 Hi, I'm Linda Quinlan. I'm Keith Ghostland. I'm Ann Charles. It's July 2nd, Tuesday. Welcome to All Things LGBTQ. We have a lot of news in store for you. OK, I guess we'll start with national news. I have the names right. The Atlantic James Kirkland kind of trashes pride. And we'll have more about that. Chicago, trans couple, announced pregnancy. Why Stories of LGBTQ Elders Matters. New York Governor Cuomo signs ban on gay and trans panic attack defense in murder cases. Let's cross that off my list. Trump's gay press secretary lies and makes excuses for his boss. Let's see. We have Victory Fund Endorses Mayor Pete for president. The staggering number of LGBT homeless youth demands action. Tiffany Caban, Trump's heaps praise on Brazil's disgraced anti-gay president. What? Tiffany Caban? Yeah. Who has just recently elected DA in Queens? Yes. The lesbian? Yes. OK, what did she do? What did she do? Oh, she's the queen's DA in the primary she won. OK, because you spoke of Jair Bolsonaro in that headline. That was a different one, sorry. I'm reading from the wrong line. It's a little confusing, these headlines. Sit back, put your feet up. It's going to be a bumpy night. We're just back from New York, or a little spacey. Kansas to allow gender marker change on birth certificates. Viola Davis is to play queer blues legend Ma Rainey on the big screen. That should be good. And Alabama homophobe Roy Moore is again running. So running for what? Yeah, really, running for what? Cracker Barrel bans event by Pastor who urges the execution of gays. You know, Cracker Barrel used to have a terrible reputation. It's a big turnaround for them. I know. It's evolving, maybe. And now we have some pictures of Ann and I. We're lucky enough to be in New York for 10 days doing all these pride events. And Ann will tell you a little more about that. I do have some pictures. And the Supreme Court said October 8th to hear whether LGBTQ workers can be fired for being gay. And a librarian in Jacksonville cancels LGBTQ youth event after it came under attack from an online activist. So we'll tell you a little bit more of that. So on to you, Keith. So we're taping on July 2nd. Tomorrow is the third. Did you see us in the parade? Did you vote for us? And what number are we? 51. 51. 51. If you can still vote. You can. Vote early, vote often. Yes. Wednesday, July 10th, 1 o'clock, Waterbury State Office Complex. This is the public comment on the proposed Medicaid changes relative to coverage for gender affirmation procedures. We'll talk a little bit more about that. Out in the open used to be Green Mountain Crossroads. September 27th through the 29th is their summit at Green Mountain Camp in Dumberston. This is their fifth summit for community organizing. Drag Queen Story Hour. July 13th, 10 AM, Kellogg Hubbard Library. There have been a little controversy with some not nice emails going into the library that is subsided. But it would be nice to see your smiling face there. We're going. A show of support. Pride Theater Festival at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, July 26th through August 4th. And Anne might be doing an interview with them for our July 20th show. I believe July 16th. I will double check this. She's reaching for her accoutrements. There is a book launch at the Pride Center also on July 13th, 4 o'clock. And it's Chris Tebbets. And people who have been in the area for a while would know that Chris was involved without right Vermont, the Pride Center, and has been a phenomenal author for books for young adults and adolescents. May I interject? It is July 16th when we're taping and you're a little air on the 19th and the 20th and after. I was kind of right. There we are. So Vermont has a new director of racial equity. We'll talk a little bit about that. Federal judge reviewing a case. Person who identifies as a transgender woman who was assaulted after she was placed in a men's facility in Vermont. And in addition to New York banning the gay and transgender panic defense, it's already the law in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Nevada. And the other big news is in Massachusetts. No, not Massachusetts. The other thing you were talking about is non-binary on state-issued IDs. New Hampshire didn't take any action on it and their legislature is adjourned. And as time permits, we'll talk a little bit about the Trevor Projects first survey, LGBTQ youth. I have some relatively short headlines, but much to follow. A global gay weekend, LGBTQ tour group cancels Ethiopia trip after death threats. Armenian transgender woman faces death threats after a parliament speech. Protests in Pakistan after a father is arrested for murdering his transgender daughter. Although David Davila, said to be Guatemala's first openly gay congressperson, and with a gay couple as stars, Mexico can tell a novella is set to make history. Those are my headlines. Those are them? Those are they. I'm not going to get a break. Oh, I'm not going to get a break today. And before I forget, the trivia question established over 25 years ago to help fund raise for HIV and AIDS. We didn't get it. And they're still at it. Who's they? OK. Now we know. Now it makes sense, but OK. So the first thing was James Kirkpatrick put this article in The Atlantic saying as black trans women are dying and LGBT rights are being stripped away, the Atlantic thinks it's a good idea to publish a neocon who says all our problems are behind us. On parade day, the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and for equality, James Kirkpatrick, if you want to know, is a gay conservative and to say that gay rights and he insists that the gay rights are over done, we're finished. I don't understand. You mean he's saying that gay rights, we don't have any gay rights? No, we don't need to worry about it anymore. We're done. We have everything we need. We should be content. We have everything we want, yeah. And the Atlantic published that. Yes. When she said it's behind us, I thought we were being chased. We could be. Chicago trans power couple announced pregnancy. Precious and Miles Brandy Davis, who appeared on Say Yes to the Dress, will welcome their first child. Miles, who identifies as two-spirited and trans masculine, underwent fertility treatment with the support of precious, a queer, biracial trans woman of color. And why stories of LGBTQ elders matter 50 years after Stonewall? A new project preserves the memories of those who help shape our present and future. Mason Frank conceived the idea of a project that was simple in nature and yet has never been done. He crisscrossed America, interviewing LGBTQ elder pioneers. The project's name is Outwards. And the title of the book is The Book of Pride. And we saw that at the New York Historical Society exhibit. And just to plug my friend Carla, she's in it. Carla J, LGBT activist and member of the original Gay Liberation Front. Is Donna in here too? Pardon me? Donna? I don't know. I only looked up Carla. Looks like a great collection. It does. It looks very interesting. Somebody might have to do a book review. Well? And do we all know who Trump's new press secretary is? The one who elbowed her way through the Freedom House at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea? That new press secretary? No. No? No. John Deere, who defends Trump's refusal to support the Equality Act and his decision to be in trans people from the military. He states that to say Trump's administration is anti-LBG is a smear campaign, goes on to say that the administration opposes the Equality Act because it is filled with poison pills, such as preventing businesses from using the religious. Filled with poison pills. Huh? Filled with poison pills. Yes, filled with poison pills. OK. What are these poison pills? Well, she's about to tell us. It acts against religious freedom. Oh, a poison pill, oh my. And he said that he would be fine with a cake shop that didn't give him cake. He would just go to another place, and it would be fine. And he would just go somewhere else. Other policies the administration puts forth are simply conscience protections. Ew. Did he defend why 45 spoke at an anti-LGBT group on the anniversary of marriage equality? Yeah. He's in favor. He's in favor, probably. And Senator Cory Booker says there is a crisis of silence, and it is killing trans women of color. I heard the speech, it's pretty good and pretty riveting. And so if you get a chance, you might want to look up his whole speech about that. And for my last story of this segment, does everybody know Megan Rapinoe? Yes. Yes. Is she a lesbian? She is. Hello. Wonderful. And her game is on today. I'm sorry to have missed it, but they're playing England. World Cup soccer? I know. Says teams can't win without gays. Is it soccer? Yes, it's soccer. I guess England. And the US was up two to one when I came down. Really? Oh, wow. For me to be gay and fabulous during the Pride month at the World Cup is really nice. The US will be playing England, which we now know we're winning so far, the semifinal today. She's also been in the news recently for her running argument with Trump saying, fuck no, I'm not going to the White House. And here's her picture. So with that, we'll move down the line. All right. How do you up flipping the bird at the White House? I know it. So Grimante is about to have a new director of racial equity. This is the position that was created both by legislative action and executive action. When they found out that there were some problems with how legislation had been passed, the governor issued an executive order last year. And then when they went back into special section, they quickly corrected the problem. So the person being hired is Susanna Davis. She is coming from the New York City Health Department. She is going to be in charge of making recommendations regarding fairness and diversity training. She's going to gather and analyze data, develop and conduct trainings to improve inclusion in state government. And there's a five person racial equity advisory panel that was established by the legislation. And the people who were on it were interesting. It was governor appointed. So it was going to be interesting to see where they go and the direction that they take. That's a disappointment. Well, and she starts July 29th. So we should be looking at making outreach. There is a queer community here. We have queer people of color. We're more than willing to work on those places where we intersect overlap with equity agendas. The other thing that was happening other than Linda's pocket talking to us, the Department of Corrections, and February of 2015 under then commissioner Lisa Menard who really did reach out to the LGBT community saying, please help us develop policies and directives. And it had to do with transgender people being housed in a facility that corresponded with their gender identity and not necessarily, you know, with their sex at birth. Yeah. It was a review process to make that decision. I mean, because there could be some extenuating circumstances where a decision might not be quite as clear. The case that's currently being reviewed, it was someone who had been identified as a transgender woman. And for a reason that is not clear was put into a mail-based facility where she immediately was encountering, as she said in her case, ridiculed, threatened, harassed by male inmates and correctional officers subject to constant sexual harassment, comments, demands, and threats. And it was the physical altercation that occurred where she was injured. Both parties involved were charged in convicted of simple assault. So some of the dynamics were a little unclear. But she was then moved to a woman's facility in South Burlington. So you kind of wonder what was being played out. And this is another place where there is an advisory group that's in place to help with these decisions and looking at who's involved as the director of the correctional facilities, Health Services Director, Casework Director. So you've got an administrator, a doctor, a social worker, and here's the piece where I need a whole lot more definition. A DOC employee with the ability and knowledge needed to represent LGBTQI interests. And who is this person? I have no idea nor do I know how they are chosen. But this is the case that's going to be working through the federal judge who was reviewing it said that they would be issuing a decision soon. And this was mid-June. So we're going to be watching to see the follow-up. And then looking at what it is that DOC does in response to this. Is there a commitment to greater in-service training inside the facility and greater involvement in this decision-making process? More than likely. It'll fly under the radar and then we'll see. We'll keep talking about it. Because one of the things that's obviously missing is this is all a very internal process and I get it about confidential information, et cetera. But there needs to be, particularly with this, there needs to be some kind of external review of the decision. And transparency. So talking about transparency. Well, I'd like to have a global gay weekend. All right. Well, around the world, parades to celebrate gay pride were held around the world commemorating the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. It was a day to recognize gains and demand new ones. In Istanbul, starting with the bad news, several hundred activists and supporters showed up for the parade on Sunday despite being banned by the authorities for the fifth year in a row. I have a picture of them fleeing tear gas. They dispersed after the police began firing tear gas and rubber bullets on an Istanbul side street. But in North Macedonia, revelers gathered for the Balkan country's first pride parade. And I have a picture of that in downtown Skopje. Skopje. In North Macedonia, they held hands during Skopje pride, a first for the conservative Balkan country, which is awaiting talks to join the European Union. So, and in Paris, I don't have a picture of that. Brutal heat wave, yet marchers braved the sweltering heat to turn out for the annual festivities. Not the usual picture with everyone marching under the oxygen free-off? No. They looked hot. People in painted faces and colorful costumes marched down the streets of Milan on Saturday, waving flags and holding signs. In Mexico City, a forerunner for gay rights, tens of thousands of people joined Mexico City's pride parade, reveling underneath rainbow colored banners and umbrellas. The city was the first Latin American capital to legalize gay marriage in 2009. In Singapore, a pink dot demonstration occurred, and I have a picture of that. Protesters demanded the repeal of a statute that criminalizes sex between men in the country. The annual event, which promotes the acceptance of LGBT people, is the closest thing that Singapore has to a gay pride parade. In Barcelona, parade participants strode atop of a bus, waving rainbow colored flags during the pride parade. They didn't stride, they rode on top of the bus. In Quito, Ecuador, participants celebrated the same month that the highest court legalized same-sex marriage, which I reported last time, making Ecuador the latest country in the Americas to recognize marriage equality. In Portugal, people held signs and rainbow colored flags under a strand of balloons in Lisbon during the pride event. In India, a year to celebrate supporters of the LGBTQ community danced in the streets in Chennai. Last September, as we may recall, India's top court struck down a law criminalizing homosexuality. A discrimination persists in the country. Thousands march in Ukraine's pride parade amid tight security. I have a picture of an estimated 8,000 people attending Ukraine's biggest ever pride parade. They ignored far-right protesters who sought to disrupt the celebrations, and they prevailed. I have more. Nepal... I can see the pages. Nepal held its first pride parade in Kathmandu, and I have a picture of hundreds of people in Nepal taking to the streets in the first ever pride parade. The parade was organized by queer youth. Nepal has celebrated the LGBT-plus community with marches and parades since 2002. However, this event marks the first time such an occasion has been put on during pride season. And one more, a parade in Gulf Salo Paulo. Salo Paulo in Brazil, despite unease over Brazil's conservative turn. You have a picture before you of one of the world's largest LGBT parades that took center stage with carnival festivities. President Jair, most Bolsonaro, as we know, is deplorable. As many as 3 million people were expected to take part in the annual march. And this is... This is a message for our current time, I think. Many participants said they were turning out because they feel their liberties are increasingly under threat. Monique Barber, a 31-year-old, said, I came to fight against homophobia and disrespect. She said she faced verbal attacks at the start of the march. And I think that echoes the current divisions around the world. Is this going to be a celebration or is this going to be a political protest? And we'll talk more about that a little later. There was a recent survey here that said people wouldn't be surprised if the queer community started rioting again. Oh, really? It was one of those MSN online polls. It's like looking at how the 45 regime is just pushing us back. They wouldn't be surprised if we took to the streets and started rioting. Get ready. I'm ready. I have another important picture of penguins celebrating gay pride in the London Zoo. They have flags and everything. There's a picture before you of three penguins and the banner reads, some penguins are gay, get over it. And homage to the stone walls, get over it campaign against LGBT bullying. Reggie and Ronnie got together in 2014 and you see a picture of them and a third penguin who is unnamed. They adopted an egg. It was abandoned by another couple. They shared parenting duties of their chick, Kitan, who was fledged in the nest. Although their baby is now grown, Ronnie and Reggie are still going strong and are often found snuggling in their nest box. The zoo is home to 93 penguins. Total and Ronnie and Reggie are not the only same-sex couple the zoo said. So observe them with the banner. How cute is that? And that concludes my lesbian, my LGBT pride parade coverage from around the world. All right. And we have to talk a little bit about the time of the New York one. Country rap superstar. Little Nos X comes out 20-year-old. He's a 20-year-old that is behind the mega hit Old Town Road. Comes out on the last day of Pride Month. And here's his picture here. So... And let's see. Oh, they had this survey in LA and there's a staggering number of LGBTQ homeless youth. There is a 12% increase in the Los Angeles area. And homelessness is the biggest social crisis in Southern California today. But among the 9,000 young people under 24, 40% identify as LGBTQ. The Chicago Institute study found across the U.S. LGBT youth are more than double the risk of homelessness compared to their non-LGBTQ counterparts. So... And let's see if I got everything I wanted to say. Oh. You got lots of notes. I do. Okay. And I did crack up. Oh, and there's a library because you were talking about the... Drag Queen Story Hour. Drag Queen Story Hour. However, the one in Florida canceled it. Was it Drag Queen Story Hour or are they the ones that canceled the prom? It was a prom, but it was also... And it was an evangelical... Jacksonville, Florida canceled an LGBTQth event after it came under attack from online... Now, you'll like this. Elizabeth Mummy Johnston. And 100 students had signed up for the Story Book Pride Prom. So it is the prom. Yes, but it was like a Story Book prom because it was at the library. Oh, I get it. Literary Italian. Yeah. Professor Charles, you should be pleased. Not that it was canceled. I lament that. So what Elizabeth Mummy Johnston did was she put the library's phone number and email address on Facebook and told followers to call and show their disgust at this event. A familiar tactic. I was going to say, remember that tactic because that's what the catalog covered had endured for a while. If you really looked at the origin of the messages, very few were actually from Vermont. I don't think there were really any from Montpellier itself. The public forum that's happening relative to the Medicaid coverage, they are being slammed right now. Anti-trans, hate as emails. And it's the same kind of process. Somebody puts it out on Facebook. Our social media somewhere, yeah. And it goes out into that national network and you've got people from all over just spewing all kinds of venom. So you think attention has shifted from the Drag Queen Story Hour here in Montpellier to this? I really do. I think it's the same group. Looking at the sequence of events, first it was the response to Drag Queen Story Hour, then it was to the coverage that insurance would now cover gender affirmation procedures for minors. And then right on the tail of it was the change in the Medicaid coverage for procedures. So it's gone from sort of this community esoteric to, oh my goodness, our youth to the state we'll be paying for. So that just ignited it. Well, on a happier note. Okay. I've got to have some pictures of Ann and my trip to New York City Pride. And... You were just social butterflies. We have a picture of Reclaim Pride with Larry Kramer giving a talk about his life and the movement. And Reclaim Pride was the non-corporate grassroots organization. Which was political as opposed to corporate. And I mentioned it on the last show and gave directions and so forth. So that was there. And it echoes, I think, movements that Keith was talking about around the world where a lot of constituencies are saying, no, it's not time for a party, it's time for a political action. We still have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of work in the world to do. And 45,000 people, a march. Attended this one. And attended this Reclaim Pride. And next year will be even bigger. I think so. Just an afternoon with a few friends. And next you have the lovely Dykes on Bike. Dykes on Bikes, the three of us. And then there's Ann, me, and Donna Garchock. A former guest on the program, original member of Gay Liberation Front. Our first Dyke march, and it was fabulous. They were like, what, 30,000? I mean, it was an incredible amount of people that were packed in, but it was fun. It was great. Very supportive. We were approached by the local news station, Donna and Linda and I. And it was a study in supportiveness. Donna spoke highly of our show. We commended her as an founding member of Gay Liberation Front. And her photography. And a photographer, yeah? Uh-huh. Yes. Anyway, those were those pictures. Yeah. So, the Trevor Project. Yeah. This is the national hotline for LGBTQ youth to reach out saying, I need some support. So you need to keep that in mind when I start talking about the results of their first survey. Okay. So, because I tried to compare it to our youth risk survey to see if there were some common trends. And I found that the first thing I was stumbling across is everyone in the Trevor Project is already identifying as LGBTQ, right? Behavior risk, it's all Vermont students. Entirely different target group. Trevor Project, I'm calling you because I want help. There is something happening versus this sort of global what's happening out there and really lacking the specifics of where to really look. But what the Trevor Project found and it's staggering, you know, 71% of LGBTQ youth reported feeling sad or hopeless for at least two weeks in the past year. 39% seriously considered attempting suicide in the preceding 12 months. More than half of transgender and non-binary youth had seriously considered it. So looking at all of that federal push, anti-trans, what's happening. Two in three youth reported someone tried to convince them to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. That's much higher than what we were seeing for other statistics. I wanted to find the particular... 87% of LGBTQ youth said it was important to them to reach out to a crisis intervention organization that focuses on LGBTQ youth. You have to have an understanding of who we are before. And they also found that youth aren't out to their adults and more youth are not out about their gender identity than they are their sexual orientation, which would explain why 58% of youth who identified as transgender or non-binary reported being discouraged from using a bathroom that corresponded with their gender identity. So this year is when Vermont will again be doing the behavior risk survey. It'll be all middle school and high school students, but we won't get the results until the spring of 2020. So we'll be looking for that. Okay, let me direct you to some pictures that I have of Aldo Davila, Guatemalan's first openly gay congressperson. He ran... It was interesting because he's HIV positive, he's 41, he lives with his partner and his dog, who's named Valentino. He's the dog that did it. But he wasn't named on the ballot. So his party won and he has ascended to power or gotten elected. But he wasn't specifically voted for although he plans to focus on LGBTQ rights. I'd also like to move to Armenia, which is the 47th most homophobic country in the world. You want to move to Armenia? Oh, I'd like to direct your attention to Armenia's transgender woman who her name is Lilit Marcheroson and I have a picture of her. She courageously spoke before parliament as a transgender person, the first person in Armenia to do so. She's gotten death threats. The police are doing nothing. It's a small ex-Soviet Caucasus country, one of the most virulently homophobic in the world along with Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. I informed police that I was receiving death threats but they did nothing to protect me. So she's living at a friend's house, she can't go out, bad situation, another awful thing. I have a picture before you of Maya, a 19-year-old transgender woman who was found riddled with bullets by the river bank in Pakistan. She left her province and moved into a transgender enclave. Her father and uncle came to pick her up. Her father signed an affidavit that he wasn't going to harm her and then hours later she was found dead. He's been charged. What will he get, a slap of the wrist? I don't know. I can't tell you that. And this was Pakistan. Pakistan, which is at least legally fairly supportive of transgender people. In theory. And I guess... The government is not necessarily family and legislative change. It is not in and of itself brings social change and acceptance. Exactly. If I have time, I don't really, but I'd just like to mention that this Mexican telenovela is set to make history because it's called Together the Heart is Never Wrong. It's set to be the first with a gay couple as the leading characters. It centers on two teenagers who move to Mexico City to attend a university. So I'm going to tell you more about that in subsequent episodes. Is this something that we're going to be able to see on Netflix? I don't know. I hope so. With subtitles. That would be good. I do know that telenovelas are broadly socially influential in Mexico. And what have we been watching on cable? Watching Pose. Tales of the City. Tales of the City. But now, I think it would be... These are soap operas. Yes, of course! And I had a lengthy article about soap operas that I'm going to share with you in this subsequent episode. All right. But since we've been talking about Drag Queen Story Hour, I think it might be appropriate to introduce a wonderful interview that Keith conducted today. Let's look at it now. So, it's time again. You've been asking for it. Who? Their focus group. The focus group loved you. They were wondering when you were coming back. Never. And we were saving you for a special occasion. Well, this seems pretty special. And this is it. So girls, it's been a year. One full year. No, it's been a year and a half. Yeah, it's been over. So what have you been up to? And we might move into some specifics. Well, we've been performing across the state. We're trying to make it at large. Get out of Chittenden County. We have a hashtag. The other 13. The other 13 is 13 other counties in Vermont that need love. And we wondered when y'all were going to know this. Because we've been We've been missing you. Wow. We spend a lot more time in Washington County than most of the other Queens out there. That is. That was our first place to branch out to. Sweet Melissa's. And then, most recently, we went to the Northeast Queendom. It was a scary place, let me tell you. I went to the Queendom. I was one of the people who inaugurated it as the Queendom back in the 80s. Did you get some big ol' scissors for that? We can't talk about what I got. But it's nothing that a little penicillin couldn't cure. Yeah, we were up in Brighton in Essex County. We did drag bingo there, which was really fine. We sold out the American Legion on Memorial Day weekend. We did a very inappropriate version of the Pledge of Allegiance that did not go over too well. But they did. Neither did our political jokes. Our political jokes did not land on there. Something about it going red in the most recent election means they don't quite like our Trump jokes. So we may not be going back anytime soon, but we were there and it was great. We can check it off the list. We were actually invited to go to Newport next. I'm going to tell you, Newport used the same kind of caution in Brighton. But have a good time. Anything really like east of Morrisville we have to do that for, you know. Northeast of Morrisville. Okay, but the biggie that y'all have been doing the biggie I haven't had a biggie. Oh, this. Yes, this. Drag has a story hour. Look at this toe. Look at her. Might I be able to get one of these? I think you can get them at nightpain.com, you know, like nightmare, but then we put pain at the end. Pain like champagne. Not like pain like hurt out. Not campaign. No, someone did do that recently. It's P-A-G-N-P. Clearly, they have not come to a drag queen story hour where we teach literacy to children and adults across this state. Because you'll reach out and try and entertain and bring light into anyone's life. Just about anyone. There is a cost, but just about anyone. And the reason we're doing this now is because you're going to be at the Kellogg Hubbard Library on Saturday, July 27th. No, the 13th. The 13th? Yes. Oh my God, I'm going to show up dressed on the wrong day. Ooh, what are you wearing? Yeah. I'll have to coin it. 13th. We can work you into a book if you'd like to come in character. The 13th, 1030 in the morning and then you're at Williamstown in the afternoon. We are. In Orange County. Did the libraries reach out to you or did you approach them saying look at the fabulous thing that we have to offer you? Oh, they already heard about it. This is our second time going to both of those libraries. Really? Yes. We've gone a lot of places in a year and a half. Did you know that besides the very first time we did it in September of 2017 we have not had to ask a library? We've just we had to ask, obviously, that first one was just a nude for a month. Do you have fabulous things? And then we've just been waiting. They've just been coming in. It's amazing. That warms my heart. Yeah, it's the same. It's a lot less work for us. Okay, but I also want... It's one way or another. We're going to like one to two libraries per month. Yes. Because, girlfriend, you need to invest all of your time in looking as glorious as you do. I know. Because that takes so long. It does. This is not a casual. This is casual. Yeah, it's a caftan. I'm on vacation. Well, this is because it's a first night event versus representing a princess. I'm a queen. And I'm a clown. I'm not going there. You can't make me. Okay, but there's also been just a touch of controversy. A touch? A sprinkling. That where every now and then someone might be trolling Drag Queen Story hours and trying to call libraries in creating descent that isn't really there. Exactly. And I think anyone who has come to our Drag Queen Story hours and have seen really what goes on, the books we read, the songs we sing, the sign language we attempt. I didn't know. We teach sign language. I knew you did things with your hands. I didn't realize it was productive. Very productive. We speak languages with our hands. And swirling horizon. But anyway, anyone who comes to the Drag Queen Story hours and experiences firsthand what we do, there would be not a single reason to hate on it. When you started with approaching libraries about doing Drag Queen Story hours, what is it that you were hoping was going to happen? How do you... We would read books to children and be fabulous and be better than the other ones that do it on a regular basis. And be visible with your role models. That's the answer you were looking for. That's the real answer. Hi. Give us a leading question and that's what you want to hear. It goes back to that political agenda again. You really promote something on this show. If I could say so myself. Promoting social change. Just positive role models. Sort of an alternative to what it is that they may be encountering from other aspects of their lives. Just showing them what a little bit of humor. A little bit of glitter. Sometimes some feathers. And just being queer role models. It's really fun. We get to show up and we have every time we go to the libraries it's LGBTQ families that are showing up time and time again. And what we hear from every librarian is that they're seeing folks who have never come into the library before. Ever. And it's packed with all these people who are able to find all these fabulous, amazing, inclusive books and we're then reading and there's a surplus that they're able to go out and have a whole stack that we make them prepare ahead of time and we choose only five of them. I don't like the 30 books that they pull for us. So you're strengthening and creating community in places where it may not have existed before you went in? You want to say that? I think I just did that. Yeah, that was a good claim. You can quote me on that one. Darren's line there. You can quote me. Different programs, sister. I was on You Can Quote Me Before Darren Was Even Born, but we're not going Wow. There we go. In addition to Drag Queen Story Hour you've been doing performances. You did a benefit for the House of LeMay. We did. In St. Albans. In another distant county. Yeah. Great. This is our fourth show in Franklin County. In St. Albans? Yes. And we did a Drag Queen Story Hour in Fairfield. Have you performed at Babes yet? No. Not yet. Waiting for the book game. No, I would have gone down there but I've got a prior engagement and she's going to be out of town. A world prior. But Babes hasn't approached you yet. Back to what we did. We did a fundraiser. We raised over $2,000 We don't need them to call us. We can always call them. We'd love to go down there. Yes. Seriously? They're always listening. And talking to us. She didn't know it. For people who aren't aware Maggie is Margarita from the House of LeMay and she's a new of late and is gradually working her way back to being on the stage and just as trashy as ever. She was out the show. She came out for the party. I heard she came out for the party. She wore her camera on. She did. Camo for her is leopard skin. We were able to This is your camera. This is my camera. That's incredible to think of. A relatively small town in Rural Vermont. Being able to generate sales for a drag and burlesque show. That's incredible. Eventually you're going to reach that status where people are going to look at you and say you're the icon. You're the one who wedges through this difficult time. That is our goal. So, people have a real sense of Drag Queen Story Hour. I didn't get that. Sorry. We're going to ask you to treat Linda as the child, which, depending on the time of the day, could be, well, we have so many options here, but we're going to go with our greatest hit. It comes at every single Drag Queen Story Hour, and it's called A Big Eye Took My Fall. It's part of the Piggy and Elephant story. Yeah, it's our Dostoe believing. It's our vogue. You know, it's what we all want to hear. It's our personal empowerment story. And a good little zoom in here on the, oh my goodness, the merchandise. Sticker. More stickers also available online. Ow. Yeah, no. We did not write this book. We didn't write it. Nor did we steal it from the Jerick Furtale Library. They gave it to us. OK, come on. Are we ready? Would you like me to show the pictures to the child? Oh, OK. OK, here we go. Big Eye Took My Ball, Jarold's Big Ball, and it was so fun. And then a big guy came, and, and, and. That is not right. Big guys have all the fun. What about the little guys? What makes those big guys think that they're so big? Their size? Well, I'm big too. I will get your big ball from that big guy, my hero. Here I go. Let's see how big this big guy really is. Oh, OK, oh, OK. Did you get my ball back? That is a big guy. You did not say how big he was. He is very big. He is bigger than I am, much bigger. I am smaller than he is, much smaller. He is so big, big, Jarold. You didn't get my ball back, did you? I did not. And then we do a little. We have a character change. We have a character change. My little ball. That is your ball, and you think it's little. Big guy, would you like to play wheelball with us? We haven't made it up yet. With a little help, we can all have Julia trained in the School of Dory from Finding Nemo. She is the master class in Wales speak. And I did a weekend in Queens. And with that, we say July 17, 13, July 13. I promote it on every show. 1030 Kellogg-Hodgard Library, thank you. Thank you. Can't wait to be back on again. Well, that was fun. We were on site. It was great. Conducted at the Pride Center. It was totally out of control. I got the camera to work. So our trivia established over 25 years ago to help raise funds for HIV and AIDS. Still at it, who are they? They might have been the subject of a 2008 documentary, Sling Backs in Syrup, hailing from the hot damn trailer park in Beaver Pond. It could only be the House of LeMay. Can we see that documentary anywhere? I want to say it was posted on their Facebook. OK. I'll look. Research that. Yeah. So I think it's time for us to say farewell for the moment. But before we do, we want to urge everybody to resist.