Devils Among Us

you can never breathe enough. And I have found once again myself in this space of swirling where the news is just coming at me so fast that I feel like a turnstile. And in those moments, in those times, I find that it is really important for me to be able to take to bookend my day, to start

and finish my day with meditation. Whether it's a minute that I have to give or twenty, but it is really important because I have found in this new meditation practice that while we breathe every single day, and it's something that we don't think about. If you're not on a ventilator, for instance, then you're not thinking about your breath in and breath out. And that has us in a lot of ways focusing on everything else right that

is coming in. And what I notice is that when I can pause, when I have the ability to pause, and I think that we should make conscious efforts to pause every day. That doing breath counts in counting up to four right exhaling out the same amount for deep exhale out, and you do that three times in a row, it really does level set you. It really does actually allow for your quartisown level to come down, and for your shoulders to come down, for your eyebrows to come down,

for your body to relax. And what I'm finding is that each and every day, spending time in Twitter, spending time watching cable news, reading all of the articles, all of the terrible things that Republicans are saying, and action that they are taking, and the inaction from Democrats has me in these moments where I am literally holding my breath. I can feel the tension building in my body. So I start out today saying that I want us all in woke af nation to start being a bit more

intentional about the breadths that we are taking. And when you find yourself getting tense, getting rigid, feeling tight, I want you to set a timer on your phone for sixty seconds and just focus on breathing in deeply and breathing out deeply for sixty seconds. We can all spare that sixty seconds at the beginning of our day, in the middle of our day, and at the end of

the day, and then build upon that. And I just want you all, and I offered that because again, I'm finding myself back in a place of stress and rigidity, and I'm trying desperately to fight against that. So I want to offer that to everyone. Set your timer on your phone, sixty seconds. If you can get into a quiet space, great, If you can't, put in your ear buds, put on some classical music, some tonal music, just some ocean sounds, anything anything to block out whatever noise may

be around you. And take that sixty seconds three times a day, and I promise you you will begin to feel the difference. All right, So let's jump into the news of the day once again. Republicans are saying all of the quiet things out loud. They are making it clear who they are attacking and why. And while the media would love for you to believe that you don't know what's in people's heart, and we don't know what

any of these bills mean. So let's all fame fucking ignorance, as if we have no idea why conservative, right wing radical Christians would be attacking LGBTQ youth in over thirty states right with their legislation to essentially ostracize transgender and gender non binary youth from being able to participate in sports. Let's pretend that we don't understand why Ronda Santis would roll out legislation that would have you go back into a version of America where we can't even utter the

word gay or LGBTQ or queer. Joining me today in conversation will be the new executive director of Glisten, an organization that has been near and dear to my heart

for a very long time. Began in the nineteen nineties by a group of teachers to help create more equity and safety and community in the classroom for LGBTQ youth, and I have worked with them over the course of probably ten twelve years when I was working in LGBTQ policy specifically, and you know, wanting to bring to light, really to the mainstream why I had gotten into this work, how vulnerable this population is, and what's sad is that

I hadn't really checked the metrics, right, the numbers, the stats of how things have changed over the course of the last ten to fifteen years. And what I can say, what was alarming as I was researching for my interview with Melanie Willingham Jaggers, who you'll hear from in a bit and I hope you enjoy the conversation, is that the numbers haven't changed for LGBTQ youth. They are still over forty percent of homelessness in youth in the country.

They are still in the high percentages of those youth that commits suicide, and they are at high risk for alcoholism and drug use, right, And those numbers haven't changed.

They really haven't changed over the decades. And I'll start out my conversation, you know, with Melanie in talking about how I can recall at the beginning the end of the Bush year as the beginning of the Obama years, when when excuse me, the it Gets Better campaign was launched and why was it launched because of the rash of suicides that were happening of LGBTQ youth in the country, and they were making headlines because it was like one

after the other after the other and the Obama administration did a lot. They did a lot during that time to hold schools accountable for how they were creating community and safe environments for LGBTQ youth, particularly trans youth, and their ability to use the bathroom that associates with associates

with their gender identity. And to think that I was so excited to be one of the many people that were on the front lines for those fights that we had won, and then to now witness the deep backsliding that is happening right now in such a short span of time. And I've said this before. We know that, you know, progress is not linear. It does not you know, have one range of trajectory which is just forward. Unfortunately, for every advance that we ever make in society, we

take about eighty six steps backwards. And that is the unfortunate case in America. And what troubles me now though, is that while we went while we may have created bright spots for LGBTQ youth and youth you know, in general in this country. I got to tell you, I wouldn't want to be a tween or a teenager right now.

I actually wake up and I'm pretty happy that I'm the old age that I am because to have no voice and say in the horrible direction that this country is headed in and just essentially be along for the ride until you turn eighteen, and then even then you're not really considered. Your feelings and your thoughts on issues of the day light, climate change, light gun control, the things that you're going to take on as your fight,

you're not even taken seriously. So it's it's a different tical, I think, place to be in to be youth right now and to essentially be silenced by virtue of your

inability to vote. But what we are seeing with this new I guess renewed it's not even new, but a renewed attack on LGBT youth is that we can't take our eyes off of our kids because the radical right uses them like a fucking piniata right, Like, you know, for a fucking group that says that they are for family and for Jesus and for Christianity, they sure act like some outright motherfucking devils. So let me just say

that fucking clear. And I'm really tired too of us using language like conservative as if to say that believing injustice and equity is something that is left leaning and so outside of the field of imagination. Right, They're not conservative, they are not God fearing. Right, they are actually evil individuals who could give a fuck about kids. What they

want is assimilation. What they want is for queer people to feel shamed and to be ashamed of themselves so much that you would never dare utter the word gay or queer, or trance or non binary. Right, it's disgusting, and I want us to be honest and call it out for what it is. This isn't religious freedom, it's bigotry. Right. You don't get to use your Bible to dictate to others how they should fucking live. You know, we are a country that is filled with lies about separation between

church and state. There is none. Have you ever seen a president sign off from conversation with the American people and not say God bless you and God bless troops. If in fact we did actually have real separation, then that wouldn't be your sign off, right, be good luck, you know, My thoughts are with you, high vibrations to all, whatever the fuck it is. But the fact that we tie God into everything in this country then allows for these bigots to have a leg to stand on when

they don't when they should not. Right, And this again the lie that the right is spreading right now with regard to quote unquote parental control is just another euphemism for bigotry and discrimination, but now allowing those bigoted parents to be able to sue. If you don't want your kids participating in the expansion of their minds right into the freedoms and liberty of what it means to learn and become a global citizen, then maybe you should fucking

pull them out and they should be homeschooled. But I know that not one parent should be able to dictate what it is that their kids learn or don't learn, right like, unless it is violent, unless it is dangerous. Where's the problem here? I thought that I think that we have lost our understanding of what the function of public school and schooling in general, regardless of what manifestation it comes in, what the purpose of it is. It

is not a babysitting system for your kids. It is not a factory that you put them on the line and you know, you stamp them and give them the good housekeeping stamp that okay, you've gotten a diploma. It is to create critical thinkers. It is to create change makers, people that are curious about the world around them and then feel empowered to do something about it, right like, And that's the thing that is lacking so deeply in

the United States right now, which is a curiosity. There is such a regression in the way that we are thinking and examining ourselves and our culture and our society that it is evident that these rapid Republicans do not want you to think critically. They don't want you to think at all. They want you to assimilate and shut

the fuck up. And you know, in my conversation with Melanie, they will talk about how, you know, just the mere presence of queer people, of queer people of color, of people that you know live at the intersections of multiple identities, how we are a direct affront right to their design

and their ideals of what America should be. Right. And I think that that is important, right And that is why I say to stand firm in who you are, but to also take respite at times, because the battering ram that is American culture in society right now is a fucking lot. And so in this conversation that I have coming up next with Melanie, we will talk about

how youth are feeling in these times. And if you have kids, or you are a teacher, or an administrator or a caretaker, please do comment in the comment section and let me know what are some of the conversations you are having with you with your own children or children that you take care of or love. I would love to hear how they are feeling about the climate that they are living in and if there is a nervousness, if there is an anger, if there is a frustration

that is there. So coming up next, friends, on this Good Friday, is my conversation with the new executive director

of Glisten, Melanie Willingham Jaggers. Folks, I am very excited to welcome to Okay f Daily were the very first time on their inaugural week of becoming the new head executive director of Glisten, Melanie Willingham Jaggers the first black person, first non binary person to run Glisten, an organization that was founded by a group of teachers back in the nineteen nineties to really help LGBTQ youth be able to feel pride in themselves and in their community going to

school in k through twelve and kind of building out curriculum that is inclusive and equitable. So Melanie, first, congratulations on your appointment and your new position. I know that you joined Glisten back in twenty nineteen. How are you feeling? Thank you so much. I'm feeling great. It is I've been at Glistened since twenty nineteen, so it feels good not to be the new guy, but I absolutely feel like the new guy. I woke up this more. I'm like,

oh wow, the world knows I'm an executive director. Let's go have a great day. So I'm feeling good. Thanks for having me on. So you know you're coming on at a really I don't know how to describe it. You know, some would say terrifying, some would say awful, some would say apocalyptic. I say all of those things

time in our culture. What does it mean to you? First, before we delve into LGBTQ youth and people in general being placed back in the crosshairs of conservatives, what does it mean to you to be the first black person appointed to this role? And how and how, if any way, does that affect your perception, positioning, and vision for where we go with this organization. Yeah, absolutely well. Absolutely, My identity informs kind of how I enter spaces and how

I move through them. So I feel really lucky, fortunate. I know all the hard work that has gone into preparing Glisten for a leader like me, and the work that I've done at Glisten since twenty nineteen. And here's what I would say, is that you know, at the heart of what I bring and at the heart of what I believe and why I'm at Glisten is that education is fundamentally capable of being a liberating experience. Right.

We are literally able to go in put young people at five years old into a system, take them through education, and have them come out more whole at eighteen, more connected to the people around them or connected to the world around them, and ready to engage powerfully in a multiracial democracy. That's the purpose of education, right. What does it mean to to fully educate people in order for them to participate knowingly, wisely in a democracy. That's why

education is important. The other piece is that education has to be a liberated space, right. It has to be free from harm, but also full of what each learner needs in order to be successful. The moment that they walk into or move into that school, in that school building and are as a part of that school community. So that's the that's the purpose, right, school should be

liberated and liberating. And we know that the future of our democracy, the future of our country, the future of the world, you know, us collectively depends on us all

being educated and us having access to education. So to me, it is not at all surprising, right that conservative forces, anti democratic forces, people who are who have always been interested in controlling and destroying people who look like us, people who could not be controlled to the extent that we can't be commodified and generate and generate money for them.

Of course it does. It fits completely into the existing frame of banning books of you know, don't say gana classroom of parents have the right to to tell an education system what their child should and should not learn, versus being fully educated to be It's all part of a coordinate an attack right by extremists who are deeply anti democratic UM and deeply anti UM, anti lgbt Q plus right because fundamentally, because queerness disrupts this idea and

the lie right of white supremacy, it disrupts and UM and uncovers the falsehood of the gender binary. UM. It makes, it shows, it makes a mockery of UM. It shows the beautiful diversity that exists in the world. UM and it and it takes away, it ships away the lie of you can of only one thing is right, and it really lets all of us be exactly who we are.

You know, you said so many, so many important things, And I want to circle back to the top where you talked about education and our schooling system being of free and liberated space, because that is the complete and total opposite right of how our public education system has

actually functioned. It's the reason why we've had charter schools, in private schools, Catholic schools and the like to make sure to ensure actually a very narrowed curriculum, right, and the points in that you connect with regard to how our society develops. I have often said as a former educator myself, I taught elementary school, first and second grade, and I can say that one of the biggest proponents of white supremacy and patriarchy is in fact the public

education system. Because there are black and brown people in low income people who don't have the ability to just pick up and put their children any place that they want, right, so they are then beholden to a system that decides what it is they should and shouldn't learn, how they should feel themselves valued or devalued in the eyes of what is in the text that is in front of them.

And so, with those things being true, how do you think that we go about creating a conversation that is showing the blatant differences in how conservatives or and I don't even like to call them conservatives, how right wing radicals see public education versus how we need to combat that message and explain, right, two parents, two caregivers, what a public education, what a free and liberated public education actually should be and look like, and how it connects

back to our society. Yeah, there's so much in there. I would start off by saying, you know, this is you know, it is the vision I've set, the vision that we hold that we're working toward. A glisten is very far away because it's transformative, right, because we see a system that is broken, that is not serving any young person fully to the to the extent that it

that it needs to. And I think that this is around education completely and totally right, not just public schools, then differentiating them from charters or private or religious and parochial schools, but really thinking about what is the job of education and a multiracial democracy, what does it need to um, what does it need to achieve? And building

from there, right, that's the that's really the vision. And again you said so much, so please pull out the question if there's a specific question you want me to answer, but I would just say that, you know, the work of transformation is really around centering this education at the at the heart of our democratic project, right at the heart of our civil of our civic and civil participation.

And of course again, of course the folks who are only able to stay in power given a small given a small voting block, given a small giving predicated on the more people you can exclude from voting, of course, they are going to have a very different idea than you and me of what of what an education said should accomplish. And frankly, their vision for what education should accomplish is winning right now, right, it's on the march.

Oh yes, oh, this is what we you know, we're seeing these don't say gay bills, or we're seeing these no promo homo laws or we're seeing, you know, banning of books that reflect gender expansive young people as central characters being called in decent It's like, well, actually, this is the this is their vision for what their world, for what their democracy will look like, and we have a different vision, and that's what we're fighting for. I'm

pretty sure that is not what democracy looks like. It's pretty much what you know, dashism and authoritarianism looks like when you know, you go into the library and there are a whole sections that no longer hold any books. Um. So I mean that that literally, that's the reality that that we're marching into. And you know what I was

looking through, um the your your announcement. And I'm looking back and I've been thinking on the show back to the early two thousands when in the headlines were the rash of suicides by lgbtqu This is at the beginning of the end of the Bush years, beginning of the Obama years, where it was almost like four a month,

every single week there at least two or three. And for every two or three major headlines, of course, there were many that we never know of young people as young as five six years old committing suicide, right because of bullying. Then all of a sudden, bullying right and anti lgbt sentiments became a focal point for the administration. What are we doing to ensure a safe learning environment

for all children? Is it crazy to you that at the beginning of this new century we were in this place where it was about expansion and now here we are twenty twenty two, but twelve some eidy years later, and now we're in a place where we're going back to don't say, We're going back to donnask, don't tell, and we're making our kids that political football. I mean, is that shocking to you? Or was it inevitable? Yeah?

You know, I think a lot of things. Um. I was working with LGBTQ plus homeless and runaway youth in that time, like two thousand and nine, ten eleven, and um, there was a young person who I knew in love and was very close to, who was part of the program I worked in, who also died by suicide in that time, And you know, it's it was heartbreaking, um, And it was It really was a was a turning point in my work life because I understood for the first time both how the little thing I was doing

as a life skills coordinator in the South Bronx, helping people get their you know, documents that their parents had destroyed because they were angry that they were gay, getting those replaced, getting folks you know, housing, teaching young people how to do laundry for the first time, etc. I understood how that those everyday actions were part of a

larger LGBTQ plus movement and community. And you know, if thinking per your question, really thinking about what it is that we have to do to be good at our job, to be changing the world, to help make the world good enough for these young people to stick around in and so many young people chose not to and I think too many young people continue to struggle with like should I or should I not stay here? And I hope that everyone decides to stay because because we're working

really hard every day to make the world better. That said, I'm not surprised at the backlash. Right whenever progress happens in this country, if there's a backlash, we we have this theory in our minds, We have this idea that progress kind of only happens in one direction, and that we are constantly getting better little by little. So if we compromise here, It's okay. If we don't get this thing right now, it's fine, we'll come back and get

it tomorrow or in ten years. And actually, I think, actually what we are experiencing are two tectonic plates, right, one of progress and democracy and inclusion for a country that sees every single person here as worthy of participation and representation, and an antidemocratic understanding of the world right that is more authoritarian, that's more fascist, that is definitely white supremacist, etc. And what we are experiencing is the

constant rubbing against each other of those tectonic plates. And when one advances, it creates a level of tension that it might take it a little while, but the other one's going to shoot forward to right. So I understand all of what we're experiencing right now as part of that part of that dynamic. Right. The other thing I would say is that in that context, I think this

is a little bit of good news. Right. I think what this shows, I think what the backlash is, the current backlash is showing, is that there has been progress that's been made. Right, and so that the pitched sense of you know, oh my god, we're losing everything Oh

my god, the children, Oh my god. You know all this really, you know, this harmful and false narrative that's coming up and gaining traction is absolutely because there is a small, vocal, dying, afraid and violent, right um, hyper hyper politicized minority of folks, these extremists who are scared right, who see for the first time that they are that they are really on the precipice of losing the narrative right and so back in the nineties, when Glisten was

found in back in nineteen ninety, it was fine right to say that bullying is a part of life. Right. It's like, yeah, hey, bullying happens, you shouldn't be gay anyway. And if it happens, yeah, yeah, tough enough, maybe you'll fix the problem. You know, you shouldn't be gay in the first place. That is now no longer politically feasible. Right adults are no longer going to say that bullying absolutely still happens. Targeting and harassment still happens, but no

one is defending it as if it should exist. Right. That's changed as a result of the work of Glisten and so many other folks in the in this movement to really change the narrative. And so now looking at you know, nineteen ninety where it was also illegal to be gay in you know, over half of the country right with you, You couldn't be out and at work and expect any kind of legal protections. You could expect

to be exercised and fired and targeted. And so the world has has shifted significantly and meaningfully in that time, and there's still so much more to do. All this to say that at this point, we continue to be at an inflection point. We continue to be at a point of tension where we cannot assume that progress is inevitable or is going to happen without us fighting and

qulling for every single bit of advancement. And so, you know, I think that I think that the good news is that you know, um, it's no longer politically feasible to talk about you know, gay people and lesbian people shouldn't exist, they're not natural, etc. But what they've done, this, what this um, what our political opponents have done is try to peel off queer people, try to quear off try to peel off trans people, and then at the at the heart of that, try to peel off trans children.

It's like that is the that is the work of a desperate and sick mind. That is the work in the approach of people who absolutely have no love or compassion or connection to UM, to what it means to be in community and what it means to have a child, what it means to be in a family and to and to know that everyone is inherently valuable UM and that people's experiences, children deserve to grow into who they are meant to be, not who you think they ought

to be. You know, you have the good fortune, your organization has the good fortune of being able to be in community and conversation with young people across the country. You have what over thirty chapters of of gsa UM. You know gender sexuality, you know groups and organizations where young people can come and gather with with one another and build community and feel a sense of safety. What are some of the conversations that you can share with us?

Are some of the feelings some of the themes UM that come up that have been coming up because I you know, I got to tell you, Melanie that I wake up some days and I'm like, I'm really glad that I am not a young person. I am really,

you know it. Looking at the world and being at an age where you were not able to vote, but you were able to understand exactly what is happening and exactly what forces are at play has got to be a really scary position, right, and feel as if you have absolutely no power and control over what is happening. So what are some of the themes and things that have been coming up with young people over your tenure thus far with glisten Yeah, and let me just say

at the outset that I know exactly what you're talking about. Right, that moment of I see the world legislating about me and my sense telling me who I am and I'm too young to participate. The story of my kind of initial politicization is from that exact moment, right, being six months too young to vote in a thing that was you know, that had me and people look like me at the crosshairs. And so two things. One, we have

local chapters in thirty eight locations across the country. Those are caring adults, educators, retirees, parents, community members right who are looking to build safe, in affirming spaces for young people and then also advocate locally and close by to the school in their area to make sure that that place is safe and affirming. And then there are GSAs all over the country, thousands of them. And so here's

what I would offer in terms of the themes. I think the bad news is the stuff that we know, right, the targeted or harassment, the bullying, the assaults. All of that happens both as young people, you know, between young people and each other, but also from adults who frankly no better. Right who are who are who are just doing the wrong thing. It's also true right that young people that the fight for young people to be able to access all parts of school life continues to be underway. Right.

Can I use a bathroom? Can I be on a sports team? Can I participate? Can I like? Do I have clubs and spaces that are affirming to me? Do I see myself in my curriculum? Right? So those are the kind of the major themes in terms of interpersonal harms and frustrations, etc. We also know because the pandemic, that all of our mental health has suffered. Right. But as an adult, you and I have different ways of coping with that, at a different level of autonomy and independence.

And you know what is unfortunate is that this pandemic has shown the kind of underlying fault lines of our society. Right, if you were doing okay before the pandemic, you're under

more stress, but you're probably gonna be doing okay after it. Right, But if you weren't doing okay, if you were just barely hanging on, if you if home wasn't a safe space, if school was your safe space, then things have gotten materially and significantly worse because of the isolation and because of these important spaces and supports being unavailable given the

public health crisis that we're in. And then here's what the other thing I would say is that the benefit of this is, this is the key theme I think that is super beautiful is that young people see the possibility. They see the possibility of this moment. Right you and I I think, you know, have a have a limitation because of you know, the years that we've lived, Like we see things that are possible. We know what we've been through, We've you know, we've seen some things, so

we think we know some things. These young people are like, it doesn't have to be this way, and here's why, and here's what it could be like right. So there's a way in which um at glisten even though we are you know, smarty pants adults working both upstream to change the rules, to change to make sure that the setting is right for young people to be able to grow and learn in a way that is unaccosted, right,

that is free and liberated and liberating. We are also the folks who are you know, sitting and standing shoulder and shoulder with these young people, saying, what do you think we ought to be doing? What do you tell me what education ought to be like? You tell me what is what? What does safe and affirming mean to you? Because we've got our bright ideas, UM, But it's but to me. I think that the key themes are that

the stuff that we know is wrong is wrong. UM. And they're young people are experiencing it, and however bad the pandemic is for us adults, it's even harder on young people. And two, UM, it's that they are really um tapped into the possibility to the beauty of what's of what's possible. They see the foolishness that is going on around them for exactly what it is. It's like, what is any of this right? It's a as a person who is kid free. Um. I enjoy young people

like asking questions why. I know how difficult that could be for actual parents when you just want them to take a bath or eat a meal. So I've got the anti privilege of being like on the side like, yeah, you should ask why so exactly? So I get to be inspired by young people and their questions and their critiques. Um. And again it's the best job in the world, especial

job to have in the world. You know. I love the fact that you say, um, possibility, um, and and that is the lens at which they're seeing the world through because you know, I asked a question earlier this week in an op ed that I wrote that was, you know, what does it mean to be an American? Right now? What does it mean to like if you

have no shared values and morals anymore? Right, if we're not operating from the same foundation and base, which you know, we can be honest about the fact that people of color, queer people have never been operating from the same base. But there was always the essence of America has always been about the possibility of a thing. And I think that when that is eroded, that is when we have deep, deep issues, right, deep deep problems, and there's an erosion

that is happening right now. But to hear that young people can still look around and say, you know, just doesn't really have to be this way, you know, I hope that they continue to hold that truth and don't fall into the malaise of the status quo, because I think that that is that's dangerous, right and and and and that's what happens. We all are young, and we feel like we can change a system. And then you

realize that the system is a behemoth. Um, And you can and you decide to pick your part that you want to invest in changing, um and and go from there. Um. Melanie, last question for you, what are your what are some of your hopes and your vision as you take on this new exciting role out of at this critical critical juncture in our society. Yeah, you know, so there, I

would say kind of four top things. Right. So, we are a national organization that strives to have a local impact, and I think that there's a way in which what does it mean for us to have coordinated national campaigns, visibility impact and be in deep support partnership alliance with folks on the ground who understand the intricacies of what it means to be queer or trans in school in Kansas and in pix and in the Hudson Valley here

in New York. Right, it's like we are we get our power because of the expertise and the reach and the connections of folks are at our grassroots. The other piece is, you know, it's good old organizing, right, it's really about activating people. How are we getting our people connected to each other? Because the other side wins when we believe the lie that no one is like us, no one agrees with us, They're actually probably right where something is wrong with us. It's like no, actually, there

are more of them. There are more of us than there are of them. And when we connect our people and give them something to do that both makes them feel powerful and connects them with others, we're winning. The other thing I would say is that we have to be very clear around around our work to promote engage and expand civic participation. In civic engagement, right, this is not about like voting. And I know there was like jokes on Twitter just a couple of weeks ago around

like ditties. You know, voter or diet campaign and so, but it really is around ongoing political and civic engagement. Right, we have the fight is always happening. It's happening at every level. It's happening at the policy level at the federal level, and it states it's happening in classrooms, it's happening with people bringing guns to school board meetings. Right.

What we have to do is not seed a single inch to folks who are who are committed to and are vocal about silencing, harming, targeting LGBTQ plus kids, transgender and gender and gender expansive kids and BIPOP kids who are all of those folks right and beyond. And so we have to get really clear that this is not just about voting. We have to get really clear that politics is local, politics is everywhere, and we have to

stay in the fight all the time. And then I think we've got to be also clear and unapologetic about our demand to increase and expand safety. Every child should be able to go to school free an environment that's

free from harm. Not only free from harm, but we know that I'm not going to learn, You're not I'm gonna learn if I'm worried about if I'm hungry, if I'm worried about who's gonna attack me, harass me, etc. If I think that, you know, the way that someone reads my face might get a school resource officer or some other adult with a weapon to come in and handle me, I'm not going to be available to learn.

So what does it mean for us to increase and expand safety so that kids are in their minds and their hearts and their bodies are safe, are open to take in learning. And so I think that that's those

are really the big directions moving forward. It's like local to national to local impact, people activation, civic participation, and engagement, particularly because young people see the future, young people see the possibility, and young people have not had to choose their part yet and like, Okay, I'm going to survive, So I've got to be a part of the system in this way right while trying to maintain their humanity. They are still pure and untouched right by the cynicism

that comes with that comes with life and experience. And then we have to be really again, really unapologetic and really clear around what it means pretty safety and expand safety for every single student, particularly students who are LGBTQ plus that's our focus. But we also have to we also understand at the heart of all that it's about racial justice, it's about gender justice, it's about disability justice.

Because if you are a student of color, if you are gender expansive, if you are a person with a disability or divergent or diverse, you are more likely to be targeted. We're likely to be pushed out of school, less likely to be served. And again, queer kids are all kids, every single kind of kid. Our kids come from every single community and so and so all kids are in our remit. All kids are part of our part of our charge, and so so we're out here

doing I'm really excited. I'm excited for you, I'm excited for the organization. I'm excited for all of us who have been on the periphery of working with Glisten and just you know, queer adults who are you know, frankly really concerned um about about our youth. Uh And I don't think that we have these conversations enough. So I hope Melanie, that you will make time to come back to woke ap Um and continue the conversation with us about what folks can do to make sure that we

are uplifting and supporting young people in these deeply challenging times. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's been it's been a real honor to meet you, to get to talk and to be to be here with you. So um and invite me back anytime and I'll make it happen so wonderful. And also, folks should go to glisson dot org to figure out how they can get connected and plugs in fantastic. That is it for me today, dear friends on woke app as always, power to the

people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.