means – or the madness – to do so.📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our monthly ⁠newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.✍️ Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review on Apple or Spotify.–Episode CreditsWritten and hosted by BashEdited by Alex ToskasProduced by Dani HenionGuest: Dr. Harry James Tanner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wait, what’s so gay about witches, you ask?First of all — sit down.When I was a young f/hag in the late ’90s, Wicca was having a moment. The Halliwell sisters ruled the WB, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock were burying men in their back gardens, and I gobbled the GAGathon down with glee.Only later did I realize what made these witchy bitchies so alluring: it wasn’t (just) that they were different — it was that they were powerful.Outsiders who could fight back. Like the X-men...or democratic socialists.But were they always outsiders? No! In the ancient world, everyone dabbled in magic. Pagans love a hag with a herb garden.Then Christianity came along and ruined everything. AS ALWAYS.By the 20th century, witchcraft was beginning to mean "freedom" to a lot of repressed Westerners. Which might explain why nearly half of Wiccans today identify as queer.Join us for this Halloween special as we trace The Craft™ from ancient love spells to Victorian occultists, with brilliant guest Professor Marion Gibson.Together we ask:🧙‍♀️ When did “wise women” in the woods become “evil hags”?🔥 Why did we burn so many witches?🌍 How did colonialism export Europe’s hag-phobia worldwide?💅 And how did queer people turn witchcraft into a symbol of defiance, glamour, and spiritual fulfilment?So come on in, the cauldron-water is human temperature.–🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Beard and severed thumb sold separately.📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and do ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please do leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.Episode CreditsWritten and hosted by BashEdited by Alex ToskasProduced by Dani HenionGuest: Professor Marion Gibson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Hollywood was swarming with gay people."You know how Pedro Pascal hasn't come out yet? Well: this episode will explain why.Between the 1930s and 1960s, the Hays Code banned “sexual perversion” of all kinds from the silver screen, which (spoiler alert) meant queers.That has bequeathed us a predominantly homophobic industry in Hollywood, even if the stars and culture have always been decidedly – how do you say? – VERY GAY.This week we dive into the queerness of Hollywood’s first Golden Age.We cover:The pre-Code era archetypes of pansies, sissies, butches, and sapphics, oh my!The Code's first filmic victim: a 1936 adaptation of Lillian Hellman's thesbian stage classic The Children’s HourHitchcock’s Rope, featuring two fascist dandy murderers whose day jobs included playing the piano and being fantastically richThe legacy of homophobia and queer desire in post-Code films up to the presentThis week, Bash is joined by film critic and filmmaker, Michael Koresky, who is the recent author of Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness — a love letter to the sly, coded, and deeply horny films that the uptight, antisemitic, racist, homophobic, Catholic censors forced out of the era's greatest artists.Hollywood was always swarming with queers, as Michael puts it, but people weren't naïve or stupid. We saw the signs – and we shot each other furtive glances as we hid our brain-boners...🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Wigs and cigarettes sold separately.📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all. Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review on Apple or Spotify.Episode CreditsWritten and hosted by Bash.Edited by Alex Toskas.Produced by Dani Henion.Guest host: Michael Koresky. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a teen prodigy meets a drunk poet with a pistol in his pocket (the gun kind, not the fun kind)?Answer: extremely gay chaos.This week on Historical Homos, we’re diving into the doomed romance of Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine—the most sensationally toxic boyfriends in the history of French poetry.With our guest this week, Robert St. Clair, we’ll unpack:The social revolution of the 19th century: just a fun little reminder of where class warfare was born!Rimbaud and Verlaine’s poetry: because toxic people can be great artists tooThe couple’s love letters, extortion notes, and pornographic sonnets: including a gorgeous reading of 1872’s “To the Butthole”The Brussels Incident™: in which our drunken hero pulls a gun, fires wildly with his eyes covered, and somehow manages to shoot his boyfriend in the wristCourtroom dick reports. in which forensic "doctors" examine the hero’s hole and pole to “prove” he was gay, because it turns out science is just as toxic as poetryTheir legacy. Rimbaud stopped writing at 20, Verlaine went to prison for love and revolution – and both still managed to change poetry forever.It’s toxic. It’s fascinating. It’s, how you say, very fucking French🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Pipe and syphilis sold separately.📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and do ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please do leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.Episode CreditsWritten and hosted by BashEdited by Alex ToskasProduced by Dani HenionGuest host: Robert St. Clair, Associate Professor of French, Dartmouth College Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Make love, take a bath, make love again."That was Frida Kahlo’s motto—and sweetie, she LIVED by it.We all know about Frida’s messy, horny marriage to Diego “Toad Face” Rivera and her revenge fling with Leon Trotsky.But what about the women? The affairs, the crushes, the rumors, the gossip that turned her into Mexico’s most iconic bisexual?This week, we’re serving you a slutty portrait of the artist as she truly was: a fearless, flirtatious rake who let the gossip mills churn while she tallied up an ever-increasing body count.We discuss:✨ Georgia O’Keeffe NOT making love to Frida while hospitalized (Frida's response: "Too bad.")✨ Hitting it off with the Real Housewife of Parisian Surrealism, Jacqueline Lamba, who kept Frida entertained at her first expo in Paris✨ A tasty rumour that Josephine Baker, the Beyoncé of 1930s Europe, reportedly got it on with the newly divorced Frida on the eve of WWII✨ Hollywood starlets and Mexican divas—like Dolores del Río and Paulette Goddard—getting plowed and painted by the Rivera-Kahlos back at the Casa Azul✨ Chavela Vargas, a ranchera rebel who moved in with Frida on the first date, serenading Frida while she painted✨ Why Frida’s bisexuality mattered—it's not just gossip, but a core part of her art, politics, and legendSo grab your tequila and maybe pack an extra toothbrush—you never know where a night with Frida might end up.🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Lesbian manicure sold separately.📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and do ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please do leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.Episode CreditsWritten and hosted by Bash.Edited by Alex Toskas.Produced by Dani Henion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Powdered wigs. Satin breeches. Candlelit salons.And of course: sodomy.This week we’re swanning back into Georgian England (1714–1837), a century of empire, cholera, imperialism, and very flouncy coats – but also one of the gayest domestic revolutions in history.With special guest Dr. Anthony Delaney (author of Queer Georgians, out today!), we explore the LGBTQIA+ pioneers who didn’t just hook up in parks or "molly houses," but built full-fledged homes, lives, and legacies together.Inside this episode:🍸 Molly Houses — the proto-gay bars of London, where effeminate “mollies” cultivated community (and each other's C*CKS)👬 An Odd Couple of "Cotqueans" — Lord John “Jack” Hervey and Stephen Fox: two aristocrats who went on a very gay Grand Tour of Europe, wrote love letters to one anotherwith phrases like “I look upon you as my dwelling,” and redecorated their way into history👒 The Ladies of Llangollen — Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, two cottagecore lesbians who fled Ireland with a dog named Frisk and set up their gothic sapphic country paradise in Wales🏠 Queer Domesticity — how 18th-century queers literally invented the idea of “home," defying societal expectations through the radical power of hot sex and interior design.Because sometimes being gay isn’t just about who you shag—it’s about how nice your fucking house is.🎧 Listen now on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you pod. Perruque and East India Company shares sold separately.📱 Follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and do ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people, like, at all.Most importantly, if you like what you hear, please do leave us a ⭐ FIVE STAR ONLY ⭐ review.Episode CreditsWritten and hosted by Bash. Edited by Alex Toskas. Produced by Dani Henion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.