For LGBTIQ+ communties crime is too much of a reality. Across the globe queer people are more likely to be victims of crime, historically they have been more likely to be criminalised, and in many places the fear of imprisonment for being nothing more than who you really are is far, far too present. So in this post we are going to pinpoint some of the best podcasts and books TCF has reviewed over the last seventeen months which whether fiction or non-fiction have an LGBTIQ+ element.
Harsh Reality a true crime podcast covers the story of Miriam Rivera a trans woman, who persued her dreams of stardom in the simultaneously transphobic and niaeve 90s. Miriam was a truely beautiful woman, who was probably well before her time, but she never gave up, and this podcast now shines a light on the terrible treatment trans people recieved in the media at that time, and still do.
Dirt Town, a crime fiction book by Hayley Scrivinor impressed True Crime Fiction with her delicate and lyrical rendering of children on the cusp of leaving childhood. None more so than Lewis, whoes burgeonging sexuality he is just begining to understand is not as hetrosexual as the small town around him would assume. His experimentation with another boy who simultaneously is attracted to, and also rejects him, is painful reminder of how confusing this period is for children, but even more so for the gay children who have no role models to guide or follow.
City of Vengence and The Darkest Sin, by friend of the podcast D.V. Bishop, is set in renaisance Florence and our hero, the rather dishy Ceaser Aldo, is very gay, and very in the closet. Being open about his sexuality would quickly lead to his death in the highly repressed Catholic city. Aldo is always the outsider, rejected by his own family because of his illegitimacy, but while he solves muders so often interwoven into the politcal fabric of the Florence, there is a spark of hope for him in the form of a Jewish doctor, and their on-again-off-again romance is frankly, increadibly hot.
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When writer Brian Masters decided to write the seminal book on serial killer Dennis Neilson, Killing for Company he didn’t do it from a love of true crime. He wrote about philosophy and the royal family before. However, he knew that in a Britain which had only very recently decriminalised homosexuality Neilson’s bisexuality would be used by some to drum up hate and prejudice against his community. So he made the leap from his previously educated and rareified writing world, into aberrant pshycologies, death and necrophilia. In doing so he wrote a modern true crime classic, which steers away from salacious and gratuitous muckracking and more towards trying to understand the subtle nuances that allow a mind like Neilson’s to develop, and what could have been done to stop it before it was to late.
True Crime Fiction is also a regular listener to That’s Spooky podcast. Canadaian duo Johnny and Tyler serve up weekly doses of true crime and spooky content, as well as highlighting LGBTIQ+ stories, both those that are obvious and those that have been erased by history. If you’re squemish about the gays this is not for you as cock and rimming jokes abound! We however, love that they are loud and proud and championing compassion and community, and we give them huge congratulations on their recent move to Wondery. This month they are raising money with their Pride Forever merchandise for the Rainbow Railroad, and organisation that helps LGBTIQ+ people escape violence and persecution around the world.
Let me know if there are any queer content creators I need to know about!