Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Feminists Around the World: Lee Gordon

Transcript

Feminists Around the World: Lee Gordon · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha and alcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you production by Heart Radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And today is April first, twenty twenty five. We will
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: not do April Fool's Nothing because we don't like it
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: a and it's already been. Everything's a joke anyway, nothing
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: seems real, so does it really matter? No, But it
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: is April first, just in case you need to know.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: And yesterday was Trans Day of Visibility. So to our
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: trans sisters and brothers and non binary folk, we love
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: you and we see you. And with that, we wanted
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: to take some time to celebrate a transactivist who has
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: been doing amazing work. And today we're talking about Lee Gordon,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: who goes by They them, so just as a reminder,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Gordon is a queer activist an organizer who has been
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: hard at work advocating for their community and people. Here's
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: a bit from their interview with Bold Journey dot com
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: about themselves, and they say, I am disabled, queer, non binary, trans,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: blackfem pan African LGBTQ plus liberation activist, scholar and community organizer.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I dream of a liberated, loving and resource world for
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: all people. I'm also National Head of Justice with Queer
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Youth Assembly, a Freedom from Fear, fellow with Southerners on
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: new Ground, a national board member of Queer Trans Project,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: and a steering committee member of Blackfeminist Futures Political Hive,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: and they continue. I have worked with organizations such as
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the Blackfeminist Collective GLAD and the National Black Women's Justice
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Initiative to fight for decolonization and queer of color rights
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: as focus group, facilitator, organizer, and community care practitioner. I'm
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: also co author of a higher educational anthology on how
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: blackfilms may navigate spaces and secure communal power in academia.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: To pursue their doctorates and engage in the social justice
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: struggle and from their LinkedIn they write, Lee Gordon They
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Them is a Black LGBTQ plus community organizer, activist, black
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: feminist researcher, and criminal justice reform advocate who has worked
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: extensively with national nonprofits such as Queer Youth Assembly, Southerners
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: on new Ground, and Black Feminist Future. They hope to
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: pursue a career in activist scholarship focusing on civil rights,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: community care, black LGBTQ plus activism, and grass riots organizing
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: in the South. Lee is also an undergraduate at Harvard
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: College and plans to jointly concentrate in sociology and statistics,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: focusing on environmental racism and healing justice in disrupting the
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: medical industry complex. So a lot of goals. They have
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: a lot of goals. Intimidating amount of goals to the
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: fact that they're already doing so much at the very
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: young age of a believe like twenty twenty one. So
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: they have accomplished a lot already and are just skyrocketing
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: and all of the things that they wish to do amazing,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: like it makes me tired and anxious. Amazing stuff though.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: So they are the head of Racial Justice for Queer
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Youth Assembly or QYA, and has been there since twenty
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: twenty three. And just a little bit about a Queer
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Youth Assembly. Here's something from their site, Queer Youth Assembly
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: dot org.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Quote.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Queer Youth Assembly QYA is a five oh one c
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: three nonprofit organization founded in August twenty twenty one to
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: help uplift queer youth voices across the country. We strive
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: to provide a safe space for creative activism for the community.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Since our start, we have created waves nationwide during walkout
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: marches such as our National March for Queer and Trans
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Youth Autonomy in March twenty twenty three, protests, and a
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: variety of ongoing initiatives, and in their section about us,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: they go on saying our goal is to foster a
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: queer youth movement across the United States. We envision a
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: world where all are given safety, autonomy, joy, and the
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: ability to reach their fullest potential through events, projects, community collaboration, resources,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: professional development, artistic endeavors, and much more. Our mission is
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to create an inclusive and transformative world for queer youth.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Just reading things like that, I don't understand how people
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: think like communities like this is about trying to make
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: everyone something else or doing something against somebody else's will.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I'm just the constant argument about people saying things like
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: I wish they wouldn't do this, I wish that would
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: force this on us. It just literally says we want
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: autonomy anyway, okay, moving on every time anyway. And Gordon's
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: work with QYA and others have been part of the
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: reason many celebrate their advocacy. They were featured in the
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty three as one of Glad twenty Under twenty
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: and here's what Glad wrote in their Future about Gordon.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Just like Lee, Gordon pays respect to her quote queer
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: and trans black fore mothers who fought and died so
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: that she could be free. Someday future generations of LGBTQ
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: kids will say the same for her. A researcher, grass
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: roots organizer, behavioral scientists, and the current head of Racial
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Justice at Querythasim Gordon has already forced a way forward
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: for LGBTQ people and Black people through her advocacy. Gordon's
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: legacy spans many mediums and movements, but research is her superpower.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: A student organizer at Harvard focused on statistics in African
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: American studies, Gordon established the first chapter wide trans plus
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: anti discrimination standard for Friendship Public Charter School, a fifteen
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: campus academic body in Washington, DC. Gordon is also credited
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: as an author in Black Women Navigating the Doctoral Journey,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: a comprehensive guide providing insight on mentorship ways to combat
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the systemic racism that alienates Black women and pass for
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: success at a crucial early stage of their careers. And
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: in the interview with Bill Journey, they were asked advice
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: for others seeking success, and Gordon replied, this way. For
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: those who wish to develop their activist tools set, I
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: would highly encourage you to look for value aligned organizations
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: hosting remote workshops and teachings. There are several groups that
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: do work in climate, racial, LGBTQ plus and abolition Justice
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: that curate open town halls to discuss the current political landscape.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Attending these events has allowed me to continue informing my
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: own political beliefs. I've also met so many incredible people
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: from these sessions. They really allow you to witness how
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: beautiful the organizing community can be and how we can
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: sustainably evolve. So that's just a bit from what they
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: have been doing. Obviously, there's so much more they do.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: They are featured on a podcast episode with Angelica Ross.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: No Opportunity Wasted is what the podcast is called, and
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: they talk about power of collective action and community care. Again,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: we're talking about people who are doing so much work
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: when it comes to communities and advocacy work, and right
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: now is the time. Obviously I mean anytime, but we're
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: seeing it on a whole what collectivism looks like when
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: it comes to working in protests against illegal things as
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: well as very inhumane things such as taking rights away
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: from trends people. So they have talked a lot about
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: what they're doing, these type of organizations. You know, we
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: love highlight lighting these organizations and the work that they do,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: so we've definitely had to feature a little bit about
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: them as well, and just love watching people likely doing
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: such amazing work, being so young and still fighting and
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: having all of these amazing golden dreams that we know
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: will be accomplished.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: And are incredibly important. So Yes, Listeners has always let
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: us know if you have any suggestions for this segment.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: You can email us at Hello at stephbone nevertold You
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky at
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok Stuff Never
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Told You or us on YouTube. We have a t
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: billet store and we have a book you can get
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your books. Thanks as always to a
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: super producer Christina or executive producer Maya and architecture Joey.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks to you for listening stuffhone Never Told
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: You his production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Heart Radio, you can check out the Heart Radio app,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: A LO