Features
The pre Drag Race all-stars downunder – Aussie herstory
Today, RuPaul’s Drag Race defines drag. Indeed, drag queens of a particular vintage complain that baby drags have no idea the artform even existed before RuPaul’s Supermodel of the World. But a glance through old newspapers and magazines shows pre Drag Race all-stars downunder making Aussie herstory decades ago. Undoubtedly, thanks to RuPaul, drag enjoys …
Maud Allan & The Cult of the Clitoris: the trial of the century
A 1918 newspaper article headlined The Cult of the Clitoris destroyed the career of the most famous dancer on Earth. It implied that Maud Allan was both a lesbian and a dangerous femme fatale, undermining the British war effort by encouraging sexual deviance. Total tomfuckery. The suggestion Maud Allan influenced World War I was ludicrous. …
Lindsay Kemble: from Adelaide’s ‘gay deceiver’ to war hero
Billed as Adelaide’s ‘gay deceiver’, Lindsay Kemble enjoyed a decades-long stage career as a female impersonator after the publicity from a 1915 arrest for unlawfully disguising himself as a woman. Two constables testified against Lindsay in the Adelaide Police Court. Each detailed the interest they took in a young woman they noticed “out late at …
Supermum Shelley Argent talks to QNews – the 2011 interview
Shelley Argent is a mum on a mission. From putting up posters in men’s toilets to taking the fight for equality to Canberra’s heavyweights. Shelley has become a force to be reckoned with who wants nothing more than to see her two sons treated as equals. QNews recently visited Shelley at home and, over freshly …
Sir Chips Channon: Nazi-loving arselicker to the aristocracy
Long-forgotten politician Sir Henry Chips Channon is about to enjoy a new lease on life decades after his death. Publication has begun, over three instalments, of his unexpurgated diaries. Channon’s bitchy and salacious revelations of the rarefied circles he moved in will provide immense entertainment to history buffs and royalists. Unfortunately, the avalanche of bon …
1750 deathbed confession includes tale of failed gay seduction
A British museum recently acquired a 1750 pamphlet detailing the deathbed confession of Thomas Mun, executed for various crimes in that year. Mun speaks candidly about various exploits including an account of a failed gay seduction. Executed for robbing a mail coach, Mun apparently handed the manuscript to his jailer on the morning of his …
For all the lovers: LGBTIQ+ Valentine’s Day love quotes
For much of history, Valentine’s Day remained off-limits to all but heterosexual lovebirds. Indeed, most societies excluded romantics of diverse genders and orientations from the public celebration of their love. But times have changed in much of the world. So here are some LGBTIQ+ Valentine’s Day love quotes for all the lovers, however, and with …
Shelley the Magnificent: PFLAG+ National Spokesperson retires
Shelley Argent stepped down this month as PFLAG+ National Spokesperson. In that position and others, she advocated tirelessly for LGBTIQ+ rights over more than two decades. Shelley Argent, however, told QNews she will continue to advocate behind the scenes. “I’m a mother. Mums don’t retire. It’s a job for life. As the mum of an …
Dr Albert W Noll: The Fairy, the Fire Fiend and the Fiddle
The author came across Dr Albert W Noll while researching the recent publication COON: more holes than swiss cheese. The young Boston dentist enjoyed notoriety for his appearances on the Boston stage during the 1890s. He usually performed in drag, either as a white woman or in blackface as a ‘mammy’ caricature. Born into Boston …
Happy Birthday Ned Kelly, though we never knew you at all
Although a national icon, Ned Kelly remains something of an enigma. The most famous bushranger of them all stares out at the world through a slit in his armour plate helmet and everyone makes of him what they will. Despite Red and Ellen Kelly not registering Ned’s birth, documentation indicates a December 1854 birthdate. In …