Ep.107 Nonbinary to Saved w/ Hazel’s Truth

In this powerful episode, Hazel shares her compelling journey from a liberal, non-binary teenager deeply immersed in social media to a Christian conservative influencer. She discusses her experiences at the Student Action Summit, her struggles with identity, the influence of social media on her life, and the life-changing moment that steered her onto a new path. Hazel also touches on her activism against abortion and transgender youth, her passion for politics, and her mission to spread the truth and her testimony. Tune in to hear about her inspiring transformation and how she's using her platform to make a difference.#ProgrammingLionsPodcast

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00:00 Intro

00:12 Influencer Journey

01:01 Anti-Trans Youth Testimony

02:40 Social Media's Impact

05:45 Faith

07:16 Sharing the Gospel

09:49 Preaching Love

10:14 Discovering Charlie Kirk

11:46 Backlash and Courage

13:38 Future of Turning Point

15:54 Reawaken Tour

17:28 Online Hate

18:41 Wrapping Up

Transcript

Hazel_s_Truth-GSD-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard: 0:00

Welcome to the podcast, Hazel. So to start it off, how about you tell us a little bit about yourself? Um, well, I originally started this account whenever I went to SaaS. I'm on social media. I'm an influencer on social media. Mm-hmm. And I went to Student Action Summit in July and I met a couple people and I met Charlie there. I've met him before, but I met him. Like, I got to really know him there, and I kind of told him about like my dream about starting being an influencer, and he was like, go for it. Go for it. Like this is like, what? There are no regrets. You would rather not want to have regrets than anything else. Right. And so I was like, you know what, I'll do it. And it was really slow at first. Mm-hmm. I maybe a hundred followers for one month. And I was so excited. Also, I was so excited because I was like a hundred followers and it was like people I didn't even know. And I just, I, I spread the truth of the gospel. That's what I mainly focus on. Okay. Um, I focus on my testimony also. My, I. I'm, I'm not sure if y'all know this. I used to consider myself, uh, non-binary. Okay. Oh, and I was really in the devil's hands and I met Jesus face to face and he freed me from that. And I really like to focus on anti-trans youth. Wow. And abortion and all these major topics, but specifically anti-trans youth because I almost went through, I was this close, this close to going through homework therapy at 14 years old. Wow. And all I want now. That's crazy. All I want now is to be a mom and I, if I went through that, I wanna be able to be a mom. So, yeah. Wow. Okay. Well, we'll maybe want to talk more about that. So, uh, tell us how long have you had your social media account and how long have you been at, at work? Maybe five months now. Okay. I would consider this my, I have two jobs. Okay. And this, I considers my third job. Okay. So I'm a very busy person. Fair enough. Yeah. Fair enough. And so you, you met Charlie, he inspired you a bit to do this and put your word out there. Mm-hmm. Um, what else like inspires you? My parents, I guess. I like, that's such a generic answer. Mm-hmm. Especially since like you guys, this is your dad. Yeah, but my parents are like my number one supporters and they. Like, I've always been super political. Even whenever I was a liberal, I was super political and I just, I've loved politics. I wanna work in politics one day. That's my, that's my goal. Okay. And so my parents have been like super, super encouraging me and it's like making me wanna take a step up. And it's also my spiritual gift. Mm-hmm. Uh, which is, which just revealed to me last summer leadership and boldness. Mm-hmm. Which makes me really want to like, proclaim the name of Jesus and proclaim truth, so. Okay. Love that. Love that. Nice. Is that what led you into politics? Uh, like the Lord? Yeah. No. No. What wasn't was your. No, it was social media actually. Oh. Whenever I was a liberal, I just like, oh, I saw all the Trump aid on my TikTok, and I was like, gosh, he's a terrible guy. What a racist homophob And so I was like, there's no way he could be president. And, uh, eventually it was social media that like, was telling me like, oh, maybe you're not a girl. Like, and all these adults telling random kids online that maybe you're not, like you're, you shouldn't, if you're not comfortable in your own body. Then maybe like you're not as this certain gender, which is so weird to tell the 12-year-old who are going through mm-hmm. Changes in your body. I mean, y'all are still going through changes. Yeah. Like it's normal for teenagers to be uncomfortable in your bodies. Yeah. And to push more uncomfortableness. To make them take certain stuff. Wow. That's crazy. So how, how old were you when you were seeing this on social media? Did you have a phone when you were pretty young or, yeah. 12. Okay. 12 13 14. I still don't even have a phone. Yeah. I'm perfectly fine with not having a phone actually, because basically everybody I know who has gotten a phone has kind of gone insane. Yep, Yeah. And Max, you're 12. Yeah. So that'd be like you having a phone. And so you, you, you attribute some of the. Issues that happen with you as related to getting on social media? Oh, absolutely. Oh, wow. If I wasn't on social media, none of my past would've happened. Wow. Yeah. Really, social media is so dangerous for kids. What happens do you think? You just get trapped into an algorithm and then you watch a couple things and then it just feeds you more of the same. Yeah. Stuff it's like. Absolutely the algorithm.'cause like whenever you watch one video, you like it. They just show more and more and more. Yeah. And like even if I accidentally liked it, I just kept seeing more and more and more. And then eventually I changed my style. I changed my room, my friends, then my pronouns, then my name, then all this stuff. Just a big double effect. Wow. Mm-hmm. Yep. Wow. And so that's crazy. So then you went down the right route of non-binary. Oh my gosh. When did, what age did you decide you were non-binary? Uh, I think I was 13. 13. 13? Yeah. You're like, I'm non-binary. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, insane. I was gonna go through the process. I was, I had friends that knew people that were going to give me stuff without my parent consent with. And it's So your parents don't, they're not supportive of this kinda Oh, no. Okay. But they still loved me unconditionally. Sure. Which like,'cause my parents are Christian. Yeah. And so like, they're. They're fundamentally unconditionally going to love me. Yeah. No matter what. And they really showed that and it's, wow. So whoa. So many questions. But what made you want to,'cause you can, as I understand, non-binary, you can be non-binary, but you don't necessarily have to change your gender makeup or take hormone blockers or cross sex hormones. So what. What made you wanna do that? Um, social media. It was, social media. Didn't even that don't believe so. I didn't even know what social, I'm sorry. I didn't even know what non-binary was until I social media. And that was kind of like, well, I don't wanna just like go into a guy, so I guess I'll just be they then. And it was just like, oh. And I just like, so like a ambiguous figure. Yeah. Okay. Huh. Ooh, wow. Wow. That was your age. That's crazy to think. Man, what ultimately pulled you out of it sounds like faith. Oh my gosh. My parents. But tell us more about that. Yeah, my parents, uh, were so scared for the down the path I was going through. They eventually, like they did take my phone, but that just made it worse because I was like then sneaking around it. And like my friends, they wouldn't let me hang out with them. And eventually they're like, we're forcing you to go to this winter retreat for my church and I went there and the entire. Sermon and the entire weekend was about finding your identity in the, in the world and not finding your identity in Christ and how much anxiety and depression you get whenever you are putting your identity in the world and your self-worth in the world. Yeah. And I just like felt like this, like huge, just like, I don't even know how to describe it, like a realization and it was kind of like I was, I like fell to my knees and I had people,'cause all my church friends, they all knew that I was like, did not wanna be here. Mm-hmm. And I had hands on me. And it was, it's an unbelievable experience. Experience. Yeah. It is unbelievable. And I came out of that with a new mindset. Mm-hmm. And my, my parents are just like, could see this new transformation in me. Yeah. And it was only the Lord I know. It was only the Lord. That pulled me out of that. Yeah. Wow. That's crazy. That's, I have obviously never been non-binary or trans, so it's interesting to hear of somebody that was non-binary and then they came out of it and yeah. Do you have a lot of people, so you must post about this a bit on social media, and do you have a lot of people reaching out to you inspired or interested in your story? Oh my gosh, yes. So there was, we had a big friend group. Whenever I was in that area of my life. Mm-hmm. And four of those girls are out of that, that were, that did change their name, change their gender, change their sexuality. All that. And four of them, it was like maybe 10 of us are pulled out of it. And it's not just them, it's so many other people that have DMed me and have been saying like, I'm confused, but your testimony says,'cause I'm a Christian and I don't wanna feel this way. And so I got to talk to them. Like I, I've had phone calls with people Yeah. That I've never met before. Yeah. And. I, I frequently share the gospel with a few people and I've send like daily Bible verses to them because I, I see that they're struggling. Mm-hmm. And I don't want them to go down the same path at all that I went down. That's awesome. Nice. I helping them. Well, I'm so glad that we have voices out there talking to young people about this, because, you know, this is something we've o often like had. Exchanges or discussions about, which is like, is, is this a social contagion or is it really just people finding their identity and your story sounds like a social contagion. And so then you have to wonder, well, how do we, how do we make sure kids don't fall into the social contagion trap? Particularly at an age where you're so susceptible to things. Like you say, your body is changing, you're going through a lot of like hormonal adjustments and, uh, well, you boys are in the midst of that as well. Mm-hmm. And so you end up questioning things and, and so if you get Yeah. Pushed kind of down the wrong path, you can get really outta whack. Yeah. 100%. And social media is a huge contributor to that. Huge contributor. I mean, we didn't have as many people that are transgender. Transgender now. Yeah. Who are like in the L-G-B-T-Q part mm-hmm. As we do now because of social media. Yeah. As, as social media has increased, so has the acceptance of this sin sinful lifestyle. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And so you consider it a sinful lifestyle? Oh yeah. Yes. Okay. But I'm still gonna love somebody. Not like I'm a sinner myself. Sure. I'm a sinner myself. We are. I'm never going. Yeah. We're all sinners. Yes. Mm-hmm. And so we should never move, especially this one. But go ahead. No, I'm never going to look down at somebody because they sin differently than me. Yeah. Because I was in their place and I thought that what I was going, I thought that what I was doing was okay. Mm-hmm. And I know that they think that what they're doing is okay. And so I'm not gonna look at them any differently, but I will call them out on it. But I'm not gonna be judgmental, be like, how dare you be gay? Yeah. I'm not gonna do that. Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna like preach the gospel and I'm gonna say. This is what the Lord says. I still love you. I do not think of you any differently. I don't treat you any differently. I want you to come to church and I want you to be free. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's a great message. Alright, well, uh, well I have a question. Obviously right now we're at AM Fest. How did you find Charlie Kirk? What do you mean? Like, like how did you dig? Was it also on social media or like what do you like about Shirley Ker? Oh my, this is such a funny story actually. I was a huge fan of Brett Cooper about two years ago. So whenever I was. Uh, whenever I came out of the LGBT LGBTQ lifestyle and all that, I would still consider myself a liberal. Mm-hmm. And then I found Brett Cooper. Okay. And Brett Cooper changed my entire perspective. And I remember Brett Cooper mentioned Charlie Kirk and I was like, I want, this is maybe like two, three years ago. And I saw his debate videos and I was like, this guy's amazing. Yeah. He's awesome. And I then I started a turning point chapter at my school. And last year, last year I started it. It was. We had a lot of hate. We had a lot of hate. Yeah. Yeah. I live in a red, I live in a blue county, but I live, I live in Texas. It's a red state, but I've lived Blue County and it is Oh, terrible. It's terrible. And, um, and so we got a lot of hate. We had protesters, we have people that joke around. But then after September 10th happened, uh, we have 138 members in our, in our Oh wow. That's pretty, wow. That's great. That's great. That's amazing actually. Does the do do the left cleaning chapters that your school get protests and hate? Oh no. What isn't that, isn't that weird? I know. I, I'd see, you can definitely see like there's a difference in between why, how we treat it. It's definitely, it's almost like a party of compliance. It's almost like demanded compliance, isn't it? Yeah. Not the party of Love and Peace. I can say that they're what? Uh, when you. When you sort of transitioned out of the, let's say the liberal mindset or party or LGBT community, what was, what was that like in terms of how people treated you? I lost all my friends. I lost,'cause like all my friends were like obviously at a very close friend group. Yeah. And I was so desperate to find friends and I, because of my past. I still don't have many friends. Mm-hmm. Because people still kind of look at me that way, which is weird'cause I have a political conservative account. Yeah. And now it's like I was shunned for being a part of the L-G-B-T-Q community, but now I'm shunned because I'm a conservative and it's kind of just like flip flop. Mm-hmm. Because mm-hmm. I guess which is worse. Oh my gosh. Uh, the, right now. Right now. Really? Okay. Yeah. I get so much hate from, yeah. And I hear all the, I have like maybe three close friends. Mm-hmm. And they tell me all the time, like, oh, they were talking about you. This person was talking about you, this person. I suck up with you though. And it's just like, it's good hearing that it suck up for'em, but it's, it just sucks. Yeah. Being in public high school. Yeah. How do you know you're like making an impact with that club with like 138 members now? The amount of courage I've seen with the members and the students in our club, and I've had them tell me stories of like, oh, in this class we had somebody speak out or we, our teacher was saying something and. I spoke up about it and I'm just like, what the heck? Like, and it was like they were telling me like, it's because of you and you taught me this. And like, I never would've thought that I would've ever like been in that place where I would've encouraged somebody to speak out about this. Mm-hmm. And it just like shows that like courage, can, like impact so many people. Not just the people that like you're talking to, but like the people that gave you the courage. Yeah. I guess. If that makes sense. Right? Yeah. Well that's pretty cool. How about, so we are at Am Fest, obviously, and Charlie Kirk was assassinated a few months ago. What do you think about the turning point kind of future without him at the head of it? Wow, that's a deep question. Yeah. I don't like to think about it, honestly. Okay. It scares me, but I, I think right now we're getting divided. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Conservative movement's getting divided and that is not what needs to happen. We need to stick together. Yeah. That's what Charlie would've wanted. Division is the opposite of what he would've wanted. Right. I mean if you see every single election, whenever a party is divided, they always will lose. Right. And we saw those with the New York City, Merrill. I mean, nobody really spoke up and got out there and was like, tried to protest against Mom Donni as much as like we know that Charlie would have. Yeah. And it's because we've been bickering with each other so much. And so I think Turning Point needs to lock in. They need to lock in and stop dividing and stop putting all this controversial stuff and just focus on the roots and focus on what Charlie would've wanted. Do you think Erica Kirk can do that? Oh, yes. Yes. I think that she can. Um, I think it's gonna take some time, but she's very, very strong woman. I think she's gonna need some help. Obviously. I don't think she can do it by herself. Yeah. But I think that she has a good clump of people that will all rise up together. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And I think to your point, it is a strong community too. That's right. Well, there's a lot of great people here this week that are coming together as I think Charlie would've hoped and wished in his legacy. But it is certainly disheartening to see some elements of the conservative party fracturing. At the end of the day, you need to win elections to get your policies into place and to your point, like we just elected essentially a socialist, AKA communist in New York as the mayor. Mm-hmm. Minnesota is falling apart. Um, the poly markets show Democrats 80% chance, like likelihood to win back, uh, Congress next year. Ooh. And so the. The trends need to swing back. That's why we're doing the reawaken tour also. Mm-hmm. So that we can continue Charlie's legacy and continue discussing with people. Yeah. Tell us more about the Awaken tour. Reawaken tour. Reawaken tour. Sorry. Yes. It's with Taylor. I know y'all know Taylor Sharp. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, um, James Owen, he is the founder and the CEO of it. Okay. And then there's Fabrizio and me. We're gonna go to not just colleges, but high schools. Okay.'cause high schools are getting so involved in politics now. I mean, I know y'all are not in high school yet, right? Not yet. Next year. Next. Wow. Good luck. Um, you're like, they're the amount of political talk that is like I. Since September 10th mm-hmm. Is insane. Right? Insane. There's like so many comments and so we're going to high schools now and we're also gonna go to colleges and we're going to talk with them and discuss with them like Charlie did. We don't want to necessarily debate them in a sense, but we want to talk with them and get their mindset because like Charlie said, division is the opposite of what American is. Division leads to civil war. Yeah. When people stop talking, divorces happen. Whenever people stop talking, civil wars happen, et cetera, et cetera. So we wanna keep talking and they're gonna try and shut us up, but we're not gonna shut up. We're not going to, they murdered our leader, but we're not going to shut up. We're gonna continue this. I love that. Mm-hmm. I love that. Well, it takes a lot of courage too'cause they, my parents are very scared. Literally. Yeah. They really assassinated him in public and, um, that's just how dark they actually are. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we see it as if you're on social media, you know, but we get just. Unbelievable gross comments about Charlie memes, different things, and it, uh, it's just tasteless. I have a question though. Do y'all see the comments? Do you let them see the colors? Oh yeah. I promise you he does not hide everything from us. Ray, see the comments? A lot of people think we don't see them, but we see them, we see them, we actually wanna see them, and often terrible. It's, it's disgusting what people say. But often we find it kind of funny that these people say, these say these awful things, right? From like they're, and then meanwhile we picture them, right? And they're probably just kids that are sitting behind the desk at home in their mom's, mom's basement eating, eating ice cream. Like, oh my gosh, I hate these guys. It's just like the South Bar character, right? Yeah, we like my, I don't know if y'all know who like, uh, Alia is Ali, that too conservative. We have a group chat where we will send comments and we will just laugh at them. Yeah. Because they're just like, who do they like they think that these hurt us. They think that like, of course like at first it was kind of like, oh, that's mean, but then it's like now it's like this is ridiculous. Like I'm actually speaking out like you guys are speaking out. Yeah. We're actually making a difference. We're making a difference. They aren't. There's, leave it a comment that takes like five seconds. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. It's, it's wild. It is wild. The social media universe. But why don't we wrap things up and as we do that, can you tell us a little bit more about how do we find you? I'm on Instagram and TikTok at Hazel's Truth. Okay. And I try posts once a day. I talk about, uh, what's going on in the world. Um, and I like to do fact checks a lot. Fact check. Cool. I like to do fact checks a lot. Nice. Um, that's what I focus on, Hazel's truth. I focus on the truth in everything. Nice. I like to do Instagram more. Instagram's my favorite. Okay. TikTok iss very, very liberal and it's, yeah. Yeah. It's scary. The, the dms I get. Yeah. But, um, I'm on TikTok and Instagram with Hazel Street. Okay. Nice. Well, we'll drop those into the description, but hopefully people can find you and you've got an amazing story. Yeah. Really interesting. And we appreciate you out talking, speaking truth and helping other young people work through these times.'cause it is, uh, it's tricky and these are weird times for young people to grow up, uh, in these kind of social contagion age. But, uh, yeah. Anyway, thanks so much for coming on. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This was great.