 I'm Linda Quinlan. I'm Keith Ghostland, and welcome to All Things LGBTQ. We are taping on Tuesday, August 9th. All Things LGBTQ is produced at Orca Media in Montpelier, Vermont, which we recognize as being unseeded indigenous land. And now the the an of the hour. Yes, welcome. Who still has a cast and is gimping around. So there you go. So so welcome back. And thank you. Thank you. It's nice to visit and I've got a few international news stories and a little bit of a primer or as the English say a primer on polyamorous relationships. A little primer for you. So the first story I have today, Uganda's suspension of LGBTQ charity and okay, so we're going to start over. Uganda has suspended an LGBTQ charity organization and the leader calls it a clear witch hunt. The country's government says sexual minorities Uganda operated illegally in East Africa. So the Ugandan government suspended them. The National Bureau for Non-governmental Organizations, NGO, part of the Internal Affairs Ministry announced on Friday of last week that it suspended sexual minorities Uganda known as smug for not registering with the authorities. The NGO Bureau has taken the decision to halt operations of smug with immediate effect. It said in a statement. Uganda has strict anti gay legislation, but there have been no prosecutions for consensual same sex acts in the country in recent years. The executive director of smug Frank Mogisha said the suspension was a clear witch hunt rooted in systemic homophobia that is fueled by anti gay and anti gender movements. The refusal to legalize smug's operations was a clear indicator that the government of Uganda and its agencies are adamant and treat Ugandan gender and sexual minorities as second class citizens. In 2014, the Ugandan court struck down a bill passed by MPs and signed by President Yawaui Musavine that sought to impose life imprisonment for homosexual relations. It's one. Another news article, which comes from July, but it's still relevant in Havana, Cuba's National Assembly approved a sweeping update of its family law, which opens the door to allowing gay marriage greater women's rights and increased protections for children. You may have heard of it already, I'm not sure, but the elderly and other family members are also included in that the new families code will put be put into to a referendum vote on September 25th after being debated in community meetings earlier this year, where organizers said that 62% of participants expressed their support. That is relatively low by Cuban standards, apparently, where recently they passed a new constitution that was approved by 86% of the votes. That's amazing. Policy proposals in previous referendums have seen support of around 95%. So that gives you a sense of where they're at on it. The code promoted love, affection, care, sensitivity, respect for others, and the harmony of our families. Justice Minister Oscar Manuel Silvera said presenting the code for the vote to the National Assembly. Opponents to the rule change include many churches. I'm not going to quote what they have to say because we know what they always have to say. The new code would legalize same-sex marriage and civil unions. It would allow same-sex couples to adopt children and promote equal sharing of domestic responsibilities. It will also allow pre-nuptial agreements in circuit pregnancies or not for profit. One of the interesting pieces of this for me is that parents would have responsibility instead of custody of their children and they'd be required to be respectful of the dignity and physical and mental integrity of children and adolescents, which is interesting. Cuba is already a regional frontrunner in women's rights. Women head up nearly 50% of households. They make up 60% of professionals. They have free access to abortion and can claim up to two years maternity leave. It's too bad we can't travel there. Exactly. A Havana couple who have lived together for many years but were never able to have children said that it's their human right to marry and adopt children. So this is a good thing. You would have to do it through that Newfoundland residence. Yeah, you wouldn't be able to do it from here. I think that's just ridiculous but we won't go there. It is. But I'm trying to give you some positive news. Good, thank you. Positive news. We can, yes, we can kibitz about the rest later. So the third piece I have, Zelensky opens door to same-sex civil partnership in Ukraine. That is really good. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has opened the door to this in response to a petition that called for equal marriage to be introduced in the war ravaged nation. In a written reply online Zelensky explained that it would be impossible to legalize same-sex marriages while the country remained at war because it would require change to the constitution. They're not allowed to change laws during the war. That the call is the family code of Ukraine. It defines that the family, sorry. So although the family code of Ukraine defines a family as the primary main unit in society consisting of a man and a woman, he said this work could be adjusted. A family consists of persons who live together or connected by common life, have mutual rights and obligations according to their constitution. One of the things he said that I thought was really great is the constitution of Ukraine cannot be changed during the war, but also we wouldn't be able to be making the strides we are during war without these people in our community who are LGBTQ. That's a paraphrase. I don't have the quote. So those are the three international news pieces I have. What I have lastly is the seven types of polyamorous relationships you should know. So this is kind of a fun seven types. Okay. Okay. And to introduce that let me say that polyamorous relationships are diverse and complex compared to monogamy, right? It's gradually become more normalized in the mainstream over the past few years and we've been seeing a lot more representation in the media. We've people like Megan Fox who's in a polyamorous relationship. Despite all the conversation around it, I think there's a lot of confusion about what the different types are. So let me give you the titles. Hyararchical polyamory, non-hyararchical polyamory, triad, a V as in V, the letter V, kitchen table polyamory, garden party polyamory and solo polyamory. That kind of reminds me of the old term of softball lesbian to define a sort of person from within the feminist community, but they weren't an activist. It was just sort of this social egg, right? Softball lesbian. Yes. So hierarchical, I can't say the word hierarchical polyamory, right? In that kind of relationship, typically there may be a couple. They're considered the primary relationship. They may have secondary partners. They may have a single secondary partner. They may have others, right? But their family takes precedent and then they may go outside of that family for relationships with other people who know you tell them I'm in a relationship but we're open, right? Non-hyararchical polyamory is a little different compared to the hierarchical. Everyone involves free to figure out the relationship dynamics of each other person. Nobody's in charge. While there's no hierarchy in terms of importance or love, the group typically called a polycule, say that three times fast, don't necessarily have to treat everyone equally. It just means there's no third party that makes decisions about your relationship, okay? It's up to you and your partners. A triad is what's most commonly shown in Hollywood, three people, right? Triad is a triad is a triad. Three. Also known as a threple, instead of a couple. Threple, right? It's not to be confused with love triangles, right? Which you always see in Hollywood. Two guys chasing after a woman or a couple who just wants to sort of have a third and do nothing with them. And so it's just three people, they all decide together what their relationship status is. They all know each other. They all interact. They're in a relationship. A V gets its name from the letter V, which has three points. The singular point at the bottom branches off, right, and connects these two points here. So you'll have a couple with a third person most often. But what'll happen is these two points aren't connected to each other, but they're connected to the third. So here's a person, he knows this person and this person, but they don't know, for example. Okay, that's a V. It's similar to a triad. Kitchen table polyamory, I love, less of a structure and more of a dynamic. Kitchen table polyamorous relationships involve a poly cool, who are on good enough terms that they can all sit around a kitchen table and talk, right? They can have coffee. They can chat. They're totally connected and that they know each other. While not everyone in this type of relationship dynamic is involved romantically or sexually, each person is emotionally connected to the other. Garden party polyamory, relationships that are very similar to kitchen table. They both involve a network of people involved with each other in various ways. The key difference here is that you are not close with your, what they call metamores, your other paramores who are part of this group. You're not necessarily close to them all. You know your partner's partners, but you don't spend time with them on a regular basis like you would in a kitchen table polyamorous setup. The term garden party refers to how everyone is familiar with each other. And then finally, solo polyamory, your single, I'm signal, they're single. We may all be involved romantically or sexually at some point, but we're all individuals. We live alone, maybe we don't cohabitate. Nobody decides our lives. And we're not really in a close intimate, say triad or something. We just, we just, we mix and match. We mix and match. I can see the t-shirts coming out now. Yeah. Mix and match. Mix and match. Remember with the briars Briggs with the site testing that all of us and everyone have their initials across their t-shirts. I can see it. Type A, type B, type C. I can see it now. The bottom line is that polyamorous relationships are not always clear cut. The more people involved, the more unique to dynamics. And ultimately, it just depends on what you decide. Right? All right. Now what if you have two couples? Then you have a quadruple. You have a foursome. That's different. But yeah. So, you know, if you're an open group, yeah, you never know. Right. And, and you're just being adults about, I don't own you because I'm in a relationship. Every relationship is different. And it's, it's, there's no right or wrong. Yeah. So those are the stories that I have brought. Okay. For today. Thank you. You're welcome. I have, well first, I have a clip which I will show after this small introduction. K. Graham fights for LGBTQ rights with the new album. She's using this platform to raise awareness of the LGBT community. Graham partnered with GLAAD to announce her new album with a Pride tour. She said that everything that comes out of this project goes to GLAAD. The album is called Long Hot Summer. She also said, we are like a government, gay people are, that is, and if you come for us, we are coming for you. She is also starring in a bunch of new releases. One is Collide, which cast the actress in a plot that threatens everyone's life in a restaurant. So here's the clip. Do you really think they could get away with it? I don't know who has a more stocked resume right now than you. But we got to talk firstly, of course, about Collide. This exciting new thriller. I got to ask you, what attracted you to this project and what do we get to see in this film? I'm always attracted to the underdogs. Like you mentioned, I'm traveling all over the world. I'm focusing on an album that's about LGBTQ rights. I was attracted to this film because I wanted to play a character who was seeking revenge and was basically put in a position where she had to fight for her life. Very cool. And it's like you said, I have to tell you, my friend, as a member of the LGBTQ community, you are seriously the definition of an ally. Thank you for everything you're doing. Tell me a little bit what you're doing right now that's raising awareness and literally benefiting the community in real time. Well, I've been partnering with GLAAD. I've been on the council out here in ATL for like 10 years and so the proceeds, everything that comes from this project goes to them. We're like the gay government. So that's what I call us, you know, if you come for us, we're coming for you. I like to focus aggressively on putting my energy where it's needed. I saw that as a window to be able to put my projects and my art and my life force into giving to a community that has literally taken care of me was the only community that really accepted me when I was before I had started TVD. Hopefully with my work, it's moving the needle a little bit. I just need a little bit of movement. That's all. What do you hope people will get from the amazing work you get to do? I hope they see themselves in these characters. I hope they see themselves in these songs. I hope they see that I hope I just empower people to be their most truest self who they are matters and any discrimination that you faced was real and you deserve to stand up for yourself and what you believe in and own who you are a thousand percent. I hope that that's the message that I hope people walk away from is a better understanding of who they are. So that looks interesting. We're armed and we're ready. A search for four victims remains in a 1973 gay bar. Fire is being renewed nearly half a century ago after an arson killed 32 people in a New Orleans bar it has been renewed by order of the city council. Three people were never identified. Ferris Le Bon 50 was a WW2 World War II vet and three others were burnt beyond recognition and are buried in Potter's field. So they're going to try to find out who those people are. Director John Logan is leading a cast in a queer horror film called They Them. They are complex characters in a complex movie. It's a psychological thriller about warfare on LGBTQ youth in conversion therapy. There's someone on this panel who might like horror films. I love horror on YouTube. Oh yeah. I read a review. Lea Jenis a trans cyclist competing in a U.S. cycling event since June is being stripped of a civil medal for not meeting the latest requirements for trans athletes. And it seems that hate groups are registering as churches. FRC is a think tank without a congregation and they are getting all the tax breaks and benefits. 40 members of Congress have written an open letter asking the IRS and Treasury Department to investigate the anti-LGBQ hate group the Family Research Council. Oh boy. Andrew Warren Democrat was suspended in Hillsborough County, Florida. He was accused by DeSantis Republican Governor of Florida of trying to overthrow democracy after he was suspended for refusing to enforce state laws on abortion and gender reaffirming care for trans youths. Former GOP spokesman Tim Miller is spilling tea in his new book, Why We Did It, which is a travel log from the Republican road to hell. It's sharp and funny according to critics and full of self-reflection. The 42-year-old gay author takes readers on a deep dive through the underbelly of Republican campaign politics. And former Rosie O'Donnell intern wins GOP primary for anti-LGBTQ platform. Tudor Nixon just won the primary gubernatorial election in Michigan. She's a Trump-induced candidate and said she will ban schools from kindergarten to third grade in a similar to Don't Ask Don't Tell in Florida. She also said that she would protect young girls by banning trans kids from school sports. And Laura Bobbet suggests that monkey parks has been made up by Democrats to win the midterms. I don't see the connection, but I can't get inside her head. The anti-Drake queen journalist Kerry Lane wins the GOP primary for Arizona governor. Lake endorsed by Trump called drake queens activists that are sexualizing young children. The man who threatened violence at Pride is going to jail. The 72-year-old threatened to bomb parades and shoot people at Stonewall. And Jay Leno subtly rose Bill Maher for trans joke. Maher is known for his homophobic and transphobic jokes. Since when was Jay Leno subtle? Yeah, I know. If you want to know more about it, his little joke is on YouTube. Now we have another one of our favorites, Marjorie Taylor Green. Republican of Georgia claims that Karine Jean-Pierre cannot understand parents because she's a lesbian. Actually, Pierre is the daughter. Green's bizarre notion comes on the heels of Republican here. She comes again. Laura Bobbet, Bobber, Republican of Colorado, said something similar when it came to abortion. So she, anyway, a town votes to defund- You need strength here. I know. The town votes to defund the library after claims it was grooming kids. In James Township, Michigan, voters rejected a ballot measure during the primary election to renew property tax funds to the library. The library will run out of funds soon. Glad you don't live there, huh? So I think I will save the rest for my second segment. Did you do all your stories? I have one more piece. I could do. He's going to do this. No, I was going to say, because you had said, oh, those are all my stories. And I thought if that was everything, you could just never mind. So we'll go back and come through again. Exactly. Well, I wanted to make sure. All right. Okay. So starting off with our trivia, and they did get it. Saturday the 13th is National Left-Hander's Day. And somebody might have had an advantage by being at least left-handed themselves. This famous left-hander was the co-author, along with Liz Nichols of three detective novels, The Total Zone, Breaking Point, Killer Instinct. However, they may be best remembered as being the inspiration for Rita May Brown's 1993 novel, Sudden Death. Who might that have been? So events, did you get off your ass and go out and vote? We have a large slate of out LGBTQ plus candidates. Some had opposition in the primary. So on our following shows, I will be recounting who made it through the primary, who is running, where the races are. And don't just look at the top of the ticket. Look at the down ticket items. People running for justice of the peace. These are the people who are officiating at weddings. People going on to select boards, zoning commissions. Those have a lot to do with how a municipality makes decisions and how they move their community forward or how their community is defined. Or hold them back. Well, that's exactly it. So Taffy Art Center in Rutland, they have an exhibit of LGBTQ plus artists. And one of our favorite Wicked Women poets might be included. Yes. Vermont Humanities, they're doing a Words in the Woods series where they go to state parks, poetry reading. On Saturday, October 20th, and you can go onto their site to register for this, is going to be poet Carol Potter, lesbian poet. She has a book that is soon to be released. And I'm looking quickly to find the name of it. What happens next is Anyone's Guest, which was the winner of the 2021 Pacific Coast series in poetry. Nice. And she described herself as, I'm an unmarried lesbian feminist lefty. That's not kind of lefty, but yeah. Fox, Mockered, and East Montpellier. People should be going on and checking their website. It looks as though they're doing drag karaoke the second Thursday of each month. And they have special themed dinners and they have a wine club. So they're doing some great stuff. Outright Vermont, the Friday night groups are starting to meet in person again. Second Friday of each month in Montpellier, Middlebury, Morrisville, and then they're going to continue to do the online group, which has been critical for youth living in rural areas. Momentum. Well, I noticed their meeting in Burlington, but for the last two months, there's been nothing listed for Montpellier. So I'm not sure how we've sort of dropped off the scheduling. Queer Connect in Bennington. And this is a Zoom event, their sapphic story hour, which someone we know may have read their poetry. They are going to be hosting Veronica Gutierrez, author of the forthcoming lesbian detective novel as you look. And they will be reading and then there's a question and answer. And I'm going to make a big push here to check out people's websites, Facebook page for both our organizations, networks, and not just for the sort of special events, the conversation in chat, whatever. It's the other educational webinars that they're offering. I just did one last night sponsored by Out in the Open about LGBTQ plus health insurance. And it's, okay, this is what you need to know. This is what your options are. This is how to apply. This is where to get information. And more importantly, if you encounter difficulties, here are the advocates or advocacy organizations to which you can turn saying, I need some help here. And for our community, the big one is reaching out to Vermont Legal Aid. And they have an LGBTQ plus health initiative within their organization that is specifically looking at, are we being treated equitable within the insurance industry? And sort of building off that the sort of webinars, there is one coming up on August 18th and it's 6pm at night. And it's sponsored by the Department of Children and Families. They're looking for foster parents. And think about our youth and our concern about youth who are turned out of their homes when they disclose sexual orientation, gender identity. Do they have a supportive household to go into so that we then become the desirable foster parents? I was reading in some article I was reading about, it listed all the states that are like really pro-abortion and how many children are still in foster care who will never have a chance to belong to a family. And some of them were like in the tens of thousands. And it's just unbelievable. Before I forget, the health insurance webinar, one of the co-sponsors along with that in the open was Grace Cottage Hospital, Townsend, Vermont on the LGBTQ health care rating grid out of a possible 100, they scored a 95. Nice. Small little Vermont doing phenomenal work. The last thing I'm going to plug is Sage May who continues to do interesting things and really looking at how can I provide a service to our communities. They do a monthly speaker series. And the next one coming up is Gretchen Legler, Woods Queer. She writes about a sort of modern sustainable, crafting a sustainable rural life. And she's going to recount this was what it was like for she and her partner to go into the woods of Maine and establish a connection with a sustainable life. So they keep doing interesting things. But I'm going to give it back to you because you've got something interesting to tell me. Maybe. I'm going to tell you the title of this article that I really love is called People Think I'm Too Hot to be Asexual, but they're wrong. I'm not saying that about me. I'm not hot. No. But there's this misinterpretation that people have that asexuals are maybe agender, right? That maybe they're asexual, they have no sexuality or sexual appeal or anything. And so Asha Grace has done a story talking about the fact that surprise some of the sexiest taste makers on TikTok and Instagram don't actually have much of a taste for sex. So the idea that people are asexual. So for a growing number of Generation social media influencers identifying as asexual, being hot isn't about attracting the perfect mate. It's about, well, being hot, right? So being hot or being sexy or dressing up well and feeling good about yourself is not always directly connected to seeking sex, right? Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is. But sex appeal has nothing to do with being attracted to or, or, you know, attracting a mate. And so the Big Apple Bombshell, who boasts TikTok fan base of more than 82,700 followers, identifies as an asexual or ace, is the term that we use, a person with little to no sexual attraction or interest in physical intimacy. So I thought it was a really interesting article to just make us stop and think about what we think of when we hear someone say, hey, I'm asexual, right, or aromantic, doesn't mean that they're not sexy. And it feeds into some of the conversation that our youth are having, which is I'm not going to take on the label. No, this is a continuum. Yes. There's an ebb and a flow. There may be times when this is the attraction I'm responding to, or, you know, there may not be anything there. And I'm just comfortable sitting at home watching PBS and reading the latest PD James novel. Right. Exactly. And so, you know, we were joking earlier about, you know, a lot of people, and I will say a lot of people will say to me, oh, you've been, you know, you've been separated for how many years when you're a partner, don't you need somebody else? I'm like, no. Right? Because that's not always the drive in people's lives. I have people. And I also have a bit of a kitchen table polyamory relationship with my ex because we are close and people think you must hate an ex or you must want to have sex to be sexy. So it's a really interesting take on the fact that asexuals are not necessarily asexy. All right. There you go. Last but not least, I did have a bit of a thing about bisexuality and that bisexual people are still fighting to sort of not be invisible. So it's still out there. And bisexual men in particular are finding that people will see them, see that they look like a straight male and they're in a relationship and maybe they're straight and they're not. And so there is a really great resource in New England, but not in Vermont, the Biresource Center in Boston, which has a lot of great events and a lot of great ways you can connect. Is it for both women? It's for any women, men, agender, you know, gender nonconforming, any gender. So they've been around a long time through the struggle and they can really give people some resources if they need them. Sounds like a possibility for interview. Oh yeah, we might be able to do that. I have a growing list of possible interview. Yeah, they do great stuff. Maybe I'll think about that one. Yeah. Okay. So how are you going to depress me now? Oh, it's endless depressing stories. I know. I know. Because remember, it was Anne who said that she was going to be the, you know, the uplifting of our team. Oh, good. So I fell in line and didn't have the story. Absolutely. Well, I'll start with a really, you know, another not so good story, but a couple is attacked after they hugged in the street. A car slowed down as they were hugging and yelled, fuck you twice. This was in Sandy, Utah. They were at the end of the driveway and they were hugging good night. And the car, I guess, circled back and there were five men in the car. They got out and said we don't like seeing gay people on the street. And one of the boys said, well, that's because you're probably repressed. Two against five. Needless to say, he was a little bit beaten up. So very sad story for these young folks. Oh, this is a horrible story, but I'm going to tell you anyway. A mother is accused of blinding her son's boyfriend, but she claims that her family is the victim. Despite being accused of a brutal hate crime, Ina Makenrenko wants people to know that she and her family are the victims here. All she wanted was for her son, Ole, to marry a woman. She believed that her son's boyfriend turned her son gay. That's a very sad story. I almost put that in my international news because to me, when you look at the family, they come from a different culture and they have not to say that that's an excuse, but it felt like a little bit international to me that that happens. Yeah. It's unfortunate. There are various circumstances. And a Texas-based church has been slanted for putting on a unauthorized rendition of Hamilton that critics claim include anti-LGBTQ messaging. The unsanctioned production of the popular play by the Dore McLean Church includes a 15 minute sermon that equates being homosexual to struggling with drugs and alcohol according to the Dallas Morning News. Maybe you struggle with alcohol with drugs with homosexuality. Maybe you struggle with other things in life. Your finances, whatever. God can help you tonight. He wants to forgive you for your sins, said Pastor Roman Guterres. Footage of the play leaked on social media. How to ruin a good play. Senator Lindsey Graham said he wants states to decide the issue of whether two consenting adults can get married. When Dana Bash asked him, if he would support legislation codifying same-sex marriage, Graham claimed it's a state issue during an appearance on CNN State of the Union. Rob Portman, Republican Iowa, is trying to just get enough votes to codify same-sex marriage because Justice Clarence Thomas has suggested it might be in jeopardy. You said two weeks ago that the state-by-state approach is the best way to go. I want to be clear about your position. Are you saying that 2015 Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage in the law of the land nationally should be overturned in which you replied again? I think it's a state's rights issue. Did you see the follow-up article with Tammy Baldwin? Tammy Baldwin is saying we have the 10 votes and that when they come back in September, that she thinks is going to pass. But keeping to these are 10 Republicans, she didn't go to disclosing who she thought those would be. I could think of two or three offhand but you know they're going to get really squeezed. I think that's why she was telling. So now we have Marjorie Taylor Greene again. Do you know what she did? Well, I'm going to tell you. I've lost count. She's looking for the Jewish space lasers again. She prayed with a gay conservative activist Brandon Straka as he cried while pretending to be a capital rioter held in a New York jail. Many conservatives have been angry that people got arrested for storming the Capitol on January 6, 2001 in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The events of that day which included making a makeshift news while chanting for the death of Mike Pence and arms Trump supporters push past police in the Capitol. So they set up this whole thing where they put this fake guy in the jail and she was praying with him and all right anyway. So I'm going to end my segment with a very, very sad death. And it was the death of activist Alana Dyke woman. And she was 72 and did an interview with her in October of last year. So if you would like to see that interview, you can look on YouTube. Also during your interview, Alana said that she was working on a play about the death of her partner. And it seems that she died 15 minutes before her partner's name was Susan Lennon kind. And she died 15 minutes before the stage reading for the first time took place in San Francisco. I know she was the author. She grew up as a lesbian activist, author, editor and teacher. She was the receptionist. She was the recipient of the Lambda Literary Award for lesbian fiction. She also wrote River Finger Women and Beyond the Pail, which I loved that book. And they will be and they will be known by me by my teeth. River Finger Women was selected as 87 in the publishing triangle of 100 and best lesbian novels. She edited Sinister Wisdom and also Supported Bridges, a magazine of Jewish women. We lost an icon and you know, there will be no replacing her. And I recommend any of her writing. I like them all. And I remember, I think River Finger probably came out, I think she wrote it when she was 23 or 25, somewhere in there. And it had a huge influence on me. So thank you, Alana, for all the work you did and you'll be missed. How do you follow that? Yeah. Milton Vermont. That's how you follow that. Well, you know, people woke up to find their community leafleted with antisemitic rhetoric. And in the reporting, and it wasn't a major part of the story, but just sort of this, oh, by the way, apparently several weeks before the antisemitic, people woke up for homophobic and transphobic literature distributed in the same manner throughout the same communities. And the community is saying, what's happening here? Where is this coming from, who is responsible for it? That wasn't the same as the flag burning. But that's where I'm going now, because Milton is just a bit south of Isle of Mont, where you know, several weeks beforehand, there was the public media reporting of somebody had burned a pride and a transgender rights flag that were hanging from a tree. And when you read the story, you found out that this had been going on in this community for a month. And what had been happening is flags were either being stolen, vandalized, and the community, and it was focused on specific houses. So you know, it was the members of our community who were putting out their pride. And the community was trying to rally behind their neighbors. So they kept coming and replacing the flags. And they came up with the idea of hanging them in the trees, thinking, okay, they're beyond reach. So they were set on fire. Now, the follow-up to Isle of Mont is that citizens went to the select board and said, what is happening in our community? And the select board has crafted a formal response condemning the action and sent it out to their community saying, we need your help. We need your involvement. This is not who we are. Help us identify where this is coming from and what we can do to bring change. But sort of following along on that bias, hate-motivated crime, Fern Feather, who was the transgender woman who was murdered in Morrisville earlier this year, there should have been an arraignment follow-up hearing at the end of July in the Hyde Park Court. And when I've gone through, I can't see where anything has happened. So I'm going to do, for our next show, I'm going to do a little further research to see if, because of COVID and because of judges changing, is there something that's happened because they gave an indication that they were going to actively pursue it. This was not going to be something that was going to be drawn out, delayed, whatever, quick action. And the alleged perpetrator is still insisting this was self-defense. So it's not going to be a pretty scenario. Do you know where we can watch, where the best place is to watch the debates tonight? You mean the primary results? Yes. W-C-A-X? P-T-Z-W-C-A-X are doing it on their website. Apparently, you're also going to be doing sporadic reporting. VPR is going to be doing it. And if you go on to the Secretary of State's website, they will have live updates. They will have live updates as everything comes through. And what I'm hoping, well, before our next show, we will have the final candidates list. So we will know who were the winners in each individual race and what was the majority of victory. P-T-Z-W-C-A-X. Another story that I kind of lost track of from Aunt Medicaid several two sessions ago, our health care committee, which was chaired by Bill Lippert, an openly gay man, went through and changed the administrative rules process for agency of human services, health access, etc., because of COVID. Let's decrease, you know, the bureaucratic administrative responsibilities. Let's make this a friendlier system. So it was an administrative change. You didn't know exactly how it was going to play out. Well, Vermont Health Access and the Medicaid Division, and I totally missed this, had a public comment section about a change in pre-authorizations for hysterectomies. You no longer need a pre-authorization if it's deemed medically indicated, except, you were waiting for the except, weren't you? Yeah. Gender affirmation. Gender affirmation. What's the difference? There is no difference. It either is or is not medically indicated. Yeah. So, but the comment period is over, but it is definitely something I'm going to be following up on finding out what's happening. And there were letters submitted from different aspects of our communities saying this is a discriminatory practice, best practice medically indicated is best practice and medically indicated. So let's, yeah, monkey pox. You knew it was going to happen, but I'm not going to make Zach put pictures of it. I was going to say, which Zach will thank me for it. No, we have cases here. We have one. I know we have more cases. Well, no, we have a case, which means that there is the potential for more. Remember, keep in mind our original reporting is not all Vermont physicians are going to recognize this. They're not necessarily going to know the proper means to biopsy and diagnosed. However, being part of a webinar with UVM Medical Center, we have 63 doses of the vaccine available. Now, a priority may be to healthcare providers who are helping to treat people with monkey pox. 63 doses. Nationally, there is close to 9,000 diagnosed cases of monkey pox. Isn't there only one place that makes it? I'm sorry. She, she reads my notes and then, and then, and then she, you know, it's like Charlie McCarthy. Isn't there? I'm sorry. I got so excited. Well, no, I mean, no, that's exact. That's no, Linda and I were exactly trying to go to the same place. Every week, there is an increasing percentage of the increasing cases. The last week, there was a 67% increase in less than a week. We have potentially 1.5 to 3 million people who would benefit by a vaccine. We have 650,000 doses. And the one laboratory in Denmark, they are producing the vaccine worldwide because, oh my, it was a racist, homophobic, non-response, nobody else's manufacturer. And we only have 175,000 additional doses due in the fall. And looking at, you know, we may only have one diagnosed case in our backyard here, New York has over 1,300. Maine has to, New Hampshire has 15, Quebec has almost 400. Now, Massachusetts, which you would think would be, you would think would be sort of in the higher range. They have only 174. And remember, no, remember when we reported initially, P-town, they knew it was coming. They reached out, they did clinics saying, if you are coming, here is the risk. This is what we can offer it. So I'm theorizing that that's what accounts for their lower than expected numbers. Is there any way like the government, like they did with COVID? I mean, like make it a, you know, like a national. We have. Have they? They've made it a health care. Other people, other labs doing the. They don't have the patent. There's only one patent for it? Well, previously, there, and there was a great story on NPR about monkeypox. Previously, monkeypox was mostly transmitted to children through access to wild animals. Right. And five years ago, an epidemiologist from Africa, I can't remember which continent, which country. Sub-Saharan Africa. We reported on it on our last show. Right. And nobody listened to him. Bingo. So unfortunately, ramping this up is going to take a lot. And there's also been some concern that right now people are in emergency health mode fatigue. Bingo. Coupled with. Okay. But remember with the COVID vaccines, one of the things that NIH, we needed to do was to release the patent restrictions. I mean, because any company that's developing a medic, but somebody is going to have to develop the resources and the expertise and have all of the necessary ingredients in hand. This is very similar to a smallpox vaccine, but there's a little tweaking. There's a little difference. University of New Hampshire, they like doing polls. They like doing a lot of polls. One of the polls that they did recently that didn't get a whole lot of attention yet was about, you know, 2024 presidential, you know, how was Biden doing for numbers wise? And is there another Democrat that has equal to or stronger support and support? And oh my, there was someone who is equal to and could easily move ahead of Bernie Joe Biden. What's the basis of our show? Queer people. So it might be. Bingo. I knew she could get it. She got that quick. But it's a longer conversation. I'm not going to talk about that right now. A little bit in our remaining time. There's been lots of stories about the selection and campaign spending and who is giving money for what, which there's a very specific conversation about the role of PACs. And what is totally misleading is a PAC is not a PAC is not a PAC. The same as nonprofits. There's 501c3, 501c4s. They have different responsibilities, limitations and oversight. But the average voter is not going to. Well, no, that's what I'm saying. Right. That's a lot of nuance. Actually, it's not that much nuance. It's the Secretary of State's responsibility is to track any activity that is outside of any individual campaign. And are you following the rules? And the recent case relative to Becca and the victory fund, the victory fund knows exactly what they're doing. They have done all of the reporting that has been required. They have made all of the necessary disclosures. There has been nothing that is covert or outside of the prescribed protocols for what they could or could not do, which is a well-known established fact. So that saying, oh my, look at how they are not playing by the rules. Not true. And also, and this is where voters really get confused. There's a difference between the Citizens United and the victory fund. The victory fund is trying to raise money to support LGBTQ plus underrepresented traditionally disenfranchised candidates, which actually leads to a larger conversation about how we go about elections and the funding that's made available. I'm one of those people who believe it should all be public funding. It should be a shorter campaign season. I mean, and from our interview with Brenda Siegel, she is a single mom. She is working class. Her comments were, you don't know what it took for me to be able to do this. Our political system is rigged against low income disenfranchised underrepresented. We make it impossible for those individuals to be candidate, a viable candidate for office and truly to have a voice in changing our political infrastructure. Absolutely. And she can't even debate him. Well, let's see what happens after the primary because pre-primary what the incumbent governor had said is, I'm not going to amount to campaign by just carrying on my role as governor that will be my campaign. And then after the primary, he might consider, which is fine for them, but somebody who is trying to run against them, it doesn't give the opportunity to show the differences. Which works in the advantage of the incumbent. Exactly. So our trivia question, she's grinning because she was right there. National left-hander's day. And from your, you know, being disclosed as a left-hander may be, you know, more of a liability than being disclosed as LGBTQ plus. And you voted her now. No, she outed herself. I did. I just kept raising my hand when he said left-handed. See, I'm one of those people that I've never outed. I wait for someone to make and then it's like, so this famous left-hander was a co-author, three detective novels. And I was deliberately misleading because the answer may in fact be Martina Navratilova, who was the subject of sudden death, who had lovers. Oh, yeah. No, that's no. Yeah. That was the reason for the book. You're like, hey, hello. Yeah. No, Rita May wrote the book after they separated and people saw it as, you know, revenge, revenge fiction. Trash. Yeah. So, but Martina, 18 major singles titles, 31 major women's doubles titles and 10 major mixed doubles title. And she was the top seeded for what, 12 consecutive years or something. My entire childhood. Yes. Right. Which was just last week. Just last week. So that, that's it. So remember always to resist.