Queer Legends: An Oral History Podcast

About Queer Legends: An Oral History Podcast

Season-2 tells the The True Story of Canada's LGBT Purge in a landmark eight part documentary series. It's the first documentary to share the full extent of Canada's anti-homosexual campaigns from WW1 to today, based on our research of thousands of pages of newly declassified documents released through the LGBT Purge class-action settlement. From ridiculous to shocking, you'll hear amazing true stories from courageous survivors; academics; researchers; former MPs, cabinet ministers and a retired Chief of Defence Staff. We even uncovered a 1960s Purge mystery that led all the way to Rideau Hall - and we have the exclusive interview! | BONUS CONTENT: https://lgbtpurge.ca/ Season 2 is supported in part by a community grant from The LGBT Purge Fund. Thank you!! ------- Season-1 of Queer Legends is the 2023 Canadian Podcast Awards winner of Outstanding Documentary series. Our first season is about the people who built the rainbow, created space and held their own! Discover the artists, activists, performers, politicians and pivotal moments that shaped Queer history and how the 2SLGBTQ+ community protests today. Host/Producer: Shawn Dearn Executive Producer: Ian Capstick

Publisher

Shawn Dearn

Category

education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Sept 2021

Latest episode

12 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

33 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Apr 2026

   Cleve Jones and the AIDS Memorial Quilt

   A Queer Legends × Art Against Empire crossover. Ian Danger Capstick sits down with Cleve Jones, the activist who conceived the AIDS Memorial Quilt on a cold November night in 1985 with a stack of posterboard and Harvey Milk's own bullhorn, given to Cleve after Harvey was assassinated. They talk about the afternoon Cleve first walked into Castro Camera, the morning Gilbert Baker raised the first rainbow flag, the grandmothers who could not find the words, and Seven Days in June, the new mobilization Cleve is building to mark forty-five years of HIV and AIDS. Close to an hour, close to uncut, and one of the most important conversations either one of our shows has had this year. We hope you enjoy this crossover episode. And don't worry...season 3 of Queer Legends: An Oral History Podcast is in the works!

2. 

   9 Apr 2025

   The U.S. Military's Transgender Purge

   On 25 January 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that launched a new military Purge of America's Transgender servicemen and servicewomen. Trump's Order is based on outdated, bigoted and transphobic tropes that do not hold up to scientific, nor legal scrutiny. In this episode I introduce you to United States Space Force Colonel, Bree Fram, one of the highest-ranking, openly transgender, officers in the United States military. Hear what it’s like to defend America from within Donald Trump's Republican-made culture war. NOTE: The opinions expressed by Colonel Fram in this episode are her own and they do not reflect those of her employer.

3. 

   21 Mar 2025

   The LGBT Purge Interrogation Room

   In this haunting episode, I explore the chilling discovery of a former Canadian Armed Forces interrogation room used during the LGBT Purge, that's now an ordinary office space. Once a site where gay and lesbian soldiers were questioned and persecuted for their sexuality, this room's dark history has been erased, its walls repainted and repurposed while its secrets lay dormant. Join us as we uncover how this space of institutional violence is being remembered many decades later. Learn more at https://lgbtpurge.ca/ Cover art photo by Aaron Cohen, Canadian Museum For Human Rights Create and hosted by Shawn Dearn. Executive Producer: Ian Capstick

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.7 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

4.7 / 5

12 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 47 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

62

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

81

Contact Queer Legends: An Oral History Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.