Podcasts about lgbtq center

The closure of the LGBTQ Center of Southeastern Wisconsin and unanswered questions. Increased flooding risk due to climate change. A local animal attorney tells all.

In the small, midwestern city of South Bend, Indiana, for members of the LGBTQ+ community, having a space for themselves is life changing. And for twenty years, people here have had that space.  Today, it's called the LGBTQ Center. As the Center approached its twentieth anniversary, Dr. Jamie Wagman and students from Saint Mary's College students preserved the history of the Center by conducting oral histories of fourteen people who were foundational to the Center's evolution.  For the Center's anniversary gala in 2025, Dr. Wagman and student Phoenix McClellan pulled clips and organized them into this presentation.  Featuring the voices of some of the many people whose time and dedication have shaped the LGBTQ Center throughout its two decades, including Rhonda Redman, Hank Mascotte, Phillip Schatz, Meghan Buell, Eli Williams, Drew Gardner, Nancy Mascotte, H.R. Jung, Michael McMillion, Krista Cox, Angela Hankins, Kathryn Kirk, J.D. Schock, Jamie Morgan, Derek McDowell, and Rhiannon Carlson. This episode was produced by Dr. Jamie Wagman and Phoenix McClellan from Saint Mary's College, by Jon Watson and Caleb Matz from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center.  Full transcript of this episode available here. Want to learn more about South Bend's history? View the photographs and documents that helped create it. Visit Michiana Memory at http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/.  Title music, “History Repeats,” from Josh Woodward, used via CC-BY-4.0-DEED. Visit his website at https://www.joshwoodward.com.

Carlos Butler-Vale (he/him), Co-Host, Corporate Cafecito Business Podcast, and Founder, Avizo Consulting, and I recap the latest 5 Things (good vibes in DEI) in just 15 minutes. This week our conversation is about history at the Oscars, marriage equality in Thailand, Bloomberg's big investment, and more!Here are this week's good vibes:Bloomberg Stands for Climate ActionHyatt and Carnival Lead Accessibility WaveA Trailblazer's MomentThailand Says 'I Do' to EqualityBrave Rep. Emily RandallGood Vibes to Go: Bernadette's GVTG: Read this article by Lily Zheng in Harvard Business Review in which they present a new framework: What Comes After DEI. Carlos' GVTG: Look for a symphony performance of “Encanto”, the Disney movie, and support the Central Illinois Friends Center, or your local LGBTQ Center. Find yours at CenterLink.Read the Stories.Connect with Carlos Butler-Vale Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes in DEI every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

Florida joins a growing number of conservative states that are now requiring proof of ID to access adult sites like Pornhub, and others perceived to be prurient in nature. Then, disgraced former Abercrombie CEO, Mike Jeffries, claims dementia will derail his sexual misconduct charges. The courts in June will assess whether he is fit for trial or not. Finally, an LGBTQ Center in the San Diego area is facing backlash for dropping the “T” from their center's work. Apple Podcasts: apple.co/1WwDBrC Spotify: spoti.fi/2pC19B1 iHeart Radio: bit.ly/4aza5LW YouTube Music: bit.ly/43T8Y81 Pandora: pdora.co/2pEfctj YouTube: bit.ly/1spAF5a Also follow Tim and John on: Facebook: www.facebook.com/focusgroupradio

A Ga U.S. Senator asks DEA, U.S. Attorney General, for explaination related to possible targeting of Black men; Atlanta eyes first ever LGBTQ Center; and why some state lawmakers want your vote to be public record. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On a new TAGS LIVE aka Talk About Gay Sex the live edition, Host Steve V and Co-host Kodi Maurice Doggette are back with all new hot LGBTQ topics, sex and relationship advice plus they welcome their Special Guest, Amir Yass who talks being a queer muslim and talks about his identity and comedy.Ex-CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Mike Jeffries arrested and charged with sex trafficking and more...Cooper Koch says that his acting coach said that he wouldn't get any jobs due to his 'gay' voiceEmanuel Loarca comes on show to talk next week's "Under My Skin" Monologue series at the LGBTQ Center that will happen next Wednesday, October 30th at 7PMSpecial Guest, Amir Yass talks being a queer Muslim, his brand of comedy, his background growing up and forming his identity that's unapologetic. Do you have any straight guy friends? We discussAdvice: the hosts vent on walking on the streets in the big city and etiquette...Advice: Navigating an open relationship and avoiding jealousy...Thirst Trap!"Under My Skin" Monologue Series next Wednesday, October 30th at 7PM at the LGBTQ Center - TicketsFollow: Amir Yass: http://amiryass.comFollow Amier on IG: @amiryassofficialSupport TAGS and get extra special perks! Patreon.com/tagspodcastSteve V's Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/tagspodcastFollow Steve V. on IG: @iam_stevevhttps://linktr.ee/kodimauricehttps://linktr.ee/kodimauriceFollow Kodi's Life Coaching on IG: @kmdcoachingFollow Kodi Maurice Doggette on IG: @mistahmauriceWanna drop a weekly or one time tip to TAGSPODCAST - Show your love for the show and support TAGS! Visit our website: tagspodcast.comNeeds some advice for a sex or relationship conundrum? Ask TAGS! DM US ON IG or https://www.talkaboutgaysex.com/contactFollow Of a Certain Age on IG: @ofacertainagepod

TRIGGER WARNING (anti-trans healthcare bans, suicide, death threats): 8:52-10:22 This is part 1 of 2 episodes where we get the answers to some FAQs about medical transition from medical professionals. In this episode, Dr. Crystal Beal (founder of Queer Doc) tells us all about hormone replacement therapy (HRT), how it's prescribed, and all the various ways it can help folks reach their transition goals. Hosted by Ally Beardsley and Babette Thomas, Gender Spiral is a quest to explore the modern experience of being a human in our gendered world. Further reading as suggested by Dr. Beal: "State-level anti-transgender laws increase past-year suicide attempts among transgender and non-binary young people in the USA" - Nature   "The Substance of Borders: Transgender Politics, Mobility, and US State Regulation of Testosterone" - Toby Beauchamp   Trans Healthcare Resources:   - CenterLink (Find an LGBTQ Center near you)   - WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health)   - Queer Doc's Compilation of Trans and Gender Affirming Resources State-by-State   Find and contact your legislators and tell them to lean on the DEA to extend telemedicine flexibilities. Follow Gender Spiral on Instagram and TikTok, and support us at patreon.com/GenderSpiralPodcast Find transcripts at genderspiralpod.com/episodes

In today's episode, host Janet Michael welcomed the co-directors of the new AIDS Response Effort (ARE) LGBTQ+ Community Center, Matt Buracker and Mary Bohacek. The conversation covered the groundwork and preparation of the center, which is currently under renovation, and discussed the broad range of services that ARE provides to the community, including HIV prevention, testing services, a comprehensive harm reduction program, and a robust LGBTQ community support system. Mary elaborated on the significance of the community center and how it fosters a safe and inclusive environment for LGBTQ individuals and their families. She illustrated this point with a touching story about a father and his transgender child seeking information and support. Matt spoke of the various programs and events happening at the center, such as Coffee and Coloring, Stitch and Bitch, and game nights, which help build a sense of community. He talked about the importance of the LGBTQ Center in addressing stigma and ensuring everyone feels welcome and safe while accessing necessary resources. Mary mentioned upcoming events, including Winchester Pride Weekend, highlighting the importance of community engagement and support for LGBTQ individuals. They both stressed the essential roles played by volunteers and the broad community support for ARE's various initiatives. Mary and Matt emphasized that the center is a place for allies and loved ones as much as for LGBTQ members themselves. Both shared the challenges and rewards of their work, underscoring the profound impact the community center aims to have in the Winchester area. Listeners were informed about ways the public can contribute, such as volunteering or donating furniture, paint, or financial resources to support the center's development. Mary also provided details on how businesses or individuals can get involved in their renovation efforts. The show concluded with an encouragement to listeners to visit ARE's website: https://aidsresponseeffort.org/  and social media: https://www.facebook.com/AidsResponseEffort/ for updates and volunteer opportunities.

Dr. Jill Hingston, LMFT is a psychotherapist, fierce ally of the trans community, and brilliant queer cisgender woman who currently serves as the Director of Behavioral Health Services at the LGBTQ Center of the Desert in Palm Springs. During this episode, Elle talks with Jill about her extensive experience working especially with transgender youth. Reach out to Jill via contact info on The Center website. Contact Elle via email at twatpodcasting@gmail.com to learn more about the support group Fierce Femmes, and to get involved. If you are in need of psychotherapy services and would like to talk with Elle about what therapy would look like with her, learn more and contact her on her website: (www.estherloewen.com).

Our conversation today welcomes Sara Jenkins and Mandy Underwood from the AIDS Response Effort (ARE). Our discussion sheds light on the organization's mission, services, and the ongoing battle against HIV and STIs in the Lord Fairfax Community Health District. AIDS Response Effort, Inc. (ARE for short) is a local grassroots nonprofit that has been serving the Northern Shenandoah Valley for more than 30 years. You may not have heard of ARE, but its staff and volunteers work tirelessly to ensure everyone has access to HIV care and prevention resources. While HIV may not be a top news story, it is still around and spreading, along with sexually transmitted infections (or STIs), in our region. ARE offers free testing services and prevention resources to everyone in the community, as well as free medical case management for those diagnosed with HIV. Mandy explains her dynamic role as a Prevention and Testing Specialist, emphasizing the challenges and rewards of their outreach efforts. She shares insights into the reasons behind the reluctance to get tested, notably stigma and lack of education, while noting the rise in STI cases and the critical need for regular testing. Sara, a Medical Case Manager, brings attention to the comprehensive support provided to those diagnosed with HIV, from immediate medical care to long-term case management. She shares touching success stories, narrating how the organization helps clients achieve undetectable viral loads, thereby transforming their lives. Both guests underline the importance of community support, funding, and volunteers in continuing their work. They highlight the organization's various community engagement efforts, including the recently opened LGBTQ+ Center, and discuss future fundraising initiatives. Find more information about their Peer to Peer campaign by clicking here.  This episode is a heartfelt narrative of resilience, community support, and the tireless effort to combat the stigma and spread of HIV and STIs. It's a vital listen for anyone looking to understand and support the crucial work being done by the AIDS Response Effort. Learn more about HIV/STI testing and how you can support ARE on their website: https://aidsresponseeffort.org/   

Ken Ditlevson (Director, LGBTQ+ Center) and Meghan Schwind (Assistant Director, LGBTQ+ Center) share about Kent State's very own LGBTQ+ Center! Hear about what it is, what it does, and how to get connected. Resources mentioned: LGBTQ+ Center Facebook LGBTQ+ Center Instagram LGBTQ+ Center Website Reach out to the Division of People, Culture and Belonging at people@kent.edu or @PeopleCultureKSU across social media! Intro/Outro Music: 'Fate' by Marquice Turner

The LGBTQ Center of the Desert in Palm Springs, California is dedicated to supporting and uplifting the LGBTQ community. The center offers a wide range of services and programs, including mental health counseling, a community food bank, youth and family programming, and social activities. The center creates a safe and welcoming environment for all members of the community, including seniors, women, and transgender individuals. The center relies on outside funding and donations to continue its work, and focuses its resources on meeting the specific needs of the community. The conversation revolves around the impact and importance of The Center, an LGBTQ+ community center in Palm Springs. The guests discuss the reasons why people support the organization, including the sense of community and the positive impact it has on individuals. They also highlight the need for expanding services for trans individuals, youth, and seniors, as well as addressing food insecurity. The guests express their hopes for a more inclusive and accepting political climate. In terms of recommendations, they mention Machelettos ice cream store, Alice B restaurant, and the growing queer spaces in Cathedral City. The conversation ends with a discussion of upcoming events in Palm Springs.Thank you for listening to Left of Str8 Podcasts, hosted by Scott Fullerton. Left of Str8 Podcasts were created for the LGBTQ Community and our Straight Allies. Subscribe on your favorite distributor so you never miss an episode. You can also click the bell icon to be notified when new episodes are available. The video podcasts are on YouTube and Spotify, and the audio podcast is available at all major distributors including: iTunes, iHeart Radio, GoodPods, Amazon Music, Audible, and more. If you like us, please give our episodes a 5 star rating so more people will find them in the Algorithm. Please share with your friends and follow us on social media @leftofstr8 on Instagram and Threads and Tik Tok, @leftofstr8radio on Twitter (X), and Left of Str8 Show on Facebook. Go to our website at www.leftofstr8.com to listen to all shows, enter contests, write questions to the show for Scott or Guests, and if you want to be a guest or host on the network. You can support the show on our Patreon Page for as little as $3 a month, $5 a month, or $7 a month, to help cover show expenses and other costs. you can find us over at www.patreon.com/leftofstr8 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leftofstr8/message

June 2024 is the 50th anniversary of Pride in Seattle. In honor and celebration of LGBTQ+ family building, Dr. Shahine welcomes colleagues Dr. Stephanie Rothenberg and Dr. Darcy Broughton to talk about the Center for LGBTQ+ Family Building at Pacific NW Fertility.  Although the fertility community hasn't always been inclusive and open to all family building options, Pacific NW Fertility (PNWF) has been proudly serving the Queer community since the organization opened its doors in 2005. In 2020, Drs. Rothenberg and Broughton co-founded the Center for LGBTQ+ Family Building at PNWF and they share what makes the Center unique.  ‘It's more than a website; it's creating a safe place for all family building journeys with inclusive language, trained team members, and feedback from our patients.' In this episode you'll hear: [1:00] LBGTQ+ Pride in Seattle, WA & at PNWF [3:00] Meet Dr. Darcy Broughton  [4:20] Meet Dr. Stephanie Rothenberg [6:15] The LGBTQ Center for Family Building at PNWF [9:59] Learning to care for LGBTQ patients from a fertility standpoint [12:14] Benefits of having a dedicated center for LGBTQ Family Builiding  [19:22] 50 years of Pride in Seattle [21:42] What to look for in a clinic Resources mentioned:  PNWF Center for LGBTQ+ Fertility: pnwfertility.com/center-for-lgbtq-fertility  Stay Up to Date in Fertility News and Events:  Weekly Newsletter Follow @drlorashahine Instagram | YouTube | Tiktok | Her Books  

Jennifer Lutz of Insider Travel Report talks with tourists, shopkeepers, new citizens, hotel managers, students and the manager of Tel Aviv's LGBTQ Center to find out what they think about the prospects for the return of tourism. From Tel Aviv to Haifa to Jerusalem, Lutz discusses safety during the war, diversity throughout the country, and how Israel is moving forward. Highlights include how different cultures and religions live side by side, Israel's gay community and hospitality in times of struggle. For more information on Israel tourism, visit www.israel.travel. If interested, the original video of this podcast can be found on the Insider Travel Report Youtube channel or by searching for the podcast's title on Youtube.

It's a real treat to talk to Steve Dolainski, my friend of many years now, who introduced me to my new path as a workshop and class facilitator! I met Steve over a decade ago. We co-edited and published an anthology of LGBTQ writers over 50, including several who have become my friends. Outer Voices Inner Lives was a Lambda Literary Award finalist for anthology, and includes a foreword by the late, great, Patricia Nell Warren. Fast forward ten years, and I finally had the pleasure of meeting Steve in person on a trip to California. He told me he'd become a certified Guided Autobiography instructor and was conducting classes with the LGBTQ Center in L.A. I was hooked! I'm certified myself now too, and looking forward to my third act (as Jane Fonda calls life after 65), offering workshops and classes in Guided Autobiography and fiction writing (YourWritePath.com). Listen to this short interview with Steve where he talks about GAB (as we call it), making new roads to travel, and contemplating the ones we've already come on!

On this episode Barry tours the new LGBTQ+Center located at the AIDS Response Effort, Inc. office on Piccadilly Street in Winchester.  His hosts are Katie Vance, ARE Executive Director, and Mary Bohacek and Matt Buracker, Center Directors, who share the various programs and services offered at the Center. Also on this episode, the origins of the Sloppy Joe, and how Barry and his wife demonstrate the true art of 'give and take' in a marriage during the NCAA Basketball tournament season with the TV remote.      

The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 4: Daniel Chaitin of The Daily Wire writes: “Pennsylvania's senators, both Democrats, have withdrawn a request for $1 million in taxpayer money to support a renovation and expansion project for an LGBT center in Philadelphia after federal funds for the organization were blocked in the House last year. Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Bob Casey (D-PA) wrote to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to declare they no longer want an earmark for the William Way LGBT Community Center in spending legislation for the current fiscal year…Word of the $1 million earmark request getting pulled spread on social media on Tuesday evening. The popular Libs of TikTok account on X, run by Chaya Raichik, posted a screenshot of the letter signed by Fetterman. She noted that it followed the account's ‘Exposé' featuring screenshots of advertisements for adults-only events at the center that featured sexually explicit content.” You can read the full report here: https://www.dailywire.com/news/pa-senators-fetterman-and-casey-withdraw-request-for-1m-to-fund-lgbt-center Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dominated on Super Tuesday. Entering the contest, Trump had earned 273 delegates—he now has 1,004 delegates and is expected to reach the 1,215 delegates needed to officially win the party's nomination as soon as March 12th. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Trump's primary rival Nikki Haley announced she was suspending her campaign after winning only one primary (Vermont) on Tuesday. Though she congratulated Trump on his win, she stopped short of endorsing him for president. Shane Goldmacher and Adam Nagourney of The New York Times write of President Joe Biden's Super Tuesday performance, which saw him reach 1,506 delegates of the 1,968 needed to win the Democrat party's nomination: “But yet again there were flashing lights for a president who is struggling to rally the whole of his party behind him. Nearly 20 percent of Democrats in Minnesota voted for ‘Uncommitted,' in an apparent protest vote against Mr. Biden's support of the Israel military response to the Hamas terrorist attack of Oct 7. Mr. Biden won less than two-thirds of the vote in Hennepin County, home to Minneapolis. The protest was an extension of a campaign that started in Michigan last week, when 13 percent of Democrats voted uncommitted. The larger share in a state with fewer Arab American voters—but a large and active progressive wing—suggested that the movement of voters pressing Mr. Biden for a policy change was gaining traction. There were other signs, too. In Colorado, the noncommitted vote was 8 percent. The ‘no preference' vote in North Carolina hit nearly 13 percent; that is worth noting as Mr. Biden considers contesting a state that Mr. Trump won by a whisker in 2020. It is far from clear what those voters will do this November. But should they back Mr. Trump, support a third-party candidate or just stay home, they could cost Mr. Biden a close election. Minnesota wasn't the only state that cast a bit of a cloud over Mr. Biden's night. In a small indignity for the sitting president, Mr. Biden tied in the delegate race in American Samoa to Jason Palmer, an entrepreneur. (It's really OK if you had not heard of him before.) There are no Electoral College votes in American Samoa.” You can read the full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/us/politics/super-tuesday-trump-biden-takeaways.html

This week's show features an interview recorded some time ago with one of Elle's coworkers at the LGBTQ Center of the Desert in Palm Springs, Bekki Lorton. They are a nonbinary person who shares their experiences on the path of self-discovery and self-love. In addition to doing community work at The Center, Bekki also worked with exotic animals in a zoo. Learn more about Bekki and their work here: https://thecentercv.org/en/about-us/our-people/bekki-lorton/ . If you have a story or insight relevant to the work of Transgender Woman Talking, and would be willing to sit for an interview, please reach out to Elle at twatpodcasting@gmail.com. . To learn more about therapy with Elle, please visit her website at: ⁠www.estherloewen.com⁠ and click on "Therapy".

This week, we are joined by La Crosse, Wisconsin's very own Bullinda S Chinashoppe on starting out in drag and building your persona! We have a very lovely conversation. You can follow them on Instagram @bullinda.chinashoppeYou are also support The LGBTQ Center in La Crosse at the link here: https://www.7riverslgbtq.orgEnjoy early access and bonus content on our Patreon. LINK HEREWe want to hear from you!TikTok: @queerinsightpodInstagram: @qi_podFacebook: qinsightpodEmail us: qinsightpod@gmail.com

College students should be able to focus on their education without having to spend time and energy battling for fundamental rights like being addressed by their correct pronouns or having their gender expression acknowledged. This is one of the many reasons that Pride Centers at universities are essential. In this episode, we were so happy to be joined by Whitney Workman (fae/they), Manager of the California State University, Northridge Pride Center. We talk about faer work with LGBTQ+ students, the holistic view of the Pride Center at CSUN, their thoughts on the best ways of spreading awareness of LGBTQ+ issues on college campuses and more.A trailblazer in faer teen years, as the second person in their high school to come out, Whitney immediately recognized the needs in the Queer community and hasn't stopped working to improve lives and create safe spaces for students in their early stages of transition or exploring their own sexuality and gender.Throughout this episode, you'll hear about Whitney's journey from being an organizer at feminist organizations and working with reproductive justice to making it to the CSUN Pride Center. Fae then provides a detailed list of the Center's services, how it supports LGBTQ+ college students, and how to learn about their services and programs. We also discuss the best ways of spreading LGBTQ+ awareness, free speech, hate speech, censorship, and much more.In This Episode, You Will Learn:A bit about Whitney and their background before becoming the manager of the CSUN Pride Center (2:20)What kind of support LGBTQ+ students will find at the Pride Center (18:30)Who should have access to students' legal names (23:30)Why the CSUN Pride Center is crucial for LGBTQ+ students (33:40)Whitney shares faer thoughts on the best ways of spreading awareness (42:40)Safety tips the Pride Center offers to LGBTQ+ students (54:40)Don't trust the Campus Pride Index, go to a college's LGBTQ+ Center website to see what they offer (1:02:50)Connect with CSUN Pride Center:WebsiteConnect with Jackie and Bridget:Transgender Support: Becoming a True Ally Video Course on VimeoTransgender School Patreon Membership with all exclusive contentTransgender School on MediumInstagramWebsite FacebookCommunity Facebook GroupYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this Thursday episode of THE POLITICRAT daily podcast Omar Moore pays tribute to O'Shae Sibley, a Black gay man who was stabbed to death by a homophobic teenager last Saturday at a gas station in Brooklyn, New York. August 3, 2023. The LGBTQ Center in Manhattan: https://gaycenter.org. The Bronx LGBT Center: https://destinationtomorrow.org. Ajike Owens' official GoFundMe page: https://bit.ly/3WQOAk6 Donate: https://PayPal.me/PopcornReel New podcast: TÁR Talk (https://bit.ly/3QXRkcF) The new POLITICRAT newsletter is here! Subscribe for free: https://politicrat.substack.com. Social media: Spoutible - https://spoutible.com/popcornreel Mastodon - https://mas.to/@popcornreel Post: https://post.news/popcornreel Twitter: https://twitter.com/popcornreel Black Voters Matter: https://blackvotersmatterfund.org. Vote 411: https://vote411.org. The AUTONOMY t-shirt series—buy yours here: https://bit.ly/3yD89AL Planned Parenthood: https://plannedparenthood.org Register to vote NOW: https://vote.org The ENOUGH/END GUN VIOLENCE t-shirts on sale here: https://bit.ly/3zsVDFU Donate to the Man Up Organization: https://manupinc.org FREE: SUBSCRIBE NOW TO THE BRAND NEW POLITICRAT DAILY PODCAST NEWSLETTER!! Extra content, audio, analysis, exclusive essays for subscribers only, plus special offers and discounts on merchandise at The Politicrat Daily Podcast online store. Something new and informative EVERY DAY!! Subscribe FREE at https://politicrat.substack.com Buy podcast merchandise (all designed by Omar Moore) and lots more at The Politicrat Daily Podcast Store: https://the-politicrat.myshopify.com The Politicrat YouTube page: bit.ly/3bfWk6V The Politicrat Facebook page: bit.ly/3bU1O7c The Politicrat blog: https://politicrat.politics.blog Join Omar on Fanbase NOW! Download the Fanbase social media app today. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE to this to this podcast! Follow/tweet Omar at: https://twitter.com/thepopcornreel.

"Is it possible for me to live my life the way I want to"?  "Of course, of course"!“Is is possible for me to be who I want to be”? There are so many truth bombs dropped in this episode!“I live for creating inclusion. I love the feeling of helping people know that they have a place, they are enough and they are seen”. Esther shares her journey from “taking people's place at the table away”. This is another toxic societal and religious construct that work on negating our ability to show up 100% yourself.As a transgendered woman Esther has made it her mission to sharing her journey of transitioning with you and me in the hopes to empower other trans individuals to show up as 100% themselves.As a California transplant from Walla Walla, Washington, she gives her heart and soul to expanding inclusion in the world, pressing to create more room at the table of life.In this episode Esther and I explore the “cost of visibility” and shares her journey of being her true self as she navigates her employment as an ordained pastoral minister in the protestant Christian church, navigating the winding journey or marriage, family, friends and her role within and outside of her church community.Esther has also authored a book about keeping secrets, and earning a master's degree in leadership from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena. She currently works as a Trainee Marriage and Family Therapist at The LGBTQ Center of the Desert in Palm Springs, while pursuing a master's degree at Alliant International University. She also produces and hosts the podcast Transgender Woman Talking.If you know anyone who is struggling, has questions or just needs to know they are not in their transition alone, please share this podcast with them.

This week Nathaniel talks about the LGBTQ Center's drag show at The Well Friday night and all the bullshit that happened, BUT more importantly, how the South Bend community continues to stand together against the rise of Right Wing and Christian fascists. Let every chud fuck know that when it's time to party, we will party hard. LGBTQ Center: https://www.thelgbtqcenter.org/ The Well: http://thewellriverpark.com/ Lune The Band:   https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German:   https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here:  https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff:  https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lunetheband/message

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Thursday, June 8th, 2023. Club Membership Plug: (1/9) Ladies and gentleman, it’s never been a better time to become a club member at CrossPolitic. This year, CrossPolitic will be dropping exclusive content into our club portal for club members ONLY. Some of this content will include a pilot TV Show called This America, a Bible study series with Pastor Toby, a special with New Saint Andrew’s President, Ben Merkle, our backstage content, and our conference talks! You can grab a club membership for 10 bucks per month… that’s two cups of coffee. So again, head on over to fightlaughfeast.com to get signed up today! That’s fightlaughfeast.com. We start today’s news brief in the city of Greensboro, NC. Shout out to Wade Choate for sending in this story, and by the way, if you want to send me a news story, email me at garrison@fightlaughfeast.com - or you can find me on Facebook, or our own fightlaughfeast.com website, where we have our own social media page set up. https://greensboro.com/news/local/after-greensboro-firefighter-fired-over-straight-pride-and-other-facebook-posts-crowd-erupts-at-city/article_2a1fe822-04c6-11ee-8f48-078ab7addc66.html After Greensboro firefighter fired over 'Straight Pride' and other Facebook posts, crowd erupts at city council meeting The City of Greensboro has fired Capt. Dustin Jones of the Greensboro Fire Department, citing a history of social media posts criticizing transgender people and Black Lives Matter along with an unwillingness to accept training and heed warnings from his supervisors. Jones was fired on May 12, according to the city. On Tuesday night, citizens packed the council meeting, which was punctuated by loud outbursts as some protested Jones' firing and others supported it. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a politician known for his anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ+ positions had weeks earlier urged "normal people" to "take a stand and absolutely flood this hall" in an interview shared on Jones' Facebook page. Jones had gone to Facebook to protest his termination in a video in which he claimed he was fired because of a "Straight Pride" meme post made on April 16. The image, covered with pink and white stripes, featured a white, heterosexual couple being married with the title "Straight Pride" and the caption "It’s natural, it’s worked for thousands of years and you can make babies." After Jones appealed his termination by the Greensboro Fire Department, the City Manager a upheld the decision in a letter obtained by the News & Record in a records request. In his response, Jaiyeoba defended the termination, citing Jones' "misuse of social media" and "disrespectful behavior." Jaiyeoba wrote that Jones had "grown defiant" after numerous coaching sessions and warnings from supervisors. The response letter includes other instances of posts and re-posts attributed to Jones included one that stated: "You know what’s insane... A white person can paint their face black and be accused of being a racist. Yet a man can dress as a woman and be called a hero… [shrug emoji]". All sides of the political spectrum flocked to the Greensboro City Hall to make their voices heard, and more than 40 people signed up to speak during the public comment period. Members of Guilford For All, an organization advocating for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, wore green shirts and packed the inside of the assembly room. Outside the building, the Communist Party of America flew Pride flags and displayed a sign that read "FASCIST FIREMAN, YOU'RE FIRED." Jennifer Ruppe, the executive director of the Guilford Green Foundation and LGBTQ Center, addressed the room: "The true test of your commitment to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive city is how you all show up when it's not all rainbows and parades. Because freedom of speech is not freedom of consequences." https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-bidens-doj-tells-trump-he-will-be-indicted-next-week-on-charges-of-gathering-transmitting-or-losing-national-defense-docs?utm_campaign=64487 Biden's DOJ tells Trump he will be indicted next week on charges of 'gathering, transmitting or losing' national defense docs Former President Donald Trump has reportedly been notified by federal prosecutors that he is a criminal target and is likely to face imminent indictment in the classified document probe. People familiar with the case told Just The News that the revelation comes as the Justice Department has declined to delay charges to allow an investigation into allegations of witness tampering in connection with a senior prosecutor working on the case attempting to influence a key witness by discussing federal judgeship with the lawyer representing the witness provided by Trump’s legal team. The sources said that the allegation is still pending in a secret case before Chief US District Judge James E Boasberg in Washington, DC. A federal indictment brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith could be handed by a federal grand jury to Trump as early as next week. Smith’s prosecutorial team informed Trump’s team in recent days that the charges he faces include a violation of 18 US Code Chapter 37 Section 793 which prohibits the “gathering, transmitting or losing” of national defense information. Other charges reportedly being considered are alleged false statements and obstruction of justice. Sources told the outlet that Trump’s lawyers have been preparing their defense for months based on months of legal research in anticipation of charges. The 2024 presidential candidate’s lawyers are prepared to argue that Trump had Constitutional powers to declassify documents during his presidency and take them with him when his term ended. His lawyers will reportedly rely heavily on a US District Court case out of Washington over a decade ago regarding former President Bill Clinton, which concluded that a president had the power to determine what documents from his presidency can be kept in personal possession. A document posted to Twitter on Wednesday from the Federal Registrar has revealed that Trump declassified certain materials pertaining to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation during his last days in office. "At my request, on December 30, 2020, the Department of Justice provided the White House with a binder of materials related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Portions of the documents in the binder have remained classified and have not been released to Congress or the public," the document states. "I requested the documents so that a declassification review could be performed and so I could determine to what extent materials in the binder should be released in unclassified form," the document continues. "I determined that the materials in that binder should be declassified to the maximum extent possible." The document states that FBI had objected to further declassification of the materials, and gave suggestions as to redactions that the documents needed, which Trump obliged to. Crossfire Hurricane was the name given to the investigation into allegations of coordination between Trump and Russia that surfaced during the 2016 election. The Durham report, released in May, found that the FBI "failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law" in their launching of the investigation. https://thepostmillennial.com/cessna-pilot-was-slumped-over-in-cockpit-before-virginia-crash-that-killed-4?utm_campaign=64487 Cessna pilot was 'slumped over' in cockpit before Virginia crash that killed 4 National Guard F-16 fighter pilots revealed that the pilot operating the Cessna plane that flew over restricted airspace in Washington D.C. on Sunday was found "slumped over" moments before the plane crashed in a remote area of Virginia, which killed four people. United States Military officials said that the US fighter pilots attempted to get the civilian pilots attention for around 30 minutes before the plane plummeted at approximately 3 pm, Fox News reports. "The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the pilot did not respond to air traffic control instruction around 1:28 p.m. EDT," North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement. "Subsequently, the NORAD pilots visually inspected the Cessna as it was still airborne and confirmed that the pilot was unresponsive. NORAD pilots described the Cessna pilot as being slumped over." The people killed in the crash have been identified as Hamptons realtor Adina Azarian, 49, her daughter Aria Azarian, 2, Evadnie Smith, the child's nanny, and the pilot Jeff Hefner. Adina Azarian is the adopted daughter of a longtime GOP donor, John Rumpel, who owned the plane, according to Washington Post. The fatal crash sparked a flurry on Sunday after a loud "supersonic boom" could be heard in Washington D.C. following reports of an unidentified plane flying above restricted US airspace. According to Fox News, the US deployed six F-16 jets to intercept the plane, including two from Washington, DC, two from New Jersey and two out of South Carolina. Rumpel, who is a pilot and runs Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc., said his family was returning to their home in East Hampton after visiting his house in North Carolina, Fox reports. On Monday, the White House expressed its "deepest condolences" and National Security spokesman John Kirby said during a press brief regarding the US military response, "What I saw was just a classic, textbook response." Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash but experts say it's likely that the plane lost pressurization, causing hypoxia, a condition that occurs when someone's brain is deprived of adequate oxygen, according to Fox News. https://www.dailyfetched.com/cnn-ceo-chris-licht-to-leave-network-after-just-16-months/ CNN CEO Chris Licht to Leave Network after Just 16 Months On Wednesday, Licht announced he would leave CNN after meeting with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The CEO will be replaced in the interim by a three-person leadership team, including CNN executive Amy Entelis, who worked closely with former cable news boss Jeff Zucker who left in February of 2022. “For a number of reasons, things didn’t work out, and that’s unfortunate,” Zaslav said. “It’s really unfortunate. And ultimately, that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.” Zaslav said CNN is “in the process of conducting a wide search” for a new leader that could “take a while.” As The Daily Wire reported: Licht’s tenure at CNN was rough from the start. Weeks after Licht took over the reins, the cable news giant’s attempt at launching a streaming service failed after a month in operation, attracting fewer than 10,000 daily users. The CNN executive also faced criticism from his employees and poor ratings performances in the news channel’s primetime slots. Familiar faces on the network, such as longtime journalist Brian Stelter and host Don Lemon, were axed under Licht’s reign. The tumultuous leadership of Licht came to a boiling point when the network hosted a town hall with President Donald Trump in May. Leftist critics ripped the company for giving Trump a platform. Politicians and media personalities from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Joe Scarborough were angered by CNN’s decision to host Trump on the platform that has consistently offered friendly coverage to Democrats. Licht faced fire last week after the Atlantic published a 15,000-word profile titled “Inside the Meltdown at CNN,” which angered executives at Warner Bros. Discovery.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Thursday, June 8th, 2023. Club Membership Plug: (1/9) Ladies and gentleman, it’s never been a better time to become a club member at CrossPolitic. This year, CrossPolitic will be dropping exclusive content into our club portal for club members ONLY. Some of this content will include a pilot TV Show called This America, a Bible study series with Pastor Toby, a special with New Saint Andrew’s President, Ben Merkle, our backstage content, and our conference talks! You can grab a club membership for 10 bucks per month… that’s two cups of coffee. So again, head on over to fightlaughfeast.com to get signed up today! That’s fightlaughfeast.com. We start today’s news brief in the city of Greensboro, NC. Shout out to Wade Choate for sending in this story, and by the way, if you want to send me a news story, email me at garrison@fightlaughfeast.com - or you can find me on Facebook, or our own fightlaughfeast.com website, where we have our own social media page set up. https://greensboro.com/news/local/after-greensboro-firefighter-fired-over-straight-pride-and-other-facebook-posts-crowd-erupts-at-city/article_2a1fe822-04c6-11ee-8f48-078ab7addc66.html After Greensboro firefighter fired over 'Straight Pride' and other Facebook posts, crowd erupts at city council meeting The City of Greensboro has fired Capt. Dustin Jones of the Greensboro Fire Department, citing a history of social media posts criticizing transgender people and Black Lives Matter along with an unwillingness to accept training and heed warnings from his supervisors. Jones was fired on May 12, according to the city. On Tuesday night, citizens packed the council meeting, which was punctuated by loud outbursts as some protested Jones' firing and others supported it. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a politician known for his anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ+ positions had weeks earlier urged "normal people" to "take a stand and absolutely flood this hall" in an interview shared on Jones' Facebook page. Jones had gone to Facebook to protest his termination in a video in which he claimed he was fired because of a "Straight Pride" meme post made on April 16. The image, covered with pink and white stripes, featured a white, heterosexual couple being married with the title "Straight Pride" and the caption "It’s natural, it’s worked for thousands of years and you can make babies." After Jones appealed his termination by the Greensboro Fire Department, the City Manager a upheld the decision in a letter obtained by the News & Record in a records request. In his response, Jaiyeoba defended the termination, citing Jones' "misuse of social media" and "disrespectful behavior." Jaiyeoba wrote that Jones had "grown defiant" after numerous coaching sessions and warnings from supervisors. The response letter includes other instances of posts and re-posts attributed to Jones included one that stated: "You know what’s insane... A white person can paint their face black and be accused of being a racist. Yet a man can dress as a woman and be called a hero… [shrug emoji]". All sides of the political spectrum flocked to the Greensboro City Hall to make their voices heard, and more than 40 people signed up to speak during the public comment period. Members of Guilford For All, an organization advocating for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, wore green shirts and packed the inside of the assembly room. Outside the building, the Communist Party of America flew Pride flags and displayed a sign that read "FASCIST FIREMAN, YOU'RE FIRED." Jennifer Ruppe, the executive director of the Guilford Green Foundation and LGBTQ Center, addressed the room: "The true test of your commitment to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive city is how you all show up when it's not all rainbows and parades. Because freedom of speech is not freedom of consequences." https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-bidens-doj-tells-trump-he-will-be-indicted-next-week-on-charges-of-gathering-transmitting-or-losing-national-defense-docs?utm_campaign=64487 Biden's DOJ tells Trump he will be indicted next week on charges of 'gathering, transmitting or losing' national defense docs Former President Donald Trump has reportedly been notified by federal prosecutors that he is a criminal target and is likely to face imminent indictment in the classified document probe. People familiar with the case told Just The News that the revelation comes as the Justice Department has declined to delay charges to allow an investigation into allegations of witness tampering in connection with a senior prosecutor working on the case attempting to influence a key witness by discussing federal judgeship with the lawyer representing the witness provided by Trump’s legal team. The sources said that the allegation is still pending in a secret case before Chief US District Judge James E Boasberg in Washington, DC. A federal indictment brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith could be handed by a federal grand jury to Trump as early as next week. Smith’s prosecutorial team informed Trump’s team in recent days that the charges he faces include a violation of 18 US Code Chapter 37 Section 793 which prohibits the “gathering, transmitting or losing” of national defense information. Other charges reportedly being considered are alleged false statements and obstruction of justice. Sources told the outlet that Trump’s lawyers have been preparing their defense for months based on months of legal research in anticipation of charges. The 2024 presidential candidate’s lawyers are prepared to argue that Trump had Constitutional powers to declassify documents during his presidency and take them with him when his term ended. His lawyers will reportedly rely heavily on a US District Court case out of Washington over a decade ago regarding former President Bill Clinton, which concluded that a president had the power to determine what documents from his presidency can be kept in personal possession. A document posted to Twitter on Wednesday from the Federal Registrar has revealed that Trump declassified certain materials pertaining to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation during his last days in office. "At my request, on December 30, 2020, the Department of Justice provided the White House with a binder of materials related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Portions of the documents in the binder have remained classified and have not been released to Congress or the public," the document states. "I requested the documents so that a declassification review could be performed and so I could determine to what extent materials in the binder should be released in unclassified form," the document continues. "I determined that the materials in that binder should be declassified to the maximum extent possible." The document states that FBI had objected to further declassification of the materials, and gave suggestions as to redactions that the documents needed, which Trump obliged to. Crossfire Hurricane was the name given to the investigation into allegations of coordination between Trump and Russia that surfaced during the 2016 election. The Durham report, released in May, found that the FBI "failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law" in their launching of the investigation. https://thepostmillennial.com/cessna-pilot-was-slumped-over-in-cockpit-before-virginia-crash-that-killed-4?utm_campaign=64487 Cessna pilot was 'slumped over' in cockpit before Virginia crash that killed 4 National Guard F-16 fighter pilots revealed that the pilot operating the Cessna plane that flew over restricted airspace in Washington D.C. on Sunday was found "slumped over" moments before the plane crashed in a remote area of Virginia, which killed four people. United States Military officials said that the US fighter pilots attempted to get the civilian pilots attention for around 30 minutes before the plane plummeted at approximately 3 pm, Fox News reports. "The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the pilot did not respond to air traffic control instruction around 1:28 p.m. EDT," North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement. "Subsequently, the NORAD pilots visually inspected the Cessna as it was still airborne and confirmed that the pilot was unresponsive. NORAD pilots described the Cessna pilot as being slumped over." The people killed in the crash have been identified as Hamptons realtor Adina Azarian, 49, her daughter Aria Azarian, 2, Evadnie Smith, the child's nanny, and the pilot Jeff Hefner. Adina Azarian is the adopted daughter of a longtime GOP donor, John Rumpel, who owned the plane, according to Washington Post. The fatal crash sparked a flurry on Sunday after a loud "supersonic boom" could be heard in Washington D.C. following reports of an unidentified plane flying above restricted US airspace. According to Fox News, the US deployed six F-16 jets to intercept the plane, including two from Washington, DC, two from New Jersey and two out of South Carolina. Rumpel, who is a pilot and runs Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc., said his family was returning to their home in East Hampton after visiting his house in North Carolina, Fox reports. On Monday, the White House expressed its "deepest condolences" and National Security spokesman John Kirby said during a press brief regarding the US military response, "What I saw was just a classic, textbook response." Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash but experts say it's likely that the plane lost pressurization, causing hypoxia, a condition that occurs when someone's brain is deprived of adequate oxygen, according to Fox News. https://www.dailyfetched.com/cnn-ceo-chris-licht-to-leave-network-after-just-16-months/ CNN CEO Chris Licht to Leave Network after Just 16 Months On Wednesday, Licht announced he would leave CNN after meeting with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The CEO will be replaced in the interim by a three-person leadership team, including CNN executive Amy Entelis, who worked closely with former cable news boss Jeff Zucker who left in February of 2022. “For a number of reasons, things didn’t work out, and that’s unfortunate,” Zaslav said. “It’s really unfortunate. And ultimately, that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.” Zaslav said CNN is “in the process of conducting a wide search” for a new leader that could “take a while.” As The Daily Wire reported: Licht’s tenure at CNN was rough from the start. Weeks after Licht took over the reins, the cable news giant’s attempt at launching a streaming service failed after a month in operation, attracting fewer than 10,000 daily users. The CNN executive also faced criticism from his employees and poor ratings performances in the news channel’s primetime slots. Familiar faces on the network, such as longtime journalist Brian Stelter and host Don Lemon, were axed under Licht’s reign. The tumultuous leadership of Licht came to a boiling point when the network hosted a town hall with President Donald Trump in May. Leftist critics ripped the company for giving Trump a platform. Politicians and media personalities from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Joe Scarborough were angered by CNN’s decision to host Trump on the platform that has consistently offered friendly coverage to Democrats. Licht faced fire last week after the Atlantic published a 15,000-word profile titled “Inside the Meltdown at CNN,” which angered executives at Warner Bros. Discovery.

Boy Scotty, Mr. Phoenix Leather 2018, is a former President of the Phoenix boys of Leather. He is a BDSM educator teaching classes on the Violet Wand, Role Play, and his experience as a leather boy. He is a former professional actor and acting teacher from New York City, which is how he developed his “Expanding the Self Through Role Play” class. He is Alpha boy in the Leather House of Shangri-La and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Phoenix Queer Center, Phoenix's new LGBTQ+ Center.  He's a student of humanity and loves sharing experiences with people. He's always up for making a new friend or giving a hug. To follow and message him: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boyscotty.sh...Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daddyboymyk...Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaddyboyMykelXXPhoto: Copyright Wilkinson/2023Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com

This Week's Good Vibes:The Owners of Butter & Gave Their Employees Stock OptionsBarbie Doll With Down's Syndrome Launched by MattelLinkedin's New Commitments Tool Lets Users Screen Prospective Employers by What They Stand ForTaraji P. Henson and Kate Spade Are Teaming Up With HBCUsUSA Today Highlights Some of the Incredible Accessible Products They've Seen and the Impact They're Making in People's LivesCall to Action:I'm not going to do this often, I promise, but please consider a donation to the Rainbow Cafe or your local LGBTQ Center.To learn more about Dr. Joel A. Davis, visit: https://www.pneumos.com/our-founder/ Join thousands of readers by subscribing to the 5 Things newsletter. Enjoy some good vibes in DEI every Saturday morning. https://5thingsdei.com/

Dr. Molly Merryman (Associate Professor, School of Peace & Conflict Studies / Cofounder of KSU LGBTQ Studies & LGBTQ+ Center) joins the podcast to discuss the life and legacy of Kent State's very own Dr. Dolores Noll. Resources Mentioned: Dr. Noll's 'A Gay Feminist in Academia' (1974) Reach out to us at diversity@kent.edu or @DEIKentState across social media! Intro/Outro Music: 'Fate' by Marquice Turner

Kk Naimool was born in Trinidad and Tobago and followed a winding path to Beacon. Kk, who uses all pronouns, has worked closely with Newburgh's LGBTQ Center and the Cornwall school district to support gay and trans people. She is also on Beacon's Human Rights Commission and helped found a consulting group called Collective Justice that works with mutual aid pods and other community nonprofits. “Wherever you start is a good place to start,” Kk says in this surprisingly hilarious interview.

World AIDS Day is December 1, a perfect time to recall the local history of HIV/AIDS and fight for a better future. The AIDS Memorial Pathway, right in the heart of Capitol Hill, is a perfect place to do that. Take a tour of The AMP with host Egan Orion and several key players in the development of this important memorial.On today's podcast:Rosette Royale, the storygathering consultant for The AMPTom Rasmussen, former councilmember who got the memorial startedChristopher Paul Jordan, artist who created andimgonnamisseverybody (the big X)Jason Plourde, former project manager of The AMP from 2019-2022Bekah Telew, co-executive director of Seattle's LGBTQ+ Center (current stewards of The AMP)

Nancy Zelaya had some obstacles coming out to her loved ones.  She knew from a very young age that she is a lesbian. It has been challenging, coming from her native land of Nicaragua and now going to a private, religious university. Although the university has an LGBTQ Center, it's still does not feel completely liberating coming out at such a conservative school. She is about to become a Doctor of Pharmacy and Nancy is on her way to fully blossoming and living her authentic life with no fear. She is also a personal trainer and nutrition expert. You can DM her:Instagram @zelayanThis is Dr. Lino Martinez the host for A Little Less Fear Podcast. For more information, please use the information below. Thanks so much for your support!Author | A Little Less FearWriters Work | Write Your Way to the Life You WantA Little LESS FEAR Podcast (@alittlelessfearpodcast) • Instagram photos and videosLino Marinez (@alittlelessfear) TikTok | Watch Lino Marinez's Newest TikTok VideosWriters Work | Write Your Way to the Life You Want

This week Nathaniel talks a bit about the hubbub at The Well Friday night (October 21, 2022). They spread some positive thoughts and love, and then play a very very very very rough version of a BRAND NEW LTB SONG. (its super rough, please be nice) The LGBTQ Center: https://www.thelgbtqcenter.org/ The Well: https://thewellriverpark.com/ Lune The Band: https://lunetheband.bandcamp.com/ I Don't Speak German: https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/ It Could Happen Here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/ Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/

I am honored to have Tomás Prower as a guest on the podcast this week. When I started planning this season, I knew that I wanted to bring Tomás on. Tomás Prower is a graduate of the University of California: Santa Barbara with degrees in Global Socioeconomics and Latin American Studies. With fluency in English, French, and Spanish, he has worked for the French Government as a cultural liaison throughout South America with extended assignments in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, and the Amazon jungle. Since then, he has been the External Relations Director for the American Red Cross of Nevada, LGBT+ Programs Director for entertainment productions in Los Angeles, and a licensed mortuary professional in California and Nevada. Currently, Tomás resides in Palm Springs, California, as the Director of Communications for the LGBTQ+ Center of the Coachella Valley. Link to the LGBTQ+ Center of the Coachella Valley Antiracist Heathenry Resources Support the podcast on Patreon --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heathens-journey/support

Joe Barb is Executive Director and Founder of LGBTQ+ Family Connections Center. They have a mission to strengthen and empower all youth, however they identify, to overcome obstacles by providing housing, supportive counseling, community education, and advocacy. Victoria and Chad talk with Joe about identifying needs for the center, his own lived experience and connection to the LGBTQ+ community, and deciding what services to provide and evaluating which are most impactful. LGBTQ+ Family Connections Center (https://lgbtqfamilyconnectionscenter.net/) Follow the LGBTQ+ Family Connections Center on Twitter (https://twitter.com/center_lgbtq), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lgbtqfamilyconnectionscenter/), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LGBTQFamilyConnectionCenter), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/lgbtq-family-connections-center/). Follow Joe on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-barb-978ba0204/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is The Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel. VICTORIA: And I'm your other host, Victoria Guido. And with us today is Joe Barb, Executive Director and Founder of LGBTQ+ Family Connections Center, with a mission to strengthen and empower all youth however they identify to overcome obstacles by providing housing, supportive counseling, community education, and advocacy. Joe, thank you for joining us. JOE: Thank you. I appreciate it. VICTORIA: Wonderful. So you started the center over two years ago. If you could go back in time and give yourself advice to when you were first starting out, what would you tell yourself? JOE: Wow, very similar to for-profit companies, having the tenacity to keep knocking on doors, never accepting no for an answer, and understanding that tenacity is everything. Nothing happens without continuing the fight every day. VICTORIA: Great. And how did you first identify that need for the center? JOE: A million years ago, when I was a late teenager, my parents had a pastor in their church suggest to them that in order to bring me back to God and back to their church, that they should cut me off financially, you know, I was a young freshman in college prod me in that direction. So my parents took the advice, and I found myself in my second semester of college with no funding. The check for the second semester had been canceled from my family, and I didn't know what to do. So I called a friend in South Dakota that we had met on vacation. And she said, "You know what? I have an apartment building here. I just had an apartment become vacant. Why don't you move to South Dakota, and then we'll work on everything else?" So that lived experience kind of proded the whole thing. And then meeting the youth who had been displaced from home for being a trans youth caused the rest. CHAD: Well, I'm really sorry for that personal experience that you had. But it's pretty powerful and that you've gone on to help others in similar situations is really admirable. JOE: Yeah, it's been quite a journey. And my lived experience, honestly, I was with stability within 24 hours. The more I became comfortable and complacent in my life and then met somebody who wasn't; it brought me back to that. And then just looking at statistics, looking at how youth end up in a houseless situation created something in me that I had to address. VICTORIA: So you had your own lived experience and that connection to your community which helped you identify that need and start out on the center. Did you find there were a lot of resources for building nonprofits? JOE: There isn't. And it's really something that when you go into it, you believe that when you create a nonprofit and you finish that application, you send it into the IRS, and you get approval, that you put a great idea out there and that the community will respond and that everyone will immediately jump on it and say, "You know what? You're right. This is needed. We need housing. We need to make sure that youth are safe." And that's not the way it works. It doesn't work that way at all. It's a lot of connections and community and getting involved and putting the statistics and the numbers out there so that people are aware of it. But it's mostly connecting the stories. The more youth that I've met and worked with and connected them to a story and told their story, the more people respond. VICTORIA: Right. And so, what have you found to be the most impactful in sharing that story and in managing that content to get to the right people who can help you with this need? JOE: The most impactful part is people just aren't aware. We all know that there's a homeless population. No matter where you live, there's a homeless population, and it impacts communities. But what we aren't aware of is we all typically believe that the government is funding these things and it's being taken care of and that maybe those people just chose homelessness and don't realize that the resources are very limited. Until those resources are able to show a data of need, that person may not be counted that you saw on the corner. CHAD: You're pretty active socially online. I think where I first saw you was through a mutual connection on LinkedIn, and your posts started to be in my feed, and I liked and subscribed, I guess. How much of the awareness that you're putting out there is coming from social networks and online versus in-person and local communities? JOE: I'd say it's probably a good mixture of both. Locally, obviously, I'm deeply involved with other service providers, and I'm involved with local government. I'm on any kind of board that you can think of that impacts youth homelessness. So there's that within my community but having those LinkedIn...just this weekend, we had our pride, and at our pride, someone walked over to me, started talking at our booth. And he said, "Well, I know you from LinkedIn. CHAD: [chuckles] JOE: I noticed your picture with Sylvan Lake behind you from your LinkedIn, and I just had to come over to meet you and say hi." And I thought, how impactful is social media that someone who lives in Florida happened to be in South Dakota came to pride and recognized me from a picture? VICTORIA: Wow. Yeah, it makes our world feel a little smaller sometimes, doesn't it? JOE: Absolutely. VICTORIA: And the problem of youth homelessness and LGBTQ+ homelessness is very complex. And I think other nonprofit founders might be interested in how you decide what services you're going to provide and how you evaluate to see which ones are the most impactful. JOE: We did things kind of backwards. So I formed the board of directors, and typically what happens with the board of directors is they want to become your advisors. And I thought these people have great professional experience. We have doctors; we have PhDs, we have scientists literally on our board. And those people don't have the lived experience. So I thought, who do we go to to develop programming and support for people that are in need? And the answer was glaringly clear; it had to be the people who were in need. So I formed a Youth Action Board with the State Continuum of Care. And it comprises of youth ages 13 to 24 who have lived experience. We keep it at 66% have to have lived experience. And technically, most of them have even much more than that. But we connect with them through service providers who assist youth. And those were the people that we used to formulate what they needed, decide what was most beneficial to help them during vulnerable points, and then help them get out of situations. VICTORIA: Right. And I think that user experience, that experience bringing that into the products and services that you're creating, just makes a lot of sense for us, and that's what we bring into our design as well. JOE: Yeah, I mean, we do it in almost every industry. Whatever you create, whatever product you create, whether it's something tangible that you hold or whether it's a service, you bring in a test group. And that test group typically is people that you're seeking to utilize or buy your service or your product. And in doing that, we end up developing a better product. It's the same thing with a nonprofit. We had to get the voice of those who we would be serving in order to make sure that we were doing what they needed, not what we thought as professional people or personal opinions was the way forward. CHAD: Was there something as you were talking to people and learning that surprised you? JOE: Probably the same thing that everyone develops is an opinion of homelessness. We all think that people that experience homelessness it's typically through some self-inflicted issue; typically, drugs and alcohol come to mind and some type of cause that brought you there that you had influence on. And I've learned that most of the kids that we serve had no influence on their homelessness other than to be born where they were or to who they were born. A lot of our youth are coming from, oh, they've lived in shelters, or foster care, or aged out of foster care. It just changed my dichotomy of thinking that we would be serving people that had addiction problems or alcohol problems when in case of the youth...currently we're at, I think 68 youth served. I've only met one youth that had a previous addiction. CHAD: It's really just that lack of a safety net. And all it takes is your family not supporting you and not having a safety net. JOE: Absolutely. And that's just it. You said it very well. Most of us, when we have an incident in our life that we need some help because there's a vulnerability, we have people around us that we go back to. We have either family or close friends that we can say, "You know what? I lost my job. I need a little bit of help here," or "This medical incident happened, and could you assist us?" And we get a response from our family or friends that typically is supportive and helps us find a way. A lot of youth, especially youth that experience homelessness, don't have that connection to family. So that's where we need to bring in community to support them. VICTORIA: Right. And do you find there are unique challenges to supporting youth experiencing homelessness in the Midwest in South Dakota where you are versus in more urban areas? JOE: Absolutely. Carl Siciliano is my TA advisor. He created the Ali Forney Center in New York, which is the largest housing support for homeless youth for...they specifically only target LGBTQ youth in the United States. And in talking to him and in looking at our demographics, it was very different. For them, people in larger cities will just seek out their services. They learn about it word of mouth. They find out that there's a shelter in place. Here, our homeless population is much more hidden. And typically, what happens here is youth will gather together. And it'll be six or eight of them who will become friendly, and they will try to support each other by one of them will get a hotel, and then six or eight of them will live together. Or they're doubled up in one person's apartment, six or eight people live in somebody else's apartment, which truly isn't housed because it's not their place. And they try to support each other. So they're very hidden in our communities. CHAD: It's unfortunate there's a lot of stuff happening in the U.S. and worldwide with legislation being passed now anti-transgender. I think South Dakota was the first state in the country to pass an anti-transgender bill this year. Are there particular challenges to doing the work that you do in today's climate? JOE: Accessing mental health services, we had to overcome that obstacle by forming relationships with counseling services so that we could make sure that any youth, whether they were insured or underinsured, or uninsured, could immediately access mental health. And that took quite a bit of work on our part in order to make that happen. It should be easy. It should be easy to access mental health. And that's probably one of the biggest challenges because I can stabilize anyone tomorrow with either a hotel, or a house, or an apartment. But if you don't have mental health to help with what got you there, you're still living in trauma. If you're living in trauma, how can you focus on things like going back to school or having a career or what even tomorrow means for you? Because you're living in trauma today. So, absolutely, to answer your question, mental health. CHAD: And is that a matter of providers not wanting to provide services or not being able to pay for it? JOE: Not being able to pay for it. There are things that you can access if you're uninsured or underinsured if you meet the guidelines to get into mental health access. The problem with that is if you need to help today, that's a process. We wanted to skip the process. We wanted to make sure that if you walked into our drop-in center today that this afternoon I can have you with a therapist of your choice. MID-ROLL AD: Now that you have funding, it's time to design, build, and ship the most impactful MVP that wows customers now, and can scale in the future. thoughtbot Liftoff brings you the most reliable cross-functional team of product experts to mitigate risk and set you up for long-term success. As your trusted, experienced technical partner, we'll help launch your new product and guide you into a future-forward business that takes advantage of today's new technologies and agile best practices. Make the right decisions for tomorrow today. Get in touch at thoughtbot.com/liftoff. CHAD: You have a website. You collect donations online. And we definitely want to link all of that stuff in the show notes. It will be there, and I hope people contribute. But when it comes to the tactical stuff on the product and business side, are there particular tools or resources you were able to draw upon to put together online donations, the website, that kind of thing? JOE: As far as platforms, is that what you're asking? CHAD: Yeah. JOE: There are some great platforms that have been built specifically for nonprofits in order to help get the word out and help fundraise. That for us hasn't been the primary. In this type of nonprofit, typically, most of our donations are not donations or grants. They're things that we...like, I just spent two years on a grant that is quite substantial. But it was two years of work, literally 40 hours a week for two years. So there are those tools, there's the GoFundMe, and there are all kinds of tools for sharing on social media in order to get people to donate. They're great, but you have to have a large circle in order to utilize those. And you have to have people that are willing to do that as well. So I don't think we have the tool that's the best tool yet socially. CHAD: What would something that was better look like for you? JOE: It's more getting corporations and businesses and private companies involved in what a lot of companies are already doing. They will seek from their employees giving initiatives. And they will seek information to what does the company want to support as a community? Because that's what their employees care about. I think those things have a more sustainable development and a more sustainable footprint for nonprofits that when organizations get involved that are private and then offer to their employees a way to donate, that works best. CHAD: Yeah. For thoughtbot, to honor Pride Month, we collected a series of donations that we were going to make. And there was team suggestion...because we have teams all over the place, we wanted to have a local impact. And then when it came to actually doing those donations, I think we had 10 to 20 organizations that we wanted to donate, not a huge amount of money to each one but hopefully, it makes a difference. And the way that we needed to do that a person at thoughtbot needed to go and either find the donate link, the place to do it, and some of them didn't even have it. And we wanted to, you know, maybe it's a place in Brazil or something, and we need to get them the money somehow, wiring it or something. And so that was a fair amount of manual work to figure that out and then to make the payments. JOE: And I think because it goes along with we're learning as organizations that we have to take care of the social and emotional part of employees just as well as we do the work environment. It's part of the work environment. So I think that that kind of goes back to HR, which is my background. HR should look at those things in advance and find local nonprofits to support local ideas and then maybe some national ones as well. We all know of The Trevor Project and some of the great broader campaigns that do a lot of really good work. And have that ready so that when somebody joins your company you can show them and say, "Hey, by the way, these are some local organizations that we can do a payroll deduction for if you like, or we can buy annual contributions," and let the employees see that the company cares about the local area and also cares about things on a national platform that impact employees. VICTORIA: I love that. I think that's a great way to involve corporations in giving back and connecting employees to their local communities and the local groups that need support. Is there anything else that you want to tell our listeners in order to support the LGBTQ+ Center or in general? JOE: The majority of our youth are LGBTQ+. And that's because statistically, across the United States, the majority of youth seeking housing services unaccompanied are LGBTQ+, up to 40%. But we don't turn away any youth. It doesn't matter how they identify. It doesn't matter what their circumstances are. The only thing that we ask is if you're telling us you're homeless, then we're going to assist in that. We do have age criteria of 16 to 24 because that matches the federal guidelines for the programming that we're in through federal dollars. So other than that, I mean, we still would help anyone of any age, but that's the big thing to know is that we help any youth however they identify. And what could listeners do? Obviously, on our website or look into your community as well and see what is a support in your area and find something that you can contribute to. VICTORIA: That sounds great. Thank you so much. Do you have any questions for me or Chad? JOE: I think that what you're doing is great. I like that you are thinking of nonprofits as a company as well because a lot of people view it differently when it's actually a company. You have to figure out a way to sustain funding and bring money in just like any other organization in order to do the work. CHAD: Yeah, I think that's a common misconception that people have. And I'm sure it's not the case with you and your organization. But I like to remind people that nonprofit really just means that it can't show a profit. So there are lots of nonprofits out there that just end up spending all of the money that they have. That is really also technically what it means sometimes. JOE: And you bring up a great point. There's an IRS website to look up any nonprofit organization, and you can look at how they spend their money. I do that all the time before I make a donation. Because we've all heard those stories of CEOs, who make 30 million a year or whatever crazy number. You can always look up any organization and see how they spend their money. CHAD: Yeah, that's a really good tip for people to do before you get involved with an organization with donations or your time and really making sure it matches your values and that kind of thing. VICTORIA: Great. All right. I think we're about at time. So with that, I will wrap us up and let everyone know you can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. CHAD: If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. You can find me on Twitter at @cpytel. VICTORIA: And you can find me on Twitter @victori_ousg. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. CHAD: Thanks for listening and see you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success. Special Guest: Joe Barb.

In this episode, Kyle Deveza speaks with Christopher Griffin, Assistant Director of the NYU LGBTQ+ Center and creator of Plant Kween. Together, they speak about the importance of queer spaces, how to grow your personal brand, and the importance of striking balance between your career goals and your personal goals. Christopher Griffin (they/she/he) has spent their career in education working with underrepresented groups of students and implementing social justice initiatives dedicated to their success. They were born and raised in West Philadelphia, and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York, where they work as the Assistant Director of the NYU LGBTQ+ Center and care for over 200 green gurls in their lil Brooklyn oasis of an apartment. For a full transcript of this episode, please email career.communications@nyu.edu.

On todays episode, Mom and Me discuss Leo Season with Mai Tran. Mai Tran (she/her) is the Area Director for Nevada with The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She has been working in the nonprofit sector for a little over two years, previously with The Cupcake Girls, and spent twenty-two years in retail leadership. She has been a crisis counselor for Crisis Text Line for the last eight years, and revived a certification for crisis advocacy from The LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada. Mai lives in the Arts District in downtown Las Vegas with her husband and her pup. Community care and connection are two of her personal core values and she understands the importance of continuing to educate herself and do the work in order to live those out. You can follow Mai on her Instagram (@mlieng) or find her ridin around the DTLV neighborhood. To get involved with Cupcake Girls or AFSP, give them a follow @cupcakegirlsorg and @afspnevada

This week on Redefining Family Jonathan opens the episode talking about the very scary state of our country and worries for our future.  Jonathan then interviews Robert Oliver, LGBTQ advocate, political organizer, and is also running for the West Hollywood City Council.  Robert opens up about always knowing he was gay but also feeling like an outcast.   Robert was raised in a reform, Jewish family, that was very accepting, and he explains the amazing values that were bestowed upon him, like doing a Mitzvah.Jonathan and Robert then talk about the fact just because you are related to someone, it does not mean that you should accept abuse from them.  Robert explains that self-esteem comes from estimable acts, it comes from within.******About Robert OliverRobert is a passionate activist and political organizer. Coming from a family of immigrants who fled persecution, Robert has always felt a personal responsibility to fight injustice against anyone. After coming out at 14, Robert took to the streets, organizing for marriage equality and LGBT rights, and against the Bush-era wars. As a student, he worked full-time on the No on Proposition 8 campaign, as well as Pacific Pride Foundation, Santa Barbara's LGBTQ Center. His professional career also includes working for a U.S. Senator, a Los Angeles City Councilmember, and the LA Jewish Federation. Along with his husband and their adopted bulldog-mix, Robert lives in West Hollywood, where he previously served on the West Hollywood Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board, and represented West Hollywood on the LA County West Vector Control District Board. Robert currently serves on the city's Public Safety Commission, where he has been an advocate for reimagining policing and public safety, as well as underrepresented members of the community. Robert is running for West Hollywood City Council in the November 2022 election.

On this episode of the newsroom, conversations about two very different issues that both challenge our regionFirst, Caroline Morin, director of the LGBTQ Center of the Cape Fear Coast, talks about her work, the rise in attacks on her community, and the particular flavor of bigotry in the coastal south. Then, Evan Folds, with the New Hanover Soil & Water Conservation District, gets into our county's looming landfill crisis, and some innovative ways to solve it.

This week, on Old Pro News, we have an extra long interview with Zola Z. Bruce and Mariah Grant from the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. We discussed the Safe Sex Workers Study Act, FOSTA-SESTA, OnlyFans, and many other topics related to tech freedom.   For more resources on this episode, visit our website: https://oldprosonline.org/oldpronews-008   Bios   Zola Z. Bruce MSSW is a social worker, activist and artist who focuses on helping people to create the life they  want in all aspects of their career. Originally from Dallas, TX, they moved to New York to  attend Sarah Lawrence College to study psychology and sculpture, in addition they did a  semester abroad with The School for International Training in Kingston, Jamaica where they  studied Gender and Development. Zola received their Masters of Science in Social Work from  Columbia University in 2001. Afterwards they worked for 12 years in youth development with  organizations including the Center for Family Life, McBurney YMCA, and the LGBTQ Center focusing on creating therapeutic art programs for youth and families. Internationally they  started a nonprofit, Unified for Global Healing, where they developed grassroots community  health initiatives in Haiti, Ghana, and India using the arts to communicate beyond language,  class, and cultural barriers. Combining their experiences in art, activism, sex work and social  work, Zola currently works as Director of Communications at the Sex Workers Project of  The Urban Justice Center (SWP) and started a documentary series for and by sex workers,  recently on display at The Museum of Sex. Alongside their work with SWP they continue to create, consult, speak at activist events, teach as an Adjunct Professor at John Jay College of  Criminal Justice, is a BDSM instructor and Vice President for KinkOut (KO).   Mariah Grant (she/her) is the Director of Research and Advocacy with the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center (SWP). She is a human rights and migration specialist with a focus on migrant and sex workers' rights, freedom of movement, and labor exploitation. In her role with SWP, she oversees policy advocacy and development of original research, including ongoing studies on law enforcement violence against sex workers. She has worked throughout the US and internationally on improving anti-trafficking policies to ensure better human rights protections for migrants and sex workers.   The Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City are a national organization that defends the human rights of sex workers by destigmatizing and decriminalizing people in the sex trades through free legal services, education, research, and policy advocacy.    https://twitter.com/UJCSexWorkers https://www.instagram.com/sexworkersproject/ SAFE SEX WORKER STUDY ACT LINKS    Report produced by Hacking//Hustling, authors: Kendra Albert, Elizabeth Brundige, and Lorelei Lee  https://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/fosta-in-legal-context/    https://survivorsagainstsesta.org/    https://make-the-switch.org/commercial-sex-online/    https://make-the-switch.org/the-safe-sex-worker-study-act/    Op-Ed by Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer https://www.thedailybeast.com/want-to-fix-big-tech-stop-ignoring-sex-workers    SWP Statements on SSWSA https://swp.urbanjustice.org/news-room/resources/    Senate Bill:  https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3758    House Bill:   https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6928    EARN IT ACT https://surviveearnit.com/  Call your Reps and Senators!  https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/sesta-fosta-anniversary/  Request meetings with your Reps and Senators – and other critical members of Congress – like members of the committees the bill has been referred to:    https://www.house.gov/representatives   https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC  Subscription to a database with contact information   Request to Join: https://make-the-switch.org/join-the-network-subgroup/  Please fill out this form to join the Sex Worker Subgroup of the Federal LGBTQPLHIV Criminal Justice Working Group. Joining the network means being added to the listserv and access to a database of resources for activists and allies, as well as an invite to the monthly working group call.  This group supports the decriminalization of sex work, transparency and accountability in state action, and uplifting the leadership of impacted people.  Donate to organizations working on this issue, including the Sex Workers Project:  https://swp.urbanjustice.org/donate-2/ 

This week, on Old Pro News, we have an extra long interview with Zola Z. Bruce and Mariah Grant from the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. We discussed the Safe Sex Workers Study Act, FOSTA-SESTA, OnlyFans, and many other topics related to tech freedom.   For more resources on this episode, visit our website: https://oldprosonline.org/oldpronews-008   Bios   Zola Z. Bruce MSSW is a social worker, activist and artist who focuses on helping people to create the life they  want in all aspects of their career. Originally from Dallas, TX, they moved to New York to  attend Sarah Lawrence College to study psychology and sculpture, in addition they did a  semester abroad with The School for International Training in Kingston, Jamaica where they  studied Gender and Development. Zola received their Masters of Science in Social Work from  Columbia University in 2001. Afterwards they worked for 12 years in youth development with  organizations including the Center for Family Life, McBurney YMCA, and the LGBTQ Center focusing on creating therapeutic art programs for youth and families. Internationally they  started a nonprofit, Unified for Global Healing, where they developed grassroots community  health initiatives in Haiti, Ghana, and India using the arts to communicate beyond language,  class, and cultural barriers. Combining their experiences in art, activism, sex work and social  work, Zola currently works as Director of Communications at the Sex Workers Project of  The Urban Justice Center (SWP) and started a documentary series for and by sex workers,  recently on display at The Museum of Sex. Alongside their work with SWP they continue to create, consult, speak at activist events, teach as an Adjunct Professor at John Jay College of  Criminal Justice, is a BDSM instructor and Vice President for KinkOut (KO).   Mariah Grant (she/her) is the Director of Research and Advocacy with the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center (SWP). She is a human rights and migration specialist with a focus on migrant and sex workers' rights, freedom of movement, and labor exploitation. In her role with SWP, she oversees policy advocacy and development of original research, including ongoing studies on law enforcement violence against sex workers. She has worked throughout the US and internationally on improving anti-trafficking policies to ensure better human rights protections for migrants and sex workers.   The Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City are a national organization that defends the human rights of sex workers by destigmatizing and decriminalizing people in the sex trades through free legal services, education, research, and policy advocacy.    https://twitter.com/UJCSexWorkers https://www.instagram.com/sexworkersproject/ SAFE SEX WORKER STUDY ACT LINKS    Report produced by Hacking//Hustling, authors: Kendra Albert, Elizabeth Brundige, and Lorelei Lee  https://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/fosta-in-legal-context/    https://survivorsagainstsesta.org/    https://make-the-switch.org/commercial-sex-online/    https://make-the-switch.org/the-safe-sex-worker-study-act/    Op-Ed by Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer https://www.thedailybeast.com/want-to-fix-big-tech-stop-ignoring-sex-workers    SWP Statements on SSWSA https://swp.urbanjustice.org/news-room/resources/    Senate Bill:  https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3758    House Bill:   https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6928    EARN IT ACT https://surviveearnit.com/  Call your Reps and Senators!  https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/sesta-fosta-anniversary/  Request meetings with your Reps and Senators – and other critical members of Congress – like members of the committees the bill has been referred to:    https://www.house.gov/representatives   https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC  Subscription to a database with contact information   Request to Join: https://make-the-switch.org/join-the-network-subgroup/  Please fill out this form to join the Sex Worker Subgroup of the Federal LGBTQPLHIV Criminal Justice Working Group. Joining the network means being added to the listserv and access to a database of resources for activists and allies, as well as an invite to the monthly working group call.  This group supports the decriminalization of sex work, transparency and accountability in state action, and uplifting the leadership of impacted people.  Donate to organizations working on this issue, including the Sex Workers Project:  https://swp.urbanjustice.org/donate-2/ 

This week, the guys tackle some WILD secrets with the absolute icon and most commented upon contestant in AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL history, Isis King. The actress, influencer and humanitarian reacts to listener submitted secrets, and shares a juicy secret about her experience on the SAVAGE x FENTY show. While living in New York in the Ali Forney Center for LGBTQ homeless youth, she rose to fame as the first trans woman to compete on both the 11th and 17th (All-Star) cycle of AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL. As a model, Isis has graced the covers of LGBTQ and mainstream magazines and has slayed the runway for many notable fashion designers. As an actress, she is a principal on the Amazon show With Love and has played pivotal roles on L-Word, Good Trouble, The Bold and The Beautiful, and Showtime's hit show Shameless. An advocate of human rights, Isis is on the board of the Ali Forney Center, FOLX Health, and is an ambassador for GLAAD and the LGBTQ Center. Isis has partnered with elite brands such as Fenty by Rihanna, Verizon, Staples, HBO, Essence, Facebook and Gabrielle Union & Company, and Abercrombie & Fitch.   If you'd like a chance to hear your secret revealed on the podcast, you can submit your secret on our website: ConfessYourMess.us  IG: @_AJGibson / @EmileEnnisJr / @ConfessYourMessPodcastTwitter: @AJGibson / @EmileEnnisJr / @ConfessPodcast  Watch on YouTubeFrom Straw Hut MediaLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of “Matt Michaels' People I Don't Hate” Matt welcomes ‘The Songbird of Wrestling' Ricky Tenaciuos. Ricky is here to let us know about the upcoming Big Valley Wrestling (BVW) event ‘OUTrageous'. It's a fundraiser for the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada taking place on Saturday October 16th doors at 5:30pm. Catch Da Shade, Fresco-Mattic, Jai Vidal, Papa Jace, Sandra Moone, Santanna Jackson, Funnybone, and many more in action. Ricky tells us how he is going to best Tommy Purr in a ‘Pumpkin Patch' match. And any fans wearing a costume can enter the Halloween costume contest. Where you can win a top cash prize of $200! Get all the information for this great cause right here on the Vegas Badboyz of Podcasting!  And please remember to subscribe, download, listen, review, and share all of the shows from the Vegas Badboyz of Podcasting. Visit vegasbadboyz.com

John Taylor and Gay Desert Guide Brad Fuhr welcome special guests Deb Pollack form the LGBTQ Center of the Desert, Jimmy Boegle from CVIndependent.com and Nicholas Snow from PromoHomo.TV See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah speaks with Zach, a self-proclaimed nerd, sex geek, and consent educator. In this extra long episode, Zach and Sarah discuss A LOT -Zach's 10+ years experience with polyamory, his five pillars of consent, intersectionality and kink, and Zach's life as a Dominant - how it's helped his mental health, his missteps, and what he's learned.  Zach became interested in consent as a topic over 5 years ago as a personal research project. He is currently completing his Masters of Social Work degree at University of Houston to be of even more benefit to his community. Zach also serves as the Gulf Coast Advocate for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF), attending professional social work conventions, providing info on kink & polyamory to social work and mental health professionals. He is currently serving as an intern of social work at Houston's local LGBTQ Center, where he serves as a group facilitator and clinical student intern. Zach is a member of the Board of Loving More (www.lovemore.com), the nation's oldest Polyamory Advocacy organization.  Zach puts his Consent Educator muscles to work on www.consentwarrior.com, where he consults and schedules presentations on the topics of ‘The Five Pillars of Consent'©, ‘Radical Self-ish Care', ‘BDSM & the Law' and does consultation sessions for self care. Find Zach at:  Consentwarrior.com @zinvictuz @black_sexgeek

On this episode of “Matt Michaels' People I Don't Hate” Matt welcomes FSW, BVW, and Versus Pro Wrestling star Da Shade. Shade gets into how he came to wrestling.  He gives a look into why he's gotten himself into incredible shape.  And he talks about wrestling Jai Vidal in the main event of Big Valley Wrestling's ‘LOUD AND PROUD' event on June 26th to raise money for The LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada It's a solid interview with a solid talent and it's only available here on the Vegas Badboyz of Podcasting!  And please remember to subscribe, download, listen, review, and share all of the shows from the Vegas Badboyz of Podcasting.

On this episode of “Matt Michaels' People I Don't Hate” Matt welcomes the inspirational EEFY! EFFY & Matt get into his career and how he's been able to be a wrestling icon as well as a role model for the LGBTQ community. They cover a number of topics including the growth of PRIDE month, trusting yourself as a performer, having the DYI attitude to put on shows, and wanting to be looked at like Terry Funk in Japan!! And they talk about the Vegas Badboyz sponsorship of EFFY for the upcoming Big Valley Wrestling show ‘Loud and Proud'. It's a fundraiser for ‘The LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada' taking place on Saturday June 26th. Tickets available on Eventbrite. It's a very frank and honest interview and it's only available here on the Vegas Badboyz of Podcasting!  And please remember to subscribe, download, listen, review, and share all of the shows from the Vegas Badboyz of Podcasting.

John Taylor, comedian Shann Carr and Gay Desert Guide Brad Fuhr with special guests: Steven Biller of Palm Springs Life, restaurantHER Mindy Reed, artist Dylan Smith, Kim Kieler from the LGBTQ Center of the Desert and Executive Producer of the film "Forgive Us" Alex Woodruff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June is national pride month! Come down and celebrate with the LGBTQ Center of Bay County at The Salty Hobo at the first annual Summer Pride Fest! This week's episode features an interview with William Shurbutt-Rardin who is the special events director for the LGBTQ Center of Bay County. The organization is located right here in St. Andrews and they are continuously working to provide services to the LGBTQ community and the surrounding area.Sound from [Zapsplat.com](http://zapsplat.com/)––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Trust Me (instrumental) by RYYZN[https://soundcloud.com/ryyzn](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbkRDX0JpaTZ3SDVXX051b0pzQkJZb0dxUG9UQXxBQ3Jtc0tsZ0tkZFdLVzJWS2J5LXlzS2ttNlZVRFpjSTRvSk1ydnFwTUJ2RFZOUEdEQ2dVbUZ1MEE1LXZvbzRHaG1iWkdaSFV5R00tLW9hVzdRZ2dGTXo2Y0lyVUpfZXBESTJ4MnBtNldJbmpCZjZBcGRMSVVzdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fryyzn)Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream:[https://bit.ly/trust-me-instrumental](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqazdwRGNIcnpLYUNtMGc2eG5nX05GQXV3MlIxd3xBQ3Jtc0tuemhoOXBDcUFwbWNlUGdyZGFuMFhPdjdlU0YwWm5hZHMwclNtZzNKOVF5enlvZkI0ZGtOakdBTmwxeFQwaWhoaFRrekF1eDZvVmFSM0g3Rkc1aGpsOHZoQzBFMDJLX0Z3bHV5T3dzNU0xbEhUaTM1SQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Ftrust-me-instrumental)Music promoted by Audio Library[https://youtu.be/KZoaU3rjIZo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZoaU3rjIZo&t=0s)

Intersectionality is a popular concept, but what does it have to do with sex education? In this episode, Dr. G speaks with Bianca Laureano, a legend in the profession and a pioneer in using sex ed to advance social justice. The pair cover a wide range of topics, including colorism and the complexities of race in Latin American communities, centering and citing Black women, righteous conflict, practicing accountability, and all the ways we can do better around improving our craft. An all-around power-packed conversation for sexuality professionals everywhere. Click here for the episode transcript. Guest Bio: Bianca I Laureano is an award-wining educator, curriculum writer, facilitator, and sexologist. She is a Foundress of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WOCSHN), The LatiNegrxs Project, ANTE UP! Virtual Freedom Professional Development School for Justice Workers, and hosts LatinoSexuality.com. She has written several curricula that focus on communities of color: What's the REAL DEAL about Love and Solidarity? (2015) and Communication MixTape: Speak On It Vol 1. (2017) and wrote the sexual and reproductive justice discussion guide for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene published in 2018. Bianca has been on the board of CLAGS, the LGBTQ Center at CUNY, The Black Girl Project, and  SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. She resides in Oakland, CA. She is the Lead Educator for the Netflix film Crip Camp (2020) and is leading the efforts to create a curriculum that is rooted in disability justice practice, self-determination, and social-emotional learning competences! She will receive an honorary PhD for her work of justice, equity, and inclusion in the US sexuality field May 2020. More information about Bianca can be found at http://www.biancalaureano.com, or at http://anteuppd.com.

The Heart of Jacks PodcastEpisode #16 - James Goes to the JacksGuest: JamesReleased April 5, 2021 Supported by listeners like you, patrons through Patreon  Sorting out the sorting outAppearances can be deceivingand James goes to the JacksSegment 1: Age is an issue in many places and in some ways, it's less of an issue in jack-off clubs than in many other places, but it still presents challenges for the members and managers of the Jacks everywhere. Paul has some thoughts.Segment 2: James was 24 when he first attended Rain City Jacks. It was also only his second experience having sex with men and remarkably, that was the night he met his current boyfriend, some 5 years ago. At 29, both he and his boyfriend still attend Jacks events regularly. His experience isn't wildly different from other Jacks members, but it is uniquely his and we get into it together.- - - - -Email the show: podcast@theheartofjacks.comCall the show: 206-580-3120Send your questions and they might be included in future episodes. The Heart of Jacks Podcast, written and produced by Paul Rosenberg Theme Music is Carouselophane by Jake Bradford Sharp Podcast distribution by Simplecast - - - - -Mentioned in this podcast:Rain City Jacks New York Jacks Der Boiler, Berlin Gay City, Seattle's LGBTQ Center  Inspiration:Hamilton Morris  Recommendations:Hamilton's Pharmacopeia Standard Ebooks