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Lavender Ranks

Knockabout Media 6 Episodes Jun 17, 2026

Lavender Ranks is a podcast that uncovers hidden queer history from the First World War. Hosted by Emily and Karbon from Queer Collective, it explores stories of drag shows, love letters, and queer lives that were too tender or dangerous to preserve in official records. The series focuses on Canadian soldiers, nurses, and others whose experiences challenge traditional narratives of war. It blends military history with LGBTQ2S+ perspectives, revealing a past that mainstream history often ignores.

Episodes

We Think You'd Like: The Bosom Friends Affair Jun 17, 2026 19:51 This is an episode from Story Girl: The Life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, a 7-part podcast in which we explore L.M. Montgomery's childhood, literary journey, and the timeless impact of Anne of Green Gables on generations of readers. In this episode, the final in the series, we explore queer interpretations of Anne of Green Gables. In conversation with playwright Rosemary Rowe and cartoo

Bonus: Jo Whitehead Served at the Eastern Front Jun 10, 2026 50:46 This episode was produced by Queer Collective and previously published on their feed.The feral, gender-defiant life of a Canadian WWI veteran who ditched a wealthy upbringing, lived alone in the woods, enlisted three times, fought on the Serbian front as a man, got captured as a prisoner of war, fell in love in a prison camp, and spent decades confusing barbers and bureaucrats alike. We’re queerin

Sisters in Arms Jun 3, 2026 28:51 And the were “roommates”... or at least that’s what some historians would like you to believe. This is episode three of Lavender Ranks, in which we enter our Hallmark era to share a great sapphic love story between war-time Nursing Sisters Ellanore and Murney. Today, hosts Em and Karbon are digging deep to explore how women-loving women relationships were seemingly able to slip under the radar dur

The White Blood of No-Hope May 27, 2026 44:15 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

The Front’s Favourite Gal May 20, 2026 50:09 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

Introducing Lavender Ranks May 1, 2026 0:47 lavender(noun) /ˈlæv.ən.dər/A symbolic colour associated with LGBTQ2S+ identity, queer culture, and queer resistance.ranksnoun / 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

Lavender Ranks

Episodes

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