[00:00:00] There’s no place like the Qube

family. It’s your favorite queer radio personality. Anna DeShawn, and [00:00:30] this is Queer News. Your favorite weekly news pod where race and sexuality meet politics, culture. And entertainment family. Next thing is I want to invite you to drop me a queer news tip. Okay. The queer news tip line is open and you can get the link in the show notes.

I want to report on the stories that don’t make the news or a blog. So many things are happening locally and I’d love to amplify them. Now Q crew what’s going on? It’s April. [00:01:00] So I’ve got another exclusive interview for you this month. This month, I had the opportunity to be in conversation with Dr. Yvonne Wellbine.

Dr. Yvonne is an award winning filmmaker, holder of the largest archive of Black women filmmakers, professor, and founder of Sisters in Cinema. Sisters in Cinema is a Chicago based nonprofit And they envision a world where all Black girls, women, and gender nonconforming media makers and storytellers have an equal opportunity to [00:01:30] create and thrive.

Sisters in Cinema recently had a grand opening of its biggest and boldest iteration of the work in a media arts center. We got to talk about it. We got to talk about how 30 years of her work has culminated to this moment. Q crew. You’ve got the interview exclusively for a week, and then the world can tap in family, subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on the notifications.

So you don’t miss when this interview drops. Oh, and if you don’t know, the Q crew helps to supplement the [00:02:00] cost of this podcast, podcast, hosting, editing, marketing, PR, travel, chat, all of it. So 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 Q crew, a link is in the show notes.

Now for the news, get this family. We had two, not one, but two queer news tips come through the tip line. So we’re going to start the [00:02:30] pod with those stories first. A high school in Massachusetts holds a social justice conference for high school students by high school students. Second, Thailand passes a bill to legalize same sex marriage and the vote wasn’t even close.

Now in politics, a tweet from President Biden has led to a lot of internet ignorance. Let’s get into it a little bit. In culture and entertainment, in recognition of Trans Week of [00:03:00] Visibility and Action, I’m going to share an organization here in Chicago doing great work called Life is Work. Also, Lil Nas X does a collab with UK star Skywater and sex education star Shruti Ghatwa is set to be the next doctor for the next season of Doctor Who.

Let’s go! Family, I am so excited to be kicking off our queer news podcast with a tip from our queer news tip line. This tip comes [00:03:30] from our homie, Lisa, and it’s about a school in Massachusetts called Sutton. Sutton High School, where the students actually coordinate a social justice conference for other high school students.

It’s pretty dope. There’s a group at the high school called Connections. It’s a collection of students and staff committed to making their school a more welcoming place for all students. They think about and work on issues connected to prejudice, bias, and privilege. By [00:04:00] talking about these issues with their friends and community, they hope to make their school a place where all students feel valued and understood.

How dope is that? Let me tell y’all more so y’all can understand how dope all of this really, really is. They started this conference in 2009 and over the last five years, it has grown exponentially. This year, they hosted 600 students, And teachers from over 50 schools across New England. [00:04:30] And it is still a student run situation.

They call it ConCon, okay? The Connection Convention. Don’t you love that? This year’s theme was building bridges, breaking barriers, creating just and equitable schools for everyone. And let me share a few of the session titles so you can get an idea of what they were talking about. Using music to talk about current events and justice.

I really like this session. The princess saves herself in this one. Yes. [00:05:00] Standing up to antisemitism in the 21st century. Or what about Substitutes for books by dead straight white guys. Come on, come through y’all. This is just one small subset of sessions that they had to choose from. I think there has to be over 50 here.

They also had two keynote speakers, Cynthia Smith, who was an award winning indigenous author. And then Kai Shapley, an 11 year old, yes, 11 year [00:05:30] old trans activists who lives in Texas and has been a vocal about trans advocacy in the state. If you’ve never seen a video with Kai and her mom, just do yourself a favor and go watch her story.

I can imagine her talk was pretty inspirational. Yeah. Lisa shared with me that this conference gives her hope for the future, that there are youth challenging their norms and privilege to broaden their world and change it for the better. And I could not agree more, [00:06:00] family, and I hope this little piece of good news will inspire you.

You know, brings a smile to your face because it sure brought a smile to mine. Our

next story came from Susan through our Queer News tip line. She wanted to let me know that lawmakers in Thailand have approved a bill to legalize same sex marriage. Yes. And they didn’t just approve it, y’all. They approved it in an overwhelming [00:06:30] fashion. Okay. There are 415 members of the house of representatives.

Okay. In Thailand. Do you know how many approved? Do you know? I know you don’t know. I’m here to tell you 400. That’s right. 400. Of the 415 members of the House of Representatives approved the bill to legalize same sex marriage in Thailand. 10 voted against it, 2 abstained, and [00:07:00] 3 just chose not to vote. Wow.

Now, Thailand’s known for being inclusive, they’re known for being accepting, but my word. How amazing is that? Now that’s not the end of it. Of course, that was just the house that will need to go to the Senate. And from what I read from AP, what passes in the house typically passes in the Senate and then it’ll go to get passed by the King for Royal endorsement.

Now this makes Thailand the first [00:07:30] country in Southeast Asia to pass such a law and the third in Asia after Taiwan and Nepal. Isn’t that pretty cool? I think so too. Thanks, Susan. In politics, how could I not talk about the now infamous tweet that President Joe Biden sent? Let me read it to you. Okay. Just so we understand how infamous these few words.

have become. Today, on Transgender Day of [00:08:00] Visibility, I have a simple message to all trans Americans. I see you. You are made in the image of God, and you’re worthy of respect and dignity. Y’all, Those few words with an image that says transgender day of visibility with the White House logo at the bottom has reached 9.

9 million people and has become a social media nightmare. And let me tell y’all why. [00:08:30] This year, Easter came really early. For some reason, we out here celebrating Easter in March. March 31st to be exact. And March 31st just happens to be Transgender Day of Visibility. You know what day never changes?

Transgender Day of Visibility. You know what day changes every single year? Easter. And so, President Biden sends this tweet. And the floodgates open to the internet [00:09:00] ignorance of the day.

And let me just tell y’all something. It was pretty exhausting. To scroll through. It was pretty exhausting to read. And one comment from an artist that really annoyed me was this idea that people should then educate you as if there’s not hundreds and hundreds of pieces of content on the internet so easily accessible by Google.

That you couldn’t [00:09:30] educate yourself. So with that president Biden and his team, thank you for seeing our siblings. Thank you for seeing us. We ought not take that for granted family, because we remember what it was when we were erased from our own country. You remember that? So thank you. And that’s all I got for politics today.

That’s it. That’s all. Now let’s just take a quick break and we’ll be back with culture and [00:10:00] entertainment. We’ve got an active YouTube channel and I would love for you to go subscribe and hit the notifications bell. So you don’t miss a thing. Visit youtube. com slash at E3 radio. That’s E the number three radio on the channel.

You’ll find interviews with. Some of your favorite LGBTQ artists, leaders, and politicians who are making positive impacts on the world [00:10:30] around us. So don’t miss it. Okay. Go to the YouTube, subscribe and hit that notifications bill. Thanks family. If you’re hearing this, it means we didn’t sell this ad space.

If you’re hearing this, it means running ads on our podcast actually can work. You see what I did there? You see this real life example. You got an event. Do you have an organization? Do you got something you need to get the word out about? We got rates starting as low as a hundred dollars. Check the link [00:11:00] in our show notes for more information, family.

Welcome back to the show. And now for culture and entertainment, I want to kick off this segment of the show talking about transgender day of visibility. You just heard the shenanigans with president Biden’s tweet, but let’s really get into what it is every year on March 31st, the world, not just this country, the world observes transgender day of visibility.

It began in 2010. That’s [00:11:30] right. This has been going on for 14 years on the same exact day to raise awareness about trans folks. It’s a day to celebrate the lives and contributions of trans people while also drawing attention to the poverty, discrimination, and violence the community faces. This day was started by Rachel Crandall.

Now, Rachel was the head of Transgender Michigan. I personally really love this day because it’s a day to celebrate our trans siblings. Often you all hear it on this [00:12:00] podcast. The news I report around trans folks is usually very sad. Something tragic has happened or another anti trans bill has been introduced in some legislature across the country.

But this day, actually the entire week leading up to this day is about celebration. It’s about honoring our trans siblings. It’s about seeing them. And I love that. And so with that in mind, I want to celebrate an organization here in Chicago, that’s been doing really, really [00:12:30] amazing work. It is called Life is Work.

Life is Work is a nonprofit whose mission is to support and uplift trans people of color through direct services, activism, and advocacy. Now they accomplish these things by providing case management. Guided programs, assisting with healthcare, employment, and legal referrals. This past week, they held their first annual spring health and wellness summit here in [00:13:00] Chicago.

And the lineup was fire. Okay. So many workshops. So many dope speakers, even Precious Davis, our own commissioner and first trans woman to hold political office with the Water Reclamation District, was the guest host. It looked amazing! Not to mention, the organization also held their third annual. Wendy’s city trans visibility pageant and child this pageant is fabulous.

Okay. They come [00:13:30] ready to work and I love the balance that life is work is providing not just the healthcare and advocacy, but the visibility and the fun and education as well. So I invite you to donate to life is work this month. I have a link in the show notes and I invite you to click it and donate to life is work.

These are the organizations. We need to support and now for our last two stories in culture and entertainment If you’re looking for some new music Lil Nas X just dropped [00:14:00] a collab with non binary UK star Skywater The track is called light but the video is It ain’t light. It’s kind of dark. It’s got a dreary, but it’s got an edge to it.

They appear as characters inside of a video game and it’s all about the exes that essentially did them wrong. So if you’re looking for some new music want to hear some Lil Nas X want to check out sky water If you’ve never heard of them then go check out this track. It’s called light. And of course you can find it on youtube And then for our [00:14:30] last culture and entertainment story, I am such a fan of Shruti Gatwa, okay?

I found him on Sex Education and I just thought he was brilliant. So to see that he’s going to be starring as the next Doctor Who, I was like, yes! Come on, let Dr. Who be black and queer. You better work. The trailer dropped on March 31st. So you will begin to see a lot of rollout around the new Dr. Who.

[00:15:00] It’s set to drop on May 11th. So just mark your calendars. Okay. Okay. Family. It’s that time for Anna’s got a word because. Anna’s always got a word. And today I want to let y’all know that God is going to release people from your life. And it’s going to be okay. I can’t tell you how many times in my life over the last three years, since I quit corporate, that people who have been there are no longer there.

People who I thought would always be there [00:15:30] can no longer be found. And it has wrapped me. Do you understand? It has racked me. And today something else occurred. And it hit me. I stopped in my tracks. I tapped into my tools and I said, thank you. I said, God, I thank you because my prayer has always been, please bring those in my life who are here for my good and remove those who have no good for me.[00:16:00]

And see God will do it. The universe will make it happen. And at first you’ll be shocked, hurt, confused. Okay. Dismayed. And then when you sit for a moment, you remember the prayer and you say, thank you. And that’s what I did today. So if you’re going through a thing family, okay, someone has hurt you for no good reason.

I want you to sit there. You can grieve, grieve it, grieve it, [00:16:30] and then say, thank you. Mmm. Till next time family. Peace.

If you’ve enjoyed what you heard, rate and review us [00:17:00] inside your favorite podcasting app. This podcast is written and produced by me, Anna Deshawn. Podcast editing by Ryan Woodhull and brought to you by E3 radio and distributed on the Qube. We are Queer News Done Right.

Transcript – President Biden tweeted about Transgender Day of Visibility and the Internet went wild, Lil Nas & skaiwater collab & Ncuti Gatwa set to be the next Doctor Who – April 2, 2024