Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OKF Daily with Me
Speaker 1: your Girl, Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker, Folks.
Speaker 1: Last month, I had the great pleasure to join LGBTQ
Speaker 1: people from across the country at the National Task Force
Speaker 1: Creating Change Conference in New Orleans. And the National LGBTQ
Speaker 1: Task Force works on a myriad of issues to bring
Speaker 1: equity injustice to the LGBTQ community, and at the Creating
Speaker 1: Change Conference, I sat on panels with queer gen zers
Speaker 1: that are working in states like Florida in order to
Speaker 1: overturn some of DeSantis' most draconian policies that target trans youth,
Speaker 1: with everyone from religious figures to grassroots activists to transactivists
Speaker 1: in battleground states to get a sense of what does
Speaker 1: fighting look like on the ground. Oftentimes we hear and
Speaker 1: see the headlines, but we don't really know who are
Speaker 1: those people that are staying in these states that are
Speaker 1: fighting right while the rest of us kind of move on.
Speaker 1: And so the LGBTQ Task Force has launched their Queer
Speaker 1: the Vote campaign leading up to the twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: election to get as many queer Americans registered to vote
Speaker 1: involved in our electoral politics and have used their advocacy
Speaker 1: lens to educate as many people as possible about their
Speaker 1: power and to utilize the collective power of the queer
Speaker 1: or vote. So in a fantastic series over the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, you will be hearing from some of
Speaker 1: the activists that I spoke to on the ground in
Speaker 1: our Queer the Vote series that we're going to run
Speaker 1: over the next couple of weeks, and you'll be hearing
Speaker 1: from folks in battleground states about what is at stake,
Speaker 1: what they need support in in order to get the
Speaker 1: job done, and the job done being that you know,
Speaker 1: we don't turn America into a fascistic authoritarian dictatorship because
Speaker 1: we are apathetic, or because we are tired, or because
Speaker 1: you know Biden is not perfect, and trust me, he
Speaker 1: is fucking not. But at the end of the day, folks,
Speaker 1: I know what is at stake, and it's either we
Speaker 1: vote for democracy or we vote for fascism. I will
Speaker 1: keep saying it until the election is done and democracy
Speaker 1: still stands. That we are not voting for a per
Speaker 1: We are voting for our freedoms to continue. In that
Speaker 1: some elections are just about holding on. So coming up
Speaker 1: next is my conversation with Jen Scott from Equality Ohio
Speaker 1: to talk about what is happening in that battleground state
Speaker 1: and how Equality Ohio is going up against some of
Speaker 1: the most egregious policies directed specifically at trans youth and
Speaker 1: the LGBTQ community folks. I am so excited to be
Speaker 1: joined on WOKF Daily by Jen Scott, who is a
Speaker 1: statewide field director at Equality Ohio, an LGBTQ organization that
Speaker 1: is working to advance equity and justice for folks in
Speaker 1: the state of Ohio. Jen, we're right now at Creating Change.
Speaker 1: The Creating Change LGBTQ task Force puts on this conference
Speaker 1: every year, and this is a big year. It's twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, and you know, we are ten months away
Speaker 1: from the most consequential election of our time. I want
Speaker 1: to get a sense from you, what is the vibe
Speaker 1: on the ground in Ohio. How are you feeling? How
Speaker 1: is a quality Ohio feeling and dealing with this increasingly
Speaker 1: fractious hardisan you know, divide that we're experiencing right now.
Speaker 2: That's a great question and it's changing daily. The landscape
Speaker 2: has shifted over the last six months last year, the
Speaker 2: Reproductive Rights Coalition put together a ballot issue to protect
Speaker 2: reproductive rights after the fall of Dobs. So there's a
Speaker 2: petition statewide to add constitutional protection for reproductive rights, and
Speaker 2: there was pushback. Prior to this, a lot of people
Speaker 2: looked at Ohio as a solidly read state.
Speaker 1: Yes Yes.
Speaker 2: This campaign really energized the base to come out and
Speaker 2: say we want bodily autonomy, we want to be able
Speaker 2: to control our healthcare choices. Opposition was concerned that this
Speaker 2: was actually going to pass, so in August they held
Speaker 2: a special election to change the threshold for the constitutional
Speaker 2: amendment that was going to be going in November. So
Speaker 2: they tried to make it more difficult for the November
Speaker 2: ballot issue for reproductive rights to pass. They spent twenty
Speaker 2: million dollars on this special election with only one question
Speaker 2: on it, hoping to change it make it more difficult.
Speaker 2: Ohioans came out and voted and voted no on that issue.
Speaker 2: Then in November they voted yes to reproductive rights. So
Speaker 2: that has changed the landscape in Ohio from a view
Speaker 2: of solidly read to oh people care about bodily autonomy
Speaker 2: and reproductive rights, and now we're seeing the attack on
Speaker 2: LGBTQ you escalate even more than what we were already
Speaker 2: seeing it. Late last year, they the state legislature worked
Speaker 2: on HB sixty eight, which would ban gender affirming care
Speaker 2: for youth. They added on to that banning trans youth
Speaker 2: from participating in sports, and we were hoping to delay this.
Speaker 2: Ohio has a two year general Assembly, so anything they
Speaker 2: introduced in twenty twenty three is still active through the
Speaker 2: end of this year. So sometimes during the mid year
Speaker 2: they don't pass things. But they actively worked to get
Speaker 2: this pushed through after they saw the election results because
Speaker 2: they saw reproductive rights as a loss for them, so
Speaker 2: they came back and said, oh, we need to get
Speaker 2: something done that shows that we're making progress for them.
Speaker 1: So progress for the progress for everybody else.
Speaker 2: Yeah, bad phrasing.
Speaker 1: I mean, but it's true for them, that is progress.
Speaker 1: Right to be able to rescind rights and protections and
Speaker 1: make a target, particularly of the trans community, which I
Speaker 1: want you to be able to dig into and say,
Speaker 1: look at what we're doing. Right, look at what we're doing,
Speaker 1: because I feel like what we see with these states,
Speaker 1: whether it is Ohio, Texas, Florida, Louisiana where we currently
Speaker 1: are Alabama, is that the Republican Party is using states
Speaker 1: as their patriot dish. Let us test out how far
Speaker 1: we can go in terms of abusing this community before
Speaker 1: anybody does anything about it, before there is any type
Speaker 1: of collective pushback. And do you think now, because of
Speaker 1: the loss for them in November on the ballot, that
Speaker 1: they were going to double down even harder with the
Speaker 1: LGBTQ community.
Speaker 2: That's what we're seeing. So they pushed through the HB
Speaker 2: six the past in both chambers, it went to the
Speaker 2: Governor's desk. Governor DeWine vetoed it and sent it back
Speaker 2: to the legislature. They're currently as we're recording this, the
Speaker 2: House has already voted to override his veto. The Senate
Speaker 2: is going to be hearing it later today. My coworkers
Speaker 2: are working on that it is likely to be overridden
Speaker 2: and go into law. In addition to that, an unexpected
Speaker 2: to us when we came back very start of January
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, Governor Dwine issued new rules for agencies
Speaker 2: when it came to healthcare, and they're still analyzing. Experts
Speaker 2: are still analyzing what these rule changes will mean because
Speaker 2: of the way the wording is. It's similar to what
Speaker 2: we're seeing across the country. Very vague, very broad wording
Speaker 2: that's not well thought out. Even if they are trying
Speaker 2: to accomplish something that would be helpful for people, they're
Speaker 2: not because the wording is so vague, and it's going
Speaker 2: to affect potentially trans adults in addition to trans youth
Speaker 2: and could have broader implications. The more medical experts look
Speaker 2: at this, and more specifically their lawyers look at this,
Speaker 2: it could affect others in the community as well.
Speaker 1: Now, when you say that the legislation could affect trans adults,
Speaker 1: are we talking about access to hormones? Are we talking
Speaker 1: about access to care? Can you just dig in for
Speaker 1: us a little bit?
Speaker 2: Potentially? Some of the rules specify the eighteen to twenty
Speaker 2: one year range and are focusing on pediatric hospitals because
Speaker 2: they serve the populations up to twenty one. It's very
Speaker 2: similar to the trap laws we saw with reproductive rights,
Speaker 2: where they weren't officially cutting off access, but they were
Speaker 2: making it more and more difficult to get access. And
Speaker 2: some of the rules require multiple medical professionals and professions
Speaker 2: that are in limited availability we already might We already
Speaker 2: know there's problems accessing healthcare in general right, let alone
Speaker 2: for the trans community without the addition of these roles.
Speaker 1: When you look at the success that abortion had in
Speaker 1: November of twenty twenty three, are there any of the
Speaker 1: same tactics that can be used as it pertains to
Speaker 1: LGBTQ rights or do you find that abortion was more
Speaker 1: of an issue that more people could coalesce around whereas
Speaker 1: the right Do you feel like are they more successful
Speaker 1: in terms of demonizing the community so that there are
Speaker 1: less people to come out in support of.
Speaker 2: It's a great question. Higowans have made it clear that
Speaker 2: they want bodily autonomy. They want to be able to
Speaker 2: decide their healthcare choices. Abortion we've been talking about for decades.
Speaker 2: People are more familiar with it, people have been are
Speaker 2: more comfortable now having conversations with their family about their
Speaker 2: healthcare choices. Trans issues are more recent in conversation. It's
Speaker 2: become less it's become easier to talk about because we're taught.
Speaker 2: We're enabling our community to talk about it, and we've
Speaker 2: had a number of amazing activists and advocates come out
Speaker 2: and to share their stories so we're hoping that that
Speaker 2: folks are more comfortable talking about this issue. Part of
Speaker 2: the role we play at a quality of how it
Speaker 2: is educating the community, the larger public community as well
Speaker 2: as members of the LGBTQ plus community that don't necessarily
Speaker 2: understand trans care and what that means and the importance
Speaker 2: of it. That's part of our work we need to
Speaker 2: do this year is get that information out there, get
Speaker 2: the stories out there for people that are willing to share,
Speaker 2: feel comfortable sharing, feel safe sharing in an environment like Ohio,
Speaker 2: and explaining what it actually is and what it is not.
Speaker 2: Legislators and politicians are very good at demonizing, stigmatizing, giving
Speaker 2: that quick, short sound bite that sounds great on you know, newscasts,
Speaker 2: but really is based in misinformation, based in fear, and
Speaker 2: doesn't address in any way medical or science based information.
Speaker 1: The funny thing is is that I feel the same
Speaker 1: way that Women's March and different advocacy groups for pregnant people,
Speaker 1: for people with uteruses being able to say you're a politician,
Speaker 1: not a doctor. I don't want you in my uterus,
Speaker 1: want you in my bedroom. I don't want you making decisions.
Speaker 1: And so I wonder do you feel like, obviously your
Speaker 1: job at Equality of Ohio is to educate the public.
Speaker 1: But I'm like, do they need to be educated on
Speaker 1: anything other than dignity, on anything other than respect? Like
Speaker 1: why should the onus? I guess is my thinking be
Speaker 1: on trans people in the same way to be on
Speaker 1: people with uteruses? To walk you through my trauma? Shouldn't
Speaker 1: it be enough that I've made a decision about my life,
Speaker 1: about my body and I want it to be respected,
Speaker 1: Like shouldn't that be the education that we're doing?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? And I wish we lived in that world.
Speaker 1: I know, I know.
Speaker 2: It's about that personal connection when you're sharing stories. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and this is a great place for SIS allies to
Speaker 2: stand up and have these conversations with people, and you
Speaker 2: could share your own story, your own journey of being
Speaker 2: a SIS person that really didn't think about trans issues.
Speaker 2: Are never really thought about your gender identity until you
Speaker 2: started learning more. Until people relate to that personal issue,
Speaker 2: Until some people relate to that personal story and see
Speaker 2: how it affects a real human, they don't get it, Yeah,
Speaker 2: and they're just listening to the sound bites or you know,
Speaker 2: there's also apathy. A lot of voters aren't paying attention
Speaker 2: to this issue because they care about jobs or the economy,
Speaker 2: or you know, many of other things that are going
Speaker 2: on and are voting that way, not seeing the harm
Speaker 2: that's being done or the potential harm. Like they're not
Speaker 2: going to stop at LGBTQ issues, And this issue affects
Speaker 2: all of us, Like we all want control of our bodies.
Speaker 2: We all want to make medical decisions with our providers
Speaker 2: and our family depending on what the situation is. Those
Speaker 2: are all personal choices, and all these politicians want to
Speaker 2: make their own personal choices too. You would think that
Speaker 2: would just be, oh, okay, that's your choice. We also
Speaker 2: have an Ohio a law that passed was snuck into
Speaker 2: the budget that is a medical conscious bill that allows
Speaker 2: health care providers anyone from the person's scheduling, your appointment
Speaker 2: to the doctor, to deny service based on their religious beliefs,
Speaker 2: their ethical beliefs, philosophical beliefs.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just like, Jen, you say this to me,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like it's so fucking absurd because I'm like, then,
Speaker 1: become a clergyman, do you know what I'm saying? Don't
Speaker 1: be a doctor, don't work at a pharmacy don't work
Speaker 1: in general population. If your quote unquote religious moral and
Speaker 1: morals and I use deep quotation marks with that are
Speaker 1: preventing you from providing services to people through the lens
Speaker 1: of dignity and respect, then you're in the world profession right.
Speaker 1: And I just it makes me crazy because I feel
Speaker 1: like we on the left, or just we on earth one,
Speaker 1: as I like to say, I feel like we give
Speaker 1: too we seed too much ground to these people, and
Speaker 1: we're always in a defensive posture of see me as
Speaker 1: a human, give me my dignity, all of these things.
Speaker 1: And I'm just wondering, in your mind, is there a
Speaker 1: pivot that we need to make. I know the power
Speaker 1: of stories, I do it for a living, But I'm wondering,
Speaker 1: is there a pivot that we need to make where
Speaker 1: if you can't provide birth control, if you can't provide
Speaker 1: hormones over the counter to a patient, to a customer,
Speaker 1: then maybe you're in the wrong profession.
Speaker 2: I agree. And many of these associations and organizations that
Speaker 2: you know provide accreditation have rules around this, and they
Speaker 2: were already in place. There was no reason for the
Speaker 2: state legislature to put this in place. Or other states
Speaker 2: that are considering similar actions. And yes, if you're not
Speaker 2: willing to help people and meet their needs, why are
Speaker 2: you in healthcare? Or we could also say if you're
Speaker 2: not willing to represent the people running right, like?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that I mean basic baseline, right, Like, you're not
Speaker 1: just ranting to represent a certain constituency. You're running to
Speaker 1: represent the district, the county, the school district, the state
Speaker 1: that you are are running to represent, which is inclusive
Speaker 1: of everyone that is there. My question for you as
Speaker 1: we're wrapping up, too, is what is a quality Ohio?
Speaker 1: What does a quality Ohio need from people in order
Speaker 1: to get the word out, to get the message spread
Speaker 1: on the ground in Ohio about what is at stake
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: That's a nice easy question, Go ahead. There's a lot.
Speaker 2: It really matters who the decision makers are. A lot
Speaker 2: of people are disillusioned by our election system, right and
Speaker 2: I completely agree with them. Voting is not going to
Speaker 2: solve everything, yep, right now, voting is harm prevention. We
Speaker 2: need to get the less bad individual in place.
Speaker 1: I'm going to steal that because here's the thing, and
Speaker 1: I don't you know where again, we're here at creating
Speaker 1: change at the LGBTQ Test Force conference in New Orleans,
Speaker 1: and a lot of young people and a lot of
Speaker 1: people of color are telling me that I'm not voting
Speaker 1: for Biden or I'm not voting in this election because
Speaker 1: I'm tired of picking the best of two evils. I'm
Speaker 1: tired of not being able to vote my values. And
Speaker 1: I hear them, Jen, and I understand the pain, the frustration.
Speaker 1: I've been doing this work in and around movement for
Speaker 1: close to two decades. What do you say to those
Speaker 1: people who right now on social media, ten months out,
Speaker 1: who some may be walking around this conference that are
Speaker 1: just like, I'm going to throw out my hands for
Speaker 1: this one. I'm going to kiss this one up to God,
Speaker 1: the universe of whomever.
Speaker 2: What do you say? I say that making real long
Speaker 2: term change takes coalition work. We need to support each
Speaker 2: other across the intersections of our concerns and our identities.
Speaker 2: There are three hundred and sixty six days this year,
Speaker 2: because it's a leapier two of those days, I need
Speaker 2: you to show up. I need you to go to
Speaker 2: your primary, and I need you to go to the
Speaker 2: general election. I need you to make a choice. The
Speaker 2: less bad choice, good choice, depending on your candidates. Make
Speaker 2: sure you vote down ballot too. Because state elections are important,
Speaker 2: local elections are important, school boards are important. We're seeing
Speaker 2: more attacks at the school board level. Show up the
Speaker 2: other days of the year. If you want to do
Speaker 2: other things to be an advocate in your area, whether
Speaker 2: that's sharing stories, learning, educating yourself, running for office, being
Speaker 2: a staffer, providing information, or just supporting your community or
Speaker 2: supporting other activists. Some of the most amazing people I
Speaker 2: know that are supporting the work are just babysitting kids
Speaker 2: of other folks that are out there, you know, running
Speaker 2: protests or running mutual aid campaigns, or small nonprofits that
Speaker 2: are doing amazing work. All of us every day can
Speaker 2: do small things to make a change, and it's going
Speaker 2: to take all of us doing that to move the
Speaker 2: country forward in a way that is better for all
Speaker 2: of us. Because one of the thing is our site.
Speaker 2: We care about everyone on our side. We want to
Speaker 2: protect the people that are actively supporting us, and we're
Speaker 2: also not trying to cause harm to others.
Speaker 1: Please tell people how they can get involved with Equality Ohio,
Speaker 1: where they can sign up, volunteer, donate. If there don't
Speaker 1: live in this state and they have the means to
Speaker 1: do so.
Speaker 2: Sure. We have a website at Qualityohio dot org. We're
Speaker 2: also on Facebook and TikTok.
Speaker 1: Brilliant Jen, thank you so much for making the time
Speaker 1: to Joan wokf really really appreciate you. Appreciate Equality Ohio.
Speaker 1: Appreciate all of the.
Speaker 2: Work that you are doing. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today. Dear friends on wokay
Speaker 1: f as always, power to the people and to all
Speaker 1: the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.