Isnt It Queer

Jonny and Heather discuss the outcome of the 2024 election. They try to avoid finger-pointing and armchair quarterbacking campaign choices and, instead, process their feelings and look to evidence of a shifting political landscape. They find glimmers of hope where they can while preparing for the worst. They note that, while the top of the ticiet and the majorities in Congress are pretty dire, there was considerable good news in state referenda on abortion access and historic elections of LGBTQ candidates. They end with with a call to community and the experienced advice of queer veterans (literally and figuratively) on what we need to do going forward. 

Jonny and Heather face the challenge of recording a show on a Monday afternoon before it airs on a Wednesday morning in the first week of November....in a very contentious and signficant election year. Acknowledging the challenge of recording before any results or consequences are yet known, they offer some escapes from election anxiety and, perhaps, a harsh return to one. The review and gush over Disney+ and the MCU's "Agatha All Along." The then turn to reminding folks to check in on how the LGBTQ and 2S candidates in the race, lower down the ballot and out of the likely headlines did in the election. In the back half of the show, the turn to Uganda and the lessons that can be taken from an African nation that has given the death penalty to LGBTQ identities. How the rest of Africa is treating queer refugees from Uganda and the impacts of the policy for Uganda's economy are important lessons for the US to attend to as we flirt with a similar degree of regulation for queer and trans bodies.

Jonny and Heather discuss the horrors of Halloween--that is, the actual horrors of these last days of the Presidential campaign alongside the queertastic holiday celebrations of Halloween. In the back half of the show, Jonny interviews Sister Texas Hotbox of the SOIL Sisters about their holiday card project, sending holiday greetins to queer and trans folks who may not be receiving such worm wishes from their families of origin, If you would like a personalized holiday greeting from from Sister Texas, fill out these confidential forms here:Thanksgiving: https://tinyurl.com/yttceyvfDecember Holidays: https://tinyurl.com/yb8tjvhp

Heather and Jonny kick off the show with a geek-out over good Dr. Who news before moving into the threatened dystopia of a President Vance. They dig into the irony of the anti-LGBTQ senator's gay billionaire patron, delving into the influence ot technolibertarians and a philosophy of Dark Enlightenment. After detailing this bleakness, they check in on queers actually serving in the federal government and running for office, including the psychological challenges of such work. They close out with a bit more queer-positive media as a tonic for the anxieties we face in these final weeks of the 2024 election season.

Jonny and Heather record the episode on Columb--er, Indigenous People's Day, and have some things to say about the costs of colonialism and the importance of Two Spirit/Q-Spirit. The review some events last week, one a planned pesentation on the queer history of the region and the other a grassroots protest for an anti-trans speaker brought to speak in Carbodale on National Coming Out Day. They then switch to some TERF-y women causing additional problems for queer and trans folks with their loose connection to history, science, and reality. They end with excitement for new films in the works by the Wachowski sisters celebrating trans horror, as well as other films available for streaming that avoid the Bury Your Gays trope. 

Jonny and Heather reunite and check back in on the stormy weather, from Hurricanes to politics and a a whirlwind of lies. In the back half of the show, the review some recent court cases and try to predict from their mostly favorable aoutcomes for trans folks what we might expect from forthcoming Supreme Court decisions on LGBTQ+ issues. The close out with some muche appreciated LGBTQ+ entertainment worth following.

Jonny details his experiences with Hurricane (Tropical Storm, by the time it got to him) Helene during the 35th Annual Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference at The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center outside Highlands NC. He tells a story of adaptation and resilience and communities coming together to deal with a crisis. In the back half of the show, he takes on the misinformation already circulating about the storm's damage and the Federal response to it. In the process, he assesses both the political and spiritual need to be aware of the world as it is, to respond mindfully to the conditions on the ground.

Jonny and Heather lean into their various fandoms and geek out a bit over genre fiction before diving into recent news. The quuer geekdom follows as they discuss 2 LGBTQ+ history making actions by Joe Biden in the last week and the queer alignments of the parties and candidates in the 2024 election. In the back half of the show the briefly check in on the St. Louis gay bar that was crashed into by a police hehicle. They then turn to Eastern Europe and the struggles against and capitulations to Russian anti-LGBTQ+ policy.

Jonny turns over the first half of the show to fellow SOIL Sister, Sr. Benedeta Cuna-lingee, and her new podcast dealing with queer spirituality, Holy Spectrum. Episode 1, "Queer Spirituality 101," lays out the plan for the podcast's future episodes and some basic starting assumptions of queer spirituality. In the back half of the show, Jonny and Heather are joined by Sr Cuna-lingee's alter ego, Dr. Christina Ivy, to discuss the episode and why a podcast about queer spirituality is much needed.

Jonny and Heather have to discuss yet another school shooting with yet again alleged queer overtones. First, it is the war of words between the Vice Presidential candidates over what really is a "fact of life." Second, it is the immediate and false charge that the shooter (and all recent school shooters) is trans. In the back half of the show, Jonny and Heather acknowledges former President Trump's increased lying, especially about trans youth, and trace the influence of these lies to Cold War politics, whether direct Russian interference or Trump's mentor, Cold War red hunter Roy Cohn. They end with some good news that, as SCOTUS takes up Tennesee's trans ban legislation, evidence shows conservatives starting to reel from the repercussions of anti-trans legislation.

Jonny is on his own this week, recording the show on Labor Day Monday. In the front half of the show, he details "autogynephilia" as a debunked pseudo-scientific theory still popular among the gender critical and transphobes. It is one of the ways LGB (No T, No Q) folks bracket out trans experience from "gay" experience. He also details its cousin, the myth of "Transing the Gay Away." In the back half of the show, he leans into his own queer story and evolution into understaning of his gender nonconforming, nonbinary identity. At the core of LGBTQ rights, he argues, is trans advocacy and the fight for gender diversity.

Heather returns, and she and Jonny recap the Democratic National Convention, parsing their feels and the ways the DNC did and didn't represent queer community. In the back half of the show, they continue the political campaign analysis with a dive into Twitter/X and who is and isn't Tweeting (X-crementing?) there these days. They ponder if harsh right wing social media might finally be facing some serious and legal push back.

Jonny is on their own again this week. They offer a recognition of the 104th anniversary of the radification of the 19th Amendment and uses it to link together several stories about political change. In the back half of the show, he shares a persuasive argument from Anna Marie that transphobia and racism, binary gender and Whiteness are firmly linked. The implication of this argument is that queer and trans advocacy is the central fight of the culture right now, and Jonny shares examples of where that struggle is being engaged.

Jonny is on his own this week and digs into why this current election season is so rough for LGBTQ+ and particualrly trans people. He shows how the Harris-Walz ticket is being challenged with mischaracterizations of their LGBTQ+ advocacy, but also why such advocacy is a distinguishing element of their candidacy. In the back half of the show, he digs into Project 2025 and Agenda 47, which are particulalry focused on restricting queer and trans rights and visibility. He closes with two stories that show the limits and pushback of such anti queer and gender-expasive politicking. If you are interested in applying for the Tim Rice Scholarship through the Rainbow Cafe, you can find the application here: https://www.rainbowcafe.org/scholarship.html

Heather returns to the show to share some her experiences with CoVid as the Country experiences another surge in cases. Jonny and Heather then turn their attention to the Olympics and the social media kerfuffle about women's boxing, particularly continued misogynist gender critical attacks against the elligibility of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting. In the back half of the show, they discuss recent developments in politics, including the LGBTQ+ advocacy record of new Democratic VP candidate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. They are joined at the end of the show by Ky Chamelion, whose songe "Vibrate Higher" is doing quite well on America's Next Top Hit Maker. If you would like to hear Ky's song and/or vote for them in the competition, you can do so here: https://tophitmaker.org/2024/ky-chameleon

Jonny is joined again this week by Craig as Heather still struggles to get a negative test with CoVid. They discuss the Olympics and particularly the opening ceremony and the (misplaced) Christian outrage at its content. They also discuss the status of LGBTQ Olympians as the contest continues. In the back half of the show they turn to the Democratic Party's successful use of "weird" to mark he policies and practices of Trump and the MAGA Republicans. How do queers feel about allies calling people "weird"? It's complicated....and not!

Jonny is joined by his husband, Craig, to discuss the slew of recent political dramas at the national level. They use their perspective as scholars of Performance Studies (and queer theory and popular culture and...) to review the Republican National Convention, the selection of J.D. Vance as the GOP Vice President candidate, and the elevation of Kamala Harris to potential Democratic Presidential nominee after the stepping down of Joe Biden from the ticket. 

Jonny interviews Dr. Joe Hassert who was a resident of Carbondale from 2000 to 2012 and was remarkably active in making community art projects happen here. Joe now lives in Las Vegas where he is a professor of Communication Studies at the College of Southern Nevada. He is the current president of the queer faculty and staff advocacy group there and works with students in the student LGBTQ organization to bring about positive, material change in their institution. Jonny and Joe talk about life in the desert, the queer scene in Las Vegas, what Joe learned from his time in Southern Illinois, LGBTQ advocacy, mass shootings, politics, and pragmatic activism. 

Jonny yields the microphone (mostly) to SIU's The Intersectuionality Project and the Black and Queer Roundtable for a discussion of the importance of education and the educational disparities that face Black, Brown, and queer youth. Daniel, Janine, and Mendez pull from their own experience and recent research to drive a lively and informative discussion.

Jonny and Heather process their desire for a month of hibernation following a very active Pride Month. They then turn their attention to recent developments in presidential politics and connections between agism and homophobia/transphobia. Also, maybe why presidential immunity isn't such a good thing. In the back half of the show, they review a SCOTUS decision on states' rights when dealing with unhoused people on public lands and connect that to trans-advocacy, including trans- and empathy-advocacy on Dr. Who.