Queer 101 Is Changing: Hugh’s New Role, Big Updates & Queer Politics Heat Up

Hey y’all,

Big changes are happening on Queer 101. This week, I’m back with Hugh the Historian to catch up on a nonstop summer — from Hugh’s tour for his book My Bad, to my unforgettable moment as a NYC Pride Grand Marshal, to the release of Survival of the Thickest on Netflix.

We’re also sharing an important update: the Alstora Queer 101 Book Club is coming to an end for now because our schedules are getting busier, but please keep sending your queer book recommendations our way.

Then we move from Pride to politics, breaking down key primary results and progressive campaigns, including Justin Pearson, Cori Bush, Wesley Bell, Donovan McKinney, and Abdul El-Sayed, while talking about dark money, policing, militarization, transphobia, and the political attacks facing LGBTQ+ communities right now.

And finally, Hugh shares some major personal news: he’ll be stepping back from weekly episodes of Queer 101 as he begins his new role as lead historian for the American LGBTQ+ Museum, opening in New York City in 2028. Don’t worry — he’ll still be back with updates.

Thank you for being part of this Queer 101 journey with us. Class is still in session. 💖

Topics: LGBTQ+ history, queer politics, trans rights, Pride, progressive elections, American LGBTQ+ Museum, Peppermint, Hugh Ryan, Queer 101 podcast

Follow us at:

• @peppermint247
• @hughoryan
• @pridehousemedia

Write to us at:

• questions@queer101podcast.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hey y'all, welcome to Queer 101.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

I'm Pepper Matt and I'm doing the historian, and we're here to bring you all things queer history that you didn't learn in school.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

This is a podcast where we dive deep into queer culture, books, and a queer experience, past, present, and future. From the history that shapes us to the culture that keeps us thriving, we have got it all covered.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Grab a seat, and let's turn a light on queer history. Because these stories demand to be heard and must be celebrated.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Welcome to Queer 101. Class is now in fact. Hey y'all, welcome back to Queer 101, the podcast where we talk about any and everything under the sun, including queer art, queer culture, queer literature, and whatever we want. I'm Peppermint.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

And I am Hugh the Historian. And Pep, it is so good to finally be back together. I've been missing you all summer.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Darling, I don't even know what is going on. It's been wild. It's been in and it's been so lonely not having you here each time. And we're now like, I guess, back to or coming back to a weekly schedule. But it's been it's it hasn't it's been bad, but it hasn't been as bad as could be because A, you've been touring your new book, and B, it's we've been on it every other week, like two two weeks, I guess bi-weekly. Bi weekly as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

I never know if that means twice a week or every other week. I find that you know, bisexuals are always confusing. It's you well has been it has been nice being on tour. I've had a great time. I've been seeing folks in LA and in Providence and DC. Some of you listeners have come out to some of these talks. It's been really wonderful. My bad is everywhere, which has felt really good. I'm seeing it in bookstores across the country. Friends are sending me photos. If you see it in a nice display wherever you happen to be listening to this, please send it our way. It's been great, but it has been, like you said, so busy. I feel like this summer there was like no break. It was like endless. It was like cr Pride was crazy, and then after pride was crazy, and then July was crazy, and then August continues to be crazy. You have been on the go yourself.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I have. But wait, I'm gonna back up. When you say send it somewhere, you're saying if you see it on a stand, take a picture and sh a pro probably share it to social media, but definitely send it through, right? Isn't that right? Send it to us.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Send it to us. Like, let us know that you've seen it out there, and do tag me on social media. I love it. I love seeing the book out in the world. Uh, but it's always nice to know that you know the listeners are catching it somewhere that I may not be able to see it myself. So we've got an email address, we're on socials, we're easy to reach, drop it in the comments on YouTube, wherever you listen to this podcast, please share pictures of my bad if you come across them in the wild.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Now, um I've had a wild summer. It's been crazy, it's been it's been uh busy, it's been fun, it's been depressing, it's been happy, it's been sad, it's been all the feelings. And uh, but it has most of all, it's been exciting. And uh there's been some unexpected moments and expected moments for sure. Uh last we talked uh was like right before, I guess last time you were on was right before, right around the beginning of July, I guess. Um, and we had just done Pride, and so I'm I had a great pride, had a great time as a uh Grand Marshall in the parade in New York City.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

And if you have not seen the pictures, if you were at home and you have not yet seen the pictures of Pep at the parade, the video, go watch. She looks fabulous as always. It was a moment.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

It was a good time. It was it was hot, it was it was it wasn't as hot as it could have been. Um my outfit started to fall apart, and I was like, oh my gosh, my titties are gonna come out, and then they're gonna I'm gonna be guilty of everything they say that that happens during the Pride Parade. It was just too much. Um But I did uh I had a great time. And then that like sort of parlayed into uh Survival of the Thickest Netflix release, which felt like a really good one, you know, like people have been um it's been getting a good response and all that, and so we're coming around the corner of the fall. The autumn is almost here upon us. Um how is that possible? It's wild. And before we jump fully in, uh the there's an announcement that we haven't yet made about the future of our book club.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Um and trying to do a drum roll, but I actually don't have enough rhythm. It's really embarrassing.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Uh but uh unfortunately uh we are not going to be continuing the Elstora Queer 101 book club because uh we're just basically kind of just too busy. Doesn't mean that there's not another iteration coming up in the future, and we will always be dedicated. I know you will always be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

We love queer books, we love queer culture, yeah. But not that right now for this moment. We love Elstora, we wish them all the best, and everything has been great. The partnership has been so wonderful, and helping you all reach these books, helping these re books reach you has meant so much. And we might do some more in the future. But for right now, we're separating the podcast, and you are welcome to keep sending us book recommendations because we love them.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

It's true. So we won't be doing like um re regular, and it we'll be continuing big kind of with what we've been doing a little bit, but like obviously we haven't been doing a lot of um author interviews uh recently. That's that's basically why. So it's been a slow transition. So if you've been with us for a little while, it'll feel kind of the same way that it's been feeling, you know, in terms of the books, um, and any like, you know, reviews of any of the books and and author interviews. Um and you know, but the subject and the and the the the vibe and the the essence and the drive behind the podcast will stay the same. I keep adjusting my damn um camera because it's like sliding.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

So she's camera's trying to make this an X-rated podcast, and we're gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

I know, the camera's like, it's happening pretty quickly. The camera's like, let's pan down. Uh my eyes are up here. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

We're turning into an OnlyFans. That's actually the announcement we're making.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Honestly, hey. Uh also um the uh the okay, so what what has it been like this summer? I've been transitioning from pride to politics. From pride to politics, because uh I think we all have transitioned from pride to politics because politics are everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Um there's no getting away from it right now. I mean, until the midterms, it's gonna be crazy. I mean, it already is crazy. It's crazy every single day. But like now it feels like the march to the midterms is here, and it is time for everyone to like figure out what is your plan, who are you supporting, how are you gonna be in the streets, how are you gonna be voting, of course. Um but we're starting to see some pretty good news. You know, last time actually we talked, Pep, you were telling us about a couple of results or a couple of uh elections coming up that we should keep our eye on, and it seems like a couple of those have come to pass. How are you feeling about that?

SPEAKER_01 7:18

I'm so excited. Uh some of them, okay, um Tennessee uh Justin Pearson, who was one of those uh con uh congressional one of those politicians, congressional members, who uh went viral for really standing up. Oh, so it's it's Mississippi. Where's Justin Pearson? Tennessee. Tennessee, yeah. Uh stood up. Like there was that, I think like two years ago, there was like some viral videos where the their uh their legislature was trying to do some real cockami racist stuff and like censoring him and barring them and and like you know, um real serious disputes over like some like you know just disenfranchisement of their black population, whether it be through voting, whether it be through just like you have it, they pull in shows in Tennessee. And Justin Pearson was one of the shows, was one of the uh the the leaders that stood up and fought back, and they came really hard and tried to to to lobby and push him out of office, and it didn't work. He won he won his seat again, uh it was re-elected to a seat again, so congratulations to Justin Pearson, really a mover and shaker um when it comes to southern black politics, which is like really important uh to fight for right now, since we know that the Voting Rights Act is being challenged.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

It's been decimated, basically. I mean, they are gutting it. It is ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Uh another race. Uh yeah, another race that I was really excited about was uh the Corey Bush Wesley Bell rematch in Minnesota. Um and I really love Cory Bush. Uh oh, sorry, Missouri, Missouri. Um Cory Bush was in her seat and then got primaried. Uh there was a lot of outside money that flooded in both the last time, last cycle, and this cycle. Uh Wesley Bell's been in for one congressional term and unfortunately won his seat again. A lot of people were trying to rally behind uh Cory Bush. I think not enough people necessarily did. She certainly didn't get a lot of um media attention. And that's unfortunate because Corey Bush is, I think, a great leader, certainly a great um candidate, and um has some really great ideas and really great dedication to equality and money out of politics and make help make sure making sure that people have healthcare, all these different things. And so I'm so sorry, Cory Bush, that that voters didn't pull through for you the way that we'd hoped that they would. Um but this is in no way a real endorsement. The fact that she won, the fact that she lost and Wesley Bell won, is no way, I don't think, uh a sign that the voters really stand by Wesley Bell. I think um there was a lot of, again, outside influence, millions of dollars. In the uh two years ago in the last cycle, it was the most one of the most expensive congressional races, both Corey Bush and Jamal Bowman being ousted um by super PACs um and corporate PACs that were pushing them out. Um and also come to find out, they are also they were also funding the Republican opponent to both of in both of those races two years ago. And that's where they're up to the same old tricks again this time around, especially in the very hotly contested or hotly watched and will be hotly contested, was hotly contested for the primary. Michigan Senate uh Senate race, but not just um Senate race, all Congressional all across the the um the uh all across the board. Donovan McKinney, I'm really excited that Donovan McKinney uh was able to pull through. He had some uh good amount of money against him uh going up against Tree, uh uh this unusual candidate, um who was DSA at one point, but then and was progressive, just like switched, made his little slide.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Um that right word slide that so many of them have taken.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Mm-hmm. But congratulations to Donovan McKinney. Uh, I think that you can do some great stuff, which brings us to the most watched race in the country right now, which is Abdul Al-Sayed, who uh won against the uh uh his opponent, Haley Stevens. It was a brutal race, I think, in part because there was so much money flooded in. There was millions and millions and millions of dollars making this the most expensive um Senate senatorial race, uh uh primary, Senate primary um in history. And it's probably gonna be the most expensive. And it like people gotta ask ourselves why what what is this the m why is it that we're able to spend billions and trillions of dollars on war, which we hadn't done we have in recent history, but like we don't the only time people get to hear anything in the context of millions and trillions of dollars, millions, billions or trillions of dollars, is in the context of how much money is being taken out of the uh out of taxes, going to um bit military spending and bombing and things like that, or in all this money flooding into um local races, like most of the money to keep the left out of elections and to bomb places, and that's like the end of it. But we have to have an unlimited source of income. But like the fact that that's even happening in the same year that the president was said we don't have money from Medicare when he created a bill that cut trillions of dollars, a trillion dollars actually, from Medicare spending and moved it over to tax cuts for the wealthy and military spending, and had the all the audacity to say that.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

With the military spending, it's like they're spending all this money on the military, and yet the actual like sailors and soldiers, the like working class people who have to be on the front lines are now saying that they are out on the ships at the Strait of Hormuz and they're running out of drinkable water, they're running out of food, they have been there for months without relief. Packages and letters are not making it to any of the ships. It's like we're spending all the money on the bombs and the like you know, reality TV show host who runs the military, but the actual like working class people who are the ones in danger are not in any way seeing that money. It's like everywhere you look, it's money for the people at the top and nothing else. Even in the military, which gets billions upon trillions upon trillions of dollars.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

It's so blatant and you know, I don't know, it's just really, really blatant and terrible and terrifying that that is where we are, and it seems like there's no end to the amount of spending that our politicians want to do um to take money out of our hands. So, yeah, so that's been really, really wild, this fight. Uh the midterms upcoming, obviously it's important that people are registered to vote. These are, these are the most of these elections were um, or all of these elections for the most part, the ones that we've mentioned were primaries ahead of the November uh general, which is the midterms where most the every two years Congress runs again. And so right now, as Hugh said, as you were saying, Hugh, it is like basically all all the forces, all the political forces are teaming up, even the unlikely political forces are teaming up to stamp out what they call left-wing political stream extremism, what they call communism, which it's not, which they call socialism as a s and referring to it as something that's scary. Uh and they, of course, as expected, but I don't know if a lot of people did expect it, they're starting to adapt adopt and starting to adapt and adopt the language of the left. So they're basically stealing the talking points of Zora Mamdani um and saying, Oh, we care about affordability. Of course, it's a very thin, fragile, not deep. It's like I'm fighting fi I'm a fighter, affordability, but there's no like detail. Vote for me, affordability, and there's like no detail. Um and I want to squash, or not, I won't squash it here, but I want to just give caution to like whoever the new like in-style enemy to be fighting w uh at the mouths of both Republicans and the Democrats is right now it's people like Hassan Piker and also Abdul Assayed, um, in addition to the left, just be wary because they're really trying to splinter um, you know, it there's obvious there's an obvious attempt to splinter uh the different as many fac fract factions as possible.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

And just break the progressive left apart and then.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

So I don't hear that like black voters are naturally more conservative. I don't want to hear that shit. You know, like we had Huey P. Newton and the fucking Black Panthers, and y'all murdered him. Who voted for Trump? Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

It's really not a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

At the same time, they're saying black voters are conservatives, they don't like socialism, but we're the Democrats for the Republicans. Like, that's literally what's happening. I don't want to hear that.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Yeah. So, folks, um And you know what? They have spent so much time demonizing every good thing on earth as socialism that I think it is becoming harder and harder, you know, to like really for people to just look at the democratic socialists of America and be like, well, we can't be part of that because they're socialists. It's like they've called every decent politician a socialist for decades. And I just think we're starting to see through it, I hope.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

They were calling Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton socialists, and a socialist they are not.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yeah. Can't imagine someone more like i wedded to the sort of like capitalist structure, you know. That's that's not socialism. I would love it if we were actually debating socialism. If we had socialism on the uh anywhere on the ballots, that would be interesting. But at least the DSA is pushing for something like some redistribution of the wealth in this country and some attempt at reining in the billionaires buying elections as well as buying the newspapers and the TV streaming platforms and everything else, and now making us live in their data centers in the deserts created by their data centers, sucking up the water.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

It is insane. So I'm hoping that these midterms they really show that people turning out in the streets for far left, progressive, the leftist candidate wherever you are, whether it is for the school board, whether it is for the Senate, whether it's the dog catcher in your town, you know, like well, this is one thing that I hope that Mich Michigan voters and then voters at large understand is that everybody remembers the Flint water crisis and how black neighborhoods in Flint, Michigan were decimated by very poor, dirty, disgusting drinking water.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

And I think, you know, I mean, I even remember looking at the video of um AOC like a couple of months ago with drinking water. I can't remember exactly where it was from, but she had jars of drinking water. Um where was it?

SPEAKER_02 18:41

I can't remember where it was. I think it was Flint, but it was disgusting. It was like you could see the brown chip.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

But either way, it was a disgusting, and it was if anything, it was it was showed that the problem still persists. So I'd like to think, I'd like for people to think about it in the in the terms of Flint, Michigan. We know that that drinking water was bad and dirty. Not because the people are dirty, not because the voters are dirty, not because of their households are dirty. It's because of the company that was in charge of the water and cleaning the water, and they were like, you know, it wasn't it wasn't the people's fault, right? It's something that could have been taken care of uh, you know, bureaucratically, by the by, you know, legally, you know, uh industrially. Um and could you imagine if the goal for the new year, Michigan voters and everybody else, is to have Flint clean, give clean water to Flint, and you want to vote in a politician, but you find out that the corporation that's responsible for making the water dirty in the first place is paying millions of dollars to that to a candidate. Do you really think that that candidate is going to make sure that that water is going to be clean, especially if it means having to shut down that corporation or that company or the water company that's in charge of cleaning the water? No, they're not. They're going to do what the water company that company says, right? Because they're paying them. And that's what this is on a larger level. So people really need to connect, even what people call is unrelated um uh issues, international issues, wars and genocides happening all over the place, every single one of those issues can be drawn back to your own backyard. Whether it's the AI companies that are paying the politicians to do all those things, like you said, it's going to have an impact in your home. Whether it's the um the policing, if you if you are tired of seeing, and I'm speaking primarily to black folks, if you're tired of seeing black folks getting gunned down in the street by the police or lately being hanged mysteriously from trees, but that's a different issue. Um, being gunned down in the streets, just realize that like these police officers, they're not the police officers of 40 years ago. They're the police officers that have bazookas and uh tanks, all that military stuff again, that military spending. That military spending that's happening in your local uh places that's not going into onto your kitchen table or into your grocery bills and not going to your schools. And beyond that, the training that they receive, in addition to ICE, is coming from another place. It's coming from not our country, darling. And the I mean, what go ahead and say the IDF is on record as training U.S. law enforcement, which is ICE, which is local police departments in many of the largest cities that we have, including the New York, including New York. And so the tactics that they use to to hunt down and shoot and kill and harm the people in this country that we're seeing videos of and that we have, the stuff that the anger that we felt in um 2020, well, hopefully the anger that we felt in 2020 was is was connected to the training that they received. And they received military style training from in a foreign military.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Uh with the city. And all those military toys from our military that don't need them, and that's why they're now just giving them out to police stations who absolutely do not need them. You don't need to these tanks, these L Rads, these bazookas. Yeah. It's it's like treating the people who you're supposed to be. protecting as enemy combatants. And that alone should make these police departments illegal. We should, you know, they need to be just anyway, you know what it is. It's it's happening everywhere. And the local elections are the way we're going to make some change on this. Even if, like you said, the issues seem far away or the money is pouring in from far away. Like we all know that like there's so much dark money coming into politics right now. And even the money that seems like we know where it's coming from has a million loopholes and pass-throughs, but like turnout for your election it's the most important thing. Well not the most important thing. It is a very important thing you could do. One of, one of, especially this right now in this weeks leading up to the midterms, it is the time. And honestly what it's going to do, hopefully, is make some real change for the other issues that maybe we talk about even more on this podcast. You know, we talk about queer issues, we talk about trans issues, we talk about what's happening in schools and passports and with trans athletes and with the renewed challenges to marriage. All of those things might seem like they're federal level and they may not have anything to do with your local representative, but like it all rolls upwards from the local politics.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

It really does. And one more note on on politics in general like be wary of you know I mean you know if you're listening to this hopefully you're anti anti-Semitism anti-anti Semitism. Anti-anti uh also you know anti-LGBTQ discrimination and all these different things. But we have to also like pay a little bit attention to like the Islamoph the blatant Islamophobia that's like also on the rise, especially with regards to our um politics. If somebody says to you, if you don't hear anybody talking about LGBT if you don't if the person is not a a constant champion for LGBTQ rights um no matter where the infractions are happening then take with a grain of salt their criticism of Muslims how they treat LG gay people. Like if the only time you hear somebody like a Republican or some even a Democrat mention LGBTQ or gay people is when they're talking about Muslims throwing them off of buildings then that is not a reliable source on human rights.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

It's like those people who only mention women's sports when they're complaining about trans athletes. It's the same people it's the same people that it's a circle. It's just one circle a continuous dot. Yeah it really is don't let them fool you that it is so easy to do that kind of like whataboutism that whitewashing that like distracting from what we all know to be true. Like listen to queer Muslim folks you know listen to queer Palestinians that will tell you a totally different story.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Yeah it's true. And uh speaking of queerness though like like you said that we've had some recent not so great you know I guess losses uh in terms in terms of gender friendly care and trans athletes and you know did you see this video we gotta show I don't even know if I want to show this video. Did you see that I woke up today to find some cockamie whatever about a bunch of a couple of um ex MBA players I'm transgender I'm gonna join the WM blah blah and it's like girl if you're transgender come on out girl come start your hormone let's see it let's see it boo shave that beard let's go woman yeah also I'm like what do these people what what did they get out of this right like what what they get out of the being because they're like you know see how ridiculous is this well we're not that I'm not some basketball player who's ridiculously like that I'm honey I put in effort put in effort and I'm not saying that people who are either non-binary and trans or can't afford can't access gender affirming care they certainly can't I mean obviously we know that people can't access gender affirming care because of being outlawed um and you know don't have the ability to you know even money to spend on hair and makeup or different things and or whatever it is that's going to make them more comfortable in their in their transition and in their pre in their gender expression and presentation. There's a lot of people that can't don't or won't and don't want to which is fine.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

But over all But these people who are just bad athletes and bad sportsmans who are now going to like now the only thing I know about these people is like you're shitty on queer rights and you're also not that good a basketball player. That's all I know. That's it and that's all I will ever know about them because that is who they are in public. And if that's what you're gonna be fine. It is so to be honest with you I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

I'm perfectly happy with you joining the WMBA.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Oh what I really want to see if the WNBA kick their asses.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Yeah if the WNBA yeah if the WNBA wanted to let you in I wouldn't care and I would call you whatever you wanted to be called now if you try to rape someone in the bathroom which is what they're saying you're gonna do you're basically saying that you're a rapist if you are sub subscribing to their description of what trans people are which is men entering women's spaces for the purpose of raping them. And so if you want to be if you're gonna self-describe as that fine but if you would just want to go in there and play, I have no problem. I'm okay with coed sports. Who cares? Whatever. You know and if you are transgender and and living the life of a trans person you know I mean there's you know there's living in the life of someone who identifies as trans, then it should have be across the board because for m the people that I know who are trans are not switching in thinking one day and the next day and putting on something like playing in joke. No one is doing in order to get yeah it's about the I self.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

It's about identity it's about who you are not is this going to get me ahead right like that's the thing. Like they're just doing this to try to like play a gotcha on someone.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Yeah he said sometimes I identify as and sometimes I'm today I'm identifying does that mean you will play sometimes and you won't play others like what are you talking about? You know what I mean? Like in order to you know like that should be your identity let's see you do half the things that trans people do. Let's see you try to change your name. Let's see you you know uh go start your your process your medical journey whenever you're talking about family about your pronouns yeah let's have that go now as a woman let's see you no longer let's see you use the women's rooms let's see you no longer use the men's rooms let's see you separate yourself like let's see you actually implement whatever being trans really means in to you into your life um at a at a full level but it should be you know if you're just saying you like to dress a certain way sometimes then fine that's one thing and anybody can define for themselves what it means to be trans.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

But everybody that I these players are not saying I'm a woman, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:00

And that's that's WMBA WMBA yeah and of all the people that I've talked to who are trans and myself included we may have all different different types of definitions and connections to our transition and being trans. But the one thing that's consistent is we live that shit and I think people can tell when you live that shit do you know what I mean because everybody's making fun of the person who's pre-transition saying oh you're a woman you're basically a woman you're not you're never gonna cut it as a man the for for the for trans women I'm saying um you know pointing out how how unlike the their their perceived gender they are supposed they are acting that if it's a if it's trans man and who's assigned female at birth how he doesn't fit in with other women and you know he's acting too too macho and masculine this is pre-transition and you know all these things and to uh for a trans woman people are saying that she's too as a as a someone pre pre-transitioned as yeah perceived as male who looks like a a wimpy you know or maybe not so wimpy feminine man that's what the that's how they describe uh these people a lot of people pre-transition that's how people tried to describe me pre-transition and I've always been the same person the second these people transition it's like people are like oh you're too masculine you're too and it's like a second ago I was too feminine and I was too you know it's like the the transphobes just say whatever is the thing that will piss somebody off and you can see that that's not what these guys at least so far seem to be it seems to be I got cut from the W from the NBA draft so I'm just gonna say this in order to get what I want which I gotta say is such a male thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Like men are so like that I I butthurt well now I'm gonna do whatever I have to do to get what I want and I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Like I think that they've been sort of paid or tipped off because these guys don't seem intelligent enough honestly to like come up with some major scheme or plan. Why do you think they're doing this?

SPEAKER_02 31:00

It's gonna be fucking Ben Shapiro trying to make another loser movie about trans people in sports and it's gonna fail just like the last one because they have one idea and it's not even a funny joke. You know it's like the endless repeat. It's so embarrassing. These guys will be forgotten tomorrow. But I think it is like you were saying a symptom of the sign of this moment and these losses that we are kind of experiencing around a lot of issues right at Rao.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

And it's it's shocking, you know, like trans athletes being banned Do you think it's more of a I don't I don't want to um re be reductionist by saying a distraction but do you think it's more of a diversion or do you think it is um really what they're really wanting?

SPEAKER_02 31:45

Like I think what these guys want like I I doubt these guys care very much about politics or think about it for four seconds really at all. I think they want some shine. I think they want people to like them I think they want to be seen as victims.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

I think they want to be seen as people who matter in the conversation and this was the easiest route to it and the fact that it's the easiest route to it I think says something about where we are in this incredibly transphobic time that they see this as a way to get that kind of like yeah but what about the the like the the I mean listen if if if Donald Trump hadn't come out as so anti-trans then we wouldn't be having these basketball players so this starts at at at like the the the the right wing anti-trans energy you know they're just they're just like the nippers you know they're just jumping on it jumping on it but I don't think like if Donald Trump turned around and said I actually like all trans people let's let them all into sports these guys would not be like oh they wouldn't continue they wouldn't be like okay see now I want to join they would they would be like oh well the fight's over you know what I mean because it's clearly just a culture war it's I I think it's entirely disingenuous and those guys next week they're not gonna be saying this um they're not gonna go on a two year journey of talking about being trans. This is a headline in the news and it's gonna go away just to get people to argue and fight online and these guys are going to just disappear. No one's gonna you know what I mean but what do you think about the the the like the the Heritage Foundation and these organizations that are putting millions of dollars into spreading anti-trans uh narrative and and stuff do you think that like do you why do you I mean it's it's kind of simple to say why you know like what is your thought about the future of that with regards to Python?

SPEAKER_02 33:30

I mean you know I think that they are going to continue to hate trans people hate gay people I think so much of their playbook against trans people is the same playbook they ran against gay people and they found that it was not working quite as well but now you know support for gay marriage is going down supports for all kinds of equality laws and I think they are gonna their their their goal their hope is to beef this up to not only to turn around and say okay we hate trans people and we still do hate gay people. I know we stopped talking about that for a moment but we're back.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Yeah even though we said we didn't last month because last month it was like if you're gay fine.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Yeah we were here to protect women's sports from trans people well now that trans people are out actually women's sports is awful too and it's full of dikes and it makes women not get married and so therefore all women's sports should be gotten rid of as well. You know like anytime they get an inch I think they're gonna go for a mile. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Do you think that marriage equality is definitely in in the in danger I don't know if it's in danger.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Honestly it seems like it's a big step. I think they want it to be you know like I really do think their hope is yes we can get to marriage equality and I think that they can find ways to tear it down around the edges right by making things about states' rights and those kind of arguments. I think they'll have some some um success. But I don't know if yet it is worth it for them the blowback that might come with marriage to really push on marriage equality yet. I think there's gonna come a moment where they'll do it but like right now they can still sort of like hold up trans people as a a big boogeyman and they now they're gonna try socialists and see if that works and they can go back to hating on Muslim people and it's like those are pretty safe right now. They I think they're gonna see how the midterms go and then see if they can like extend that argument. If they can start saying like okay we also really do hate all of these people too what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 35:15

I agree I don't I don't think I'm not saying that I think that um their their marriages and marriage equality is getting cancelled tomorrow uh but I do see it in the tea leaves because a couple of months before this anti-trans attack we were seeing a lot of the politicians including trump starting to say really anti-trans things because remember it started at drag it was all they weren't talking about trans a few years ago it was about drag drag story hours and children and now they're not even talking about drag story they don't care about drag story and I knew it was a doorway a pathway to trans and now here we are with trans. And that was only a few years that was like 2022 2023 that it was drag drag drag drag drag oh my god a drag story hour and now not a peep. So three years later so now I've heard I've seen uh Andy Ogles who just um lost his seat oh no did my camera cut out it might have yeah it seems a little frozen right now but your voice your voice is still good okay Andy Ogles who um I'm just starting it back up right now um Andy Ogles oh that is so bizarre it's still here but um anyway whatever Andy Ogles the politician was very much um you know who was put forward some really really horrible anti-LGBT stuff and all this stuff he was like homosexuality has no place in America and so I feel like that is just uh sort of like a um uh the cranary in the coal mine uh their tea leaves or the writing on the wall that that is what he's you know that's where they're heading planning on measuring and that's where they're headering. So maybe in three years I think marriage quality is in grave danger. If these right wing corporatists are able to achieve what they want to achieve.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Mm-hmm I think you're right. I think that it is definitely like one of those things it's it's it's like every kind of birth control. You know they started off with abortion but now they're coming for all kinds of hormonal birth control and they're starting to say like well women who are not married should not be allowed to get the pill on their health insurance especially if it's government health insurance. You know it's like they they definitely are not stopping. This is this is the I I I was about to say it's the beginning, but I mean we're years into it. It just always feels like a beginning because there is so much that they want to destroy and take over. It's like every little bit of power they get they have another level of like okay next we're gonna come for these people and these rights uh you know the way they're taking apart the voting act and birthright citizenship and all of the Reconstruction acts you know like I think they will try to send us as far back in time rights wise as they possibly can.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Yeah yes yes yes yes it's true uh yeah it's it's it's quite frightening um but you know we're here we are we're in this together everybody it is it's not all doom and gloom um there are there have been recent we won't go into them because we have covered them before but as we've covered recently there have been some some some minor wins and things to celebrate and even some of these um primaries uh the news out of these primaries are definitely something to celebrate they they won and these were some vicious races these were some vicious moments and it was dark and doom and gloomy and it and it was certain that if a lot of these candidates didn't win obviously the more left leaning and progressive uh candidates would have lost if they didn't win. But also that meant that the corporate centrists who are supportive of all the things that are happening right now like literally voting for it uh would would have won and even more than that the um large corporate packs and the dark money yeah the money behind them would have won. And it didn't and so we have people in that we need to hold accountable um but have pledged and are vowing to change get money out of politics and make sure like in in the great words of uh Dr.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Abdul Al-Sayed money out of politics money in your pocket and um h health care for all essentially and so I think that's what um since we have people like Abdul Al-Sayed and um Justin Pearson and Donovan McKinney and um uh just uh a several several more and I don't think we're we've seen the last of Corey Bush she may not be in office right now but she is organizing she is out there she is going to be part of this midterm election even if she is not on the ballot and and that is one good thing there are so many people stepping up so many folks entering politics who haven't been in it before or who are in politics who are really taking up the like left and progressive banner and that is great to see but I do have some other complicated good bad news.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Yes let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

Now we've been talking about it but it's time to let the people know we must let the people know and this is very sad for me and also very happy for me. I am stepping away from the Queer 101 podcast not permanently not forever not totally I am not abandoning I am just moving into a new role which I am super excited about and and Pep knows this already but I have been tapped to be the lead historian for the new American LGBTQ plus museum which opens up in New York City in 2028 and you are the first to hear it. But I'm very sad that it means that I'm not gonna be able to be able to on the podcast week to week in the fall when we come back to our weekly schedule. So Pep I'm gonna miss you so much.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

I'm gonna miss you but I I mean I'm I wanna come and like um break in not break in I don't I wanna come and just see all the stuff that you're planning and I'm just I'm so excited. I could not be happier and I mean I would be a little bit salty if you were like I gotta go you know work at the gas station which I would support okay if it was such as is such but uh it's it's it's it's certainly um an elevated use of your skills which are way way they could never be contained by this podcast. And so I'm just it's a perfect y use of your strength and power and dedication and passion and and uh pedigree and history and um like your history and the um the connection that you have and the the care that you approach like historical subjects with and the inclusivity that you're the intersectional sort of approach that you take to a lot of these things. I really admire that I've learned so much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

Oh the same same same I feel like so much of what I'm taking from this podcast is like the point of view that you bring to this not only like from your own personal experience but from your political experience the way you have traveled this country talking to people about the issues that matter to them talking to candidates talking to organizations and then you bring that onto this podcast and into every role you play and so much of what I think about when I think about the work of a museum is how to get people to have the kind of like emotional impassioned and political response that every single person who listens to our podcast tells me they have when they listen to you talk about these issues. The energy you bring is what I want to infuse the museum with. So don't worry you are not going to have to break in the back door you are on the invite list already for the opening and for all of our future events. You will be there on the red carpet if I have anything to say about it. And hopefully all of you listeners will be coming to join us 2028 we will open we've got some really great things on the way in a couple months I'm gonna come back on the podcast and give you all a preview of what is going to be in the museum special exclusive for our listeners.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Whatever access we're able to get we will take so that we can help spread the word about the new museum. And so it's gonna be the what is the official name?

SPEAKER_02 43:18

The official name it's a little it's a mouthful American LGBTQ plus museum. We're just calling it the ALM generally American LGBTQ plus museum.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

I'm looking forward to uh being able to see whatever it is that you all decide is worthy of offering but it really does sound as though there's a um space to uh to to showcase and highlight uh those types of queer stories that were often not included in the the the like gay ink version of everything. And so I'm just really excited. I'm so excited for you. I it's so obvious that that you are the person for the job so while we are uh a little sad to not have you with us week to week um we're gonna go back to sort of like uh cut at the the we're gonna call this sort of energy this end of the season so that we can come back and have a new uh vibe for for the podcast what we're gonna be doing weekly we'll be of course continuing uh a lot of the same energy and a lot of the same things that you and I have been doing all along but in addition to that we're gonna try to implement some new um some new some new colors and vibes to the to the to the podcast but still making sure that we have that really strong historical component um and finding a new way for for Hugh to uh visit us update us keep it up keep us updated about the the progress at the museum oh yeah you can't get rid of me that easily I can't wait to be a listener I can't wait to be on the other side jumping in on occasional episodes maybe writing you emails when you ask maybe sending in some questions I'm gonna be like number one fan love it love it love it well I'm still your number one fan um okay well y'all this has been a a a hearty episode um but thank you so sorry for the um technical difficulties that we had if you experience any of them in the in the edit you saw me reaching for my camera and we might have had a little break here and there uh we were battling the machine for you fighting the and what is nothing new on this podcast always fighting something um uh but uh thank you all so much for listening Hugh you should take us out I'm gonna miss you all this is my last time for right now at least getting to say wherever you listen please like subscribe click the comment button drop us a note it means so much I'm telling you doing this what we've now almost uh over a year and a half I believe of episodes and building this community has been one of the most beautiful parts of doing this so if you are listening to this if you've made it through the whole episode like say goodbye tell me you'll see me at the museum in the comments and make sure you are subscribed so you get when Pep is back on a weekly schedule in the fall you want to not miss a single episode. So goodbye for now we'll see you on the next episode everybody thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

This podcast is part of Pridehouse Media hosted by us Peppermint and Cube produced and edited by Josh Rosenspeig with original music composed by Nell Balavan if you enjoyed this episode then don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast and while you're there leave us a rating and a review. It really helps others discover the show you can stay connected and join the conversation by following us at Peppermint247 or write to us at questions at queer101podcast dot com.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

Thank you for listening and remember our history is your history. Stay proud stay curious and we'll see you next time on Queer101