Isn't It Queer

Jonny digs into the archive to share a 2019 interview with Jesus Valles about his show (Un)Documents and an interview from earlier this summer with Jen Pepper, President and CEO of CHOICES Clinic. Jesus will be performing (Un)Documents this afternoon (8/31) at 4 pm in the SIU Student Center Auditorium, free and open to the public. Jen will be the keynote speaker at next Tuesday's (9/6) 6 pm event, Visions of a Post Roe Carbondale, in Guyan Auditorium in Morris Library on the SIU Campus.

Jonny reviews new information that strongly supports Monkey Pox is sexually transmitted and that it is harder to transmit merely by skin on skin contact. He reviews how public health officials are now targeting MSM for vaccination and education about the disease's spread. In the back half of the show, Jonny celebrates recent advances for LGBTQ rights in Singapore and Vietnam. He reviews the status of LGBTQ rights across Asia-Pacific nations. He then celebrates an Appeals Court decision affirming that gender dysphoria should be covered under the ADA.

Jonny checks back in on the efforts to ban LGBTQ+ books and curricula around the country. He focuses on examples of communities, librarians, and teachers pushing back against the efforts to challenge representations of LGBTQ+ people and racial minority figures. Across the stories covered, he notes that these efforts do not effectively keep children and young adults from knowing about LGBTQ+ folks, but do serve a bullying function in subjugating and casting shame on minority identities.

Jonny reviews recent evidence of how the trans bans in Florida and elsewhere are based on misrepresented or made-up science. He also reviews a study of media coverage of trans athletes that shows how media framing is contributing to the proliferation of trans bans. In the back half of the show, he reviews good news and bad news for queer representation in recent (popular) arts, including memorializing Olivia Newton John and reviewing Beyonce's recent shout-outs to queer Black artists in "Renaissance."

Jonny reviews the current status of the Monkeypox outbreak and epidemiologists' frustration over characterizations of it as a "gay disease." He then distracts us from the bad news with good news from the Michigan Supreme Court, which decided LGB (and T, but that was already established) are protected from discrimination under Michigan's Civil Rights law. In the back half of the show, Jonny returns to Florida where ramped up assaults on LGBTQ+ communities are clearly distracting the governor and legislature from more meaningful policy development. Finally, Jonny reviews the story of Rep Glenn Thompson who right after voting no on the Respect For Marriage Act, attended and spoke favorably at his son's same sex marriage.

Jonny digs deep into the Respect For Marriage Act--what it is, who voted for it in the House, how it will fair in the Senate, what folks for and against it are saying about it. He reviews local Illinois Representatives' votes against it and offers Information about a new local LGBTQ advocacy group, Pride in Action Southern Illinois. Finally, he reviews new court cases working their way toward the Supreme Court that show why legislation defending our rights is so necessary.

Contact Information for Rep Mike Bost:

The Honorable Mike Bost
1211 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC, 20515-1312
Phone: (202) 225-5661
https://bost.house.gov/

Contact for Rep Mary Miller:

The Honorable Mary E. Miller
1529 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC, 20515-1315
Phone: (202) 225-5271
https://marymiller.house.gov

Jonny interviews Bennett Schneider (a.k.a. Sister Unity of the L.A. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence) about what attracts them to performance and storytelling. They also discuss the increasing challenges of performing in Drag Story Time events. Jonny also reviews some LGBTQ news stories touched on in the interview, with a particular focus on the challenges of fighting where you live and getting out of an unsafe situation.

Jonny reviews some data and scientific understanding about abortions that was disregarded or misrepresented in the SCOTUS Dobbs decision, with an assist from the podcast "Science Vs" (and a recommendation to check that podcast out!). In the back half of the show that shows many USAmericans are "cross-pressured" (holding seemingly contradictory beliefs) about LGBTQ nondiscrimination and trans rights.

Jonny interviews author Taylor Brorby about his memoir, "Boys and Oil," which explores his life growing up gay on the plains of North Dakota and becoming, among other things, an environmental advocate for those fragile ecosystems. In the back half of the show, Jonny reviews some of the ways the SCOTUS Dobbs decision is already being mobilized in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and calls for language and gestures of unity rather than division in how we push back. On notice: the biological-determinism rhetoric of celebrities like Macy Gray and Bette Midler this week. Jonny also shares information about upcoming events of interest to the LGBTQ Community in Southern Illinois.

Note: Apologies to Taylor Brorby for mispronouncing his name in the intro and not catching it until the show was uploaded for broadcast. I do better in the interview. (It's Brorby, not Brobry!)

Jonny interviews Jen Pepper, President and CEO of the Memphis CHOICES sexual health clinic, about the branch opening soon in Carbondale. In addition to pregnancy services including abortion, the clinic also provides gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy. Although the interview was recorded just before the Supreme Court released its Dobb's decision overturning Roe v Wade, Jen and Jonny discuss that likely outcome and how best to respond to it. In the back half of the show, Jonny interviews Jeff Keasler-Bird and Tara Bell about the upcoming production of "The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later" by The Stage Co. at The Varsity Theater in Carbondale, IL.