This Week in Queer History

Every week, Kris Fitzgerald digs into the archives of LGBTQ+ history to uncover the moments, people, and movements that shaped queer life and culture. From landmark legal victories to unsung heroes, from underground parties to mass protests - This Week in Queer History celebrates the agency, resilience, and brilliance of queer communities across time. History isn't just what happened. It's who we are. Watch the video versions on YouTube: youtube.com/@thisweekinqueerhistory Join our community: thisweekinqueerhistory.circle.so

This Week in Queer History is a history podcast hosted by Kris with a K, with 108 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Kris with a K hosts This Week in Queer History, a history show with 108 episodes published.

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  Episode #110

  The Secret WWII Coast Guard Patrols That Turned P-Town Into A Queer Sanctuary

  Aug 18, 202613 minS3

  During WWII, Coast Guard Beach Patrols walked the shores of Cape Cod watching for German U-boats. Their military perimeter faced outward, scanning the Atlantic. What nobody planned for: that same presence inadvertently created a protective zone around Provincetown, allowing its queer community to deepen roots undisturbed. In this episode, we trace how a remote fishing village at the tip of Cape Cod became one of the world's most iconic LGBTQ destinations, from Charles Hawthorne's 1899 art school through Eugene O'Neill's radical theater, Tennessee Williams at the Atlantic House, and the post-war veterans who chose freedom over conformist suburbia. Plus: the surprising Berlin parallel, where gay West Germans turned an undesirable divided city into a haven, and what P-Town teaches us about queer people's genius for transforming the unwanted into the beautiful. Join the email list: thisweekinqueerhistory.com/subscribe Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@ThisWeekInQueerHistory Send us Fan Mail Support the show

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  Episode #109

  Beyond The Parties: How Fire Island Created The Blueprint For Modern Queer Community

  Aug 11, 202614 minS3

  Fire Island. Say those two words and most people picture circuit parties and share houses. But the real story of this thirty-two-mile barrier island is so much bigger than the parties. In this episode, we explore how Cherry Grove became the first openly gay and lesbian community in America in the 1930s, how queer people created democratic self-governance twenty-five years before Stonewall, and how the "house" system of chosen family became a survival mechanism that carried an entire community through the AIDS crisis. From architectural defiance (houses that face each other, not the road) to the legendary Invasion of the Pines, this is the story of how a strip of sand off Long Island became the blueprint for every queer space that came after it. Key topics: Cherry Grove history, Fire Island Pines, Esther Newton's research, Horace Gifford's architecture, the house system as chosen family, AIDS crisis mutual aid, the Invasion of the Pines (1976), queer self-governance. Join the email list for free queer history downloads and early episode access: thisweekinqueerhistory.com/subscribe Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@ThisWeekInQueerHistory Send us Fan Mail Support the show

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  Episode #108

  He Was Dying of AIDS. He Won the Gold Medal Anyway.

  Aug 4, 202612 minS3

  In 1986, over 3,400 queer athletes marched into Kezar Stadium while the AIDS crisis raged and the government looked away. Tom Waddell — doctor, Olympian, and man already diagnosed with AIDS — threw a javelin and won gold. Forty years later, the Olympics are coming to Los Angeles, and Pride House is landing right in West Hollywood. This is the story of Gay Games II and how a community built their own world when the world wouldn't have them. From Rikki Streicher's vision to Greg Louganis diving while the world watched, these athletes showed up for each other when everything else had abandoned them. The Gay Games drew more athletes than the 1984 Olympics the year before. Nobody noticed. Nobody needed to. They showed up anyway. Now the 2028 Olympics come to Los Angeles, and Pride House is returning to West Hollywood to carry that spirit into a new generation. The institutions that shut them out still exist. So does the community that built something better. Listen to more episodes: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com Join our community: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.circle.so Website: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com Send us Fan Mail Support the show

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  Episode #106

  He Was the Best Doctor in the British Empire. They Had No Idea Who He Really Was.

  Jul 21, 202612 minS3

  In this episode, we meet Dr. James Miranda Steuart Barry, a brilliant British Army surgeon who rose to the second-highest medical rank in the Empire, performed one of the first successful Caesarean sections where both mother and child survived, and lived as a man for 56 years. Born Margaret Anne Bulkley in Cork, Ireland around 1789, Barry's transformation was made possible by an extraordinary network of allies, including a Venezuelan revolutionary, a Scottish earl, and a mother who refused to accept the limits the world placed on her child. Barry's career spanned four continents and four decades of service. In Cape Town, he pushed for clean water, better sanitation, and improved care for enslaved people, prisoners, and the mentally ill. He managed cholera epidemics. He argued with Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, two powerful reformers who probably recognized something of themselves in each other. And in a Cape Town home around 1826, he performed a medical miracle that echoed through generations. When Barry died on July 25, 1865, a charwoman discovered the truth about his body. The British Army sealed his records for a hundred years. They couldn't seal the legacy. Today, Barry's story carries urgent resonance as we watch trans people being denied the right to serve in the military and pursue their passions. When we deny people the ability to be themselves, we all lose. This is a story about courage, allyship, and the power of living as yourself. 161 years later, Dr. James Barry's headstone still reads exactly what he chose: Inspector General of Hospitals. Listen to more episodes: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com Stay in touch: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com/subscribe Website: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com Send us Fan Mail Support the show

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  Episode #105

  Compton's Cafeteria Uprising: 60 Years of Fighting Back

  Jul 14, 202610 minS3

  Three years before Stonewall, a trans woman in San Francisco's Tenderloin threw a cup of coffee in a police officer's face. That moment ignited the Compton's Cafeteria Uprising, one of the earliest acts of collective queer resistance in American history. In this episode, we explore the story that was almost erased, the community that fought back, and why the language we use matters. We'll talk about the difference between a riot and an uprising, the Tenderloin neighborhood that became a refuge, and how this moment created lasting institutions like the National Transsexual Counseling Unit. Sixty years later, the fight for trans rights continues, and this history reminds us that resistance has always been part of our story. Listen to more episodes: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com Stay in touch: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com/subscribe Website: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com Send us Fan Mail Support the show

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