Welcome, dolls, gays, & theys; thank you for tuning in to Queer Story Time. In this episode, Stevie sits down with Dakarai Larriett, a proud son of Alabama, entrepreneur, community volunteer, and U.S. Senate candidate whose campaign was born from a traumatic false arrest. Drawing from a lifetime of lived experience, growing up a Jehovah’s Witness, navigating body dysphoria as a teen with gynecomastia, and building a career before returning home. Dakarai shares how his journey through faith, shame, and resilience shaped his mission to fight for justice, healthcare, and dignity for marginalized communities.

Together, Stevie and Dakarai explore how personal harm transforms into political action. Dakarai recounts the racial and homophobic profiling that led to his arrest and how that experience inspired his Motorist Bill of Rights, calling for greater transparency, access to bodycam footage, and fair policing. The conversation also dives into Alabama’s pressing issues from rural hospital closures and maternal health disparities to education, economic opportunity, and voter suppression, all through the lens of lived experience.

This episode blends intimate truth-telling with bold policy vision, asking what it truly takes to represent people who’ve been pushed to the margins, and how compassion, courage, and representation can change the system from within.

What you’ll hear in this episode

• Dakarai’s childhood in Alabama and faith journey away from Jehovah’s Witnesses toward a welcoming UMC community.
• The physical and emotional impact of gynecomastia and why body-related shame matters to public health conversations.
• The false arrest: dashcam/bodycam evidence, dehumanizing language by officers, and the broken accountability system.
• Why Dakarai turned trauma into activism and a Senate run, and what justice means to him.
• Concrete policy proposals: Motorist Bill of Rights, healthcare access (Medicare/Medicaid expansion), maternal health, education investment, and voter access.
• A candid conversation about representation, the politics of the South, and how to build coalitions that protect the most vulnerable.

🔗 QST Resources & Links:

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Host: Stevie Inghram, M.S., YT, AWC, NMS-4 (She/They)

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