 I'm Keith Ghostland. Welcome to All Things LGBTQ. We are taping on Tuesday, November 15th, and as we always say, our show is taped at Orca Media in Montpelier, Vermont, which we recognize as being unceded indigenous lands. Now that Ann is going to be taking us to far and distant places and telling us things we don't want to know. Not all of You've got some good stuff? I do. She's got animal stuff. I've got animals, I've got beauty pageants. How can we go wrong? That's right, but let's start with a bad story of redress from Australia. A new Australian commission is examining the infamous string of anti-gay murders. You may recall that in the late 70s, gay men were murdered in Australia. Between 76 and 2000, these murders, 80-plus unsolved deaths occurred on the picturesque cliffs surrounding Bondi Beach and Manley in New South Wales. Both areas were popular meeting places for men looking to have sex with other men during this period. This commission, two other commissions, have convened to investigate these murders, but they all disagree. Some of them called them hate crimes. Some of them investigated only 33 of the 80. So now this third commission of inquiry has convened and their authorities are hoping it'll be more definitive. In the opening statement, the senior counsel, Peter Gray, encouraged individuals with knowledge of the crimes to come forward. If you have had something weighing on your mind for years about these things, now is your chance to do something to make amends, he said in the statement. Now is the time to break your silence. Now you may recall the case of the American Scott Johnson, whose brother stayed on the case, and finally this person, Scott White, 52, declared himself guilty, was sentenced to 12 years. He now identifies as gay, by the way. But now he's appealing his conviction and blaming his ex-wife for his declaration of guilt. So that's a mess. But Mr. Gray says justice in these cases has been long delayed and long awaited. This may be the last chance for the truth about some of these historical deaths to be exposed. We need to hear from anyone who can help us do that. You know, I heard this discussion on some news show, I can't remember what it was, but they were talking about this and they thought that it might be like gangs of young men who just did this as like, oh let's grab a gay person and throw them over the thing, over the cliff. So there was some discussion that it was might be, that might be part of what this is. And I think you might have heard it on Gay USA with Mary and Johns, who is from Australia. Right. I was going to say when you first reported that story a year or two ago, some of the commentary was, you know, the gang theory is they weren't grabbing them and throwing them. They were chasing gay men, so they had to jump off. It could be either or, both, yeah. Well, I have more upbeat story from Australia now. Gay penguins are back together just in time for mating season. So I have a picture before you now of three gay penguins with a very militant sign. And two of the penguins who maybe pictured, it doesn't really say, but the two in question are hoping that one day they may be foster parents, the keeper says. A same-sex pair of penguins has reunited for mating season in sea life, male-born Australia Aquarium. According to this penguin keeper, Emily Thornton, two of the aquarium's male Gen 2 penguins, Klaus and Jones, have been building nests together for about three or four years now. Initially they started building their nests in the wrong area. But this year, for the first time, they've actually put it in the nesting platform area they've assimilated, which is really exciting, according to Emily Thornton. They are a couple that we're hoping one day might actually be foster parents. Although same-sex male pairs are unable to fertilize and lay an egg between themselves, Klaus and Jones can be given a dummy egg to protect during the nesting period so they can practice being dads. Now I've reported at length, but let's review. Same-sex penguin couples have peered off in zoos all over the world. Penguins conduct homosexual relationships that can last a whole lifetime. This is according to biologist Gunter Strauss, who explained in 2019 that the Munich Zoo, he issued this explanation because the Munich Zoo highlighted a male couple of Humboldt penguins during Pride Month. And they're all different kinds of species of penguins that you will learn about, for example. Other notable examples include Sven and Magic. Oh, I remember them. I remember them too. At the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium, Ronnie and Reggie at ZSL London Zoo, and Thelma and Louise at Sea Life Aquarium, New Zealand. Roy and Silo, a homosexual chinswrap penguin couple are at New York Central Park Zoo. They even inspired a children's book called Entangle Makes Three after they successfully hatched an egg given to them by zookeepers. I have a copy. Do you? I absolutely. Oh, you should have brought it in. Had I known? I know it. Well, maybe next time. It'll come up again, I'm certain. Oh, we love the penguins. There's more. Same-sex penguin couples frequently foster eggs and chicks, sometimes stealing eggs and whole nests from heterosexual couples. One pair of male megalonic penguins has been dubbed the San Francisco Zoo Star Parents. In 2019, Ocean World Aquarium Dingle in Ireland reported that most of its penguins had paired off into same-sex couples. So there we have it. All right. Happy penguins. Exciting news from the animal kingdom. Now let's go to Israel. I have a lot of stories from Asia, so I'll get started on them right now. As we know, Benjamin Netanyahu has been re-elected head of Israel, and he has vowed to protect LGBTQ rights, although members of his party have been threatening otherwise. Legislators in the Knesset promised to eliminate pride parades, remove a ban on conversion therapy, and endanger transgender medical care. Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Israeli prime minister who's recently been elected as chairman of the majority Likud party within his country's legislature, the Knesset, has promised not to allow legislators to roll back LGBTQ rights in the country. There will be no harm to pride parades or nor to the status quo to LGBTQ rights, he said. Observers worried that the conservative political leader would try to create a coalition and carry the favor with these whole slew of anti-LGBTQ lawmakers. For example, the senior Likud source said that Netanyahu's party plans to reverse LGBTQ medical rights instated by the outgoing health minister. Those rights include insurance coverage for gender-affirming health care, a ban on so-called conversion therapy, and reimposing a ban on gay male blood donations. Additionally, this Avie Maus, chairman of the pro-family Noam party, said, we will look into canceling the pride parade legally. Who holds a public pride parade that is all provocation? Do you know how offensive such a parade in Jerusalem is to us? His party is one of three political parties that make up the far-right religious Zionism political faction. It's not only anti-LGBTQ, it also has 14 seats in the 120 seat Knesset. As such, it's expected that Netanyahu's going to have to work with them. The LGBTQ chair of the task force in Israel said we are being put to the test as a community and as a country. But the organizer of the organization Passages to the Trans Spectrum said that repealing LGBTQ rights is more of an easily made campaign promise than an achievable reality. So let's hope he's right. I did hear about that. Why don't you do one more story and then we'll move on. Very good. It involves a clip. Another Israeli story. This is a clip of a film, a drama involving Ben and Roz painstakingly pursuing their desire to have a child in the migrant neighborhood where the gay couple has set up their new flat is on the up and up. But a conflict over a newly planted tree in the city brings deep-seated prejudices to like Concerned Citizens is the name of this film. It was released in 2022. It has a good rating. It's a feature-length film with a runtime of one hour and 22 minutes. So let's take a look at Concerned Citizens. Good clip. Interesting. You can't find it anywhere. So keep your eyes peeled, audience, because it'll turn up somewhere. Or maybe it'll turn up. Okay, thank you, Ian. My great pleasure. And I guess on the top of our list is the senator is expected to vote this week on legislation to codify same-sex marriage. And more importantly, the bill has enough GOP support to pass. We have the votes as soon as close to negotiations confirmed Monday. A bipartisan group of senator has been trying for months to pass a marriage equality bill to protect same-sex interracial relationships. The House passed its own legislation in July. But that proposal stalled in the Senate, where some Republican raised concern that it would stifle religious liberty. Things got more complicated, went around the same time. Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat New York, and Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat West Virginia, announced a surprise deal on a massive tax and climate change bill. Republicans were so mad at the Democrats, they were ready to pass that deal without them, that some signaled they would pull their support for the forthcoming same-sex marriage bill. But with the midterm elections over and Democrats in a position to hold the Senate for another two years, it looks like some Republicans are coming back to the table. Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democrat from Wisconsin, the lead Democrat on the forthcoming bill tweeted Monday that the Senate is going to get this done. And it will also be interesting to see what happens during this lame duck process before the new one comes in, because that's where we got Obamacare, is that they knew that they were going to lose the majority in both chambers. So what can we get through now while we know we have the votes? So good. And then there's an interesting story about Virgin Atlantic has ditched its gender uniform policy. Women can wear pants, men can wear skirts. A job applications have skyrocketed. The company has reported that the number of applications filed with the airline has doubled since the impending and new more inclusive policy. While other airlines struggle to fill staff vacancy, Virgin has no issue recruiting the best on the dustbin and so have other sexual requirements. Female cabin crew is no longer required to wear makeup. They can have tattoos, can be visible. The staff are now allowed to wear gender pronoun badges. Pronoun badges will also be available to the customers who can ask for one at any check-in desk. Customers with gender neutral markers on their passports will also now be able to select gender neutral markers for their booking tickets. So there you go. Right. And then we have a story about, and I have a picture here, a puppeteer in a leather bar are under fire in Chicago for the puppeteer's racist performance featuring a black puppet. Last week puppeteer Jerry Halliday was booked for an anniversary show at the Touche Bay in Chicago, Rogers Park neighborhood. The Gay Comics Act that night featured one of his rotating ensemble of characters, Sister Girl, a black woman trapped inside a white man's body by Halliday's description at the show. So, and he's white, the puppeteer. And on another delightful note, a hate preacher who called for teachers, he claimed to her grooming kids for kids to be beheaded on a TV shows that far-right representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican or Georgia, is a fake conservative because she's not at home being obedient to her husband. Isn't she divorced? Yeah. I guess she doesn't know that. A new independent fundamentalist Baptist preacher at Shore Foundation Baptist Church in Spokane, Washington made his comments about Greene during a recent sermon about the midterm elections. If we have this red wave grabber began using the term for the expected wave of Republicans victories, which they didn't get, are they going to do anything? Are they going to going to pass, you know, the abortion ban nationwide and have all abortion doctors retroactively put to death? Are they going to do that? No. Why? Because they're cowards. The so-called conservative women, why are we putting them in a position of leadership when they can't even figure out which good husband to marry? Because any husband that allows his wife to go and run for Congress is a pathetic beta man. Okay, that is wrong. That is wicked. There's something wrong with that man. He shouldn't show his face in public. He should be so embarrassed. I have an agenda about Marjorie Taylor Greene's marital status. Her husband has filed for divorce after 27 years. It's occurred on September 29th. Well, I can't say I believe it. It's because she wasn't at home in her beginning. I don't know. I can't speculate further. I heard she had a couple of affairs. That's what I heard. I'm not going there and you can't make me. Oh, we can move on. Okay. Pundit Mass Walsh is fond of exaggeration and twisting the truth. But on Monday nights, the Joe Rogan experience podcast, he told A Warper so big that even the host called it bullshit. He claimed that millions of American children had been put on hormone blockers. But when Rogan's producer weighed in with the fact check that proved Walsh was lying, the daily wire host was forced to admit that he had made it up. In an interview in Fox News host Tucker Carlson, right wing journalist, we all know him, Jason Whitlock, mocked house speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul after the letter was brutally attacked in the home with a hammer. A man broke into Pelosi, San Francisco home in October and asked where's Nancy before he beat Paul Pelosi with a hammer. Paul Pelosi was able to call 911 and he was hospitalized following the brutal attack. Whitlock was referring to the conservative conspiracy theory that DePage is not only Paul Pelosi's gay lover. DePage being the assailant. Yes, but also a promoter of progressive causes like Black Lives Matter. A person smashed a window of a donut shop in Oklahoma and threw a Molotov cocktail inside in retaliation to shop hosting shows about and hosting a Drake Queen event. Video posted on Facebook shows the unidentified person taping a paper to the door of the donut shop in Tulsa at 2.30 a.m. Monday morning and then smashing the glass and throwing a Molotov cocktail inside. He was wearing a mega hat, they think. And I'll do one more and then I'll move on to you. All right. A troubled individual who went to an anti-gay arson rampage in New York last summer has been indicted for enhanced hate crime charges. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the additional charges on Tuesday. Alex Blodgett was originally indicted last September for a series of arson and related attacks on in August 2021 on Manhattan's west side. Following the arrangement, a search warrant of the defendant's Facebook account was signed and executed, yielding evidence that demonstrated an anti-gay animus, particularly towards gay men and establishments geared for LGBTQ plus community according to the district attorney. Okay. So we're going to start with the trivia question that they got without hesitation and I'm expecting the same of you. This was the first openly LGBTQ plus person elected to a state legislature and I'm glad you still on it. So looking at events, Sunday, November 20th would be the day after this show's airs. Statehouse lawn, 4 to 6 p.m. Transgender Day of Remembrance. Major event and following that, you know, come over to Fox Market where they're going to do a community gathering. Okay. A little more time with each other and looking at the weather you're going to need to be indoors to be warm. Thursday, December 1st is International AIDS Awareness Day and at the Susan Calza Gallery on 138 Main Street here in Montpelier, they're going to be showing our friend John Calackey's AIDS trilogy and these are three shorts that he created during the 90s at the height of the AIDS epidemic. There will be shows at 5.30, 6 o'clock, 6.30, and 7 because each video is brief. So they will show the three. I think they should have a half hour for the whole each presentation. The whole block but you know they're scheduling it half an hour apart so I'm thinking there's a little wiggle room in there. Rainbow umbrella, you're having some interesting conversations in the women's discussion groups. I'm enjoying immensely watching your notes. So if you're interested be in touch and you've still got the book discussion group going on. Very good. So let's talk about the difference a country can make when it comes to you know in our south we've got people trying to do a legislative ban on drag queen story hours, you know trans youth, etc. Canada and thank you to Ann for throwing these stories my way. Canada versus the world, RuPaul drag race, their guest is going to be Justin Trudeau. And apparently there was a U.S. versus the world drag race and Nancy Pelosi was on as a promotion for the election. Canada just in stepping up and you know this was the comment from the participants is the stakes are high and the heels higher. So I think that's one to definitely go out and look for. And the author and I'm going to ask you if you know that the author the is a queer author, Suzette and I'm presuming it's mayor. Yeah, one the biggest literary prize in Canada. And this was the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, The Sleeping Car Porter. And I want to go find a copy of this because you know there was the brief narrative about Suzette that she has been writing for years just under the surface. She was a a writer's writer. So she didn't get a whole lot of mainstream appeal. But this story, The Sleeping Car Porter, the story of Baxter, a closeted gay man working as a porter on a Canadian passenger train in 1929, Baxter finds a provocative postcard of two queer men and his desires come to the surface. It sounds like one of your clips. And this is what the author said about the book. I really wanted to do with this book was call attention to the lost history of LGBTQIA2S plus folk and our essential contributions to history because of societal pressure. Previous generations of queer folk had to hide and some did a very good job of it. So thank you for passing it on. I think we need to get a copy and pass it on. So we can report back. So in my next segment, I'm going to go on to the election. You were expecting it, of course. So that's what I've got for now. Okay, I'm still in Asia. Well, I'm sorry. Well, good things are going on. For example, involving beauty pageants in particular, the Miss Universe pageant has just been bought by Ann Jaqafong Jaqa Jutatip. And there's a picture before you now of Ann 43. She's a transgender business mogul who just made history as the first woman to own the global beauty pageant Miss Universe. She's the first woman in its 71-year history. This news, which was shared by her company, marks an incredible milestone for the multimillionaire. She bought it for $20 million, according to NBC. She's known for supporting trans awareness in Thailand by setting up the Life Inspired for Transsexual Foundation, which advocates for transgender rights. Though she had a tough childhood and started her career at a gas station, she is now the chief executive officer of a top content management and distribution company in Thailand. She has two kids via surrogacy. In an entire interview, she spoke about the difficulties of having children via surrogacy in Thailand, explaining that she had to fly to Greece to make it happen. And she also revealed that she had to spend a total of $800,000 in U.S. money to have her two children. With her massive business empire, she said to be one of Southeast Asia's wealthiest trans women. More beauty pageant news. I'd like to report on a former Miss Argentina and an ex-Miss Puerto Rico who've announced on Instagram over the weekend that they were married. And let's take a look now at a picture of Mariana Varela of Argentina, 29, and Fabriola Valentin, 22 of Puerto Rico. After deciding to keep our relationship private, we now open our doors to a special day. The message included what appeared to be their wedding date, October 28th, along with heart and ring emojis. The video included their post, in their post features, a montage of them traveling their candlelit marriage proposal on a kiss outside the courthouse in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Varela and Valentin appeared to have meant last March when they competed in the Miss Grand International Beauty Pageant in Thailand. And in an Instagram photo of the two women embracing that Valentin posted the following week, she wrote, one of the great gifts in this experience was your friendship. Walking this process with you was a special and real one. I miss you, my girl. Neither woman took home the top prize in the competition, but they both made it into the top 10. Oh, they got the best prize. That's right. Since connecting last year, they've spent time traveling together and even dropped subtle hints of their love on social media by posting a few photos throughout the past 18 months before making their public announcement. In just three days, the video announcing their union amassed more than 116,000 likes and 2.6 million views on Instagram. The comment section was also quickly filled with support from fans and fellow pageant queens. Same, all right, this background. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Puerto Rico since 2015 as a result of the Supreme Court's decision, which we know about, or Borgafal. It's also legal in much of Latin America, including Argentina. And just last week, as we know, same-sex marriage officially became legal in all of the Mexican states. So they're very excited. May I just briefly comment that reporting on beauty pageants is the last thing that I thought I would hear from Professor Char. I know. I know. I know. A lot of things. How things change. And I mentioned that in Asia, included in the Asian news because the pageant took the marriage, it all took place in Thailand, even though it's kind of a world story. More from Asia, Tokyo begins issuing same-sex couples partnership certificates. And now, I have a picture before you of Mamiko Mota on the left, and her partner, Sadoko Nagamura, who are among the first to pick up their marriage certificate. Tokyo has begun rolling out these marriage certificate schemes to same-sex couples, allowing them to be treated as married couples for certain public services for the first time, but falling short of marriage equality. Some hope this may be a step toward the whole of Japan embracing equality. It's currently the only, as I've said often, it's currently the only country in the G7 group of developed nations that doesn't recognize same-sex unions. However, recent polling suggests that the majority of Japanese people support gay marriage. Despite the widespread report, a district court in Osaka ruled earlier this year that the existing ban on same-sex marriage was constitutional. Then in October, a local representative for the ruling Democratic, liberal Democratic Party called same-sex marriage disgusting. The comments were widely criticized. The partnership certificates, which have also been introduced in eight other prefectures in Japan, will allow same-sex couples to be treated the same as married couples when it comes to housing, medicine, and welfare. But they will not help with issues like adoption, inheritance, and spousal visas. Anyone over 18 who either lives or works in Tokyo is allowed to apply with 137 applications having been submitted by Friday. Good news. I think they'll get there. It'll just take time. I know. They're inching forward. Now, do you have a must-tell story? Because we're going to have to move on. We're going to run out of time. Okay. Let me do some headlines. Erdogan in Turkey is supporting a constitutional amendment to protect families against perverse trends. We know who he's talking about. And I don't know why he's doing this if he wants to be in the EU. I don't think they do anymore. A court in Slovakia recognizes a married same-sex couple. And a same-sex couple's win in Polish court. Let's see a picture of them there. Jakub Kuzinski and Dawid Majczyk. They got a sort of a victory in the court. There is a provision that says marriage is between a man and a woman and a woman. But the judge said, yeah, but that doesn't mean it's only between a man and a woman. So people are disagreeing. But they're vloggers and activists and they're viewing the decision, their approval of their marriage, even though it's kind of provisional, they're bringing that as a victory. Thank you. My great pleasure. We have a good story, which is Black Panther. Wakanda forever is already gearing up to be a massive hit, with style Latita, Latidia, right, filling in as the, is it Titula, hero? Titula. And it's Latisha, I think. Yeah. Latisha, okay. After the passing of her brother, King T. Chala, in the new film, Titula was played by the beloved actor, actor Chad, Chadwick Boseman, who we all loved, who succumbed to cancer in 2020. A new star entering the MCU is Makayla Kowell, the screenwriter and actress known for the critically acclaimed series, I May Destroy You. Kowell stars as Aneka, a member of the Dora Milaha, a group of fierce female soldiers protecting Wakanda. Please, if I've heard of this. I was going to say that should have been your story just for the pronunciation alone. At the end of the film, Aneka, she has a tender moment with fellow friend Aya, Aya, Florence, Kusamba. There's no mistaking the women are in a relationship. Oh, that was waiting for the lesbian. Aneka and Ejo's, our queer, of course, is not imagined. The two characters were indeed written as queer in the 2007 comic, and their forbidden relationship was a significant part of its plot. Aneka's sexual identity was also a big reason that Makayla Kowell decided to take on the part. Relationship was explored in the Panther spin-off comic book written by bisexual author Roxanne Gaye. So now, of course, it's being banned in China. And it's just a kiss on the forehead. I mean, it's not like it's a passionate. But it's clear that there's a passionate underpinning. Yes. So when are you going to see it? As soon as it comes to the theater, is it here now? I think it might have been there. I know. So Kevin Conroy, the man behind the gravely base voice of Batman and who was popularized that unmistakable growl that separated Bruce Wayne from the Caped Crusader has died. According to his representative, Gary Mernanou, he was 66. DC Comics also confirmed the news. Was he gay? Yes. And now there's another movie or another documentary about Whitney Houston. And it's making us fall in love with the icon all over again, according to sources. You might end up watching the trailer multiple times. We don't blame you. I tried to get it, but I couldn't. Known for Eve's Bayou and most recently Harriet, I want to dance with someone, somebody centers. Houston's rise to fame as she pushes through backlash as a black woman singer in a predominantly white genre and emerges as a legend. It also has her relationship with the woman she was seeing during that time. So that should be interesting. The mother of a gay man who was robbed and killed under suspicious circumstances in New York City earlier this week this year broke her silence this week calling out Manhattan's new district attorney for refusing to prosecute her son's alleged murderers. A gang suspected of prying on young gay man in hell's kitchen. Linda Clary told the New York Post district attorney Alvin Bragg is dragging his feet on bringing charges against the suspected killers of her son. John Umberger, 33 of Washington, DC, was drugged, robbed and murdered after a night out visiting gay bars in hell's kitchen in May. The same gang of men is believed responsible for the April death of Brooklyn social worker, Julio Ramirez, 25, who also died under suspicious circumstances after being drugged and robbed in the area. And at least a dozen more gay men who were also drugged and robbed. I can't be quiet anymore. Word needs to get out especially in the gay community that they are targeting gay men. Linda Clary told the Post later adding this same group of killers have drugged, robbed, and murdered countless young gay men in New York. You know Alvin Bragg is a problematic figure. I mean he's been he failed to prosecute Trump. Several people on his staff quit because of it. Yeah. I mean you know so he's not. Right. Yeah. Highly problematic figure. Yeah. One day after the 2020-22 midterm elections proved that Republican efforts to paint LGBTQ people as groomers and dangerous to children failed. Oh that's good. Tennessee lawmakers doubled down on their anti-LGBT sentiment by introducing two bills targeting the community. State lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 3 on Wednesday. They would prohibit doctors and families from making unnecessarily life-saving healthcare decisions to support transgender youth. Meanwhile SB 3 would make performing drag in public where children can see it a crime. Tennessee Majority Leaders William Lamberth and Jack Johnson introduced HB and SB 1 called the Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act. Any medical intervention that alters the child's hormonal balance and any procedure that enables them to identify as a different gender than that assigned at birth would be illegal under this bill and would anyone who violates its enforcement would face a $25,000 fine. Hold on to that thought for when I start talking about the national. Actress Hillary Burton Morgan responded to Candace Cameron Cameron Burr saying LGBT families won't be leads on the network. Won't be what? On the network it's they're talking about you know TV networks like ABC. Won't be leads on the network she left the Hallmark Channel for calling the Full House star disgusting. During an interview with the Wall Street Journal Burr discussed the network Great American Family which also set to include Hallmark stars Deanne Gottmichella and Laurie Langlin earlier this year. The Hallmark Channel released its first holiday film with LGBTQ couples as its lead. Burr shared the same movie won't be made for Great American Family Channel saying she believes the channel will keep traditional marriage at the core. Morgan said on Twitter in response to a headline about Burr's comment I don't remember Jesus liking hypocrites like Candy but sure make your money honey you ride that prejudice wave all the way to the bank so I know. And then you know there was this story and it was a much longer piece but I'm just going to briefly say this and let Keith do his wonderful who won the election stuff but it's about Jamaica and the problems that Jamaica has with LGBTQ people and that you know a lot of people go there and they go to resorts and they never know what's actually going on in Jamaica and I'm doing this story because it was written by an American lesbian and it was in and Jamaica is her home so like millions of Americans jasmine canik Jamaica is my top destination in the Caribbean but unlike millions of Americans I don't just come to Jamaica to vacation soak up the sun as a black lesbian for the past year I have traveled throughout Jamaica bearing witness to modern-day underground railroad while speaking to LGBTQ people about it's about what it's like living in a country that seemingly encourages them murder how cool I know so there is this whole if you look her up her name is jasmine canik and she wrote this and she is a a Jamaican woman who is doing a lot of work in Jamaica and working on the underground railroad and such so you could look it up and find out more information about this if you wanted to it was a very long piece but I think it'd be worth your while if you're interested in yeah this okay we should be looking for more of those you know what is happening under the surface particularly in countries that have a high degree of oppression persecution and they have so many gay you know like those ships they stop there all the time and that's tourist you're giving us your dollars right different and a lot of LGBTQ people go there too so anyway and an Olivia cruise the lesbian cruise line stopped there and none of the vendors would sell anything to them yeah all right so election night yes it wasn't bad it wasn't bad there may not have been a red wave but there was a lavender wave and let's start in our own home state and hopefully none of us are going to choke up but Becca Ballant yeah yes the first woman first lesbian Jew to be elected in Vermont and sent to the U.S. Congress and in her acceptance speech she said after 231 years Vermont has finally stepped up so and she was followed by Mike P check who was elected yes or treasurer okay Becca won with 63 percent of the vote very good Mike P check won with 66 percent of the vote sort of keep that figuring your head because all of the commentary sort of looking at the array the races the breakdowns approximately 65 percent of the vote went to the democrats 35 percent went to the republicans that gives you an indicator of how much just down party ticket voting happened so when we start looking at political initiatives here in Vermont you can expect 35 percent republican perspective how much of that is sort of the alt-right election deniers and when I went through and looked there were some election deniers who were running I don't see where any of them got elected but we're going to have to be watching and there were some notable ones that went down looking at proposition five reproductive liberty it passed by approximately 77 percent of the vote and it got support in all Vermont counts and that goes to show you that even the republican women who might have voted republican cross over the vote absolutely and that was sort of the strategy on a national level you know let let's talk about the economy let's talk about the issues of importance but let's talk about dobs and what that means and it really did carry the night looking at the composition of our legislature and this is the first time since 1966 that the balance has been this no this lopsided in the house 104 democrats five progressive three independents 38 republicans democrats alone they have a super majority because it's only 100 votes to override a veto and the other two states with super majorities are michigan and what was the third pennsylvania did they switch that pennsylvania flipped but it wasn't a no maybe um we have to go back to Minnesota i don't know i can look at that but go ahead and and looking at our senate 22 democrats one progressive seven republicans 20 is the magic number for a veto override oh okay but here's the part that warms the cockles of my heart yes coming into our legislature we are going to have 15 out lgbt and there may be more that we just don't know yet there will be 13 in the house and one of them is sardia lamout who came out when we were moderating the candidates forum which was a huge step and another is josie levitt who we interviewed and there are two in the senate which was we also have two out lgbt q plus states attorneys these are the people setting the agenda's prosecuting case on a state level one of them has already enacted um remove the bail provision because a lot in many instances imposing bail is sort of a class absolutely a process totally totally so looking at the national level and oh my wasn't it a long night oh but a good one looking at if the republicans do indeed get that slim majority in the house some of the things that we might expect is they're not going to move the bill forward about access to prep and insurance companies providing coverage things that they're already signaling look for the republican led house to be putting some push on is based on what you're saying to protect children's innocence act the no gender affirmation protection of women and girls in sports no transgender athletes um looking at the victory fund they were over 1065 lgbtq people who came for office there was a record 436 who got elected there was an out candidate in every state in the district of columbia and here are some of the notable races and in our own backyard moraheely lesbian governor of massachusetts oregon tina kotak she pulled it out at the last minute yep lesbian governor of oregon yes despite a third party challenge exactly almost lost it for her well that's why i said she pulled it out at the last minute jared polis got reelected in colorado looking to our neighbor new hampshire they elected james rossiner who is the first transgender man ever elected to a state legislature and they reelected jerry cannon who was their first transgender woman in their legislature chris pappas who was their out gay representative was reelected with a strong majority even though he was targeted looking in at main lori osher who we interviewed who started the lgbtq clacas she got reelected it was a good it was a good night did the um uh governor uh democrat elected in main janet mills yes she did she pulled i didn't put her down here because she's not lesbian no no i just wondering that was just i didn't hear that so yes she did okay by a wider majority than they thought she was going to have delaware sarah mcbride who was the first openly trans person elected to a state legislature was reelected to their senate so we zephyr will be the first out trans person to serve in the montana legislature montana i know well some of these are like what a democrat eric russell won his election for connecticut treasurer so so mike's going to have a colleague yeah and it also made him the first black gay statewide office holder in the us so according to this new york also had a super majority oh okay even though they had those four seats we lost through jerry mandory yeah well and and i've got it as if time allows i will touch on that you still have time um long beach california their mayor robert garcia became the first out lgbtq plus immigrant elected to the congress california's 42nd district okay and this is the one that again warms my heart in kansas charise davits even though redistricting and targeting her she won her seat she's going back in in texas two democrats christian manuel haze and venton jones had become the first out black lgbtq men elected to the legislate texas i'm going to have to do some more research and see if it's austin or houston probably or dalis yeah okay and and this was sort of a long one and it was you know there was a special election earlier this year and konturi heron became the first out lgbtq person ever elected to the kentucky wow and she beat her opponent with seven with 94 percent of the vote wow and she ran for re-election unopposed and she was and part of this is she was the person responsible for the unanimous passage of briana's law that banned the no knock warrants in louis belton so in florida michelle reiner civil rights attorney first out black queer women to win a seat in the florida house and actually what was interesting is her republican opponent ran his campaign from jail there we go sounds familiar and again in the special election earlier this year yolanda jones became the first out black lgbtq person ever elected to the texas legislature she has been re-elected very quickly because i want to know for the trivia trivia sean patrick meloni dameron he lot part of it was redistricting and a lot of it was credited he was out working on every other everybody else's campaign and was presumptive about his re-electability so and he i think he was one of our longest yeah out members of congress so all right get to that trivia that trivia the first openly lgbtq person elected to a state legislature in 1974 was elaine noble in massachusetts and she's i included her because becca balance specifically said this was one of my heroes this was a trailblazer this is one of the people responsible for my being here tonight and i heard her speak in 1975 in indiana and she inspired me tremendously so i'm so glad becca mentioned her she was a shiro and with that honey and she's still alive yeah in florida we did okay let's keep up the good work and remember to resist resist