Hello and welcome to episode two of transcending humanity. Today's theme or topic, or whatever you want to call it, is, we just have to pee. Otherwise, saying we're gonna be talking about trans people and bathrooms. The very concept terrifies conservatives throughout the world, especially this crazy. I don't have anything nice to say. So today we have myself, and I'll let everyone else introduce themselves. Start with Lisa.
Okay, I'm Lisa. I'm live in New York, and I am an ally to the LGBTQ plus community. I strongly believe in rights for all. This is one of the most welcoming communities I've ever been a part of. So thank you for spearheading this, Vanessa. It was a nugget that kept me awake. And when I put it out to the world, Liam, um, he kind of joined in with a lot of other people, and it took him to fruition. I'm so excited. So Mia,
ah, yes, I'm Mia, back again, for Episode Two. I'm actually in Denver, Colorado. So it's always a pleasure to be on these podcasts and get to talk with other individuals, whether they're on the LGBTQ spectrum, whether they're allies, whoever, it's always great to have those conversations. And I'm actually going to turn it over to
Tara. Hi, um, I am Tara I apologize that I am not on camera and having a little disagreement with my laptop. So and it's winning the argument so far. So I called in I am an ally. I am now I grew and through and through to all marginalized communities and humans. But have grown to know and love this group of people through LinkedIn of all things. And I will just echo the the warmth and welcoming and support of the community to me when I thought I was gonna come and support them, has just been
amazing. And so I am thrilled that I get to be a part of this podcast and that I know these amazing people. And I all love and yeah, Vanessa, can you throw it to someone because I can't really see.
I think I'm the only one left. Okay, so I'm Faye, I'll go, I am trans from Texas born and raised. Time to have spent most of like my younger years separating myself as much as I could from the community because it was not safe in country parts of Texas that I would then. And so like I did my best to live stealth and kind of with, you know, experienced a lot of guilt about that later on, especially during the former
administration. But yeah, love our allies and kind of got really loud about it after a certain point, especially after 30 Now I'm just like, I don't really give a shit. I'm here to fight everybody about it. So.
Oh, looks like Tamsyn is joining us too. So, Faye is a guest and I mean, we can always talk later to if you'd like to be pop on is one of our rotating hosts too, if that's something that interests you, so it looks like Tamsyn just joined us. Hello, Tamsin. You. You love your top.
Thank you. It's been warm in the Northeast so I've been kind of
yeah is 86 year Ohio. So I was sweating.
Maybe three here and I actually turned on my AC and say I'm actually from Texas also. Where the San Antonio area.
Nice. Oh my gosh, I was raised just north of Houston and like the woodlands Conroe area which is
Like, my niece lives there, and I've been going back and forth about moving back, because I miss my kids to my kids out there. And then my niece has three little ones. And her mom passed away. So she looks to me
bigger. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's nice and cheap. There's no There's that, you know, there's also just a lot of it's so funny. And I don't mean to, like, hijack the narrative here, but I would, especially in those parts of Texas, I would experience a lot of conversations where people would be like, Oh, these, you know, these Quiros actuals, these LGBT people and other and they wouldn't be talking to me looking for agreement looking for some kind of indication of
what they were saying. And I'm just like, tell me more about how, like, enlightened you are, and how they're all just pleased. Anyway. And then like, you know, for safety, sometimes you don't even like, correct them because it's like, it can be it can turn into like a you know, lynch mob. So it's like, but that is my thing. That's why I left Conroe so
Oof... being being trans in Texas has to be an adventure.
Just my niece is my niece identifies as queer. Yeah, and she is scared to death. In fact, she's moving. She's planning on moving up to New York at the end of the summer.
Yeah, I just drove for three days through high desert and over mountains and stuff leaving Texas for the first time like permanently and made it made my way to Fresno. So
congrats.
Yeah,
Fresno is a great place. Yeah, I
was like, Oh, it's so conservative. There was like, Wait, did I not? You did hear me say when I said I am from Texas. Yeah. Like, do you conservatives do not? Yeah.
California conservative where?
Now? Yeah, seriously, they're like, oh, but they're like, they're very middle of the aisle conservative. And that's what people in California think as a think of as conservative and I'm like,
You ain't seen nothin. Like, and I'm not even
scared of one really conservative idiot or even a few. Right, but when the state starts sanctioning the violence, then I'm like, okay, no.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay, so let's move on. Tansen. Did you want to say hi. Hello, everyone.
I know I'm late as out my neighbors hanging out. Sorry.
Dario.
Gotta be social. I know. You social. This is my social. for ya. This is my social, so
fashionably late.
Exactly. So yeah, we are transcending humanity. Today, you have six hosts instead of four. And so thank you, everybody for being here. And I know Lisa wanted to start off with something very important. So I'm gonna let her take over.
Last week, one of our own, lost a child due to a motor vehicle accident. And as a tribute to our family. And as you get to know all of us, you will see how much we lean on each other as family. And especially in this podcast, because some don't have family. And we are that family for them. So we want to dedicate this episode to their memory. And we would also like to take out, take a moment and talk about and share about the importance of becoming an organ donor. Our family members were able to
donate their child's organs. So they'll live on and help others. Becoming an organ donor is super easy. Many times you can just check that box when you're filling out your driver's license information. Or you can donate at or excuse me, sign up at donate life.com or dotnet, excuse me. And it's amazing I was on their website, just looking at the statistics of those needing donors is amazing. They break it down by minute, how many get put on the list, how many pass away, et cetera.
So we would like to encourage everyone to become an organ donor. If you can't become an organ donor, please think about donating monetarily, to this organization. It's a great organization. And I put a story on link and that kind of ties into this. I was over by my old office today. And I happened to look up in the parking lot and probably on the sixth or seventh floor. Somebody had put in sticky notes. Don't Ain't life. And I just thought it was so apropos that today was the
podcast. And we were taught in this and I made sure that our family member was aware of what was going on. So please donate life.
It's such a beautiful concept. And I'm so I'm so heartbroken for the, for the loss that they've experienced.
I it was, it was tragic.
And so sudden was this. Yeah. That family member will likely be joining us on a future episode. But obviously, they have a lot to process right now.
So yeah.
So thank you, Lisa. That was, thank you. i As soon as I saw the post about that in a life, I wouldn't signed up to be an organ drop the organ donor myself, just for that reason, because I'm just like, Okay, well, why not? You know, why not? Yeah. So I, for some reason I had been hesitant to in the past, like, now, there's no reason to be hesitant. So,
yeah, that wouldn't mean at first, I've heard of that. What would you say least that because I don't like hold this belief. But what would you say to those? Because I've heard people say, Oh, if you put organ donor, which I have, since I've had a license, and I don't believe this, but just to kind of address the other side of that. There are those with the superstition that if you pay an organ donor on your license, that they won't save you? If you're if you're critical.
I've heard that also, however, I don't know. I can't tell you that side of it. Because I personally, in my direct I have a Medical Directive for Do Not Resuscitate though. I don't know. But my, my, my my children are very aware of my wishes that if I can, if I can be of service to others. Let me Yeah,
I pretty sure. I mean, that's something that we could probably look on Snopes. But it's just sounds like one of those things. It's just an urban legend, you know, so if we've all heard of it, it's an urban legend.
But it's
really not feasible. When you think about it. I mean, doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, right. They're not, they're not going to allow someone to die that they could save because of because they're an organ donor. I actually, my line of work is, is in the medical field. I actually spoke with a gentleman recently who received a liver from 29 year old who had unfortunately overdosed on fentanyl. And fortunately for this gentleman, the anesthesia did not kick in
quick enough. And he heard the whole conversation when they wheeled the girl into his operating room. And the doctors talked about how she died and she was only 29. And she had they had intubated her he said he he could see they had done everything possible. And she just could not bring her back. So I don't know. But I would I would say it it's an urban legend. I can't imagine any physician risking their license. I was
No, I was an EMT for 20 years. And that just never enters your mind. You're not rooting through people's pockets for licenses. You're trying to save their ass and foremost, and you're getting them to the next level of care where they're going to do the same thing. They're not going to do that. Unless and until someone comes in with the DNR directive and gives it to them. Yeah, like they give your unconscious. They're gonna save you until they're told otherwise.
They have time to start looking for paperwork. Yeah, right. Yeah.
And Snopes because I am a snoop Snover if you are sick or injured and admitted the number one priority as terrorists that is to save you. Organ donation can only be considered after brain death has been declared by the physician. Not so not an EMT. And many states have adopted legislation allowing individuals to legally designate their wish to be a donor should brain death occur although many states organ procurement organizations also require that consent from the family.
So there you have it Oregon doning. Oregon donors they're not targets for harvesting in the in the accredited medical field. Great.
Thank you, Lisa.
Yeah. Fun fact. Do you guys know that Snopes is actually just a husband and wife team?
I have heard that. Yeah.
So I don't know where they go to get their information. But yeah, I don't
know. I mean, it's I know that they started off that way. I didn't know that they still were so. But I guess having a small small Baba Baba staff is probably good for something like that. So
they do have sources listed.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Tara got me concerned. I'm like, let me look up. They do have sources. Okay, so
let's go ahead and move on to our next part here. We've reached out to our listeners, all 19 of them so far. For submissions about stories with trans people and allies or whoever, people that want to talk about their experiences with bathrooms. So we have Faye here today, who was one of our people that did this mission. And she asked if she could come on and tell her story herself. So babe, would you like to kick it off for us?
Yeah, sure. Thank you so much, Vanessa. So like, like we all just heard I am fe. And my story that I submitted kind of has a couple of parts. I mentioned earlier being raised in Texas, there's a lot of stories, but I'm going to try to stick to the most relevant ones. I had one of my first what I would like call big girl jobs were was was something that I got from a family friend who was an HR for what was yellow cab in
Houston. I was like, 2221 22, whenever I got this job, and hadn't really started like HRT or medically transitioning yet, but socially, I had been presenting as female since since I was 15. So I was pretty good at like, knowing how to carry myself and knowing how to, for lack of a better term pass in, in the world, and not get
questioned or clot. So when I got this job, the interview was really less formal, it was more of just kind of a conversation and a bunch of joking with me and the manager, but there was an unspoken agreement that it would not make sense for me to use the men's room. And it was under the condition that I did not disclose my identity to other people. And they're like, yeah, it wouldn't make sense. If you wouldn't, they'd be like, who was that girl going in the men's right. And so I didn't.
And for the longest time, you know, that worked. And it was, it was about a year and a half into employment there that that stopped working. But during the time, kind of like I mentioned earlier, during the time that I work there, there was there was another woman who was very serious that was targeted by some of the gossipers some of the some of the pigeons and they're chirping, right? And they were like, Oh, she's definitely got a penis and they said like, they could see it in
the bathroom. This woman was very says she was kind of like all style and punk and like, in your face, but the woman that was saying these awful things turns to me and she's like, we are women and like, directs her hands to like point at both of us. She's like, we can tell. And I was just stunned. I'm like, Oh my God, why? Okay. Um, and I obviously I didn't want to like cause problems for my sister and my friend and HR and didn't really say anything but it was all it was all kind of surreal
at that point. The the, the lat the other part of that is like after that I kind of felt a little a little less. Like I had to work so hard not to be clocked. Sorry. That's my mics, getting a little sensitive there. But one of the women that came on later on did actually clocked me and I don't know if it was that my voice dropped a little too low. I don't really know what it was but she never let it go. And she started following me into the bathroom.
Anytime that I went and she would say things like just awful things like there are women in here Fe and like, are ladies one time she's like, I can I dropped something and I said shit. And she's like, watch your mouth there ladies in here. And I had gotten so bad with her with the harassment that I was like, if you're referring to yourself, it's a very generous term, dear.
But yeah, so she, she kind of like, was very obvious and her harassment, she never really like got corrected by anybody, everybody just kind of ignored it and she would sit next to me. Or anytime I walked into the dispatch center that we were at, and she'd be like, you know, singing that Beyonce song if I were a boy, and just like, going on and on, eventually, this without having the ability to go to HR and not seem like I was getting favoritism, because my
relative works there. And without having the ability to have like an open discussion about the harassment at work, I just got really depressed and ended up failing to do my job up to standard and got and got fired. As a result of all of that, and it was, it was a long time before I think I learned to find my voice and speak up for myself. Fast forward a long time
after that, right. I was working still in call centers, but not making much more actually, it just kind of happened to be the types of jobs that would, you know, I could be heard and not seen and not a problem, right. And so that was like, since I transitioned before getting my license, and everything changed. That was where people were willing to put me basically. And so I was, I was working at another call center. And it was like, not two weeks into the
training class. And this guy who insisted he was straight, but was very effeminate, which I have no problem with, you know, breaking the binary, but it seemed very much like this individual who shall remain nameless, was making up for something by just trying to throw the attention off of
themselves. I overheard this person start telling people that they should follow me into the bathroom and like, look to make sure I'm like actually, using the plumbing that like would coincide with the little triangle on the door on like, I wear it like you know what I mean? So and this time? Oh, go ahead.
Oh, I was just saying, Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, it
was scary. I was actually kind of late because it was, it was in like one of the rougher neighborhoods that I've lived in that this job was and so people were like, probably inclined to just do it. And so at this time, like, I don't know, I didn't have any connections to HR. So I felt a lot more comfortable going and saying something without being seen as getting favoritism, or anything like that. They did actually handle
it the right way. And they this person was no longer in class with me, needless to say, but um, it really boils down to the fact that like, what I what I was doing in the bathroom was the same thing most everybody else was doing in the bathroom with the with the exception of potentially somehow hygiene rituals. That's it. That's literally the only thing and that's it. You know, I don't
know. It seems that it seems that there's a lot a lot of obsession, but seems unhealthy around something that we all do anyway. It's what I love about being Yeah, that's what I love about being in California is that everywhere is got like all gender restrooms and single years. And those are just two of the kind of more prevalent examples of how using the bathroom has cost me some of my sanity and stuff.
That's this, especially the first one how it's like, on one hand, you had some gender affirmation, but at the one that being at the expense of someone else, and it's just people I mean, we just want to use the bathroom the most the most that anyone should be concerned about someone else in the bathroom is make sure that they courteous courtesy flush if they're taking a giant is that's, that's that's about it. So
yeah, and please don't leave a mess on the seat for me. That's it. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. And especially
I don't want to go no man's room again with all that they're so disgusting. So the women can be just as though Yeah, I know. Absolutely.
Oh my goodness. It cracks me up because I was just in the airport bathroom not too long ago. And I'm the type that I will take paper towels and wipe up after myself. No, there were Water. I mean, you could not put anything anywhere. There's so much water. And I'm just like, okay, translate that to a toilet seat. What aren't you doing when you're going pee, and I will speak from a sis woman, I would rather share a bathroom with the trans person than a sis male.
And I and I say that because I have, I have watched an attack happen and have been almost attacked. So my, my whole thing and I had told, I had told the LinkedIn group this, I said, my whole thing, I don't care, you're in there to do your business. If you and I happen to be washing our hands at the same time, I'm either going to compliment you on your makeup, your outfit or your shoes. Yeah, because I don't care. I like you're a person, you are a human
being. I don't care if you're, you know, if you're trans, if you're gay, if you're whatever, I don't care. Just be kind person. No. So I mean, you know, it just it blows my mind, how out of proportion. And I will agree, Republicans how out of proportion, they blow this. And then I can't remember I don't I don't remember who it was posted about? Was it? The was it still Missouri, when I said that the guy defended 12 year old marriages. The 12 year olds getting married so hard to keep up there?
I think. Yeah.
I honestly couldn't believe I was reading that. It's like how can somebody actually Oh, they they're still married. I'm still missing something here. You know, the 12 year old thing. That's That's wrong.
That's so wrong. They're not even. They're not even. They're not even pubescent. Yeah, like, stop it.
trans youth aren't old enough to make a decision about hormones.
Thank you.
Now, Lisa, I'm sorry, that that happened to you. I wanted to use your example to kind of say like, an actual predator is not going to trip about a misdemeanor for being caught in the wrong restroom, they're about to go commit a felony or trying to attack someone. So if their intent is to attack you, it doesn't, whoever they are. They're not they don't give a shit about being in the wrong bathroom. So that's just defeating the actual, what their argument is invalid as long as
they're not going to bother going on HRT and transitioning and all that stuff just to go into another bathroom, they're just gonna go in. It's, that's what happens. I still haven't seen any statistics of our community are the drag community assaulting anyone in a bathroom? But it's all there's Facebook tag group that I just love. It's called conservatives making things up and getting mad about it. That's exactly what's happening. But the problem is, is that it's costing lives.
Yes,
yeah. And they don't care. No, I responded to this woman who was on Instagram making very much that point making shut up and then being mad about it. And I was like, and she's like, Oh, so you can go in there and like you know, Flash somebody but if I have something to say about it, then I'm the asshole I'm like, first of all, nobody's advocating for somebody to get
to flash you. And secondly, this has never happened a trans person has never come down to the lot came into the locker room and flush to that's just not true. You're making shit up and it's actually hurt people are getting hurt because of shit that you make up and tell to the village idiots who then turn around and grab their torches and pitchforks like this is stop it
and they play the game telephone and yeah, I
was just gonna say that the rumor mill gap because it's just everything's gonna get just blown out. Trust me for any if there is a conservative person listening to this, which I really hope that we do get some conservative people listening to so they can so they can learn. Transmit people in the bathroom are terrified to be in there. Because we don't know what's going to happen to us. But we
still need to pee. And a lot of times, one of the stories that we're going to be reading here is someone who goes by uses he then pronouns were trans masculine, and a lot of trans men look like they'll have a full beard. And do you really want someone with a full beard? In the ladies room with you? A lot of these I think trans men are, in general forgotten about by these policies. They're targeted more at trans women. Because you're a man in the ladies room? No, we're not men.
And we just want to pee. And if we go into the men's room, there's a very good chance that we will be assaulted. So there's, there's no good answer for it. It is, there's no good answer for it. So that's why, you know, we're on road trips, we're just always looking for a Starbucks because we know we can be there.
So I've road trip. Oh, go ahead. No, you're good. I was No, that was me. Speaking of road trips, the I had an experience that I thought was going to be the one you know, we all have that one that we're feeling like it's gonna be the fire. I was on like a three hour road trip from the beach, to another to Austin back to Austin, Texas. And it was in the middle of the country. And I was
like, I had allergies. So I was sniffling, and I was holding my wallet kind of like, close to my face, where people wouldn't just look too closely. Because I was a little rough from being at the beach, you know, all weekend. And this woman takes a double take at me while I'm standing in line, I'm like this is that this is the moment I'm gonna have to run. And she's like, don't cry, it's gonna be okay. She was so sweet. And I was like, Oh, I have allergies and not crying.
But thank you. And please stop looking at me. In fact, go ahead.
No, I was just going to comment on the points that Vanessa was making. As far as you know that that that hypocritical double standard, where we can't have a trans woman go in the women's bathroom, because they're a man, they gotta go in the men's bathroom. But yet, we'll take a trans man who, again, will be presenting very masculine, and we could have them go in the ladies room, an eldest son, that's supposed to be okay. You know, they'll be fine with that.
You know, it's it. There's a lot of that we make a decision where we want to be divisive or exclusionary about one group of people, but yet, they don't understand the whole range of repercussions that that has. We see it on a lot of topics outside of just bathroom bills, things like you know, the 10 commandments in, you know, government spaces. Well, what why did they get to put this statue of Baphomet? Up? Well, because it's freedom of religion. You didn't think of
that, did you? You know, and it's very, the the knee jerk reactions to make it happen are mind boggling. And even going on the point that we've been talking about, about being terrified to go in the bathroom. At work, when I transitioned, the employees that I worked with, it was the most phenomenal experience that I think an individual could have. I was so
elated. It still took me a month to go to the bathroom, the non gender neutral bathroom, and I literally had to talk to one of my co workers and says, Hey, I'm scared to go in the bathroom. Because you know, more than my department chairs, that restroom, they're like, come on, we're taking a lady's trip into the bathroom. And that was the thing after that. It's like, oh, oh, there's nothing to be scared
of in here. But even being my age, even being in an environment that was absolutely accepting, it was still terrifying. So as I prepare for business trips, as I prepare, actually for road trips, I'm actually having to look at maps now and figure Ooh, how do I have to reroute this trip? Because there may be some places it's going to be illegal for me to go to the bathroom.
Yeah, yeah. I just want to piggyback on on some of the stories, again, as as a sis hat woman I actually was assaulted in a bathroom of a bar and someone had put something in my drink. And so that happened, and I would have given anything to have any woman walk into the bathroom that night and help me
trans Sis, you know, whatever. I don't care if if someone had come in the threat in my mind and I know that this is not a popular opinion with a lot of pro while particular conservatives but this hat white male are the biggest threat in my mind as as a woman, that is who scares me, a trans woman. She's not going to place herself into a community that is, is under attack, so that she can walk get into a lady's room and peek at some angles under the door because ladies don't stand
that urinals. I mean, it's, it's mind boggling. And I'm sorry, I can't remember who said it. But predators and and in true evil people, they don't follow rules. So banning a trans person from the bathroom? Who were you helping? You're, you're making their life impossible? And how are you doing anything for the rest of us? I could give two shits who's paying next to me. But as a sis hat, man, just
walking in is terrifying. And to me is the real threat I don't I haven't really been able to find literature on on trans people attacking others, you're talking about half of 1% of the entire population. So you're not going to see a lot anyway. But I really haven't been able to find anything like that. And would be interested if someone if someone did because there that's just that's not the threat to me. Yeah, that's fellow woman in the bathroom.
as prevalent as that narrative is, I would definitely like to see some literature around that myself. So when you find it, let me know.
Exactly, they've never you think it would be brought up? It would be shown all over the place if it were actually a thing, because with all these bathroom mods going out, but it's always the sysadmin it's just like the shooting thing. You know, they latched on to the one that trans or quote unquote, trans shooter, and they're like, it's the transgender 90% of the shooters are men. Yeah, it's like, no.
And I still highly question I still highly question whether that person was trans, they are not alive to say so. And it happens to be in Tennessee, where they've basically banned being trans. It's pretty convenient timing, to have something terrible happen and blame it on a trans person. But it's interesting to me.
You know, but even on that tragedy, but yeah, very much a tragedy. But even on that point, I mean, what they've got maybe four trans individuals that have done an act of violence like that, compared to 1000s that have been done by non trans individuals. So really, where's the threat? Same thing with, you know, sexual assaults and things like that. Where's the threat? But but we gotta blame somebody else, because we can't blame us.
Yeah, it's the age old adage of like, minorities being pathologized. Yes. And the same actions, which like, sis, white men are not pathologized. They are. Try. We'd love to understand them. Let's find out what's going on with the mental health problems and everything. But now everybody else is pathologized.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's because minority majority. So I do want to be make sure that we include Micah's story. This was our other listener submission from Mica. And they make a he they, so I'm just going to read their story really quickly. They said I didn't come out as trans masculine until I was about to turn 25. I had already been at my job for a year before coming out, which made me feel kind of unsure of what to do when it
came to the bathrooms. I like many others was more concerned with others comfort level than my own. My team set on the third floor and the only inclusive bathroom was on the first floor. Seven months or so go by and I'm still using the inclusive restaurant because a good portion of my team was still regularly misgendering me. Around this time, I had an opportunity to go on a business trip to Chicago. to Chicago, everyone was gendering me he they immediately and no one is
slipping up. The last night I'm there the training group of 20 plus people all went to go to karaoke. We're at this bar and I really have to pay. I feel pretty confident after a week of everyone respecting my pronouns and I go into the men's room. And before I even stepped foot in it, I see a single stall with an out of order sign on it. I'm frustrated, but at the end of the day, it was like, I just
have to go. So I've used the women's restroom several times since they did not have a general gender neutral bathroom. We're just about to head out in myself and one of my colleagues are having a conversation and walk into the bathroom together. As we're walking in, one of the bouncers runs after me and grabs my arm stressing me out saying I can't be in there. I'm immediately so embarrassed, and was fortunate that my colleagues slept for me. We left the bar right after wasn't experience.
Thank you for letting me share Mica. So that's, that's a interesting situation too. Because the transmits. There's, when it comes to the biology of having to pee and your factory installed equipment that you have. You can't stand up at a urinal. So you have to have a stall, which honestly, I think all bathrooms should just have
stalls. Anyways, it's a whole other story about standing next to someone you know, piece now, but at least they need to have those fucking dividers, which it should be illegal not to have a divider, but that's all I wrote. Whatever. So thank you, Micah, for sharing your story. That's I was really glad that we were able to get a story from a trans trans mass person. Because that's in our current little microcosm here that we have. We don't have the trans mask on this episode, but we do have
some on staff so. Okay, so let's see moving on. We don't have a ton of time left, but I don't mind if we go over. So we've been talking about the bathrooms and right now the two heavy ones are Arkansas, Arkansas and Florida. To the point where it really can't go there and equality Florida. Just issue the Travel Warning for further working me the overall yesterday which was Wednesday, due to the spike in HIPAA legislation. They
said about that. So today, equality Florida took the unprecedented step of issuing a travel advisory to individuals, families, entrepreneurs, and students warning that Florida may not be a safe place to visit or take up residence. Advisory comes after passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ plus community restrict access that restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws and allow untrained unpermitted unpermitted, carry
and format racial justice. The governor has also weaponized state agencies to impose sanctions against businesses large and small that disagree with his attacks on diversity,
equity and inclusion. Florida has recently adopted a slate of hateful laws and this past tracking additional measures that directly target the rights of LGBTQ plus individuals and basic freedoms Bradley, already those policies have led Florida parents to consider relocating protective prospective students to cross Florida colleges and universities out there lists, events and conferences to cancel future gatherings and the United States military to offer redeployment for service members
whose families are now unsafe in the state. That's one something I did not know. And I'm good on the military for doing that. So
amazing. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, Vanessa.
No, no. Talking
No.
Faye was intentionally on mute And I was just kind of mouthing like, Oh, my God. But yeah, it's surprising that the military took those steps. It's really, I'm proud of them.
But it's also making me really wonder about just how far the governor can go. Because when you look at he's off, he's weaponizing state agencies to take action to take action against businesses, large and small. How does he have that? Right? These are businesses that are not state driven. Yeah, they're in they're creating income for the state. But they're not state owned businesses beat state agencies are going in. Basically, it sounds like martial law.
Yeah, unprecedented. Yes. Fascism, I think yeah, in American politics.
And he's doing it because he knows it can and yeah, eventually some lawsuits can pop up that might slap him back away, but the legal system is so slow, that I'll just do what I want and you know, try to stop me. The only way that we can stop them is to vote that fucker out.
The thing is with it as well is you know, it's that old bullying mentality. businesses, I mean, I work for a fortune 200 company. And even sometimes, a company that large and that successful will not take a stand up to something like that, because of the potential financial impact it could have, by them having that type of a position. And he knows that, and these other governments, state governments know that. So that's
how they get away with it. And I'm back on the military aspect, my mind is blown, that the military does this now, because I specifically went into the Marine Corps to not be who I am now. And I saw what happened to people that got caught during that time. And then for that, to do a 180. And now the military is no, this is, we got to take care of everyone here. It's like, boom, you know, this is amazing. And, um, you know, it's, it's, it's such a weird, a
weird thing going on. And I mean, you're right, Vanessa, our voices have to be heard in voting, we have to stand up as a population, not as an individual, not as a single organization, it literally has to be a coordinated, we got to have a united voice on a united front. And the battle is going to be hard, because we already see with like gerrymandering, and, and, you know, conspiracy theories and all this, that go to invalidate voices that don't
follow that narrative. And to sow that level of distrust, we have to speak even more, and we have to vote even stronger, and get more people involved in the process and get rid of that mentality of Oh, my voice, my votes not going to count. Well, if everybody thinks that, of course, it's not going to cap.
But in order to get rid of these bathroom bills, and everything else, we got to vote those people out of office, vote the right people in the office, and then get them to work to change the bigotry and the hatred, and the transphobia, and all of that, because that's the only way that it's going to be effectively addressed.
And that's a whole other fight too, is the Democratic Party, just sitting back and just letting it happen. Because all the politicians are bought and paid for. I consider myself a progressive over a Democrat, I vote Democrat just because it's the only thing I can do. But I'm progressive. And we, they've had so many opportunities to fix things when they were in control, and they just didn't. So that's the thing is primaries, those kinds of things are extremely important
as well. Maybe even more so important than the main elections, in that. That's where we get to root out the riffraff root out the people that are bought and paid for. It's hard, it's hard. There's just the entire system is so completely fucked and corrupt that it's, I understand when people say that they feel like their vote doesn't matter. Because it can definitely feel that way. I was that way for a long time as back when you know, society considered me a weight set guy.
And, but that's also the narrative that the conservatives want is they want people to feel like they their vote doesn't matter. So but we're starting to see things he does. Yeah, exactly. So but then we see things that are going on Tennessee with the legislators that got booted out of the house and now they're going back in because that that was the Conservatives way overstep doing that they I don't know what they were thinking, but it fucked them so hard and good. I'm glad
it fucked them. And because they, they created heroes, the people that they kicked out, so they
absolutely did, and I love the speed at which it happened. This wasn't a long drawn out process. No, no, no, we're getting you voted back in there. You're representing us now get back there. And now the fallout starting to happen. Just like you know, you're saying he made him heroes, just like this whole thing that's going on with Bud Light. You know, they're getting all the publicity in the world because you know, somebody spent their money to go buy a Bud Light then do something to it.
So for one, you supported them and then to your act actually brought probably more positive attention to them than negative attention. So good on you.
But that's that's an interesting thing that I forget where I was reading it today. I think it was on Instagram. But there when you see large corporations doing that kind of thing, it is very purposeful and it's not the benefit. The partnership with Dylan really isn't to benefit the trans community. It's when a company starts fading from the public eye like Bud Light, like when's the last time you thought of a Bud Light until last week when
they partnered with Dylan. And now they're all over the news. So but let's name is right up there. So yeah, they're alienating some of their customer base, but they could be bringing out a whole more. And in the end, it's not benefiting our community, because we're being put back in the fucking spotlight and we don't want to be in the spotlight. We're already enough in the spotlight.
So like, I worry about people like Dylan, and anyone else that's big in the public eye just for their mental health is they're just constantly being attacked. So we have to be careful with those and really not celebrate those companies for doing that. Because in the end, the corporations are in it for corporations, not for the people. So it's almost always performative.
And you brought up a good point the the mental health. Think about that, Stuart, I'm, I still call them stewardesses. Flight attendant who committed suicide. Yeah. Because everybody was dissing on her. Because she was trans and it's like, they are this community is humans. It is a human community. It is not. But a robot community.
Yeah,
I think everyone
with feelings, they bleed the same. They have the same organs other than reproductive organs, you know, you have eyes you have nose you have brains, Lamont Yeah, I mean, and I'm the same way with Terra. It is all the marginalized groups, I don't understand that mentality. Let's keep pushing, let's keep no include them. It would be amazing what we can all learn from each other.
Yeah, I think everyone on the call may be old enough to remember when Trans Day of visibility was called Trans Day of Remembrance. And I fear in this may be an unpopular opinion, but I fear that we have forgotten why it started. Because visibility, without protection is no better than the treatment that you give the bait that you put on the end of your
fishing line. throwing us out there, you know, to push the hot button, as you said to stay relevant, like Bud Light dead is only stoking the fires, and there's no one protecting us from it. They're just using us to stay relevant. And so unpopular opinion is that I feel like it should still be Trans Day of Remembrance. Because yeah, but visibility itself is not saving us. The visibility itself is in fact, probably
hurting us more. What we used to do is remember the ones that have lived been lost to the violence that our community always has faced and has always been unsafe because of and I just don't want people to forget that.
We just don't have that. That's in November.
Oh my god, is it not? The same? They didn't switch it?
No, no, you're right.
Take just kidding.
But no, you bring up
Yeah, I think with that the Trans Day of visibility is dangerous for trans people period. It some of us embrace it to try to to like more active people like us, embrace it to try to get our words out there. But what it should be renamed to be is that allies day of visibility, where allies show that they're not just performative, that they're genuine. That's what I would love to see is to see Trans Day of visibility be erased in allies of the entire alphabet mafia community, the word that
I am referring to us by nothing else from now on the alphabet mafia,
Mafia. Well, I like to reclaim things to like the conservative sometimes calls Letter People on the letter people. It's funny, amazing. I love that. And oh, yeah, Ross. I know. So we are we're actually over time but I do want to just bring up something quickly with these laws where they're criminalizing they want to criminalize already have in our working in criminalizing our prisons in bathrooms. Were in
one of one of these states. I don't have it in front of me, but they it was originally saying that we couldn't go in the bathrooms when a miner was present and they rewrote that. We couldn't go to a bathroom with sexual intent when a miner is present and
wasn't the one Sarah Huckabee Sanders that made that modification? So we got a probably Arkansas.
Yeah, that is Arkansas. Yeah. And so this there's a big gray area there and with in Florida, it's that if we go in the bathroom, and if we don't immediately leave when someone tells us it's a second degree misdemeanor. So in both these situations, we're being criminalized with a very heavy gray area, which is definitely put in there on purpose. Because we're, well, one sexual intent. Well, anyone can say anything
about that. Because if it's just us versus them in the bathroom, and they accuse us of something, they're gonna believe that. And the same with just if someone asks us to leave a bathroom, there are many sis people, that percent more non binary, or there's non binary people out there too. And there's what we'd have to do is just have to frisk everybody, you know, going in to find out. This is all based on sex assigned at birth. It completely discounts intersex
people. And it's just mind boggling to the point where are we going to wind up with bathroom vigilantes? Are we going to have these crazies with AR 15? Standing outside the bathrooms, guarding them to make sure that we don't go in and pee?
Don't tell them? Yeah, that's
what that's what I think is gonna happen.
So especially in your extremely conservative states,
but I think it's funny that, you know, they had to amend the bill that we can't go into the bathroom with with sexual intent. Isn't that the goal for anybody going to the bathroom is nobody should be going into the bathroom was sexual intent, no matter whether you're transgender, whether you're sis, so it's like, Why in the world? Do you have to put something in that should be so damn common sense? That that's
just the expectation. But no, we got to make sure we specifically spell it out for for, you know, trans women because evidently, we're not smart enough to figure that out on our own.
No, don't go be a creatively. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. 100%. Man, it's not anyone walking in the bathroom with any intent other than to use the bathroom? Is shouldn't be come in. Yes, Flash
illegal things are illegal. I know. I know.
So much of this is projection to because the fact that these politicians are even thinking the shit up, excuse me, hopefully nothing comes here. The fact that they're thinking this up, means that they're thinking of this, it means that when they think of a bathroom, they're thinking it is sexual. It's just like, you see, like, there'll be extremely in the past extremely anti gay legislators or governors or whatever. And then they're found in their office with their gay
lover. And it's because they're always projecting is whatever is on their mind is what they're pushing on people. So there's a legislator in Ohio, in Ohio State retinas, Gary flick, who's just a complete fucking piece of shit. That guy has secrets that we that he doesn't want people to know. But the fact that he's pushing this stuff so hard, means that there's something up so if
you want 100% grammar and he has like, that's it's constantly on his mind, and that's why he accuses everybody else of it. Like Matt gayer than them here's like constantly getting Botox so he can be seductive to 16 year old girls.
They see every every accusation is an admission.
Thank you.
Okay, my friends, we we have to wrap this up. Thank you, everyone for being here. Next week. I don't quite have the topic yet. We're working on but typically Fe you're our first guest, I would say thanks for having me. Yeah. Um, I've been talking to Dr. Lulu and she would really like to be on and so I I want to try to get more time to get guests on and arrange stuff but when Dr. Lulu is on, I want to have a conversation about parents of trans kids and what they are
what they are seeing. So Dr. Lulu would be our guest for that and we have alright
yeah, I'll try to see if Lisa P my soul sister does for you. First son is going is going through that?
Yeah. So
now he's younger. He's younger than me. think that she's genuinely supportive. Make sure we get on there to Jenny's Yeah,
yeah. Because that's probably one of the most topical kinds of things right now where we might even need to have multiple episodes. And I mean, I'm hoping to have a zillion episodes of the show. So this is only episode two. And always thinking about things. People listening, if there's something that you'd like to hear us talk about, email us, let us know. You can find us on LinkedIn, you can message us there. You can find us on Facebook, we will have a website up one of these days. But if you
if you want to be on Instagram, Vanessa, I can run that for us.
Okay, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, I never thought of doing the Instagram too. So. But yeah. Thank you, everyone for being here. Obviously, anyone have any final thoughts that they would like to share?
They I just need to know who you are on LinkedIn. So we can connect.
Oh, I think it's Faye Black. You know, honestly, I have I pay less attention to my LinkedIn than I probably should. Um, Hold please. Yeah, that's, that's me.
I see you here.
I've had a
Oh, right now, fancy licensed PNC?
Yeah, that's me. Picture of the straw hat in the sunglasses.
There we go. Just connected. And then I'll send you my instagram handle, because I don't I'm not on Facebook very often at all. So that I am on
Facebook is I'm only still on Facebook, because that's where I get my photography business. But Facebook is so yeah, LinkedIn is the place to be for our community. It's what I found. This is where Oh, yeah, I know, especially like, you'd be this what we talked about last week, you know, you would have told any of us two years ago that LinkedIn to be a place for us to find connections and friends and everything like that bullshit. So, but here we are. So again, thank you, everybody, for
joining tonight. And looking forward to meeting for the next episode. So have a wonderful evening. Thanks, everybody.