Speaker 1: Pat Robertson has died during Pride Month, so I think
Speaker 1: that makes him an ally, you know, or something. Welcome
Speaker 1: Beauty translated listeners to another minisode. This week, we are
Speaker 1: doing a crossover with one of our fabulous podcasts on
Speaker 1: the iHeart and Outspoken Networks. Today, I have Danielle Moody
Speaker 1: with me and she is the host of woke af Daily. Hi, Danielle,
Speaker 1: how are you doing today?
Speaker 2: I'm good. How are you doing?
Speaker 1: I'm doing well. It's good to see you again and
Speaker 1: good to have you here for this wonderful Pride Month
Speaker 1: special that we're that we're doing.
Speaker 2: I'm super excited to be here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you. Danielle. Could you start out by just
Speaker 1: kind of telling the listeners a little bit, a little
Speaker 1: bit about who you are?
Speaker 2: Yeah, how much time do you have? Just kidding? So yeah.
Speaker 2: WOKF Daily is a five day week political podcast that
Speaker 2: kind of pulls back the curtain on current affairs. We
Speaker 2: dig into the conversations that you're not going to hear
Speaker 2: on mainstream media or on cable news and lift up
Speaker 2: a lot of amazing academics, historians, politicos, you know, folks
Speaker 2: that really have their finger on the pulse of today's
Speaker 2: you know, kind of new normal that we are living in,
Speaker 2: and so I like to think of the show as
Speaker 2: like a community space so that people don't feel alone
Speaker 2: in their crazy and in their rage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's fantastic because yeah, as you said, there's
Speaker 1: crazier and crazier news coming out every day, Especially for
Speaker 1: those of us that are a part of the lgbt
Speaker 1: Q plus community, it is becoming more and more stressful
Speaker 1: and challenging to navigate this world. And it's really great
Speaker 1: to have podcasts like yours out there that provide different
Speaker 1: perspectives because, as we know, even lots of the you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is something you've talked about
Speaker 1: on your show, but lots of the quote unquote uh
Speaker 1: you know what what people on the right would consider
Speaker 1: like leftist media. A lot of that media is run
Speaker 1: by Republican CEOs and stuff like that. Yeah, so it's like,
Speaker 1: what is how do we actually get a different perspective?
Speaker 1: And a lot of times it's from from these shows
Speaker 1: that are that are talking outside of the mainstream. So
Speaker 1: thank you for that. And Danielle, can you tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2: So a little bit about me I am. I guess
Speaker 2: how I used to talk about myself as a recovering lobbyist.
Speaker 2: I spent a lot of time in living in Washington, DC,
Speaker 2: working on Capitol Hill, working for different thing tanks like
Speaker 2: the Center for American Progress, and then transitioned into media
Speaker 2: when we were kind of gearing up for the marriage
Speaker 2: equality fight. So this is like the early twenty tens,
Speaker 2: you know, for folks to remember that, you know, marriage
Speaker 2: equality was not the law of the land until twenty
Speaker 2: fifteen Supreme Court decision. And you know, at the time,
Speaker 2: there were lots of people that were talking about marriage equality,
Speaker 2: but they were white, CIS, gay men who don't invoke
Speaker 2: a lot of empathy. And so I am ended up
Speaker 2: ended up entering into that conversation and becoming one of
Speaker 2: the spokespeople for marriage equality at that time. And then
Speaker 2: recognized the power of media, and during the cycle of
Speaker 2: the twenty sixteen presidential election, realizing like everybody else did,
Speaker 2: that this country could elect Donald Trump, decided to launch WOKF.
Speaker 2: And you know, for me, I see myself as an advocate,
Speaker 2: as an activist, as somebody who has built a platform,
Speaker 2: an independent platform on progress, the values and I'm unapologetic
Speaker 2: about it as a black queer woman living in America,
Speaker 2: and I think that it is really important to have
Speaker 2: diverse perspectives and no, you know, no bullshit perspectives on
Speaker 2: where were on where we are. Like, you know, I
Speaker 2: don't I don't sugarcoat things because I think that listeners
Speaker 2: are smarter than that and they deserve to be spoken
Speaker 2: to in a way that makes sense, uh, and that
Speaker 2: registers for them. So that's kind of how I've built
Speaker 2: my career through policy, through media and find myself here.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, that is quite quite the background you have there,
Speaker 1: and quite the journey you've had. Thank you for fighting
Speaker 1: the fight and the marriage equality.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: During that, you know, I was, I was, this is
Speaker 1: going to sound crazy. I was in high school when that,
Speaker 1: when that happened, and it was, you know, a very
Speaker 1: very big deal. I remember, you know, being in Georgia.
Speaker 1: People people that weren't excited about it were acting like
Speaker 1: the sky was falling, you know, And here we are,
Speaker 1: something like more than ten years later, and the sky
Speaker 1: still hasn't fallen and everything is fine. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's interesting you bring that up because just the other
Speaker 1: day I was having a conversation with a trans man
Speaker 1: who was talking about kind of the differences or I
Speaker 1: guess you should could say, like the lack of representation
Speaker 1: and progression forward in the trans movement versus what we
Speaker 1: saw in the marriage equality movement. What do you think
Speaker 1: And this may be like too big of a question,
Speaker 1: but you know, let me know, Like, what do you
Speaker 1: think is different about the times when we were fighting
Speaker 1: for marriage equality versus today when we're fighting now for
Speaker 1: trans equality? What do you think is different and what
Speaker 1: needs to change?
Speaker 2: Well, the unfortunate difference, and again I don't sugarcoat things,
Speaker 2: is the fact that the marriage equality movement was largely
Speaker 2: funded by CIS white gay men, right, And so when
Speaker 2: you have shoes that are going to impact a double
Speaker 2: income oftentimes no kids demographic of the LGBTQ plus movement,
Speaker 2: they had a lot of money and put a lot
Speaker 2: of money and a lot of funding behind what was
Speaker 2: probably the one right that they were not afforded. And
Speaker 2: that's just the reality of the situation. And so when
Speaker 2: you look at where we are in terms of trans rights,
Speaker 2: there is a lot of transphobia discrimination within the LGBTQ
Speaker 2: plus movement. Oftentimes you know, done at the hands of
Speaker 2: white CISC came in and so you know, it's like
Speaker 2: I have been in so many rooms where I could
Speaker 2: not believe my ears and believe what people inside of
Speaker 2: a community that is already marginalized and oppressed would decide
Speaker 2: to part and parcel out people who they think are
Speaker 2: holding them back from full equity and let's just you know,
Speaker 2: we'll come back for the t later. Is a thing
Speaker 2: that I have heard in many of rooms, you know,
Speaker 2: on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, you know, over the
Speaker 2: course of my career. And so that's the reason there
Speaker 2: has been this kind of well, you know, we're trying
Speaker 2: to assimilate right where the L, the G and the
Speaker 2: B are trying to quote unquote assimilate. And marriage was
Speaker 2: the most traditional thing that you could assimilate into in
Speaker 2: our society, right and so look, we're just like you,
Speaker 2: and we want to have kids, and you know, we
Speaker 2: live these lives and blah blah. It was something that
Speaker 2: I think the way that marriage was situated was how
Speaker 2: it was assimilating into heteronormative culture. And I think that
Speaker 2: for many folks inside of the LGBTQ plus community, they
Speaker 2: had not had like I guess seventy percent of the
Speaker 2: population experience knowing somebody that that is trans, and so
Speaker 2: it was easy to be like, now, we'll come back later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll come back for the tea later. Which yeah,
Speaker 1: which even at the time I remember that being kind
Speaker 1: of the feeling I had was like, Okay, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're not helping me right now, but maybe the later
Speaker 1: type of thing. And I think it's interesting because now
Speaker 1: we're dealing with all of this, you know, anti trans
Speaker 1: legislation and stuff like that. And what's interesting to me
Speaker 1: is that the American zeitgeist, whatever you call it, whatever,
Speaker 1: the culture of America has really shifted in the past
Speaker 1: ten twenty years to be much more accepting of gay
Speaker 1: and lesbian people and couples and things like that. And
Speaker 1: it's almost like it's like they draw the line. A
Speaker 1: lot of people draw the line at trans issues. I
Speaker 1: can be accepting of gay people, I can be accepting
Speaker 1: of lesbians, but I cannot be accepting of trans people
Speaker 1: and the fact that they want rights, which I find
Speaker 1: to be, you know, just an interesting observation from my perspective.
Speaker 1: But thank you for speaking on that, because I definitely
Speaker 1: think that's not something that the average person. And when
Speaker 1: I say like the average person, the average like sis
Speaker 1: straight person thinks about is how their own perception of
Speaker 1: gay people has shifted, whereas the media is intentionally demonizing
Speaker 1: trans people at the moment.
Speaker 2: Can I just say one quick thingmen, because I think
Speaker 2: that it's important. I talk a lot on my show
Speaker 2: about my about my family, about my parents, and my
Speaker 2: mother is you know, owns a yoga studio out east
Speaker 2: on Long Island, and you know, she had, through the
Speaker 2: course of like her work and time, had one of
Speaker 2: her students were a gay couple queer couple, and then
Speaker 2: one of them began transitioning. And for my mother, who
Speaker 2: is in you know, the boomer generation, she really opened
Speaker 2: up her mind and her understanding into what, you know,
Speaker 2: what it meant to transition, what it meant to be
Speaker 2: trans because she already had a queer daughter, but was
Speaker 2: she was not. It was just like, oh, I just
Speaker 2: have to expand my thinking, like oh wait, like tell
Speaker 2: me about how it is your feeling and how I
Speaker 2: can better show up and support you. And I think
Speaker 2: that the purpose of what the media is doing and
Speaker 2: the purpose of what the Republican Party is doing is
Speaker 2: to break down those bridges, because it really just is
Speaker 2: a lack of as you know, a lack of understanding,
Speaker 2: a lack of narrative like let me ask the wrong questions,
Speaker 2: not from a place of transphobia or bigotry, but because
Speaker 2: I'm really trying to understand, right, like let me, let me,
Speaker 2: let me walk this path with you. And what they
Speaker 2: are trying to do is just obliterate that path, that
Speaker 2: bridge and put fear in its place. And my mother
Speaker 2: in that generation, so when people say like, oh, they're
Speaker 2: just old, it's like, no, they're not. They have they
Speaker 2: have more than enough ability and intelligence to be able
Speaker 2: to work themselves through a process to understanding right exactly.
Speaker 1: And it's it's anyone at any age should be able
Speaker 1: to should be able to expand their thinking and grasp
Speaker 1: these concepts. Thank you for that, Danielle. I'm going to
Speaker 1: take us on a quick break and when we come back,
Speaker 1: we'll talk more with Danielle and we're back, all right, Danielle.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to ask you, as we are talking
Speaker 1: a lot about the lgbt Q plus community and just
Speaker 1: about Pride Month, what does Pride Month mean to you? Specifically?
Speaker 2: Such a good question because you know, my relationship with
Speaker 2: Pride has changed throughout the years, and I think that
Speaker 2: it's base on where we are as a country and
Speaker 2: overall society. In some years it has just been full
Speaker 2: on celebration and you know, rainbows and sparkles and you know,
Speaker 2: dance parties and what have you. And I think that
Speaker 2: now it is really about using your joy as resistance.
Speaker 2: It is more so kind of going back for me
Speaker 2: in terms of the roots and the beginnings of Pride,
Speaker 2: which was a riot, which was a pushback against police brutality,
Speaker 2: a pushback against you know, policies that were draconian on
Speaker 2: their face. And so I think for me right now,
Speaker 2: Pride is about how can we remain joyful at a
Speaker 2: time when there are over five hundred anti LGBTQ plus
Speaker 2: anti trans bills that have popped up around the country,
Speaker 2: seventy six which have been passed. You know, how do
Speaker 2: we remain in a place of joy and use that
Speaker 2: as a way and as a tool of resistance. And
Speaker 2: so for me, you know, it is looking at Pride
Speaker 2: as we're saying on woke Up that you can't ban
Speaker 2: queer joy, right like our friends at GLAD say, it
Speaker 2: is you know, and you need to embody that.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of the space that I'm in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it is hard, you know, it is hard to
Speaker 1: be joyful in these moments. It's not easy. But I
Speaker 1: do believe that part of this whole mission is to
Speaker 1: really just like wear us down and make us as
Speaker 1: depressed and down on ourselves as possible, And of course
Speaker 1: we should take it seriously, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: we do have to have the energy and the willingness
Speaker 1: to fight back and push back because Pride was a riot. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there's been a lot of news stories going on
Speaker 1: in the world. What I wanted to celebrate in this
Speaker 1: month is that today, as we're speaking to each other, Danielle,
Speaker 1: is the day that Pat Robertson has left this planet.
Speaker 1: I just want to celebrate that. I just want to
Speaker 1: celebrate that Pat Robertson, as we know, very very feverently
Speaker 1: anti trans, anti gay pastor who is an evangela what
Speaker 1: do you call it, televangelist? So, yeah, you have any
Speaker 1: thoughts on good old Pat?
Speaker 2: Yeah, good Old Pat is the He was the original grifter.
Speaker 2: He was the person that created the playbook for white
Speaker 2: evangelical Christians taking over the Republican Party with their hatred
Speaker 2: and lies, transphobia, bigotry, and racism. This man had said
Speaker 2: some of the most egregious, disgusting things about queer people.
Speaker 2: And it's unfortunate that he was able to live to
Speaker 2: the ripe old age of ninety three. But I think
Speaker 2: that the devastation that he has caused will far outlive him.
Speaker 2: And it's important that you know, people say, don't speak
Speaker 2: ill of the dead, Well, don't do bad shit when
Speaker 2: you're alive. How about that? How about that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Exactly, Yeah, and I completely agree with that. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: was pretty much spent his whole life being, you know,
Speaker 1: as evil as he possibly could. Yes, And if you
Speaker 1: haven't watched Like the Family on Netflix, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've or any of those. That's a documentary that
Speaker 1: just kind of it's I love those kind of like
Speaker 1: docuseries basically breaks down Pat Robertson, Jerry Folwell and how
Speaker 1: they really meshed with the GOP and the Republican Party
Speaker 1: to really be a part of their lobbying effort, and
Speaker 1: it's shaped a lot of the crystal I'm sorry, let
Speaker 1: me get the words out. The Chrysto fascism that we're
Speaker 1: seeing today has been shaped a lot by the legacy
Speaker 1: of Pat Robertson. So rest in hell, I don't know,
Speaker 1: rest forever, you know, but not in peace, not in power,
Speaker 1: because we're we're grateful for that. So let's celebrate that
Speaker 1: Pat Robertson has left, has left the world on this
Speaker 1: glorious day. So I'm happy about that. Thank you for
Speaker 1: sharing your perspective on that too, because he's been around
Speaker 1: for a long time, and he's a long time and
Speaker 1: he's been doing bad shit for a long time, so
Speaker 1: it's hard to keep up with everything. You know, decades, yeah, decades. Well, Danielle,
Speaker 1: can you tell the listeners where they can find you,
Speaker 1: follow you and listen to WOKF Daily?
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely so you can listen to WOKF Daily here
Speaker 2: wonderfully on iHeart part of the Outspoken Slate. You can
Speaker 2: also keep up with me on Danielle Moody dot com,
Speaker 2: where you can get connected all over my social media's Twitter,
Speaker 2: TikTok and Instagram.
Speaker 1: Beautiful. Thank you, Danielle, and I will be sure to
Speaker 1: include links and whatnot and the episode descriptions of be
Speaker 1: sure to check those out. Thank you for being here
Speaker 1: with us. Today, Danielle, I'll thank you for this Pride
Speaker 1: Month special crossover and a Happy Pride Month to you.
Speaker 1: Stay joyful as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, Happy Pride to you and all of the listeners.
Speaker 1: Be sure to check out my interview with Danielle Mudy
Speaker 1: over on the LOKF Daily Feed, which also dropped today