 I'm Keith Ghostland, and welcome to All Things LGBTQ. We are taping on Tuesday, December 14th. As we always say, we tape at Orca Media in Montpelier, Vermont, which we recognize as being unceded Indigenous land. And with that, we're going to have some headlines. We are. Some snappy headlines. In the news. Woo! According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, at least 20 million adults in the U.S. could be LGBTQ. The report analysis data from the Census Bureau says 8% have responded and said they were LGBTQ. That's about double earlier estimates. And then we're going to have a short little piece later, hopefully, about dismantling Roe versus Wade and how that could imperil the core of basic human rights. The Catholic Diocese says that LGBT people are not allowed sacraments. In Michigan, the church has been told that its church leaders must deny baptisms, confirmations, and other sacraments to LGBTQ people unless they have repented. Who's repented here? Yeah, really. I'm sorry, but I thought that bread was kind of stale. And this is one of my favorites. It's an oxymoron. Lesbian Fox News, Tammy Bruce, who claims to be a feminist, said the president was tampering with the sacred words of the Declaration of Independence. Which president? Biden. Well. I was going to get to it. Okay, but Fox News, I figured, her president. And Biden said at a summit that all men and women are created equal. Bruce was president of LA's chapter of now in the 90s, if you can believe that. Oh, I can't believe that. She also says that she is sorry that she got the vaccine. What a decline. I know. So she said, you know, like, well, you know, it's just as men. So he should have just said, oh, men are created. I think she went to Flint and drank the water. Maybe. I don't know. Okay. Lisa Middleton becomes the first trans mayor in California to be mayor of Palm Springs. Oh. I know. Time to vacation. Jesse Smallett has been found guilty on all five counts in a hoax attack trial. It's been three years since the fatal incident. His hoax attack was settled and he faces up to three years in prison. So we'll see what happens with that. And a transgender woman wins settlement in her suit against California gym. Church fitness denied Christine Wood access to the woman's locker room and other facilities at the gym. And then we're going to have another little story about police, trade homophobic and racist text, jeopardizing hundreds of cases. Minnesota town rallies around outed trans child and Hastings residents rallied in support of a trans child who was outed as their mother, when their mother ran for reelection on the school board. Their mother, Kelsey waits was called a child abuser by a political opponent because she affirms her child's identity anti LGBTQ represent Devin Nunes to leave Congress to leave Trump's new media company. Did you know he had a new media company? Yes. It's totally discredited already. And it's already under investigation by the stock exchange for how they're promoting it. And anyway, he's going to be the new CEO. Goodbye to him. Robert Furling's treats threats include saying an attack on New York City Pride march would make the Pulse massacre shooting look like a cakewalk. We'll have more like in that if we can. Lillian Bakhtaria is the first non-binary member of the Atlantic City Council. Atlantic? Or Atlantic? Atlantic. Atlantic. Atlanta. Sorry. Atlantic City. I'm sorry. I threw you off there. And it again, the North Carolina Lieutenant Governor is added again saying that LGBT people are maggots and flies. So he's a charming fellow. Montana State Senator Teresa Manzela says attacks on LGBT people is normal consequences for the choices they make, like holding hands in public. So there's a lovely person. Then we have Obed Steven Sonheim, which I'll get into more later. And a 12-year-old dies by suicide after bullies say he'd go to hell for being gay. He was the seventh grader in Tennessee. He played trombone and practiced with the marching band. He loved to paint. And he loved to paint his fingers. That is like so awful. And then, oh, Wonder Woman, I have a picture, has a super girlfriend in the new comic series. The Amazon Warrior, she has a kiss in the dark night of steel. Wonder Woman's Quidditch was confirmed in 2016 by Greg Ruka, who worked on Wonder Woman's comics for DC during the 2000s. You know, there's a really interesting story, and if I have time, I'm going to get into it about Wonder Woman and the man who wrote it and all the various things. Actually, there was a book written about it. I can't remember the name, but it has some really interesting sides to that story. So if we can, we'll talk more about that. Single All the Way is a cherry, if not cheesy, holiday romantic comedy, Netflix's first gay Christmas rom-com, both cute and safe. And then Los Angeles-based artist, Lauren Wise, not only did Wise paint two murals in LA for the Queer to Stay initiative created by the Human Rights Campaign and Showtime, and opened a solo show, Edelon Vessel at Huron Arts in San Francisco. But they also opened up to the world about who they are. They came out this year as non-binary. And then we have a little story about J.K. Ron's and what trouble she's been up to lately, if we have time. You can have it. She's international, but you can have it. Oh, that's true. I'm willing to give her away, just as a matter of principle. I know. Yes, that's true. I forgot. She's British. Well, the Wonder Woman book is the secret history of Wonder Woman. That was a great book. I loved it. Jill LePore. Uh-huh. Yeah. So we have that. And then there's a story of, what's her name, Wilder, who wrote A Little House on the Prairie. Marjorie? No. Some Rawlins, Wilder? Yeah. No, anyway, Wilder. It turns out that they think Rose wrote the book. Mm-hmm. But... Who was the lesbian? Who was the lesbian who came out as a lesbian. So we thought that might be a little Christian, because they love Little House on the Prairie. And if you watch it, the little girl is a little butch. So they think that, you know, I don't think anybody's actually confirmed it, but... Lori Ingalls, Wilder. Yes. And her daughter was Rose. And Rose, they think, actually wrote them and was a lesbian. And the Wonder Woman book came out in 2014. Yeah, it was really good. I would recommend people to read it. Mm-hmm. Okay, I have a lot to cover. So unusual. I know. I thought maybe I'd just do Asia to start and then do Europe, which I also have a lot about and there are some headlines from Latin America. But let's... The stories from Asia are all positive. Well... Well, this isn't so positive, but it's a positive spin. Six countries refused to show West Side Story due to trans inclusion. They are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait. And they all signed onto a ban after Disney refused their censorship requests. We know about West Side Story. Yeah. It's an adaptation of the 1961 film. This one is... This current one is written by Tony Kushner based on Romeo and Juliet. But in the original, there was a Butch young woman who is now a trans character called Anybody's, portrayed by non-binary actor Iris Menos. So you know that Tony Kushner wrote Angels in America. And what's good about this story is that Disney refused to bow to pressure. And this is the second Disney film in recent months to be banned in the Middle East. Under a set of similar circumstances, Marvel's Eternals was denied release in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. After, again, Disney refused censorship requests. It's widely believed that there was a gay couple in the film called Festos and Ben, who share an on-screen kiss. And that's why those countries banned it. So good for Disney. Can I say something about West Side Story that I heard? Sure, you can. Please do. Okay. Well, I heard that... Who did it? Lucas or... Spilberg. Spilberg. But you know, everybody that he had on the crew were white and men. There was not one woman or person of color to be camera person, stage, people, or anything. And you don't get to anybody who is a woman or person of color until you get to like wardrobe. But everybody in the main movie makers were white and male. And the other criticism I heard about it was they made, what was her name? Maria. Maria. Not look like the rest of Puerto Rican... The criticism was that they were trying to find someone who looked like Natalie Wood as opposed to a person who would be Puerto Rican. Well, Marina was Anita. She didn't play in... Yeah, but Natalie Wood played, and she wasn't even Puerto Rican. But... So anyway, that was the criticism I heard about that. Very interesting. I think it's on HBO. Yeah. If you want to check it out for yourself. Well, that's very interesting, Linda, and informative. Now this is a story Keith might relate to. LGBTQI activists in Sri Lanka welcomed major court decision amid the urgent need for reform. So LGBTQI activists have filed a petition in the Court of Appeal against the police in a widely condemned homophobic training session. You know about this? Well, the good news there is that the Court of Appeal has accepted this petition, so it's moving forward. But the recording of the training program went viral in which the purported counselors, what they called her, was seen making openly homophobic remarks to an audience of police men and women. The trainers heard advising police officers against same-sex unions, adding that the members of the audience would not have been born had their parents been gay. She also claimed the governments in Sri Lanka had been toppled over their stance on homosexuality, maybe referring to a previous administration that had at least one openly gay cabinet minister within its ranks. She was over her, she was recorded posing the question, would you like your child to be a victim of a homosexual, to which the audience replied no in unison. It's like that, those sermons of that North Carolina lieutenant governor. So anyway, they're cheered up even though things are pretty bad in Sri Lanka. They're cheered up that at least the Court has accepted the petition and it'll go forward. More pretty good news from Asia, LGBTQ groups cheer Tokyo's same-sex partnership move as a big step forward. So it isn't gay marriage, but same-sex couples in Tokyo can now register their relationship and gain some of the privilege enjoyed by married couples, such as being allowed to rent places to live together and gain hospital visitation rights. It's short of gay marriage, of course. And the other interesting thing is that there's analysis that suggests that having the Olympics there improved things. Rights activists said, I'm sure the Olympics had an impact since Tokyo has been thinking of what kind of legacy they should leave. Also in a more cynical point of view, it's been in Tokyo's interest because they're interested in branding themselves as a major international center and attracting foreign companies, many of which have greater emphasis on LGBTQ rights. More good news, and here's a picture before you, of Nazrul Islam, Ritu, 45, Bangladesh's first transgender mayor. So the small town in Bangladesh has a population of 40,000, it means Ritu— Well, it's more than Montpelio. It's right, it's pretty big. Her victory, she says her victory showed growing acceptance of the hijra community, which is umbrella term for people who don't refer to themselves as either a man or a woman. The glass ceiling is breaking, and it's a good sign. So now I would like to go to a clip if I could, but before we show it, let me describe it. In this intimate yet powerful debut feature, a local transgender filmmaker lays bare her vulnerabilities to reclaim her identity. This is filmmaker Quinn Wong's journey that she's sharing as a transgender woman in Singapore from her days as a teenage boy coming out to her uncommonly supportive family, to her present as a woman about to marry the love of her life. She's located herself within the local trans community. It's a documentary that weaves in interviews with different generations of trans women, including Anita, a former legend of Bugus Street, a world-famous stomping ground for trans women in their 50s and 280s, and Luan Loh, a trans youth activist. So, Wong is age 46, and let's look at a clip. All right. Yeah. When I was 20, I fell for a boy. But you're not a girl, he said. And I felt ashamed for thinking I was a girl. Once, about three, second time now. Oh boy, yeah. It's lucky. So many trans people came and come out. Yes, exactly. And then, in itself, it's a kind of violence already. You know, I've been hiding all these photographs for so long. Yeah. I've been in this past for so long. I'm tired. You can call me Anita. Because in Bugus Street, they call me Anita, you know. They want to know our life. Because they're curious. We feel like we are a star. I feel like I was born there, you know. It's going to be close. There's no more Bugus Street. Very publicly up. I can handle that. Can I truly feel at home where I'm not wanted? By hiding parts of me. Am I complicit in erasing myself the way our institutions are doing? We've always been here and we belong. Mine's a story of instinct and self-determination. This is who I am. A woman who has taken a different path to womanhood. Now, should I go on to Europe or should we go on to our colleagues? Because we have a trivia question. Oh, yes. Let's hear it. Well, let's hear from you, Keith. So, this is this week's trivia. Founded in 1986 as friends caring for friends in an often hostile medical and social environment, this LGBTQ plus organization continues to provide advocacy education in services to members of Vermont's underrepresented communities. So, think about it. So, by now you know she made it official. She was the first lesbian elected to the Vermont Senate. She was the first woman and lesbian to be elected President Pro Tem and she wants to be the first woman and lesbian elected from the state of Vermont to the U.S. House of Representatives. This is the opening campaign for Becca Ballant. I know what can happen when we turn away from each other. My grandfather was murdered on a death march in the Holocaust. I had the knowledge that people can be led astray when they're scared. I knew I was gay and that was different. And I knew that some people were scared of my kind of different. I think I was a middle school teacher because I did not want any of my students to feel that sense of fear that they weren't going to have someone showing up for them. Ms. Ballant was someone who saw students as people. She accepted everyone for who they were and let us figure out what we liked and what we didn't like. She inspired a lot of confidence, not just in me but in my classmates as well. That's why people like Becca really can just make the world of difference. You show up as a middle school teacher because you believe in possibility that change and growth can happen. When we first moved into our house here in Brattleboro, the neighbor across the fence had an anti-gay sign. I get out of the car and I'm pregnant. And at that moment I felt like how are we going to make this work? From a wave to a conversation to a borrowed lawn mower, things changed. And the sign came down. And we felt the relief that comes when we stop turning away from each other and start meeting each other face to face. I think that we are often encouraged to shut people out. That is not the way forward for us as a community or a state or as a nation. I've never backed away from fighting for what's right. I've done it in my neighborhood here. I've done it in every job that I've had. History in Montpelier. Becca Ballant, the Democrat from Wyndham County, is the first woman and first openly gay person to ever serve as Vermont Senate president pro temp. In Vermont, we delivered the state's largest investment in affordable housing, paid sick leave, workforce development, pathways to good-paying jobs, and we protected reproductive liberty for all. This is going to be a tough fight, but I've been in tough fights before. And I know change is possible. It's not just about how we deliver on a promise, it's how we do that work because we've got to deliver on some big ticket items that families need across this country. Medicare for all from Newport to Springfield, a green new deal that creates jobs from Bennington to Lindenville, paid family and medical leave for parents from Burlington to White River Junction, racial justice and housing justice for all Vermonters. I'm Becca Ballant, and I'm running for Congress because there's always a way forward when we turn towards each other. I'm starting by turning to you. I hope you'll join us. I love that. It's so cool. And we were all on the grassroots call. One of the things is they had 350 people who signed up for the grassroots group. That's impressive. They had hoped to get a donation of $10 per participant for to get $3,500 good opening bid, and then an hour they had over $10,000. That looks good for her. Sit back. Let's enjoy the ride. So, local Garden Dreams CD by Aaron Marcus and Sam Sanders. Aaron's been interviewed by us. Aaron was the person who was responsible for the gender-neutral contra-dances, larks and ravens. Sam, if you've listened to VPR, it's the voice you won't forget. And he narrates incredible poetry to Aaron's music. So, available at Bookspealer. If it's not in stock, ask them to please get it. And Zach will put up the information of how you can get it online. All right. So, if you checked your mail recently, this is everyone's annual fundraising time. Before you just donate, I want you to think about what are the organizations that have really provided services to you? Which are the ones that have enriched your lives? Who are the organizations that you look to for supporting guidance? So, with that said, these are some of Vermont's LGBTQ plus organizations and some of the work they're doing. And I'm going to start with Rainbow Umbrella of Central Vermont and the Women's Discussion Group, which continues to meet. And how long have we been meeting? Over five years. I think about six years. You've been meeting longer than we've been taping this show. Show about six years. And lively discussion, thoughtful discussion. And there's also that book group, but if you're interested, you have to email Linda because she's not going to remember the book that they're reading and discussing. I do remember it this time. And you're the only one who can let them into the group, right? Yes. The book is fairest. My marriage is to loosen. All right. Also want to, again, remember outright Vermont who for over 35 years has done Friday night group every Friday night. And even during the height of COVID, they made sure there was a safe place for our youth. Thank you. Price Center of Vermont, they're doing the Vermont Pride Awards. And by the time this airs, they will have had their streaming event. They are giving their awards this year for health and wellness. Those people who have advanced the LGBTQ plus inclusion and services to from a health perspective, they're giving it to Representative Brian Sheena, who is always out there in the front saying, what can we do? What can we do? What more can we do? They're giving it to Coco Casper, who we highlighted on the previous show, Bad Indian Wife. And even though the title makes you sit up, this is a counseling service for those of us who usually don't get access to counseling that truly can respond to our needs. And they're also giving it to Vermont Cares. Good. Out in the open in Brattaburl, they're continuing to do their radio hour, go on, look for their blog. And the project that they're doing that gets my attention is the Rural Queer Community Care. You think it was my first time talking. And this is their mission statement. We are building resilient and joyful rural LGBTQ communities which entails the radical act of community care. As a rural queer community, we take care of each other through acts of love, creativity, and resistance. We take care of each other by building a community where we are seen, visible, and powerful. And then Queer Connect, both Rutland and Bennington, they continue to do their healing circle. And we've got to get online and join it because it's a monthly event. And regardless of your belief, it's a place to take all of that stuff we carry and just let it go. They're also continuing their sapphic story hour. Who knows? They may invite you back. And they also are doing a group called the LGBTQ Plus Community of Vermont. And it's just a forum to bring people together saying, okay, you're not the only queer out there. Here's a place for you to talk about what are the issues that are of importance to you to develop a sense of community and sort of lessen that rural isolation that we feel at times. So when we come back around, we're going to spend some time in Canada because we may be immigrating. I like sometimes Canada. But until then, you new-fi girl. Okay. Well, I think a lot of people probably have many things they can add to this and this is the dismantling of Roe v. Wade. Constitutional lawyers say we can lose other rights such as same-sex marriage, birth control, and fertilization if the Supreme Court overrides or weakens Roe v. Wade. Supreme Court opinions are often difficult to predict. But a majority of justice on the conservative court seem to be inclined to severely curtail or override Roe v. Wade, which protects abortion rights. It's imperiled. Even interracial marriage could be imperiled because all are rooted in the rights of privacy. And, you know, if you're going to give each state the right to decide what they want, this could be a very dangerous precedent. Also, but interesting was, Newson in California was saying, well, if they allow this, then, you know, as the state of California, we're going to ban guns because if each state has its rights to, you know, do whatever they want and not follow federal law, then, you know, that's what we're going to do. So it's going to be really interesting to see how this shapes up over the future because I imagine, you know, a lot of states might want to, you know, dismantle gun rights or, you know, liberal states might want to do things that, you know, conservative states don't want. And so what does that mean overall for all of us? So, you know, that's very interesting. Move. That's what I was going to say. Yeah. So... And I just like to add, I remember those days when it was up to each state and it was awful. Yeah. I mean, what's frightening is they're supposed to be established precedent. Yeah. And once a decision has been made, a decision has been made, and if they truly do overturn Roe v. Wade, it's not just rights as Newsom was saying, and anything is up for grabs. Right. Then you can do just about whatever each state can decide. It's the whim of the political movement of the court. Right. It's going to polarize us even more. And this story, which was really hard, police trade, homophobic and racist texts jeopardizing hundreds of cases, about a dozen officers sent messages about gassing Jewish people, punching LGBTQ people and lynching black men. This has taken place in Torrance, California. Torrance. Torrance. Is it Torrance? Okay. Some messages included photos of black men being hanged with titles under them saying hanging with homies. None of the officers have been charged so far. We'll keep an eye on this case to see how it pans out. But, and the cases were jeopardized because, of course, the lawyers are going to say, well, you know, they were arrested by these police and that's prejudice and, you know, so all of this is going to be a mess. I hope they are. Have they fired? No, no, they haven't. As far as I know, nothing has happened to them yet. The accountability. I know. Robert Failing rings. Threats included attacking a New York Pride march saying this would be a massacre. Shooting looked like a cakewalk. He has been charged with threatening violence against the Pride march. The 74-year-old man lives in Long Island and has been sending threatening messages since 2003. The FBI found him through DNA. He left on his envelopes. And then we have Stephen Sondheim, which I didn't get a chance to talk about last week and here's a photo of him. And he was the theater's most revered and influential composer lyricist of the last half of the 20th century and the driving force behind some of Broadway's most beloved and celebrated shows. Stephen Sondheim won a Broadway's History Songwriting Titans whose music and lyrics raised the reset the artistic standard for the American stage musical. Died early Friday at home in Roxbury, Connecticut, he was 91. His rough-melded words and music in a way that enhanced them both. From his earliest successes in the late 1950s when he wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy through the 1960s when he wrote the music and lyrics for two audacious musicals, assassins giving voice to men and women who killed or tried to kill American presidents and passion in operatic probe into the nature of true love. He was a relentlessly innovative theatrical voice. May I add something? Yes. I happen to watch a clip of the company, of the show company that's been revised that he did and the encomiums were everywhere, people were crying, I kind of cried. I mean it's a terrible loss. The revival took the main character and changed it from a man to a woman. Yes. Yes. And sort of rewrote some of the scripting and it's just as powerful. Amazing. Oh, I know and the songs are really memorable. If we had time I'd like to play some, but I guess not. And we also saw that show by the guy who wrote RENT and Stephen was in it. Right, he figures in that chick-chick-boom about Larson. Yeah. So we watched that, that was kind of interesting. He was his character and not him. He was a character in there. And lastly I wanted to talk a little bit about Wonder Woman. And for those who don't know, noted psychologist, revealed his author best-selling Wonder Woman read the astonishing headlines in the summer of 1942, a press release from the New York offices of all American comics turned up at newspapers, magazines and radio stations all over the United States. The identity of Wonder Woman's creator had been at first kept secret. But the time had come to make shocking announcements. The author of Wonder Woman is Dr. William Moulton Marston. Internationally famous psychologist, the truth about Wonder Woman had to come out at last. Or so at least it was made to appear. But really the name of Wonder Woman's creator was the least of her secrets. According to her author, the veil that had shrouded Wonder Woman's past for seven decades hides beneath a crucial story about comic books and superheroes and censorship and feminism. As Marston goes, as Marston once put it frankly, Wonder Woman is a psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who I believe should rule the world. So... I can go for that. And he was an interesting character. He was married. I can't remember his wife's name. And then he fell in love with somebody else. And so the two women lived in the same house with him for many, many years. And they had like four children, I think. But anyway, it's an interesting... He's an interesting character. And Wonder Woman certainly is. So... Okay. There's a story in Europe that I really want to get to in its entirety. It's my favorite story of the evening. Museum showcases queer relationships in the animal kingdom. Penguins. Many. Actually penguins aren't mentioned. So we're expanding our treatment from penguins. An exhibition in Bärm, Switzerland is highlighting same-sex relationships found outside the human species. Many people think homosexuality and being queer are marginal and perverse phenomena. They say they are unnatural. Christian Croft, a biologist at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Bärm says, but this is nonsense. He explained that what is unnatural is homophobia. I don't know of a single case of homosexual individuals being marginalized or disadvantaged in the animal world, he said. He's the curator of the exhibition and titled Queer Diversity in Our Nature, a show that highlights the gender and sexuality in humans and other animals and features discussions on homosexuality and its biological aspects. It shows plenty of examples of same-sex behavior found in nature. Dolphins, for example, can form same-sex couples. Male-European rams are known to mate with other males about 6% of the time. Although they have the choice, they aren't interested in females. Male sheep have intense contact, lick their genitals and have anal intercourse. A little racy. Oh, me, oh, my. Same-sex behavior has been observed in about 1,500 species and is probably present in all social vertebrates. The reasons for homosexual relationships are not always clear, but we do know that they strengthen social bonds and can contribute to group unity. I don't know if the exhibition contributed to the acceptance of the new marriage law in Switzerland, he said, but it certainly had an impact on my father. He's 87 years old and has never spoken well of homosexual people. But since he came here, he has changed. He realized that same-sex behavior is absolutely normal. Earlier this year, you recall Switzerland became one of the last European Union countries to legalize same-sex marriage. So that's my feel-good story of the evening. I think they would last to have women to vote, too, if I remember right. Well, Linda, the cup is half full. Moving on. No, I was just saying that, you know, they're a little late. Lewis Hamilton, let's see a picture of him. He's one again. He's in history winning the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and here he is in his Defiant Pride helmet. I know. It's his third consecutive race thus far and he's tied in points in the standings for the overall thing. The overall championship will be decided next Sunday and Abu Dhabi racing fans will expect his helmet to appear again and he's going to wear it throughout the Grand Prix as he travels through the Middle East. I think a couple of other people have taken up the banner also like somebody had something on their sneakers and somebody had something on armrest or something. A couple of other drivers. I like that trend. Now let's see another picture of Italian Olympic boxer Irma Testa, who has just come out as queer. She took home the bronze medal for Italy at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and she said winning the Olympics gave her the confidence to come out. Now I'd like to introduce another clip, a Danish documentary called Flea. It's a 2021 animated documentary film that follows the story of a man named Amin who shares his hidden past for the first time of fleeing his country. The film had a world premiere in the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. It was released in theaters in the U.S. on December 3rd. It was selected as the Danish entry for the best international feature film at the 94th Academy Awards. The film follows Amin on the verge of marrying his husband, shares the story of the first time for the first time about his hidden past fleeing his own country of Afghanistan, his home country of Afghanistan to Denmark as a refugee. So let's look at this clip. This is a video that is... ...tripped. Have you ever told someone about your news story? I'm going out now. My bad news is that my brother is back. We fled with the human scene. What are you doing? The worst person in my life. Have you told Kasper about the story? It takes time. I'm going back. It's my past. I didn't move because I wanted to. I can feel something is going to happen. Let's start my story. Some good movies to see. An animated documentary. What an interesting idea. I've never seen one. Yeah. Well, it's kind of like... ...those books, you know. Anime. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. My mind shut down there for a minute. Yeah. Next picture. For the first time, Sweden will have an out-trans minister in government. Here's her picture. Lena-Alexens-Kilblum. Kilblum. Kilblum. There's a new minister, Magdalena Anderson, in Sweden. And she's announced her new minister of schools. As part of the government, she formed on November 30th. This new minister, besides being known as Super Principal, like Super Nanny, for her role consulting low-scoring schools on how to improve in a TV series called The Head Teachers. And she also has 20 years experience in education. She's going to become the first out-trans minister in the country's history. She'll also be the first woman, the first out-trans woman, to have a position in the government in a Scandinavian country. She says, my conviction is that all children can succeed in school. I agree with her. So that sounds like a good appointment. Would it help me? Well, you did succeed. Just eventually. You were pacing yourself. And my last... Why accomplish things when you're young? Then what are you going to do? That's right. You need to, you know, grow into it. All right, we're running out of time. One bad story, my last story from Europe. Gang of Mask, neo-Nazi thugs violently attack. Keef, gay bar in a bone-chilling video. It's a minute video. I'm not showing it. They all break into the place. I have three stories from Latin America. Chile, marriage equality, it has occurred. Hooray. I could talk more about it. Oh, I like Chile, yeah. Yeah. On Tuesday, they legalized same-sex marriage. They've been working on it for 10 years, since 2010. And so by the time it finally passed, the original couple had broken up. They're pleased. They've broken up. Yeah. Divorce lawyer. Brazilian Supreme Court orders probe into Boris into Bolsonaro for linking COVID-19 vaccines to AIDS. He is awesome. He's been barred from Twitter. Oh. And from Facebook and YouTube after he said that COVID-19 vaccines raised the chance of contracting AIDS. And one more, I hate to end on a sad note, but in just a single day, three trans people were brutally murdered in Colombia. And here they are. Manny, a sex worker. You see the picture of the three of them. On the left, Manny, a sex worker stabbed to death in Bogota. La Divaza, a homeless non-binary person stabbed in the chest and to death in Rio Hacha, La Guajara, after a scuffle turned into violence. They're in the middle. And then Cristina Castillo Martinez, a veteran LGBTQ plus rights activist, shot in Santa Maria, Magdalena, talking to her family members on the terrace outside her home. So it's terrible. Okay, we got to stop now. We got to get... Okay, it's pretty sad anyway. Yeah. Our next show, I'm going to talk about, there is an injectable form of PrEP that could be available by the spring. It would be a bimonthly injection. And there is associated with that, both the CDC and the FDA is going to be making a recommendation that treatment providers discuss PrEP with any sexually active adolescent or adult, regardless if your sexual practices seem to put you at risk for HIV. So that's a positive move. There's a move within the Biden administration to require private insurance to cover PrEP. Yes. And very disturbing statistics coming out about the rate of HIV infection treatment modalities and access to treatment for Latinx, BIPOC, gay men. And it's not a easy story. Canada, they have finally made it totally illegal to subject anyone to conversion therapy. Even religious people, okay. Goes into effect January 7th. Under bill C-4, the Canadian criminal code will be amended so that those who cause another person to undergo conversion therapy, including providers, will be guilty of an indictable offense. Good. Not only are they outlawing it, if you try to do it, you could be in prison up to five years, both for practicing or promoting. They also put in a provision that you could be sentenced to prison for up to two years for trying to remove a child from Canada for the purposes to undergo conversion therapy. I did not see any religious exemptions. But again, one of the things it says, subject anyone to. So if it's a voluntary relationship, I think that's going to be outside of this. But they also was an individual... Can you be... Can you consent if you're under 18? I don't think you can, right? No. Right. Well, and also in the UK, one of the members of parliament had said that they had been subjected to conversion therapy for an extended of years, and here is the harmful impact of it. So people are coming forward saying, not only should we outlaw this, this is what happens when you subject people to it. First Nation tribes in Canada just voted to form a 2S, which would be Two Spirit LGBTQ Plus Council. This was by unanimous vote. This was the Association of First Nations, which is the sort of overarching organization for the First Nations population in Canada. This marks the first time the AFN has moved to form a dedicated body that will weigh in on Indigenous 2S LGBTQ Plus issues. The AFN, a governing body for First Nations tribes that works in tandem with the Canadian government, will constitute the special council as a recognized principal organ, which will play a similar role to elders and women's councils in the organization. This is huge. What it was sort of footnoted was this vote comes on the heels of Blake Desjardins, the former national director of the Metis Settlement General Council, becoming Canada's first openly Two Spirit member of parliament and a federal election held last month. Good. Very quickly, Quinn, Canadian soccer, first out trans person to win a gold medal, she is pushing that as elders, we need to step up and really work on all of the anti-trans in sports bills that are being directed at our youth. And she called out both the Canadian and the U.S. government saying, why are you not stepping in and doing something? And is Canada doing a better job with that than we are? I think overall, because they didn't lose the four years that we did in which all of those hostile amendment, all of those hostile pieces of legislation were introduced and enacted, but she is still saying there's so much more we need to do, including being visible in our youth sports so that they have role models. And she was the one who said you don't know what a difference this makes. Yeah. Our trivia question. Yes. Founded in 1986 as friends caring for friends. The reason I picked this is this was Vermont Cares who is getting the Pride Center Award this year. And I'm going to sort of break pattern and share personal history. I was one of the friends who founded Vermont Cares. Right. And I remember going into hospitals and taking trays of food into people when the hospital staff was too scared to go in. What most people don't know is in 1991, Republican Governor Richard Snelling nominated me to be Vermont's official point of light. A nomination that was rejected by George Bush Sr. to which I got a personally signed letter of rejection from him. Oh, treasure it. Yeah. Oh, it's embossed in the whole bit. So with that, I think as we go forward, we should always continue to resist.