The 15 Best Queer History Podcasts (2026)

Eric Marcus started recording interviews with LGBTQ activists and everyday pioneers back in 1989, and those tapes became something genuinely irreplaceable. Making Gay History pulls from that deep archive to bring you the actual voices of people who lived through the movement -- from pre-Stonewall resistance to the AIDS crisis and beyond. You'll hear Marsha P. Johnson laughing, activists strategizing, and ordinary people describing moments of extraordinary courage.

The format is beautifully simple. Marcus introduces each person with context, then lets the archival audio do the heavy lifting. Episodes run anywhere from nine to forty minutes, and the shorter ones hit just as hard as the longer deep dives. With 154 episodes across 14 seasons, there's a huge library to explore. Recent seasons have tackled LGBTQ experiences during the Nazi era, which shows Marcus isn't afraid to go to uncomfortable places.

What sets this apart from other history shows is the intimacy. These aren't actors reading scripts or historians summarizing events from a distance. You're hearing real people in their own words, often recorded decades ago when the outcome of the movement was far from certain. The 4.7-star rating from over 1,300 reviews reflects that -- listeners regularly call it a national treasure, and they're not exaggerating. If you care about understanding how we got here, this is essential listening.

History has never been as straight as your textbooks made it seem, and Leigh Pfeffer is here to prove it. History is Gay takes overlooked queer figures from every era and corner of the globe and gives them the attention they deserved all along. The research is thorough, the delivery is warm, and there's a genuine sense of excitement when the show uncovers someone you've never heard of.

Each episode is a deep dive into a specific person or moment, layered with biographical detail and socio-historical context. Leigh often brings in guest hosts and academic experts, which keeps the perspectives fresh. The show has covered everything from queer children's literature authors to figures from ancient civilizations, so the range is impressive. Episodes drop monthly, with 73 in the catalog since 2017.

The tone strikes a nice balance between scholarly and accessible. You'll learn a lot, but it never feels like a lecture. The 4.8-star rating from nearly 500 reviews speaks to how well the show connects with its audience. There's also an active community on Discord and Patreon for listeners who want to go deeper. After a brief hiatus in 2024, the show returned with renewed energy and format tweaks planned going forward. It's the kind of podcast that makes you want to immediately look up everything discussed after each episode ends.

Not every queer person in history was a hero, and Bad Gays is refreshingly honest about that. Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller profile the villains, the morally gray, and the outright terrible queers that mainstream pride narratives tend to skip over. Think less rainbow flags and more complicated human beings doing questionable things across centuries of history.

The format works like a biography podcast with teeth. Each episode focuses on a single historical figure -- Tom of Finland, William Beckford, E.M. Forster -- and Lemmey and Miller dig into their lives with serious research and sharp analysis. Episodes typically run 45 minutes to over an hour, released biweekly, with 153 in the archive. The hosts have strong intellectual chemistry, bouncing between historical detail and broader cultural commentary without losing the thread.

Fair warning: this leans academic at times. If you want a breezy listen, this might not be your first pick. But if you enjoy thinking critically about history rather than just celebrating it, Bad Gays is incredibly rewarding. The show spawned a book of the same name, and the 4.5-star rating from over 500 reviews reflects a dedicated audience that values nuance over comfort. There's also a premium subscriber tier for bonus content, though the free feed is plenty substantial on its own.

Devlyn Camp does something unusual with Queer Serial -- it's a podcast radio drama that tells true stories. The show blends narrative storytelling, archival audio, interviews, and dramatic reconstruction to chronicle American LGBTQ+ liberation from the 1920s through Stonewall and beyond. It's history that sounds like a well-produced audio documentary, not someone reading Wikipedia aloud.

Across 130 episodes and 6 seasons, the show has built out an impressive scope. Whole seasons are dedicated to specific eras or events, including a gripping 9-episode serial about the 1955 Boise, Idaho moral panic. Camp writes, hosts, edits, and produces the show, which gives it a consistent creative vision even as the production quality has steadily improved over the years. Season 4 moved into a proper recording studio, and you can hear the difference.

The 4.9-star rating from 176 reviews is not an accident. Listeners consistently praise the research depth and educational value -- one reviewer even used it for a school report on Frank Kameny and Stonewall. The show takes an intersectional approach, recognizing that the queer community has never been monolithic. If you want a serialized, immersive way to learn American LGBTQ+ history rather than one-off episodes, this is your best bet.

Four Melbourne-based queer history nerds walk into a podcast booth, and the result is 185 episodes spanning every continent and several millennia. Queer as Fact examines historical figures, mythological characters, films, and literary works through a queer lens, and the geographic and temporal range is genuinely wild. One episode covers Irish mythology and Cu Chulainn; the next might analyze Korean cinema or theorize about Otzi the Iceman's love life.

The group dynamic between hosts Alice, Eli, Jasmine, and Irene keeps things lively. They bring genuine snark, humor, and advocacy to their discussions while maintaining rigorous source evaluation -- a combination that's harder to pull off than it sounds. Episodes run anywhere from 46 minutes to over two hours, so bring snacks for the longer ones. The show updates bimonthly and has been consistently producing since its launch.

Listeners love the thoroughness. The 4.8-star rating from 525 reviews puts it among the highest-rated queer history shows around. The hosts include comprehensive trigger warnings, which is a thoughtful touch given some of the darker historical material they cover. They also run a Patreon with merch and bonus content. If you've ever wanted to learn about queer people across every possible historical context, from ancient civilizations to 20th century literature, this Australian crew has you covered.

Sweetbitter takes an investigative approach to queer and women's history, and each season is essentially its own self-contained project. Season 1 focused on Sappho. Season 2 explored pirate history. Season 3 reexamines the Bible from a queer perspective, interviewing LGBTQIA+ clergy and scholars about everything from medieval gay monks to contemporary trans pastors. That kind of ambition is rare.

Hosts Leesa Charlotte, Ellie Brigida, and Alyse Knorr collaborate with multidisciplinary experts to build each season's narrative, and the production feels more like an investigative journalism piece than a casual chat show. They even perform original music at the end of episodes, which is an unexpectedly personal touch. With 57 episodes across 3 seasons released biweekly, the catalog isn't huge, but every episode feels intentional.

The 4.6-star rating from 154 reviews highlights strong listener loyalty. People consistently praise the hosts' chemistry and the quality of the research. The show focuses specifically on erasure -- the ways marginalized people get written out of history -- which gives it a clear editorial point of view without being preachy. If you're interested in how queer identity intersects with religion, maritime history, or ancient poetry, Sweetbitter handles those intersections with real care and intelligence.

Since 1974, volunteers at the UK's Switchboard LGBTQ+ helpline have kept log books recording the calls they received. Those logs are now archived at the Bishopsgate Institute, and Tash Walker and Adam Zmith use them as springboards for intimate conversations with LGBTQ+ elders and peers about what life in Britain was actually like across the decades.

The format is straightforward but deeply affecting. Each episode features an interview -- ranging from 28 to 62 minutes -- where someone shares their personal experiences connected to Switchboard and broader queer British history. Topics span community, family, nightlife, volunteering, and the shifting politics around LGBTQ+ rights since the 1970s. With 51 episodes and Season 4 launching in January 2026, the show keeps finding new stories to tell.

The Log Books won Best New Podcast (Gold) at the British Podcast Awards in 2020, and it holds a perfect 5.0 rating on Apple Podcasts. Walker and Zmith also published a companion book through Faber & Faber in January 2026 called The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened. This is British queer history told through the people who lived it, and the helpline logs give it a documentary foundation that feels both specific and universal. It's particularly good if you're interested in how LGBTQ+ community infrastructure actually worked behind the scenes.

Cruising started with a question that sounds simple but turned into an incredible project: what if you visited every lesbian bar left in America? Season 1 documented a 2021 cross-country road trip doing exactly that. Season 2 expanded to 14 additional queer spaces, chronicling both the resurgence of lesbian bars and the history of those that closed. Season 3 shifted to interviews with history-making lesbians and LGBTQ+ folks about bookstores, farms, peace encampments, and other community spaces.

Sarah Gabrielli conducts the interviews, and listeners consistently praise her as a thoughtful, insightful host. Episodes run 45 minutes to over 75 minutes, released biweekly, with 80 in the archive. The storytelling is narrative-driven but grounded in real conversations with real people. There's an accompanying book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, that extends the project even further.

The 4.8-star rating from 172 reviews reflects a show that people describe as culturally necessary. It's especially valuable for younger listeners who might not realize how much queer community space has been lost -- and how much is being rebuilt. The focus on physical places gives it a specificity that sets it apart from more biographical queer history shows. You come away understanding not just who queer people were, but where they gathered and why those spaces mattered so much.

Funded by the New York City Council Committee on Education, UnErasing LGBTQ History is built specifically for educators -- but don't let that put you off if you're just a curious listener. Host Kathleen Barker guides episodes that span from colonial America through the 21st century, covering the stories your history classes probably skipped entirely. The educational DNA shows in how clearly everything is explained without being condescending.

Episodes run 12 to 40 minutes and focus on individual historical figures or landmark events. Recent installments have covered photographers, civil rights cases, activists, and cultural pioneers, and there's a strong emphasis on practical strategies for teachers who want to create more inclusive classrooms. The monthly release schedule means 42 episodes in the catalog, each one feeling carefully crafted rather than rushed out.

The perfect 5.0-star rating is based on a small review pool of 10, so take that with appropriate context. But the praise is genuine -- one educator described it as providing guidance, structure, and courage for navigating content censorship concerns. If you're a teacher looking for LGBTQ+ history content you can actually bring into your classroom, this is probably the most directly useful podcast on this list. And if you're not a teacher, it's still a solid, well-researched history show that happens to be extra thoughtful about accessibility.

The Gerber/Hart Library and Archives in Chicago houses one of the largest queer archives in the United States, and this podcast takes you inside the collection. Hosted by Erin Bell and Jen Dentel, Unboxing Queer History explores LGBTQ+ stories through the actual artifacts, documents, and materials sitting in those archive boxes. It's history told through objects, which gives every episode a tangible quality.

Topics range from Chicago lesbian bar history to the importance of collecting LGBTQ+ erotica, from grassroots archiving efforts to censorship resistance and intergenerational dialogue. Each episode features interviews with community leaders, volunteers, researchers, and local historians, running 25 to 55 minutes. Two seasons and 18 episodes so far, released biweekly, with funding from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and Illinois library grants.

The perfect 5.0-star rating from 32 reviews is earned. The show is ad-free, which is a nice bonus, and the production emphasizes careful audio design. What makes it special is the specificity -- you're not just hearing about queer history in the abstract, you're learning about particular letters, photographs, and publications that survived because someone thought to save them. It's a love letter to the work of archiving and preservation, and it'll make you appreciate the people who kept queer history from disappearing.

Destiny (she/they) runs Closeted History with a clear mission: making queer and trans stories that society suppressed or hid more accessible for everyone. The show focuses on narratives that got written out of mainstream history -- the people, events, and cultural moments that textbooks chose to ignore or couldn't acknowledge in their time.

The format varies from episode to episode, which keeps things from getting stale. Sometimes it's a solo deep dive into a historical topic like the Harlem Renaissance's queer dimensions. Other times it's interviews with educators, therapists, and creators. There are even movie and documentary reviews mixed in, always connecting back to the broader project of uncovering suppressed history. Twenty-three episodes released biweekly, with a Patreon community offering early access and ad-free versions.

The 4.4-star rating from 47 reviews reflects a show that's still growing into its potential. The research is solid and the perspective is genuine, even if the production sometimes has that indie podcast feel. Closeted History works best as a companion to some of the bigger shows in the space -- it fills in gaps and highlights stories that even dedicated queer history podcasts sometimes overlook. The host's enthusiasm for the subject matter is infectious, and the active engagement across multiple platforms shows a creator who genuinely cares about building a community around this work.

Queer Legends earned a Canadian Podcast Award for Outstanding Documentary in 2023, and Season 2 shows why the recognition was deserved. Host Shawn Dearn tells the true story of Canada's LGBT Purge -- the government's systematic anti-homosexual campaigns spanning from World War I to the present -- using declassified documents from the LGBT Purge class-action settlement. It's investigative documentary work in podcast form.

Season 1 profiled queer artists, activists, performers, and pivotal moments in LGBTQ+ history more broadly. Season 2 narrows the focus to the Purge through an 8-part series featuring interviews with survivors, academics, researchers, former politicians, and military officials. Episodes run 40 to 55 minutes, with shorter quickie episodes under 20 minutes scattered throughout the 30-episode catalog.

The show updated monthly and recently tackled contemporary issues like Trump's 2025 military transgender policies, connecting past persecution to present-day politics. The 3.7-star rating from 7 reviews undersells it -- this is a small-audience show doing serious documentary work. It's funded by community grants from The LGBT Purge Fund and features exclusive interviews connected to Canada's Rideau Hall. If you're interested in the specific mechanics of how governments targeted queer people, and how those targeted fought back, Queer Legends provides documentation you won't find anywhere else.

Frank Howard describes himself as an amateur historian with a fully stocked bar and a boundless curiosity, and that's a pretty accurate description of what you get here. Gay of the Day profiles individual notable LGBT people from history in compact, well-researched episodes that typically run 8 to 18 minutes. Tommy Kirk, James Beard, Joe Meek, Saint Sebastian -- each gets their own spotlight.

The show originated from a Facebook series before making the jump to audio, and Howard's quiet, measured delivery works well for the format. He doesn't rush through the biographies or pad them with unnecessary tangents. You get the essential story, told clearly, in the time it takes to walk the dog or wait for your coffee. The 4.7-star rating from 51 reviews is solid, with listeners specifically praising the research quality and noting that the show appeals well beyond just LGBTQ+ audiences.

The main critique from listeners has been wanting more -- longer episodes, supplementary resources, a faster release schedule. With only 15 episodes in the catalog, this is a smaller show that punches above its weight. Each entry is a starting point for your own research into someone you probably didn't know was queer. It's the kind of show you can hand to anyone regardless of how much queer history they already know, and they'll walk away having learned something genuinely interesting.

Produced by Learning for Justice (part of the Southern Poverty Law Center), Queer America operates from a simple but powerful premise: without LGBTQ history, there is no American history. Hosts Leila Rupp and John D'Emilio -- both respected historians -- interview scholars on topics spanning from Harlem to the Frontier West, the Cold War to the AIDS crisis, trans experiences to film history.

Each episode runs 40 minutes to over an hour and includes discussion of how educators can integrate these stories into their curricula. Show notes provide transcripts and educational resources, making this arguably the most classroom-ready queer history podcast available. The 4.4-star rating from 50 reviews comes from listeners who appreciate the academic rigor without it feeling stuffy.

Here's the catch: the series ran from 2018 to 2019 with 14 episodes and appears to be complete. That's a limitation, but the content hasn't aged. The historical periods covered -- WWII, the Cold War, the early AIDS response -- are as relevant now as when the episodes were recorded. Think of it as a focused, expertly produced course in American LGBTQ+ history that you can finish in a long weekend. The institutional backing from Learning for Justice means the scholarship is top-tier, and the practical classroom focus makes it uniquely valuable for anyone in education.

Ronni and Kelly take a people-first approach to LGBTQ+ history by bringing on a different activist, historian, or advocate every week. With 52 episodes and a weekly release schedule, they've built up a solid roster of conversations that span the full range of queer experience -- from General Tammy Smith (the first openly gay general in the U.S. Army) to grassroots lesbian history preservationists to bisexual activism organizers.

Each episode runs 27 to 41 minutes, long enough to get substantial but short enough to fit into a commute. The format is interview-driven, with the hosts asking their guests about their work, activism, and contributions to LGBTQ+ rights and history. Special episodes mark occasions like World AIDS Day with dedicated programming. It's a show that treats its guests with real respect and gives them space to tell their own stories.

The 4.3-star rating from 4 reviews is based on a tiny sample, so it's hard to draw conclusions from that alone. Some listeners have noted that the audio production could be tighter, and the narration style doesn't always translate perfectly to an audio-only medium. But the information is genuinely valuable, and the guest list alone makes this worth following. If you want a weekly dose of real people doing real work in LGBTQ+ history and advocacy, this delivers consistently.