The Limits of Rainbow Capitalism

shows that we are putting together this Pride Month. As I'm going to re state at the beginning of each week in June, we are talking with leaders and activists and thought leaders and Hollywood folks authors to get a better picture of their thoughts around Pride, around where we are with regard to progress for the LGBTQ community. And the question that I'm asking is should we be going back to our roots as a community that was born out of resistance to violence, to struggle, to oppression, to

invisibilizing us altogether. I will say that I was so fucking disgusted last week for a variety of reasons, as

I am with this country these days. But the Biden administration decided to hold an event where they were going to be honoring Nancy Reagan on a stamp, as you know, one of the first ladies to get a stamp, and who else was going to be at that event, but was Louis Louis de Joy, you know, the Trump lackey who took over the postal service, slowed it down so that we wouldn't be able to mail in ballots for

the election. Who is Nancy Reagan? While she isn't just you know, a former first Lady, she was also very prominent in the war against the LGBTQ community. When AIDS was our epidemic and not COVID, the Reagan administration allowed for tens of thousands, if not more, queer people in the United States to die and do nothing about it. Wouldn't even utter the words AIDS. It was perceived, if you remember, for those of you who are old enough in the eighties to be God's excuse to how to

get rid of these sinful characters. Back in the eighties, before there were investments into various drugs to allow for this diagnosis to not be a death sentence, so many people died, died in the streets, died alone in hospital rooms, with not even the kindness of caretakers. Because of how the Reagan administration characterized gay people. It was your fault that you got hivna's and your death was but a scarlet letter on you and on those who loved you,

knew you, so forth and so on. So for me, as a black queer woman, to see that this administration would think that during Pride Month that the would be a right move to make once again signals how out of touch disconnected they are. Look, I'm not saying, hey, don't provide first ladies with stamps, but I'm saying, let it be known, not in the month for the community with which that administration made a target harmed in irrevocable ways.

Thank God for science, thank God for medicine, thank God for public pressure, and those like Ryan White who would show that it wasn't just LGBTQ people that were getting hivna's right, that this was a epidemic of not just one community, but what would become that of the entire nation that the rank and administration could have stopped, but they didn't. So for me, for them to decide to honor this person in our month was a slap in

the face. I am so tired too, And you will hear me talk with different people throughout the week about

the commodification of Pride. These companies who don't who literally will fund candidates who work against our best interests, fund them behind our back, and then rainbow up their websites, their products, their merchandise all through the month of May to receive LGBTQ dollars, take our money by daylight, and stab us in the back at night, the same way that we are seeing places like Walmart degrade what Juneteenth is too Black Americans. They're putting out ice cream in

bullshit T shirts. That's not what Juneteenth is. And while I at one time appreciated the main streaming of Pride because I felt like it was us being brought from the margins into daylight, it was all just a ploy for capitalism, because as soon as that month is over, they go back to funding bad actors that look to dehumanize us through their vicious policies on a regular basis.

Coming up today in our conversation and with our theme Pride is a Riot, we chat again with b Pegel's minor, who, if you remember, was the very outspoken former employee of Netflix who is also black and transgender and organized helped to organize the walkout with regard to Netflix's showing of Dave Chappelle's comedy, and I use that term loosely special where he attacked for what felt like an entire fucking hour, the most marginalized community in this country, one that is

killed well beyond our normal rate of murder and forgotten about thrown in trash cans. But he felt that, oh, this is the community that I'm going to make quote unquote jokes about. Well. As a Netflix employee who was also one of the heads of their employee resource groups that are dedicated to both black folks and queer people, B. Pagel's Minor took it upon themselves to organize their employees.

Following that walk out, they were fired, and we have seen since then that not much with Netflix has changed. In fact, they have threatened their employees, telling them that they will reap what they sew as it pertains to quote unquote wokeness. So in this conversation coming up next with B we will talk with them about what queer employees still face. They have become a new parent during this time, so we will also touch upon what it means to be a transparent and the safety of our

queer kids and children in general. That conversation with B. Pagel's Minor, as we continue to celebrate pride here on Woke f is coming up next. It's no secret that the news is horsepill hard to swallow. Thankfully, there's The Bituation Room podcast hosted by comedian and commentator Francesca Freer and Tini for a lighter take on the heavy stuff.

Each week, The Bituation Room brings you progressive comedians, experts, and activists to break down the issues in a way that won't just leave you crying under a weighted blanket. Get The Bituation Room on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and streaming on YouTube and Twitch. Indisputable with Doctor rashad Ricci is one of the latest shows on the TYT Network

and also the fastest growing news show in America. On his show, Doctor each plays no games regarding policy, delivering a heavy dose of fact based truth and penetrating analysis on all the top news stories focusing on racism, criminal and social justice, politics, police brutality, Karens, and much more. Listeners can also expect interviews with fascinating guests, political leaders, commentators, and even fiery debates with conservatives on a wide range

of policy topics. In the Bullpen. It is an indisputable fact that you will love this show. Listen to Indisputable with Doctor rashad Ricci on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Folks, I am very excited to welcome back to woke F Daily, B Pagel's minor, who is an investor and startup advisor

and former Netflix employee. And if you remember, it was rough Lee, I think about a year ago, B when you joined us in woke F to talk about your termination from Netflix following your organization of a walkout. And this was associated with Dave Chappelle's I guess it was at that time his latest comedy special where I found nothing funny, but it was an entire special that seemed to be directed at weaponizing comedy against the trans community.

And I didn't understand it. I didn't understand, you know, his format, and I was a Dave Chappelle fan. You organized at the time a workout because according to you and the and the piece that you had written, your opinion piece in Washington Post back in twenty twenty one, there was no conversation with the trans e ERG. There was no even even if folks had said, oh, we

just want things canceled. Then that couldn't happen because you know, capitalism, there could have been, as you said in your Washington Post piece, and opportunity to have conversation, to be in community at least to have people be heard. Um, there hasn't been much be that has happened at Netflix in the positive from a year ago. I wanted to get your thoughts on what you have heard, what you've read and seen about their war against their quote unquote woke

employees and how that landed with you. Yeah, so, first and foremost, thank you for having me back. You know, it was a great conversation last time. And actually, what's really crazy is it's only seven months, Like, oh my god, it's it's such it's such a it's like it feels like forever and our social more period of time ago.

And it's so interesting because you know, one of the things I definitely reflect on at this time is, you know, one of the reasons I joined Netflix was because of this idea that you know, they welcome disagreement and discussion. You know, the idea really being that you know, you write a memo, you you know you have a point of view, and you have a conversation with people to create the best version of something. And so that's what we were really asking then, and that's what employees are

asking now. Right. It's like, invite us into the conversation. Why would you go out and seek to build the best sports team? Right? So that's the Netflix metaphor, right. It's not about family, it's not about you know, a personal connection, It's about building the absolute best sports team. Well, the thing is, Phil Jackson asked Kobe Bryant what his opinion was on the best defense that they were playing, right, you know, coaches asked their team to help them improve

their team. And so what was happening in Netflix then? You know, even actually before that that first Ruppel special, when I first got there in March twenty twenty, we were having conversations about content and how content can be harmful and whether it was trans Star or if it was Black At which are the two of the large ARGs and Netflix, whether it was those arenizations just raising their hand and saying, we want to be partners to you because we feel like we can help you. Because

that was always a conversation. It was about let's be partners and I think that's one of the things that mainstream media really got this wrong, is that it was kind of this like Netflix employees who don't understand capitalism for instance, um you know who who are against the company. And that's not what it was. It was let's work together and create like an actual partnership because we think we can make content that's great. I'm a trans person

who just had a baby. Every time I went to my doctor's appointment and those other pregnant ladies saw me come in, they gave you the like double taken from the take. That is a comedy special right there. It's just watching a trans person going too you know, an OBG. Bryantan's office pregnant, right, like, we understood what comedy is. Like we love to lad If you've ever been to, you know, a gay club or a drag show one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning, it's raunchier than Dave Chappelle

has ever even thought of. Right, So, if being offended wasn't the whole conversation, it was about being partnership. And to your point today, I'm I'm frankly not very surprised. You know, some of the people who are in leadership

at Netflix. You know, it seems like they made a concerted effort to push out a lot of those people who were really like on the edge of of you know, the company, who are talking about, you know, very difficult conversations, trying to push them for trying to really develop them. You know, one of the you know, C suite executives is Rachel Lets them, whose husband is a very very conservative human and you know, is a concerning human right.

And so it's not surprising that you have some certain people who are in power who are moving Netflix further and further away from that general idea of having difficult conversations to create the best product. Right, So it's not actually about being woke. And that's the thing that people keep being wrong about. You don't become some of the most talented people in the world who get recruited to work in one of the best companies in the world

by being right. You get those jobs by having critical conversations, critical thinking, and literally being just really brilliant people. And that's the thing that's being necessary. Yeah, I guess you know where I find there is in media and in the reporting particularly around this, was a lack of nuance, right, because it's so much better to say that all people wanted was Dave Chappelle to be canceled, Right, That's the

easy way out. And what we often say, you know, within the LGBT community, within the black community, is we're not trying to cancel people, trying to like, have you be conscious of what it is that you are delivering and how it is landing on the communities that you are making the target or the headline of your content. Right, it's it's how does it land and did you have that consciousness ahead of time? And I think that, you know,

particularly around comedy, it becomes really trick. We've seen you know, incidents over the over the last h couple of couple of months really um where people have been assaulted. Um. And I'm not even I'm not talking about the Will Smith Chris Rockley. I'm talking about you know at the comedy club, the guy rushing the rushing the stage. You know. I just think that we are living in more violent times. Frankly right where where they're they're just they're people need

to be aware that folks are really on edge. But that to your point, what this isn't about cancel culture right, Like, what do you think that the real there there is that the lgbt Q plus community is asking for. And this is just with outside of just Dave Chappelle just using him as kind of you know, the intro in. But when we come up and say X is a problem or this is a problem, what do you believe

is at the core of it? Yeah, you know, I want to bring up a recent example because this has been something that like all of us have been talking about because trying to figure out how we feel about it. So, you know, Kendrick Lamar just released his new album and he has this song Antique Stories, right, and in the song he says the F word, he missed genders and dead names one of his relatives. And it was so interesting because like on one end, I had my black relatives,

I had white folks. I had a whole bunch of people come to me and being like, Okay, what's your because like, first of all, this is like one of the most famous, most respective rappers having a conversation about LGBTQ plus people and it doesn't seem like it's being done right. And to your point about nuance, the first thing I said is I was like I would like to know what his auntie and his cousin says about the song. I was like, did they say it was okay for him to do that? Because the reality is,

that's what we're really coming to. There's a nuance of what is the larger conversation, right, and then what is a personal conversation between individuals. Right. So Kendrick Lamar could have had complete, you know, authority and approval from his family saying it's perfectly fine to miss gender man and that's fine. But if he goes outside of that space and he and miss gender someone else or he dead names someone else, that's not acceptable. Rights. That's really what

the conversation is. The conversation is whatever your personal feelings are, that's a one to one relationship. When you're talking about a larger whole community, you don't get to just make assumptions and put certain qualities on that community and have that community to say yes. I mean, it's just like

me being black. You know, if I were to have taken into my heart the media representations with black people in the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, I would think that I'm supposed to be a gang member who's gonna shoot some random white lady on the side of the street, right, And I don't do that, Like, no one in my

family would even possibly contemplate that, right. And so it's about this idea of let's have actual individual conversations with people, learn who they are, so that we could be more intelligent and more respectful of them. Right. And that is that's whether it's LGBT plus, that's whether it's black, that's whether it's Asian, that's whether you know, even if it is a white lady who has more privileged than the

rest of us. Let's have individual conversations, because that's how we end up with legislation with folks saying that you know, uh, you know, it's women can't have an emotion, right, even though it's their right, it's their private conversation. The fact is that it starts with us, but it goes to every other community, right, Like, do not make assumptions about other people, have actual conversations, because if you do, chances

are you or learning that will really shock you. You know, and even I think, you know, even I've said multiple times when I talked, well, now, listen to Dame Chappelle especially talk about some of his investments and what he wants to do a community. He and I have exact same opinions, like literally the same opinions, but he wouldn't know that because he hasn't decided to choose to acknowledge the fact that I exist, that I'm a black LGBTQ plus person, because for him, there's only two worlds in

that world doesn't include me. You know, it's just so wild because I'm listening to you and a couple of things that's stood out, and one of which is that this all comes down to the desire to recognize that we all don't know everything, right, and so if I am really trying to be in community or I'm just trying to grow as a human being, that comes with the understanding that there is more information out there, So

why would I lock myself off to that information? I think about it in the context of, you know, the the pushback with the Republican Party and critical race theory, Right, it's the desire not to want to know, right, not to want to know anything outside of what you've always been taught, And so it is it is wanting to exist inside of a bubble. For Dave Chappelle and others to believe that the world is binary, to believe that everything has to be either this way or this way,

and it's not right. And so if we don't if we don't educate in the way of recognizing that we are living in shades of gray, that everything is a lot more layered than a nuanced than is being presented, we don't grow. We're not going to grow as people, and we certainly are not going to grow as a society. Um, you are a new parent. And when we spoke, which now I thought was seven years ago, b it was just seven months ago. Um, mobi spoke seven months ago,

you were getting ready to give birth. So first I want to ask, how are you as a as a as a new parent, having a new human in your home? How is that going? Well? I was talking to my aunt's disity right now and I was telling him last night. I was like, well, I was like, it's like I'm really looking forward to twenties two, and she's like why. I was like, I was like, I think that's when I'm asleep A little bit more correct, I was like, that feels like a really good, like target date period

type situation. But no, it's great, like honestly, you know, I am very tired, like there's like a lack of sleep, but honestly, it's it's the forest over. Like I wasn't sure if I'm gonna be, like, like what kind of parent I was going to be, But now I'm just like I can just look at you for a few more hours. You know, it's so great, An, that's wonderful.

And you know, as a new parent who is also queer, and we are living in some of the most threatening times I think I have ever seen in modern in modern times, um, with a tax coming not just on our community, but particularly queer kids, queer youth right um, who adults are supposed to protect and instead have turned into targets for their target practice of hate. What comes

up for you? What are you feeling as you were seeing these don't say gay bills and knowing that your child at some point will be going into school, right um, And what it means for them to be acculturated into a society that doesn't want to see them, see their

see their parents, see their caregivers, see their community. What comes up for you as a new parent as all of this is transpiring around us, well, First and foremost, you know, I think that it's just like a deep responsibility that he knows the truth, right, you know, Like you know, it's it's crazy. The number of books that are on his shelves is like insane, right because I was just like, well, we have to get we have to start this library now because we have to start

educating him on real truths and real facts. That's the first thing. It's like, it's a little bit terrifying to know that we have to like so closely safeguard facts now from fiction. And then it's it's going to be a personal responsibility. I honestly believe for parents to really do that. But the second thing is that this really feels like a parent rights issue. Like I remember, you know,

especially a lot of these laws are coming through. I was like, I cannot imagine if someone told me, but I couldn't do what I thought was best for my child, right, Like, you know, I'm sure my mother would feel the I like, you know, how can you say, like, I spend all day with this kid, I know exactly what's going on with him, you know, And then how could you if he told me, you know, in a few years or even tomorrow, if you just learn how to talk to you.

You can say and he said, you know, hey, you know, blah blah, I'm trans, Like you know, I think I'm a girl, and you're gonna tell me that I somehow don't know what's best for him, and it just it just it boggles my mind. And it goes back to this idea of like the spectum fiction, right because like you have so many people saying that, you know, I don't want to wear a mask, It's my personal choice, yep. But then you know, when it comes to women's bodies,

they don't have a choice. When it comes to parents and how they want to raise their kids, they don't have a choice. And that's a really troubling pattern for me, right because like, ultimately I feel as though that this comes down to individuals again, you know, like if you

don't know what that one on one relationship is. And obviously I'm not a propone, you know, whenever we talk about trans care and trans PRIs what any person is really talking about, any rational person is talking about, is providing those kids the necessary treatment to stop certain progress. But all of that can just be taken out pretty

quickly and then can just keep going right. I mean, for example, myself, I was on testostroone before I tried to get pregnant, So I had to go off with testostroone given a couple of months, and then my body just went right back into normal cycles and then I was able to, you know, get pregnant. So you know, whenever people are talking about this is going to completely change in Stroud and I was like, no, it's not like I literally proved that. You know, the body just

goes right back to whatever it was doing beforehand. And to all we're really doing is it is creating this a pathway for these kids to live, right, because that's the thing that we're talking about. And so you know, I can't imagine you know, any any rational human who actually loves other humans actually, if they understood and if they were curious, and if they were thoughtful, and if they did any research, actually being against a child having

the care that they needed, if they understood it. And so it's just it's it's it's it's terrifying, but it's also is one of those things like you know, I had a fundraiser last week in Chicago from Howard Brown Health to Hower Brown Health. I've been on the board there for seven and a half years. And honestly, so Hower Brown Health is the largest LGBTQ plus center in the Midwest and potentially, you know, depending on who you

talk to, the largest in the country. And what's really interesting about that is to this point, you know, obviously Chicago has already said that there will be a haven state for people who are seeking abortion. They also will be a haven state for people who are seeking transcerror. And so what's really happening is is for Howard Brown

they've already gotten people from all of the Midwest. So you know, you have people from Iowa, Michigan who are bringing their families in there because they want to get them profrom care. And so what what it really does to me, though, is I launched that fundraiser because I was saying, you know, we have more works, right, yeah, and we're well exposed to do. We're better organizing we've ever been. You know, we're smarter than we've ever been.

I think we're tougher than we've ever been. And so we're ready for this fight, right and so I have to start. I have to fight harder now because now I have this kid that I want to be able to make choices for for the rest of his life. You know. It's when you say that these medical interventions for trans youth provides a path away to living. I think also that that is not the conversation that is

being happened. That is happening excuse me in mainstream media, because what we've allowed, I feel like the radical right wing to be able to take hold of is quote unquote family values. Well, if you actually do care about kids, which they don't, you know, So it's not like I'm trying to change their minds. But there are people who really do not understand, right, They don't understand the community, they don't understand the feelings. And I'm saying to myself, okay, well,

have you ever seen your child depressed? Has your child ever tried to attempt suicide? Has your child? You know? But like all of these different things, like you are our parent, if you're watching your child shrink into themselves, right because of how society is treating them, how they're being treated at school, how they're being treated in community, what parent looks. I mean, there are many because the homelessness rate for LGBTQ youth is still extraordinarily high. In

comparison to their straight counterparts. But it's like most parents would want to do right by their children. If I can stop your pain, if I can ease it right, that would be the desire for me to do. And so I feel like the way that we're not having this conversation is about those trans youth, those queer kids that are in schools, about how they are, how we're trying to ease their pain, right, how we're trying to ease their life, and not talk about it just in

terms of statistics and in terms of um hormones. Frankly, right, Like, it's yeah, and there's two things I want to ask to that. So one of the guests that my fundraiser were two parents of a young woman who died by suicide. Right. So, she didn't make it to college, right, So, she was a senior in high school, she was a patient how a round hell, and she died by suicide because she couldn't she couldn't take it, she couldn't deal with it.

And so her parents have gotten really involved in the community and are trying to for instance, their their big donors to Broadway UTH Center. To Broadway UTH Center is a space that helps LGBTQ from twelve to twenty four. Um, you know, g D programs feeding them, make sure they have you know, showers, making sure they have laundry, and they were like, you know, afterwards, they were like, this is what we feel like we can give back to. No one else feels that way, right, and even myself.

So when I was a teenager, I committed. I literally died for a few minutes because you know, I decided I didn't want to live anymore and I was brought back and you know the other part of that. So it's not only just like do you want them to live, but it's also about the potential, right. I think that there's a lot of people who know me who would say, you know, if you weren't here, I'm not sure what this my life would look like? Right, Like there's a

value in people. I think that people also forget because sometimes you know, even when you don't see the value in someone, they touch someone else and that person creates exponential value. So it's also about the loss as a society that we have too, And I know that sometimes they don't think that we are working anything, right. The sole fact is that you don't know, you really don't know, Like,

you don't know. Like, so, for instance, most of the people I met, I mentor are cis gender women, right, of different ethnicities, most of them are heterosexual, right, and every single one of them who becomes a success and gets back to the community is you know that check mark for me, Like I've created that impact. And so that's the thing that people don't understand about this as well.

It's like, you know, you see one part of our identity and you really focus on that part by identity, but you don't understand how um, just us as whole humans create this this exponential impact when we're whole too, right. So it's like if we could just get like a ten percent or twenty percent more, right because we don't have to deal with someone the bus that happens, whether it's seeing a law or hearing about someone being assaulted or whatever, Like, imagine how much greater of an impact

could we have, right? You know, Like and we already know that, right because LGBTQ people are the zeite guys. Like when when when we when we do something, when we say something's cool, it is cool, right, you know, we're the one to create the movement, We create the joy, We create the heart, we create the music, and so

it's it's it's like the exponential impact. It's so great in society, and it's like, you know, we're literally diminishing how great our society could be with the ways in which we're allowing these individuals to take away our rights and take away the humanities from these people and in

taking in the end, taking away their lives. Yeah, I mean, I think that the message is always that our destinies are intertwined, right, and so by people making it their crusade and their life's mission to disrupt the lives of other people, you in turn are disrupting your own life and the opportunity for us to all actualize our greatness. And what would society look like if we were all left to be able to actualize our greatness. It would be pretty superb other than what we're living in right now.

B Pagels Minor, thank you so much for making the time once again to join Woke F. We appreciate you the conversation and hope to have you back again soon. Thank you so much for having me. It was a great conversation. As always, Hey there, I want to tell you about another podcast I Think You'll love The Brown Girl's Guide to Politics, hosted by a Shanty Goehler, the president of Emerge. BGG, is the one stop shop for women of color who want to hear and talk about

the world of politics. Join a Shanty this season as she talks to incredible women of color who are changing the face of politics and tackling some of the most important issues facing the United States, from reproductive justice to voting rights, to climate change and more. Tune in every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. That is it for me today. Here folks on Woke app as always Power to the people and to all the people. Power, Get woke, and stay woke as fuck.