WEBVTT - Layers of Marginalization 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.480 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to bokay f Daily with 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:20.200 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Long Island Bunker. Folks, 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.759 I want to start off with saying that today's episode 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:28.960 was a very difficult one for me to record because 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.519 the pain and the despair that is happening within the 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:43.280 LGBTQ community, particularly those that identify as trans is unbearable, unimaginable, 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:47.600 and should not be happening in this country or any country. 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.720 I've been thinking a lot, you know, as we in 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:57.240 this new Christian fundamentalist, fascist state that we are all 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.360 coming to terms with. It's it's like waking up from 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:04.040 a nightmare and realizing that it is reality. Is kind 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.080 of the place that I have been in, and I 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.560 know millions of people across this country have been in 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.960 since the decision by the Supreme Court for the first 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.840 time in the Supreme Court's history and modern times, to 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:21.039 be a body that takes away fundamental rights as opposed 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:25.360 to providing or expanding on what it means to live 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.040 in the land of the Free. And I think that 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:33.360 what a lot of young people, young women are facing 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:39.680 right now is a country that has become overnight, incredibly dangerous. 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:45.000 But here's the thing that for those folks who are trans, 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:50.600 who are part of the lgbt Q community, their lives 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:54.360 have always been in danger right by virtue of just 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.480 having the audacity to show up in their body as 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.200 who they are, to be able to as my guest, 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:06.960 Jin will say, to be able to self direct, right 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.840 to self direct. And I thought about this as they 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:17.360 were speaking. Jin fam is the communications director at an 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:22.440 organization called the Transgender Education Network of Texas. So you 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:27.760 just imagine just by title alone, what Jin and the 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:32.960 people who work at TENT and other LGBTQ organizations in 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:37.200 the state of Texas and nationally are dealing with. And 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:42.839 it is the understanding that you have elected officials who 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.280 are telling you that you do not have the right 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.520 to dignity and respect, that frankly, you shouldn't even exist. 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:55.040 Gin will walk through the fact that the deaths of 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:59.520 trans people, the murders of trans people, have been up 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:01.840 in the date of Texas since last year when they 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:07.160 started to roll out all of these insidious, cruel policies, 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.080 ones that we've talked about on this show that criminalize 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:16.520 parents for caring for the needs of their transgender children 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:22.200 being able to access the hormone treatment necessary in order 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:27.560 for them to thrive. Right, you now have Governor Abbott 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:33.840 who has directed and already overwhelmed Child Protective Services Agency 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:40.640 to investigate, interrogate, threaten, and criminalize parents for caring for 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.400 their children because they have decided that what abuse looks 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:48.680 like is what we know to be love. Because when 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.760 your child comes to you and tells you who they 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:58.200 are and that they, without the ability to access these treatments, 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.960 will kill themselves, will harm themselves, what would any loving 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:08.200 parent do, right, What would any parent who actually believes 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:12.800 that their child should have the chance at a full 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:18.000 and complete life filled with happiness, joy, right, Deny them 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.480 that access, deny them that right. Well, that's what Governor 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.800 Abbott is telling you to do, because you see, in 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:30.120 their warped mind, Right, in these Republicans warped mind, they 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:34.039 have so much love and commitment and quote unquote passion 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.960 for the unborn. But fuck those that are able to 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:42.880 walk on two feet, crawl right, or breathe actual oxygen. Oh, 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.240 then they don't give a fuck. And this is what 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.240 they tell us time and time again. Right, they want 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.440 to talk about Oh, the overturning of Roe v. Wade 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:55.840 being a win for life. No, the fuck it is not. 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.920 How is it a win for life when you will 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.080 against all of the ways that people would be able 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:09.479 to protect their families, help their families, provide health and 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.159 education for their families, to be able to advance their families. 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.520 Republicans don't want to do any of that, and they 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:23.640 don't consider the inability to do so a problem. Well, 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.640 that's your problem. They're going to force you into creating 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:28.520 a family, but they're not going to help you care 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:32.599 for that family. No, they would then admonish you or 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:36.120 criminalize how you choose to care for your family because 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.839 your choice in this quote unquote free nation has been 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:45.760 taken away. You have no choice. That choice is dependent 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.480 on what state that you live in, and if you 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.480 are a queer person in this country, if you are 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:52.640 a trans person in this country, and don't happen to 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.560 live right now in a blue state. Because let me 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.360 just make it clearer, like I say every single week 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.839 it feels like now, is that our safety is in 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.919 fact an illusion. It is an illusion. And that is 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.760 exactly what jin fam will tell us later on in 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:16.480 the show Safety isn't real. Right. We love to pretend that, oh, 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.040 police keep us safe, but we know we have learned 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.200 the hard way that police do not keep us safe. 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:26.200 They keep themselves safe. They cover their own assets. They 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:31.040 don't protect and serve anyone that is outside of their 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:35.640 blue force field. Right, the blue shield of silence, the 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:40.440 blue code of silence. Damn those citizens, Damn those people 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.160 that need defending, like the poor children and teachers in 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.080 Huvaldi that were left to be slaughtered as police what 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:54.680 huddled outside their doors. I am, you know, at a 0:06:54.839 --> 0:07:00.960 loss when each and every week we begin with a 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:05.159 hangover of the despair and the trauma that happened the 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:10.400 week before. This week already you have the Supreme Court 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:15.040 making another unilateral decision in a six to three right, 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.760 deciding that a football coach in Washington State, which we 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.120 have talked about on this show before, who had been 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.120 warned by the public school that he was employed by 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:32.680 to stop his prayer meetings, right, to stop making such 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.480 a display on the fifty yard line after each game 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.560 to pray and have the students rush in and bring 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:42.960 his team in to pray for their victory. And how 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.440 this case was brought up by the parent of a 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.280 child who is atheist, who was on the football team 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.000 and felt like they had no choice that if they 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.080 did not pray with the coach, then they weren't going 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:57.160 to get going to get to play well. Neil Gorsich, 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:03.960 who wrote the opinion, said this quote. Both the Free 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.240 exercise and free speech clauses of the First Amendment protect 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:11.920 expressions like mister Kennedy's. Nor does a proper understanding of 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.680 the Amendments Establishment Clause require the government to single out 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.800 private religious speech for special disfavor. The Constitution and the 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.480 best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:27.400 censorship and suppression for religious and non religious views alike. 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.760 So what the Supreme Court has done, after overturning Roe v. Wade, 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:36.600 after limiting your access to Miranda rights, has now decided 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.920 that there is no longer a line between church and state. 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:44.800 So how long before we have prayer or back in 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.559 schools because these teachers decide, well, it is my belief 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.200 that I need to pray before the start of each day. 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.040 And now your children in that classroom, and you, as 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:59.600 a parent or caregiver, have no right or legal standing 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.240 to object on because the Supreme Court just took away 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:09.559 that right as well. Another win for radical Christian ideology 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.679 and a loss for the rest of us. Each decision 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:18.640 is chipping away at democracy. Democracy is supposed to be 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.840 government that is run for and by the people, where 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.880 the people actually have a voice in voting actually matters, 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.679 except the nine people that are getting to make decisions 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.480 about which rights we actually get and which ones that 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:34.440 they don't want us to have anymore, because you know, 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:36.720 who gives a fuck about one hundred year old precedent 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:41.680 or fifty year old precedent. They weren't elected by the 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:47.240 people and they have lifetime appointments. I created multiple videos 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:50.960 recently and I was on MSNBC where I said, you know, 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.560 we don't even have Democrats opening up an investigation into 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.960 fucking Clarence Thomas and whether or not he's actually compromise 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.920 because of what we've learned about the back channeling that 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:07.280 his wife, Jenny Thomas was doing with Mark Meadows on 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.040 the day of the insurrection and days and weeks after. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.679 We've never had an investigation into Brett Kavanaugh, and the 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.640 fact that the FBI had collected over four thousand tips 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:22.720 from people who said that Brett Kavanaugh is a sexual predator. 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.440 We haven't looked into that. I just don't understand why 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.800 we even have these fucking rules and regulations and policies 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:34.240 on the books that say we have the ability to 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:39.280 remove people from their positions if in fact they are compromised. 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.959 If nobody's going to do the investigation into the compromise, 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:44.880 what the fuck do we have the laws for in 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:49.520 the first goddamn place, Because I'm pretty sure that even 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:51.600 if there was a hint of anything that was going 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.720 on with a justice that was appointed by a Democrat, 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:59.520 Republicans would have no fucking problem calling an impeachment inquiry, 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.520 turning that person into the poster child for corruption, and 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:08.760 forcing them probably to resign. But Democrats don't do any 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:13.600 of that. You have right now, right Joe Biden is 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:17.320 in Europe at the G seven conference, and he's speaking 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:21.560 out and talking about Oh, America is back, America is nowhere, 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.240 and it's not going to be too long before the 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.960 rest of the world snags the microphone from the mouthpiece 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.880 of America and says, who the fuck are you to 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.960 tell us about liberty and justice and freedom. You can't 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.080 even control your own goddamn country. You're sitting over here 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:40.040 in Europe and your Supreme Court just voted to put 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:44.600 women and people with uteruses back into the twentieth century. Right, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:46.679 you don't even have voting rights in most of your 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.199 goddamn states that haven't been thwarted in some way by 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:55.360 Republican zealots. Right, Like, So, who is America in the 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.400 world right now? That's a question that other world leaders 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.240 are going to start to ask, as many of them 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:08.959 have offered their own like absolute disbelief and how quickly 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.920 America and our democracy is crumbling and are gonna need 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.400 to figure out if America goes down, who's going to 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.200 be standing up for democracy in the world. As fascism 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:25.400 is taking hold across the world. We are focusing right 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.319 now on what is happening in Ukraine and the horrific 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.319 bombing of the shopping mall that they don't even know. 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.440 They can't even fucking tally the death toll, because that's 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.839 how many people have probably perished. They couldn't even put 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.680 out the fire. But we can't put out the fire 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.200 that the Republicans lit with the election of Donald Trump 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:50.240 in twenty sixteen. American democracy is ablaze, and I wish 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.559 that Merrick Garland was paying as much attention to what 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.960 was going on in these United States as he was 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:59.800 to what is happening in Ukraine. I'm still waiting around, folks, 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.360 undering when the sense of urgency and the alarm clock 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.360 for the Democratic establishment is going to go off, because 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.360 if it isn't the Roe v. Wade decision, which by 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.400 the way, all they want to do is fucking fundraise 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:11.760 off of. And I'm still wondering why the hell there 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.319 was no strategy that was put in place when Republicans 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:16.560 had been organizing and playing site for the last fifty 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:21.200 goddamn years. Why is everybody caught off guard who's been 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.800 in leadership and been empowered and been in Congress for 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.800 fucking decades. Now I understand why the American people are 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:29.560 caught off guard because you thought that the people that 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.880 you elected would actually protect you. You didn't realize that 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:35.120 they were only going to be protecting themselves. And what 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.920 I am seeing that without direct opposition from the Democratic 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.720 Party and they're taking money from the same goddamn people, 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.000 I'm like, are y'all just on the same team? And 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:48.600 I have been hoodwinked bamboozled into believing that there was 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.240 actually a difference between Democrats and Republicans, because right now 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.080 I don't see one. I see Joe Mansion uttering the 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.440 same disbelief and clutching the same pearls that Susan Collins is. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.240 Oh my god, I can't believe these justices lied to us. Well, 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.360 they'd fucking lie to you, and you have the power 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.400 to hold them accountable for but you won't. So save 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.680 your fucking outrage for somebody that gives a shit, because 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.640 I'm sure as I'll don't. What I know is that 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.400 each and every day in this country is getting worse 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.400 and worse. And I have friends that I'm in conversation 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.400 with that are waking up and they are sick, literally 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:27.160 becoming physically ill, not with COVID, but with despair. You know, 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.560 I have traveled, and I'm certain that all of you 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:33.800 have traveled around the world into places that have corrupt governments. 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.480 We're only going on vacation there, right, We pop in 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:38.880 and we pop out. But I can look in those 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.240 people's eyes and see that there is something that has 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:45.720 been put out, and it is their will because they 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.120 no longer have free will. Their will is dictated to 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.280 them by their government. That is exactly what is happening 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:56.040 in these United States. But we keep thinking that elections 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:57.920 are going to save us, and I'm telling you no, folks, 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.120 it's time for folks to get out into these streets 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.560 because these voting booths, once of Republicans take back power, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.440 are going to look like you know those little games 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.760 that you use at the carnival where you are putting 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:13.880 in all of your money and the claw comes down 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.560 and it maybe it picks up something, but most likely 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.360 it doesn't. That's how it's going to feel every time 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:23.120 we vote. Maybe they'll count it, maybe they won't. But 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.600 Democrats never stop asking you for your money. And the 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.120 question is where the fuck is the money going, because 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:30.480 it's sureance fuck is in going into messaging and branding. 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:39.920 Coming up next, friends, my conversation with the communications director 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:45.160 and manager of Outreach at the Transgender Education Network in 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:49.520 Texas gin FAM. Hey, I'm David Plots of Slaves Political 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:54.040 gab Fest. As another election season accelerates, it can be 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.720 tricky to sort through all the noise and the news. 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.120 Each week on the Gabfest, John Dickerson, Emily Bathslaw and 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.960 I decipher the headlines, break down the races, and tell 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:07.040 you what issues really matter. We do not always agree. 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.640 We definitely do not always agree, but we always deliver 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.320 thoughtful debate and we always have a good time. So 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:20.600 subscribe to slates Political Gapfest new episodes every Thursday. Hey there, 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:22.880 I want to tell you about another podcast I think 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.720 you'll love. The Brown Girl's Guide to Politics, hosted by 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.360 a Shanty Gooler, the president of Emerge BGG, is the 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:31.560 one stop shop for women of color who want to 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.080 hear and talk about the world of politics. Join as 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.760 Shanty this season as she talks to incredible women of 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.400 color who are changing the face of politics and tackling 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.240 some of the most important issues basing the United States, 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.760 from reproductive justice to voting rights, to climate change and more. 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:50.680 Tune in every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts, folks. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.600 I am very happy to welcome to okay F for 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:58.040 the very first time. Jim fam who is the communications 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.720 director and outreach manager for Transgender Education Network of Texas 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:08.879 or tent JINUM. I would ask you about, you know, 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.959 just casually, how are you, how are you doing these days? 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.840 How are you feeling about you know, our country and 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:20.320 your work. So I'll offer that up as a as 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:27.119 a as a jumping off point. For sure, it's been 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:31.920 a weekend, I'll definitely say. And you know, with from 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.120 all the way from the leak back and I don't 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.280 know what is it may now like this has been 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.280 a reality for my state or even longer than that 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:45.520 I were talking about September since SPA dropped, and for 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.359 the folks of color and folks that don't necessarily have 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.920 great access to healthcare in general, if they're as SISS 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.960 or CIS, gender or trans or not. It's always been 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:04.159 really hard, especially here in Texas. So everything is going 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:13.320 not the best, but we've we've prepared ourselves for a 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:18.120 long time for this. So tell us about the nature 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:23.199 of your organization and the work that you all do 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.280 and how it has either changed or shifted. With the 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:32.440 myriad of anti trans bills that have originated out of Texas, 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.560 I call Texas and Florida the Petri Dish of the 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.840 radical right right. They are testing out just how far 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.919 they can go to push the LGBTQ community, but particularly 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.760 trans people back into the closet or to to criminalize 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:53.080 the very existence thereof and so tell us about how 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:57.800 what the work primarily is of your organization and if 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:00.760 and how it has shifted over the past couple of months. 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:04.840 For sure, just to give a little bit of background, 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:10.199 we've been talking about trans folks since marriage quality, I 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:14.080 guess even further than that, I would say, and especially 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.439 here in Texas, you know, with the bathroom bills that 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:21.240 came out gosh, five years ago, and they started talking 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.080 about it six or seven years ago. You know, we, 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:29.280 myself and a lot of my colleagues have been in 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:34.000 this mode of operation for quite a long time already. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.840 If we were just to count last year's legislative session 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:43.320 last January, it's been eighteen months since we've been experiencing 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:48.280 these consistent cruel attacks. And I want to say that 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.520 the cruelty is definitely the point where we're talking about 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:55.520 my members in my community who have been listening to 0:19:55.560 --> 0:20:01.280 their state legislator talk about their right to live, their 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:05.680 right to dignity, their right to privacy, and their ability 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:11.160 to live a life that's self directed but also one 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:17.520 that is deserving of happiness, right you know. So TENT 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.080 is the Transgender Education Network of Texas, where one of 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:27.359 four trans led policy focused orgs in the country. So 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.480 there's only four words kind of like, you know, tackling 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:35.359 these attacks that are speaking from the voice of trans folks. 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.760 And so the last few months, we back in February 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:45.360 around the twenty second, the Attorney General dropped an opinion 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:51.760 saying that being gender affirming to children is abuse. And 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:55.879 this is still using the same language that reflected a 0:20:55.920 --> 0:21:00.720 bill that was shot down last year. Following that the 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:08.919 governor let down a an order it for DFPS or 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:16.280 the Department of Family Protective Services CPS, for anybody else 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:20.760 that might be listening, to start investigating these families right 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:27.680 going to their homes, their businesses, going to the children's schools, 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:30.640 just to see if child abuse is going right. And 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:35.359 there's definitely an obligation for CPS to investigate every single 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:39.960 report of abuse to a child or a person who 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.480 is elderly, right, so understand that as part of their job. 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:47.359 But we're also talking about an organization that's already stretched 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:52.280 soothin in a state that's so large, with one of 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:59.560 the largest economies, that have a large amount of folks 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:04.600 that are already struggling, right, and so you know, having 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:09.120 these investigations happen to families of my community members has 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:14.560 really put that stress really even further upfront. Right last year, 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:19.280 we had you know, a lot of young trans folks 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:23.360 and not barney folks, gender expansive folks argue with their 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:27.480 state leaders in either the testimony room or on the 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:30.800 floor of the Senate for their own dignity. And now 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:41.320 servants of the state are trying to keep it together. 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:47.280 It's hard, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But so for the 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:50.320 last four months, a lot of families have been contemplating 0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:53.879 their options of staying in the state to fight staying 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:58.600 in the state around you know, their support systems, you know, 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:01.760 whatever financial way that they make money for their family, 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:06.639 you know, the children's schooling. The list goes on of 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:08.840 either they leave the state or stay in the state 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:14.000 to be able to be around family. Right. But this 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:17.720 isn't necessarily afforded to every family because this privilege of 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:21.600 being able to move, it's not necessarily everybody's privilege. And 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:25.320 so you know, there are a lot of families who 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:28.800 do not have that option of leaving the country, leaving 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:32.199 the state and just have to stay here, bear with 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:35.399 it and fight with us, right, And so you know, 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:44.240 every year, especially this less six months has been really 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:47.440 hard on like a partner of ours, this Trevor Project, 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:52.199 who received one hundred and fifty percent rise on call volume, 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:55.560 And the Trevor Project is a mental health crisis line, 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:58.560 and that one hundred and fifty percent was just last year. 0:23:58.560 --> 0:24:02.919 We're looking at two hundred percent here of calls coming 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:08.520 in from queer and trans community members who, UM are 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:11.399 finding it really hard to be able to exist at 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:16.920 the moment, you know, UM, we had on I guess 0:24:16.960 --> 0:24:19.760 it was maybe a couple of weeks ago or a 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:22.200 week ago, I don't know, time as a construct at 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:29.760 this time, UM, one of the legislative folks over at 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:33.120 the Trevor Project to talk about what they have seen 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:36.359 in this in this time, in this time of great 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:42.880 urgency in our community. Because for me, you know, as 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:51.959 a as a black queer woman, to recognize that the 0:24:52.000 --> 0:24:56.440 world is unsafe for queer kids, and as a former teacher, 0:24:56.880 --> 0:24:59.720 as a as you know, as a as a queer woman, 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:03.960 I think about how I am feeling attacked in this moment, 0:25:04.080 --> 0:25:07.480 how I struggle, you know, to keep it together, to 0:25:07.640 --> 0:25:10.800 feel like there is something to fight for, that that 0:25:10.840 --> 0:25:14.480 it's not just done right, that that that our agency, 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:18.879 our freedom, our dignity, the respect that we have fought 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:21.719 so hard to get to this point is just reversed 0:25:22.600 --> 0:25:26.720 because people have decided that we are undeserving. Right. Um, 0:25:27.040 --> 0:25:29.919 I think about queer kids, and I think about the 0:25:30.000 --> 0:25:32.600 fear of what it is like to be of school 0:25:32.640 --> 0:25:35.639 age and to be going into school in an environment 0:25:35.720 --> 0:25:39.960 where you have no reprieve, that there is no support 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:43.879 from your teachers or the administrators because of fear either 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:48.720 of being persecuted or because of the fact that they 0:25:48.800 --> 0:25:52.040 believe what Abbott believes. That they believe what the Republican 0:25:52.080 --> 0:25:55.600 Party believes, and that their their care and for safety 0:25:55.680 --> 0:25:59.840 of children only is about the cells in the womb. 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:02.480 They have nothing to do with what happens when you're 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:06.399 able to actually breathe oxygen and are this side of 0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:11.320 a uterus. And so I feel you and when you 0:26:11.480 --> 0:26:14.000 tell when you when you offer up the statistics and 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:18.040 the numbers with the Trevor Project, like, I just don't 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:20.600 even know what we offer. So what do you what 0:26:20.960 --> 0:26:24.480 you know? I know that that you have, you know, 0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:28.680 a constituency base of people who are thinking about what 0:26:28.720 --> 0:26:32.000 they are going to do. If a majority of people 0:26:32.160 --> 0:26:35.840 have to stay because they don't have the economic privilege 0:26:36.040 --> 0:26:37.800 to be able to just pick and just I don't 0:26:37.800 --> 0:26:40.080 even want to think about it as just the economic privilege, 0:26:40.119 --> 0:26:42.959 because if you're born in Texas, you've lived in this 0:26:43.040 --> 0:26:45.840 is your home, this is your state, this is your community, 0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:48.040 and the idea that you are being forced out of 0:26:48.080 --> 0:26:52.120 your community should be something that is It is outrageous 0:26:52.160 --> 0:26:55.240 to all of us when people say to me, oh, well, 0:26:55.280 --> 0:26:58.000 they should just move, I'm like, so you just move. 0:26:58.400 --> 0:27:00.919 Why don't you just move and pick up everything that 0:27:00.960 --> 0:27:03.040 you've ever known and moved to a different state. So 0:27:03.680 --> 0:27:07.639