LGBTQ legend Urvashi Vaid makes her earthly transition, domestic terrorism invades Buffalo, New York, Brittney Griner’s detainment extended & pro-choice rallies take place across the country – Monday, May 16, 2022

What is the leading story for today? Is it Urvashi Vaid passing away? Is it Buffalo? Is it Brittney Griner? Is it Roe v. Wade? In this moment as a Black queer woman all of my identities are being activated and attacked. It’s really hard to put into words all of my feelings. My anger, my frustration, my sadness. How the very pieces that make me who I am are hated by so many. Oh but how grateful I am for this platform so I can have a place to speak it and share it with you. We touch on each of these stories today because all of them deserve our time.

00:00 – Welcome & Intro

01:19 – NECANN  Ad, Cannabis convention coming to Chicago June 10th & 11th https://necann.com/illinois/ 

02:03 – Intro Music by Aina Bre’Yon

02:43 – Urvashi Vaid 

04:57 – The tragedy of Buffalo, New York

08:24 – Brittney Griner update

09:58 – Pro-Choic Rallies across the country

10:42 – Anna’s Got A Word

Things for you to check out 

Join the QCrew

Sign the Petition – Secure Brittney Griner’s Swift and Safe Return to the U​.​S.

https://www.change.org/p/secure-brittney-griner-s-swift-and-safe-return-to-the-u-s

We expect The @WhiteHouse to use all options available to immediately and safely bring Brittney home. This will help protect the sanctity of sport and support the confidence of all athletes traveling abroad. [2/2]#WeAreBG

— Lindsay Kagawa Colas (she/her) (@kagawacolas) May 13, 2022

Pro-Choice Rallies

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Listen to More Queer News

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Transcript

Family, this is your favorite queer radio personality Anna DeShawn with our queer news for today. If you enjoy what you hear please consider joining the QCrew. The QCrew is our monthly membership program we just started to help us grow the podcast. I want to bring on a producer, an editor, and travel around the country to tell our stories. If you’re down with it check the link in the show notes for more information. Now for the news.

What is the leading story for today? Is it Urvashi Vaid passing away? Is it Buffalo? Is it Brittney Griner? Is it Roe v. Wade? In this moment as a Black queer woman all of my identities are being activated and attacked. It’s really hard to put into words all of my feelings. My anger, my frustration, my sadness. How the very pieces that make me who I am are hated by so many. Oh but how grateful I am for this platform so I can have a place to speak it and share it with you. We touch on each of these stories today because all of them deserve our time. 

The NECANN Illinois Cannabis Convention is coming to Chicago on June 10th and 11th. 

Chicago hosts an impressive 44 cannabis dispensaries. NECANN is amped to help bring some of the best in the industry together in one place! People of all levels of experience and knowledge are invited to explore the exhibit hall and learn from dozens of expert speakers. 

NECANN Chicago is fast approaching; grab your tickets now at necann.com/illinois. That’s (spelled out) N-E-C-A-N-N.com/illinois

Urvashi Vaid, a legend in the LGBTQ world, battled cancer and made her earthly transition over the weekend at her home in New York City surrounded by family & friends. Kierra Johnson, the current executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force where Urvashi served for a decade in various positions and as ED from 1989-1992 said this, “Urvashi Vaid was a leader, a warrior, and a force to be reckoned with. She was also a beloved colleague, friend, partner, and someone we all looked up to — a brilliant, outspoken, and deeply committed activist who wanted full justice and equality for all people…Her leadership, vision, and writing helped shape not only the Task Force’s values and work but our entire queer movement and the larger progressive movement.” I saw one statement that I had to share because it made me smile. Lorri Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center said, “She made life better for all of us.  Our community and our nation owe her an enormous debt of gratitude…If there’s a heaven, Urv is already organizing the angels.” Urv was a lawyer and advocate who was committed to equity. I’d be here all day trying to rattle off her list of accomplishments but without a doubt her public good trouble started when she called out former President George H.W. Bush’s lack of response to the AIDS crisis. She said, “Talk Is Cheap, AIDS Funding Is Not.” She is also notably a cofounder of the Creating Change conference now in its 33rd year. She was an award-winning author and researcher as well as the aunt of activist Alok. Quite simply she was a force and will be dearly missed by many in our community. May she rest now. Well done. Well done. 

Family, I did my grad school work at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. While I was there I learned a lot about New York State and just how beautiful and vast it is. I grew an appreciation for the fact that New York City is a small part of what makes New York State special. The people of upstate New York were open minded, kind & lgbtq friendly. It was also very clear to me that race wasn’t something folks really addressed. Let’s be clear, it is very white and I was often the only or one of a couple folks of color in a class or around. This wasn’t something new to me either as I went to a PWI, a predominately white institution, for undergrad as well. I knew how to survive in those environments okay so I was good but when I heard about what happened in Buffalo, New York which is a couple hours outside of Ithaca my heart just broke and sadness just rushed over my body for the families who lost a loved one, for the families who may not have lost their lives but will never be the same because they survived it, for the people in that community who are forever traumatized. 

The facts. Ten people are dead and 3 people were physically injured. Eleven of them were Black and two were white. Four were shot in the parking lot and 9 inside the store. Payton Gendron is an 18 year old the white supremist and anti-semite who drove 200 miles to a place he knew had a high concentration of Black folks and committed this act of domestic terroism. In preparation, he spent a lot of time studying other mass shootings of hate and stocking up on ammunition. He wore tactical gear and live streamed his actions to Twitch. Twitch was able to take down his stream within two minutes of it going live. Some of the footage has leaked and it’s disturbing. One clip shows him pointing his gun at a white person, that man screaming, Payton choosing not to shoot and saying I’m sorry while he continued his rampage. He wrote a 180 page manifesto in which he describes everything he did and believes in great detail. In particular white replacement theory that so many white supremist hold true. He was immediately arraigned yesterday afternoon and is being charged with first degree murder.  

Other things to note. We should expect more charges on the way in the coming days; hate crime, terriorism, etc. Also the stories about the people who lost their lives are beginning to be told. My anger is so deep because these white supremisist have found a voice again via 45’s administration and the Republican party. When will they denounce what happened? When will they stop their hate filled rhetoric because hate speech is not free speech and there is nothing free about it. It absolutely comes at a cost and we speak their names today. Aaron Salter (55), Ruth Whitfield (86), Pearl Young (77), Celestine Chaney (65), Roberta A. Drury (32), Heyward Patterson (67), Margus D. Morrison (52), Andre Mackneil (53), Geraldine Talley (62), Katherine Massey (72). 

Now you know we will not forget Brittney Griner in the midst of all of this happening in the world. She has been wrongfully detained for 88 days. Her hearing was scheduled to take place on May 19th but in fact they had a brief hearing on Friday in which they extended her pre-trial detention for another month. There is a picture of her handcuffed, in an orange hoodie, with her head and locs hanging low. Brittneys agent tweeted, “We expect the White House to use all options available to immediately and safely bring Brittney home.” As reported by Yahoo sports it seems that Russia has made it known via Russian owned news outlets who they are willing to exchange for Brittney. It is the man known as the “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout. This is not the first time his name has emerged during these types of negotiations and the U.S. has yet to approve such an exchange. Viktor’s exploits are so notorious a movie called “Lord of War” had a character inspired by him and played by Nicolas Cage. It doesn’t seem like a fair trade in comparison to what Brittney is being charged with. Tamrym Spruill and the WNBPA (Women’s National Basketball Players Association) has started a change.org petition demanding lawmakers prioritize Brittney’s return and to do whatever necessary to make it happen. I’ve included a link to the petition and I will continue following the story and keep you all updated on what happens next. 

Also, over the weekend pro-choice protests happened across the country. The leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion on this has sparked outrage and in my opinion rightfully so. Thousands gathered to raise their voices that women should have the right to choose. Bans off our Body is what it was coined in Washington, DC. Women should have the right to choose. Period. And this reversal which seems inevitable at this point is not going to stop a thing. It is only going to cause great harm. 

And so when I was thinking about how to close out this very heavy podcast. Especially as today is LGBTQ Elders Day I wanted to lean into one of our elders James Baldwin. He said this during an interview in 1961 and it’s so incredibly fitting today. He said, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost, almost all of the time — and in one’s work. And part of the rage is this: It isn’t only what is happening to you. But it’s what’s happening all around you and all of the time in the face of the most extraordinary and criminal indifference, indifference of most white people in this country, and their ignorance. Now, since this is so, it’s a great temptation to simplify the issues under the illusion that if you simplify them enough, people will recognize them. I think this illusion is very dangerous because, in fact, it isn’t the way it works. A complex thing can’t be made simple. You simply have to try to deal with it in all its complexity and hope to get that complexity across.” I will not dim down the complexity. I will not hide my rage. I will channel it into my work so we can be the change we want to see. Till tomorrow family, peace.

Sources

Urvashi Vaid, Legendary Activist for LGBTQ+ Civil Rights, Dies at 63

https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/5/14/legendary-activist-urvashi-vaid-dies-63

Gunman Kills 10 at Buffalo Supermarket in Racist Attack

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/14/nyregion/buffalo-shooting

What we know about Buffalo supermarket shooting suspect Payton Gendron

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/15/us/payton-gendron-buffalo-shooting-suspect-what-we-know/index.html

Buffalo supermarket mass shooting: What we know about the victims

https://www.wivb.com/news/buffalo-supermarket-mass-shooting-tops/victims-names-what-we-know-buffalo-supermarket-mass-shooting-what-we-know/

What we know about the Buffalo shooting suspect

Detention of WNBA’s Griner in Moscow extended by 1 month

https://apnews.com/article/brittney-griner-moscow-hearing-live-updates-0ff42a2ceab60724f86f6c7e7f81313a

Reports: Russia wants ‘Merchant of Death’ in exchange for Brittney Griner

https://sports.yahoo.com/russias-asking-price-for-brittney-griner-may-be-notorious-arms-trafficker-004449470.html

Thousands gather for pro-abortion rights protests across U.S.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abortion-rights-protests-supreme-court-leaked-draft-opinion-roe-v-wade/