The House of Representatives passes a bill to protect LGBTQ folks from people trying to enter the country who have committed human rights abuses against LGBTQ people abroad. Ariana DeBose becomes the first out queer Afro-Latina to be nominated for an Oscar for her role as Anita in the West Side Story remake. Jeopardy! star Amy Schneider is officially a public figure now as she just quit her 9-5. Anna self-proclaims to be a podcast audio drama evangelist and drops a new recommendation for you & we salute Affinity Community Services during our Black History Month Spotlight.

00:00 – Welcome & Intro

00:51 – Rate & Review Queer News Ad

01:18 – Intro Music

01:59 – The House of Representatives passes a bill to protect LGBTQ folks from people trying to enter the country who have committed human rights abuses against LGBTQ people abroad

03:45 – Ariana DeBose becomes the first out queer Afro-Latina to be nominated for an Oscar for her role as Anita in the West Side Story remake

04:46 – Jeopardy! star Amy Schnieder is officially a public figure now as she just quit her 9-5

05:41 – Anna self-proclaims to be a podcast audio drama evangelist and drops a new recommendation for you

06:54 – We salute Affinity Community Services during our Black History Month Spotlight

07:52 – Anna’s Got A Word

Things for you to check out 

House passes bill seeking to further protect LGBTQ rights around the world

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/02/house-passes-bill-seeking-protect-lgbtq-rights-around-world/

Ariana DeBose Makes History as the First Out, Queer Woman of Color to be Nominated for an Oscar

https://www.gayemagazine.com/post/ariana-debose-makes-history-as-the-first-out-queer-woman-of-color-to-be-nominated-for-an-oscar

Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider gives exciting update on plans for future: ‘It’s nerve-wracking’

Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider gives exciting update on plans for future: ‘It’s nerve-wracking’

True Love on Wondery

https://wondery.com/shows/true-love/

Affinity Community Services

https://affinity95.org

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More on this episode

Family, this is your favorite queer radio personality Anna DeShawn here with our queer news from today. 

The House of Representatives passes a bill to protect LGBTQ folks from people trying to enter the country who have committed human rights abuses against LGBTQ people abroad. Ariana DeBose becomes the first out queer Afro-Latina to be nominated for an Oscar for her role as Anita in the West Side Story remake. Jeopardy! star Amy Schnieder is officially a public figure now as she just quit her 9-5. I self-proclaim to be a podcast audio drama evangelist and drop a new recommendation for you & we salute Affinity Community Services during our Black History Month Spotlight. 

Our leading story is coming out of Washington D.C. where the House of Representatives passed a bill that helps to protect LGBTQ rights. It’s bipartisan which is really rare especially on LGBTQ issues. The bill was introduced by out gay representative & co-chair of the LGBTQ Equality caucus, David Cicilline out of Rhode Island and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick a Republican from Pennsylvania. This bill is called the Global Respect Act and it prohibits people who have committed human rights abuses against LGBTQ people abroad from obtaining a visa to enter the United States. This is crazy important as we have enough hate going on around here without any additional help, okay. Rep. Cicilline had this to say, there has been a  “dangerous trend of increasing violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people and their families … in too many places, violence against LGBTQI+ communities is pervasive, and even sanctioned or directed by government officials… Today’s vote in the House, he continued, sent a strong message around the world that every member of the LGBTQI+ community deserves to live with dignity and free from violence, unlawful detention, torture, and other forms of brutality”. Yes, say that again. Well y’all know how this works it will head off to the Senate and then hopefully to the President’s desk for signature. You know when I read some bills that I think are so common sense but yet they aren’t law is mind blowing. For real. 

Next up I want to send a big congratulations to Ariana DeBose who made history as the first out Afro-Latina to be nominated for an oscar. She played Anita in the West Side Story remake which I heard was phenomenal. I don’t know why I haven’t seen it as I love the original. I’m going to have to change that asap. Well, another cool thing about this story is that now Ariana and Rita Moreno, who won the Oscar in 1961 for playing the same role, join an exclusive club of only 2 other pairs to be nominated for playing the same character. Ariana said this, “That’s a really, really exclusive club…I’m honored … I think it [proves] multiple interpretations, all of them are valid. Variety is good! I think we should normalize that. Exciting!” I’m here for a good remake, it just has to be good. We’ve all seen those epic flops and they just don’t hit. 

Now I didn’t realize that I would be reporting on Amy Schneider again so soon after her loss on Jeopardy! but she’s got more good news for us. This time because she has decided to quit her 9-5 as a software engineer and become a full time public figure. After winning nearly 1.4 million dollars on Jeopardy! you should quit your job but seriously she’s landed a Hollywood talent agent CAA which also reps Zendaya & Tom Hanks and she’s is ready for a vacation to Ireland. She deserves it too. 40 games of jeopardy calls for a well deserved vacation. We are sending Amy all the love and she’ll be back in the news for sure when the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions begins later this year. Y’all know she is the first trans person to ever qualify for this amazing feat right. I’m such a fan. 

On Friday’s I’ve been dropping podcast recommendations and I hope you’ve been checking them out. Well I’ve decided to only share audio dramas going forward. That is how much I enjoy them and want more people to listen to them. I am giving myself the title of, audio drama evangelist. Yup, that’s rite. Have you ever listened to an audio drama? Let me tell you once you have you’ll be hooked. Now this is all assuming you enjoy dramas in general. So this week I want to recommend True Love by Wondery. I’m on season 1 and I can’t stop listening. True Love is a weekly fictional series of scandalous love stories that are sexy, funny and filled to the brim with heartache. It’s the marriage of your favorite nighttime soap opera with your favorite juicy beach read. True Love explores the obstacles and challenges of walking the path to happily ever after…or happy for the moment. Co-hosted by Amber Reauchean Williams and Justin Walker White. Ohhh I want you to listen and then tell me all about it okay. Hit my post on TikTok or Instagram okay. It’s so good. 

Ya’ll know its Black History Month and in every episode this month we are going to celebrate living at the intersections of being Black & Queer. With that our Black History spotlight today is on the organization Affinity Community Services. 

Affinity Community Services is a Black led, queer led organization on Chicago’s Southside dedicated to social justice in Black LGBTQ+ communities. For 25+ years, Affinity has centered Black queer women through community organizing, intergenerational programming, education, and healing justice. Affinity has been part of my life for nearly fifteen years and has given me so much. I am a proud former board member & will amplify their work anytime I can. Affinity is an organization you should know and support. I’ve included a link to the organization in the show notes if you’d like to learn more. Affinity we see you & we salute.

Let’s close out with our word for today. Today’s word is a quote from Audre Lorde that says, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare”. I want you to take care of yourselves and I promise I will too. Till Monday family, peace. 

Sources

House passes bill seeking to further protect LGBTQ rights around the world

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/02/house-passes-bill-seeking-protect-lgbtq-rights-around-world/

Ariana DeBose Makes History as the First Out, Queer Woman of Color to be Nominated for an Oscar

https://www.gayemagazine.com/post/ariana-debose-makes-history-as-the-first-out-queer-woman-of-color-to-be-nominated-for-an-oscar

Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider gives exciting update on plans for future: ‘It’s nerve-wracking’

Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider gives exciting update on plans for future: ‘It’s nerve-wracking’

True Love on Wondery

https://wondery.com/shows/true-love/

Affinity Community Services

https://affinity95.org

LGBTQ bill to protect queer folks passes the House, Ariana DeBose becomes first out queer Afro-Latina to be nominated for an Oscar, Jeopardy! star Amy Schneider quits her job, Anna drops an audio drama recommendation & Affinity Community Services is our Black History Month Spotlight – Friday, February 11, 2022