WEBVTT - The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch: How to Build a Haven, Part Four: A Queer Microcosm 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.680 On our drive down from Denver to Westcliff. We were 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:11.560 first going to meet up with the Unicorns in Colorado 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:15.920 Springs for a little birthday dinner. James and I arrived 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.560 a few hours early, so I had the bright idea 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:24.000 to stop at the headquarters of the evangelical media organization 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:28.080 Focus on the Family. I hadn't been there since I 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.720 was a little Christian kid, so I was curious what 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.240 it would be like for me to walk through. Now, 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.120 what was it like walking through their little headquarters and 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:43.440 welcome center. What were the general vibes? That was fucking 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:47.960 Bombker's um. So we went in initially, and we've gone 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:53.200 into the bookshop and I found a book that told 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.640 me the holding hands is for play. That was called 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.600 sex in a Marriage. I've seen a book with a 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.040 pink triangle on the cover that is about OGBTQ people, 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.319 which is deeply truck and traveling. Well, it's it's it's 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:09.200 about men struggling with their sexual identity. I see on 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:13.560 the way to stop that struggling. Yeahide Queer elimination of 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:18.240 rhetoric hasn't just been confined to Christian bookstores or the Internet. 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:23.360 In November, it once again became very clear how this 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:28.560 kind of NonStop hate speech being beamed into everyone's homes 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:33.240 impacts them. On the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.720 as Club Q gay bar in Colorado Springs was preparing 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:41.119 for an all ages drag show, a twenty two year 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.160 old shooter walked in and killed five people, leaving twenty 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.760 five more injured. The shooter was ultimately tackled and pistol 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.840 whipped by a US Army veteran Richard Fierro, and stomped 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:58.360 in the face by an unidentified trans woman. A few 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.240 days after the club queue uting, on so called Thanksgiving, 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:07.200 the Focus on the Family headquarters was defaced, leaving behind 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:12.280 a graffiti message pointing out the organization's culpability from pioneering 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.960 the kind of gay exterminationist propaganda that the modern conservative 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:21.200 right is embracing. The message left on the property that 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:24.720 James and I visited just a few months prior read quote, 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:31.200 their blood is on your hands, five lives taken way 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.760 back in I put together behind the Bastards on Focus 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:38.360 on the Family and their founder, James Dobson, and I've 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:43.519 covered Focus on the Family's increase in anti trans propaganda 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.880 earlier this year on this very show. After the graffiti 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:51.000 was left on their headquarters on Thanksgiving, a statement was 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.239 released by the Colorado People's Press, and I'm going to 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.080 read a few parts of that quote. It is no 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:02.560 accident that the club queue shoeing happened in Colorado Springs, 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:07.720 a city steeped in homophobia, transphobia, and white supremacy. It 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.440 is no surprise that somebody did this in the city 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.160 that is home to such a hateful organization as Focus 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.359 on the Family. If you visit their website, you will 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:21.040 see them eagerly display their desire to rid the world 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.600 of all queer people. It is important to us that 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.560 you understand why Focus on the Family must be held 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.960 accountable for the ramifications of their hateful theology. You have 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.800 likely seen the onslaught of anti trans legislation, of which 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.680 Focus on the Family is a huge proponent, both in 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:43.680 funding and propaganda. Focus on the Family's goal is to 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:49.640 eradicate queerness. Unquote. Two of the five people killed in 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:53.160 the club queue shooting were trans people, and in the 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:57.080 days after the attack, figures on the right continued to 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.520 call for attacks on trans people and drag queens, using 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:05.000 their familiar language of groomers and grooming while of course 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.160 completely ignoring multiple figures within their own myths to have 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:12.080 very well documented relationships with people convicted or suspected of 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.640 sex crimes. But obviously evidence or logic doesn't really make 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:19.039 a difference in these types of situations. What's happened is 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.240 that a handful of figures on the right have decided 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.120 that they can gain power, influence, and money by whipping 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.239 up hatred towards queer people. With this hate has come 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.760 an uptick in violence, and this only makes queer havens 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:40.520 like the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch more important. Last month, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.599 after a donut shop hosted a drag queen and queer 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.680 art event, a man in a maca hat smashed the 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.039 windows of the store with a baseball bat and threw 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.039 in a Molotov cocktail. The attacker also taped a note 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:57.159 with Bible verses and homophobic and transphobic slurs on the 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:00.520 window of a neighboring shop. This wasn't the time the 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.800 store had been targeted, and this attack happened a day 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.440 before the shop was set to host another drag art event. 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.520 On December three, a right wing activist and former U. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:16.400 S Army psychological operations officer claimed on Facebook that God 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:20.400 had caused a power outage in Moore County, North Carolina 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.240 in an effort to shut down a drag show that 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:27.640 was currently taking place in a local theater. Earlier that 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.560 same day, a holiday themed drag show in Columbus, Ohio, 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:36.479 hosted by a Unitarian Universalist church was canceled due to 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:41.640 threats and protests outside by Proud Boys, Patriot Front and 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.520 a number of unidentified armed men in Cammo. Patriot Front 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:51.200 chanted blood, liberty, and victory, while the Proud Boys chanted 0:05:51.480 --> 0:06:10.120 Feds Feds Feds back at them. Despite their disagreements, the 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:14.000 two groups seemed perfectly fine working together to shut down 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.760 the drag event. The Nazi group White Lives Matter Ohio 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.039 was set up a few blocks away in their skull 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:25.000 masks and were seek hiling two drivers passing by. After 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.400 it became clear the drag show was not going to 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.880 take place, the groups moved to a busier, more visible 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:35.279 street to wave their groomer signs. A few dozen Patriot 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.520 Front members stood chanting outside of a Chipotle as a 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:44.920 Christian Diminiist flag flew behind them. On December seven, someone 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.080 fired a gun through the window of a bar in 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.040 rent in Washington after threats against the bar were posted 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.159 online for hosting a drag queen story time. Just a 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.960 few days ago. On December, the FBI designated extremist militia 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:04.440 group named This is Texas Freedom Force showed up armed 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.680 with guns outside of a Christmas themed drag show in 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.320 San Antonio, Texas. Other right wing groups like the San 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.680 Antonio Family Association and the Fascist Patriot Front also had 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.920 members present. By the end, the crowd protesting the drag 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:24.400 show was greatly outnumbered by people showing up to support 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.640 and defend the queer event, some of whom also showed 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:43.120 up armed. What do we do? Something that was mentioned 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.320 across the multiple interviews we did while visiting the ranch 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:51.920 is the idea of microcosm and macrocosm. The Tenacious Unicorn 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.440 Ranch story and the threats of violence that they have 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:59.640 faced really does embody a microcosm version of the transphobic 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:04.760 and queer eliminationist rhetoric and genocide campaign that the country 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.840 as a whole is experiencing. It's just that this local 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:12.960 manifestation of it happened to be on an outpaca farm 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:17.920 as odd as that maybe apparently kind of funny. And 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:19.920 and then with the way they run with their head 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.760 all the way down to the ground and just yeah 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:31.840 that impracticalities. Yeah, little camels animals straight out of you know, 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:38.800 they really are. They have the same amount of magic. Yeah. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:45.040 Just driving up here seeing them, I was like, wow, Yeah, 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:48.000 they are like unicorns are like a mythical and it's 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.560 just kind of like, wow, is this real. It's like 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.840 a fucking tont on what's going on? They just looks 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.120 so snuggleble I want to snuggle them. And the way 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:04.679 they walked like that, like that like crewcome. Yeah, when 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:10.080 they do a trot like America. This is clown. He's 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:24.080 an asshole, but he's a really good dad. Yeah. For 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.920 this last episode of the series, we want to give 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.679 you a sense of what regular life is like at 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.600 the ranch now that it's been almost two years since 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:36.440 the siege and people have had time to process, grow 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.360 and adapt. One thing that's growing is the number of 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:46.600 alpacas something like that. With the reason Crea is born, 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:52.120 we are a hundred so about a d alpaca. Um, 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.200 let's talk a little bit about alpacas. I think they're interesting, right. 0:09:56.200 --> 0:10:00.400 You came into both your alpaca as rescues. Yea, yeah 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:07.040 we uh so at the original ranch, we purchased ten alpaca, 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.880 but it was like a rescue purchase. The only way 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:13.000 that we could get them to give them up as 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.000 if we paid money for them. But they were obviously 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.920 like they needed new homes. That was all from really 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.040 lovely people. It was just like these weren't alpaca they 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.480 wanted um. And then we learned really quickly that there 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:29.640 is a that there's a problem in America with alpaca 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.360 ranchers aging out of being able to take care of 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.840 these really massive herds that they've built and either euthanizing 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:42.240 or splitting up herds, which is both things are not 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:50.040 great for the health of the alpaca. Yeah. Um, that 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.800 ends that story. But so we found really quickly that 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.800 there is a As a rescue we were able to 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:01.640 help more animals and afford animals, you know, like uh 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:05.439 because and because we were on the acres that were 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.800 on we could take in entire herds and not break 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.400 them up, which is a big deal. Um. And so 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:18.040 our first intake of rescues was seventies six alpaca from 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.359 a really great couple in horse Tooth that was retiring 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:27.320 really great animals, hardy, really quality fiber um and we 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:29.720 just kind of have been with that model ever since 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:34.960 as a rescue and the way you you like sustainable 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.440 as a run cheese in addition to working outside is 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:41.319 selling the fiber, right, the fiber from the animals. Yeah, 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:45.319 both sheep and the alpaca provide fiber that we then 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.760 turned into. Really what we do is turn it into 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:51.319 yarn and then sell the yarn. We've never needed to 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.360 go beyond that because we've always sold out of our 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:57.680 yarn almost immediately. Speaking of sheep, here's a nice little 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.960 clip of James fawning over some of the door sets. 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:14.200 There's a dead nice looking sheep doors. There's some of 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:18.280 them that are mixed with the remember what the black 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:22.280 face Scotch black face. Yeah, um, and they're they're a 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:26.160 really lovely mix. Yeah, that's a nice combination. Actually pretty 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.760 rugged sheep, big and just rugged like they put up 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.280 with everything. Yeah. You can see their coats are just 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:35.040 like bread, like they're just a doughey. Yeah. Yeah, the 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.360 dorsets have like a nice thick fleece and they're like, 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.840 well fleas on the head and the neck. Yeah, they 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.400 make really good We mixed it with our alpacking yard 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:48.360 this year. It's a wonderful yarn. It's really rough thinking 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.400 that there's people that are just like fucking a pack 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:55.880 of farmers. What's gone wrong in your life that you 0:12:56.080 --> 0:13:00.520 so angry at someone for looking after these fleuefy animals. Yeah, 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.840 Like the big thing was there was that moment where 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.600 like they had the Nazi parade in town and that's 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.400 what really like we called them out on it and 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.960 that's what started the animosity. But like it was a 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:20.120 greade of Nazis, Like like, I don't feel bad, Like 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.160 it's weird that they took it to the level of 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.760 oh yeah, well we're going to burn down your house 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.560 and kill you all. That will show you. It's like, yeah, 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:34.719 it'll show us that your Nazis. In our conversation with 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:39.120 Jordan's from The Tribune, as somebody who was born and 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:43.240 raised in this area, he gave us his perspective on 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.680 why people may have thought they could get away with 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.640 attacking the ranch and how there has been this cultural 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.600 shift in recent years to allow this kind of reactionary 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.600 militancy you know, again, I don't think it was anything 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:01.960 super organized other than a bunch of these individuals that 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:05.360 had already been sort of organized deciding to do something 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:09.480 really stupid and knowing that the sheriff and a lot 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:11.640 of other people wouldn't take it that seriously. That's what 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:13.640 I wondered. Yeah, they thought they could get away with it. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:15.400 And I've been a history of that, Like have they 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.800 done that sort of thing happened in the valley U 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.080 in the past, and there's been plenty of just as 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.880 I said, But you know, but usually that stuff wasn't condoned, 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.000 so eventually they get caught in terms of like like 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.640 pressuring or minorities. You know, in the past, there was 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.280 there was always some of those types of things, but 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:36.080 it also wasn't condoned or even excused even against most 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.640 If it came out, then those people were chunned and 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:43.160 shamed even by Republicans. But these days it's much more like, well, 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.840 we'll look the other way, you know. Now it's tipped 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:51.040 the other direction. Thankfully, so far, the efforts of these 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.680 few individuals to harm or pressure the Unicorns out of 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:59.480 the community have unequivocally failed, and in some ways just 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.640 may stronger bonds. Yeah. They wanted you to leave. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:06.560 I mean all of it was designed to make you 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:13.000 so afraid you would go away. Yeah, like yeah, terrorism 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.560 and that hasn't happened, right, So you await a year 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.400 and change, a year and a half, all nice? Yeah? 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:23.000 Two years in. Two years and change and a year 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:28.200 plus since since And how are things now? I think 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.440 at this point people legitimately love us like locals, like, yeah, 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.800 people call us the unicorns and they everybody knows who 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.200 we are and it's and not in a bad way, 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:42.720 like it's really we feel at home here. Because of 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:46.720 the timing of their initial move over to Westcliffe, it 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:51.760 made local community building kind of challenging and little did 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:55.360 they know that they would crucially need community and support 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.840 in the month to come. So, because it was during 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:04.120 the pandemic uh and everything was on lockdown, we didn't 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.760 establish a lot of community. We Uh Annie moved in 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.480 who was somebody we knew down in birth It which 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:16.280 was very close to us, uh and so she moved 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.600 up here at the exact same time we were moving 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.360 up here. So we did have like somebody that we 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:23.840 could like talk to and interact with but they were 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:26.640 just as new to the area as we were. Um 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:30.120 and I mean honestly setting up a ranch and moving 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.880 from one location to another when you're talking about like 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.280 multiple hundreds of animals, and at that point we were 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:40.000 six people. Uh, we were very self focused for the 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.600 first six months we were up here. Uh. So our 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.680 general sweep was they have Shakespeare in the park and 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:50.920 it's a tourist town, so it seems great. We moved 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.040 here because we could afford this house and no other 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.840 house in Colorado. Uh And then and then it slowly 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.560 started to become a parent that we've moved into a 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.960 very red area. But again, there wasn't any overt signs 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.800 upon arrival, Like everybody was cool and honestly, like people 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:15.720 are still pretty cool of people that suck. As things 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.600 have steadily stabilized and settled into a version of normal, 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:24.440 the Unicorns have been getting more involved throughout the local community. 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.439 A little while back, they stepped up to assist with 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.200 recycling for the county. We stepped up for a small 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.960 period of time when the recycling company that was handling 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.680 the counties recycling folded. We stepped up with our horse 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:42.600 trailers and just collected recycling and drove it to a facility. Um. 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:47.679 Now there's actually a facility in the Westcliffe Landfill that 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:52.680 does recycling for the this county and the neighboring three counties. Um. 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:55.320 And that was a building that like we designed and 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.879 the person who's running at Rocky Mountain Rocky Mountain Recycling, 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.800 Joni's her name. Amazing people. They're doing great things and 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.760 we're glad that we could help in whatever we could. 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.000 It just became a government project and that's when we 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.040 stepped out because that's not really what we're about. But yeah, 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:17.000 and as socialization has been able to get more possible 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:21.199 since the pandemic, the Unicorns have developed ways to connect 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.600 with the existing community of queers and weirdos in the area. 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.000 Jen put together like a weekly game night and it's 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.879 it's like slowly growing and we're bringing in queer people 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.480 to play board games and stuff. Yeah, we've got four 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:39.520 different people from in town who you know, otherwise don't 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:41.480 really have a connection to the ranch coming in to 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:46.160 play a board game or maybe Magic Night and playing Suspicion. 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.119 That's going to keep growing. Uh. It might be Arkham 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.679 Horror third edition, or it might be mysterium or it 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:57.040 might be magic, okay, m magic, because I would I 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.760 would would love to beat everyone here in a game. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.000 Oh my gosh, you should play with us. Yes, that fun, 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:05.480 even little things like that, like like and it's just 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.480 always to build community. Yeah, it's important because we need 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.280 to be here when like, if it gets really bad 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:15.320 on the macro cosm scale, things do seem to be 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:19.600 getting bad. When we talked with Jordan's about how George 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:24.480 from The Sentinel was targeting the unicorns, the conversation segued 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.919 into how there's been this shift from economic conservatism to 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:34.680 this rising brand of far right Christian vanguardism. I think 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.240 if I was to classify some of the movement you 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.359 see in conservative America right now, where it all starts 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.720 to make sense is that in the past, conservatism was 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:44.840 always trying to push against sort of this idea of 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.280 revolution or progress or too fast. You know, they always 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:50.040 go back to the French Revolution. That's where of the 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:52.280 left and right kind of started saying, hey, if you 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:54.800 move too quickly with progress, everybody gets their heads chopped off, 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.080 you know. So that was kind of conservatism, which is 0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.840 we don't really believe in anything necessarily we're just gonna 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.640 the tradition and just kind of be saying no a lot. 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.280 But at the same time, that's how conservatism was here 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:10.440 until the Soviet Union fell, and then all of a 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.080 sudden something switched, which is, we have the system that won. 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:15.960 Our system should spread across the world, because if every 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:19.480 day but he did American style capitalist democracy, we would 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:25.040 enter this weird and randy in utopia. Yeah yeah, well 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:29.360 into history, but on a conservative side. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:31.320 That's exactly what it was. And but the problems is 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.880 two thousand one, particularly here, pushed it over. It went 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.560 from like, okay, maybe two we're actually going to try 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.800 to push this on other countries. And really what I 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:45.160 called the right or the conservative right now they got 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:47.920 bit by the utopian bug, which is if everybody is 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.520 armed to the teeth, if everybody lives the way that 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.439 they dictate they should live, which is some weird and 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.680 randy in version of life and morality, then we'll enter utopia. 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:02.080 And so if anybody stands against you as that prophet, 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.160 you are the enemy. So that can be that's why 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:09.040 the right now turns on themselves all the time, is 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:14.080 anybody stands against them is the enemy. A liberal stops utopia, 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.119 is there deffinite? Anybody that stops utopia, you have to 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.080 go through this is liberal or communist, you know. And 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:21.840 I think if you look at it in that lens, 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:24.280 the world makes a lot more sense. I don't see 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:27.160 very much utopianism at all on the left anymore, whereas 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.480 on the right it's everywhere. So it's one of those 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:33.080 weird political things that's flopped the other direction now, just 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:36.560 in different words, different ways. Utopianism is on the right now, 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:40.399 they also need to have some type of conflict. They 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.479 need to have a purging episode. You have to purge 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:46.119 everybody that's on the other side to enter utopia. And 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:48.320 that that's why Christians are really into it. They read 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.080 the book or Revelation. We have to have the civil 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:54.480 where we have to purge all the leftists because on 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:59.000 the other side we enter the Kingdom of God. It's 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:01.760 the exactly, it's absolute millinari is um. And that's what 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:04.159 we're facing here. If I was a summit up, that's 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:08.119 how it says, it's definitely millinari is um. In the 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:22.199 local forum. If we are going to look at the 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:27.160 tenacious Unicorn ranch story as a microcosm of transphobic violence. 0:22:27.440 --> 0:22:29.720 Then I think it should also be seen as a 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:34.280 case of study of the invaluable role solidarity and community 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:39.040 have in resisting the concerted effort to harm queer people 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:44.040 back when the siege was just starting. Simply feeling able 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:47.000 to go to sleep because people were willing to show 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:50.359 up for you is just one example from this story. 0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:54.240 That's a powerful display of the values many people claim 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:58.639 to have but seldom implement. We were exhausted, and so 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:02.919 to have people show up and be like you, like you, 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:06.479 you will be safe tonight, lay down, gets sleep and 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:12.560 trusted enough to sleep like because it was incredible. It 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:16.639 was incredible. As the unicorns continue to make connections and 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:20.360 become a known staple of the larger local community, it's 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:24.800 made organizing any harassment against them more difficult. I bet 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:26.560 a bunch of those people who hate us have tested 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:29.480 the waters with their friends, like all those unicorns, and 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:31.560 they're like what, they're cool, and oh, yeah, that's what 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:36.880 that's That's why I meant because um, but that's been 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:41.879 our ongoing precautions because it hasn't the animosity from that 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:45.520 group hasn't gone away, and it does resurface every once 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:47.679 in a while, like some people threatened to kill our 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:50.760 dogs a little while back and things like that. So 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:56.920 the same people, we're not sure possibly confirming nowadays, some 0:23:57.000 --> 0:24:01.320 security measures have been integrated into their everyday lives thanks 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:06.120 to support they've gotten from strangers. We definitely we have cameras, 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:09.800 so we had to go fund me where people amazingly 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:13.240 kind of like through a large amount of money at us, 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:18.960 which afforded a better fence and cameras everywhere on property, 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:22.280 so that in things like gear, yeah, better gear and 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:25.960 upgrades and stuff like that. So um, we kind of 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:30.400 earned an ongoing keep us safe mode. But like cameras 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:32.800 and guns, that's how we do it. And I do, 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:35.520 I really do think like we showed the shitty people 0:24:35.520 --> 0:24:38.879 of this town like don't mess with that. We we 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:43.359 showed what well, what we showed was that community matters 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:46.800 and if you weren't a ship hell, community will show 0:24:46.880 --> 0:24:50.600 up for you. The day after the club queue shooting, 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:54.520 once again, the ranch posted a tweet asking for people 0:24:54.600 --> 0:24:58.560 to come. This time, they didn't need help. They wanted 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:01.919 to offer it. Only an hour or so away from 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:05.080 Colorado Springs, and they wanted to offer their home as 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:08.439 a place to heal, to talk, and to begin moving 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:12.240 forward as a part of the community struck by violence 0:25:12.320 --> 0:25:16.919 and hate. In addition to a home for the ranchers 0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:20.960 and the animals, the ranch also provides emergency housing for 0:25:21.119 --> 0:25:25.320 queer people who aren't safe wherever they currently are. There 0:25:25.320 --> 0:25:27.760 have been lots of residents at the ranch in the 0:25:27.840 --> 0:25:31.160 four years deep when operating. Some of them come briefly 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:34.639 and use the stability to get set up with a 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:38.760 fresh start in some place. Some others intend to stay 0:25:38.800 --> 0:25:42.560 but find the country life isn't for them, and some 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:46.920 like Jay, become permanent fixtures on the ranch. The term 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:48.840 you've kind of used a lot to describe this place 0:25:48.920 --> 0:25:54.800 is like a queer haven. And the past year, definitely 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:59.960 there's been a pretty volatile increase in transphobia and queer phobia, 0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:03.640 even like a resurgence of homophobia. So as this type 0:26:03.640 --> 0:26:05.480 of stuff is happening, as we're seeing more kind of 0:26:05.560 --> 0:26:09.320 rhetoric around, like a queer genocide or queer exterminationism, how 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:12.199 do you see this place and you know, possible places 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:15.560 like it fitting into kind of how how the world 0:26:15.600 --> 0:26:18.919