The guest lady was remarkably badly informed. She couldn’t pronounce names properly. Why did they introduce Sondheim and then drop him? Why was Robbins a bad gay? Because he was mean and he named names? Literally any theater queen on 9th Avenue could give you a juicer, more focused and more entertaining hour on Robbins, his career and his influence. This was a meandering mess.

Enjoyable, even if some episodes drag on a bit too long. Instead of all these people I’ve never heard of, maybe you could profile the OTHER Francis Bacon, the Elizabethan/Jacobean politician & philosopher.

If the hosts of this show had stopped at “complicated gays,” they might have had a decent podcast. But their determination to find fault with anyone other than themselves gives the show an acrid taste of smug superiority. Basically, it’s a show about gays who have been racist or classist. Imagine a show called “Bad Blacks” or “Bad Poor People.” I don’t see why gay people want to indulge in this kind of collective self-loathing when no one else does.

A great example of a history pod that is fun and sometimes funny without losing depth and critical edge on the intersection of messy human lives with ethics and politics. This professional historian approves!

The hosts strike a great balance of history narrative and personal editorializing. I greatly enjoy that they don’t over sensationalize and mention the limitations of assigning a sexual identity to figures that lived before such concepts. That and their easy conversation with each other makes all of the episodes a fun and interesting listen.

Ever time I find a cool podcast it’s over already

All true crime listeners in their Jeffrey Dahmer episode. Like right off the bat. I l don’t listen to true crime drink wine and giggle at it. I actually want to learn. It’s kinda daft to say the stuff they said.

I gave this a couple months, and just couldn't get into it. The sound quality tends to be problematic for me. I don't have the best hearing and the speed and quietness with which Huw speaks caused me to actually stop listening to one episode in the middle. I am still at the beginning of season 2, and looking on ahead, I have to wonder if every famous gay person is "bad"? Maybe it's the nature of fame? In any case, after a few listens I had to quit this.

I only listened to the Andrew Sullivan episode. Perhaps the others are different, but the hosts foundational argument seemed to be that being gay (or at least a good gay) is not a physiological fact about the gender direction of someone’s attractions, but rather a quasi-religious political identity. To be a real queer person you must assimilate to a worldview native to the farthest left corners of the political spectrum. Gay people who continue to hold even mild conservative or religious views are heretics and blasphemers and a threat to the awokened creeds of what looks more like a queer religion everyday. The hosts are so certain that skeptics of their beliefs are bigoted and evil that they cannot conceive of how elitist and marginalizing their own advocacy is. Like fish, they swim in echo-chambered waters and don’t know they are wet. I wonder if either of them know what it is to grow up gay in conservative or religious communities? How much more disadvantaged these gay people already are, and how many of them maintain cultural ties and worldviews adjacent to the views they were brought up in. These gay folks are not happy representatives of pluralism in the queer community to the hosts, but unbelievers to be converted or else weeds to be pulled out. They were fundamentally incurious about why Sullivan’s arguments could be so persuasive, writing off the near unanimous agreement he was able to achieve as obviously homophobic. Gay people like Sullivan, who embrace monogamy, marriage, pro-life policies, or the centrality of family and child-rearing to a healthy society, are not welcome. They aren’t even really gay. This is just a new kind of homophobia. It’s another effort to force gay people to conform to an oppressive shame enforced standard.

A fascinating and engaging program with knowledgeable and thoughtful hosts. It’s given me new perspective and opened and changed my mind on many historical events and social issues.

I typically love this show but the Griselda Blanco episode had literally zero gay content; like it’s baffling why Ben and Hew profiled her on this show at all. It’s as if though this was a special “Oops All Het” ep. C’mon y’all, you can’t be out of content already!

These guys are fascinating. In each episode they investigate the life of a particular person, but contextualize that person’s actions and thinking by exploring a broad range of topics, including sexual identities, politics, policing, education, class, etc., etc. Even when the person being studied may not be well known, I have learned to trust these guys to weave a fascinating and enlightening narrative. And they now have a book as well, which makes a great present.

The episodes of this show are very uneven in merit. Some episodes, like Francis Bacon, are fantastic, and interestingly present a dynamic picture of a complicated person. Some episodes, like Roger Casement, are a perplexing stretch beyond the seeming theme of the show, and feel like a distinction without a difference from the standard history. Some episodes, like Morrissey, slightly discredit themselves by stretching beyond legitimate objections to include canard. Overall, the show feels like a valuable contribution, but it creeps close to assuming bad faith judgments are the same as radical history (which is a common trap, granted.) Worth the listen, but be braced for inconsistency and strained relevance from time to time.

Ben Miller is very intelligent, probably a genius. I wrote a review a while ago and it never got posted, I don’t know why, I can’t remember but it might be because I made a reference that was against guidelines. I’m impressed by Ben Miller, he’s worth listening to. Glad to see the mad man Cunanan getting some play in this new Santos episode. Missed you guys. Glad you’re back. Xoxo

This is a pretty great discussion of various people in history or even contemporary times and exploring how their sexuality may tie in to their nefarious character. It’s good to tell a full picture of a person as much as you can. Huw and Ben do a very good job of exploring these individuals and their lives. On a personal note, THANK YOU for the Andrew Sullivan episode. He’s a terrible gay and a snake.

I like the show. It’s a great idea. The Buttigieg show was terrific. I am sending any friends there who want to know why I don’t like him. I mostly agree with their analysis in general, but I don’t need to agree with everything to like something. It’s a good conversation. But the sound quality is so discouraging. I have to turn it way up to hear somebody speak (and then down, and then up, etc.) and then the theme music comes on and my speakers rattle. Switch to a platform that can do compression for you. You really need to fix the sound. You guys are too great to have that be an obstacle for listeners.

I came across this podcast in early June ‘22 and am still catching up on all the episodes. I might even buy the book. The episode about Buttigieg has not aged well. In the era of everything Trump/ism, Pete deserved a more balanced discussion. No politician is perfect, but that episode seemed really petty.

Enticing entertaining tales elaborated with a historians note for detail. Huge refreshing historical sweep is brought to bear on each subject. A very thoughtful thorough approach to each persons complex life. Reminds me a bit of Camille Paglia’s(sp) hundreds of pages on the essential contributions of homosexuals to humanity using complex portraits across centuries. My request for your next pod: “The Good Gays”

I love this podcast and sent half a dozen episodes to various friends. As a life long history nerd, I get very bored with staid, empirical history and love the strange, complicated, and ambiguous which proves that, indeed, the past is foreign but deeply influential. Rather than 100 queer icons to know about, the podcast takes an analytical view of how queer identities and gender expressions have interacted with politics across space and time, seeding ground for activists to learn and grow. The book is also an amazing resource, and at this point, my copy is full of annotations and marginalia.

Already binging this but started at the beginning. A profoundly intelligent and unapologetically intellectual take on queer history. Still it entertains!

I love this podcast. Could the sound quality be more consistent? Sure (hint). But the generous, in-depth, immaculately well-researched profiles would be worth listening to through a tin can. There’s a solid balance between lesser-known and more public figures, and a genuinely joyful exploration of the lives of these inevitably complicated figures. I appreciate the political and philosophical perspectives, and hope that anybody who disagrees would take the time to absorb the argument, whether they agree with it or not. That being said… can we get some Vita Sackville-West?

I especially love the episodes that use an individual historical figure to tell the history of an era. Favorites include Capote, Liberace, and Morrissey. Also love Lemmey’s consistent feminist analysis and the general commitment of both hosts to contextualizing the badness in terms of race, class, and empire. Have you done Mountbatten?

Until one particular episode. Full of vitriol and and absurd rhetoric. Do better, Ben. I would have loved to have been a fan.

With each episode I learn more and more. The show offers a deep inspection of bad gays from history. Listening has enlightened me about just how bad some notable gays have been. While not a student of history, this show brings historical personalities to life in a very digestible way. Most people are good, some are bad, a few are very bad, and some of the very bad happen to also be homosexual. Well done boys well done!!!

Such a wonderful, thorough, fascinating podcast with insight on larger questions of queerness and what it means to be “bad”. Every episode really brings something special and the hosts are great. I have learned so much from this podcast and always am awaiting new episodes! My friends are sick of hearing me constantly cite new things I’ve learned from listening

I’m a historian who listens to a lot of history podcasts, and this one is among the best—fascinating, well-researched, transparent about its sources. Truly excellent!

The research, insight, jokes, and nuanced conversation on this podcast makes me listen over and over! Love learning about LGBTQA+ history and the commentary from Huw and Ben is fantastic.

Queer people often turn to history in search of queer heroes. I think it is more interesting - and honest - to look for Bad Gays in history and I love this podcast for doing it. The hosts are so charming and I’ve learned so much from them. Thank you!

It’s so refreshing to find intelligent, informed and nuanced discussions of queer history. The podcast is accessible for listeners with no background in the subject, without sacrificing any depth or cemplexity. Highly recommended!

These mini bios are the best. I love the format where one reads a well researched essay and the other interjects with more casual remarks. Very witty and frequently revelatory. The Barney Frank episode blew my mind. Thank you, Ben and Huw!

It’s pretty good, the hosts are witty and insightful. But sometimes they let their Marxist-Decolonist ideology get in the way of their historical analysis. Don’t get me wrong, I’m cool with that stuff, though I take more of Franz Fanon/Russell Means angle to imperialism. At any rate, the Alexander episode is a good example of what I’m talking about. It was I think explicitly stated that Alexander and his campaign into Asia is the prototype for Eurocentric imperialism. This needs to be called out as very misleading if not straight up factually wrong. When Alexander seized Egypt from the Persians, he was genuinely greeted as a liberator. Why? Because Egypt had been a vassal subject of Persia, and Persia shut down their traditional temples and made them practice Zoroastrianism. Alexander, even though he was a Greek, had no problem not only restoring the religion of the Egyptian gods but publicly prayed to them and sought the blessing/counsel of their priests. The simple fact is that at the time, Persia was the closest thing thing to an imperialistic colonial power and both the people and political leaders in their “colonies” largely supported Alexander because he granted his subjects greater autonomy and respected their indigenous traditions far more than the Persians. However, because the hosts of the show are so used to viewing the world through an anti-Western lens (which I’m not necessarily saying is a bad thing, in general) they instinctively seem to have interpreted the Alexandrian campaigns solely through that lens without bothering to dig deeper.

Fascinating histories told by two brilliant and funny hosts. Highly recommend for the SMART context provided during each episode. I found this podcast two weeks ago and since then I’ve listened to every episode. I’ve shared many episodes with loved ones who have since become equally obsessed. Gonna start supporting the Patreon today!

I haven’t been in a research/academic situation for several years but Ben and Huw are so articulate and their podcast is so well researched, it makes me feel like a better gay and a better activist.

This podcast is so thoroughly researched, and the discussions are rich. Essential listening for queer people!

I don’t even support or like mayor Pete and find this latest episode delusional and embarrassingly grotesque. Btw I’m Latinx and Gay and not an a gay.

Not just for history dorks, also politics junkies obsessed with gay right-wingers. If the latter is you: start with Andrew Sullivan, Pim Fortuyn, then move back into the 20C with Roy Cohn, skinhead Nicky Crane, J. Edgar Hoover, nazi Ernst Röhm. Somewhere along the way, you’ll get sucked further back into history by evil-twink energy & the contagious enthusiasm of these hosts.

I finally had to delete this podcast. For some reason, in spite of saying they got donations to improve their sound quality, the sound is just as bad as it as always been, which is abysmal. But worse than that is the juvenile manner they cover the topics. They titter like a bunch of prepubescent girls, and they judge everyone they some WASP value system. Why? Also, every time they talk about someone gay from before 1900 or so, one of them feels this need to interrupt with some idiotic disclaimer how there were no gay people before 1900, which quite simply isn’t true. Besides being more inaccurate then Trumps press secretary, this kind of statement is an extreme right wing and/or bro-nazi argument used to demean and trivialize gays. So why would you repeat it on a podcast for gays? Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time self-hating gays have tried to mainstream us and move us the right wing extremism. The sooner these two are gone, the better. If you want to hear a real gay podcast, try Making Gay History. It has excellent production values and the stories are told by the people themselves in their own voices, lightly narrated with insight. Unlike these two who seem determined to undermine and twist gay history thru some right wing lens, Making Gay History is inspiring and thought provoking. Send these two Patty Hearsts to get some deprogramming.

I really loved listening to this show and can’t wait for the next season. The only real flaw is the sound mixing. It’s pretty uneven. For example, the closing music is much louder than the podcasters’ voices so, at the end of every episode, I have to frantically turn down the volume to save my ears. Still… I give it 4 stars.

A very thoughtful and informed look at gay men from the perspective of identifying the bad seeds.

I need more!!!

The hosts are supremely smart and academic but also manage to inject a lot of wit and wryness into often dark-though-compelling stories. I came away from every episode feeling better informed about the LGBTQIA+ world.

I am so impressed with this podcast. Too often, the history of homosexuality focuses on the “good guys”, people we are happy to identify with and proud to celebrate as our queer ancestors. Bad Gays turns this around and looks at the villains in history, the people we might prefer to forget. In doing so, the podcast reveals important and often overlooked aspects of the historical of sexuality. The two presenters are amazing at combining rigorous and thorough historical research with fun facts and entertainment. So good! I cannot wait for the next episode and season!

This podcast helps me make sense of my world and it is really entertaining.

This is a very eye-opening series about the more pernicious part of gay history. It’s important to complicate this topic, because there has never been a queer hegemony.

Love the content. I’ve learned so much already and hope this podcast continues. Both hosts are extremely knowledgeable and it makes me want to dive into my own research.

I love the show, but please, please turn the gain up on the mics guys!

The perfect blend of fascinating history & queer theory. Love it!