Breaking Barriers with Tiktokbubbie An Insight into LGBTQ+ Representation and Freedom

Drawing inspiration from our own experiences and the shifting societal norms, we've embarked on a journey to comprehend the complex terrain of LGBTQ+ representation in pop culture. We'll dive deep into the contrasting messages, from Beyonce's celebration of queer influence in her recent film to Billy Eilish's public outing controversy. Amidst the rising anti-LGBTQ+ bills, it's crucial to examine the societal perceptions towards sexual orientation, and that's exactly what we're doing in this episode.

Joining us in this intellectual voyage is Tiktokbubbie's who shares her insights on doubt, freedom, and identity. She not only illuminates the profound essence of being oneself but also underscores the importance of this freedom for the future of our country. As we get a glimpse into Tiktokbubbie's heartening message for the LGBTQ+ and Jewish communities, we're reminded of the power of positivity, self-belief, and celebration of diversity. Let's ignite conversations, challenge norms, and work together towards a society that appreciates and respects diversity.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Let me pour coffee into my coffee cup from Denny's. Hanukkah. Hanukkah lights the menorah. Let's have a party. We'll all dance the horror. Wow.

Speaker 1: 0:13

I read an article in the Times yesterday. No, wait a minute. Thursday and I have to go. I'm going to go to the office. I'm going to go to the office. I'm going to go to the office. I'm going to go to the office. No, wait a minute. Thursday. And I have to read it because it really and two things I want to talk about today. Who cares about Billy Eilish's sexual orientation? By LZ Grandison, and how I built my own tribe for Hanukkah by Bliss Goldstein.

Speaker 1: 0:47

So first let's read about Billy Eilish. This last week, two conflicting messages have emerged from the world of pop culture and I'm unsure which represents progress. In one corner we have Renaissance, a film by Beyonce, a cinematic showcase and celebration of queer influence in her latest tour and music this last week in an open number one at the box office, a testament of her gravity and artistry. I mean, who doesn't love Beyonce, right? Oh, the single ladies. Oh the single ladies. Oh the single ladies. Oh the single ladies, because I'm not single anymore. There is she.

Speaker 1: 1:30

In the other corner we have Billy Eilish accusing variety magazine of outing her, the Grammy and Oscar winner turned to Instagram to express her displeasure, using phrases such as instead of talking about anything else, that matters, and literally who can for context. And so she said that variety did not out Eilish. She had mentioned in an on the record interview that she was physically attracted to women and I've never really felt like a girl, and this was reported in a variety cover story in November. The fact that Eilish initially spoke to the magazine about her attraction to women so nonchalantly was refreshing. She had a measure of peace about her identity, as opposed to trepidation. Her objection came at later, after a red carpet event on Saturday where she faced questions about the comments. Maybe the context felt controversial, who knows? What's clear is she doesn't think sexual orientation is a topic for the public to dwell on. She very much does. She reportedly began construction of the album and tour nearly five years ago, aiming from the outset to elevate the contributions and lives of queer people of color, particularly those who are trans and non binary. This began as an homage to her fans, as well as our gay Uncle Johnny, who introduced her to aspects of queer culture that influence her today.

Speaker 1: 3:05

There's one answer to Eilish's question of who cares about a person's sexuality. Many of the people seen in Beyonce's concert film care about representation the ones who couldn't hide growing up, the ones who did and hated it, the ones who never thought they would see someone like themselves on the big screen. You know who else cares. He cares about writers, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, republican from Louisiana. He cares so much. He spent much of his professional life attacking queer rights. You know what I always say about anybody who attacks anybody let's look in their closet and we'll see what size high heels he's gotten there. I'm just saying right. And then the third one is the one that's been turned. He wrote a forward to a book that includes anti gay sentiment, and now he's second in line to the presidency.

Speaker 1: 4:02

Eilish, who's 21, wasn't really wondering who cares about sexual orientation. She probably meant the remark to suggest what should be a societal norm, as in why is her sexual orientation a topic worth discussing anyway, unless she's now dating Taylor Swift? Who cares? Right? That's the goal to have it not matter. Thank you, okay, eilish's sexual orientation and gender identity shouldn't matter, but we don't yet live in that world. We live in a world where 315 anti-LGBTQ plus bills were introduced last year. What's more than 520 had already been floated by many of this year laws against dragging and gender-affirming care, against books laws in trying a right to discriminate. I know what Eilish was trying to say. I also know what conservatives are doing in the world that we live in now. How do we live in this world now like that?

Speaker 1: 5:05

The disconnect explains why the Renaissance tour resonated in the manner in which it did. It wasn't about making political statements and defiance of those who seek to do us harm. It was about being heard, despite the legislative and cultural attempts to silence us. Remember Florida government? Rhonda Santis or I call him Rhonda cares so much about us that he championed a don't say gay bill. Oh my god. So as much as I embrace progress toward a time when sexual orientation and gender identity are non-issues, I can't think who cares. The Republican Party is constantly reminding us that they do. They want queer people erased. The Beyonce fan base resoundingly told us that they, too, care about representation. They need to see queer people of color celebrated at long last. Unfortunately, eilish's who cares? Comment is more aspirational than a sigh. We have a sign we have actually progressed to that point as a society, no matter how good it feels to say it. Thank you, lz Granderson. I love you so much.

Speaker 1: 6:21

I read your articles on my podcast all the time and you know, next month I'll be doing my podcast with my beautiful Erin Davies. You know she's the wing woman and I'll be attracting the bee people. You figure out what the bee word is, okay. So happy Hanukkah. I'm going to combine these two. How I built my own tribe for Hanukkah, I have my own tribe for years. So even in a small Pacific Northwest town amid rising anti-semitism, this combines both. You know, anti-gay, anti-lgbtq plus and anti-semitism, bliss Goldstein says.

Speaker 1: 7:01

20 years ago I moved from LA to San Francisco and then Bellingham, washington, so far north I could spit across the border in. A Canadian would apologize for being too close. For the longest time I regretted the move from areas with strong synagogues and significant Jewish populations to a town with so many few Jews and one synagogue. It was as if I was living up to my genetic destiny as a Jew wandering the desert, but this time with more rain. You know, I moved from New York, brooklyn 76, left my community and came out here. Last time I decided if I had enough moping around, even if I couldn't find a critical mass of Jews here in the Pacific Northwest. I could cobble together friends who felt Jewish to me and now, with this anti-Semitism spiking in the US, I am all the more motivated to be surrounded by my tribe.

Speaker 1: 8:00

Truth be told, I initially found my friends up north confusing. I'd assume when I met them they were official members of the tribe, a tongue-in-cheek way to describe fellow Jews. Take Vicki, for example, a woman I'd met in a local Buddhist meditation group over Zoom. Vicki's ascent reminded me of the pastramyan rye waiters at Candace Jelly. I was there yesterday with Erin Wing Woman. Oh my God, we sat there and schmoozed. I love Candace. That's my first date with my husband Ed. He took me to Candace Bliss man. She said once sometimes you just have to pull the plank out of your butt. Vicki's brassiness drew me to her here in the Pacific Northwest, where niceness comes in all flavors of vanilla. When I found out she wasn't an official member, I was surprised being around. It was a cream cheese schmooze blocks on a poppy seed bagel.

Speaker 1: 8:57

Another friend, janet, a nurse during the Vietnam War, is active in her church, yet every year she lights a menorah. When I moved to town, janet was drawn to me like chicken to soup, asking for help. Please show me what to say and how to do this right. When I showed up at her home the first night of Hanukkah, janet had already placed all night candles in her menorah. As gently as I could, I explained that Jews only placed two candles in the menorah on the first night, one on the far right to be lit and a second, a helper candle, the one that lights all the rest, called the shamash. Janet returned seven candles into the boxes. I held the shamash loaned survivor, chanting Hebrew, janet swayed by my side.

Speaker 1: 9:42

I met more and more people who said to me, often in whispered tones, that they always felt Jewish. What an odd place for them to gather in a homogeneous upstate Washington where you have to really seek out diversity. It was almost as if they were cold here. One by one, the need to know consumed all of them. Many of them found out they were 1% to 25% Jewish. I'm 1%, texted one of them, 1%. I texted back Ashkenazi Jew. Like me, I'm an Ashkenazi Jew. Everybody Mazel Tov. I replied. As it was getting close to Hanukkah, I felt a few dreidel emojis. I added a few. It takes 10 Jews to form a Minion or prayer group. In the end, I pieced together enough of these subterraneous Jews to form my own Minion of Friendship.

Speaker 1: 10:31

I felt connected to the legend of the Prague rabbi who created a man made of clay, called a golem. To protect the Jewish people, I created a tribe of my own to protect my heart from feeling so lonely. Sometimes that protection is literal, as in 2020, when the proud boys marched into our sister city. 20 minutes away, it was Chuck who showed up to stand vigil as he marched through town. His ancestry tested and revealed any Jewish connection, but his actions did. Other times, that protection is based on the threats that are existing and overwhelming, as when Jews are gruesomely killed in Israel and the reverberation are felt all the way to the US.

Speaker 1: 11:16

Another non-Jewish friend, stephen, asked how I was doing. I told him I heard about a mother in Chicago ushering her Yamaka wearing son into the car, while a group of stood at the edge of their lawn staring at them with dead eyes. He said if you need to be hidden, we'll hide you in the basement. Stephen stated this with such sincerity, such care, that I felt a lump in my throat. When Jews spin the dreidler Hanukkah we play with a pile of boiled covered chocolate coins called gelt.

Speaker 1: 11:46

After he made this vow of protection, our eyes met and I thought about how rich I am. In gentile gelt I was going to say gentle, but gentile and gentle. I believe that few people are 100% anything, and if someone feels they are Jewish or stands up for the Jewish people, they have the right to an honorary six-pointed star. I was brought up in a Jewish household and attended religious school, yet my 23andme reveal that I am only 88%, not 100%, jewish. But I feel Jewish through and through, especially this Hanukkah this year. On the last night of Hanukkah, I will think of my nine Jewish friends and as I ignite each individual wick and its candles walk to life his or her face with flair in my mind. It is a good thing not to be alone at the holidays, regardless of which holiday you are celebrating or who you are celebrating with. And I will be celebrating with my tribe. Thank you, bliss Goldstein's working on a Jewish magic realism novel, the Six Soul. Oh, she can be found at blissgoldsteincom.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Anyway, both these articles mean so much to me in this time of doubt and freedom in our country. What is our country all about? What will we become? I don't know. I don't know anymore. I really don't. I used to believe that everybody was free to believe who they are and be who they are, and I still believe that for me. So happy Hanukkah to you all, lgbtq plus people. I love all of you Jewish people. I love all of you and you know that, and I am Jewish and I'm proud to be a Jewish person. So happy Hanukkah. And if no one told you they love you today, guess what? I love you because you are you Be yourself. Who else are you going to be? Tiktokbubby loves you. Believe in yourself because I believe in you. And if you haven't figured that out already, go to my TikTok. Tiktokbubby, I'm there for all to see and hear to, and I love you. Bye.