Corporations and Pride gone wrong, Texas Attorney General impeached, LA Dodgers apologize to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Chick-fil-a highlights queer employee & Isis King is back on “With Love” – Monday, May 30, 2023

00:00 – Leave Queer News a voicemail for PRIDE 🌈, https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/243669/12/a7mpvs34mswsoo7e 

2:19 – Buy a Queer News Ad Spot, https://bit.ly/SponsorQueerNews 

2:56 – Top News Stories

3:46 – Intro Music by Aina Bre’Yon

4:27 – Corporations & Pride 

10:45 – Texas House Impeaches Attorney General Ken Paxton

12:43 – Listen to the Lost & Found for Podcasters, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX4ILbD41eQ&list=PLQIXw-_m5vNeQ2XjMPJZj7qYpkpAOhvPs 

13:23 – Subscribe to Rebound Revolution, https://pod.link/reboundrev 

13:56 – LA Dodges reinvite The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

15:57 – Chick-fil-a highlights queer employee

17:48 – Isis King on season 2 of “With Love”

18:44 – Anna’s Word

19:59 – Outro

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The Blog Post by Chat GPT

As Pride month kicks off and the LGBTQ community continues its fight for rights and liberation, it is crucial to examine the difference between performative allyship and true comrades in this ongoing struggle. Recent events involving prominent brands and their responses to LGBTQ issues have brought this distinction into sharp focus. Let’s delve into some notable examples and explore why we should no longer tolerate performative gestures but instead seek genuine allies.

Instances of Performative Allyship:

The controversy began when Bud Light partnered with influencer Dylan Mulvaney, drawing the ire of conservative groups. Anheuser-Busch, in response, took a Switzerland-inspired approach, which left many feeling dissatisfied. Next in line was Target, a company long praised for its support of the LGBTQ community. However, this year, under the pretext of protecting employees, Target made the questionable decision to remove Erik Carnell’s line of goods from its pride collection. The accusation of Satanism by Fox News, although baseless, seemed to influence their response. This retreat from supporting LGBTQ designers raises the question of whether there could have been a way to both protect employees and maintain their commitment to the community.

Supporting Genuine Allies:

In contrast to Bud Light and Target, The North Face demonstrated a more commendable approach. They released an advertisement featuring drag queen Pattie Gonia and stood firm in their commitment to inclusivity in the outdoors. Their statement emphasized the belief that the outdoors should be welcoming, equitable, and safe for all, aligning with the core values of the LGBTQ community. By standing with partners like Pattie Gonia, The North Face sent a powerful message that they support a more inclusive outdoor industry.

Supporting LGBTQ Organizations:

Amidst these controversies, it is essential to stand in solidarity with leading LGBTQ organizations that have consistently advocated for our rights. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), GLAAD, the National Black Justice Coalition, the National LGBTQ Task Force, Family Equality, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and GLSEN have all faced backlash for their efforts. Specifically, GLSEN, an organization dedicated to creating safe and inclusive schools for LGBTQ youth, is currently under attack. It is crucial for us to rally behind these organizations and offer our unwavering support.

Choosing Our Partners Wisely:

In a society where economics holds significant power, we must be intentional about how and where we spend our money. Performative allyship can no longer be tolerated. We need true comrades who genuinely support our vision for equality and liberation. It is no longer enough for companies to offer empty gestures or cave under pressure from right-wing extremists. We must hold them accountable and demand authenticity in their support.

Conclusion:

As we embark on Pride month, let us remember the importance of genuine allyship and the need for true comrades in the fight for our rights and liberation. We must scrutinize the actions and responses of brands, seeking those that uphold our values and actively contribute to creating an inclusive society. It is time to stand together, support LGBTQ organizations, and wield our economic power wisely. Performative allyship is no longer enough. We deserve true comrades by our side.

Transcript

Family, it’s your favorite queer radio personality Anna DeShawn and it’s almost pride. Yes you heard me. It’s almost pride and yes this isn’t the normal intro so tap bin and don’t fast forward this part. I want to talk for a quick second.

Can I share something? I want to get to know y’all better. Podcasting can really be such a one way medium unless you are being incredibly intentional for it not to be. This is me being incredibly intentional. I’ve head positive things from podcasters whos listeners leave them voicemails and I want us to try it out. Let me tell you what I have in mind. 

Nearly everywhere I go folks say “Family” back to me and it warms my heart. In leading up to pride I’d love you to tell me why you love being “Family”. Tell us why you love being queer or an ally or a comrade to the LGBTQ community. I want to share them during pride and remind us why we are magical humans who are beautifully and wonderfully made.

The script goes, “I’m family and I love us because… you fill in the blank. Because we’re beautiful and fierce. Because all are welcome. Because we refuse to go back in the closet. Got it? Cool. So you already know a link to leave us a voicemail is in the show notes. I really hope to hear from you. Yes you. I want to hear from you. 

Now, if you’re driving go ahead and make a mental note. If you’re at your computer go ahead and make a calendar reminder so you don’t forget. Alright let’s take a quick break for our sponsors we love so much. 

Now for the news. What do these brands have in common? Bud Light, Target and The North Face. They all tried to show up for pride and let’s talk about which were performative and which are really about it. The Texas House impeaches its transphobic Attorney General. The LA Dodgers take it back and re-invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence back to pride night. A Chick-fil-a in Louisiana shows love to its queer employee and it goes viral and Isis King is back on season 2 of “With Love” on Amazon. Let’s go! 

Family, we officially kick off pride month this week on Thursday. It’s that time of year where we get to celebrate being who I believe God created us to be. In all its fullness and beauty and rainbows. I love everything about it. I can remember my first prides when I was a baby dyke you know and just feeling overwhelmed by it all. Thinking wow this is possible. We can be this out. This bold. This free. Now we must fight so the next generation can experience it too. In the two decades I’ve been going to pride in Chicago I’ve never felt so unsettled. Between legalized transphobia in red states around the country. Anti-LBTQ rhetoric across social media platforms. I mean the Proud Boys and their friends are plotting against us. They are talking in their chats and they want to bully us out of celebrating. Little known fact. In 2022, its estimated the Proud Boys participated in at least 174 anti-LGBTQ demonstrations. That is a commitment to hate and we can’t have that. We can’t allow them to bully us. Hate cannot win. We must fight back by showing up. By refusing to be afraid. We can do this and we can do it better than some of these brands out here. With that, let’s get into our top story today about big bluechip brands and pride. 

For years here in Chicago organizers have held a Dyke March. Now Dyke March hasn’t been without his controversies but it’s been a space for folks to gather outside of the mainstream commercialized pride celebrations. It’s been a space community driven vs. brand driven. Over the past weeks we’ve seen why organizers have long advocated for spaces like Dyke March because they’ve believed these brands were in it for profit. Performative allyship vs. true comrades in the fight for our rights and liberation. 

It started with Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney, rite. They have hundreds of partnerships with influencers but this one with Dylan got the right all fired up which was followed by Switzerland inspired response by Anheuser-Busch. They could have done so much better. Then it was Target whose pride collection has become a staple over the last decade. I’ve gotten behind this mic and praised them for their support of the LGBTQ community. Their partnerships with LGBTQ designers over the years is well documented and has helped to grow their individual brands. They were doing it before many others. This year though, they folded under the guise of protecting their employees. Which I think is of utmost importance for any employer but could there have been another way. Could there have been a way to protect their employees and still keep the pride collection in the front of the store? Did they have to completely remove Erik Carnell’s line of goods? Absolutely not. Fox News calling him a Satanist when in fact he’s an atheist which honestly in the eyes of Fox News are the same but I digress. I don’t think they had to buckle. I think they could have doubled down on their support by coming up with strategic ways to protect their employees. When our leading LGBTQ organizations stood up; HRC, GLAAD, National Black Justice Coalition, the National LGBTQ Task force, Family Equality, National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLSEN now they are being attacked. And specifically GLSEN. I’m going to get back to that because there is a call to action we all need to follow to give them the support they need right now. Then it was The North Face’s turn as they dropped an ad with drag queen Pattie Gonia. The right-wing extremist come with their same tired approach but The North Face takes a different approach than Bud Light & Target. The North Face decides to stand firm. They dropped a statement that read “The North Face has always believed the outdoors should be a welcoming, equitable and safe place for all…We are honored and grateful to support partners like Pattie Gonia who help make this vision a reality. … Creating community and belonging in the outdoors is a core part of our values and is needed now more than ever. We stand with those who support our vision for a more inclusive outdoor industry.” Well done North Face. Well done. 

Family, in this country economics is power and with Pride month kicking off this week it’s important that you’re thinking about how & where you are spending yours. We are not living through a time where performative allyship can be tolerated. We need comrades and we cannot settle for anything less. 

Now onto political news. This is some of the most surprising news I’ve seen in a while. A Republican led Texas House of Representatives has voted to impeach their very own Attorney General Ken Paxton. Not very many Texas officials have ever been impeached and none since 1976. The House General Investigating Committee outlined 20 articles of impeachment most of which were associated with a political donor and doing favors to benefit them. Effective immediately he is temporarily suspended from his duties. You’ve heard me talk about Paxton for his homophobic and transphobic rhetoric and policies he not only supports but had the authority to prosecute. Just last week I was talking about him investigating two hospitals in Texas accused of providing gender affirming care. He and Governor Abbott have made it their mission to demonize our trans siblings in Texas. Paxton is a Trump supporting, MAGA hat wearing bigot who wants to see our lives removed from society. Well on Saturday in an unprecedented move his own party decided to impeach him. Now this isn’t the end of the matter. The senate will need to hold a hearing but it appears the writing is on the wall and I’d imagine those hospital investigations aren’t nearly a top priority anymore. 

Now let’s take a quick break. Hear from a couple of our sponsors and then jump into some good queer news. 

Welcome back to the show family. Let’s jump right into our culture and entertainment news. All of which today, in honor of kicking off pride month, will only be good things. Let’s start with the LA Dodgers. A couple of weeks back the Dodgers caved to right wing pressure to not honor one of the longest standing queer organizations the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The Sisters have been serving the community for 27 years through comedy, community outreach, and grants programs. I first saw the LA LGBT Center calling on the Dodgers to be held accountable and then others joined. Through that advocacy the LA Dodgers have since reversed their decision and asked the Sisters to in fact join them to be honored on pride night. According to  a statement published on their website, the Sisters alongside the LA LGBT Center, other government from West Hollywood and other leaders sat down with Dodgers President and CEO. During this sit down the Dodgers apologized and they concluded that if anything like this was to ever happen again they would work together to resolve it. The Sisters felt it was sincere, accepted their apology and invitation to join again. They said, “This affair has been an opportunity for learning with a silver lining. Our group has been strengthened, protected and uplifted to a position where we may now offer our message of hope and joy to far more people than before”. So if you’re in LA get yourself to this Dodgers game so you can cheer as loud as humanly possible for the Sisters.  

Next is Chick-fil-a. Yup you heard you me right. I’ve got good queer news about Chick-fil-a, specifically the one in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Now I have never eaten at Chick-fil-a and never plan too because of their long stance against the LGBTQ community. Also let me be clear, you can be Christian and not be against queer folks but I digress. The chain in Thibodaux posted on their Facebook about one of their employees named Tavion. Tavion is clearly queer as all get out. In the picture they posted, he has a lace front, long lashes, and lip gloss on. Now this page typically gets about 200 likes on a given post. This one has gone viral with over sixty thousand reactions, 1 thousand comments and nearly 5 thousand shares. I don’t know who runs their social media account but I hope they get to keep their job and that they aren’t forced to take the post down. It’s been 6 days at this point so we are counting this as good news. 

In entertainment news, Isis King is back on season 2 of “With Love”. And honestly outside of King this show is just a great watch. Lots of queerness that just feels normal. We can’t get enough of this type of entertainment in the world. Where being queer is not a thing that’s feared or unaccepted. It depicts life as so many of us know it. Isis told Variety, “I’m just happy to be able to play a character with no trauma.” That’s so real. Season 2 drops on Friday so in the meantime go ahead and binge season 1 on Prime and get ready for season 2. I think you’ll really enjoy it. 

Now for my word today. My word is happy freaking pride. That’s it, that’s all. Happy Pride and wear it proudly all month long. Till next week, peace. 

Sources

Trans designer dumped by Target explains how he got smeared as Satanist

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/05/26/lgbtq-designer-target-pride-collection-controversy/

Proud Boys planning biggest Pride Month protests yet: ‘Let’s go bully the queers’

https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/05/22/proud-boys-pride-month-warning/

GLAAD RESPONDS TO THE NORTH FACE’S DECISION TO CONTINUE PRIDE CAMPAIGN AFTER FACING CALLS FROM EXTREMISTS TO BOYCOTT

https://www.glaad.org/releases/glaad-responds-north-faces-decision-continue-pride-campaign-after-facing-calls-extremists

North Face Stands Up to Hate Over Pride Gear, Drag Queen Ad

https://www.advocate.com/gay-pride-parade/north-face-drag-queen

LEADING LGBTQ+ ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS RAISE THE ALARM TO BUSINESS COMMUNITY ON COORDINATED ANTI-LGBTQ+ ATTACKS; CALL ON TARGET TO LEAD

https://www.glaad.org/releases/leading-lgbtq-advocacy-organizations-raise-alarm-business-community-coordinated-anti-lgbtq-attacks

Republican-led Texas House impeaches state Attorney General Ken Paxton

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/27/1178606035/ken-paxton-impeachment-texas-house-republican-attorney-general-investigation

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

https://www.thesisters.org/

LA DODGERS REVERSE DECISION, STAND WITH LGBTQ FANS: SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE TO BE HONORED AT PRIDE NIGHT

https://www.glaad.org/releases/la-dodgers-reverse-decision-stand-lgbtq-fans-sisters-perpetual-indulgence-be-honored

Isis King to Continue Trans Romance Storyline in Season 2 of “With Love”

https://www.gayemagazine.com/post/isis-king-to-continue-trans-romance-storyline-in-season-2-of-with-love