QN_112524_Final_v1

QN_112524_Final_v1

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

Family, it’s your favorite queer radio personality, Anna DeShawn, [00:00:30] and this is Queer News, your favorite weekly news pod where race and sexuality meet politics, culture, and entertainment. It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win! It is our duty to win.

We must love and protect each other. We have nothing to lose but these chains.[00:01:00]

I love this chant so much. I love this chant so much. It is our duty to fight for our freedom. A famous quote by Assata Shakur, and I recorded this chant last Wednesday while I was attending a Trans Day of Remembrance event organized by Life is Work. Life is Work is a black trans led organization here in Chicago doing direct service work on the West Side, okay?

And for those of you that don’t know, the West Side is a historically underfunded black neighborhood, [00:01:30] okay, and part of the city. T D O R. It’s a time for us to honor, right? And remember those who were tragically killed during the year and remember to fight like hell for the living. And I mean, fight like hell for the living.

I’m honored to be a comrade in the fight for trans liberation because none of us are free until all of us are free. You feel me? Yes, that’s right. We got a big announcement coming in right now. A big [00:02:00] announcement coming in right now, right now, right now. Okay. Not later, but right now. Now I know this is also the part where I remind you about the queer news tip line.

You know, it’s open. Okay. And cute crew. I thank you. I thank you for your continued support of this podcast. I promise you it won’t happen without you. So I thank you. And I got a big announcement. Family finally, finally is happy.

That’s right. Finally, family, we are dropping a merch store. It is past time. [00:02:30] Okay, I wear my Qube hoodie pretty much everywhere. Okay. Everybody wants one. I’m grateful. People come up to me in the street and they be like, family. I’m like, we need a logo. Yes. We need some merch. Got it designed, ready to drop it.

It is happening this week. You understand? Be on the lookout cute crew. You’re going to get a special discount code. Okay. I’m so excited. This is finally happening. I need another revenue stream because I want to [00:03:00] bring in an assistant producer to really help support this podcast. I can only do so much and I can only do so much.

Okay. And so I’m hoping this revenue stream helps to continue to bolster, right? The sustainability. because it’s hard out here. All right. And so I hope y’all enjoy the merch line. I’m actually going to change it up every single month. Yeah. Starting in January. So enjoy this current selection because it’s going to change up in just a little bit.

I thank you in [00:03:30] advance for your support family and be on the lookout for that email. Okay.

Now for the news, Quenisha Coco Chantel. We remember you today, a black trans woman who was murdered in Greensboro, North Carolina. In politics, Representative elect Sarah McBride has been banned from the women’s bathroom in the U. S. Capitol. Oh, we’re going to talk about that. Okay. Now in culture and [00:04:00] entertainment, Jussie Smollett’s conviction has been overturned in Illinois.

And I can’t believe I’m still talking about Jussie Smollett’s case, period. Blackout Magazine releases an interactive map to remember our trans siblings and Khalid is outed. We still doing that as usual family, much to get into. Let’s go. Family, our top story today is about Quinisha Coco Chantel, a 26 year old black trans woman who was [00:04:30] killed by her ex boyfriend in Greensboro, North Carolina.

It is not lost on me while I record this podcast that it was literally just a week ago that we were remembering and honoring our trans siblings who had been killed this year. It was just Trans Day of Remembrance. And here we are The next episode, remembering another black trans woman who’s been murdered by her ex boyfriend.

Jeremy Reynolds, in this case, 31 years old, was said to have been [00:05:00] really upset that Coco decided to break up with him four months ago. And so he decided to shoot her three times. And he is now being charged with first degree murder. Her mom came out and said that she supported Coco. She had Coco when she was 14 years old.

And so they really grew up together. And she talks about Coco coming to her and saying that she wanted to transition when she was 11 years old. [00:05:30] And she shares how she’s just been fully supportive of her. Ever since for her to live her best life. And according to the Pittsburgh lesbian correspondence, and you should support their work.

Okay. Her mom posted this statement on Facebook. Let my baby, Quanisha Chantel rest, please. If you really knew her, then you already know she didn’t bother a soul and she definitely didn’t want anybody in her bubble. Regardless of how she lived her life, I loved her [00:06:00] unconditionally and accepted everything she stood for.

She stood in her truth and didn’t GAF, which is give a fuck how nobody felt about it. She did exactly what she was put on this earth to do. And she did it with grace. She is, and always will be my chocolate Barbie, the go getter, the well wisher. She was the hidden gem. So let people talk. Remember my baby.

For who loved her to not be what they portraying her [00:06:30] to be. Let them have this one. Coco, you did it, girl. You know, these stories just never get easier. Truly, they suck every single time. Now here’s some stats coming from HRC, right? When it comes to trans women being killed out here in the world. 70 percent are killed by guns.

63 percent are killed by an intimate partner, and 77 percent of those victims are Black trans women. Coco [00:07:00] is said to be at least the 31st trans, non binary, or gender non conforming person to have died by violence this year. Coco, we remember you today. And we speak your name

in politics. You all remember me talking about this last week, I listed out the names of the LGBTQ folks who actually won in November. Okay. There was a lot to vote on this year during this election season. Okay. Yes, it [00:07:30] was the president, but here in Chicago, we voted So much. And I know you did too, where you live locally.

And one of the largest wins, one of the biggest wins was Sarah McBride out of Delaware. Yes. She became the country’s first openly trans Congress person. Yes, she did. This is a huge deal, right? She’s going to DC to represent the people of Delaware as an out. Trans woman and her acceptance speech, she said, we know here in Delaware, a [00:08:00] different politics is possible.

A politics of hope, not of hate, a politics of grace, not of grievance, a politics of progress, not a pettiness. Okay. She came through with the speech. Okay. The acceptance speech was on point. Well, what is clear right now is that she isn’t in Delaware anymore. Okay. Representative Nancy Mace out of South Carolina could not wait to sponsor a resolution that would prohibit house members and staff [00:08:30] from quote, using single sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.

Now, of course her colleagues, okay. Couldn’t wait. To dump their full support behind her, including a couple of Democrats. We’re going to get into in a little bit. Okay. Speaker Mike Johnson, we all are familiar with him, right? Said in a statement, quote, all single sex facilities in the Capitol and house office buildings, such [00:09:00] as restrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.

He went on to say, Each member office has its own private restroom and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol. Now my Senator, okay, Tammy Duckworth, I’m so grateful. She is a voice in this place. Okay. Said this about this resolution that it [00:09:30] is disgusting and wrong. She went on to say we have issues here in this country.

And yet she, as in representative Mace is worried about one member of Congress, Using the bathroom. Number one, I think her position is disgusting and wrong, but I also think we have a lot more to worry about than where someone goes to pee. Now, family, I want y’all to keep following this story. Okay. Now representative elect Sarah.

Said [00:10:00] this, I didn’t run to be a first. I didn’t run to make history. I ran to serve this state that I love and to deliver for Delawareans. I’m in Congress to deliver for my constituents, to make healthcare, housing, and childcare more affordable. She went on to say this on a Sunday interview on MSNBC’s The Weekend.

I have so many thoughts, family. I have so many thoughts. When I first [00:10:30] saw. Sarah’s response. I said to myself, this is a great political response, right? She was elected to serve the people of Delaware, to advocate on issues that we all care about. Childcare, healthcare, housing. Right. But I also felt that her response missed the moment because [00:11:00] what Mace and the Republicans are doing here, it’s taking what they’ve been doing locally and it’s empowering them to do it at the highest levels of government.

And so to say that she’s there to do the work of the people. Yes, of course. But to disassociate herself from being trans in this moment and the impact that this has on not just her, but every staff person that [00:11:30] walks into the Capitol, right? Which then could potentially lead to all federal buildings in this entire country, which is inevitably.

Where Republicans want to go is dangerous. It’s really dangerous. I wish I could separate my work from my identity in such a way, but there’s no way Sarah McBride can do this. There is no way [00:12:00] she thinks she’s going to be able to serve in Congress and not uphold or speak on behalf of trans folks. And I believe to try to not to do that is so incredibly harmful.

It’s dangerous. People elected her because of her policies, but you guarantee people also elected her. Because she is trans and they believe that she would fight for their [00:12:30] rights. And what she essentially did with her response was acquiesce to avoid being in the middle of it. Sarah, I’m here to tell you, you in the middle of it, you are absolutely in the middle of it.

And I want to give a big shout out to Isabel and I hope I’m pronouncing your name correctly. Isabel dropped me a queer news tip on our queer news tip line about Democrats who are jumping on this bandwagon, okay? This anti trans bandwagon, [00:13:00] which is seeming so easy to do right now, but we have to resist the urge.

Don’t do it. It’s not okay. None of us are free until all of us are free. Isabel sent this tip about Seth Moulton, who’s a rep from their state of Massachusetts. Okay. Now representative Moulton said this Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face.

So he went on to [00:13:30] tell the New York times, okay, I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, that is one of the most transphobic things he could have ever said. Okay. And then he went on to say, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.

No, as a Democrat, you should be ashamed of saying that. You shouldn’t be afraid. You should be ashamed. Okay. Isabel went on to share with me the response from Massachusetts [00:14:00] equality, mass equality. Um, the executive director there, Tanya said this our country is deeply hurt by these remarks, which reinforce harmful stereotypes and undermine the dignity of trans people.

We hope that by engaging with the congressmen, we can work towards a more inclusive and informed understanding of transgender issues in sports. I’m grateful for the equalities around the country, yes, that are doing this work every day to educate politicians and organizations. On our behalf, but this is absolutely ridiculous what’s going [00:14:30] on.

Yes, and Democrats are allowing trans folks to be scapegoated. It’s not cute. It’s not pretty. And the Democrats better get it together. They better get it together before they lose such a huge part of their base. And with that being said, how about we take a quick break? Okay. And when we get back, we’ll have culture and entertainment.

Need health insurance? It’s open enrollment for the Get Covered Illinois Marketplace. Our navigators will help you enroll in a health [00:15:00] plan and you could qualify for financial help. Visit GetCoveredIllinois. gov to enroll by December 15th for coverage starting January 1st. If you’re listening to this, it means we didn’t sell this ad space.

If you’re listening to this, it means running ads on our podcast can actually work. You see what I did there. Do you need some promo? A little amplification hit us up at info at e3radio. fm that’s info at [00:15:30] e the number three radio. fm. We have a platform. You should use it. Family. Welcome back to the show.

Now, our top story in culture and entertainment is Jussie Smollett. And how can this be when he was a top story when I started this podcast three years ago, and this epic case has been going on now family for nearly six years, six years, the world came to know Jussie because of [00:16:00] empire. Empire, one of the most iconic shows of our time, cookie lions.

That’s all that needs to be said. It’s cookie lions. And I honestly think this whole saga has tanked the empire legacy in ways. No one could have even imagined because It continues to go on and on and on. And I think you all know the backstory. Yes. In 2019, Jussie Smollett alleges, right. [00:16:30] He was the victim of a very vicious hate crime here in the city of Chicago called homophobic slurs.

He was beaten right. And he was left with a noose around his neck. This was the claim. It wasn’t soon after that those claims were questioned. They were held to account. Jesse has maintained his innocence and all of this, but on two separate occasions, Jesse was found liable in 2019, a Cook County grand jury indicted him on 16 counts of disorderly conduct [00:17:00] right in December of 2021.

He was found guilty on five of the six felony counts. And then in March, 2022, he was sentenced 30 months of felony probation, 150 days in jail. He was ordered to pay 120, 000 in restitution and he was fined 25, 000 for making false police reports. Okay. But in between. These two indictments, 2019 and 2021, our Cook County [00:17:30] state attorney, Kim Fox, dropped all the charges.

Okay. They made a deal. Jesse agreed to forfeit his 10, 000 bond and the prosecutor’s office decided to drop the charges. And let me tell y’all something. When Kim Fox did that, the city was not pleased. The police department wasn’t pleased. The mayor wasn’t pleased. The people of highest power here in the city, We’re not pleased.

And so that’s why they appointed their own special prosecutor. Kim Fox stepped back and they [00:18:00] appointed a special prosecutor. Well, now in 2024, due to an appeal filed by Jesse Smollett’s attorneys, the Illinois Supreme court has overturned that conviction. They said, you can’t prosecute a person twice.

This is the law one on one. It’s something lawyers learn at the very beginning of their schooling. Double jeopardy is not a thing. Thank you. But alas, the city of Chicago did city of Chicago things. They tried it [00:18:30] and the Illinois Supreme Court said, you can’t do that. Jesse’s lawyers said this. This was not a prosecution based on facts, rather it was a vindictive persecution and such a proceeding had no place in our criminal justice system.

Ultimately, we are pleased that the rule of law was the big winner today. So the case was overturned and they’re not saying it’s overturned because Jesse Smollett didn’t do what they’re saying he did. They’re saying it’s overturned because the [00:19:00] prosecution did something they had no right to do, which was to try to charge him twice.

After the Cook County state’s attorney’s office dropped the charges, that should have been it. But the city was in their feelings and now they have prolonged this even longer. Y’all, I’m sitting here as a person to sell you this. I don’t know what to believe. I have sat in many rooms. I’ve heard all the debates.

I’ve heard all the arguments and I’m telling you right now, I’m sitting here saying, I don’t know what happened that night, but [00:19:30] what I do know is that he’s not changing his case. The city of Chicago ain’t changing their case. But at some point people, we must move on. Nobody was harmed here. But Jussie Smollett, that’s it.

That’s all. If there was any punishment to be had, I think he’s experienced it. And I know for a fact there is a person headed to the white house who was done much worse.[00:20:00]

Now our next story is about a new initiative being led by blackout magazine. I had the opportunity to meet Tamra earlier this year at creating change, the largest LGBTQ conference that happens every year. Okay. And every year we meet more amazing people. Doing amazing work in the world. And Tamra is one of those people.

She founded Blackout Magazine and it is an all Black and Brown, queer, full of trans writers, creatives, photographers [00:20:30] from around the country. She founded it in 2020, yes, to celebrate and educate around and showcase Black queer culture. Now, I was able to catch Tamra on IG live and I heard her talking about this new project they have, this initiative they’ve launched called TRI, the Trans Remembrance Archive and Information Index.

It’s a mouthful, but it’s a powerful thing. And I was able to catch up with her and ask her why TRI is so important. [00:21:00] Here what she had to say. Yes, this is one of Blackout’s biggest projects, and honestly, it’s probably one of our most important. So we were able to partner with an org out of Rochester, New York.

They were able to take our research and utilize geospatial technology, which is basically what your GPS uses, to plot every single murder of a trans, non binary, gender non conforming, gender expansive 2018 on a map. So you can go in and use this map system. It’s a hundred percent free to click on a point on the map [00:21:30] and see a profile.

A picture a story of each person as well as rare factors. So year gender identity location to find people to find patterns to find safer spaces and hopefully save lives or continues. Try to help secure funding, um, educate the community. Educate these new politicians. It just got elected law enforcement can use it to compare victimology and we all can use it as a platform to honor the memories of these people that were lost.

[00:22:00] Way too soon to transmesia. So we encourage everybody to go on, try it and hopefully try. We’ll save some lives. Family. This is what we need. We need more of this, more of this out of the box thinking about how we tell our stories. Yes. I think it’s phenomenal. Congratulations Tamra and the entire blackout magazine fam.

If you want to check out this map. Yes. I have a link in the show notes. Go check it out. And if you got some dollars, give a donation. [00:22:30] Okay. Congratulations Tamra and the entire blackout magazine.

I know y’all remember that song location. I know you remember it because the beat at the beginning of that track is so memorable. You will find yourself just singing. Send me your location for our last culture and entertainment story. Family Khalid is in the [00:23:00] news and. And it’s not because of his music, even though it should be because he just dropped an album two months ago called sincere.

Okay. Which all of us listening to this podcast need to go download and support because recently his ex boyfriend outed him on Twitter. I saw the story and I said to myself, people still out people, what are we doing out here in the world? Why no one cares that much. All it does is make the person who outed that individual look like the person that they are a real [00:23:30] Hole, okay Yeah, that’s what happened and Khalid he responded he responded on Twitter He said I got outed and the world still continues to turn let’s get this straight I am NOT ashamed of my sexuality in reality.

It ain’t nobody’s business But I’m okay with me. Love y’all and then there was another tweet where Khalid said Rainbow exclamation point exclamation point. There [00:24:00] y’all go next topic, please. Lol. I Appreciated that he handled it the way that he did took care of it quickly cuz don’t nobody care All we want people to do is make up music.

There is no shame in it at all. But I did hear the ex boyfriend is getting a lot, a lot of the things up on the Twitter. I ain’t on there no more, so I can’t see it, but I’m waiting for gay magazine to report on it. Okay. I appreciate gay magazine. Y’all better go [00:24:30] follow.

Now family, you know what time it is. It’s time for Anna’s got a word because Anna’s always got a word and I am so excited about finally dropping this merch store this week. And one of the things I’m doing with the store is I’m going to take a phrase from Anna’s got a word and make it some merch on the store.

I’m going to change it up every month. And this month I’m going to I’m using the phrase, tell your story. Yeah, because at the heart of this work [00:25:00] that I’ve been doing for over a decade at this point, over nearly 15 years, is that it is incredibly important for us to tell our stories. History has written us out.

And if we don’t tell our stories, nobody will know we were here. And so as you begin to think about your 2025, yes. And you begin to. Make your goals and set your agendas. Yes. For what you want this upcoming year to be for you. [00:25:30] I want you to also think about how you’re telling your story. There are so many ways for us to do it.

I choose to use my voice. Yes. On this podcast, on our radio station to tell our stories, their social media. There are videos. There’s YouTube. Yes, there’s blogs. There’s so many ways to tell your stories today. And I just want you to think about how you’re doing it for yourself. How are [00:26:00] you doing it for your family?

How are you doing it for your legacy? Tell your story till next week, family. Peace.[00:26:30]

If you’ve enjoyed what you heard rate and review us 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.