A federal judge in Indiana gave a ruling that allows a 10-year-old trans girl to rejoin her school team – The kind of news I love to kick off our news with. Next, history has been made. For the very first time, a black trans girl is featured as the romantic lead in a teen Romantic comedy and Billy Porter had something to do with it. Have you ever heard of Jesse Peterson? The minister and staunch anti-LGBTQ bigot might just be gay himself – hmmm Let’s go!

00:00 – Welcome & Intro

00:51 – Top news stories

01:30 – Intro Music by Aina Bre’Yon

02:10 – Indiana Trans Girl

03:59 – Anything Is Possible

05:05 – Jesse Peterson

06:35 – Anna’s got a word

07:16 – Outro

Things for you to check out 

Anything’s Possible – Official Trailer

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

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Transcript

Family, it’s 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 whose latest project First Kill is currently on Netflix and doing really well. If you want to watch the exclusive interview, 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, a federal judge in Indiana gave a ruling that allows a 10-year-old trans girl to rejoin her school team – The kind of news I love to kick off our news with. Next, history has been made. For the very first time, a black trans girl is featured as the romantic lead in a teen Romantic comedy. And have you heard about Jesse Peterson? The minister and staunch anti-LGBTQ bigot might just be gay himself – hmmm Let’s go!

Our leading story for today is out of Indiana. A Federal judge has ruled that a 10-year-old trans girl must be allowed to play on her school’s girls’ softball team. Can you believe that? In Indiana no less. This ruling came as a slap to the Indiana legislators who passed the law banning transgender girls from participating in all-female school sports after the governor veto’d this legislation. That’s rite. Indiana is one of the states that sent anti-trans legislation to the governor’s desk, he vetoed it and then they overrode the veto and passed the legislation anyway. Governor Holcomb warned legislators this would be the outcome in the courts. And here we are. The judge based the decision on the fact that the 10-year-old has been identifying as a girl before she was 4. Most importantly, a state court changed the gender marker on her birth certificate to female in 2021 and she’s currently on puberty blockers. It was further stated that the new law is a violation of Title IX which bans discrimination based on sex in all schools that receive federal funding. Oh don’t we love it when the law works for the good. I will say this is great news but this was such a public ordeal that I’d imagine this is far from over for the young girl and her family. For that we will keep them lifted because I’m sure there will be some bigots along the way that won’t let them forget. 

Now our next story, have you heard about “Anything is Possible”? Well it is Billy Porter’s directorial debut that  just made history. For the very first time, a Black trans girl is featured 

as the romantic lead on a teen Romcom. It  premiered on Amazon prime on July 22nd and Eva Reign plays Kelsa who is navigating her life in high school and having her first boyfriend. In refreshing news, the film is plotted to largely avoid traumatic twists and complexities often highlighted in the lives of queer and trans characters. It is mostly a lighthearted movie that explores love and friendships. Billy told Variety that “This is an aspirational story. It’s almost like a fairytale. To me and all of us in the queer and trans community, “It’s a look at what we can be. That’s what we as artists get to do — look at what we can be and what we should be.” Yessss. Representation matters and that can never be understated. If you want to check out the trailer we’ve included a link in the show notes. 

And now, our last story of the day is about Jesse Peterson. He is one of the most outspoken anti-LGBTQ public figures on the planet. He’s said, “lesbians are violent in their relationships and that “radical homosexuals” have destroyed Black families.  Well it’s come to light that he’s been having sexual relationships with men for years. Years on years. These propositions arose on a platform called the Church Militant which is a far-right catholic group and website. Well, Patrick Rooney is one of the men who say he’s had a sexual relationship with Peterson, which he claimed lasted about 10 years. He stated this in a video interview on the Church Militant site in June. Since then many other men have spoken up about either being propositioned by him or having sex with him too. Now, you may be wondering what Peterson has to say to all these. He has refused to address the issue. He hosts a radio show and of course a listener called in to ask him about the Church Militant video, His reaction was to call her “a wicked woman” and he hung up. If that’s not the reaction of a guilty man, I don’t know what it is!

After that story it feels fitting to close out the podcast with a word from Bayard Rustin.He said, “If I do not fight bigotry wherever it is, bigotry is thereby strengthened. And to the degree that it is strengthened, it will thereby have the power to turn on me.” I want to use this word to remind us that the Jesse Peterson’s of the world cannot be left to spew their hate. We must fight back in every way. From the courtroom to our classrooms to our libraries. We have the power to fight and our fighting is far stronger together than it is apart. Till tomorrow family, peace. 

Sources

Did Anti-LGBTQ+ Minister Jesse Lee Peterson Have Gay Sex Liaisons?

https://www.advocate.com/religion/2022/7/13/did-anti-lgbtq-minister-jesse-lee-peterson-have-same-sex-liaisons

WE’RE ABOUT TO GET A TEEN ROMCOM STARRING A BLACK TRANS GIRL

https://www.mic.com/culture/billy-porter-anythings-possible-eva-reign?fs=e&s=cl&fbclid=IwAR2mJk2hzRPKEc2PhcR0pYmdWUYnEL_n6Vg5jYRg6iaTabO-x-lZhg3U4Iw

Federal judge allows 10-year-old trans girl to rejoin her school softball team

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/07/federal-judge-allows-10-year-old-trans-girl-rejoin-school-softball-team/

A federal judge in Indiana allows a 10-year-old trans girl rejoin her softball team, a black trans girl is featured on a teen Romcom for the very first time & Jesse Peterson is the ultimate hypocrite – Tuesday, August 2, 2022