Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OKF Daily with me your girl, Danielle Moody pre recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, it is my birthday, so I am taking a few days off for some rest and realignment, but I'm very happy to leave you with some episodes that I have pre recorded. The episode coming up today is with actor and the chair of the Glisten Board, Wilson Cruz, who
is also a friend of mine. He is an LGBTQ friggin icon whose first portrayal of a queer character on television was in the nineties with My So Called Life. If you remember that show with Claire Danes and her best friend Ricky was played by Wilson Cruz. And so Wilson has spent his career we are not only on the screen but also in c suite working to advance representation for LGBTQ people and help our youth. And so I'm so excited to welcome him to wok F for
this really insightful conversation. We pre recorded this so as of the time that you're listening to this, the strike, the longest strike for actors, tentatively has reached a deal. So in this conversation, we are still speaking about the strike because it was still going on when we recorded the show. So I hope that you enjoyed this episode. Coming up next, folks, I am so very excited to
welcome to woke f Daily. Just oh, I don't know an icon, an actor and activists and all around absolute bad ass Wilson Cruz, who I have known, had the pleasure of knowing for several years now. Wilson, We've watched you on Star Trek, We've watched you on and so
many shows. We've watched you get Vanguard Awards for your activism as an LGBTQ activist, and now you are also I don't know how you do it, but are also the board chair at Glisten Right, an organization that seeks to provide curriculum, books, information on LGBTQ youth to our
schools to create better, more compassionate global citizens. I want to start off by asking, in the context of all the places we are right now, living in between all of these multiple dimensions of violence and grief and vacillating, how are you? How are you doing well?
First of all, thank you for for having me here. I love seeing your faith How am I? I am? I am well because I really believe we're going to get through this. We're going to get to the other side of this. It's not going to be easy, but I'm well, you know, I do feel like the world is on fire, ye and I'm getting a tan from it.
But I'm grabbing a hose. You know. We all need to grab a hose and do what we can and put out the fire where we can, where we can right and listen, is the place where I've chosen to put out that I've chosen to put out this fire or or help put out this fire? How do I do it? I do it because I'm not doing it by myself. I am part of a dynamic leadership, a new leadership team at Glisten, with Alamara Jones as my vice chair and with Melanie Williamn Jaggers as our new
executive director. I am here to support them really yeah, to make to make it possible to get the resources this organization needs to do its important work. That's I see my self as you know, the catcher right on the team, and I have such faith in their abilities and the abilities of this staff, and that I feel really confident that We've seen this in terms of schools and and the sin stream that we're seeing with book bands and stuff like that. We've seen this play before.
We know how to deal with it. This is a louder contingent for sure, But there I still believe that they are the minority. They just happen to be a really loud one. The job of Listen is to give them the resource, give our team, give our our kids, our our parents, the teachers, our supportive teachers, administration, school districts, the resources they need, the tools they need to combat all of these lies, because that's what they are. There are lives, and we're here to provide the help and
the resources and tools to fight back. So that gives me great confidence and it soothes my weary soul when I when I get worked up.
Yeah, you know, I will say that it is so important, I think, particularly for young queer people to see successful whole queer adults right and from color, you know, of color of color in particular, and I think that often what we are bombarded with, what those youth are bombarded with, are all of the statistics about why they're not going to succeed, why they will die young, why the world is against them, and so as somebody that has been in the spotlight and has been out in the spotlight
as a gay man of color, who's you know what your breakout character, my soul called life would have been banned probably that that that your your your Ricky would have been banned. That show would have been banned and it had aired not in the nineties, but today. That gave so many young queer people the opportunity to see themselves.
You know, what do you think, how do you help provide that light that is needed for our lgbt Q kids of color in particular that are at the intersection battling so much.
You know, I think it's really important right now, in this moment when there's you know, these high decibel screams from the MAGA, write that our students see us standing up for them, that we adults rise up, if you will, to borrow the phrase from Gliston's campaign, that campaign is important.
That it's important that governors and mayors all across this country are declaring that they're pledging the to be supportive of LGBTQ plus students because the noise that they're hearing from the other side feels like it's the only story and they need to see that the other side of the story is that there is an entire community of LGBTQ plus adults and allies who are fighting for the right, for their right to live up to their potential. That's
all we're asking. We're not asking for anything special. We're asking for these students to be able to go to school and to learn in order to be great citizens. It's no mistake. It's not an accident that these book bands and the censorings started in earnest right around the time that the sixteen nineteen project came out, because the front lines of our movement and of the fight is in our schools. Because if they can control what we learn, if they can control what these students learn, they can
control everything. They can control how they see themselves, they can control how other people see them. If you don't have LGBTQ plus people in your history in the curriculum that you're teaching, it's going to be easy to dehumanize them, it's going to be easy to dismiss them. Students need to see them themselves mirrored in the curriculum that they have at school, and so do straight students. Straight students
need to see LGBTQ plus trans people sist. Straight people need to see that too, because they gain empathy, they gain understanding about who we are in our movement, and so then it's harder to demonize us, do you understand. So the work that Glisten does is really about protecting our society, our country, our democracy from ignorance and from hate. I talk, you know, I tell people all the time, what can we do to to help our movement right now?
Ensure that we continue to have one continue that we continue to have uh people within this community who are able to be out and loud and visible. That's that's we're raising these kids today to be able to be put uh great citizens and active in our democracy. And we're raising straight cisgender people to understand and and and accept and support and and understand that you know, we
are a valuable part of this society. So the work that Goeston does is vital, uh you know, and it reaches the blast radius is enormous.
You know, you have been in this movement and on the front lines for so long. And what do you see, Wilson, that is different about this time this moment, both in its affirmative right, both in the tools that we didn't have right ten years ago, twenty years ago, but also in the obstacles that we are facing.
You know, the reason why we are seeing such an enormous backlash to our community, to us, to an entire group of human beings, is because of the success that we have seen in the last forty years. Yeah, right, people came out in the nineties, people fought back against you know, the fact that nobody was carrying a damn about who was dying of aides. We passed marriage. We have an incredible visibility in our society. This moment is
entirely a response to that. And how it's different is Donald Trump.
Yeah, and the hate that he's unleashed and the permission that he's given people to be their least selves, their worst selves.
Two allow people to humanize an entire multiple communities, to make it okay to hate, to put racist and white supremacists and homophobes and all of these people on equal footing with people who are doing good in the world, and showed love and educating people on why it's important for us to understand and value the ways that we are different. That that's part of being a part of the human race and part of being a society of
a government that actually functions. So it's louder. I mean I also, you know, I just saw a few weeks ago the Judy Bloom documentary where she goes in detail about her experience during the book bands during the Reagan years, and you listen to that language, and it is the exact same language being used today, but it was about it was more about like you know, straight sex and teen books, and you know, they didn't want they didn't
want us to know about ourselves. Right now they are our body to know our bodies, and now they don't want us to know about anybody else's different experience. Right, So it's the same bulk, and it's just louder. But I truly believe that it's a minority of people. I really do. I just think they're louder. And you know, there is such a fear of cancelation that this is different too. Right, So now you have people who really
would want to stand up. I'm thinking about like corporations and allies who have historically stood with us and now are fearful, ye of speaking because they're afraid of the backlash. But My message to them is, you know, this is when we need you the most. We don't need we don't need you as much when we're when we're doing well right like that's easy. We need you when we're
being attacked. We need corporations and leaders and adults and teachers and administrations and school boards to stand up against this ignorance, because we all know that it's ignorance, you know. So I urge people to use their voices at this time because it's the only way we're going to be able to get through it. We have to be vhicle. We have to educate ourselves. You know. Glisten has a
navigator a map on our website glisten dot org. You can go on this map and you can click on your state and you can actually see the climate of your school system in your state, the laws that are that we need pass there, the laws that have been passed there in order to oppress us that we need to fight back over. You know, you can educate yourself and find ways to do something about it on this website. That's our that's part of our job, and we urge you to sign the pledge to rise up for LGBTQ.
Plus students because it matters, you know, when when the when they don't say gay bills came out. One of the things that Glisten did was put was partner with local groups in Florida and put up these billboards all around the state so that students weren't just hearing the lies. You could go, they could actually see a visible display of support. That's important when you think about young people
and their state of minds at this at this time. So, you know, I urge people to find ways to be vocally and visibly supportive of LGBTQ plus students.
I want to switch gears for a moment because you, like I said at the beginning, or multiple hats and that of of actor, and you have been very vocal on your social media, very vocal on your platforms about the strikes right and about you know, I think that during this time, at least for myself, I will say, got a real education and in the machine that is Hollywood,
got a real education on you know, those stars. You know that we see that bank the hundreds of millions right are far and few between the actual engine of people, yes, that make this glittery place go. And so I just want to give you an opportunity to talk about that strike and why it's important and why now.
Frankly, Yeah, well, I'm happy to report from what I'm hearing that there are some actual negotiations finally happening.
Good. And I say finally because the way they approached us from the beginning it was very much the way that we're treated on set, which is, you know, there's a tendency to infantilize actors, right, there's a very little respect, you know, when you feel like you have to have an ad follow your actors around in order to make sure that they're doing their job right, you know, to walk them to and from set. And you know, there's a mindset that these are you know, babies that you
were babysitting. We're we are we are actors, we are are professionals, we are you know, we have trained in a skill. So and we're making you millions of dollars of millions of dollars right with the skill. And to treat us as if we have no agency and we have no right to to demand better pay, a better structure for residuals that has been outdated. The reason why we were doing this now is because over and over again. Even in my lifetime. You know, we went from uh
four network, three networks to four. I remember when Fox came out, that's all my assets. So we went from four networks to cable to basic cable, to DVDs to streaming. So every time there was a new paradigm, there was a new platform, the producers would come to us and say, well, you know, it's a new media. This is this is a brand new thing. We don't know how it's gonna work, so just give us time and then you know, once
it's once it's up and running, then we'll get to you. No, that's not gonna work anymore, because they never get back to us. Yeah, then things never change. And we just went through a worldwide pandemic in which people streamed all of our work and proudly that we got to help people get through that really difficult time with our work. But the sad truth is is that when inflation hit, and even before inflation, we weren't even breaking even with residuals.
So then when we came when we came to the table and we presented a way to a you know, keep up with the cost of living and inflation's rise, they gave us an offer that was actually putting us at a point where we were making less than we were in twenty twenty. How is that a fair deal? How is that solving the problem. And we're using an old structure based on network television and rids that doesn't exist anymore. I mean, it exists on those platforms, but
it doesn't work for streaming. That's not how it works. And they know it doesn't work. Uh So that's why it's one of the reasons why we're we're staying solid in our stance. And AI, you cannot tell me that you're going to pay me one hundred dollars as a background actor to scan my entire body and then use it in perpetuity.
To do what It's insane, insane.
So they know it's insane. But then they they you know, the their communication to to the to the to the world is you know, we're asking for too much. No, we're asking to be respected right for our work and to be paid in a fair way. That doesn't uh that that that that that acknowledges that things have changed, right, welcome to this new paradigm that you created, right, So yeah, have to pay for it. So I'm excited to hear,
you know, where these negotiations land. You know, I was part of a letter that thousands of actors signed that said, you know, we've come this far. Don't stop now and settle for any for just anything. You know, we came here with a goal. We would like us to see that goal achieved, or at least get as close to it as we possibly can. But this paradigm worring right now isn't going to work anymore.
And I honestly think that, you know, the actors strike, the writer's strike, you know, has it really set the stage in a lot of ways for its duration to have workers across industries recognize that you're not being paid
your worth. Right that just keeping your head above water, whether it's a pandemic that hits, whether it's an emergency bill that hits, you should be able to live without that, without that level of economic security if you are working full time right like that, that is just the reality.
And you know, we, I think everyone during the height of the pandemic, because let's not forget we are still in it. At the height of the pandemic, when we were locked up at home, we had a lot of time on our hands and realized how little we were settling for and that isn't that wasn't going to be
acceptable anymore. And you see it happening with the auto workers. Yes, see it at hospital workers, you see at hotels in California, teachers, everyone knows that what you know, it just wasn't working anymore. We we we were literally living, you know, hand them out. Yeah, I mean I have nightmare story after nightmare story that I could tell you as an actor, you know, and the things that I allowed myself, the ways that I have allowed myself to be treated in order to do
what I love because it's a dream, right. And that's the other thing, you know, we people are so so quick to say, well, you know, you know it's part of struggle, is part of being an actor or being an artist. Well why do we accept that? Right? You know, in France they actually subsidize artists. The government subsidizes artists. Not a great deal, but you know, there's there's like a stipend that because they value what art brings to their society. It's a way that we we it's a
national conversation that we have to have. You know, I can I'm not supposed to promote my own work. But you know, when I think about Ricky Vasquez and what he was able to do for a generation of young people, queer people of color, and I think about what we did on the franchise I'm on now, you know, in order to have a conversation about diversity, real diversity in the future and who we value and our values in general.
That's a service, that is a that is ah that is a value that we add to culture, to society, to the way that we think about ourselves. I think that's valuable, yeah, and we should be compensated for it.
And I think that that's that's the thing, is that we should all be compensated for what it is that we offer, and that we are all of value regardless of what it is that we produce. But certainly when we are producing something that we should be able to see the fruits of that labor and not just see it in terms of rocket ships that are going into out of space with billionaires and you know, and and
the like. The last question that I have for you, my friend, and thank you for being so gracious with your time, is, you know, people are struggling with hope right now. They are struggling with hope, they are struggling to find light, they are struggling to be the light. And I just want, you know, to ask you what are you doing? You know, how are you holding on to hope in this time? And what you know, what do you offer to others that that are that find themselves in darkness.
It's a great and necessary question. And I'll tell you the thing that has gotten me through this year specifically, and it's one of the reasons why I feel so strongly about advocating for inclusive curriculum is I've gone back and reminded myself of our history. You know, I read, I reread Eric Servini's book The Debiant War, which which tracks the the progress, let's call it, of Frank Cameny
and his case against the United States. But in that book, it's also you know, he also covers Sylvia Rivera, he covers Marsha P. Johnson. And when I go back and I read about what they endured, what they were able to do in a moment when we weren't talking about pride, where the feeling that was overwhelming was shame. And it's what they're trying to do now. They're trying to shame us into silence again. They're trying to shove us back in the closet, trying to make us feel like we
can't be who we are in public. When I go back and read about what they were able to do that they demanded that we'd be proud of who we are and that people respect us. When we were literally called deviance. We were, you know, we were still considered by psychiatrists as sick. Yep, right, yea, And yet they changed the conversation at a really dark time. We're not in that place. We could be. They're trying to get us back there, but we're not in that place now.
So my hope lies in the fact that we know better now that we're armed with all that Frank and Sylvia and Marcia gave us. And my hope is that we rise up and use what they taught us to fight back to say no, we won't be silenced, No we won't be shamed about who we are, and yes, we will take care of our students, we will take care of our parents and teachers, and yes we will demand that we let our students live up to their potential because we all, we all gain something from that
our true democracy. I love it.
I love it. I am so appreciative for you, your voice, your advocacy. I think that Glisten made you know the that's choice in terms of having you.
Yeah, I'm glad you think so. Thank you. I mean, I honestly, honestly, they took it, took them, took me a minute to agree. But like I said, because I'm doing it with these amazing people, I'm more than willing to do it. And I don't have any kids. I'm about to turn fifty in a couple of months and I don't have any children. You know, I've been trying
to deal with my career, but these students are mine. Yeah, these students are my generation that I have responsibility to, and so this is my way of stepping up and making sure that I'm leaving their schools and this place at least better than I found it.
Amazing. Well, thank you, my friend, Wilson Cruz. You are brilliant, badass. You are just you make fifty, are almost fifty with my air quotes look pretty fucking good.
So I'm trying. I'm trying.
You give us all. HOLD appreciate you, and.
I appreciate your voice. And I appreciate what you do with your show. I really do. Thank you for doing it, thank you for having these conversations and reminding us that we have power to and that we yes, you know what, and I'm proud to be woke as fuck. Yeah yeah, I love it all right, my darling.
That is it for me today, dear friends on Woke a f as always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.