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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha and alcome to stuff

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Speaker 1: I never told you production by Heart Radio.

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Speaker 2: And today is April first, twenty twenty five. We will

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Speaker 2: not do April Fool's Nothing because we don't like it

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Speaker 2: a and it's already been. Everything's a joke anyway, nothing

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Speaker 2: seems real, so does it really matter? No, But it

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Speaker 2: is April first, just in case you need to know.

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Speaker 2: And yesterday was Trans Day of Visibility. So to our

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Speaker 2: trans sisters and brothers and non binary folk, we love

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Speaker 2: you and we see you. And with that, we wanted

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Speaker 2: to take some time to celebrate a transactivist who has

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Speaker 2: been doing amazing work. And today we're talking about Lee Gordon,

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Speaker 2: who goes by They them, so just as a reminder,

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Speaker 2: Gordon is a queer activist an organizer who has been

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Speaker 2: hard at work advocating for their community and people. Here's

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Speaker 2: a bit from their interview with Bold Journey dot com

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Speaker 2: about themselves, and they say, I am disabled, queer, non binary, trans,

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Speaker 2: blackfem pan African LGBTQ plus liberation activist, scholar and community organizer.

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Speaker 2: I dream of a liberated, loving and resource world for

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Speaker 2: all people. I'm also National Head of Justice with Queer

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Speaker 2: Youth Assembly, a Freedom from Fear, fellow with Southerners on

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Speaker 2: new Ground, a national board member of Queer Trans Project,

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Speaker 2: and a steering committee member of Blackfeminist Futures Political Hive,

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Speaker 2: and they continue. I have worked with organizations such as

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Speaker 2: the Blackfeminist Collective GLAD and the National Black Women's Justice

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Speaker 2: Initiative to fight for decolonization and queer of color rights

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Speaker 2: as focus group, facilitator, organizer, and community care practitioner. I'm

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Speaker 2: also co author of a higher educational anthology on how

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Speaker 2: blackfilms may navigate spaces and secure communal power in academia.

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Speaker 2: To pursue their doctorates and engage in the social justice

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Speaker 2: struggle and from their LinkedIn they write, Lee Gordon They

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Speaker 2: Them is a Black LGBTQ plus community organizer, activist, black

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Speaker 2: feminist researcher, and criminal justice reform advocate who has worked

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Speaker 2: extensively with national nonprofits such as Queer Youth Assembly, Southerners

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Speaker 2: on new Ground, and Black Feminist Future. They hope to

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Speaker 2: pursue a career in activist scholarship focusing on civil rights,

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Speaker 2: community care, black LGBTQ plus activism, and grass riots organizing

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Speaker 2: in the South. Lee is also an undergraduate at Harvard

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Speaker 2: College and plans to jointly concentrate in sociology and statistics,

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Speaker 2: focusing on environmental racism and healing justice in disrupting the

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Speaker 2: medical industry complex. So a lot of goals. They have

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Speaker 2: a lot of goals. Intimidating amount of goals to the

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Speaker 2: fact that they're already doing so much at the very

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Speaker 2: young age of a believe like twenty twenty one. So

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Speaker 2: they have accomplished a lot already and are just skyrocketing

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Speaker 2: and all of the things that they wish to do amazing,

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Speaker 2: like it makes me tired and anxious. Amazing stuff though.

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Speaker 2: So they are the head of Racial Justice for Queer

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Speaker 2: Youth Assembly or QYA, and has been there since twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty three. And just a little bit about a Queer

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Speaker 2: Youth Assembly. Here's something from their site, Queer Youth Assembly

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Speaker 2: dot org.

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Speaker 1: Quote.

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Speaker 2: Queer Youth Assembly QYA is a five oh one c

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Speaker 2: three nonprofit organization founded in August twenty twenty one to

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Speaker 2: help uplift queer youth voices across the country. We strive

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Speaker 2: to provide a safe space for creative activism for the community.

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Speaker 2: Since our start, we have created waves nationwide during walkout

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Speaker 2: marches such as our National March for Queer and Trans

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Speaker 2: Youth Autonomy in March twenty twenty three, protests, and a

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Speaker 2: variety of ongoing initiatives, and in their section about us,

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Speaker 2: they go on saying our goal is to foster a

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Speaker 2: queer youth movement across the United States. We envision a

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Speaker 2: world where all are given safety, autonomy, joy, and the

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Speaker 2: ability to reach their fullest potential through events, projects, community collaboration, resources,

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Speaker 2: professional development, artistic endeavors, and much more. Our mission is

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Speaker 2: to create an inclusive and transformative world for queer youth.

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Speaker 2: Just reading things like that, I don't understand how people

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Speaker 2: think like communities like this is about trying to make

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Speaker 2: everyone something else or doing something against somebody else's will.

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Speaker 2: I'm just the constant argument about people saying things like

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Speaker 2: I wish they wouldn't do this, I wish that would

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Speaker 2: force this on us. It just literally says we want

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Speaker 2: autonomy anyway, okay, moving on every time anyway. And Gordon's

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Speaker 2: work with QYA and others have been part of the

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Speaker 2: reason many celebrate their advocacy. They were featured in the

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty three as one of Glad twenty Under twenty

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Speaker 2: and here's what Glad wrote in their Future about Gordon.

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Speaker 2: Just like Lee, Gordon pays respect to her quote queer

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Speaker 2: and trans black fore mothers who fought and died so

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Speaker 2: that she could be free. Someday future generations of LGBTQ

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Speaker 2: kids will say the same for her. A researcher, grass

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Speaker 2: roots organizer, behavioral scientists, and the current head of Racial

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Speaker 2: Justice at Querythasim Gordon has already forced a way forward

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Speaker 2: for LGBTQ people and Black people through her advocacy. Gordon's

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Speaker 2: legacy spans many mediums and movements, but research is her superpower.

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Speaker 2: A student organizer at Harvard focused on statistics in African

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Speaker 2: American studies, Gordon established the first chapter wide trans plus

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Speaker 2: anti discrimination standard for Friendship Public Charter School, a fifteen

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Speaker 2: campus academic body in Washington, DC. Gordon is also credited

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Speaker 2: as an author in Black Women Navigating the Doctoral Journey,

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Speaker 2: a comprehensive guide providing insight on mentorship ways to combat

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Speaker 2: the systemic racism that alienates Black women and pass for

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Speaker 2: success at a crucial early stage of their careers. And

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Speaker 2: in the interview with Bill Journey, they were asked advice

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Speaker 2: for others seeking success, and Gordon replied, this way. For

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Speaker 2: those who wish to develop their activist tools set, I

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Speaker 2: would highly encourage you to look for value aligned organizations

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Speaker 2: hosting remote workshops and teachings. There are several groups that

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Speaker 2: do work in climate, racial, LGBTQ plus and abolition Justice

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Speaker 2: that curate open town halls to discuss the current political landscape.

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Speaker 2: Attending these events has allowed me to continue informing my

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Speaker 2: own political beliefs. I've also met so many incredible people

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Speaker 2: from these sessions. They really allow you to witness how

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Speaker 2: beautiful the organizing community can be and how we can

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Speaker 2: sustainably evolve. So that's just a bit from what they

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Speaker 2: have been doing. Obviously, there's so much more they do.

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Speaker 2: They are featured on a podcast episode with Angelica Ross.

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Speaker 2: No Opportunity Wasted is what the podcast is called, and

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Speaker 2: they talk about power of collective action and community care. Again,

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Speaker 2: we're talking about people who are doing so much work

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Speaker 2: when it comes to communities and advocacy work, and right

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Speaker 2: now is the time. Obviously I mean anytime, but we're

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Speaker 2: seeing it on a whole what collectivism looks like when

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Speaker 2: it comes to working in protests against illegal things as

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Speaker 2: well as very inhumane things such as taking rights away

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Speaker 2: from trends people. So they have talked a lot about

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Speaker 2: what they're doing, these type of organizations. You know, we

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Speaker 2: love highlight lighting these organizations and the work that they do,

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Speaker 2: so we've definitely had to feature a little bit about

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Speaker 2: them as well, and just love watching people likely doing

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Speaker 2: such amazing work, being so young and still fighting and

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Speaker 2: having all of these amazing golden dreams that we know

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Speaker 2: will be accomplished.

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Speaker 1: And are incredibly important. So Yes, Listeners has always let

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Speaker 1: us know if you have any suggestions for this segment.

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Speaker 1: You can email us at Hello at stephbone nevertold You

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Speaker 1: dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky at

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Speaker 1: mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok Stuff Never

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Speaker 1: Told You or us on YouTube. We have a t

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Speaker 1: billet store and we have a book you can get

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your books. Thanks as always to a

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Speaker 1: super producer Christina or executive producer Maya and architecture Joey.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks to you for listening stuffhone Never Told

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Speaker 2: A LO