Being Queer in Florida

in order to hold onto power. Talking Points Memos has in depth reporting this week on all of the ways that Kenneth chesbro, John Eastman, and the other Trump attorneys were concocting their plan to have January six not just be a day, but weeks in order to stop Joe Biden from becoming president and stop the peaceful transfer of power that we've had in this country up until January sixth,

twenty twenty one. I'm so fucking tired. I got to tell you of all of these reports, not because they're not necessary, but because Donald Trump should be in prison and should have been in prison, and all you continue to see as these cases get stalled with their appeals and kicked up to the Supreme Court, for the Supreme Court to pretend that like they've never read the Constitution before, and that, oh, well, what is an insurrection? And have

never read a dictionary? And then you see right right out in the open, how Donald Trump's attorneys and Donald Trump and all of these members of Congress that voted to decertify the votes of millions of Americans, what their plans were. How is it that Merrick Garland only went after the fucking people with boots on the ground. How is it that it took all of this time to go after some of the architects, and Merrick Garland waited to let the State of Georgia do that. I just like,

I'm so fucking over everything. And I know, folks like I know, I know that we go back and forth. In some weeks I have more energy and you know, more or fire in me than other weeks. And this today is just not one of those days. Our justice system is such a fucking setup. It's a set up for rich white men to do whatever the fuck they want, and their friends in power pat them on the back and just sweep their shit under the rug. And with the rest of us, those boulders of shit just roll

downhill and crush us. The amount of leeway, the amount of rope, these fucking people are given the amount of consideration. You know, I found myself the other day I was watching this is to show you how fucking sick and

tired I am. I was watching an episode, an old episode of Law and Order, uh, one of those you know stations that marathon them, which is like every station, and I had to turn one of the episodes off because a man, a white man, businessman, was being interviewed by the cops in his office and he clearly did illegal shit by moving you know, this woman's belongings from an apartment that she would later be found to be murdered in, and the cops are just given this dude,

like just the benefit of the doubt after benefit of the doubt, after benefit of the doubt, that I got so fucking enraged I have to change the channel because while sure Law and Order is fiction, right, it's really not. You see the way those cops will throw up a black person, h LATINX person against the car, beat the shit out of them, and then the white businessman that has always found to have been the murderer or the rapist.

They're given more benefits of the of the doubt than like I even believe exist and that's how our justice system works. Right, life imitating art, are imitating life, like, this is how our justice system works. This is who it was set up for. So how many detailed reports, how many interviews need to be conducted to know, good goddamn well, the amount of harm that these people have placed on our democracy, on our election system, on our agencies.

And they were all walking around free. What the fuck isn't Steve Bannon in jail? Right? Roger Stone, who was you know, pardoned by Donald Trump but we know was wrapped up in other shit but not charged again. Oh, because we don't want to seem political. Everything that these people have done has been an assault. They are fucking terrorists, but we don't treat them like that because they carry

briefcases and wear suits. We don't even have laws on the books to deal with domestic terrorists because it's only the black and brown people that we can see as terrorists. And I would argue that more harm has been done over the last fucking nine years at the hands of these white men than have ever been done at the hands of foreign adversaries. And I include in that the hundreds of thousands of deaths that were caused via their ignorance around COVID, but we don't talk about any of

that benefit of the doubt, benefit of the doubt. It's just so fucking sickening. And that's why, folks, it's so incredibly important. Whenever I get the opportunity to sit down with people that are doing good work, local work to try and fix what is in front of them. Those are the conversations that give me hope. Those are the conversations that make me realize that sometimes I need to pull back from the national discourse and see what real people are doing as they are rolling up their sleeves

trying to change their states bit by bit. And so we're continuing with our Queer the Vote series where I had conversations at the Creating Change conference down in New Orleans last month, and I'm bringing these conversations to you now of queer folks that are working in battleground states to get as many people out to vote as possible, knowing that they are in some of the most hostile

environments in Florida, in Ohio. And so these are people that I have to remember are doing the work, aren't paying attention to all that is wrong, so that they become paralyzed in their hopelessness. They do what they can where they can, and that is just a consistent reminder that I need. Coming up next to my conversation with Sarah Parker, one of those brilliant advocates and activists that are working in battleground states to make this country their

state safe for LGBTQ folks, folks. I am very happy to be joined as I'm doing these fantastic interviews at the Creating Change conference in New Orleans with Sarah Parker, who is the executive director of Women's Voices of Southwest Florida. Sarah, tell me a bit about Women's Voices, about your organization and the work that you all are doing in Southwest Florida.

have trans people. It's it's amazing how many different queer people we have now, so our name is kind of like a lead off, so we are a Fabulis four. We currently are in Tallahassee working and fighting against a lot of legislation that's happening in Florida. As we all know, Florida is kind of a shit show, and we are

seeing we're seeing them do the worst every year. They are consistently attacking us, and we are now on the grounds, you know, testifying against it and hoping that you know, they find it hard.

Because I think that for people who listen to my show, watch the news, they see the headlines right and they're lega I'm safe in my blue bubble. I want people to understand that what is being tested out and being done in Florida can be nationalized if we're not vigilant. So just give us a picture of what it is like to be queer and be in Florida.

We're seeing school boards have culture wars. We know we hear a lot about Rond de Santis, but we don't hear a lot about the legislators that are doing the

dirty work behind the scenes. Like, for instance, we have a representative, Webster Barnaby, which is also a black man, and he is leading the fight to put Confederate statues back up, a fight that in which that we have all worked very hard to take down to keep down a women's voices, specifically worked in Manatee County with Republicans to keep a Confederate statue from going back up after

we got it down. We look at that, we look at the abortion bind The black maternal mortality rate in Florida is disgusting and we should be focused on that. But they're using the talking point of saving black babies but not having the real conversation that they don't care about black women or black people. Then patients that can get pregnant. Living in Florida is a lot. But you know what, I love Florida. I'm gonna say that very confidently. That is my place, that is my that is my town.

I chose Florida. I was not born there, and I choose to stay because Florida has fight. Like people are on the ground consistently working behind the scenes, like us doing tutoring and us talking about like activists such as Stokely Carmichael and Angela Davis, to these black young kids, you know, sitting in a room with them, you know they're from a poor area and I live in that

poor area. Sitting in a room with them and realizing they didn't know really what the underground railroad was really first off, made me thankful for my family teaching me my history. But sitting in the room with them and then sitting in Tallahassee, like it kind of takes you aback because there are things that we know that everyone would care about. We want all children to read. It doesn't matter what color. We want all children to know

their history, being negative or positive, we need that. We want children to be accepted and loved. And as far as the queer bills, you know, we're facing a bill right now that is going to literally take the identity of trans people. We're facing a social media band for minors and these so these trans and queer kids, Yeah, they have no community.

you want segregation. Just say that, because if we were to up and leave, this whole place would turn completely red. There would be no fight, no resistance unless I detect again, my ancestors fought and still stayed in the South after we fought. What are this playbook that they're doing has already been played, and I don't understand why we keep trying to either recreate the wheel or disregard that playbook. I'm not giving up my space, definitely not to mostly

white male legislators. I'm not letting them force me out of my home and my life and my house. And I'm gonna fight for the people that cannot leave. Look like, financially, I think it's like seventy percent live below the poverty line. Do not quote me on that, but y'all take a look at like Florida's poverty line and income level, and that's black, brown and Indigenous people. We can't just all up and leave. Ye it's not gonna you know, it's not that easy. They don't make it that easy. And

it's my town. It's where I want to raise my children right now. It's where you know, I fell in love. I don't have to give that up, and I refuse to. And people need to know across the country, we have fighters on the ground, We have champions. We have champions that should be funded. I mean, we look at abortion access, okay, but the abortion access Florida is the number two in

the United States of America. You have you know, we have blue states that are doing bout initiis, which is amazing, all right, but you know, but Florida is also doing their own thing and it's important to highlight that. And we're winning. So you know, I hate a lot of the time our wins are not publicized. Yea, he did not. No one ever heard about the six week abortion ban that would have been the first in the United States, brought on by Mark Lee Dixon who came from Labuck, Texas.

And we all remember about the Texas abortion ban. He brought that same band to do a sanctuary county instead of city for the unborn, meaning he he was able to do the work that you do for one job and get eight cities. You don't hear that's not publicized, that we beat that back. You don't get to hear

about the small wins, the resolutions that are past. You know, great things that are going on in Orlando and all these other organizations that are on the ground, from Hope to Flick, to Women's Voices, to Equality Florida to the National MUTQ Task Force. There are tons of people on the ground consistently working our assets off. So not only is it like privilege, but it is a slap in the face.

to turn Georgia blue. They did so without the Democratic National Party. And so when you think about the resources that are needed to be put on the ground, what is it that the Democratic Party needs to be doing in the state of Florida.

is the truth in US. And using black people and black women and then leaving them out to dry is treacherous. It is very disheartening to know to see, you know, the National Democratic Party not take our activists up to DC, but then don't fund the small racists that are out there. That it's disheartening is that it's a it's a dog and pony show. We know what, we know that. And as a black person is black activist. That happens to

a lot of us all the time. You're taking around a room smiled at and not given funding, not giving anything your you know, your white counterparts might receive maybe. And it's the thing is that it's look at the state of like, look at the look at national Okay, like, yeah, we're starting to pick up on elections again and start to get some seats back. But oh, but let's look at the actual state. Nationally, we have people like Marjorie

Taylor Green. We have people like Matt Gates who's gonna be running or supposedly gonna be running for govern we have people like Lauren Bobert. That's the Democratic Party's fault. That's the Democratic Party's fault. It is and y'all, And you know what, like I feel that they need to start listening and you start listening to their black constituencies and not just their black constituencies that are quote unquote

on their level or in their income bracket. I'm talking about the black people that are on the ground that you're begging for their votes. One of the biggest things that you know, the Florida Democratic Party and I'm hoping that they, you know, continue to do and they need to do, is you know, engaging with people. But the BIPOC people and I've been and I don't mean engaging only when you're asking for a vote and they're trying to get a little bit better about that, but engaging.

You don't ask your grandma for twenty dollars before you say, hey, how are you? You don't do that?

I hope that they really take into consideration the trans trans community, all the marginalized communities, the queer communities, the black communities, the immigrant communities, the undocumented communities. They really take into account their lives, you know, their lives that are at stake, and they take into account that we are not to be used.

I am. I'm not with it. What is your response to that.

gonna be on that ballot. Again, we need to make sure that we vote. And if you don't want to vote in the presidential election, I understand. I'm gonna vote. I'm gonna vote. And does that mean I'm compromising, then it call it say that I'm compromising. It's like again looking at Florida, even with the abortion right, it's number two in the East Coast. I'm going to vote in the presidential election because my vote, our votes can make or break the lives of millions of people, just like

abortion in Florida, all of the Southeast. Once if we lose abortion in Florida, the Southeast is screwed. The most marginalized populated under the poverty stricken communities are going to be the ones that are going to feel as ripple effects. And I think that that comes down to the presidential election too. But again, if nothing your House, Senate, Congress, there's other things. There's ballt initiatives across you know, the

United States. That's why you vote your city. You look at over development, access to water, clean water like these are in we have access to clean water thing in Florida. These are all really, these are all very important things that affect your day to day life. You just don't notice it. And I hate when people are like, well, I don't do politics because I do believe that. You know, one of the things I say is that politics going to do you regardless.