BG has been wrongfully detained for 155 days. You can hear the latest updates on Monday’s episode where I recap her hearings from last week. She will be back in court on July 26th and her defense team believes the trial will be over by the beginning of August. The U.S. House of Representatives has been busy. They passed the Respect for Marriage Act and the Right to Contraception Act so let’s dig into those bills today & it’s Friday which means I’m recommending a podcast. Today’s recommendation is the Pulso Podcast.

00:00 Welcome & Intro

01:22 BG Update (#WEAREBG)

01:44 Today’s Top Stories

02:06 Intro Music by Aina Bre’Yon

02:46 U.S. House or Reps

06:46 Podcast Recommendation

07:39 Anna’s got a word

08:24 Jennifer Lewis

Things for you to check out 

The Pulso Podcast

https://projectpulso.org/podcast

Join the QCrew

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, its your favorite queer radio personality Anna DeShawn with our queer news for today. Now, 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. This month we have our first QCrew exclusive interview with Felicia D. Henderson. She’s a Black woman television producer, writer, and showrunner in Hollywood who’s latest project First Kill is currently on Netflix and doing really well. If you want to watch it you have to join the QCrew. Now 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. BG has been wrongfully detained for 155 days. You can hear the latest updates on Monday’s episode where I recap her hearings from last week. She will be back in court on July 26th and her defense team believes the trial will be over by the beginning of August. The U.S. House of Representatives has been busy. They passed the Respect for Marriage Act and the Right to Contraception Act so let’s dig into those bills today & it’s Friday which means I’m recommending a podcast. Today’s recommendation is the Pulso Podcast. Let’s go. 

Our leading story is the U.S. House of Representatives. Can we give it up to them? [insert some applause] These Democrats are using their majority for good by passing both the Respect for Marriage Act and the Right to Contraception Act. Both bills are direct responses to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and Justice Thomas’ concurring opinion where he shared that he believes that marriage equality and access to contraceptives should be reconsidered. So, let’s start with the Respect for Marriage Act. It passed the house 267-157 with 47 Republicans voting in favor. Do we dare say this bill had bipartisan support? Incredible. So what does this act do? What does it say? Well it repeals the Defense of Marriage Act commonly known as DOMA which was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 but we see what the Supreme Court is on these days so you’ve got to be international about these protections. It also includes additional federal legal protections for the marriages of same-sex couples, trans folks and interracial couples. Now the bill is off to the Senate where it needs 60 votes to pass which, dare I say, might actually be possible. CNN did the work of asking all 50 GOP senators where they stood on the issue; 5 said they would vote in favor; 8 said they were a definite no, 15 are undecided or did not indicate support and 22 did not respond back. Now, the catch here is that the Senate goes into its August recess in two weeks so it might not land on the Senate floor for a vote for a little while but we’ll see what Senator Chuck Schumer decides to do. If they have the votes now I say they hurry up and get it done. We need some good news. 

And like I said the House has been busy okay because they also passed the Right Contraception Act. Now this one is far from bipartisan okay but the democrats in the house don’t need it. It passed 228-195 with 8 Republicans voting in favor. Now family, isn’t it hard to imagine a world where condoms are banned. Where people can’t get access to birth control. It’s just mind blowing to me. I will say that I like seeing the Democrats on the offense. This will go to the Senate but it won’t pass because you need 10 Republicans to vote in favor and that’s not going to happen at this point. And let’s be clear I’d love to be wrong about this too but I doubt it. But hey two political wins in a week is something worth cheering. 

Now there are other stories to share but I don’t want to share any downer news after these stories. I want us all to go into the weekend celebrating the Democrats going on the offense for a change. Do they need to do better? Oh absolutely and we can hold them to account for that but we can also cheer the wins. 

It’s Friday which means I’ve got a podcast recommendation for you. This week I’m recommending the Pulso Podcast. The Pulso Podcast brings you untold stories & unheard voices…the Latino voices you aren’t hearing in the news and the stories you didn’t learn in history class. And that’s how I truly felt while listening to this podcast. I live in one of the most segregated cities in the country so if I want to learn about other cultures it has to be done intentionally and driven by my own curiosity to learn more. This podcast brings that opportunity to my finger tips. It’s so well produced and the stories are so rich. I definitely recommend you check out this podcast because you won’t be disappointed in the least. 

And I want to close out this podcast with a word from the mother of Black Hollywood herself, Jenifer Lewis. She is one of my favorite actresses of all time and one of the very best to ever do it. I think one of my earliest memories of Jenifer Lewis was on a Different World. Well she finally received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During an interview with her hometown station in St. Louis she dropped this word that spoke to me and hopefully it speaks to you too as we go into this weekend. Don’t stop dreaming. Till Monday family, peace [insert Jenifer clip]

Sources 

House passes marriage equality for same-sex couples bill. 157 Republicans voted against it.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/07/house-passes-marriage-equality-sex-couples-bill-157-republicans-voted/

CNN asked all 50 GOP senators if they will support the same-sex marriage bill. Here’s where they stand.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/20/politics/gop-senators-same-sex-marriage

House passes bill to protect access to contraception. 195 Republicans voted against it

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/07/house-passes-bill-protect-access-contraception-195-republicans-voted/

A couple of wins! The Respect for Marriage Act & the Right to Contraception Act passed in the U.S. House of Representatives – Friday, July 22, 2022