Latest / Queer 101 with Peppermint / Why Politicians Target Trans People — And How We Fight Back

Transcript

Why Politicians Target Trans People — And How We Fight Back · Queer 101 with Peppermint

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: My point is that they're using transness to get people riled up to be like, oh yeah, I don't like it when people dress like a woman.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'll vote for the other guy because he doesn't dress like a woman.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's really where their people's heads, where they're trying to get people's heads are.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think even conservatives are not falling for it this time.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: I hope not.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: Hey y'all, welcome back to another queer 101 podcast where we talk about any and everything under the sun, including queer art, queer culture, queer literature, queer history, whatever I want.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: I am Peppermint, and listen, it's been a while, but we are back finally for season two.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Piow Piow.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: So if you haven't noticed, we are changing things up just a little bit around here.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: My fabulous partner in crime, Hugh, is no longer officially my weekly co-host, but I'm hoping that we can get him back here from time to time.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: We are moving away from the monthly books that we've been focusing on and our artist interviews and things like that.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: And more to focus on real-time topics and issues.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so you are definitely invited for that.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: Now, sometimes it'll just be me.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I'll bring in guests to discuss different topics and all these things.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: But this will not be your everyday celebrity interview podcast show.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: No, we've got enough of those, darling.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Each and every week, I'm gonna tackle an issue that is something that I feel I just I gotta talk about, that I need to share and talk with y'all about, hear how y'all feel, and hopefully make it fun and interesting.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I definitely want you to be a part of the conversation too.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: That is absolutely the most important thing.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I want you to DM me.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: I want you to leave a comment.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: I want to hear what you think.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you disagree, if you think I'm completely off base, let me know.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: And also I want you to talk to me about basically feel free to ask me any and everything you want.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'll try to answer the questions on air because I want to really include as many of you, as much of you in this as possible.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because it can't just be me talking into the void, right?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe if we find one day a way to go live every now and again, maybe we'll do that as well.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, let's dive in.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so look, it's no surprise.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: It is basically election season, election year, election lifetime, it feels like.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: And politicians decide who they wanna, they want people to be afraid of, essentially.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's what they're they usually talk about.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: And this year, yet again, they've chosen queer and trans people, and particularly people who are not progressive, the more conservative end of the political spectrum has chosen to focus in on queer and trans people and othering us.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: And those are the topics that are being discussed pretty much everywhere on Fox News, on all the channels, on all the podcasts, school ads, whatever, billboards, all those different things.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: On school boards, courts, churches, legislators, news panels, social media.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, every single day.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: I went yesterday down to a rally to rally in favor of gender-affirming care.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: And there was like this right-wing woman, I won't even say her name, who was there streaming.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a shame because she was interviewing like parents and their kids, and I'm sure it's going to use that in a really harmful way.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: So the point is, we are the topic of conversation any and every single time.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: We are on everybody's lips, darling.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it is quite, it's it would be quite comical if it weren't also very harmful.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: And these conversations, all the they usually happen without a queer or trans person in the room.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so tonight's episode, today's episode, this morning's episode, whenever you're watching this, I want to ask a question like, why is this happening now?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Again, did it ever stop?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: And who benefits from making LGBTQ people into a political point and a political threat?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I also want to give listeners the sort of big picture political landscape from my perspective and my take on this, because I've been watching how people talk about us and how we are used or invoked or included or not included in the political conversation.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think first and foremost, I think when it comes to slogans, when it comes to politics, using slogans is an age-old tradition.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that goes for what's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so the whole notion of divide and conquer is very cliche, but it is, I feel like, the most primary tactic that they use.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: LGBTQ people used as wedge issues.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: And we see, for instance, I'll use recent campaign person who's still running for Senate in Texas, James Tallerico.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: In James Talarico's campaign in Texas, of course, there are conservatives that are and Republicans that are opposed to him winning.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: So they're they have a strategy, they are on the attack.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: They don't want him to win.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: So they're running ads and camp and commercials and things like that so that he doesn't win.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: And you would think that the attack would be on literally his policies, like actually arguing his policies and arguing on in good faith his policies.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Not saying he wants to pass a law that kills everyone, because obviously that's not true.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: But passing a law that provides this or removes this or blocks that, though, those are the merits that you should speak to a politician on that I believe you should speak, we should speak to politicians on their policies about.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the merits on which we should speak.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: And sort of those are the terms in by which we should speak.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's perfectly normal and expected and encouraged and appropriate to talk about the impacts of those policies, but we can't just talk about the alleged impacts without talking about, without drawing a connection or correlation to the policies.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's my tactic.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: But my point is that's definitely not the tactic of the people that are anti-Tallerico.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so instead of arguing or criticizing him on his policies, they're criticizing him on being trans, which he's not.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: He's not out as trans, he's not trans.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even think he's in the in as trans.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: But they're basically running ads non-stop with him dressed in drag or as a girl.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's an AI ad, it's not really him.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: And saying that he basically doing the 2.0 of what they did with the Kamala ad is Kamala is for they them, not for you.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: And which, by the way, was not true.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: She was not for they, them.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: Sadly, at least not publicly.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it certainly wasn't a part of her campaign.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: But my point is that they're using transness to get people riled up to be like, oh yeah, I don't like it when people dress like a woman.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'll vote for the other guy because he doesn't dress like a woman.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's really where their people's heads are, where they're trying to get people's heads are.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think even conservatives are not falling for it this time.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: I hope not.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: Or we're in trouble and nothing matters if they can be tricked so easily.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: If someone can say, I'm running for office and I'm running so that to pass a law so that everyone has healthcare, and your complaint is that you don't like him because you saw an AI ad of him dressing as a woman, which wasn't even real, and you can be fooled by that, then what are we doing?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: What the hell?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: What the fuck are we doing?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, that's one way that they're using us as a wedge.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: And that's constantly, if we look throughout history, that's what has been used throughout history to get people really riled up and to distract and just the whole look over there tactic.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so it is really important, and I hope that the people who did, like, for instance, vote for this president not once, not twice, but three times.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: I hope that this time around, which would be weirdly a fourth time that they'd have the ability to vote for his policies, and hopefully in 2028, they don't have the ability to vote for him.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: This this is the moment for people to start waking up, if not before.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I've certainly seen a few videos of people waking up, but I hope that people don't revert back to what's comfortable, just hating trans people.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and so anybody uses a wedge issue, dehumanizes that group because you have to caricaturize them and you have to turn them into this boogie boogie monster, boogeyman.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, they're coming to take, they're coming to do all the worst things you've never thought ever and never heard of anybody doing.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: And people obviously buy if they buy into that, then they no longer have space in their heart or mind for that person to be a human being.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then suddenly that person doesn't have needs, that other group doesn't have needs.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: They're all one.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: They're like all the whole group is represented by one person.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: And that collective person is not a human being, doesn't deserve rights, doesn't have any of the same needs or wants or desires that you and I have.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then they're easy to pass laws against.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then if some politicians like, yeah, I'm gonna make a law that says that it's illegal for that person to steal all the medicine from every other country or something stupid like that.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't even know what that means, but that's as sensical as a lot of these policies are.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of people would vote for that, be like, yeah, I feel like that's right, even though that's not even what that person's trying to do, that's not what that group is trying to do.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's no one's talking about that.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: And that was a weird example, but that's pretty they're out there.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: The out there-ness of the of the anti-trans movement is pretty wild and relying on the same old tactics they've been relying on for the past several years now.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: And the good news is we can see it and we can hopefully get some allies on board.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I hope so.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it really is all about dehumanizing a group in order to turn them into that character.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the things, one of the ways that you dehumanize and achieve that goal is using language, words and images.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that's a huge way how people communicate.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: We talk and we provide, we show people things, but using simple words and images, not a whole explanation that's 10 minutes long of who the demon is.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: You just say, She's a rapist, that's a pedophile, that's a groomer, that's a devil, that's a you're a blah, blah, blah.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying that people aren't those things, but boiling people down to just that idea, as in a person that does those things, I have no problem saying, I don't want, I I might not call this president a racist.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: I usually don't, unless it's like off the cuff for joking or flippant, or like for a separate purpose.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't call anybody, I try my best to not call anybody a anything.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: They meet, they to me, I want to humanize everybody because I want to be humanized myself.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: So even the president is a human being, is a man, maybe not very manly, but a man who does racist things, who has racist tendencies.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I try to focus on what people do and what they have and what they say.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: And that this way we don't have to try to categorize anybody.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: And this way it's harder to argue with.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you might be able to argue with me about why this person is or isn't a racist, and you might be able to provide examples of why or why not, and so might I, and then suddenly we're stuck in a stalemate.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: But if I say that person said this and it is a racist thing, then suddenly there's we have to deal with that.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: And if I can give up 150 lists, 150 examples of why that person did that, then maybe that'll be a bigger, a bigger reason to see why that person's might be racist, might be homophobic, might be whatever.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: But instead of just boiling people down to a thing, I try to avoid that.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: That is not the tactic of the people on the right, the people who are conservative, the people who are anti-trans.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: They are calling queer people trans people words, simple words that are not accurate and not articulate at all, and not true collectively, right?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: But beyond that, they also use images.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how, when we when we go back throughout history, that's how people are dehumanized so much.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think about my black ancestors in this country and the images, you know, there wasn't integration.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: So white people who were in this country who were able to form and be conditioned to developing negative thoughts about black people, that was obviously done to make it easier for them to support the systems that were in place.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: The system of Jim Crow, which is apartheid, the system of slavery, chattel slavery, and everything in between.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: But those white people were not walking hand in hand side by side with the black people they were targeting or harming or participating in the harm of.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Those white people were angry and demonizing a caricature, a character that would be on a poster of a black man with a piece of watermelon with a grotesque smile, or the posters, which we don't see too much these days, of the black man creeping around trying to do harm to the white women, and he's just a beast and he can't control himself.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a the black beast.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's not even human, he's just a beast.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: And that's those are the images and the words that they would use.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that's all that these people would see.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: So then by the time it's comes around, that's what they're gonna think of in this instance, black folks.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Same thing is happening to trans folks.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: We were seeing political ad, mainstream political ad on A motherfucking B C N motherfucking B D B C, whatever, C B S, whatever, BS for sure.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: We were seeing ads on these mainstream platforms of a little girl, a helpless girl in the bathroom shivering in the stall while a big person walks through muscular with a beard and uh and a bad wig and some bad eyeshadow who opens the door on the little girl.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: Don't you not want trans people to be in the bat women's blah, blah, blah?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the image that people saw, not knowing a trans person personally, so it makes it easier for them to vote against us.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: So that's how they do it.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just so wild that like all this anti-trans rhetoric is becoming really par for the course.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: We were successful for a while of taking having our own autonomy as in part of the queer community to refer to ourselves as we wanted to, and then tell ask people to politely not use things that were considered slurs.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: And we achieved that for a while, but then here we go.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, now we've got Congress people in Congress using, for instance, the T-word.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: I won't say it, it's an anti-trans, it's a transphobic word, especially when it's used in a transphobic way.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: So this is the culture war campaigning that goes on, right?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know, I'm I is it just me, or do y'all think have you all come into a new sort of like political awareness, enlightenment, frame of mind, thought process?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because 10, 20 years ago, I think I might have fallen for that type of stuff too.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, not the anti-trans stuff, but just this sort of not the demonizing of a whole group of people necessarily outwardly, but I I fell for the the puppy dogs and rainbows version of politics that was like, we're gonna make it better.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: Vote for me.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: I can do it.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Bitch, I need health care.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, how about that?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Can we talk about that?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care what you do if you you know what I mean?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, do y'all are y'all more specific with what you want these days?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: I just inquiring minds want to know.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because I definitely know that I am.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Honey, very much, thank you very much.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think one thing that is really necessary.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: I went down to New York Presbyterian church or school hospital the other day, yesterday, for that rally, for the trans rally about gender-friendly care, and went down to it and had a chance to speak.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the things I spoke on was a few things that I've been involved in a lot l lately and been really interested in, and taking up a page out of a cue from trans advocates in England.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I spoke about this here on the podcast before, but that's the coalition of the labor movement with the trans movement.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it'll be really important and mutually beneficial, obviously, for both.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: Because the labor movement is weaker today than it was 40 years ago, thanks to the chipping away of protections and strength, like industrial political power that unions had, collective power, that was demonized basically all through the 80s and the 90s.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: If you heard of the word union, politicians, certain politicians really succeeded in making it that everybody would go when you would hear about the union.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's not to say there aren't problems with cer with any unions and or anything that has a gov that is a governing body that is hopefully dem democratically elected and representative and deals with money.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: You're there's gonna be corruption and all of those things, and it should be dealt with 100%.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: But to say that all unions are just corrupt really undercuts the purpose of them in the first place is that they're there as the collective voice of the people in the union, the workers, the laborers, whatever.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's been weakened over the years by the same people that are have a vested interest in weakening protections for trans people and civil rights for all for lots of people.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so I believe building a coalition between the labor movement and the trans movement is absolutely imperative, I guess I would say.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: So it's pretty obvious.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think that this focus on LGBTQ people, it is not an accident.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: It is absolutely a political strategy, and it's also deeply embedded in the culture war strategy, the political culture war strategy, which is to if you're conservative, you complain about a certain group of people and overblow everything related to that group of people, overblow representing them as a problem or representing them as a threat, so that people will focus on eliminating the threat rather than focus on eliminating what's actually making things harder in their lives.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: From the left, the culture war is used as a way, as a reason, a more urgent reason to not actually focus on the material conditions of someone's life.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it's almost like saying, if you're getting evicted from your house today, but somebody you so you but the landlord or somebody outside called you an anti-queer slur as a liberal politician, my job is to get you to focus and show you that I'm demonstrating helping reprimand that person that called you the anti-trans or anti-queer slur outside of your apartment.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Not to help you with your eviction, because I make money off that eviction too.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, oh my god, forget the eviction.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: No, somebody, I'll march with you.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: I can't believe that person called you an anti-LGBT slur.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's like the job of the mainstream public politicians that are not right wing.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: The mainstream politicians that are not right wing are very deeply in in partnership with the same forces that are placing ads to promote the right wing extremists that are running in office.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: The people that fund both they fund one group, they fund anybody that will help them.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: And you need one person to be on the attack, and you need one person to defend or at least distract.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: And that is they both play that sort of distraction game in politics.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's something that we really all should pay attention to and really get just become very skilled at recognizing as we go into the the next go into the midterms, quite literally.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so this moral panic that happens, that they turn on marginalized people, they turn us into political scapegoats, and they it relies on repetition.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: That those words and sounds, those really simple images that even a five-year-old could understand, they just it's about playing those over and over again.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: So when this president was, this president really did contribute to the mistrust and distrust that people have of the media over the past 10 years.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: Tuning into CNN and MSNBC felt like real for some people, for many of us.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure, but there for plenty of people did not have a trust for any media, including mainstream liberal media.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: But my point is they were still respected in the industry and generally trusted to give certain facts.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: And now that seems to have gone out the window.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: And for for certain reasons, some of them I think might be good reasons, but either way, this president contributed to that by saying that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Media, they're fake news, they're not real.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: They're and he said that at every single chance he got.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: And now people just believe that, just believe it, because he repeated it over and over again in order to get manufacture consent for what's happening with immigration right now, where ICE agents are being funded by our tax dollars to walk around wearing electric gloves that electrocute whoever they touch.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I actually saw a video of people being tested, and it was it's worse.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: You've seen people getting tested with mace or pepper spray or whatever.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: This tend this puts you down un involuntarily.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like that's just very inhumane.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: And but it's okay because they're all criminals.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's the mindset that this government wants you to be in, right?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: And it's this when you see trans people being beaten or taken away or disappeared or whatever, what have you, it's okay because they're they're freaks, they're groomers, they're gonna harm our kids, they're trying to be predators in women's sports and harm the women.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: So it's okay.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Do what you need to do to them.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have any sympathy.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's the vibe that they're obviously setting up.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: So they use this misinformation and they repeat it over and over again.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so then queer visibility, drag, pronouns, issues, school, anything in school, classrooms, school sports, all those things.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: People, queer people in those spaces are now viewed or looked upon as a threat.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: When we were 10 years ago, we were lauding the inclusion of those things.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's where we went wrong.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: We were focused, us lauding, us putting all of our investment into lauding those accomplishments because they were accomplishments that did deserve to be acknowledged and lauded 100%.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: But we spent so much time that I think certain people were like, that's it.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: And all the while, that was basically the real life version of us outside with that person who's calling us an anti-LGBT slur, instead of you know what?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: We all need housing, we all need healthcare.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's everybody has it.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'm the president, everybody has it.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone, even the racists.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: Free healthcare and free housing.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_02: Go.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: Who's gonna complain?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody's gonna be happy.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody's gonna be, oh honey, the day that happens, I'll be in the street.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: So this whole campaign of protecting the children is obviously a ruse.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's used so frequently as a political message to justify censorship and control, and framing anything queer as overtly sexual and X-rated, which was then NC17 rated, and then just, I don't even think, do we even use the rating system anymore?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: Just immoral and depre depraved, that is what they are attempting to successfully do and have been attempting for a long time.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: So when you say, oh, drag shows, they're not appropriate for kill children.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, a a trans person, that's not appropriate for kids.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it's all about protecting the kids, right?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: When we know they're not really demonstrating any good any ways that they're effectively, actively protecting the kids, other than to demonstrate that they've removed trans people from the equation.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: And people believe that is a major step towards protecting the kids.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: But we all know it's not true.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so the goal is not only to pass laws, it's also to change public perception.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really important for the operation of a caste system, a hierarchy.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: You have to have all the people participate in it.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: What good is, for instance, the police coming around with their nightsticks and their whatever, if no one cares and they're not going to do what the cops say anyway, then they have a thing.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why moral panic works in the same way.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: Not moral panic, but sort of social panic happens when we see ice coming around.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: It was scary enough as a black person realizing that, oh my gosh, the police are coming around.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: I just had an aversion to it because I was like, I they I might they might stop to ask me a question and then suddenly I'm gonna get killed.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: But now with ice, you probably are gonna get killed.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: And they're videotaping all of their interactions so that we look at that and we we just subconsciously say, if I don't want to get killed, I better just do what they all say, even if it means I'll never see my family again.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: What the fuck?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: But they use those same tactics to call trans people all these inhumane things, and then remove access to our health care, our housing, our ability to our right, to play on sports teams and different things like that.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: And they do these things and repeat them over and over again.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: So these extreme policies, they just seem normal.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: You wake up, I feel like uh 3,000 things I've seen today, and I'm exhausted.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: And they're just getting us used to it.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: We're getting used, I humans are animals that adapt by nature.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to serve here to constantly remind people to stay in the fight, to stay woke and awake, and realize that everything isn't what it seems, include especially the politicians that are trying to change our lives for the worse.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: So okay, so now this is a segment that I it's brand new, yes uh, called I've got something to say.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: And it's will almost always be related to whatever it is that we were talking about for the day, the topic of the day.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I got something to say.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: And today's ramp, I'm making a change.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm changing my life for the better.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: I made lots of changes before.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: But today, I need to officially move into another chapter.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the name of the chapter is more specific, literally more specific.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: So just being liberal or being LGBT as a noun isn't necessarily as specific as I'd like it to be.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because it comes with the assumption of being progressive.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember, and I'm not saying that it's not applicable, but I can't use someone's sexuality or even their gender identity alone as a signifier that they're gonna be, that we are gonna be, that they got my back.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: Case in point, I want to fight for the rights of all trans people, every single one of them living.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't necessarily trust every s any every single trans person to fight for what will help both of us or and or me, like the other way around.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: I know that I'm gonna, when I march, it's gonna benefit every single trans person out there.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: But I can guarantee you, if Caitlin Jenner were the person in charge of the trans organization of America, we might have some problems.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so being trans alone is not a good reason for to for me to give people their flowers before their flowers are due.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I need to see you out there in the streets marching, I need to see you posting about it, I need to see you calling in your friends and family who are on the other end of whatever the argument is, and I need to see you doing the work.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: Now it's not about me.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: You don't need to do the work to prove anything to me, but I'm just saying that's an example.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm ready to be held to the same standard too.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: But it's really important that we're more specific.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm a trans person who is anti-war, who is anti-genocide, who believes in Medicare for all, who believes in high when I say fairly paid wages, high wages for everybody.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: Livable, more than a livable wage.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: Not living should not just be the standard.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: It would be great if we lived in an era, which I think happened in New York City in the 70s, where people, where the economy was a certain way, and it was get it was on the upswing, but it was there was a lot of rough things still happening, apparently.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't alive in all of the 70s.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: I guess I'll say that.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: That was the most honest way I could put it.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: But the apparently in New York in the 70s, yes, there was high crime, yes, there was lots of drugs and lots of things happening, but there was also a much stronger social safety support system and social safety nets that and services that were there for people so that they could have housing and have health care and have the things that they needed, or a better job, or whatever it is, that get paid, you know, maybe perhaps welfare.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that allowed them to create.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: And there were a lot of artists who were able to live in New York City and have state-supported housing or whatever, get money from a program housing, and still allow them to create their art and write plays and shows and write music and do what create the art that they're gonna create and not have to worry.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: And wow, what a decade or two or three a day a day makes.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to be more specific with how I describe not only myself, but then also the filter through which I examine who is likely to be most politically aligned with me and who I might be able to be in coalition with and community with.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so those that's that's the short end of it.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: But I think of all these other people that would have gotten that free pass from me 10 years ago, Kirsten Cinema, Caitlin Jenner.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: There's some other online people I don't want to be specifically calling out, but like queer and gay people fr from 10 years ago that yes, they were with us at the Pride March, but then afterwards they voted to get everybody's family kicked out of the country.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: How'd that happen?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so there are certain issues and topics or positions that I think one needs to have in order to be progressive.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: And part of that is specific policies, some of the ones that I mentioned before, but then really like applying the same standard of human rights to for everyone, applying that to everyone is really key and important.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: So you may see me complaining about your favorite politician, and I will sit back and I don't need any accolades because I will be very satisfied to know that yes, me being suspicious of a Gavin Newsom, not two, not three, not four, not six, but twelve times in the past 12 months was warranted.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: Peace.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: And we are back with this week's action items.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, honey, I when I said that I wanted you involved in the show, this is exactly what I meant, darling.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: So don't get twisted, don't get wild.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: Your action items, it's simple.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's two parts this week.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: Make a queer, very clear and queer trans-election plan.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: Look up on look up your full ballot, especially the local, city, state races.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: Find out where candidates stand on LGBTQ rights, specifically trans rights as related to health care.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_02: Look for allocating or moving funds, diverting funds that are protective of the trans community in the wake of the looming cuts that are happening across the country at medical facilities on the granular smaller scale and to things like Medicaid, gender-affirming care on Medicaid on the larger scale.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: We want to keep our eyes peeled for that.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_02: So make your plan for listen, you I am so happy to wear the t-shirt that says, I voted for everything that I cared about and everything that was important for me.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_02: And oh look, they were all blue.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm happy with that.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: But if your whole plan is, I don't know what anybody stands for, just as long as they're a Democrat, that's fine with me.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: We're not doing that anymore, baby.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: Boo-boo.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna then you're gonna you're gonna vote for John Fetterman.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: No, ma'am.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: No, ma'am.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's not happening.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: So be educated and make see where they stand on LGBTQ rights, racial justice, censorship, meaning First Amendment rights, health care, all of those things are inextricably linked.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: They are intertwined, all those battles, like I said, labor and trans intertwined.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: And if you are happening to be white and you're watching this, get ready because I got some stuff for y'all, but that's not on the board this week.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: It will be on the board coming soon.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh text three people in your life and help them make a plan too.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Those are simple things because the the midterms are next week, essentially, and we need to be fully in on it.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be sharing on socials and maybe in the in the next episode or two what how I'm planning on voting or sharing at least my voting plan and how I'm formulating the voting plan.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: But I beg of you to have one.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: And voting will not save us, but not voting will could add to the harm.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: Not voting will not protect us.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: I guess that's the best way to put it.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: Voting won't voting alone won't save us, and but not voting will not protect us.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_02: We need more for both.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: We need to do more than just voting to be protected, and we need to do more than just voting to be saved and to save ourselves.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's how I feel about that.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, when you do that, those are your two action items.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: Tag me and let me know, and maybe I'll actually send me, send a video.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: Send a link to the video at this email address and video yourself and tell explain what you did.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: What are you had what was your voting plan?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: Who did you text?
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, to give their numbers, but let us know.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: I want to know, inquiring lives want to know, and maybe we'll put you on the broadcast.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: Ow.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's that.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: In closing, remember do not let the only people organizing around queer and trans lives be the people trying to take away our rights.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: And don't let it just be queer and trans people.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: It has to be a larger group.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: Please get informed, get organized, get involved, because the opposition is counting on us to just be tired out.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: And believe me, they have worn my ass out.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: But nothing tires me out as much as fighting for your rights and my rights energizes me.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so if we all have that same mindset, we'll be good to go.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because they are counting on us to feel isolated and be draggled and bewildered and all those different things.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: And they are counting on us to believe that our the fight is just too big and that our actions are too small.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: So every single moment that has changed this country and been worthy of real accolades in the history books was built by people who did the necessary next thing.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: And they did it in a very bold way that said, I don't know if I'm gonna die or trying to do this, or if this is gonna work, but we're gonna do it.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the mindset we have to have, y'all.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: That's just the mindset that we have to have.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, thank you all so much for coming back for season two and tuning in.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be here every single week.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: Please share this with all your friends and remember to comment, subscribe, click that bell, and all that.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: And remember that Queer 101 is available wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll see y'all next week.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for joining us today.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is part of Pride House Media, hosted by us, Peppermint and Cube, produced and edited by Josh Rosenzweig with original music composed by Mel Balavan.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: If you enjoyed this episode, then don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: And while you're there, leave us a rating and a review.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: It really helps others discover the show.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: You can stay connected and join the conversation by following us at Peppermint 247 or write to us at questions at queer101podcast.com.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_02: And remember, our history is your history.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_02: Stay proud, stay curious, and we'll see you next time on Queer One One.