Latest / Queer Voices / November 4 - Chamber Breakfasts with Joe Mendoza, Roommates with Sara Gaston, and Beetlejuice Ghosts with David Wilson

Transcript

November 4 - Chamber Breakfasts with Joe Mendoza, Roommates with Sara Gaston, and Beetlejuice Ghosts with David Wilson · Queer Voices

• 0:05
  Brett: Welcome to Queer Voices on KPFT Houston 90.1 FM and also heard as a podcast online.
• 0:12
  Brett: We are a show about Houston's LGBTQIA Plus community, and we've been on the air here since the 1970s.
• 0:20
  Brett: I am Brett Cullum, and in this episode, Brian Havinka talks with the membership director for the Houston LGBTQ Plus Chamber of Commerce.
• 0:30
  Brett: Then I get to interview Sarah Gaston, who is in the hit show at stages, The Roommate.
• 0:36
  Brett: I also chat with David Wilson, who is here in town with Beetlejuice, the musical, which is at the Hobby Center.
• 0:43
  Brett: Then author R.
• 0:44
  Brett: Lee Ingalls joins me to do a news segment.
• 0:46
  Brett: Queer Voices starts now.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: This is Brian Levinka, and today I'm speaking with Joe Mendoza, the membership manager of the Houston LGBTQ Plus Chamber of Commerce.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the show, Joe.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Brian.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you're the membership manager.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: What does that do?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: So one of my goals as membership manager is to make sure that all of our members of the chamber are uh actively utilizing their benefits.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: They're getting the most out of their membership that they can, meaning just a good return on their investment with us, uh, as well as trying to grow our membership base uh to include, you know, any LGBTQ plus owned and allied-owned businesses that haven't joined the chamber yet.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: So tell me about those benefits.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: What do they get?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it varies depending on the level.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we have our business connect members, which is typically for small to medium-sized businesses.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um and kind of the starting point for membership is really about you know visibility within the community, uh, listing on our directory, the ability to participate in chamber events at our member pricing levels and really kind of showing the community that you are either LGBTQ owned or that you are an allied-owned business, which is uh really important uh for us to make sure that we're supporting businesses that support our community.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, how did you get hooked into the chamber?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: How did Timmy get her hooks into you?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I uh had been a uh chamber member myself as an operations consultant, as an independent consultant, um, helping small and medium-sized businesses with uh you know operational efficiencies and things like that.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: But I've also done a lot of volunteering uh in the community myself through either a human rights campaign or uh just voter registrations and things like that.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I've also been a big supporter of the chamber and the work that it was doing.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um so as Tammy needed somebody to fill the role of membership manager, I had offered to take that on because I fully believe in the work that we do.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: So can you talk about the history of the chamber?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: How it got started?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the chamber started um in February of 2016 with uh Tammy and Gary Wood.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: So they had had um kind of uh a view where I noticing that we were not the LGBTQP uh plus community was not uh being fully engaged um in decisions that were being made in our local economy at the city level, um, and decided to form the Chamber of Commerce to give us the opportunity to have that seat at the table.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And through that started growing a um the membership base of local LGBTQ plus owned businesses and allied owned businesses to start to grow that influence that we have within the local economy and with our local uh government officials.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: And if I remember correctly, it was kind of around the Super Bowl that this all was formed.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, correct.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: February 2016.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so tell me about some of the events that y'all do.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: I know you'll have a myriad of events.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So so far this year, we are on track to have hosted or to host 140 events um for all of 2026.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that includes events that we uh work with member partners with, uh co-sponsor events, and then some of our flagship events that we have throughout the year.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we have our monthly uh Third Thursday breakfasts, which are currently being held at Cadillac Bar.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, those events get anywhere between 160 to 180 uh attendees every month where we get to chat and uh meet each other and talk about things that are impacting our community.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we also have our first Friday Meet and Eat supporting uh local LGBTQ plus owned restaurants that are chamber members as well.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there are a lot of different events that we have going on uh at any given time that can be found on our uh calendar of events on our website.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, what would you say is the biggest reason to join the Chamber of Commerce?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, I would say that joining the Chamber of Commerce is something you should definitely do if you want to uh let people know that you are LGBTQ plus owned or an ally of the community.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um I am very big about pushing or having a conversation with potential members is that I know it's important for me as a consumer of goods and services and restaurants I go to to know that the money I am spending at any given vendor or any given business is not going to be used against me or my community later, right?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: So knowing that a business is either LGBTQ owned or an allied-owned business is important.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's showing that your support for the community, um, it's giving money back into the community.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want that kind of visibility and that sense of uh partnership with you know your local community, that is kind of the main reasons to really join.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and as I mentioned, there are different benefit levels that we have where um you know you can join at a different level for increased benefits and increased visibility.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: But really the core of it is you know engagement and being in partnership and in community with each other.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's important.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: So if there's somebody out there on the fence about joining the chamber, what can you say to them?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say that uh joining the chamber um is a great opportunity to um to promote your business, to find community with each other.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you're not a business owner, but you want to participate as an individual member, we offer that as well, or as a young professional who wants to get to know others within the LGBTQ community and learn from one another.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we're big on being a community of commerce, not just a chamber of commerce.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're looking for that kind of promadery, that kind of working together in partnership, joining the chamber and coming to some of our events, uh, is kind of the great way to get started and kind of see our community in action.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: Is there some members that you would like to highlight?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I mean, we always have a lot of really great members that do a lot um for our community.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: One uh Langford's uh join is very enthusiastic.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: They've been in Montrose for almost 100 years now, uh, being in business.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: So that's always a really great one.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: One of our new members that we'll be highlighting as part of our uh small business highlight is lease services.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So an electrician who is an allied-owned business that services mostly the Katie area, but um, it's always important to make sure that we are you know working with contractors and businesses that we let into our home that we know are at the very least allied-owned businesses um that are supportive of our community.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: We have gays in Katy.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one of the reasons too.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: I am very big about uh reminding people that we are the greater Houston LGTQ plus chamber of commerce.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we do um a lot of trying to get businesses out in the woodlands.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: We've done a lot of events out there over the years.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um we are doing more in Katy.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we even next this weekend will be at uh Third Coast Pride out in Galveston.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we are really doing as much as we can to service the greater Houston area um and make sure people know that we exist in all areas of the greater Houston area, uh, and we can find community anywhere.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there are so many prides, it's like a full-time job to kind of attend those, I think.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, it is.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: But we have a great team here.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Our programming and events manager, Corinne, and our programming and events coordinator, Amber, uh, really do a great job of making sure that we are uh as a chamber fully engaged and promote those events uh in partnership uh with our uh pride organizations in and around the area.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, we we know it's a full-time job, and we're grateful to have an awesome team and an awesome community that continues to show up to all of those prides.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, what makes you the proudest to be part of the chamber?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I think I'm most proud of the work that we're doing to help support um small businesses and whether that's giving them resources that they may not otherwise have available to them or nonprofit, small nonprofit organizations to make sure that they have the visibility necessary to reach out to um to either small donors or large donors to do the important work that they're doing has a really great impact in the community.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, as you know, we're we're um celebrating 10 years of the work that we the chamber has been doing, and we're excited for the next 10 years of you know impacts to small and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit organizations to make sure that they're successful.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a it's a partnership.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: Is there anything you wanted to let our listeners know before we go?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would say if you are looking to uh get to know the chamber a bit more and again see our community in action, I would definitely encourage going to Houston LGBTchamber.com.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: From there, you can go to events and programs and check out our event calendar.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of events still scheduled for this quarter.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of them are free to attend for non-members.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um just check them out, come and and see what we're about, see the community in action.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I will be at mostly every event as membership manager.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: So feel free to come and ask me any questions you have.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I know any member of my team or our team um will be happy to help.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: If you're joining us, we've been we've been speaking with Joe Mendoza, the membership manager of the Greater Houston LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Joe, thank you for coming onto the show.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Brian.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: This is Queer Voices.
• 10:23
  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.
• 10:42
  Deborah: So KPFT is very important to give voices to those who might not otherwise have voices.
• 10:50
  Deborah: So as Glenn always says, you participate by listening.
• 10:56
  Deborah: You should also participate by supporting the station.
• 11:00
  Deborah: So please go to kpft.org and make your donation right away.
• 11:09
  Brett: Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and Sarah Gaston is starring in The Roommate at Stages Houston, which runs through November 22nd.
• 11:17
  Brett: It is a two-person play written by Jen Silverman, and Sarah will be starring opposite Deborah Hope.
• 11:24
  Brett: So welcome, Sarah.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, I'm so glad to be here.
• 11:28
  Brett: I am so glad to see you.
• 11:29
  Brett: I've seen you in so many things.
• 11:32
  Brett: But let's just first up, let's get this out of the way.
• 11:35
  Brett: The roommate.
• 11:36
  Brett: What is it about?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's about uh a divorcee who that is who I play living in a small town in Iowa, and she decides to get a roommate.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I think initially maybe to share expenses, but also maybe just to have, you know, someone else in the house.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: And the person that shows up is unlike anyone she's ever met before.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: So and kind of uh begins to give her a new perspective on how the world turns.
• 12:08
  Brett: Yeah.
• 12:08
  Brett: So what do you think is the biggest challenge in this one in the script?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Oh that's a that's a good question because I'm I'm this I'm working this script a little bit different than I've worked scripts in the past.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: And so far, what I'm seeing just from a logistics standpoint is there is there's a lot of self-interrupting and a lot of repetition, right?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: So just simply from a preparation standpoint, um, that's something that it's I'm finding really challenging.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's brilliantly written dialogue-wise, because it is in fact how people speak, but you know, they're like lots of missing punctuation, a lot of incomplete sentences, a lot of implied thoughts.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, and as far as um, I don't know, the the story, it's gonna be an interesting challenge to make this arc, this what appears on the page to be a sudden change.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um how to do the inner work to make that make sense.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Does that did that answer your question at all?
• 13:15
  Brett: It did.
• 13:16
  Brett: Now you are playing Sharon.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 13:19
  Brett: And Sharon kind of spends a lot of the play discovering that maybe the person that she thought she was is not exactly the one that she wants to stay as.
• 13:29
  Brett: Um, so how do you approach that kind of a transformation?
• 13:32
  Brett: I mean, do you do you really have to like play that?
• 13:36
  Brett: Is it physical?
• 13:36
  Brett: Is it emotional?
• 13:37
  Brett: Is it both?
• 13:38
  Brett: So I think it's gonna be all of those things.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: But what I what I think is I don't know that there's a person alive, at least not in our culture, who hasn't at some point wanted to chuck it all and start over.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm gonna run away and live on an island somewhere, or I'm gonna run off and I'm gonna live in a flat in Paris, or I'm gonna go be a missionary in Africa.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that desire to wonder about the road not taken, I would suspect is fairly universal.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I think I think the fantasy about that comes long before the liberation.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_03: And my suspicion is that Sharon has been curious about the world for a very long time.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: She's certainly dissatisfied with where she is.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: And then along comes this person who offers her a glimmer of what else could be for her.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: And she takes that opportunity and runs with it.
• 14:38
  Brett: Well, you know, Jen Silverman is an author.
• 14:40
  Brett: I feel like she's having a moment right now, uh, and especially in Houston.
• 14:45
  Brett: We just had Collective Rage.
• 14:47
  Brett: Uh, The Roommate was produced last year uh by Theatre Suburbia as well.
• 14:53
  Brett: Okay.
• 14:54
  Brett: I did not know.
• 14:55
  Brett: Um, and of course, it was on Broadway not that long ago in a revival.
• 14:59
  Brett: Right.
• 14:59
  Brett: Sarring, of course, Mia Farrow and Patty Lapone.
• 15:02
  Brett: Yes.
• 15:03
  Brett: So well, no, two very uncomplicated women, I'm sure.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right, right.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: Easy to get along with, no hang-ups, no neuroses.
• 15:13
  Brett: Yes.
• 15:14
  Brett: No.
• 15:15
  Brett: But what drew you to want to be in this one?
• 15:18
  Brett: I mean, did you read the script and go, oh my gosh, I have to do this?
• 15:21
  Brett: Or what was the attraction?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I have a dirty little secret.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: I did not really know much about the play.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um I I love stages, and um I'm very, very fond of Derek, who's been the new artistic director.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: He's just, he's been so lovely to audition for.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: And um I was like, you know what, I want to audition for him again.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: And oh, this, you know, two strong female characters.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: This is in my my demographic, um, my age range, which doesn't come along very much, you know.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_03: And um, so I was like, I'm just gonna go and have some fun and have a like a little theater experience.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: And then it was really fun and it was really fun to audition.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, um, Jessica was great and it was just fun in the room.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then I got a call back and I was in Los Angeles, and I had to really quick throw together a Zoom call back and did my little dog and pony show in uh in the room where I was staying.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: And um, then they said, Hey, we want you a Sharon.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it was interesting because I thought for sure if if I was considered it all, I'd be a shoe-in for Robin, because she's much more close to my personality.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so when they picked me for Sharon, I was like, okay, this is gonna be a really interesting journey to figure out who she is.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 16:37
  Brett: That is wild because I've talked to your co-star, Tebra.
• 16:40
  Brett: She assumed she was going to play the other role.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_03: Amazing.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: So many of them are just brilliant casting directors by making us do the opposite.
• 16:49
  Brett: She thought, surely, I am going to be the other one.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that is hilarious.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, I can't wait to talk to Deb about this now because we'll be like, what?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: What are they doing?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: This is crazy.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_03: And they chose two redheads.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm I'm like, it'll be interesting to see, you know, what they do with that in terms of wigs or hair dye or whatever.
• 17:09
  Brett: Oh, I hope none.
• 17:10
  Brett: I mean, come on.
• 17:11
  Brett: You both have such great looks already, just naturally.
• 17:14
  Brett: So I I say leave it.
• 17:16
  Brett: Let's just make it a thing.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: P's in a pod, and you didn't even realize it.
• 17:20
  Brett: Yes.
• 17:21
  Brett: Well, since we're on queer voices, I wanted to ask you, is there a queer connection to this script?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: Well, there is.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: One of the characters, Robin, is uh she identifies as queer.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um she the implication is that she's a lesbian now, but that she has, you know, she has uh been with men or dated men.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: And um then there's a there's a moment in the play where um Sharon starts to wonder if if men are all they're cracked up to be.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: And she becomes a little curious about what it might be like to um to explore her options.
• 17:58
  Brett: All right.
• 18:00
  Brett: Well, there you go.
• 18:01
  Brett: I knew with Jen Silverman involved, we were going to get that as a theme just a little bit.
• 18:05
  Brett: She's very queer friendly and has always been a big supporter of the community and a member of our community.
• 18:10
  Brett: So that is it.
• 18:12
  Brett: But okay, Sarah.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: May I say I'm sorry, may I say one thing about that?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sorry.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_03: What I love about it though, is it's not a queer story.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's a story about people and one just happens to be queer.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I really appreciate any sort of theater or film or television show that doesn't make it about the orientation.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: It just makes it just like a normal part of life.
• 18:36
  Brett: And I think that is the aspiration of where we want to be.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 18:40
  Brett: And I think that that is the beauty of what this piece offers is it's not.
• 18:44
  Brett: Yeah.
• 18:45
  Brett: I mean, it doesn't make it as much of an issue as it could be.
• 18:48
  Brett: Yeah.
• 18:49
  Brett: Um, it's just a person.
• 18:50
  Brett: So and it's just two people connecting.
• 18:52
  Brett: So exactly.
• 18:54
  Brett: Yeah.
• 18:54
  unknown: Yeah.
• 18:55
  Brett: But Sarah Gaston, let's talk a little bit about what would I know you from?
• 18:59
  Brett: What have you done before this?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um well, I haven't been on stage in a while.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but uh probably well, so the last time I was at stages, I was in Hank Williams Lost Highway.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: So that was many, many, many years ago.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: And then um I was in Red Hot Patriot at Main Street.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: So that was a one-woman show about Molly Ivans, and I I did that um for two different runs, once in 2012 and once in 2016.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I've done some stuff at the alley, uh including Christmas Carol, because if you're gonna be at the alley, you know, you have to do Christmas Carol.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: You have to do Christmas Carol.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I'm pretty excited about this because I haven't been on stage in a while.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, other than some stuff I've done with the Ground Lane School in Los Angeles, I've done a done a lot more film in the past several years and I started directing film a few years ago.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: So um my trajectory has shifted a little bit.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: So when this opportunity came to be on stage again um and to be at stages in that gorgeous new new-ish theater, um, I was really beside myself.
• 20:04
  Brett: Yeah.
• 20:04
  Brett: I noticed you've got a lot of indie film credits in here.
• 20:06
  Brett: So yeah.
• 20:07
  Brett: Yeah, that's amazing.
• 20:08
  Brett: And this is so funny.
• 20:10
  Brett: The one that jumped out at me that I remember just like it was yesterday was when you did the actors' theater at Houston.
• 20:15
  Brett: You did a production called Spike Heels.
• 20:17
  Brett: Nobody's gonna remember that, but I do.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I was just thinking about that show earlier today.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: So that is insane that you brought it.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh oh my gosh, yes, yes, yes.
• 20:29
  Brett: I loved it.
• 20:30
  Brett: It was one of my favorites.
• 20:31
  Brett: I missed them.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: I loved it too.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they they were a little edgy and it was just it was a delicious time.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:38
  Brett: Yes.
• 20:39
  Brett: No, I was I think it was like one of the first things that I saw when I moved back to Houston, and I was just like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
• 20:50
  Brett: Yeah, but tell me, let's go back.
• 20:52
  Brett: How did you get into acting?
• 20:53
  Brett: Did you grow up doing this?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: Or so yes and no.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um my very first dream was to be an anthropologist.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: And um, and then I was gonna be an Olympic gymnast.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I mean, that was that was my plan.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, as a as a very, very young girl.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: But no, um, in eighth grade, my my friend Shannon said, Um, I'm gonna take theater arts as my elective in high school.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, Oh, theater arts, okay, I'll I'll sign up for that because you know it's high school and you, you know, you you're gonna be in school with the big kids.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I like wanted to have a class with a friend.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_03: So I signed up.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we did uh Spoon River Anthology.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: We did the Edgar Lee Masters show and we did um, this was just for class, we had to pick out a you know, a monologue.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: And so I picked out the village atheist and I I went home that night, like couldn't wait to pick up my monologue.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: I found out monologue and I looked up all the things I didn't know and I made a little costume and I did some blocking and I brought a broom so I could throw down for emphasis and a little fourteen year old me and um I got done and the teacher said outstanding.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: And that was it.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: I was hooked.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: It was like it was the phrase I've been looking for all my life.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: So that's kind of how I got started.
• 22:13
  Brett: Well, it's interesting because you drifted into film.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 22:16
  Brett: And actually, my last interview was with somebody that did the same thing.
• 22:21
  Brett: They went into film and now they're coming back to the stage after an extended period of not having been there.
• 22:27
  Brett: So what's the difference?
• 22:28
  Brett: I mean, like if somebody's like asking what's the difference between film and theater, what would you kind of give them as your quick answer?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: So um from a purely technical standpoint in terms of the craft, uh theater is like an old-fashioned sprinkler that goes back and forth and sprays in a hundred different directions.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: Film is like uh like a shotgun spray nozzle that concentrates all the water um very finely in one direction.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a matter of being up and out or being very, very focused.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_03: So that's technically the difference.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um in in terms of internally, what occurs for me both as an actor filming and and watching as a as a viewer is that we see so much more of the inner life.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it it becomes so much more about reading the characters' minds and seeing their thoughts drift across their faces versus sort of having to declare it, which we often have to do in theater, especially in the bigger houses.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you can get away with a lot more subtlety in a smaller house, but in the bigger houses we kind of have to declare what's happening.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's my opinion.
• 23:43
  Brett: Well, stages is a special place and it is very intimate.
• 23:48
  Brett: And one of the things that I found wild is the initial part of your run is almost sold out.
• 23:54
  Brett: I mean, it's doing extremely well.
• 23:57
  Brett: And they've done pretty well with the last couple of productions.
• 23:59
  Brett: I'm so excited for you.
• 24:01
  Brett: You're going to have uh packed houses for this one.
• 24:04
  Brett: Yeah.
• 24:05
  Brett: Um so no pressure, none.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: No pressure.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: No, and seriously, I was still in LA when we got the letter that said, um, hey, our pre-sales are like at 75%.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: Can we extend?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, we haven't even started rehearsals.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not even in the city.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, no pressure.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_03: The great thing is though, is it's a comedy.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so uh, you know, comedies do well with more people in mind.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: You need that doing it.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:31
  Brett: Yes.
• 24:31
  Brett: Yeah.
• 24:32
  Brett: It it gives the permission when you're in a group, they there's almost the permission to laugh.
• 24:36
  Brett: Yes.
• 24:36
  Brett: Uh when you're a little small audience, it's it's harder, or if you're spread out, but when it you get that kind of nervous, like, should I laugh here or not?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 24:45
  Brett: Uh but I'm super excited about it because the roommate, Jen Silverman, you know, Sarah Gaston, obviously, and Deborah Hope.
• 24:52
  Brett: And who's directing this one?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Jessica J.
• 24:55
  Brett: Okay.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:56
  Brett: Gotcha.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's who I don't know, but I've heard is just fabulous to work with.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm really looking forward to it.
• 25:02
  Brett: Yes.
• 25:02
  Brett: How amazing.
• 25:04
  Brett: And of course, running through November 22nd.
• 25:07
  Brett: So a good solid at least month of the roommates.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: And they're packing in a lot of shows into that month.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: So it's um, yeah, it's it's gonna be a wild ride.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:20
  Brett: Sarah Gaston, thank you so much for talking to me about the roommate.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, thank you so much for having me.
• 25:37
  Brett: Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and Beetlejuice is returning to Broadway at the Hobby Center, November 3rd through the 8th.
• 25:45
  Brett: And David Wilson is coming with this tour.
• 25:49
  Brett: He plays Adam, born and raised in Southeast Michigan, but now based out of NYC national tour debut here.
• 25:56
  Brett: Uh, so I'm very excited.
• 25:57
  Brett: Now, if you know the movie, which who doesn't know the movie?
• 26:01
  Brett: Adam is the husband and the original owner of the house in Beetlejuice who tries to get help from the poltergeist to get the new family out of his house that he is haunting.
• 26:08
  Brett: So, welcome, Adam.
• 26:10
  Brett: Hi there.
• 26:10
  Brett: Thank you so much for having me.
• 26:12
  Brett: Oh, I'm so excited.
• 26:13
  Brett: I you know what?
• 26:13
  Brett: I have not yet seen Beetlejuice, the musical.
• 26:18
  Brett: I'm a huge fan of the movie.
• 26:20
  Brett: I think that I went and saw it in the theater like oh four or five times, like when I was growing up, you know, just I was obsessed with it.
• 26:28
  Brett: So I wanted to ask you, what's it like to be in this and to be in this world?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_05: It's really surreal.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_05: I, much like you saw the movie multiple times, I saw the original Broadway production, I think eight times.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_05: It was my roommate's favorite musical.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_05: I would go with her all the time to see it.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_05: And we'd walk out of there saying, if I were to do anything in that show, I would love to be Adam.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_05: And so, like 10 almost 10 years later, getting to getting to go across North America.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it's really been I surreal is the only way I can describe it.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_05: It's amazing.
• 27:01
  Brett: Yeah.
• 27:01
  Brett: Well, I always wonder whenever I see these movie musicals, how is this one different from the film?
• 27:06
  Brett: Is there a lot of stuff that is kind of different?
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_05: Definitely.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_05: I think where the movie focuses a bit more on the Maitlands and their um need to get this family out of the house.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_05: I think the musical really structures itself around um the Beetlejuice itself and Lydia.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_05: Beetlejuice, who is trying to, who is in our version, a very lonely uh, you know, uh being who is just trying to be seen.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_05: And Lydia, who is just lost her mother, is you know, dealing with that grief and meeting the Maitlands and you know now navigating life without her mom and how that looks.
• 27:49
  Brett: Yeah.
• 27:49
  Brett: You know, the film was definitely all about the Maitlands.
• 27:52
  Brett: I mean, I felt like Adam was all over the film.
• 27:53
  Brett: I mean, and Gina.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and we're still there.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_05: We are still trust and believe that Barbara and Adam are running around that stage like crazy.
• 28:05
  Brett: Well, you know, you said that you've always wanna play Adam.
• 28:08
  Brett: What is it about Adam that like made you go, oh, this is the part.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's you know, in a show that's so absurd, like Beetlejuice, where so much is happening, uh, there's special effects going everywhere, there are creatures and and and all of this zaniness.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_05: Adam and Barbara really are, you know, they're kind of the straight men of the play, uh, of the musical, but there's so much fun in seeing people who seem so ordinary and so average, um, and the journey that they go on by the end of the show where they are able to take on this otherworldly being, or or they're able to, you know, have this connection with Lydia, you know, this parental connection, where they start and where they end.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_05: I think that journey for people is like really exciting to see.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_05: You know, anybody who the the everyday, the average everyday person can really become extraordinary.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 29:07
  Brett: Well, what do you think that this show says?
• 29:08
  Brett: I mean, if you had to boil it down and say, this is what Beetlejuice, the musical, is saying to the world right now.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_05: I think right off the bat, Beetlejuice announces its sh uh itself as a show about death, but I think equally it is a show about life and you know, connection and just needing to belong.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_05: I think a a really recurring theme in the show is people feeling invisible and and trying to be seen.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_05: And I think anybody, anybody can connect to that, you know.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_05: Uh we everybody in their own way just wants to, you know, be acknowledged and be seen and be appreciated.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's why a lot of people come into the show ready to laugh or ready to enjoy the world of Tim Burton that they remember from the films, but leave feeling really touched and and emotional.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_05: We just had somebody in Kansas City, I had somebody at the stage store tell me how shocked they were that they ended up they were crying in the second act, and they didn't expect to have that, but they were just as equally like laughing throughout the whole thing.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_05: And that's I kind of think everything you want in a musical.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_05: You want to laugh, you want the earworms that you can sing afterwards, and you just want to you want to feel, you know, all the emotions.
• 30:24
  Brett: Well, David Wilson, tell me how did you get into acting?
• 30:28
  Brett: What what was the path to this whole thing?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_05: You know, acting for me, I joined my high school drama club purely because my mom was not gonna pick my brother and I up at different times.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_05: My brother was already a student director.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_05: I was a freshman when he was a senior.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_05: So I kind of had to do it.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_05: I was more actually the like orchestra.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_05: I played violin.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_05: That's what I thought I was gonna do my um career.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_05: But I ended up joining the drama club with my brother.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_05: And from there, I did every single show that you could do in high school.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_05: I did all the community theater in the area, and then I um went to acting school in New York.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_05: I got my bachelor's from Fordham, and then I got my master's from uh the grad acting program in NYU.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_05: And it kind of all just it kind of just fell into place in a really amazing way.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_05: I said I wanted to go to New York.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_05: I worked really hard to get in school there.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I made sure that I stayed in school there because living in New York is not easy.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_05: No, especially when you're kind of on your own um from the Midwest and you're you're learning in real time.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_05: It is hard.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_05: But yeah, I just as soon as I, you know, started acting, I I could not stop.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_05: I was doing it every opportunity that I could.
• 31:51
  Brett: Well, and you got a graduate degree in acting, which that's like the highest you can go academically in this world, right?
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it was really crazy.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_05: It happened during COVID.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_05: And I was finishing up my bachelor's over Zoom, which nobody wanted to do, you know, um, in 2021.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_05: Um, the pandemic really was not fun for acting school.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_05: Uh Zoom, it as much as we tried to make it work, Zoom theater can stay in that period.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_05: It's good.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and I was just sitting there listening to a lot of people in the industry kind of talk in a doomsday way about the about it.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_05: And, you know, that much wasn't happening.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_05: So in my mind, I was like, okay, well, let me try applying to grad school and see what happens.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_05: And I did not expect, I think once I applied NYU was my second graduate school audition.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_05: And when I made it to the end of the day of that audition, I said, okay, I'm either going to NYU or I'm not going anywhere.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, because it it the faculty connected to me with me in such an amazing way, and I thankfully got in.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_05: It was one of the best experiences.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it it the the history of grad of NYU grad acting, and I think being a part of that cohort um made me even more appreciative of being an actor and and getting to work with these people and having, you know, like Sterling K.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_05: Brown like walk into an acting class because he's an alumni, or like um Celia Keenan Bulger talk to us, or um, oh gosh, why is the name escaping me?
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_05: She was Fanny Bryce on Broadway, Julie Banco, who is an alumni of the program, you know, um, just having those people walk the hall.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_05: It was it was the best thing that could have happened to me.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 33:42
  Brett: Now, this is your first tour though, right?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, so insane.
• 33:46
  Brett: Very insane.
• 33:47
  Brett: Like you work so hard to make a success in New York, and then it's like, hey, let's take this gig where we get to travel.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, I I truly I I remember I was out of school for maybe a year, and I was living in New York, and I was like, God, I kind of want to see other parts of the country.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe New York is like, maybe I need to step away for a little bit.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_05: And then I booked this tour, and I miss New York like crazy now, but it has been the biggest gift going across the country, having audiences that are so dedicated to the show, um, and and so excited for the show, dressing up, telling me it's either their first ever Broadway show or it's their eighth time seeing this particular musical.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_05: Uh we we have everything in between, and it has been the best gift this year.
• 34:32
  Brett: Yeah.
• 34:33
  Brett: Well, I think with Beetlejuice, you can suck in some people that aren't necessarily Broadway people, you know?
• 34:39
  Brett: Because it's the it's the material.
• 34:41
  Brett: And it's so perfect for this time of year, too.
• 34:43
  Brett: Oh my gosh.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, they're so excited.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_05: People, yeah.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_05: The last city we were in was um Kansas City, and we had it was like their Starlight Theater, which is an outdoor like 7,000, 8,000 seat theater, and seeing people so excited, outdoors in the cold, um, dressed up, you know, cheering their faces off.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_05: It was surreal.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_05: And that's kind of been the experience this whole year is that 10 year, almost 10 years later, after this musical had first debuted, that there are people who are still so excited for this show.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_05: Well, have you ever been to Houston?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_05: No, I have never been to Texas, and I am so excited.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 35:25
  Brett: Well, temper your expectations.
• 35:27
  Brett: No, um really great Tex-Mex, amazing.
• 35:31
  Brett: If you do anything, do that for sure.
• 35:33
  Brett: Okay.
• 35:33
  Brett: Um, but it's very hot and it's very humid.
• 35:36
  Brett: But hopefully by the time you get here, we will have some relief because you're November 3rd, 38th.
• 35:41
  Brett: It may be actually pretty.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I'm a Midwest boy, so I love any opportunity I can have to be in the warmth.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_05: We are that up here in Michigan is when it starts uh getting we were I I remember doing Halloween in like 40 degree weather.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm excited to have a different experience this year.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_05: It will be.
• 36:06
  Brett: Trust me.
• 36:08
  Brett: Well, we were talking, and and David, you were telling me that you are a part of the LGBTQIA plus community.
• 36:14
  Brett: And since we're on queer voices, we might as well go there.
• 36:17
  Brett: Absolutely.
• 36:18
  Brett: How do you identify?
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so I identify as queer.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um queer, bye, however, that pans out.
• 36:25
  Brett: Pans out, no pun.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
• 36:29
  Brett: You know, I always found it queer.
• 36:31
  Brett: It's an interesting term.
• 36:32
  Brett: We get a lot of flack because we're called queer voices, and some people think of that as a pejorative term.
• 36:37
  Brett: And I'm like, it's the easiest one for me to shorthand tell you I'm part of this community without having to just nail down this very specific exactly.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's the best way for me to describe it, you know, um, and that I don't have to nail myself down to a specific identity.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_05: I think uh I'm very much a person who just loves people.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and I think queer is just the best way to describe that.
• 37:05
  Brett: People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 37:10
  unknown: Just kidding.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_05: No, you have a you're in a relationship, right?
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yes.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_05: I have my partner with me.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_05: He lives in San Diego.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_05: So any time.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_05: Oh wow.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_05: So you're really like bicoastal.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_05: Mm-hmm.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_05: With your relationship.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_05: How does that work?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_05: Well, he is uh we're both from he's from Maryland.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_05: I'm from Michigan, so we're both from the east, you know, near the east coast.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um, he's a pilot, so handy.
• 37:39
  Brett: So we make it work.
• 37:40
  Brett: This is so awesome.
• 37:41
  Brett: I've never heard of a more suited couple than a pilot and a touring actor.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, and you that is amazing.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I could not write that myself.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_05: No, it writes itself, yes.
• 37:58
  Brett: Well, David, we are certainly looking forward to you uh taking on the role of Adam in Beetlejuice.
• 38:03
  Brett: I will be excited since the only person I've ever seen it do Adam is Alec Baldwin.
• 38:07
  Brett: So this is gonna be my first time.
• 38:12
  Brett: Yes, I hope that the rest of the tour goes just as well, and I hope you get some really good Texas food while you're here.
• 38:18
  Brett: Thank you so much.
• 38:19
  Brett: I'm so excited.
• 38:29
  Brett: Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and I am joined by author Arlie Ingalls, and we are going to take a look at the news events for the last week of October.
• 38:39
  Brett: Right.
• 38:39
  Brett: So we're recording this before the election results come in.
• 38:42
  Brett: So if anything big happened, we don't know about it yet.
• 38:45
  Brett: Yes.
• 38:47
  Brett: But Rice University released their landmark survey about LGBTQ plus Houstonians.
• 38:53
  Brett: This is the results of the love survey, is what I've been calling it, but it's the L O V E, I'm sure.
• 38:58
  Lee: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:58
  Lee: And actually, we've participated in that.
• 39:01
  Brett: Yes, we did.
• 39:01
  Brett: It's a new study, and it offers a very important look at the lives, experience, and challenges of LTBTQ people across Houston specifically.
• 39:11
  Brett: Now, Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research, they partnered with the Montrose Center and the Greater Houston LGBTQ Plus Chamber of Commerce.
• 39:21
  Brett: And the study generated responses from over a thousand, it was like 1,193 participants, and that represented more than 100 zip codes in and around the Houston area.
• 39:32
  Brett: So they were looking at a whole bunch of different things like employment, income housing, health care discrimination, and a sense of belonging in the community.
• 39:41
  Brett: And there was a lot of stuff that was really interesting in it.
• 39:44
  Brett: According to the survey, 59% of gay respondents reported household incomes of 100,000 or more.
• 39:51
  Brett: Now, what's important about that figure is that that is a household number.
• 39:55
  Brett: And then among transgender respondents, then that number dropped to 34%.
• 40:00
  Brett: There were also significant differences in feelings of community connection.
• 40:04
  Brett: It said that 71% of gay respondents said that they felt a sense of belonging in their neighborhoods, while only 41% transgender respondents reported the same.
• 40:14
  Brett: So obviously a gap there in feeling that they belong to their community.
• 40:18
  Brett: And of course, not unexpected health care access.
• 40:21
  Brett: Huge concern for this community.
• 40:23
  Brett: Fewer than half of the respondents seeking gender-affirming care reported having consistent access to those services.
• 40:30
  Brett: They weren't getting the care that they wanted or need.
• 40:33
  Brett: And among those people who experienced difficulties obtaining health care costs, that was the biggest thing is the cost was just too much.
• 40:40
  Brett: Now, this is a pilot survey, and they wanted to emphasize that.
• 40:44
  Brett: So the findings aren't considered statistically representative of the entire LGBTQ population in Houston.
• 40:50
  Brett: It's not everybody.
• 40:51
  Lee: Right, right.
• 40:52
  Lee: Because it was volunteer, and so they didn't select a pool, the pool selected them basically.
• 40:58
  Brett: And it's people that are willing to do these.
• 40:59
  Brett: And historically, it's incredibly hard to get people to participate in these.
• 41:04
  Brett: It does provide a great snapshot of the diverse experiences within our community, and it raises some questions about economic security, health, equity, and what it really means to feel welcome and included in Houston.
• 41:16
  Brett: It's a good first step towards understanding where our community stands and where more work is needed.
• 41:20
  Lee: Yeah, so interesting study.
• 41:22
  Lee: I'm glad that we participated.
• 41:23
  Lee: So another item that came up in the news of this past week that I find particularly disturbing is the transgender rights group gets answers about the controversial text messages that were sent out.
• 41:35
  Lee: A developing political controversy in Texas has taken another turn.
• 41:39
  Lee: Newly released court testimony may help explain who was behind the series of controversial text messages targeting transgender youth.
• 41:48
  Lee: Sadly, the transgender community is really being targeted in a really uh uncomfortable, unforgiving way.
• 41:55
  Lee: So, according to the Texas Tribune, uh a deposition from messaging company InfoBIP identifies Republican women's caucus bonds and an individual named John Brun as the senders of the text messages.
• 42:08
  Lee: The messages were linked to resources on the website of Transgender Education Network of Texas, also known as TENT, on the promotion information about transgender students, student bathroom and gender-affirming health care.
• 42:22
  Lee: There's one problem with that, though, is Tent says it has absolutely nothing to do with sending the messages.
• 42:28
  Lee: The messages triggered significant backlash to the Tent organization, including threats of violence against the organization itself.
• 42:36
  Lee: And my question there is was that the intent of these messages going out?
• 42:41
  Lee: Were they trying to shine the light on this organization and promote violence against them, which would be such a sad statement if that were the case?
• 42:49
  Lee: The Republican Women's Caucus Fund, however, is denying any involvement.
• 42:53
  Lee: A spokesman said the organization did not authorize it, fund it, or direct participate in the messages and is considering legal action.
• 43:03
  Lee: The controversy also includes uh separate mailers sent by uh sent to Texas households by an organization calling itself Texas Transgender Student Union.
• 43:13
  Lee: Those mailers similarly inferred Tent, despite the group's denial of any connection.
• 43:18
  Lee: The timing is questionable.
• 43:20
  Lee: Of course, we're in the election cycle, so yeah, the timing is suspect.
• 43:24
  Lee: Uh, Tent believes the communications were designed to damage its reputation and stir up political controversy around transgender issues.
• 43:31
  Lee: Meanwhile, a Texas State Representative Jeff Leach, a Republican from Plano, has asked the Attorney General's office to investigate who was responsible.
• 43:40
  Lee: West Texas uh district attorney also opened a criminal investigation into the mailers.
• 43:45
  Lee: So interesting.
• 43:46
  Lee: I hate this this is happening.
• 43:48
  Lee: However, it appears that we have another group of people that have found a way to target organizations within our community.
• 43:55
  Lee: And what a sad statement about this political cycle.
• 43:58
  Brett: Yeah, it was it was a very Tough, gross political cycle as far as this is concerned.
• 44:03
  Brett: Republicans spent over 138 million in anti-trans advertising and campaigns.
• 44:09
  Lee: So I think it's just and over 50 million of that was spent here in Texas, largely uh targeting Tel Rico.
• 44:16
  Brett: Yeah.
• 44:17
  Brett: No, absolutely, on a single race.
• 44:19
  Brett: But so it's revealed in court testimony, important questions to me about who is ultimately responsible for this campaign and what its political motivations are, but I think it's uh pretty clear what they are.
• 44:29
  Lee: One story that came up uh this past week that is important to me is um Wikipedia.
• 44:34
  Lee: They're trying to garner support for to preserve the LGBTQ plus history, which you know that's important to me.
• 44:40
  Lee: I'm all about the history of our community, capturing it accurately.
• 44:43
  Lee: Wikipedia is probably one of the first places you go to when you want to look up something, but most people don't stop to think who's making the LGBTQ plus history accurate and who's who's making sure that that happens.
• 44:55
  Lee: More than 150 people from at least 30 countries recently gathered in Montreal for Quering Wikipedia 2026, the first fully in-person international conference dedicated to the LGBTQ Wikipedia editors and contributors.
• 45:12
  Lee: So, as reported by the Advocate, the October 23rd gathering brought together activists, historians, writers, and volunteers with a common goal documenting queer history and ensuring that those stories are not erased from the digital record.
• 45:25
  Lee: Wikipedia is um, you know, a crowdsourcing platform.
• 45:28
  Lee: What that means is the volunteers create the content that is in there.
• 45:32
  Lee: So the conference highlights some fascinating projects.
• 45:35
  Lee: Uh, contributors are creating the LGBTQ resources in languages that have historically had little public information available.
• 45:43
  Lee: Others are working behind the scenes to improve the way the information is organized and preserved.
• 45:48
  Lee: Bessie Olemy, executive director of Wikipedia LGBT, uh described the effort as a way to fight back against the erasure of queer history.
• 45:59
  Lee: This gathering will happen again.
• 46:00
  Lee: They're planning it an in-person conference in 2028.
• 46:04
  Lee: Ultimately, the message is pretty simple.
• 46:05
  Lee: If we don't document our history, someone else will decide what gets remembered and what gets forgotten.
• 46:12
  Lee: And that is an important point to make.
• 46:15
  Brett: Yeah, and Wikipedia is such a big tool for people to use.
• 46:18
  Brett: And that's one of the first things that most people go to when they're researching something.
• 46:22
  Brett: So it is important to capture as much LGBGQ plus history.
• 46:26
  Brett: Right.
• 46:26
  Brett: Um, and things like the uh love survey, the results of that.
• 46:29
  Brett: October was Intersex Awareness Day occurred.
• 46:33
  Brett: This community is now demanding an end to non-consensual surgeries.
• 46:37
  Brett: Now, 30 years ago, intersex activists and transgender allies gathered outside of an American Academy of Pediatrics conference in Boston to protest these surgeries and these intersex children that were done without any kind of consent whatsoever.
• 46:52
  Brett: So intersex people are basically, if you don't know what that means, it means they're born with natural variations in their sex characteristics, including chromosomes, hormones, maybe reproductive anatomy that don't fit typical definitions of male or female.
• 47:05
  Brett: And one of the central issues facing that community is the practice of performing surgeries on intersex infants and children to make their bodies conform to a traditional expectation of male or female anatomy.
• 47:16
  Brett: So advocates argue that unless there's an urgent medical need, unless there's just something that is going to create a medical problem, these decisions should be left to the individuals themselves when they are old enough to give informed consent.
• 47:28
  Brett: And I completely agree with that.
• 47:30
  Brett: I think it's your body.
• 47:31
  Brett: I think you should have some say over that.
• 47:33
  Lee: And yeah, hair cake and eat it too, is what it sounds like, because we have organizations like this one that would suggest that changing those things are acceptable in children.
• 47:42
  Lee: Yet we have another group that's saying that uh gender-affirming care is inappropriate on a child.
• 47:47
  Brett: Well, the advocate recently spoke with intersex activist Betsy Driver, who described growing up being told by doctors that no children were like her.
• 47:55
  Brett: And then years later, she discovered others with the same intersex variation who had received treatment at the same hospital.
• 48:00
  Brett: So it was that much closer to her than that.
• 48:03
  Brett: And that helped her inspire her own advocacy work.
• 48:06
  Brett: So Driver co-founded the online community, Bodies Like Ours, and helped establish Intersex Awareness Day.
• 48:13
  Brett: So yeah.
• 48:14
  Brett: So today all these advocates fight.
• 48:16
  Brett: It's far from over, of course, because they are concerned that the political efforts to restrict transgender health care continue to leave exceptions for surgeries intended to alter intersex children's bodies.
• 48:27
  Brett: So they're concerned about their rights as a community as well.
• 48:30
  Brett: So this message uh from advocates is pretty straightforward.
• 48:33
  Brett: It's just medical decisions should prioritize the health and well-being of the individual and not societal expectations about what someone's body should look like.
• 48:41
  Brett: So, or gender norms.
• 48:42
  Brett: So after 30 years of activism, the demand remains the same.
• 48:46
  Brett: Intersex people deserve bodily autonomy, informed consent, and the right to make decisions about their own bodies.
• 48:51
  Lee: Yeah.
• 48:52
  Lee: I'm glad to see that.
• 48:53
  Lee: Yes.
• 48:54
  Lee: Another story that came up this week was a story about uh Cheyenne Jackson.
• 48:57
  Lee: He was set stuck in a situation where he was going to lose his health insurance when another actor, uh, Kathy Bates, stepped in and gave him a small role which allowed him to keep his health insurance.
• 49:08
  Lee: Uh, you might know Cheyenne Jackson for his roles in Glee, 30 Rock, and uh American Horror Story.
• 49:15
  Lee: Last year, Jackson found himself about$6,000 short of qualifying for health insurance through the SAG AFTRA health plan, which covers him and his husband and their two children.
• 49:25
  Lee: Fortunately, again, uh Oscar winner Kathy Bates stepped in, gave him that role on MATLOC, which helped him then qualify for his coverage.
• 49:34
  Lee: And now Jackson is paying that kindness forward with a new social media initiative called One Job.
• 49:39
  Lee: Through the campaign, Jackson is sharing the headshots, resumes, and contact information of performers who are close to meeting the income requirements for union health insurance, hoping casting directors and producers will give them their next opportunity.
• 49:54
  Lee: And the response has been overwhelming, with hundreds of actors submitting their information among those seeking the several are several familiar LGBTQ plus performers.
• 50:05
  Brett: Daniel Francis from Mean Girls, Trace Lizette from Transparent, and Jay Rodriguez from the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
• 50:12
  Brett: They all are at risk of losing their health and share.
• 50:14
  Brett: Yeah, basically this is a campaign to actually let them keep that.
• 50:19
  Lee: Yeah, yeah.
• 50:20
  Lee: So good for Cheyenne Jackson.
• 50:22
  Lee: I'm glad to see this.
• 50:23
  Lee: And it again, it goes back to something that you said earlier, and that's a community taking care of itself.
• 50:28
  Lee: So Jackson's simple message some is sometimes all it takes is one person willing to make a phone call and open a door.
• 50:35
  Lee: And now he's hoping that that will happen for those that are in need.
• 50:39
  Lee: Good for him.
• 50:40
  Brett: Well, the Justice Department is suing a Maryland school district over transgender student policies.
• 50:45
  Brett: So, of course, the Trump administration is taking its fight over transgender rights into America's public schools again.
• 50:51
  Brett: This time, they have filed a lawsuit against a Maryland school district.
• 50:55
  Brett: The U.S.
• 50:56
  Brett: Department of Justice has sued Anna Rundle County Public Schools, accusing the district of violating federal privacy law through policies involving transgender students in their names, pronouns, and gender identities.
• 51:08
  Brett: At the center of the dispute are two federal laws, in essence, the Family Educational Right and Privacy Act, commonly known as FERFA, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendments.
• 51:18
  Brett: The Justice Department alleges that school employees allowed students to use names and pronouns reflecting their gender identities without notifying their parents.
• 51:28
  Brett: So the department argues that parents have a legal right to access this information and their children's educational records.
• 51:34
  Brett: So the lawsuit also involves a family whose daughter reportedly asked school staff to use a male name and male pronouns.
• 51:41
  Brett: Her parents say the school did not adequately inform them about what was happening.
• 51:46
  Brett: But now the school district is going to push back.
• 51:48
  Brett: Anna Rundle County Public Schools says it disagrees with the government's allegations and stands by its compliance with federal law.
• 51:55
  Brett: The district also says it has been communicating with the Justice Department in an effort to resolve the disagreement.
• 52:00
  Brett: Now, what makes this really significant is that the district had already revised its LGBTQ plus student policies in August, following earlier pressure from the federal government.
• 52:11
  Brett: The Justice Department, however, decided to move forward with litigation anyway.
• 52:15
  Brett: So for LGBTQ plus advocates, this case raises a lot of difficult questions about student privacy and contrast that with parental rights and whether transgender students can safely explore their identities at school.
• 52:27
  Brett: And as far as the Trump administration continues challenging transgender protections nationwide, this particular lawsuit in Maryland could become another important battleground in the debate over the rights of transgender young people.
• 52:39
  Lee: Yeah, so to me, that kind of gets back to trying to legislate things like that.
• 52:44
  Lee: You can't really do that successfully because what you do or in this case, and I saw it in my childhood, is you build this mistrust between children and adults.
• 52:53
  Lee: So if the children have a safe place that they can be themselves or feel like they can be themselves with adults there, they're gonna be okay with it.
• 53:01
  Lee: But if you make those adults then tell on them, basically, tattle on them, it's gonna be they're they're gonna not trust them.
• 53:08
  Lee: And therefore you the parents still aren't gonna find out.
• 53:11
  Lee: It's just removing that layer of protection.
• 53:13
  Lee: Yeah, yeah.
• 53:13
  Lee: And it's gonna be a place where you should feel protected.
• 53:16
  Lee: Yes, yes, yes.
• 53:17
  Lee: Okay, so another one the FTC challenges New York's SHIELD law in investigation of transgender health care.
• 53:24
  Lee: So much the same.
• 53:25
  Lee: The battle over transgender health care is escalating, and this time the fight involves the federal government, uh, New York State, and one of the country's largest hospital systems.
• 53:34
  Lee: According to Reuters, the Federal Trade Commission is accusing New York's so-called SHIELD law of interfering with federal investigation into gender-affirming health care.
• 53:43
  Lee: At the center of the dispute is Mount Sinai hospital group in New York City.
• 53:48
  Lee: The FTC uh has subpoenaed the hospital for documents as part of its investigation into the World Professional Association for Transgender Healthcare.
• 53:57
  Lee: The agency alleges that WPATH made misleading statements about the benefits and safety of gender affirming treatments for minors.
• 54:04
  Lee: WPATH denies those allegations.
• 54:07
  Lee: So Mount Sinai had reportedly agreed to comply with this subpoena.
• 54:11
  Lee: However, New York Attorney General Leticia James' office reminded the hospital that the state's 2023 SHIELD law requires certain protections before responding to those out-of-state uh demands.
• 54:24
  Lee: The protections include a waiting period and assurance from federal authorities that the hospital will not face legal action for providing protected information.
• 54:34
  Lee: The FTC argues that those requirements conflict with the federal law and is asking a Manhattan federal court to enforce its subpoena.
• 54:42
  Lee: It also wants the dispute transferred to Texas, of course they do, where its separate lawsuit against WPATH is pending.
• 54:51
  Lee: So New York Shield Law was designed to protect health care providers and patients from legal action originating in states that restrict gender-affirming care.
• 55:01
  Lee: This dispute could have implications far beyond New York.
• 55:05
  Lee: The FTC has reportedly subpoenaed at least seven other hospital networks as part of their investigation.
• 55:11
  Lee: For transgender advocates, a larger concern is whether states can continue protecting patients and medical providers when federal authorities challenge those protections.
• 55:21
  Lee: The question is how the state shield laws can withstand increasingly aggressive federal efforts to investigate gender-affirming care.
• 55:29
  Lee: What a sad statement.
• 55:30
  Brett: Well, and again, it's it's going into privacy and privacy of treatment.
• 55:34
  Brett: Well, one of the things that the Trump administration did do was they did reinstate the LGBTQ plus youth suicide prevention hotline, but there's some questions still around that.
• 55:44
  Brett: They had reinstated a specialized suicide prevention service for LGBTQ youth through the National 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline more than a year after shutting it down.
• 55:54
  Brett: So this was a uh service that you would press three, and that was discontinued uh last July, July 2025.
• 56:02
  Brett: And during this nearly three years of operation, it handled more than 1.5 million calls, texts, and online chats from LGBTQ plus people seeking crisis support.
• 56:12
  Brett: So this restoration, Paul, is months of pressure from our advocates, mental health organizations, and members of Congress.
• 56:19
  Brett: Lawmakers ultimately approved more than$33 million in funding specifically to bring this service back.
• 56:25
  Brett: But there's a lot of things that make this very complicated.
• 56:28
  Brett: The Trevor Project helped establish and operate the original service.
• 56:32
  Brett: So they were the originators of it.
• 56:33
  Brett: The organization previously lost a$25 million federal contract.
• 56:38
  Brett: They had to lay off more than 200 counselors when the service was discontinued.
• 56:42
  Brett: And then there were also concerns about whether transgender and non-binary young people will receive fully affirming support from this option.
• 56:51
  Brett: So the Department of Health and Human Services says it remains committed to President Trump's executive orders, opposing what it calls gender ideology.
• 56:59
  Brett: However, the department has not clearly explained how these policies might affect the way counselors interact with transgender callers.
• 57:04
  Brett: So there's a real concern about who is answering these calls, what advice they're giving.
• 57:08
  Brett: The Guardian actually tested the restored service through its online chat and reported that a counselor used affirming language, that they were okay and that it was all right.
• 57:16
  Brett: But for LGBTQ advocates, the restoration is certainly welcome, but they're saying that the work isn't finished.
• 57:22
  Brett: They say young people need more than just a phone line.
• 57:24
  Brett: They need trained counselors, they need consistent funding, and they need assurance that uh they will be respected when they reach out for help.
• 57:30
  Lee: It's gonna take some time to recover from that.
• 57:32
  Brett: Yep.
• 57:32
  Brett: And that is basically what we have for this week.
• 57:34
  Brett: Yes.
• 57:35
  Brett: Thank you very much.
• 57:36
  Brett: Yeah.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_08: This has been Queer Voices, heard on APFT Houston and as a podcast available from several podcasting sources.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_08: Check our webpage at queervoices.org for more information.