The state department set up a call so BG could speak with her wife for their special day. Brittney tried calling 11 times. No one was in the office to connect the calls. Charelle has ‘zero faith’ in the government to bring BG home. & Anna has an invite with your name on it to the many pride events happening here at E3 Radio.

00:00 Welcome & Intro

00:48 Today’s Top Stories

01:57  Happy Pride

02:16 BLKYN Boihood AD

02:48 LGBTQ Women’s Survey

04:23 Intro Music by Aina Bre’Yon

05:03 Bring BG Home movement & key update

08:02 Its Pride

08:31 Baltimore Pride flag fire 

09:37 Upcoming content at E3 Radio! 

11:40 Queen Latifah & Tupac 

12:57 Anna’s got a word

Things for you to check out 

Join the QCrew

Get your tickets to BKLYN BOIHOOD’s Pride Party @The Bell House with code: BKBOIS2022

https://bit.ly/3tPBard

Take the National LGBTQ+ Women*s Survey today

​​https://www.lgbtqwomensurvey.org/

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

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Listen to More Queer News

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Transcript

Family. It’s your favorite queer radio personality Anna Deshawn with our queer news for today.

Now, before we hop in, I want to make you a promise. We will continue to bring you the latest in queer news, culture and politics: 7 minutes a day, 5 days a week. So, if you are digging our intersectional take on the daily, consider joining the QCrew.

The QCrew is our monthly membership program we started to help us grow the podcast. With your help we can bring you more stories celebrating our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & comrade communities. You’ve shown us your support by tuning into this episode. You can show your curiosity by clicking the link in the show notes to learn more about the QCrew.

Now for the news.

We have key updates on the movement to bring BG home. First up, Brittney Griner’s wife said she has “zero trust” in the government to secure her wife’s release. This comes after U.S. officials failed to coordinate a call for the couple’s fourth year anniversary on Saturday. Brittney called 11 times hoping to be patched through, but she later learned was calling an unstaffed office. A hate crime investigation has been opened after three people were sent to the hospital from a fire started when two Pride flags were set on fire in Baltimore. & Queen Latifah spills the tea on that time she invited the late Tupac Shakur to a San Francisco gay club early in their careers. And we close out with a word from a friend and former law school classmate of Cherelle Griner at the rally for Brittney Griner in Harlem. Stay close family, you don’t want to miss this one.

From the media coverage we’ve seen, Brittney Griner has gone from being “wrongfully detained” to essentially being a political prisoner. That’s if her story actually gets covered at all.

The terms that are at the center of this coverage, as well as what happened to Brittney, can get confusing at times. I want to break it all down today.

It has been 124 days since Brittney Griner was first arrested in Russia. Brittney is a WNBA superstar who was first detained upon her arrival in Moscow on February 17, 2022. We learned last week that her pretrial detention is now extended another 18 days. On the couples anniversary this past Saturday Brittney’s wife Cherelle Griner was not even able to talk to her over the phone or learn anything new about how she is being held or how she’s doing. Anyone who knows BG knows how beloved she is not only in Women’s Basketball but by the many who know her and have felt her impact.

We’ve been reporting on BG since the beginning and I’ve included a link to the other stories in the show notes so you can get all caught. What you need to know in this moment is that Cherelle needs to get in front of President Biden in order to urge him to bring Brittney home. You can also sign the petition.

The petition to get her released reads: “Pay inequity has led to Brittney Griner’s wrongful detention in Russia…Brittney’s detention must be resolved out of respect for the safety of all athletes traveling to compete internationally and the sanctity of sport.”

Brittney, like me, and many who tune-in to this show, is a Black Woman so as we think about freedom for Black folks in America this Juneteenth, we cannot forget that that term is loosely defined, especially for Black women and femmes. Black women have not seen their compensation keep up with the innovation and value they bring to the American economy. That’s not freedom. Black people still remain behind bars for what’s often non-violent drug charges. That’s not what freedom looks like. We are too often criminalized for nothing more than our Blackness. It’s not right, nor is it fair. But, each day I’m reminded of the strength, wisdom, and creativity of our community in the midst of the forces we’re against.

Let’s rally behind bringing BG home. I’m leaving a link to the petition calling for Brittney Griner’s safe return to the U.S. in the show notes. There are 35,000 more signatures needed to reach the goal of 300,000 signatures. We got this family.

I founded E3 radio back in 2009 because Black, Brown, & Queer folks deserved a platform that centered their music and stories. In a little over 12 years, I have built profound relationships, uplifted the voices of local artists and musicians, & had life-changing conversations with folx doing the work.

That’s why today I am plugging my free upcoming panel discussions. To all my current and future podcasters, I got one for you: Unapologetic: Being Black & Queer in Podcasting has a special lineup of Black & Queer creatives as we talk changing the face of Podcasting and what it means to lock into content thats unapologetically you. I will be chatting it up with Jay Ray, Selly Thiam, Goddess Koco, Bryanna A. Jenkins. Tune in today, June 23rd at 5 pm Central / 6 pm Eastern on youtube for FREE! Yes, thats right FREE!

If politics is more your speed, E3 is sponsoring Politics At The Kitchen Table featuring Sen. Mike Simmons on Friday, June 24 at 11 AM Central & Sergio Mojica on Saturday June 25, at 2 PM Central streaming on E3 radio’s YouTube channel. I have more content planned for you family, but you don’t want to miss this beautiful lineup. Strike while irons hot.

Investigators are looking into a possible hate crime after someone set fire to two Pride flags in Baltimore last week. The fire was set in the morning when the residents were sleeping in their homes. The incident left three people hospitalized & two people in critical condition. At first, investigators believed that the fire was started after one Pride flag was set on fire. They now think that the fire was started when two Pride flags were targeted in separate incidents that same morning. Police Commissioner Michael Harrison told reporters that the case is still under investigation. However, the commissioner is not ruling the fire out as arson nor a potential hate crime. This is heartbreaking, family. Details are still surfacing, but to think that someone can use a symbol of Pride to harm queer folx & allies this way is frightening. Check back for more updates on this story, and as always stay safe out here.

I want to end with a fun one. Family, have y’all seen that YouTube show where host Sean Evans interviews celebrities while they talk juicy stories and eat hot wings? Well Queen Latifa recently made her appearance and she had a lot to dish out. Latifah recalled a particular New Year’s Eve gig at a “cool gay club” in San Francisco. She says she called Tupac to invite him out to the show, saying, “I was like, ‘Yo I’m here’, and he’s like ‘Yo I’mma hook up with you,’” she said. “So, Tupac came to the club with me. I was like, ‘Yo, Tupac is in the building!’” Imagine that, the Tupoc Shakur at a gay club!! The crowd’s reaction was priceless: “They went crazy in there! I was like, ‘They’re gonna tear you out your clothes!’,” Latifa added. Who’s writing the script and who we casting as Tupoc? Cause we need that on somebody’s television screen!

Let’s close out with a word for today. Longtime friend and law school classmate of Charelle Griner spoke at a Bring BG Home rally in Harlem and had this to say, “it is absolutely deplorable that our government has been neglecting [BG] for 123 days. I cannot describe a better person to you than Britney Griner. So please do whatever you can. Tell whoever you can. Write to the president, because Brittney we miss you and we love you. And it’s free Brittney till it’s backwards, till she gets home. Till tomorrow family, Peace.

Brittney Griner Update, Three people hospitalized after someone set Pride flags on fire, Queen Latifah took Tupac to a gay club – Thursday, June 23, 2022