On today’s episode, Rachel Vindman, Jasmine Clark, and Amanda Weinstein cover a lot of ground: Alex Vindman’s new lawsuit, updates on Amanda’s mystery protestors, accountability, books, and the importance of representation for LGBTQ kids. They talk about how the right wing’s attacks on the trans and gay community is driven by fear and how so many Americans are one genuine conversation away from understanding and acceptance.

Then Jasmine sits down with Lesléa Newman, the author of frequently-challenged books “Heather Has Two Mommies” and “Sparkle Boy.” Lesléa talks about why she writes books and how frustrating–and infuriating–it is to have her books banned. She also offers a historical perspective, as someone who’s had her books challenged for over 30 years, and weighs in on what’s new and scary about the book bans happening today.

After that, Rachel gets the chance to chat with writer and trans activist Charlotte Clymer. They bond over standing up to Twitter trolls, living their authentic lives, and Charlotte tells Rachel how we can all be better allies to the trans people in our communities.

Finally, our hosts raise a glass to hanging in there, decompressing from a tough week, and new adventures just around the riverbend in this week’s “Toast to Joy.”

Red Wine and Blue is pushing back against book bans with our brand-new initiative Book Ban Busters. You can visit bookbanbusters.com to see a map of book bans across the country and let us know what’s happening in your area. And if you feel like you could use some support figuring out how to stand up against book bans in your community, we invite you to sign up for one of our Troublemaker Trainings.

For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected].

For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected].

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