Timed for Pride Month, Audible has launched Queer West, a nine-episode audio series centering on the "LGBTQ+ lives that got buried in the dust of popular culture and history" and how they "continue to shape the West."
It's hosted by a relatively new member of the queer community, Niecy Nash Betts, who married her best friend, singer Jessica Betts, in 2020.
Niecy told ABC Audio her life since coming out has been "heaven on earth."
The Rookie veteran adds with a laugh, "First of all, I didn't realize that this was where all the fun people are. The straights are boring. I'm like, 'What's going on? How come I didn't know about this a long time ago?'"
Niecy adds, "I love it here. I love the community. I love the support. I love my spouse, and I love my life."
In Queer West, Niecy reveals surprising details about the queer origins of the popular Broadway musical Oklahoma, the real story of the legendary Calamity Jane and more.
She tells ABC Audio, "When you talk about a community that has been marginalized ... because of who they love, to be able to find out that there was such a presence in settling the West ... you're like, how come everybody doesn't know about this?"
The show highlights the unheralded stories of LGBTQ+ people living in the West, from cowboys of yesteryear to the concrete cowboys of today — long-haul truck drivers in the queer community.
"I have to be honest with you and tell you that all of it was surprising," Niecy says. "So much of history is either whitewashed or only told from the writer's point of view what they want you to know, minus the facts."
She called unpacking these stories "just delicious for me."