Latest / Queer Voices / September 9th - Chris Ehlinger running for HCAD and BABETTE'S FEAST writer Courtney Costello

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September 9th - Chris Ehlinger running for HCAD and BABETTE'S FEAST writer Courtney Costello · Queer Voices

0:01
Brett: You are listening to Queer Voices on KPFT Houston 90.1.
0:05
Brett: We are a radio show and a podcast that's been around in some form or fashion for over five decades.
0:11
Brett: My name is Brett Cullum, and I will be your host for this episode.
0:15
Brett: First up, author R.
0:16
Brett: Lee Ingalls talks with Chris Ellinger, who is running as a Democratic candidate for the HCAD Place 2 position in the upcoming election.
0:26
Brett: Then I talk with Courtney Costello about writing Babbett's feet.
0:32
Brett: This is a play that will have its Houston premiere at the Match, running September 17th through October 4th from Mighty Acorn Productions.
0:41
Brett: Then Arlie Ingalls joins me for a news wrap section.
0:45
Brett: Queer Voices starts now.
0:54
Lee: Welcome everyone.
0:55
Lee: My name is Arlee Ingalls, and today I am joined by Chris Ellinger, who is running for Harris County Appraisal District Place 2 in the November election.
1:05
Lee: Chris, welcome to the show.
1:07
SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much, Lee.
1:08
Lee: Yeah, glad you could be here.
1:10
Lee: So we're going to talk about the election in a future segment, but today I wanted to let everyone get to know you a little bit better.
1:17
Lee: So are you from Houston?
1:19
SPEAKER_03: No, not originally.
1:20
SPEAKER_03: I moved here right after college.
1:23
SPEAKER_03: So I've been here 40 years.
1:24
SPEAKER_03: I moved here in 1986.
1:26
SPEAKER_03: I'm originally from rural South Texas.
1:29
SPEAKER_03: I was reared on a small family subsistence farm in rural South Texas.
1:35
SPEAKER_03: I'm the 11th child of 12 children.
1:38
SPEAKER_03: So I shared everything before I left home.
1:41
Lee: Our raising was very similar.
1:43
Lee: I was raised on a very small farm as well.
1:45
Lee: Eight kids.
1:45
Lee: I'm the second.
1:46
Lee: So I'm on the older side and you're on the younger side.
1:49
Lee: So, and what brought you to Houston?
1:51
SPEAKER_03: My oldest brother had moved away from home.
1:56
SPEAKER_03: He's much older than me, and he settled here in Houston.
1:59
SPEAKER_03: And when I was in junior and high school, I was fortunate that his company he worked for, which was an industrial manufacturer of drill bits for the oil and gas industry, there they hired summer interns every year, really just summer help, no intern about it, just cheap summer labor.
2:20
SPEAKER_03: And because he had been there a number of years, he was able to get me and a couple of my brothers summer jobs.
2:27
SPEAKER_03: And that meant a lot to us because in my little hometown in South Texas, there are no jobs.
2:35
SPEAKER_03: And the fact that here it actually paid pretty well at that time.
2:40
SPEAKER_03: And it was also 12-hour shifts, so 5 a.m.
2:44
SPEAKER_03: to 5 p.m.
2:45
SPEAKER_03: five days a week.
2:46
SPEAKER_03: So you got overtime pay.
2:48
SPEAKER_03: And that was like we considered ourselves super lucky that we could get these summer jobs because they paid really well.
2:55
SPEAKER_03: We were able to share living spaces and all that.
2:58
SPEAKER_03: Jump forward in college, and I'm interviewing for jobs and as a junior at Texas AM University.
3:04
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, well, I don't, I've never been outside of my hometown.
3:08
SPEAKER_03: The only place I ever been to that I actually stayed at was in Houston.
3:12
SPEAKER_03: So I just naturally just picked Houston because it was a growing economy, had lots of jobs, lots of opportunity.
3:19
SPEAKER_03: Like most people who come to Houston, I came for an opportunity for a better, brighter future.
3:24
SPEAKER_03: I managed to land a job.
3:26
SPEAKER_03: I felt very comfortable here in Houston, just the comfort of having knowing other people here, relatives.
3:32
SPEAKER_03: I had other relatives, uh some cousins and things.
3:35
SPEAKER_03: So that's how I decided to come to Houston.
3:37
SPEAKER_03: I've been here ever since.
3:38
SPEAKER_03: I've made Houston my home for the last 40 years.
3:41
SPEAKER_03: I tell people that I've lived in the same neighborhood for over 30 years.
3:45
SPEAKER_03: So I know my neighborhood very well.
3:47
SPEAKER_03: I've been very actively involved in my civic club for over 10 years as a board member.
3:53
SPEAKER_03: It's an all-volunteer organization.
3:56
SPEAKER_03: We have about 1,200 households in the neighborhood.
4:00
SPEAKER_03: I started off at the bottom, like just being volunteering as treasurer and uh worked myself to other board member positions, vice president.
4:08
SPEAKER_03: I served as president for two years.
4:10
SPEAKER_03: After college, when I worked at one of the big five, four CPA firms, or one of the most prestigious ones in the country, I landed a summer internship.
4:19
SPEAKER_03: I got very lucky because they gave me the opportunity to come start the summer before I graduated.
4:25
SPEAKER_03: I was able to save enough money to finish college.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: College was affordability, it was always a tough issue.
4:31
SPEAKER_03: I had no help in it.
4:32
SPEAKER_03: I paid for myself going through all of college.
4:36
SPEAKER_03: I do thank my sister for taking me into the summer internship pro internship, so I got to live scot-free for the summer while I was interning for uh with the uh accounting firm.
4:47
Lee: Good to you.
4:48
Lee: Yeah.
4:48
Lee: When you mentioned which uh that you are living in a particular neighborhood for uh all these years, which neighborhood is it?
4:55
SPEAKER_03: I live in Timbergrove Manor, and it's just next to the Heights area.
5:00
SPEAKER_03: I said, think of Leave It to Beaver neighborhood in the in the 50s show.
5:05
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
5:05
SPEAKER_03: That's the neighborhood.
5:06
Lee: It has its own personality.
5:09
Lee: It does.
5:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's kind of what I say.
5:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
5:14
SPEAKER_03: You have a good-sized lots, and the the houses are well maintained and taken care of.
5:20
SPEAKER_03: And it was truly built as a neighborhood, like almost like a subdivision back in there in the 50s.
5:25
SPEAKER_03: Right.
5:26
SPEAKER_03: And which I love just love the houses.
5:29
SPEAKER_03: They were pretty much built for the returning veterans from the wars, which would make them affordable for returning from World War II.
5:35
SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
5:36
Lee: Well, and I do agree with you that knowing your neighborhood uh and the values and the transitions and all that of your neighborhood is important if you're gonna sit on the board of the appraisal districts.
5:44
Lee: Once you moved here, I'm sure Houston has changed quite a bit over the years.
5:49
Lee: So can you contrast that a little bit?
5:51
Lee: This is what it was like when I got here, and this is what I'm seeing now.
5:54
SPEAKER_03: So when I first moved here, the whole Beltway 8 didn't exist at the time.
5:59
SPEAKER_03: You actually drove down a dirt road from West Time with the Memorial Drive out there on the west side, because my sister lived over there.
6:07
SPEAKER_03: I lived kind of west of like Sharpstown Mall area.
6:11
SPEAKER_03: She lived out there on the west side, and I would drive over there like, God, this is like you're uh it was just nothing out there.
6:17
SPEAKER_03: I mean, just undeveloped.
6:19
SPEAKER_03: You know, there was a dirt road where Beltway 8 exists on the west side.
6:24
SPEAKER_03: Moved initially to the to the Sharpstown Mall area.
6:28
SPEAKER_03: That was gangbusters back then.
6:30
SPEAKER_03: It was like the one of the nearest malls to go to, very busy at times.
6:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I have seen the growth of Houston from the mid-80s.
6:40
SPEAKER_03: What also I've seen is there was basically a bust in oil business at that time.
6:46
SPEAKER_03: Originally, I wanted to be a banker when I grew up.
6:48
SPEAKER_03: I chose the accounting right or the public accounting route because I knew there were jobs in public accounting, no matter what the economy was doing, I could always find a job as an accountant.
6:58
Lee: So very true.
6:59
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
7:00
SPEAKER_03: When I was in college, I declared my degree in in business.
7:03
SPEAKER_03: I actually chose finance.
7:05
SPEAKER_03: So my major was in finance.
7:07
SPEAKER_03: And about a year into it, I looked at the program and I was like, well, you know, if I just stay for one more semester, I can get a second degree in accounting and sit for the CPA exam.
7:17
SPEAKER_03: I was hedging my bets.
7:18
SPEAKER_03: I wanted to be a banker.
7:19
SPEAKER_03: And I'll this is a funny story.
7:21
SPEAKER_03: Talk about history and past and where I grew.
7:23
SPEAKER_03: Please say the only place in my little hometown that had air conditioning was the bank.
7:30
SPEAKER_03: And when my mother would take me as a child to go to with her to company or to deposit my dad's paycheck, I was like, wow, I want to work here.
7:38
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what they do here, but they get to sit in air conditioning all day because I grew up in a house without air conditioning in South Texas.
7:45
SPEAKER_03: It was hot.
7:46
SPEAKER_03: And you could imagine my mother cooking for 14 people, how hot the kitchen was when she turned on the oven for a couple hours every day.
7:54
SPEAKER_03: So no doubt.
7:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
7:56
SPEAKER_03: So I tell people it was 110 degrees outside.
8:00
SPEAKER_03: It was 125 inside the house because of my mother's cooking.
8:03
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, she cooked for an army.
8:05
SPEAKER_03: There was a bus soon after, you know, I I arrived here in Houston.
8:10
SPEAKER_03: So I was very thankful I was in the accounting industry because I had probably the least amount of layoffs at the time.
8:16
SPEAKER_03: But I saw people talk about, you know, impacting property values and home values.
8:21
SPEAKER_03: People were just leaving like in droves out of Houston.
8:25
SPEAKER_03: And there were entire subdivisions that emptied out that were brand new subdivisions out on the outskirts of town.
8:32
SPEAKER_03: They boomed during the oil boom.
8:34
SPEAKER_03: They threw them up as fast as possible.
8:36
SPEAKER_03: There were literally neighborhoods that were completely empty.
8:39
SPEAKER_03: And I remember one of my college buddies, he was from Houston, and his dad was an investor, real estate investor.
8:46
SPEAKER_03: And he would say he would just go to these foreclosures and buy like two or three homes every month for$20,000 or$30,000, pennies on the dollar of what you know they were originally sold for.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: That taught me a lesson about appraisals and home values and everything.
9:02
SPEAKER_03: It was really tragic to see how much contraction and suffering went on during the that that first bust in the uh oil economy here.
9:12
SPEAKER_03: And that was before Houston diversified.
9:14
SPEAKER_03: So it really hit Houston hard.
9:16
Lee: I saw it, I remember it very, very well.
9:18
Lee: Yeah, it was very, very, very difficult for every industry.
9:21
Lee: And I was in the communications industry at the time.
9:23
Lee: So even that it was impacted significantly.
9:26
Lee: So talking about work and the industry, uh, what about play and friends?
9:30
Lee: What did you do for fun and your group of friends?
9:33
SPEAKER_03: And early on moving here to Houston, I didn't have a lot of time because I was working a lot again to pay off debt that I had acquired during college.
9:41
SPEAKER_03: Luckily back then, you know, school loan, the college loans were way different than they are now.
9:46
SPEAKER_03: They had a defer period of time before you had to make payments.
9:50
SPEAKER_03: I paid it off basically as fast as possible.
9:52
SPEAKER_03: But the other thing is, is I also wanted to get to graduate school because I knew, again, looking to the future to get one step ahead of everyone, it was to get a graduate degree.
10:03
SPEAKER_03: I would uh to obtain my MBA U of H at night.
10:06
SPEAKER_03: So I worked full-time, went to school at night for almost like three years and and during the summer.
10:13
SPEAKER_03: But, you know, along the way, I didn't make friends.
10:15
SPEAKER_03: I I have made all my friends are here in Houston.
10:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I've made it my home.
10:19
SPEAKER_03: This is where all my friends are located.
10:22
SPEAKER_03: Now, some of them have moved away since then, but I met them here.
10:25
SPEAKER_03: Uh only one childhood friend lives here in Houston, which we've reconnected over the years, and I stay in touch with him.
10:33
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I've made my friends here play.
10:35
SPEAKER_03: I tell people Houston has a lot to offer as far as activities, even more so now today.
10:42
SPEAKER_03: In the previous days, you were, I'd say somewhat limited to certain venues or things to engage with, but Houston has so much now.
10:50
SPEAKER_03: You know, even with yeah, indoor rock climbing and everything.
10:54
SPEAKER_03: At one point I played golf.
10:55
SPEAKER_03: I played on several of the courses, and I'm glad of that.
10:59
SPEAKER_03: But, you know, it was not for me.
11:00
SPEAKER_03: It took up a lot of time and it was very expensive.
11:04
SPEAKER_03: True, true.
11:05
SPEAKER_03: Um, I have friends that I've had for more than 30 years now.
11:09
SPEAKER_03: So basically friends that I've met here in Houston and specifically in the gay community.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: I surround myself with good long-term friends.
11:18
SPEAKER_03: I've also uh been very active.
11:20
SPEAKER_03: Like I said, when you say play, I try to think of things like I get involved with.
11:26
SPEAKER_03: And one of the early on things was was to get involved with Anise Parker's first one of her first runs for public office.
11:34
SPEAKER_03: I saw someone um re you know, like, hey, there's this program you can join and we'll teach you how to how to be politically active.
11:43
SPEAKER_03: Back then I was very reserved, very introverted at the time.
11:47
SPEAKER_03: And I thought, well, maybe this might help me get me out of my shell and meet new people.
11:51
SPEAKER_03: And I did.
11:53
SPEAKER_03: And still two or three people in that first class that was put on by the Hollyfield Foundation.
11:59
SPEAKER_03: The classes met down in Midtown.
12:01
SPEAKER_03: And yes, I block walked for Anise Parker in one of her first uh elections, and luckily she won that time.
12:08
SPEAKER_03: I learned a lot and you know, met some people.
12:10
SPEAKER_03: I got involved with EPA at that point and became I was a member for a couple of years, and now I was secretary for one year, and you know, made lots of good friends through EPA and expanded the whole network of friendship through EPA.
12:24
SPEAKER_03: All those friends are older now, so we've slowed down a lot.
12:27
Lee: It does happen over time, yes.
12:30
SPEAKER_03: It does, yes.
12:31
Lee: Yeah.
12:31
Lee: Houston does have um several organizations that have been around for many years, decades in fact, and EPA is certainly one of them.
12:38
Lee: It's a place and a group that you can go and meet new people that you otherwise would not have met and find uh some commonality with.
12:45
Lee: That's exactly what I meant when I say play.
12:46
Lee: Yes, what you do in your in your all-time.
12:49
Lee: In fact, and you and I have known each other in passing for many, many years.
12:53
Lee: Uh the last time that we saw you before here recently was at one of the political caucus meetings.
12:58
Lee: Yeah.
12:59
Lee: Yeah.
12:59
Lee: So I knew that you were politically active.
13:01
SPEAKER_03: I've been politically active in the caucus over the years.
13:04
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes they're easier than other years just because of my w work at the time, my job responsibilities.
13:10
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I've always avoided the caucus.
13:13
SPEAKER_03: And just speaking of that, you know, the way I got for when I first joined the caucus back in probably mid to late 90s, Ken Counsel said, hey, come let's come to meet with me to the screening committee.
13:24
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, What do you mean, screening committee?
13:26
SPEAKER_03: I didn't know, you know, oh my God, I was so glad he drugged me to that because it was like just a light bulb went off.
13:34
SPEAKER_03: And it's like, you know, of course, I was very reserved at this time, very introverted.
13:38
SPEAKER_03: But these were small groups, and it it gave me the opportunity to realize like this is the one time that you can have undivided attention to the candidate before they get elected.
13:50
SPEAKER_03: You know, these are usually first-time candidates running, and you can ask whatever question is on your mind and what you want to know about their candidacy.
13:58
SPEAKER_03: And I was so thankful about him uh introducing me to the screening committee because, like, wow, this is really good.
14:05
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I've pretty much met every mayor before they became mayor.
14:10
SPEAKER_03: I've met many of the city council members, you know, many of the commissioners, all before they ever got elected.
14:16
SPEAKER_03: So it's like the one instance that like, wow, you really get front row seats to these people that govern our county and our city.
14:25
SPEAKER_03: So I'm really thankful for that.
14:26
SPEAKER_03: Now I'm on the side other side of the of the of the room where I'm the one that happened to be in.
14:32
Lee: Yes, yes.
14:32
Lee: Now they'll be firing questions at you.
14:34
Lee: Yeah, and and Kenny introduced us to that as well.
14:39
Lee: Now, sadly, uh the caucus happens on a night, the meetings happen on a night that we can't be there every week.
14:45
Lee: Uh, but we've been invited to the screenings and we just have not been able to attend yet.
14:48
SPEAKER_03: So I do I do understand your point there.
14:52
SPEAKER_03: They can always use good screeners because especially in the midterm elections and the general presidential years, because there's so many candidates on the ballot.
15:02
SPEAKER_03: People don't realize there's over a hundred races on this ballot.
15:06
SPEAKER_03: You need more than 25 people to interview all those people.
15:09
SPEAKER_03: Each screening takes an hour, more or less.
15:12
SPEAKER_03: And so it's a real-time commitment for those volunteers at the caucus to do the screening.
15:17
SPEAKER_03: And this is your one chance to really get to know the candidate before they're elected.
15:22
SPEAKER_03: And you can ask them specific policy issues and matters.
15:26
SPEAKER_03: I also served on their rules committee, just general rules.
15:29
SPEAKER_03: There's always room for improvement for efficiency in the meetings and such.
15:32
SPEAKER_03: And so I've always tried to work on that.
15:35
SPEAKER_03: And uh I've also volunteered for their financial review committee since I'm kind of an accounting background, volunteered for that to make sure that they you know are doing the books correctly and following all the paperwork they need to file.
15:48
SPEAKER_03: Ken as well, he introduced me to that committee, and you know, we have a good approach to just reviewing their processes and and books.
15:55
SPEAKER_03: So it's been it's been been a good organization to be associated with.
16:00
Lee: Good.
16:00
Lee: So what made you decide that you wanted to run for this particular office?
16:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's an excellent question.
16:06
SPEAKER_03: And I'll tell you, I have the perfect answer, I think.
16:09
SPEAKER_03: It speaks to me.
16:10
SPEAKER_03: It speaks to me, and I'll say this because I was a community banker for over 20 years as a loan officer.
16:17
SPEAKER_03: So in lending, the one thing you would deal with is appraisals.
16:21
SPEAKER_03: We lent on loans on every kind of property in Harris County or the greater Harris County area.
16:27
SPEAKER_03: So everything from residential construction homes to big commercial operations, small office buildings, raw land development deals.
16:36
SPEAKER_03: And I became very proficient at reading, engaging appraisals and reviewing them.
16:42
SPEAKER_03: And pretty much as a loan officer, you have to approve the appraisal before the loan gets booked.
16:48
SPEAKER_03: You're reading these long, detailed methodology about how they come up with the value of the property that you're gonna lend money on.
16:56
SPEAKER_03: I always tell people in my first role as a loan officer is to protect the bank's interest because that's my job.
17:03
SPEAKER_03: But on the other hand, I realize that if I want to serve the customer, I have to make sure the appraisal is correct and support the law.
17:09
SPEAKER_03: So, so to speak.
17:10
SPEAKER_03: When I was reading and learning about what the, of course, I own property, so I've been before the appraisal review board to protest my appraisal values.
17:19
SPEAKER_03: I was like, wow, this is something that actually speaks to me because I know appraisals.
17:24
SPEAKER_03: Ran a credit department for almost a year at one bank.
17:28
SPEAKER_03: So I had to actually train people how to engage an appraiser, how to review their appraisal, and to make sure it checks all the boxes as far as it, the quality of review.
17:38
SPEAKER_03: So it was like, this is right out of my wheelhouse.
17:41
SPEAKER_03: This, I know this, and this is why I'm running for this specific position, is because I know appraisals.
17:48
Lee: So yeah, it does sound like it was a good fit for sure.
17:51
SPEAKER_03: There's not a lot of other things out there that speaks to me, and I this would.
17:54
Lee: Yep, it sounds like it does.
17:56
Lee: So now are you at the point where you are looking for questions and feedback from potential voters?
18:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I am engaging with voters at all kinds of events and opportunities, and it's amazing how few people even know that this these three publicly elected seats on the board are even on the ballot.
18:20
SPEAKER_03: Because the way that these the Republican control state legislature that wrote these positions into play into it enacted these positions, they wrote this thing to make it very clear that they wanted somehow a backdoor entry into local government, in local government control.
18:38
SPEAKER_03: So they purposely made it nonpartisan.
18:41
SPEAKER_03: They purposely made them at large so the whole county votes on all three positions.
18:47
SPEAKER_03: They want to trick the because they can't, because the Republicans can't win necessary countywide elections in Harris County, they wanted another method to do so.
18:57
SPEAKER_03: And this is their way of trying to control the uh local government issues.
19:01
Lee: Well so a two-part question.
19:02
Lee: One, i if you are going to be out and about, or do you have a schedule?
19:06
Lee: And if so, is is that available to people who want to meet you in person?
19:11
Lee: Yes, or they go see that.
19:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I don't have any scheduled events yet, mainly because uh I want to get a little closer to the election, early voting, which starts October 19th.
19:22
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
19:23
SPEAKER_03: In the meantime, I'm visiting all kind of what they call clubs and orgs for the Democrat Party.
19:29
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
19:29
SPEAKER_03: And they have meetings regularly, you know, ever all the clubs and orgs, there's probably 20 of them here or more in the Houston and Greater Harris County area.
19:38
SPEAKER_03: And they have regular meetings every month.
19:40
SPEAKER_03: So I've been attending those.
19:42
SPEAKER_03: So and I'm also attending just events where there's other Democrat candidates that are appearing.
19:48
SPEAKER_03: So they might just have a forum where there's several of the, say the judges, the civil court judges, or the criminal court judges, or the county executive people who are running, such as the judge or a tax assessor collector, right, county clerk, you know.
20:04
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
20:04
SPEAKER_03: I can send those as well.
20:05
SPEAKER_03: So it's it's a really a cross max.
20:07
SPEAKER_03: It's that any one of those that you could run, you know, I I could engage with voters.
20:12
Lee: Uh well now, if somebody had a question for you or a suggestion, is there a way that they can get it to you?
20:18
SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, absolutely.
20:19
SPEAKER_03: So in my website, yeah, there's a form that anyone can fill out and just submit it and we'll we reply to all those inquiries.
20:26
SPEAKER_03: So just chris ellener.com.
20:28
SPEAKER_03: So chriselllinger.com just all run together.
20:31
SPEAKER_03: And also, so I have my Facebook page or Chris Ellinger campaign that I always respond to inquiries through there.
20:38
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, just uh info at chriselllinger.com is the email address that people can submit invites or questions or comments about the office.
20:48
SPEAKER_03: When I'm talking or people are in your do for a lot of these clubs, don't even know these elections are on the ballot.
20:54
SPEAKER_03: And so I'm like, yeah.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: And it's like, so it's like 99% of the population out there doesn't even know what this office is.
21:02
SPEAKER_03: Like they don't even know their elected positions in this office.
21:05
Lee: So or how important it is.
21:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, oh how important and I exactly and so educating the voter is my biggest challenge is really just educating him and then getting them, okay.
21:15
SPEAKER_03: Now you have to vote all the way down to the bottom of the ballot where there is no party labels uh associated with your name.
21:22
SPEAKER_03: It's just your name on the ballot.
21:24
SPEAKER_03: That's it.
21:24
unknown: Yeah.
21:25
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, education and outreach to the voter is important.
21:29
SPEAKER_03: This is one office that actually affects every resident in Harris County because you have to cover if you're uh patronizing a business, you know, you're buying something from their inventory, pairs of shoes or clothes off the shelf.
21:43
SPEAKER_03: Those that business had to pay property taxes on, you know, their goods and services and and their inventory and fixtures and furniture.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: So that's all part of the appraisal district.
21:54
SPEAKER_03: They have their appraisal of that.
21:56
SPEAKER_03: So again, this is where my community banker is alone officer cutting into good.
22:01
Lee: Yes, yes, yes.
22:02
Lee: Well, final question then.
22:03
Lee: Is there something that you would like our listeners to know uh that we haven't talked about already?
22:09
SPEAKER_03: So I'm a first-time candidate and I am running as a Democrat.
22:12
SPEAKER_03: I am the most endorsed Democrat in this race.
22:15
SPEAKER_03: I do want them to know that there are three places in the you know there's a place one, place two, and place three.
22:20
SPEAKER_03: They all get everyone in Harris County gets a vote for all three of them, but you have to know the candidate.
22:25
SPEAKER_03: And I I really want people to remember Chris Ellinger, that I'm running for HCAT 2, the board place two.
22:31
SPEAKER_03: It is nonpartisan.
22:33
SPEAKER_03: It is an it's an unpaid volunteer position at that too.
22:37
SPEAKER_03: So I feel like my extensive community banking experience is directly related to this office and in so many ways.
22:45
SPEAKER_03: And I just feel like it's a great fit for both me and the district.
22:50
SPEAKER_03: I've talked to several of the members of the current board, and they already said, Chris, you're already overqualified.
22:55
SPEAKER_03: You know, the fact that you're a banker and a loan officer, and you know, know the appraisal.
23:00
SPEAKER_03: And and you know, being a you know, former certified public accountant, because oh, that just adds extra, you know, meaning to it because you know what you're doing, you know.
23:09
SPEAKER_03: I feel like once people understand how important the appraisal district is in everyday life, I think they will see it in a different light.
23:17
SPEAKER_03: And so I just want to get that message out there to everyone in Harris County.
23:21
SPEAKER_03: I'm just a regular, you know, citizen of the of the of the city, you know.
23:25
SPEAKER_03: I made this my home and I want to keep it my home.
23:27
SPEAKER_03: And I and I, you know, I realize that appraisals are kind of a double-edged sword.
23:32
SPEAKER_03: And this is kind of what a lot of people I think don't get is if you set appraisal values or the fair market value too high, it makes it unaffordable for a lot of residents here, both renters and owners.
23:44
SPEAKER_03: If you set it too low, then essential government services can't happen.
23:48
SPEAKER_03: Your fire, your police protection, they can't get funded if you don't have enough tax revenue.
23:53
SPEAKER_03: So it's a it's a fine line of how to get that those numbers to work for you know all the taxing authorities out there.
24:01
Lee: Perfect.
24:02
Lee: Perfect.
24:02
Lee: Well, I look forward to our next segment where we can talk more in specific details about the office itself and what you'll be looking at and what you'll bring to it.
24:10
Lee: But for today, I appreciate you joining us and and giving us a little bit of your history.
24:14
SPEAKER_03: All right.
24:15
SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you very much for inviting me.
24:16
Lee: Yeah.
24:18
Lee: What is the website and email where they can reach you?
24:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so it's infoinf o at chris ellener.com, and I'll spell it out just so it's C-H-R-I-S-E-H I-N-G-E-R.
24:31
SPEAKER_03: So chriselllinger.com, info at chris ellener.com.
24:35
Lee: Okay.
24:35
Lee: I appreciate it.
24:36
Lee: And thank you for being here.
24:37
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Lee.
24:45
Deborah: This radio program, Clear Voices, has existed since the 1970s on KPFT.
24:55
Deborah: We have this little crew of folks working every week to produce what's no longer unique because we're almost mainstream now, but we're still an important voice that might not otherwise get heard because it's not on that many places.
25:14
Deborah: So KPFT is very important to give voices to those who might not otherwise have voices.
25:22
Deborah: So as Glenn always says, you participate by listening, you should also participate by supporting the station.
25:31
Deborah: So please go to KPFT.org and make your donation right away.
25:40
Brett: Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and I am here with Courtney Costello.
25:45
Brett: She is an actress and a playwright from New York City who received her training at Vassar College and the Eugene O'Neill Center's National Theater Institute.
25:53
Brett: She was an original member of the Project 400 Theater Group, and basically Courtney has kind of done it all.
25:59
Brett: I mean, movies, plays, soap operas.
26:02
Brett: She's founder of the theater production company, uh Wiltsie Bridge Productions.
26:06
Brett: But we are talking to Courtney today because she is also a playwright.
26:09
Brett: And her adaptation of Babbette's Feast will be performed by Mighty Acorn Productions starting September 17th and running through October 4th at the match.
26:19
Brett: So welcome, Courtney.
26:20
Brett: I'm so glad to see you.
26:21
SPEAKER_06: Thank you, Brett.
26:22
SPEAKER_06: I'm delighted to see you too.
26:24
SPEAKER_06: It's nice to be here.
26:25
Brett: Yeah, you know, the plot of this story, Babbette's Feast, it's pretty straightforward.
26:30
Brett: It's about a remote village where tradition and sacrifice shape everyday life.
26:34
Brett: And then we have the arrival of a mysterious outsider, and she quietly transforms an entire community.
26:40
Brett: Of course, it was based on a short story by Isaac Denison.
26:44
Brett: Is that right?
26:44
SPEAKER_06: It is correct, yes.
26:46
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
26:46
Brett: And it was made famous, of course, the 1987 Academy Award-winning film, which is how I kind of became aware of the story.
26:54
Brett: So, right off the bat, what made you want to adapt Babbitt's Feast for a stage production?
26:59
SPEAKER_06: I was offered this opportunity by my collaborator, Abigail Clean, who is a wonderful theater maker, now a professor at Bowdoin College.
27:07
SPEAKER_06: And she had a vision to put the stage to put this story on stage.
27:12
SPEAKER_06: She felt that it was inherently theatrical.
27:15
SPEAKER_06: And she wanted someone who could adapt it and make it a stage play.
27:20
SPEAKER_06: And so she kind of approached me.
27:22
SPEAKER_06: And I felt like I had just been given this enormous sense of prize opportunity, really.
27:27
SPEAKER_06: She had procured the rights from the Denison estate, which was its own feat.
27:33
SPEAKER_06: She did that largely through her own power of persuasion, you know?
27:36
SPEAKER_06: I mean, she she really just called them and said, I have this vision and I have a love of this story.
27:42
SPEAKER_06: And they they allowed her to do it, which is really incredible.
27:46
SPEAKER_06: So it was really an opportunity that came to me.
27:48
SPEAKER_06: And of course, I leapt at it because it was an incredible piece of literature.
27:53
SPEAKER_06: I also felt like I was suited to it as a writer, that I could, I could at least make a good attempt at it.
27:59
SPEAKER_06: So that's why I said yes.
28:00
Brett: Well, it's an interesting story, uh, and it's an interesting idea for a play.
28:04
Brett: Tell me a little bit about the themes that run through Babbett's feast that really attracted you to the work and that you wanted to bring out.
28:12
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
28:12
SPEAKER_06: I mean, luckily I was actually very aligned with with Abby and also eventually with our director, Karin Kuhnrod.
28:18
SPEAKER_06: We we were very aligned in the sense that the thing that most stood out to us about the story was the sense of the stranger arriving in a strange land and being embraced, feared, bearing gifts, bearing mysterious gifts.
28:32
SPEAKER_06: It was a story.
28:33
SPEAKER_06: The reason we were all compelled by that aspect of the story is that at the moment that we all started working on it, it was the moment when immigration became a flashpoint in American culture.
28:44
SPEAKER_06: And we thought, you know, this story is just ripe for sort of bringing that into our consciousness in a way that isn't political and isn't didactic.
28:53
SPEAKER_06: It's just fully, fully human.
28:55
SPEAKER_06: The way this story shows us of a stranger arriving in a strange land and being feared and eventually actually being transformative to them.
29:04
SPEAKER_06: So we thought there was great value in that at that moment in American culture.
29:09
Brett: And unfortunately, still in this moment.
29:12
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
29:12
Brett: Yeah, it has a lot to say.
29:14
Brett: So you kind of had this whole career as an actor and doing all these different things.
29:20
Brett: Like what what got you into the arts originally?
29:22
SPEAKER_06: Oh gosh, that's it's very personal actually, because I was so shy as a child that I could hardly talk to people.
29:30
SPEAKER_06: I really could hardly hold the conversation.
29:32
SPEAKER_06: And when I was like six years old, my parents, I grew up in New York City, right?
29:36
SPEAKER_06: And my parents enrolled me in this children's acting company where where, you know, we performed these plays, but we also had grown-up professional actors performing along with us.
29:49
SPEAKER_06: And as honestly, as soon as I arrived at my first rehearsal, and like I think I stood on stage, I think I might have burst into tears.
29:57
SPEAKER_06: I was so overcome with this sense of like relief that I had found my place in the world.
30:02
SPEAKER_06: Like I thought, this is a place where I could just be myself and be, you know, these people are gonna like they, I don't know.
30:09
SPEAKER_06: I felt very aligned and very at home.
30:12
SPEAKER_06: And honestly, I'm very lucky because from that moment I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.
30:17
SPEAKER_06: And I think that's a rare gift, right?
30:19
SPEAKER_06: I mean, to know to know, but I've always known.
30:23
SPEAKER_06: And I'm so lucky now that having gone through all these different I've worked in so many aspects of theater, but I feel like it's a language I speak very fluently, and I'm honored to speak it, you know, and to try to continue to to work at it.
30:37
Brett: Well, apparently so.
30:38
Brett: I mean, you've done so many different forms and variations on it.
30:41
Brett: Like I I noticed that you we we saw soap opera is in your bio, which is so wild.
30:45
Brett: It's an art form that I think is like you know, kind of going away, unfortunately.
30:50
SPEAKER_06: It is, it's actually very similar to theater.
30:52
Brett: Yeah, I can imagine.
30:53
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
30:54
Brett: But it's it's interesting how you've just kind of weaved in and out of this art.
30:58
Brett: But what is it about playwriting that gives you a little bit more what is it that draws you to the writing part?
31:03
Brett: Because it's so different than taking a script and bringing it to life.
31:06
Brett: I mean, you are actually creating this.
31:07
SPEAKER_06: That's true.
31:08
SPEAKER_06: That's true.
31:09
SPEAKER_06: I I again, it's like it seems like this is a bit of a theme in my life that this also sort of came to me when I was studying at the O'Neill Center during my junior year in college.
31:18
SPEAKER_06: We had to take a play, it was an actor training program, but we had to take a playwriting class.
31:22
SPEAKER_06: And I wrote a one act that my teacher then submitted unbeknownst to me to a company in New York called Circle Rep Lab.
31:31
SPEAKER_06: And they, I was home on vacation.
31:33
SPEAKER_06: This is before cell phones, right?
31:35
SPEAKER_06: So my family's like landline rang and I answered it.
31:40
SPEAKER_06: And it was a guy who was the artistic director of Circle Rep.
31:44
SPEAKER_06: And he he said, We'd like to produce your play.
31:47
SPEAKER_06: And I was like, you know, 19 years old, and I didn't even know he had my play, but I was incredibly uh delighted for them to produce it.
31:54
SPEAKER_06: So I ended up having this great experience of, you know, working with a director and working with actors and seeing my play brought to life.
32:01
SPEAKER_06: And I had a sense that, you know, I'm a writer as well.
32:04
SPEAKER_06: So I I was actually able to weave as you the word weave is really good.
32:08
SPEAKER_06: You know, I kind of wove in and out of all of these modalities.
32:12
SPEAKER_06: And then I had a child at a certain point, and I I did, I focused, uh, I refocused on writing at that point because I wanted to um not be traveling and kind of be a little bit more in command of my own schedule.
32:25
SPEAKER_06: So I um refocused on writing.
32:27
SPEAKER_06: It's writing's been very uh rewarding.
32:29
SPEAKER_06: It's it's hard, it's not easy.
32:32
SPEAKER_06: Um and I actually recently went back to school to train as a director, and I think that I think it's my favorite chapter in the theater.
32:40
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
32:40
SPEAKER_06: I think it's the thing I'm actually most suited to, and the sense of there's this cumulative sense for me that everything else has been sort of leading to this.
32:48
SPEAKER_06: So it's an exciting moment.
32:50
Brett: Well, Courtney, you're making me feel better because I kind of transitioned.
32:54
Brett: I transitioned from like actor to maybe more of a writer.
32:57
Brett: So that was uh one of the things that always and it's so hard to like say what you like about one or the other.
33:02
Brett: But let's go back to Bebette's Feast.
33:04
Brett: So it was originally produced in what year for your play version.
33:08
SPEAKER_06: Um I believe it was 2000, I want to say, gosh, 15.
33:12
SPEAKER_06: I could be wrong though, honestly.
33:14
SPEAKER_06: It was also a long process because it premiered at Portland Stage in uh Maine.
33:19
SPEAKER_06: And then it had an off-Broadway run, it transferred to New York and had an off-Broadway run in New York.
33:24
SPEAKER_06: And there was an And there were in even before Portland, there was a workshop production that was actually that is close to my heart because it was so lovely.
33:33
SPEAKER_06: We had such limited resources, but sometimes, you know, when you don't have much in terms of resources, you find great creativity.
33:40
SPEAKER_06: So we we did an initial workshop production in New York that was very, very cool.
33:46
SPEAKER_06: So it was a my point is it was a years-long development process, you know.
33:50
SPEAKER_06: Sure.
33:50
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
33:50
Brett: Well, and how do you decide?
33:52
Brett: You've got a short story and you've got a film.
33:54
Brett: How did you bring those together to your own piece?
33:57
SPEAKER_06: I did not watch the film.
33:58
SPEAKER_06: I had seen it years before, but the the thing is we did not have the rights to the film.
34:03
SPEAKER_06: We only had the rights to the story and to the to the stage to the like theatrical version.
34:09
SPEAKER_06: So I really was very careful not to watch the film because I didn't want to inadvertently use something from the film in the play that would not have been cool.
34:18
SPEAKER_06: So I didn't watch the film.
34:20
SPEAKER_06: I mean, we we were very much about, you know, this is this is about putting this on stage, you know, and taking what is in it already that it's already theatrical and making a play out of it.
34:31
SPEAKER_06: So yeah, it was fully a fully a theater project from the very beginning.
34:35
Brett: Well, that's so interesting because you know, you look at Isaac Denison as an author and translated twice, obviously, movie and stage.
34:43
Brett: So uh and it obviously did very well.
34:45
Brett: How did you end up getting connected by Mighty Acorn?
34:48
Brett: Did they talk to you about putting on this play?
34:51
SPEAKER_06: What happened was after the play was uh produced off Broadway, I published it.
34:55
SPEAKER_06: I got it published by Dramatic Publishing, and they they license it.
34:58
SPEAKER_06: And it's you know, it actually gets licensed frequently to theaters around the country and all kinds of theaters, you know, like professional theaters, community theaters, schools, churches.
35:10
SPEAKER_06: So it gets done periodically at different and I actually honestly don't have a huge amount of involvement with that, but I do love when I actually get to have contact with the theaters, you know, because it it makes it feel I mean, the theater world is uh very close knit, even if we're not geographically close, you know, um we are each other's people.
35:33
SPEAKER_06: So I'm always delighted when someone contacts me or if I can see a production, it's like it's thrilling, you know.
35:39
Brett: Well, it's so interesting because when you have a movie that gets distributed around the country and everybody sees the same movie, right?
35:44
Brett: I mean, because it gets just it's in cinemas.
35:47
Brett: But when you have a play, it goes to these different companies and it's their interpretation.
35:51
Brett: So they bring it to life.
35:52
Brett: So it's very interesting to see all of this kind of come around.
35:55
Brett: And I'm very curious to see it because I am familiar with the work more through the 1987 film because you know I was I was obsessed with Academy Awards at that time.
36:04
SPEAKER_06: So I mean, you're not alone in that.
36:06
SPEAKER_06: Most people did know.
36:07
SPEAKER_06: And we were, we were it was an interesting thing because the the theater audience that came to see it, most of them had seen the film.
36:13
SPEAKER_06: And I think in many cases, you know, we were so delighted in this kind of sly way to be able to take them by surprise, you know, because I think they thought they were gonna see something very similar to the film.
36:24
SPEAKER_06: And what we showed them was not at all similar to the film, except in the, you know, the DNA of the story was the same.
36:31
SPEAKER_06: But I I love I love surprising people in in my work, you know, and I felt like as long as we did right by the story, it was gonna be really fun to surprise people.
36:41
Brett: Great.
36:42
Brett: Well, I'm gonna be surprised.
36:43
Brett: I hope so.
36:44
Brett: I hope on September 17th.
36:46
Brett: So there you are.
36:47
Brett: How big is the cast for this one?
36:49
SPEAKER_06: Oh gosh, well, see, it's it's actually somewhat flexible because it can be, it's, it can be done with a very large cast of like 12 people, or it can be you can double roles.
36:58
SPEAKER_06: That's also a possibility.
37:00
SPEAKER_06: So there's a lot of flexibility in that.
37:02
SPEAKER_06: I mean, the three central roles of the two sisters and Babette kind of need to be played by individual actors.
37:08
SPEAKER_06: But for companies with fewer resources or fewer, you know, actors, they can they can double up.
37:14
SPEAKER_06: And I love that.
37:15
SPEAKER_06: I love the transform, I love watching transformative things on stage and watching people transform, you know.
37:21
SPEAKER_06: So I think that would be a very fun way to do it with a smaller cast and uh, you know, multiple, you know, single actors playing multiple roles.
37:29
Brett: Well, I haven't talked to Tracy Ahern about what this cast is specifically doing with these roles, but I'll be interested.
37:36
Brett: It is going to be playing September 17th through October 4th at the match, Mighty Acorn Productions.
37:42
Brett: You can get tickets through the match website.
37:44
Brett: And Courtney Costello, how amazing to have adapted this short story in a totally different way and present it to the world.
37:52
Brett: And it sounds like it's really gonna resonate with what the world is today.
37:56
SPEAKER_06: Oh gosh, I I don't see how it couldn't.
37:58
SPEAKER_06: And honestly, that is that is Isaac Dennison's legacy to us.
38:02
SPEAKER_06: She wrote stories that resonate on so many levels.
38:05
SPEAKER_06: She understood people and relationships and was not afraid to was not afraid to dramatize things that are uncomfortable and perhaps the most tender parts of us, you know, the the parts that people aren't as eager to look at.
38:19
SPEAKER_06: She did it, and now we get to now we get the fruits of that.
38:22
Brett: Yeah.
38:23
Brett: Well, and that's the best heart to have is anything that looks that deeply in there.
38:27
Brett: So thank you for for translating her voice out there.
38:31
SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much for talking with me about it.
38:33
SPEAKER_06: And I mean, I I hope you enjoy it more than anything.
38:36
SPEAKER_06: I I hope you're entertained and I hope you come away feeling uh transformed in some space.
38:43
Brett: I will let you know.
38:44
SPEAKER_06: Sounds good.
38:45
SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much.
39:09
Lee: So we're gonna start with a story that's kind of sad.
39:11
Lee: Out of Tucson, Arizona, two men, 42-year-old Vincent Sequeros and 33-year-old Cameron Capara, were shot and killed outside a gay bar, the venture in.
39:21
Lee: Both men were in the parking lot just after midnight on Monday, August 31st, when they were met by Ousman Sisei, 44-year-old, who shot and killed them both before turning the gun on themselves.
39:32
Lee: Reports are suggesting that this was a hate crime.
39:34
Lee: Police that are doing the investigation have found a list of LGBTQ plus businesses connected to the gunmen.
39:42
Lee: The reports are raising fears that additional locations may have been targets.
39:46
Lee: The good news is more than a thousand people attended a vigil for the two men, so sad that that had to happen, but the community is showing up as it usually does.
39:54
Brett: Yeah, about a thousand people reportedly gathered at Catalina Park, showing mourning for these two men, solidarity, defiance.
40:02
Brett: Rather than just allowing this attack to sort of drive people underground, it's making it more public going into the grief process.
40:09
Brett: So it was interesting.
40:10
Brett: There was a note left by the shooter, and he expressed hatred for the LGBTQIA plus community.
40:16
Brett: And he had been married to a woman in 2012, but they were separated for a year or two at the time this happened.
40:21
Brett: So we know that he's probably not a official part of our community, or at least not stated as such.
40:26
Brett: So it does look like a hate crime.
40:28
Brett: Yes.
40:28
Brett: Which is really terrible.
40:29
Brett: And these cheatings just continue.
40:31
Brett: It makes me wonder what is it gonna take?
40:33
Lee: I know, I know.
40:34
Lee: How are these people becoming so radicalized?
40:36
Brett: Yikes.
40:37
Brett: Well, that, and what is it gonna take to just do some gun control in the country?
40:40
Brett: I mean, it just seems kind of wild that they're they keep doing that.
40:43
Brett: So I don't know.
40:44
Brett: Sad to see, for sure.
40:46
Brett: And of course, we have Trump administration still targeting transgender troops, asking the Supreme Court to allow active transgender troops to be discharged.
40:54
Brett: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
40:55
Lee: And the significance of this extends beyond those plaintiffs that are uh litigating this.
40:59
Lee: This could ultimately give the Supreme Court another opportunity to address how constitutional equal protection principles apply to federal policies.
41:08
Brett: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
41:08
Brett: The lower courts actually prevented their discharge, and the challenge proceeds, and they're really seeking the Supreme Court to weigh in on this.
41:15
Brett: And as we've seen throughout the years lately, if the lower courts say, all right, this is discriminatory or or not allowed, sometimes the Supreme Court is actually the one that goes back on that.
41:25
Brett: So that's what they're trying to do.
41:27
Brett: They're trying to get it to the Supreme Court so they can uphold the administration's authority to discharge otherwise qualified service members because they're transgender.
41:35
Brett: Yes.
41:36
Brett: Or because they have some sort of gender dysphoria.
41:39
Brett: It doesn't make any sense.
41:40
Brett: It makes zero sense because these are people that are actually serving in the military currently, and it has a very troubling constitutional precedent that would set up that the military could get a little bit more narrow on who they think is fit to serve.
41:55
Brett: And the the case is called Talbot versus the United States.
41:57
Brett: So it's something that we're gonna be watching a lot.
41:59
Brett: The Justice Department petitioned that late August 28th, actually, to overturn that.
42:04
Brett: And it was a D.C.
42:05
Brett: circuit court that actually said it was discriminatory.
42:08
Lee: Right, right, right.
42:09
Lee: And the DC court kind of took an opposite approach.
42:11
Lee: They found that the administration's policy was likely unconstitutional because the government had not demonstrated a legitimate connection between being transgender and military fitness.
42:23
Lee: And because of that record, uh it suggests Amos uh toward the transgender community.
42:28
Brett: Yeah, and if you want a progression of all of this, in 2016, there was a ruling that transgender people could serve openly under standards applicable to other service members.
42:37
Brett: So they were seen as, you know, they could be active military.
42:41
Lee: If they qualify, they should be able to serve, yes.
42:43
Brett: Yeah, and then in 2017, 2018, the first Trump administration started to impose restrictions, but they grandfathered in a lot of people that were already serving.
42:53
Brett: And then, of course, in 2021, Biden restored open transgender service, said, hey, no problem, whatever.
43:00
Brett: And then, of course, now we have 2025 Trump again trying to get this broader exclusion, including these people that are already serving.
43:07
Brett: Right, right.
43:07
Lee: I'm seeing a pattern here.
43:08
Brett: It's a yeah, it's a really dangerous pattern.
43:11
Brett: And what it really cements is this idea of a politically unpopular group and then an organization like the military or a security force, administrative thing, they're giving them justification to basically discriminate.
43:26
Brett: And that's what is really dangerous because this principle could extend well beyond just troops.
43:31
Brett: The consequential part of this is that it's beyond just the military, obviously.
43:35
Brett: It's gonna be about how the Supreme Court is allowing governments to discriminate against an unpopular group.
43:40
Brett: So that is the big, the big sticking point here.
43:43
Lee: Another move from the Justice Department.
43:44
Lee: Yes, yes, another move.
43:45
Lee: Yeah, so Kansas City School uh district is being sued by the Justice Department over transgender students.
43:51
Lee: Uh the Justice Department filed what appears to be a significant test against Kansas City and the Kansas City public schools.
43:59
Lee: The just Dispute involves whether schools can accommodate a student's gender identity, including preferred names and pronouns, without automatically notifying their parents.
44:09
Lee: The administration argues that parents are entitled to information contained in students' records.
44:15
Lee: The district disputes that it is a violate or that it violates federal law.
44:20
Brett: Well, and what makes this important is it puts the federal government directly into sort of this conflict between parental rights versus transgender students' privacy and safety.
44:30
Brett: So I just think that that's kind of wild that they're enforcing this and this idea that the school has to tell the parents about something that's not truly academic, is it?
44:39
Lee: Yeah, yeah, true, true.
44:40
Lee: And it kind of brings to mind a personal viewpoint of mine.
44:44
Lee: So when I was young, I was sent to a psychologist for what the adults around me, including my parents, believed was my problem.
44:51
Lee: In talking to that psychologist, I was assured that I could have an open and honest discussion.
44:56
Lee: And what I said to the psychologist would not be repeated.
45:00
Lee: But what happened was they did repeat it and they repeated it to my parents and the people that I didn't feel I could have those conversations with.
45:07
Lee: So instead of fixing what they thought was my problem, what they actually taught me was that I could not trust adults.
45:15
Lee: And here we are, we're doing the very same thing to another generation of our pe our our children.
45:21
Lee: So when you take that position where you have to communicate with other people what your the children are comfortable telling adults, you're what you're actually teaching them is that you're not a safe place to tell the truth.
45:34
Lee: My position is we should have learned this lesson already.
45:37
Lee: We've already been through this once.
45:38
Lee: Instead, I think we're teaching our generation of children not to trust us again.
45:43
Brett: Well, and then beyond that, I mean, talk about adding to a teacher's job.
45:46
Brett: Yeah, like why are we asking them to identify problems with our children?
45:50
Brett: That makes no sense to me whatsoever.
45:52
Brett: That has nothing to do with academics at all.
45:55
Brett: And that is something that is the child's or the student's prerogative to, you know, live their life and do their stuff.
46:01
Brett: And I mean, that's just I don't see why they need to police that.
46:04
Brett: It makes no sense to me.
46:05
Brett: If you don't realize that your child, student, whatever, is going to school and and being something different, then you know, come on.
46:14
Brett: Yeah, that's that's that lies in the parental thing.
46:16
Brett: Right.
46:16
Brett: But they're saying that, you know, obviously they have to support what the parents decide or whatever, and that's like no.
46:21
Brett: I mean, that's that's their the child's prerogative.
46:24
Brett: It should be.
46:24
Brett: I I don't know.
46:25
Lee: There's some parents that would probably say, Yes, I want to know that, and yes, you need to tell me everything that my child tells me.
46:30
Lee: And so what you're gonna what's gonna end up happening is that child's gonna stop talking to any any adults.
46:36
Lee: So the information won't be given to an adult and you won't get it.
46:39
Lee: Either way, you're not gonna get it.
46:41
Lee: So it doesn't make sense.
46:42
Brett: Well, and speaking of younger people and some discrimination, uh, the federal government is removing information on gender-identifying bullying from school civil rights data.
46:53
Brett: So the Department of Education released its 2023-2024 civil rights data collection, but they excluded previously collected information concerning non-binary students and gender identity related bullying.
47:07
Brett: So roughly 1,800 school districts had reported some of the affected information.
47:13
Brett: So it it looks horrible because it's you're not documenting that this happens.
47:17
Brett: You're not documenting that these transgender and non-binary students were actually bullied for these issues.
47:23
Lee: Right, right.
47:24
Lee: So the net effect then is uh when the government stops collecting and publishing this information about a population, not just this one, but any of them, it becomes much more difficult to demonstrate what is actually happening to that population.
47:37
Lee: Sad.
47:38
Lee: Yes.
47:38
Brett: Very sad.
47:39
Brett: No, it is, and it doesn't, it doesn't support anything.
47:41
Brett: And again, now we're removing them from the whole discussion.
47:45
Brett: So, you know, you we want you to tell them about us, you know, any students that uh are doing this, but yet we're not gonna record anything.
47:52
Lee: Right.
47:52
Lee: We want you to see them here, but we're gonna keep all this away from you so that you can't see them.
47:56
Lee: Yeah.
47:56
Lee: Doesn't make sense.
47:57
Brett: Yeah, and talking about not seeing, I know the last time we talked, we talked about University of Houston removing some LGBTQ IA plus and cultural courses from their core curricula.
48:09
Brett: And now we are seeing this with Texas AM.
48:12
Brett: So again, Texas AM has removed more than 200 courses from anything that would satisfy core degree requirements across its 11 universities that it manages.
48:22
Brett: So and of course, anything on LGBTQ literature, as well as ethnic studies, women writers, climate change, all of that has been targeted.
48:30
Brett: So again, education getting a lot more narrow in scope.
48:34
Lee: Yeah, and it doesn't mean those courses are disappearing, they just don't don't contribute to your core requirements.
48:40
Brett: Which again makes them completely elective and not part of your thing.
48:43
Brett: You're not paying for a degree, you know, it's here.
48:46
Brett: You could take these courses, but they're not gonna count.
48:49
Brett: I just think that that's uh a really interesting state of academics here in the state.
48:54
Lee: Yeah, so another sad bit of news is even LGBTQ-friendly states that are seeing transgender health care access shrink.
49:01
Lee: Massachusetts is a good example.
49:03
Lee: It illustrates an important national development.
49:06
Lee: Despite strong state protections, some providers have stopped providing gender-referring care to minors amid the federal funding threats and pressure from the Trump administration.
49:16
Brett: Yeah, I mean it's sad to see that that is happening in Massachusetts, where it's seen not as aggressive, obviously, as a city like Texas.
49:23
Brett: Right.
49:24
Brett: So hospitals and systems and any of those that rely on federal funding are now having to cut their services.
49:30
Brett: So that's kind of uh disturbing.
49:33
Lee: Okay, so we've pretty well covered all the bad news.
49:35
Lee: How about some good news out there?
49:37
Lee: Okay.
49:39
Lee: So first, yeah, Georgia sends its first openly gay man to Congress in history as Georgia's first openly gay man elected to the U.S.
49:47
Lee: House of Representatives.
49:49
Lee: He won in a seat that was previously held by a longtime incumbent.
49:54
Brett: In Congress, the honor of my left.
49:56
Brett: Well, this is really noteworthy because it happened in the South, where LGBTQ plus representation at congressional levels has really lagged from other regions.
50:04
Brett: I mean, on the left coast, east coast, you've seen it more.
50:06
Brett: So good on Georgia.
50:08
Brett: Yeah.
50:08
Brett: Yeah.
50:09
Brett: And then there's a federal judge that blocked efforts to force California to ban transgender athletes.
50:14
Brett: So here's a win in this column.
50:16
Brett: A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration's effort to force California to exclude transgender girls from girls school sports by threatening the state's federal education funding.
50:25
Brett: But the court found that the federal government had not provided any kind of clear notice required and said that this wasn't attached as part of the condition to their federal funding.
50:36
Lee: So at this point, California can continue setting its own policy allowing transgender students to participate according to their gender identity.
50:44
Brett: Yeah, which is good news for that.
50:45
Brett: Yeah.
50:46
Lee: Yeah, for sure.
50:47
Brett: And then there are 22 states that are challenging restrictions on gender affirming care.
50:52
Lee: Good for them.
50:53
Lee: Yeah, the coalition of the 22 states filed suit against the Trump administration over federal efforts affecting funding for gender-affirming care.
51:01
Lee: States were asking the courts to stop the federal funding restrictions scheduled to take effect in October of this year.
51:07
Brett: Yeah, so basically what happened is on September 2nd, 22 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration over a new federal rule that would restrict federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for gender-affirming care for transgender minors and some young adults.
51:22
Brett: Right.
51:23
Brett: So they had finalized a rule through the Health and Human Services Departments and another agency that would effectively prevent states from using these federal funds for certain gender affirming treatments.
51:36
Brett: So it's really looking at Medicaid coverage for people under 18 and chip coverage for people under 19.
51:43
Brett: And that rule is scheduled to take effect October 13th of this year pretty soon.
51:48
Brett: But the encouraging thing is we've got a large coalition of states that are actively using the courts to defend this access to care.
51:55
Lee: Good for them.
51:56
Lee: Good for them.
51:56
Lee: Yeah.
51:57
Lee: Yeah.
51:57
Lee: And then one that's kind of hit personal and home for me is the LGBTQ plus archivists refusing to let history disappear.
52:05
Lee: And you everyone who knows me knows history.
52:07
Lee: I find it very important.
52:08
Lee: You know, I stated earlier in another piece I published.
52:12
Lee: A grandfather used to say, you can't plan the road forward if you don't know how you got to where you are today.
52:17
Lee: So and I firmly believe that in our history oftentimes gets erased or forgotten.
52:23
Lee: And so archivists have succeeded in preserving LGBTQ plus historical materials despite political efforts and funding pressures that threaten the work.
52:33
Lee: The argument is essentially that LGBTQ plus history itself matters because it documents what actually happened and provides a future generation with evidence of how previous generations fought for the change.
52:46
Brett: Yeah, and here locally, I mean, of course, we have you.
52:48
Brett: The history is a huge thing for you, but JD Doyle has a lot of archives that he's preserving.
52:53
Brett: I know we've had the Heart of Leather Association, which is formed out of what was left of G Camp.
53:00
Brett: They are going to be showing the Mary's bar tops September 9th through the 12th at the match.
53:05
Brett: So that's going to be there to remember people.
53:08
Brett: Yeah.
53:08
Brett: I think there's a little bit of a question hanging over the U of H collection right now, especially with their core curriculum being narrowed.
53:14
Brett: So I don't know what's going on with that, and definitely not a story yet, but I I'll be interested to hear what the plans are about that.
53:21
Brett: So it's it's really interesting that there's more of these things popping up.
53:24
Brett: And of course, they are sort of private.
53:27
Brett: I mean, there's there are nonprofit, but they're being driven by private people rather than federal.
53:32
Brett: And we've seen that struggle happening.
53:33
Brett: So that's kind of interesting.
53:35
Brett: Yes, it is.
53:36
Lee: Yeah, and then another bit of good news.
53:37
Lee: There was a librarian, Patty Hector, in Arkansas, was fired for refusing to censor the LGBTQ plus books.
53:46
Lee: She received a settlement uh as a result of that filing.
53:49
Brett: Yeah.
53:50
Brett: And uh she basically said libraries belong to everyone, and she refused to remove these books or remove access to these books.
53:56
Brett: So good for her.
53:57
Brett: She won a settlement on it.
53:59
Brett: And it's uh kind of a small story when you think about what's happening with the Supreme Court, but hey.
54:04
Brett: A win is a win.
54:05
Brett: A win is a win.
54:06
Brett: And again, in a state like Arkansas, where you wouldn't really expect that.
54:10
Brett: Yeah.
54:10
Brett: So yeah.
54:11
Brett: And speaking of a state or a country that you wouldn't expect this, Poland now is recognizing some marriages between two people of the same gender.
54:18
Lee: Yeah, yeah.
54:18
Lee: We kind of talked about this some time ago.
54:20
Lee: There was a a couple, a couple of the same gender that was married in Germany that actually lived in Poland.
54:26
Lee: When they went back, they wanted to have their marriage recognized in Poland.
54:30
Lee: And yeah, that was finally overturned and and Poland will now recognize that.
54:35
Brett: Yeah, recognized.
54:36
Brett: But it doesn't mean that they have full marriage equality in Poland.
54:39
Brett: So but it's kind of on the way.
54:41
Brett: It's progress.
54:41
Brett: Yep.
54:42
Brett: Yeah.
54:42
Brett: Yeah.
54:42
Brett: So that's encouraging from that standpoint, and we're seeing it more and more.
54:46
Brett: And definitely encouraging given all of the stuff that's happening where it just seems like the world is kind of against us right now.
54:52
Brett: Yeah.
54:53
Brett: Yeah.
54:53
Brett: So that's basically what we kind of have been looking at for the last week.
54:57
Lee: Yeah, those are the big stories that hit the the news media last week.
55:01
Brett: Yes, we'll definitely try to track these and see what else uh happens as we go forward, Judy here.
55:23
Brett: You have been listening to Queer Voices.
55:25
Brett: I am Brett Cullum and I produce this episode.
55:27
Brett: Arlie Ingalls, someone I know very well as my husband, contributed to it.
55:32
Brett: Our executive producer is Brian Lavinka, who is wandering somewhere in the Swiss Alps right now.
55:38
Brett: And also Deborah Moncrief Bell helps produce the show.
55:41
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55:44
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55:50
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55:54
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55:57
Brett: So thank you for listening.
56:06
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56:16
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