Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woke f Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Brooklyn Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: it has been another long, trying week in America, and
Speaker 1: I just want us to just take a collective deep
Speaker 1: breath in and exhale it out. I have been meditating
Speaker 1: so much over the past couple of weeks, and you know,
Speaker 1: for me, you can never meditate, you can never sit quiet,
Speaker 1: you can never breathe enough. And I have found once
Speaker 1: again myself in this space of swirling where the news
Speaker 1: is just coming at me so fast that I feel
Speaker 1: like a turnstile. And in those moments, in those times,
Speaker 1: I find that it is really important for me to
Speaker 1: be able to take to bookend my day, to start
Speaker 1: and finish my day with meditation. Whether it's a minute
Speaker 1: that I have to give or twenty, but it is
Speaker 1: really important because I have found in this new meditation
Speaker 1: practice that while we breathe every single day, and it's
Speaker 1: something that we don't think about. If you're not on
Speaker 1: a ventilator, for instance, then you're not thinking about your
Speaker 1: breath in and breath out. And that has us in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways focusing on everything else right that
Speaker 1: is coming in. And what I notice is that when
Speaker 1: I can pause, when I have the ability to pause,
Speaker 1: and I think that we should make conscious efforts to
Speaker 1: pause every day. That doing breath counts in counting up
Speaker 1: to four right exhaling out the same amount for deep
Speaker 1: exhale out, and you do that three times in a row,
Speaker 1: it really does level set you. It really does actually
Speaker 1: allow for your quartisown level to come down, and for
Speaker 1: your shoulders to come down, for your eyebrows to come down,
Speaker 1: for your body to relax. And what I'm finding is
Speaker 1: that each and every day, spending time in Twitter, spending
Speaker 1: time watching cable news, reading all of the articles, all
Speaker 1: of the terrible things that Republicans are saying, and action
Speaker 1: that they are taking, and the inaction from Democrats has
Speaker 1: me in these moments where I am literally holding my breath.
Speaker 1: I can feel the tension building in my body. So
Speaker 1: I start out today saying that I want us all
Speaker 1: in woke af nation to start being a bit more
Speaker 1: intentional about the breadths that we are taking. And when
Speaker 1: you find yourself getting tense, getting rigid, feeling tight, I
Speaker 1: want you to set a timer on your phone for
Speaker 1: sixty seconds and just focus on breathing in deeply and
Speaker 1: breathing out deeply for sixty seconds. We can all spare
Speaker 1: that sixty seconds at the beginning of our day, in
Speaker 1: the middle of our day, and at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, and then build upon that. And I just
Speaker 1: want you all, and I offered that because again, I'm
Speaker 1: finding myself back in a place of stress and rigidity,
Speaker 1: and I'm trying desperately to fight against that. So I
Speaker 1: want to offer that to everyone. Set your timer on
Speaker 1: your phone, sixty seconds. If you can get into a
Speaker 1: quiet space, great, If you can't, put in your ear buds,
Speaker 1: put on some classical music, some tonal music, just some
Speaker 1: ocean sounds, anything anything to block out whatever noise may
Speaker 1: be around you. And take that sixty seconds three times
Speaker 1: a day, and I promise you you will begin to
Speaker 1: feel the difference. All right, So let's jump into the
Speaker 1: news of the day once again. Republicans are saying all
Speaker 1: of the quiet things out loud. They are making it
Speaker 1: clear who they are attacking and why. And while the
Speaker 1: media would love for you to believe that you don't
Speaker 1: know what's in people's heart, and we don't know what
Speaker 1: any of these bills mean. So let's all fame fucking ignorance,
Speaker 1: as if we have no idea why conservative, right wing
Speaker 1: radical Christians would be attacking LGBTQ youth in over thirty
Speaker 1: states right with their legislation to essentially ostracize transgender and
Speaker 1: gender non binary youth from being able to participate in sports.
Speaker 1: Let's pretend that we don't understand why Ronda Santis would
Speaker 1: roll out legislation that would have you go back into
Speaker 1: a version of America where we can't even utter the
Speaker 1: word gay or LGBTQ or queer. Joining me today in
Speaker 1: conversation will be the new executive director of Glisten, an
Speaker 1: organization that has been near and dear to my heart
Speaker 1: for a very long time. Began in the nineteen nineties
Speaker 1: by a group of teachers to help create more equity
Speaker 1: and safety and community in the classroom for LGBTQ youth,
Speaker 1: and I have worked with them over the course of
Speaker 1: probably ten twelve years when I was working in LGBTQ
Speaker 1: policy specifically, and you know, wanting to bring to light,
Speaker 1: really to the mainstream why I had gotten into this work,
Speaker 1: how vulnerable this population is, and what's sad is that
Speaker 1: I hadn't really checked the metrics, right, the numbers, the
Speaker 1: stats of how things have changed over the course of
Speaker 1: the last ten to fifteen years. And what I can say,
Speaker 1: what was alarming as I was researching for my interview
Speaker 1: with Melanie Willingham Jaggers, who you'll hear from in a
Speaker 1: bit and I hope you enjoy the conversation, is that
Speaker 1: the numbers haven't changed for LGBTQ youth. They are still
Speaker 1: over forty percent of homelessness in youth in the country.
Speaker 1: They are still in the high percentages of those youth
Speaker 1: that commits suicide, and they are at high risk for
Speaker 1: alcoholism and drug use, right, And those numbers haven't changed.
Speaker 1: They really haven't changed over the decades. And I'll start
Speaker 1: out my conversation, you know, with Melanie in talking about
Speaker 1: how I can recall at the beginning the end of
Speaker 1: the Bush year as the beginning of the Obama years,
Speaker 1: when when excuse me, the it Gets Better campaign was
Speaker 1: launched and why was it launched because of the rash
Speaker 1: of suicides that were happening of LGBTQ youth in the country,
Speaker 1: and they were making headlines because it was like one
Speaker 1: after the other after the other and the Obama administration
Speaker 1: did a lot. They did a lot during that time
Speaker 1: to hold schools accountable for how they were creating community
Speaker 1: and safe environments for LGBTQ youth, particularly trans youth, and
Speaker 1: their ability to use the bathroom that associates with associates
Speaker 1: with their gender identity. And to think that I was
Speaker 1: so excited to be one of the many people that
Speaker 1: were on the front lines for those fights that we
Speaker 1: had won, and then to now witness the deep backsliding
Speaker 1: that is happening right now in such a short span
Speaker 1: of time. And I've said this before. We know that,
Speaker 1: you know, progress is not linear. It does not you know,
Speaker 1: have one range of trajectory which is just forward. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: for every advance that we ever make in society, we
Speaker 1: take about eighty six steps backwards. And that is the
Speaker 1: unfortunate case in America. And what troubles me now though,
Speaker 1: is that while we went while we may have created
Speaker 1: bright spots for LGBTQ youth and youth you know, in
Speaker 1: general in this country. I got to tell you, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to be a tween or a teenager right now.
Speaker 1: I actually wake up and I'm pretty happy that I'm
Speaker 1: the old age that I am because to have no
Speaker 1: voice and say in the horrible direction that this country
Speaker 1: is headed in and just essentially be along for the
Speaker 1: ride until you turn eighteen, and then even then you're
Speaker 1: not really considered. Your feelings and your thoughts on issues
Speaker 1: of the day light, climate change, light gun control, the
Speaker 1: things that you're going to take on as your fight,
Speaker 1: you're not even taken seriously. So it's it's a different tical,
Speaker 1: I think, place to be in to be youth right
Speaker 1: now and to essentially be silenced by virtue of your
Speaker 1: inability to vote. But what we are seeing with this
Speaker 1: new I guess renewed it's not even new, but a
Speaker 1: renewed attack on LGBT youth is that we can't take
Speaker 1: our eyes off of our kids because the radical right
Speaker 1: uses them like a fucking piniata right, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: for a fucking group that says that they are for
Speaker 1: family and for Jesus and for Christianity, they sure act
Speaker 1: like some outright motherfucking devils. So let me just say
Speaker 1: that fucking clear. And I'm really tired too of us
Speaker 1: using language like conservative as if to say that believing
Speaker 1: injustice and equity is something that is left leaning and
Speaker 1: so outside of the field of imagination. Right, They're not conservative,
Speaker 1: they are not God fearing. Right, they are actually evil
Speaker 1: individuals who could give a fuck about kids. What they
Speaker 1: want is assimilation. What they want is for queer people
Speaker 1: to feel shamed and to be ashamed of themselves so
Speaker 1: much that you would never dare utter the word gay
Speaker 1: or queer, or trance or non binary. Right, it's disgusting,
Speaker 1: and I want us to be honest and call it
Speaker 1: out for what it is. This isn't religious freedom, it's bigotry. Right.
Speaker 1: You don't get to use your Bible to dictate to
Speaker 1: others how they should fucking live. You know, we are
Speaker 1: a country that is filled with lies about separation between
Speaker 1: church and state. There is none. Have you ever seen
Speaker 1: a president sign off from conversation with the American people
Speaker 1: and not say God bless you and God bless troops.
Speaker 1: If in fact we did actually have real separation, then
Speaker 1: that wouldn't be your sign off, right, be good luck,
Speaker 1: you know, My thoughts are with you, high vibrations to all,
Speaker 1: whatever the fuck it is. But the fact that we
Speaker 1: tie God into everything in this country then allows for
Speaker 1: these bigots to have a leg to stand on when
Speaker 1: they don't when they should not. Right, And this again
Speaker 1: the lie that the right is spreading right now with
Speaker 1: regard to quote unquote parental control is just another euphemism
Speaker 1: for bigotry and discrimination, but now allowing those bigoted parents
Speaker 1: to be able to sue. If you don't want your
Speaker 1: kids participating in the expansion of their minds right into
Speaker 1: the freedoms and liberty of what it means to learn
Speaker 1: and become a global citizen, then maybe you should fucking
Speaker 1: pull them out and they should be homeschooled. But I
Speaker 1: know that not one parent should be able to dictate
Speaker 1: what it is that their kids learn or don't learn,
Speaker 1: right like, unless it is violent, unless it is dangerous.
Speaker 1: Where's the problem here? I thought that I think that
Speaker 1: we have lost our understanding of what the function of
Speaker 1: public school and schooling in general, regardless of what manifestation
Speaker 1: it comes in, what the purpose of it is. It
Speaker 1: is not a babysitting system for your kids. It is
Speaker 1: not a factory that you put them on the line
Speaker 1: and you know, you stamp them and give them the
Speaker 1: good housekeeping stamp that okay, you've gotten a diploma. It
Speaker 1: is to create critical thinkers. It is to create change makers,
Speaker 1: people that are curious about the world around them and
Speaker 1: then feel empowered to do something about it, right like,
Speaker 1: And that's the thing that is lacking so deeply in
Speaker 1: the United States right now, which is a curiosity. There
Speaker 1: is such a regression in the way that we are
Speaker 1: thinking and examining ourselves and our culture and our society
Speaker 1: that it is evident that these rapid Republicans do not
Speaker 1: want you to think critically. They don't want you to
Speaker 1: think at all. They want you to assimilate and shut
Speaker 1: the fuck up. And you know, in my conversation with Melanie,
Speaker 1: they will talk about how, you know, just the mere
Speaker 1: presence of queer people, of queer people of color, of
Speaker 1: people that you know live at the intersections of multiple identities,
Speaker 1: how we are a direct affront right to their design
Speaker 1: and their ideals of what America should be. Right. And
Speaker 1: I think that that is important, right And that is
Speaker 1: why I say to stand firm in who you are,
Speaker 1: but to also take respite at times, because the battering
Speaker 1: ram that is American culture in society right now is
Speaker 1: a fucking lot. And so in this conversation that I
Speaker 1: have coming up next with Melanie, we will talk about
Speaker 1: how youth are feeling in these times. And if you
Speaker 1: have kids, or you are a teacher, or an administrator
Speaker 1: or a caretaker, please do comment in the comment section
Speaker 1: and let me know what are some of the conversations
Speaker 1: you are having with you with your own children or
Speaker 1: children that you take care of or love. I would
Speaker 1: love to hear how they are feeling about the climate
Speaker 1: that they are living in and if there is a nervousness,
Speaker 1: if there is an anger, if there is a frustration
Speaker 1: that is there. So coming up next, friends, on this
Speaker 1: Good Friday, is my conversation with the new executive director
Speaker 1: of Glisten, Melanie Willingham Jaggers. Folks, I am very excited
Speaker 1: to welcome to Okay f Daily were the very first
Speaker 1: time on their inaugural week of becoming the new head
Speaker 1: executive director of Glisten, Melanie Willingham Jaggers the first black person,
Speaker 1: first non binary person to run Glisten, an organization that
Speaker 1: was founded by a group of teachers back in the
Speaker 1: nineteen nineties to really help LGBTQ youth be able to
Speaker 1: feel pride in themselves and in their community going to
Speaker 1: school in k through twelve and kind of building out
Speaker 1: curriculum that is inclusive and equitable. So Melanie, first, congratulations
Speaker 1: on your appointment and your new position. I know that
Speaker 1: you joined Glisten back in twenty nineteen. How are you feeling?
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I'm feeling great. It is I've
Speaker 1: been at Glistened since twenty nineteen, so it feels good
Speaker 1: not to be the new guy, but I absolutely feel
Speaker 1: like the new guy. I woke up this more. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, the world knows I'm an executive director. Let's
Speaker 1: go have a great day. So I'm feeling good. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me on. So you know you're coming on
Speaker 1: at a really I don't know how to describe it.
Speaker 1: You know, some would say terrifying, some would say awful,
Speaker 1: some would say apocalyptic. I say all of those things
Speaker 1: time in our culture. What does it mean to you? First,
Speaker 1: before we delve into LGBTQ youth and people in general
Speaker 1: being placed back in the crosshairs of conservatives, what does
Speaker 1: it mean to you to be the first black person
Speaker 1: appointed to this role? And how and how, if any way,
Speaker 1: does that affect your perception, positioning, and vision for where
Speaker 1: we go with this organization. Yeah, absolutely well. Absolutely, My
Speaker 1: identity informs kind of how I enter spaces and how
Speaker 1: I move through them. So I feel really lucky, fortunate.
Speaker 1: I know all the hard work that has gone into
Speaker 1: preparing Glisten for a leader like me, and the work
Speaker 1: that I've done at Glisten since twenty nineteen. And here's
Speaker 1: what I would say, is that you know, at the
Speaker 1: heart of what I bring and at the heart of
Speaker 1: what I believe and why I'm at Glisten is that
Speaker 1: education is fundamentally capable of being a liberating experience. Right.
Speaker 1: We are literally able to go in put young people
Speaker 1: at five years old into a system, take them through education,
Speaker 1: and have them come out more whole at eighteen, more
Speaker 1: connected to the people around them or connected to the
Speaker 1: world around them, and ready to engage powerfully in a
Speaker 1: multiracial democracy. That's the purpose of education, right. What does
Speaker 1: it mean to to fully educate people in order for
Speaker 1: them to participate knowingly, wisely in a democracy. That's why
Speaker 1: education is important. The other piece is that education has
Speaker 1: to be a liberated space, right. It has to be
Speaker 1: free from harm, but also full of what each learner
Speaker 1: needs in order to be successful. The moment that they
Speaker 1: walk into or move into that school, in that school
Speaker 1: building and are as a part of that school community.
Speaker 1: So that's the that's the purpose, right, school should be
Speaker 1: liberated and liberating. And we know that the future of
Speaker 1: our democracy, the future of our country, the future of
Speaker 1: the world, you know, us collectively depends on us all
Speaker 1: being educated and us having access to education. So to me,
Speaker 1: it is not at all surprising, right that conservative forces,
Speaker 1: anti democratic forces, people who are who have always been
Speaker 1: interested in controlling and destroying people who look like us,
Speaker 1: people who could not be controlled to the extent that
Speaker 1: we can't be commodified and generate and generate money for them.
Speaker 1: Of course it does. It fits completely into the existing
Speaker 1: frame of banning books of you know, don't say gana
Speaker 1: classroom of parents have the right to to tell an
Speaker 1: education system what their child should and should not learn,
Speaker 1: versus being fully educated to be It's all part of
Speaker 1: a coordinate an attack right by extremists who are deeply
Speaker 1: anti democratic UM and deeply anti UM, anti lgbt Q
Speaker 1: plus right because fundamentally, because queerness disrupts this idea and
Speaker 1: the lie right of white supremacy, it disrupts and UM
Speaker 1: and uncovers the falsehood of the gender binary. UM. It makes,
Speaker 1: it shows, it makes a mockery of UM. It shows
Speaker 1: the beautiful diversity that exists in the world. UM and
Speaker 1: it and it takes away, it ships away the lie
Speaker 1: of you can of only one thing is right, and
Speaker 1: it really lets all of us be exactly who we are.
Speaker 1: You know, you said so many, so many important things,
Speaker 1: And I want to circle back to the top where
Speaker 1: you talked about education and our schooling system being of
Speaker 1: free and liberated space, because that is the complete and
Speaker 1: total opposite right of how our public education system has
Speaker 1: actually functioned. It's the reason why we've had charter schools,
Speaker 1: in private schools, Catholic schools and the like to make
Speaker 1: sure to ensure actually a very narrowed curriculum, right, and
Speaker 1: the points in that you connect with regard to how
Speaker 1: our society develops. I have often said as a former
Speaker 1: educator myself, I taught elementary school, first and second grade,
Speaker 1: and I can say that one of the biggest proponents
Speaker 1: of white supremacy and patriarchy is in fact the public
Speaker 1: education system. Because there are black and brown people in
Speaker 1: low income people who don't have the ability to just
Speaker 1: pick up and put their children any place that they want, right,
Speaker 1: so they are then beholden to a system that decides
Speaker 1: what it is they should and shouldn't learn, how they
Speaker 1: should feel themselves valued or devalued in the eyes of
Speaker 1: what is in the text that is in front of them.
Speaker 1: And so, with those things being true, how do you
Speaker 1: think that we go about creating a conversation that is
Speaker 1: showing the blatant differences in how conservatives or and I
Speaker 1: don't even like to call them conservatives, how right wing
Speaker 1: radicals see public education versus how we need to combat
Speaker 1: that message and explain, right, two parents, two caregivers, what
Speaker 1: a public education, what a free and liberated public education
Speaker 1: actually should be and look like, and how it connects
Speaker 1: back to our society. Yeah, there's so much in there.
Speaker 1: I would start off by saying, you know, this is
Speaker 1: you know, it is the vision I've set, the vision
Speaker 1: that we hold that we're working toward. A glisten is
Speaker 1: very far away because it's transformative, right, because we see
Speaker 1: a system that is broken, that is not serving any
Speaker 1: young person fully to the to the extent that it
Speaker 1: that it needs to. And I think that this is
Speaker 1: around education completely and totally right, not just public schools,
Speaker 1: then differentiating them from charters or private or religious and
Speaker 1: parochial schools, but really thinking about what is the job
Speaker 1: of education and a multiracial democracy, what does it need
Speaker 1: to um, what does it need to achieve? And building
Speaker 1: from there, right, that's the that's really the vision. And
Speaker 1: again you said so much, so please pull out the
Speaker 1: question if there's a specific question you want me to answer,
Speaker 1: but I would just say that, you know, the work
Speaker 1: of transformation is really around centering this education at the
Speaker 1: at the heart of our democratic project, right at the
Speaker 1: heart of our civil of our civic and civil participation.
Speaker 1: And of course again, of course the folks who are
Speaker 1: only able to stay in power given a small given
Speaker 1: a small voting block, given a small giving predicated on
Speaker 1: the more people you can exclude from voting, of course,
Speaker 1: they are going to have a very different idea than
Speaker 1: you and me of what of what an education said
Speaker 1: should accomplish. And frankly, their vision for what education should
Speaker 1: accomplish is winning right now, right, it's on the march.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, oh, this is what we you know, we're
Speaker 1: seeing these don't say gay bills, or we're seeing these
Speaker 1: no promo homo laws or we're seeing, you know, banning
Speaker 1: of books that reflect gender expansive young people as central
Speaker 1: characters being called in decent It's like, well, actually, this
Speaker 1: is the this is their vision for what their world,
Speaker 1: for what their democracy will look like, and we have
Speaker 1: a different vision, and that's what we're fighting for. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure that is not what democracy looks like. It's
Speaker 1: pretty much what you know, dashism and authoritarianism looks like
Speaker 1: when you know, you go into the library and there
Speaker 1: are a whole sections that no longer hold any books. Um.
Speaker 1: So I mean that that literally, that's the reality that
Speaker 1: that we're marching into. And you know what I was
Speaker 1: looking through, um the your your announcement. And I'm looking
Speaker 1: back and I've been thinking on the show back to
Speaker 1: the early two thousands when in the headlines were the
Speaker 1: rash of suicides by lgbtqu This is at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the end of the Bush years, beginning of the
Speaker 1: Obama years, where it was almost like four a month,
Speaker 1: every single week there at least two or three. And
Speaker 1: for every two or three major headlines, of course, there
Speaker 1: were many that we never know of young people as
Speaker 1: young as five six years old committing suicide, right because
Speaker 1: of bullying. Then all of a sudden, bullying right and
Speaker 1: anti lgbt sentiments became a focal point for the administration.
Speaker 1: What are we doing to ensure a safe learning environment
Speaker 1: for all children? Is it crazy to you that at
Speaker 1: the beginning of this new century we were in this
Speaker 1: place where it was about expansion and now here we
Speaker 1: are twenty twenty two, but twelve some eidy years later,
Speaker 1: and now we're in a place where we're going back
Speaker 1: to don't say, We're going back to donnask, don't tell,
Speaker 1: and we're making our kids that political football. I mean,
Speaker 1: is that shocking to you? Or was it inevitable? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, I think a lot of things. Um. I
Speaker 1: was working with LGBTQ plus homeless and runaway youth in
Speaker 1: that time, like two thousand and nine, ten eleven, and um,
Speaker 1: there was a young person who I knew in love
Speaker 1: and was very close to, who was part of the
Speaker 1: program I worked in, who also died by suicide in
Speaker 1: that time, And you know, it's it was heartbreaking, um,
Speaker 1: And it was It really was a was a turning
Speaker 1: point in my work life because I understood for the
Speaker 1: first time both how the little thing I was doing
Speaker 1: as a life skills coordinator in the South Bronx, helping
Speaker 1: people get their you know, documents that their parents had
Speaker 1: destroyed because they were angry that they were gay, getting
Speaker 1: those replaced, getting folks you know, housing, teaching young people
Speaker 1: how to do laundry for the first time, etc. I
Speaker 1: understood how that those everyday actions were part of a
Speaker 1: larger LGBTQ plus movement and community. And you know, if
Speaker 1: thinking per your question, really thinking about what it is
Speaker 1: that we have to do to be good at our job,
Speaker 1: to be changing the world, to help make the world
Speaker 1: good enough for these young people to stick around in
Speaker 1: and so many young people chose not to and I
Speaker 1: think too many young people continue to struggle with like
Speaker 1: should I or should I not stay here? And I
Speaker 1: hope that everyone decides to stay because because we're working
Speaker 1: really hard every day to make the world better. That said,
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised at the backlash. Right whenever progress happens
Speaker 1: in this country, if there's a backlash, we we have
Speaker 1: this theory in our minds, We have this idea that
Speaker 1: progress kind of only happens in one direction, and that
Speaker 1: we are constantly getting better little by little. So if
Speaker 1: we compromise here, It's okay. If we don't get this
Speaker 1: thing right now, it's fine, we'll come back and get
Speaker 1: it tomorrow or in ten years. And actually, I think,
Speaker 1: actually what we are experiencing are two tectonic plates, right,
Speaker 1: one of progress and democracy and inclusion for a country
Speaker 1: that sees every single person here as worthy of participation
Speaker 1: and representation, and an antidemocratic understanding of the world right
Speaker 1: that is more authoritarian, that's more fascist, that is definitely
Speaker 1: white supremacist, etc. And what we are experiencing is the
Speaker 1: constant rubbing against each other of those tectonic plates. And
Speaker 1: when one advances, it creates a level of tension that
Speaker 1: it might take it a little while, but the other
Speaker 1: one's going to shoot forward to right. So I understand
Speaker 1: all of what we're experiencing right now as part of
Speaker 1: that part of that dynamic. Right. The other thing I
Speaker 1: would say is that in that context, I think this
Speaker 1: is a little bit of good news. Right. I think
Speaker 1: what this shows, I think what the backlash is, the
Speaker 1: current backlash is showing, is that there has been progress
Speaker 1: that's been made. Right, and so that the pitched sense
Speaker 1: of you know, oh my god, we're losing everything Oh
Speaker 1: my god, the children, Oh my god. You know all
Speaker 1: this really, you know, this harmful and false narrative that's
Speaker 1: coming up and gaining traction is absolutely because there is
Speaker 1: a small, vocal, dying, afraid and violent, right um, hyper
Speaker 1: hyper politicized minority of folks, these extremists who are scared right,
Speaker 1: who see for the first time that they are that
Speaker 1: they are really on the precipice of losing the narrative
Speaker 1: right and so back in the nineties, when Glisten was
Speaker 1: found in back in nineteen ninety, it was fine right
Speaker 1: to say that bullying is a part of life. Right.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, hey, bullying happens, you shouldn't be gay anyway.
Speaker 1: And if it happens, yeah, yeah, tough enough, maybe you'll
Speaker 1: fix the problem. You know, you shouldn't be gay in
Speaker 1: the first place. That is now no longer politically feasible.
Speaker 1: Right adults are no longer going to say that bullying
Speaker 1: absolutely still happens. Targeting and harassment still happens, but no
Speaker 1: one is defending it as if it should exist. Right.
Speaker 1: That's changed as a result of the work of Glisten
Speaker 1: and so many other folks in the in this movement
Speaker 1: to really change the narrative. And so now looking at
Speaker 1: you know, nineteen ninety where it was also illegal to
Speaker 1: be gay in you know, over half of the country
Speaker 1: right with you, You couldn't be out and at work
Speaker 1: and expect any kind of legal protections. You could expect
Speaker 1: to be exercised and fired and targeted. And so the
Speaker 1: world has has shifted significantly and meaningfully in that time,
Speaker 1: and there's still so much more to do. All this
Speaker 1: to say that at this point, we continue to be
Speaker 1: at an inflection point. We continue to be at a
Speaker 1: point of tension where we cannot assume that progress is
Speaker 1: inevitable or is going to happen without us fighting and
Speaker 1: qulling for every single bit of advancement. And so, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that I think that the good news is
Speaker 1: that you know, um, it's no longer politically feasible to
Speaker 1: talk about you know, gay people and lesbian people shouldn't exist,
Speaker 1: they're not natural, etc. But what they've done, this, what
Speaker 1: this um, what our political opponents have done is try
Speaker 1: to peel off queer people, try to quear off try
Speaker 1: to peel off trans people, and then at the at
Speaker 1: the heart of that, try to peel off trans children.
Speaker 1: It's like that is the that is the work of
Speaker 1: a desperate and sick mind. That is the work in
Speaker 1: the approach of people who absolutely have no love or
Speaker 1: compassion or connection to UM, to what it means to
Speaker 1: be in community and what it means to have a child,
Speaker 1: what it means to be in a family and to
Speaker 1: and to know that everyone is inherently valuable UM and
Speaker 1: that people's experiences, children deserve to grow into who they
Speaker 1: are meant to be, not who you think they ought
Speaker 1: to be. You know, you have the good fortune, your
Speaker 1: organization has the good fortune of being able to be
Speaker 1: in community and conversation with young people across the country.
Speaker 1: You have what over thirty chapters of of gsa UM.
Speaker 1: You know gender sexuality, you know groups and organizations where
Speaker 1: young people can come and gather with with one another
Speaker 1: and build community and feel a sense of safety. What
Speaker 1: are some of the conversations that you can share with us?
Speaker 1: Are some of the feelings some of the themes UM
Speaker 1: that come up that have been coming up because I
Speaker 1: you know, I got to tell you, Melanie that I
Speaker 1: wake up some days and I'm like, I'm really glad
Speaker 1: that I am not a young person. I am really,
Speaker 1: you know it. Looking at the world and being at
Speaker 1: an age where you were not able to vote, but
Speaker 1: you were able to understand exactly what is happening and
Speaker 1: exactly what forces are at play has got to be
Speaker 1: a really scary position, right, and feel as if you
Speaker 1: have absolutely no power and control over what is happening.
Speaker 1: So what are some of the themes and things that
Speaker 1: have been coming up with young people over your tenure
Speaker 1: thus far with glisten Yeah, and let me just say
Speaker 1: at the outset that I know exactly what you're talking about. Right,
Speaker 1: that moment of I see the world legislating about me
Speaker 1: and my sense telling me who I am and I'm
Speaker 1: too young to participate. The story of my kind of
Speaker 1: initial politicization is from that exact moment, right, being six
Speaker 1: months too young to vote in a thing that was
Speaker 1: you know, that had me and people look like me
Speaker 1: at the crosshairs. And so two things. One, we have
Speaker 1: local chapters in thirty eight locations across the country. Those
Speaker 1: are caring adults, educators, retirees, parents, community members right who
Speaker 1: are looking to build safe, in affirming spaces for young
Speaker 1: people and then also advocate locally and close by to
Speaker 1: the school in their area to make sure that that
Speaker 1: place is safe and affirming. And then there are GSAs
Speaker 1: all over the country, thousands of them. And so here's
Speaker 1: what I would offer in terms of the themes. I
Speaker 1: think the bad news is the stuff that we know, right,
Speaker 1: the targeted or harassment, the bullying, the assaults. All of
Speaker 1: that happens both as young people, you know, between young
Speaker 1: people and each other, but also from adults who frankly
Speaker 1: no better. Right who are who are who are just
Speaker 1: doing the wrong thing. It's also true right that young
Speaker 1: people that the fight for young people to be able
Speaker 1: to access all parts of school life continues to be underway. Right.
Speaker 1: Can I use a bathroom? Can I be on a
Speaker 1: sports team? Can I participate? Can I like? Do I
Speaker 1: have clubs and spaces that are affirming to me? Do
Speaker 1: I see myself in my curriculum? Right? So those are
Speaker 1: the kind of the major themes in terms of interpersonal
Speaker 1: harms and frustrations, etc. We also know because the pandemic,
Speaker 1: that all of our mental health has suffered. Right. But
Speaker 1: as an adult, you and I have different ways of
Speaker 1: coping with that, at a different level of autonomy and independence.
Speaker 1: And you know what is unfortunate is that this pandemic
Speaker 1: has shown the kind of underlying fault lines of our society. Right,
Speaker 1: if you were doing okay before the pandemic, you're under
Speaker 1: more stress, but you're probably gonna be doing okay after it. Right,
Speaker 1: But if you weren't doing okay, if you were just
Speaker 1: barely hanging on, if you if home wasn't a safe space,
Speaker 1: if school was your safe space, then things have gotten
Speaker 1: materially and significantly worse because of the isolation and because
Speaker 1: of these important spaces and supports being unavailable given the
Speaker 1: public health crisis that we're in. And then here's what
Speaker 1: the other thing I would say is that the benefit
Speaker 1: of this is, this is the key theme I think
Speaker 1: that is super beautiful is that young people see the possibility.
Speaker 1: They see the possibility of this moment. Right you and
Speaker 1: I I think, you know, have a have a limitation
Speaker 1: because of you know, the years that we've lived, Like
Speaker 1: we see things that are possible. We know what we've
Speaker 1: been through, We've you know, we've seen some things, so
Speaker 1: we think we know some things. These young people are like,
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be this way, and here's why,
Speaker 1: and here's what it could be like right. So there's
Speaker 1: a way in which um at glisten even though we
Speaker 1: are you know, smarty pants adults working both upstream to
Speaker 1: change the rules, to change to make sure that the
Speaker 1: setting is right for young people to be able to
Speaker 1: grow and learn in a way that is unaccosted, right,
Speaker 1: that is free and liberated and liberating. We are also
Speaker 1: the folks who are you know, sitting and standing shoulder
Speaker 1: and shoulder with these young people, saying, what do you
Speaker 1: think we ought to be doing? What do you tell
Speaker 1: me what education ought to be like? You tell me
Speaker 1: what is what? What does safe and affirming mean to you?
Speaker 1: Because we've got our bright ideas, UM, But it's but
Speaker 1: to me. I think that the key themes are that
Speaker 1: the stuff that we know is wrong is wrong. UM.
Speaker 1: And they're young people are experiencing it, and however bad
Speaker 1: the pandemic is for us adults, it's even harder on
Speaker 1: young people. And two, UM, it's that they are really
Speaker 1: um tapped into the possibility to the beauty of what's
Speaker 1: of what's possible. They see the foolishness that is going
Speaker 1: on around them for exactly what it is. It's like,
Speaker 1: what is any of this right? It's a as a
Speaker 1: person who is kid free. Um. I enjoy young people
Speaker 1: like asking questions why. I know how difficult that could
Speaker 1: be for actual parents when you just want them to
Speaker 1: take a bath or eat a meal. So I've got
Speaker 1: the anti privilege of being like on the side like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you should ask why so exactly? So I get to
Speaker 1: be inspired by young people and their questions and their critiques. Um.
Speaker 1: And again it's the best job in the world, especial
Speaker 1: job to have in the world. You know. I love
Speaker 1: the fact that you say, um, possibility, um, and and
Speaker 1: that is the lens at which they're seeing the world
Speaker 1: through because you know, I asked a question earlier this
Speaker 1: week in an op ed that I wrote that was,
Speaker 1: you know, what does it mean to be an American?
Speaker 1: Right now? What does it mean to like if you
Speaker 1: have no shared values and morals anymore? Right, if we're
Speaker 1: not operating from the same foundation and base, which you know,
Speaker 1: we can be honest about the fact that people of color,
Speaker 1: queer people have never been operating from the same base.
Speaker 1: But there was always the essence of America has always
Speaker 1: been about the possibility of a thing. And I think
Speaker 1: that when that is eroded, that is when we have deep,
Speaker 1: deep issues, right, deep deep problems, and there's an erosion
Speaker 1: that is happening right now. But to hear that young
Speaker 1: people can still look around and say, you know, just
Speaker 1: doesn't really have to be this way, you know, I
Speaker 1: hope that they continue to hold that truth and don't
Speaker 1: fall into the malaise of the status quo, because I
Speaker 1: think that that is that's dangerous, right and and and
Speaker 1: and that's what happens. We all are young, and we
Speaker 1: feel like we can change a system. And then you
Speaker 1: realize that the system is a behemoth. Um, And you
Speaker 1: can and you decide to pick your part that you
Speaker 1: want to invest in changing, um and and go from there. Um. Melanie,
Speaker 1: last question for you, what are your what are some
Speaker 1: of your hopes and your vision as you take on
Speaker 1: this new exciting role out of at this critical critical
Speaker 1: juncture in our society. Yeah, you know, so there, I
Speaker 1: would say kind of four top things. Right. So, we
Speaker 1: are a national organization that strives to have a local impact,
Speaker 1: and I think that there's a way in which what
Speaker 1: does it mean for us to have coordinated national campaigns,
Speaker 1: visibility impact and be in deep support partnership alliance with
Speaker 1: folks on the ground who understand the intricacies of what
Speaker 1: it means to be queer or trans in school in
Speaker 1: Kansas and in pix and in the Hudson Valley here
Speaker 1: in New York. Right, it's like we are we get
Speaker 1: our power because of the expertise and the reach and
Speaker 1: the connections of folks are at our grassroots. The other
Speaker 1: piece is, you know, it's good old organizing, right, it's
Speaker 1: really about activating people. How are we getting our people
Speaker 1: connected to each other? Because the other side wins when
Speaker 1: we believe the lie that no one is like us,
Speaker 1: no one agrees with us, They're actually probably right where
Speaker 1: something is wrong with us. It's like no, actually, there
Speaker 1: are more of them. There are more of us than
Speaker 1: there are of them. And when we connect our people
Speaker 1: and give them something to do that both makes them
Speaker 1: feel powerful and connects them with others, we're winning. The
Speaker 1: other thing I would say is that we have to
Speaker 1: be very clear around around our work to promote engage
Speaker 1: and expand civic participation. In civic engagement, right, this is
Speaker 1: not about like voting. And I know there was like
Speaker 1: jokes on Twitter just a couple of weeks ago around
Speaker 1: like ditties. You know, voter or diet campaign and so,
Speaker 1: but it really is around ongoing political and civic engagement. Right,
Speaker 1: we have the fight is always happening. It's happening at
Speaker 1: every level. It's happening at the policy level at the
Speaker 1: federal level, and it states it's happening in classrooms, it's
Speaker 1: happening with people bringing guns to school board meetings. Right.
Speaker 1: What we have to do is not seed a single
Speaker 1: inch to folks who are who are committed to and
Speaker 1: are vocal about silencing, harming, targeting LGBTQ plus kids, transgender
Speaker 1: and gender and gender expansive kids and BIPOP kids who
Speaker 1: are all of those folks right and beyond. And so
Speaker 1: we have to get really clear that this is not
Speaker 1: just about voting. We have to get really clear that
Speaker 1: politics is local, politics is everywhere, and we have to
Speaker 1: stay in the fight all the time. And then I
Speaker 1: think we've got to be also clear and unapologetic about
Speaker 1: our demand to increase and expand safety. Every child should
Speaker 1: be able to go to school free an environment that's
Speaker 1: free from harm. Not only free from harm, but we
Speaker 1: know that I'm not going to learn, You're not I'm
Speaker 1: gonna learn if I'm worried about if I'm hungry, if
Speaker 1: I'm worried about who's gonna attack me, harass me, etc.
Speaker 1: If I think that, you know, the way that someone
Speaker 1: reads my face might get a school resource officer or
Speaker 1: some other adult with a weapon to come in and
Speaker 1: handle me, I'm not going to be available to learn.
Speaker 1: So what does it mean for us to increase and
Speaker 1: expand safety so that kids are in their minds and
Speaker 1: their hearts and their bodies are safe, are open to
Speaker 1: take in learning. And so I think that that's those
Speaker 1: are really the big directions moving forward. It's like local
Speaker 1: to national to local impact, people activation, civic participation, and engagement,
Speaker 1: particularly because young people see the future, young people see
Speaker 1: the possibility, and young people have not had to choose
Speaker 1: their part yet and like, Okay, I'm going to survive,
Speaker 1: So I've got to be a part of the system
Speaker 1: in this way right while trying to maintain their humanity.
Speaker 1: They are still pure and untouched right by the cynicism
Speaker 1: that comes with that comes with life and experience. And
Speaker 1: then we have to be really again, really unapologetic and
Speaker 1: really clear around what it means pretty safety and expand
Speaker 1: safety for every single student, particularly students who are LGBTQ
Speaker 1: plus that's our focus. But we also have to we
Speaker 1: also understand at the heart of all that it's about
Speaker 1: racial justice, it's about gender justice, it's about disability justice.
Speaker 1: Because if you are a student of color, if you
Speaker 1: are gender expansive, if you are a person with a
Speaker 1: disability or divergent or diverse, you are more likely to
Speaker 1: be targeted. We're likely to be pushed out of school,
Speaker 1: less likely to be served. And again, queer kids are
Speaker 1: all kids, every single kind of kid. Our kids come
Speaker 1: from every single community and so and so all kids
Speaker 1: are in our remit. All kids are part of our
Speaker 1: part of our charge, and so so we're out here
Speaker 1: doing I'm really excited. I'm excited for you, I'm excited
Speaker 1: for the organization. I'm excited for all of us who
Speaker 1: have been on the periphery of working with Glisten and
Speaker 1: just you know, queer adults who are you know, frankly
Speaker 1: really concerned um about about our youth. Uh And I
Speaker 1: don't think that we have these conversations enough. So I
Speaker 1: hope Melanie, that you will make time to come back
Speaker 1: to woke ap Um and continue the conversation with us
Speaker 1: about what folks can do to make sure that we
Speaker 1: are uplifting and supporting young people in these deeply challenging times. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me. It's been it's
Speaker 1: been a real honor to meet you, to get to
Speaker 1: talk and to be to be here with you. So
Speaker 1: um and invite me back anytime and I'll make it
Speaker 1: happen so wonderful. And also, folks should go to glisson
Speaker 1: dot org to figure out how they can get connected
Speaker 1: and plugs in fantastic. That is it for me today,
Speaker 1: dear friends on woke app as always, power to the
Speaker 1: people and to all the people. Power, get woke and
Speaker 1: stay woke as fuck.