Interview: Dennis Altman - Righting My World

Queer as Fact

History

4.8 • 666 Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today's episode we interview author, academic and political commentator Dennis Altman about his new book - Righting My World: Essays from the Past Half-Century. Join us for a discussion that spans 60 years of queer activism, from discussing the differences in public health policy responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Australia and the United States to the state of queerness as an inherently revolutionary act in 2026. Check out our website, where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon, checking out our merch, and following us on Instagram, Tumblr and Bluesky. [Image: Front cover of Dennis Altman's book, Righting My World: Essays from the past half-century, featuring a black and white photo of a younger Dennis lounging against a fence]

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, and welcome to Queer as Fact, the podcast where we talk about queer history from around the world and throughout time.
0:05.6	I'm Jasmine.
0:06.4	I'm Alice.
0:07.5	And today we're talking to the author of Writing My World, essays from past half century, Dennis Altman.
0:29.8	I'd like to acknowledge that we're recording this podcast today on the lands of the Bunurang-Bunwarang people of the Kulin Nation and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
0:33.7	They are the custodians of an oral history tradition far older than this podcast.
0:36.0	We have some content warnings for this episode.
0:38.0	This episode features discussion of the HIV-AIDS epidemic, queer phobia including queerphobic violence, mentions of misgendering,
0:43.5	brief discussions of anti-Semitism, and discussions of racism and refugee experiences. If any of that
0:49.3	sounds like something you don't want to listen to, feel free to check out our other content.
0:53.2	Dennis Altman is an Australian
0:54.6	academic who has been involved in gay activism since the 1960s. He is the author of numerous
0:59.3	books, including Homosexual Oppression and Liberation, which has been described as the first
1:03.6	serious analysis to emerge from the gay liberation movement. He is a vice-chancellor's
1:08.4	fellow and Professorial Fellow in the Institute for Human Security
1:11.6	at La Trobe University, and in 2008 was awarded the Member for the Order of Australia
1:15.7	for Service to Education as an academic, social and political commentator, and to the
1:20.3	community through raising awareness of human rights issues and to the development of HIV-AIDS policy.
1:26.0	He is a patron of the Australian Queer Archives and the Pride Foundation, and we are delighted
1:29.6	to say that he is our guest today on Queer's Fact.
1:32.2	Welcome, Dennis.
1:33.4	Thank you, but I'll just say that I'm here primarily as an author.
	...

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