We speak their names today; A’Nee Roberson, London Price & Lisa Love, Newark honors Sakia Gunn memory, Che Flores becomes the first out nonbinary referee in sports, and Moonlight Chicken wins best LGBTQ+ series in Asia – October 30, 2023

This week on the Queer News podcast Anna DeShawn reports the tragic truth that three Black trans women have been murdered in the last two weeks. We speak their names; A’Nee, London, & Lisa. Newark, New Jersey remembers Sakia Gunn by naming a street in her honor. Professional sports has its first out non-binary referee and the Queer News tips line came through with an entertainment story about the Thailand hit Moonlight Chicken. Let’s go!

00:00 – Welcome to the Queer News podcast

00:54 – Join the QCrew, https://bit.ly/3L3Ng66

1:43 – Top queer news stories

2:23 – Intro Music by Aina Bre’Yon

2:59 – Follow the Second Sunday podcast, https://pod.link/1708662302

3:32 – Follow The Head Nod podcast, https://pod.link/1699870161

4:02 – We speak their names today; A’Nee Roberson, London Price & Lisa Love

8:21 – Newark honors Sakia Gunn memory

10:11 – Buy an Ad on the Queer News podcast, https://bit.ly/3ohYXAw

10:38 – Follow They Will Kill podcast, https://www.theywillkill.com/

11:03 – Che Flores becomes the first out nonbinary referee in sports

12:04 – The NHL reverses its pride night ban a bit

13:03 – Moonlight Chicken wins best LGBTQ+ series in Asia

14:19 – Anna’s Word

15:38 – Closing

🌈✊🏾🏳️‍⚧️✨

Things for you to check out

Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later

Join the QCrew

Listen to More Queer News

The Blog Post by Chat GPT

Come back next week 😉

Transcript

Family, it’s your favorite queer radio personality Anna DeShawn and this is Queer News. Your fav weekly news pod where race & sexuality meet politics, culture, and entertainment.

community. Your recurring monthly will help supplement the costs of pod; podcast hosting, editing, marketing, PR, travel, etc. If you believe in the work we do. If you believe LGBTQ stories need to be amplified. If you love and respect how I report on the news and tell our stories, join the QCrew. I want to welcome Bob, our newest member of the QCrew. Welcome Bob, I’m happy you’re here. Now its your turn. Come on and join us. A link is in the show notes.

Now for the news. Three Black trans women have been murdered in the last two weeks. We speak their names. A’Nee, London, & Lisa. Newark, New Jersey remembers Sakia Gunn by naming a street in her honor. Professional sports has its first out non-binary referee and the Queer News tips line came through with an entertainment story about the Thailand hit Moonlight Chicken. Let’s go!

Our top queer news stories today are heartbreaking and I want to give a content warning before proceeding because you may not want to hear all this today. I’m going to give y’all a couple of seconds to fast forward okay. Now, I must report on three more Black trans women being murdered. All this month. We speak their names; A’Nee Roberson, London Price & Lisa Love.

A’Nee Roberson, 30 years old, on Oct. 14th was murdered outside of a popular gay sports bar in Washington DC called Nellie’s. It’s being reported that she was being assaulted and while running away was chased into the street where she was hit by an oncoming vehicle. The driver of the vehicle stopped and called for help which gave me some hope in humanity. Last week, her family & friends held a candlelight vigil for her where over 100 people showed up to pay their respects. The D.C. police have a person of interest and have posted the pictures of him online. While doing research I found a video of her dad speaking at the vigil and how we loved on his daughter and wanted her to be exactly who she wanted to be in the world. That warmed my heart because we don’t see enough Black men being outspoken about how much they love and welcome their queer children into their lives.

London Price, 26 years old, was shot and killed in Miami-Dade county. There is footage of a young man running from her home with a gun in hand and of course they believe this to be her murderer. Family is saying they know exactly who that is, her ex-boyfriend. A loved one spoke with Local 10 News in Florida and explained that the ex-boyfriend was there because his family threw him out the house when they found out he was dating a trans woman. The loved one said London felt responsible so that’s why he was there with her. Her aunt said, “She’ll give you the shift off her back” and it seems like kind spirit may have attracted the wrong person in her life.

Lisa Love, 35 years old, was shot and killed in Chicago last week. She was leaving a friend’s house when it was reported that a car drove up, made a U-turn, saw Lisa and decided to take her life. Her family does believe she was targeted because the neighborhood knew who she was and knew she was trans. In a phone interview with WGN news her cousin said Lisa was “An all-around good person who did not deserve this…a loving, caring, free-spirited person. Always smiling and laughing.” There are no persons of interests at this time.

Family, 3 Black trans women murdered in the last two weeks. There have been 4 this month alone and according to the Human Rights Campaign their have been at least 25 trans and gender nonconforming people who have tragically lost their lives this year. This ought not be a surprise as the anti-trans hate train, as Imara Jones of Translash coins it, has been running rampant for years now. It is not safe. The world is not safe for our trans fam so it is on those who care to create brave and safe places for our trans siblins to find solice and peace. Because the world is a lot.

A’Nee, London, and Lisa, we speak your name.

Our next story today is a really special one. Do you all remember Sakia Gunn? I remember her story like it was yesterday. She was a 15 year old masculine presenting Black lesbian who was murdered in Newark, NJ back in 2003. In 2003, I was in undergrad and I had just come out. I was in that beginning stage where everything was a rainbow. And I remember hearing about Sakia’s story and being shook because she looked like me. She dressed like me. She loved basketball like me. Some men were riding by and hit on her but she didn’t accept their advances. Because of that they killed her. Her murder ignited a movement in New Jersey. Over 2500 young people showed up to her services to pay their respects. Now 20 years later after much advocating by her cousin, Valencia Bailey, who was there that night and held Sakia in her arms has cemented her cousins legacy. The street is called Sakia Gunn Way. Valencia says, “It’s an acknowledgement. It’s showing that my cousin’s legacy will never die, it’ll forever be here…everyone will know who she is. No matter if you don’t know anything about her or her situation, if you walk down the street and you see that sign … you get online and everything’s out there.” There is a podcast available about Sakia called “After Broad and Market” and I want to do a special feature about her story because more people should know her name.

This is a good time for us to take a quick break. When we get back I’ve got some culture & entertainment news for you. Stay close.

In culture news, Che Flores has become the first out trans non-binary referee in all of professional sports. Che is in their second season refereeing for the NBA and recently came out publicly in a profile for GQ Sports. This happened following their coming out to their 70+ colleagues in the NBA during their annual preseason meetings in September. They said, “This is the first time I’m comfortable expressing myself through my own fashion and not having to worry about it. I feel one hundred percent myself now.” It’s a big deal to make it to the NBA as a ref and its reported they are the first person to have worked championship games for the NCAA, G League, and the WNBA. Congratulations Che on paving the way for so many others to live into their truth.

In more sports news, you may remember a few weeks ago I reported about how the National Hockey League decided to ban pride night and any other night because a few people didn’t want to participate. Well in a quick change of events, they have decided to reverse part of their decision. Now players can display their pride by putting pride tape or other displays of LGBTQ love & support on the ice. The NHL said, “After consultation with the NHL Players Association and the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition, players will now have the option to voluntarily represent social causes with their stick tape throughout the season.” Other social causes being things like breast cancer awareness or military appreciation for example. It feels like the NHL crumbled under the pressure and now are trying to save face but in doing so they are making things oh so confusing.

Our entertainment story for the week is coming in from our Queer News tip line. That’s right I started it earlier this month on Tiktok because I know there are so many stories that are never reported on. Stories that never make it to a blog and I want to tell those stories. Well this week we received a story from KellyMcP. Kelly dropped me a few notes about a series out of Thailand called “Moonlight Chicken”. This episodic series has won Best LGBTQ+ program made in Asia. The story follows queer men navigating love, relationships, queer rights and disability justice. Of course the series is in Thai so I couldn’t understand anything but the music score and production value are top notch. You can find it on YouTube as its produced by GMM.TV and all you need to do is hit the closed captions to dig in. Thanks KellyMcP!

To close out today’s word is persistence. My mastermind journal affirmation says, “I have the dedication and persistence needed to create the life I want.” Don’t get me wrong, dedication is absolutely needed but persistence takes it to another level. The actual definition says firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition. See persistence is that secret sauce because challenges will undoubtedly occur and there will be times that you will need to stand firm and/or be obstinate. It may not feel comfortable but when you’re clear on your goal there will be some things that are non-negotiable. So tap into that persistent nature of yours and go get what you deserve. Till next week, family. Peace.

Sources

Nearly 100 attend vigil for slain trans woman A’Nee Roberson

https://www.washingtonblade.com/2023/10/26/anee-roberson-vigil/

Loved ones demand justice for woman pushed into traffic and killed on U Street

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/loved-ones-demand-justice-for-woman-pushed-into-traffic-and-killed-on-u-street/3454028/

Who killed London Price? Family believes they know, but police not saying

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2023/10/25/family-says-they-want-to-know-where-ex-of-transwoman-is-after-fatal-shooting/

Honoring London Price, A Black Trans Woman Who Would “Give You the Shirt Off Her Back”

https://www.hrc.org/news/honoring-london-price-a-black-trans-woman-who-would-give-you-the-shirt-off-her-back

Lisa Love Killed in Chicago, 2nd Black Trans Person This Week

https://www.pghlesbian.com/2023/10/lisa-love-killed-in-chicago-2nd-black-trans-person-this-week/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lisa-love-killed-in-chicago-2nd-black-trans-person-this-week&utm_content=null

Black Transgender Woman Lisa Love Killed Walking Home in Chicago