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.
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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.
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