For much of history, queer lives were criminalized, and what survives of us is too often filtered through police files and court records; stories told by those who sought to erase us. But every so often, a different kind of record survives: a story the community protected; a story someone loved enough to keep alive. Charles McDonell's is one of those rare stories. His life was captured not by the state, but by queer hands: poets, lovers, and friends who refused to let him disappear. This is a tale of forbidden queer love in the mud-soaked trenches of the Great War… of a soldier who found tenderness in the unlikeliest place, and the grief and trauma that followed him home like a shadow.

Regional Mental Health Resources.

Download our Discussion Questions.

Lavender Ranks explores queer life during the First World War and contains frank discussions of war, discrimination, repression, sexuality, and historical violence. Listener discretion is advised.

Written by Emily Gioskos

Hosts Emily Gioskos & Karbon

Executive Producer Ryan Barnett

Edited by Sonia Gemmiti

Series consultant Sarah Worthman

Illustration by Henry Fong

Additional Research Dr. Sarafina Pagnotta

Featuring original interviews with Sarah Worthman, Mitchell LaFramboise, Cameron Telch, Andrea McKenzie, and Martine Roy.

An original production of Knockabout Media

This podcast was made possible thanks to funding from Veterans Affairs Canada’s Commemorative Partnership Program.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if I told you the roots of Canadian drag weren’t in a nightclub, but in the mud and mayhem of the Western Front during the First World War?

In this episode of Lavender Ranks, hosts Em and Karbon introduce you to Ross Hamilton, adored by audiences as “Marjorie” and remembered today as one of Canada’s earliest drag performers. Under the guise of “boosting morale,” the military somehow became the perfect stage for queer aesthetics, performance, and desire to emerge in plain sight.

Today, Em and Karbon are spilling the tea on wartime concerts, the ingenuity in creating glamour at the front, and the blurry line between performance and identity during the First World War. And yes, in this episode, you’ll even hear from Ross Hamilton himself.

Download our Discussion Questions.

Lavender Ranks explores queer life during the First World War and contains frank discussions of war, discrimination, repression, sexuality, and historical violence. Listener discretion is advised.

Written by Emily Gioskos

Hosts Emily Gioskos & Karbon

Executive Producer Ryan Barnett

Edited by Sonia Gemmiti

Series consultant Sarah Worthman

Illustration by Henry Fong

Additional Research Dr. Sarafina Pagnotta

Featuring original interviews with Sarah Worthman, Mitchell LaFramboise, Cameron Telch, Andrea McKenzie, and Martine Roy.

An original production of Knockabout Media

This podcast was made possible thanks to funding from Veterans Affairs Canada’s Commemorative Partnership Program.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

lavender

(noun) /ˈlæv.ən.dər/

A symbolic colour associated with LGBTQ2S+ identity, queer culture, and queer resistance.

ranks

noun / ræŋks /

The members of a military force considered collectively.

Hosted by The Queer Collective’s Emily and Karbon, Lavender Ranks explores the stories that didn’t make it into the official record because they were too tender, too queer, or too dangerous to preserve. From Canadian soldiers performing in drag at the front, to forbidden love in the trenches, to nurses whose lifelong relationship was dismissed as mere “friendship,” the series uncovers a hidden history buried beneath the mythology of war.

If you’re interested in queer history, Canadian history, the First World War, or military history, follow Lavender Ranks now and discover the stories history tried to leave behind.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.