Omar Thomas Conducts HS Stonewall Concert in WI | Gay USA 5/27/2026
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This Week on GAY USA:
- Primary results from Texas..
- US House Republicans pass a virulently anti-LGBTQ education bill.
- Trump and Hegseth continue war on trans people.
- Good news from Nebraska, Maine, and New Jersey.
- In Watertown, WI, the community rallies behind students banned by their school board from performing a Stonewall-inspired orchestral piece.
- “Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody” opens off-Broadway.
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0:04
4 seconds
And we have to really escalate the noise we make so that we'll be heard.0:31
31 seconds
Welcome to Gay USA. I'm Andy Hum. I'm Anne Northrup.0:35
35 seconds
And how are you? What's going on with your arm?0:37
37 seconds
I have a lovely pink bandage on my arm because it's more cancer. Oh no.0:42
42 seconds
Well, it's just one of those squamus cell things that pops up if you've spent your youth uh lathering yourself with0:50
50 seconds
baby oil and sitting out in the sun, didn't you?0:55
55 seconds
Because burning and peeling was so much fun.0:57
57 seconds
Not as I wasn't a beach boy, but was out in the golf course a lot and you got a lot of sun.1:02
1 minute, 2 seconds
Well, now I get things that pop up every once in a while all over.1:06
1 minute, 6 seconds
And not just the golf course picket lines.1:10
1 minute, 10 seconds
Anyway,
it's fine. The guy I went to the dermatologist yesterday. He scraped it
off, but it just never ends. Except, of course, the breast cancer seems
to have ended. Except I'm still taking pills.1:21
1 minute, 21 seconds
But anyway, it's all fine. But I am going to go risk uh my life again on the golf course uh for the next week or two.1:29
1 minute, 29 seconds
And Chris Cooper is kind enough to be sitting in. Is he going to be actually here in the studio? Yes, he is.1:36
1 minute, 36 seconds
Oh boy. I know you guys like that. Great. So, thank you, Chris, for sitting in. And let's do this week's news.1:44
1 minute, 44 seconds
You'll be back in a in three weeks. I will.1:47
1 minute, 47 seconds
All right. So, in the news, the you saw that the Texas US Senate race is now1:54
1 minute, 54 seconds
pitting a virulently anti-LGBTQ Republican versus a pro-LGBTQ Democrat.2:02
2 minutes, 2 seconds
Viewers of this show may be the people most familiar with Ken Paxton of anyone outside of Texas.2:08
2 minutes, 8 seconds
That's Ken on the That's Ken on the right. We talk about him all the time.2:11
2 minutes, 11 seconds
And
of course, that's his Democratic opponent, uh, James Terico. more in a
minute when we get the Lord when we but is not a vegan.2:20
2 minutes, 20 seconds
Uh US House Republicans have passed an extremely anti-LGBTQ2:28
2 minutes, 28 seconds
education bill and eight Democrats join them on this bill. I don't want to raise people's anxiety.2:35
2 minutes, 35 seconds
They do expect the Senate to stop it, but we'll see.2:38
2 minutes, 38 seconds
We'll see. Trump continues to drool over attractive men and more and find time to wage his wars on Iran,2:47
2 minutes, 47 seconds
women, LGBTQ people, and people of color.2:51
2 minutes, 51 seconds
Pete Hagsth told uh graduating cadets at West Point that they can't fight wars with pronouns.2:59
2 minutes, 59 seconds
Now, why do they call him the He calls himself the Secretary of War, but according to Trump, this is not a war.3:06
3 minutes, 6 seconds
All right. Uh, the out Colorado governor Jared Polus, a longtime viewer of this show, well, he was. I don't know if he still is.3:15
3 minutes, 15 seconds
Was censured by his own state Democratic party, but not over a gay thing.3:21
3 minutes, 21 seconds
No.
But it's interesting. The Republican base seems to be fracturing over
how much bigotry is permissible or I would say desirable in their ranks.3:34
3 minutes, 34 seconds
We have good news from Nebraska and Maine. Yay. And a New Jersey school board has been ordered to pay $1.43:43
3 minutes, 43 seconds
million for failing to protect a student from homophobic attacks.3:49
3 minutes, 49 seconds
And
this is my favorite story of the week in Watertown, Wisconsin. We've
told you about them. The community rallied behind students who were
banned by their3:58
3 minutes, 58 seconds
school board from performing a Stonewall inspired orchestral piece. And we will link to a lot of this also in the whole4:05
4 minutes, 5 seconds
thing in our email. You go to kusatv.org, get on our email, you get extras.4:12
4 minutes, 12 seconds
We Yes. But we have some lovely little video clips to show you. Uh it was very inspiring. Move me deeply.4:20
4 minutes, 20 seconds
Good and bad news from the United Kingdom government.4:25
4 minutes, 25 seconds
The
exhibit of Peter Hujar's contact sheets. who was a great photographer,
died in '86 at the Morgan Library is a closeup on LGBTQ life 50 years
ago.4:37
4 minutes, 37 seconds
Yeah, a lot of those pictures are really fascinating. And Heated Rivalry, the unauthorized4:45
4 minutes, 45 seconds
musical parody opened off Broadway and Andy, of course, went to see it with Bill. Yep.4:52
4 minutes, 52 seconds
All right. So, the US Senate nominees in Texas, uh, Trump backed this the anti-LGBTQ monster, Ken Paxton, uh,5:00
5 minutes
who's the current attorney general who is waging war across the country on trans people. And he has for years, years,5:08
5 minutes, 8 seconds
and he defeated the longtime Republican Senator John Cornin, not a friend of ours. No. Uh now Republican senators5:16
5 minutes, 16 seconds
can't uh uh complain bitterly that having Paxton as the nominee could make them lose the seat, lose down ballot5:23
5 minutes, 23 seconds
races in Texas and lose their majority in the Senate. What are you doing to us? One can only hope.5:30
5 minutes, 30 seconds
But
Democratic strategists have not included Texas on the top tier of the
races they for Senate pickups. I mean, it's possible, but we've said
that5:38
5 minutes, 38 seconds
before. The top tier include Alaska, North Carolina, Maine, and Ohio.5:44
5 minutes, 44 seconds
And
Sherid Brown, I'm sorry to say the latest poll thing I read had him
like three points behind. Well, three three points is is close.5:53
5 minutes, 53 seconds
It's within the margin of error, but I really am hoping that Sharon will get back into the Senate.5:58
5 minutes, 58 seconds
You know, the wonderful thing though about getting rid of Cornin is he if he wants to be, he is now free to stand up6:07
6 minutes, 7 seconds
to Trump the way Tom Tillis is and Bill Cassidy and Bill Cassidy. Lisa McCowsky does it sometimes. Susan Collins teases Susan6:16
6 minutes, 16 seconds
Collins teases that she will, but she's in a tough p election which is a reason for her to appear more progressive6:23
6 minutes, 23 seconds
and yet she needs to hold on to her base. Uh she's in a race of course with Graham Platner. Yeah.6:29
6 minutes, 29 seconds
Uh the Democratic nominee is, you know, James Telerico who leads Paxton in the polls in a state that Trump won by 146:37
6 minutes, 37 seconds
points. Uh, and Paxton in his except in his victory speech, it was nothing but anti-trans stuff.6:45
6 minutes, 45 seconds
Well, that we have discussed many times on this show that this is what the Republicans do. They pick an issue and6:52
6 minutes, 52 seconds
they just hammer away at it with a sledgehammer uh to try to get votes. They they did it6:59
6 minutes, 59 seconds
with abortion. They did it with uh same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights. And now they're doing it with trans people.7:07
7 minutes, 7 seconds
I think it can use lose some of its salency.7:11
7 minutes, 11 seconds
Well, I would hope so, but they've been very successful with this kind of approach for a long time.7:16
7 minutes, 16 seconds
Well, everything everything comes all good things come to an end, Republicans.7:21
7 minutes, 21 seconds
So, Colin Allred defeated the out uh Julie Johnson in a runoff for a Texas nomination for Congress there. Uh7:30
7 minutes, 30 seconds
Johnson
is the first openly LGBTQ person elected to the US House from a
southern state. Colin all red. He got redistricted. She got and came.7:39
7 minutes, 39 seconds
Now, this used to be his seat and uh and then he quit the seat to run for7:46
7 minutes, 46 seconds
governor, Senate, one of those in Texas and he lost. And now and they have done redistricting. She won his seat in the7:54
7 minutes, 54 seconds
meantime. And so he came back and said, "I want my seat back." And now he has won the primary. And he's a heavy favorite to win8:03
8 minutes, 3 seconds
the seat in the general election. and he's a good guy and that's fine and it's just uh you know limited resources. We8:10
8 minutes, 10 seconds
don't have enough seats to go around for those.8:12
8 minutes, 12 seconds
Nice to see that a panel of federal judges in Alabama, two appointed by Trump rejected Alabama's efforts to use8:20
8 minutes, 20 seconds
a new voting map for the November midterms. The court wrote uh the court the panel wrote was8:27
8 minutes, 27 seconds
painfully aware of the gravity of our ruling. We do not find the issue particularly complex or close. However,8:34
8 minutes, 34 seconds
two Trump judges on that panel and South Carolina just failed to do their redistric.8:40
8 minutes, 40 seconds
Yeah.
But you know what is happening these days? Even Trump judges are with
us and then either the Trump administration literally ignores the8:48
8 minutes, 48 seconds
rulings or takes it to the Supreme Court where they win.8:52
8 minutes, 52 seconds
Well,
because the Supreme Court is totally determined to keep Republicans in
power so that they can stay in power, of course. But that's what
happens. So,9:01
9 minutes, 1 second
we
can celebrate these victories in the lower co court courts, and we do.
And we're thrilled with what they do, but it's not necessarily the end
of the story.9:11
9 minutes, 11 seconds
We need to get back the majority in the United States House of Representatives under the GOP. They just passed the9:18
9 minutes, 18 seconds
stopping indoctrination and protecting kids act by a vote of 217 to 198. It it9:25
9 minutes, 25 seconds
ex now they say it faces low chances in the Senate but this is this and they got eight Democrats to go along with them9:33
9 minutes, 33 seconds
including Laura Gillan in Nassau County and uh one of the Vinman brothers who's in the house9:40
9 minutes, 40 seconds
Eugene
and Gillan said as a mother of four I believe informed parents are best
equipped to support their children's needs and success.9:49
9 minutes, 49 seconds
Uh it's disgraceful. Now, this this bill, I mean, if it became law, it gives the administration enormous leverage to9:57
9 minutes, 57 seconds
stop federal funds to schools that don't get in line with their gender, their campaign against gender ideology.10:04
10 minutes, 4 seconds
This bill forbids teaching about uh trans or gender or gay.10:11
10 minutes, 11 seconds
It's almost like you can't mention the existence of transgender people because according to Trump, they don't exist.10:17
10 minutes, 17 seconds
They want to erase people. But I remember uh many years ago uh doing an10:23
10 minutes, 23 seconds
AIDS 101 session for parents at a Westchester school when I was working10:30
10 minutes, 30 seconds
for Hendrickk Martin and a woman stood up and said, you know, I'm a mother and I make sure that my kids get educated10:38
10 minutes, 38 seconds
and I don't think this belongs in the schools. I think uh parents should be in charge of this. And I said to her, you10:44
10 minutes, 44 seconds
know, I hear you and I believe you when you say that you take responsibility for uh educating your children and I'm sure10:52
10 minutes, 52 seconds
you do a good job, but what about all the other children in the class who are not the beneficiaries of such uh11:00
11 minutes
responsible and educated parents? Don't they deserve this education?11:04
11 minutes, 4 seconds
And
that's why opt out was instituted in a lot of school districts. You
don't want your kids to hear about this, which is nuts. I mean I mean
when I say it's11:13
11 minutes, 13 seconds
nuts
I mean how how do you completely avoid references when you're talk even
when I was in school before Stonewall they would mention the
homosexuality of11:22
11 minutes, 22 seconds
Tennessee Williams or something like that it was relevant to the sto thing you know how do you stop that11:28
11 minutes, 28 seconds
well my point is that she heard what I said and agreed that in fact the entire11:36
11 minutes, 36 seconds
class needed the benefit of the kind of teaching that she was doing with her child. She conceded that I was correct.11:44
11 minutes, 44 seconds
We need you on the front lines here to uh con continue to convey these messages.11:49
11 minutes, 49 seconds
That's what I need to do is go back to teaching in the schools.11:52
11 minutes, 52 seconds
Now, the the House uh rejected a bill to construct an American Women's History Museum. This has been on the boards12:01
12 minutes, 1 second
bipartisan for 20 years, but this time the Democrats balked. It was great because the bill gave too much power to12:09
12 minutes, 9 seconds
Trump over it and the GOP limited the museum to biological women blocking trans women.12:17
12 minutes, 17 seconds
You know, I got an but it's not just that. It's like giving Trump all the power over it.12:22
12 minutes, 22 seconds
Oh,
and the Democrats finally said, "We're not capitulating to this. Do we
want a women's history museum?" Sure, we do, but not under these
circumstances.12:30
12 minutes, 30 seconds
And they killed it. Uh, I got an email from a viewer, may have gone to you too this week, saying,12:37
12 minutes, 37 seconds
"Why do we allow JD Vance to change his name about six times in his lifetime for12:44
12 minutes, 44 seconds
any random reason, and yet we condemn trans people who want to change their name or or women who adopt their12:54
12 minutes, 54 seconds
husband's
name and are now going to be prevented from voting because it's not
their birth name. Well, we can't have too many women voting because then
then Democrats might win.13:04
13 minutes, 4 seconds
But I'm very proud of the Democrats in this case for not letting Trump take hold of this museum.13:12
13 minutes, 12 seconds
All right, this is uh I I don't mean this just to be amusing, but Trump loves Jackson Dart's legs.13:20
13 minutes, 20 seconds
Jackson Dart is the Giants quarterback who controversially introduced Trump at a political rally in Westchester, New13:27
13 minutes, 27 seconds
York
for endangered Republican Mike Lawler. Why would he want Trump in the
district? Trump greeted because Trump has the power to draw votes.13:36
13 minutes, 36 seconds
Trump
greeted Dart with a handshake and a hug and later called Dart a future
Hall of Famer, saying he has a lot of talent, is a beautiful guy, and
has legs13:45
13 minutes, 45 seconds
like tree trunks, as you can see from that picture.13:50
13 minutes, 50 seconds
And and then he said then he called I know he kept using Dart hardly said anything and Trump13:56
13 minutes, 56 seconds
Dark's about Dart is about 23. He knows nothing.14:01
14 minutes, 1 second
It was a great honor he said to be introducing the president. He did some of his teammates were dismayed shocked14:08
14 minutes, 8 seconds
that he was one of his one of them Abdul Carter who's a linebacker said uh he is this AI?14:15
14 minutes, 15 seconds
Well, someone was speculating uh in some sports discussion on TV the other day that Jackson Dart better watch out14:23
14 minutes, 23 seconds
because his front line may not protect him from the other team coming after him.14:28
14 minutes, 28 seconds
Trump
continued, "I'm looking at Jackson. I'd like to know, is there any
woman in the audience thinks they can tackle this guy cuz I'd like to
meet you. I'd like to shake your hand." I14:36
14 minutes, 36 seconds
don't know, Jackson. You think he could play against women? I mean, this is demented. It is.14:42
14 minutes, 42 seconds
It's completely demented. He mixes up so many things in his demented head and nobody nobody takes him down.14:48
14 minutes, 48 seconds
Yeah. Uh and then following their dear leader uh the secretary of war defense take your14:55
14 minutes, 55 seconds
picks was at West Point for the graduation there and went on and on in a rant about15:04
15 minutes, 4 seconds
wokeness
in the military and how we can't have it and it makes us losers if we
have diversity, equity, and inclusion when of course the opposite is
true.15:16
15 minutes, 16 seconds
when he's looking at an audience of a very diverse graduating class.15:20
15 minutes, 20 seconds
The battlefield, he said, does not grade on a curve and you can't throw pronouns at the enemy.15:26
15 minutes, 26 seconds
He also said, "Forget laws that mandate this. Forget laws." And he accused their professors of be15:35
15 minutes, 35 seconds
being anti-American ideologues that have we have to get rid of you. You have seen your graduating. They're h trying to15:43
15 minutes, 43 seconds
have a happy day. And this punk, your standards have been lowered. You've seen an obsession with race and gender.15:50
15 minutes, 50 seconds
Watering down of discipline. Discipline.15:53
15 minutes, 53 seconds
This guy's a drunk. I mean, it goes on and on and on.15:56
15 minutes, 56 seconds
And then Trump continued his beautiful boys tour by speaking at the Coast Guard uh graduation where he talked about16:05
16 minutes, 5 seconds
handsome men in the Coast Guard graduating class.16:08
16 minutes, 8 seconds
What is We've been talking about this for years. What is going on with him?16:13
16 minutes, 13 seconds
Uh, is it envy? Yes. Or is it homosexuality?16:18
16 minutes, 18 seconds
People
have asked me if it's homosexuality. I can't prove that. So, I'm not
The idea of being with him is so repellent that, you know, nobody wants
to think about it.16:26
16 minutes, 26 seconds
He salivates over a lot of supposed beauty. But his standards of beauty, if you every time I see him in the Oval16:34
16 minutes, 34 seconds
Office with all that hideous faux gold behind him, I just cringe and and think We've been cringing. We've16:43
16 minutes, 43 seconds
known him since the 80s and we've been cringing, but some people fell for him.16:47
16 minutes, 47 seconds
I guess I'm cringing over the slush fund, too.16:50
16 minutes, 50 seconds
We've
Everyone is appalled by the slush fund. I really think that was a huge
mistake they made. And I hope it's really going to bring them down. But I16:58
16 minutes, 58 seconds
think
we should be talking about if there's going to be a slush fund, who are
we giving that money to as reparations? How about Native Americans?17:07
17 minutes, 7 seconds
How about black people for slavery? How about a little more to Japanese who were interred? And how about17:14
17 minutes, 14 seconds
how about women who weren't allowed to vote for hundreds of years?17:17
17 minutes, 17 seconds
That would be nice. And how about everyone being swept up by ICE and tortured in these detention centers17:25
17 minutes, 25 seconds
these days? Every last one of them should a be released and b be given reparations.17:32
17 minutes, 32 seconds
I mean, the stuff going on in New Jersey right now at the detention center is just abominable. uh and starving people,17:39
17 minutes, 39 seconds
you know, denying them medications, mistreating them, feeding them uh dirty water and and just17:47
17 minutes, 47 seconds
abusing because the the strategy is we want you to self-deport. We're going to treat you as you know.17:54
17 minutes, 54 seconds
All
right. So while Republicans I I would self-deport under that uh under
those conditions. But congratulations to Mikey Cheryl, the new18:02
18 minutes, 2 seconds
governor of New Jersey who showed up there and Andy Kim who got gassed I think. Yes. Spray spread pepper sprayed.18:10
18 minutes, 10 seconds
Yes. And Mikey Cheryl couldn't get let in. So while Republicans sow division, the Iowa auditor, Democrat Rob Sand, who18:19
18 minutes, 19 seconds
is running for governor now, he he leads the assembled at his town meetings in18:26
18 minutes, 26 seconds
America
the Beautiful to foster unity among everybody. And trans activist
Charlotte Climber, who used to be the press secretary for HRC and is a18:36
18 minutes, 36 seconds
military veteran, said that what he's doing is beautiful. And the of course the song they don't emphasize this in18:43
18 minutes, 43 seconds
the stories was written in 1893 by Katherine Lee Bates a lesbian feminist and educator who had a devoted 25-y year18:51
18 minutes, 51 seconds
relationship with her fellow Welssley professor Katherine Coleman and he sand leads in the polls in Iowa18:59
18 minutes, 59 seconds
and I'm really happy he does that song instead of the Star Spangled Banner which I would consider more divisive and violent.19:07
19 minutes, 7 seconds
Yeah. So, uh, America the Beautiful, much better choice. And I'm sorry to report that in spite of the winds we've19:15
19 minutes, 15 seconds
had in courts lately about resisting the Department of Justice orders for19:22
19 minutes, 22 seconds
hospitals to turn over their records on trans youth, all this data. Uh, the Texas judge Reed O' Conor, who has been19:31
19 minutes, 31 seconds
in
our sighteline for many years, far right, horrible. He's one of those
few that the the Republicans go to to try to get orders nationally that
are horrible.19:41
19 minutes, 41 seconds
Well, he has ruled that Rhode Island Hospital must give him their uh data on19:50
19 minutes, 50 seconds
trans youth and medical care until the case is resolved. They have to hand it to him. Are they?19:56
19 minutes, 56 seconds
The appeals court in Boston upheld this ruling.20:01
20 minutes, 1 second
Others of course are saying he should be impeached for doing this. I don't know whether the data has been handed over20:08
20 minutes, 8 seconds
yet or will be. But it's, you know, one step forward, two steps back. It's fascism. It's horrible.20:15
20 minutes, 15 seconds
Well, we had a little break in Nebraska where the 2026 legislative session ended without any of the proposed anti-LGBTQ20:23
20 minutes, 23 seconds
bills passing. They included measures on healthcare access, school policies, public accommodations. Uh they stalled20:31
20 minutes, 31 seconds
and in Maine the they have a way of stalling things in Nebraska. They do.20:35
20 minutes, 35 seconds
They do. You're right. Uh and in Maine, the Secretary of State there ruled that the proposed anti-trans20:44
20 minutes, 44 seconds
referendum for the November ballot was invalid because they screwed around with the se signature gathering.20:51
20 minutes, 51 seconds
She had Shenna Bellow. She had originally certified it, but then they found all these reports of chicainery and she says20:59
20 minutes, 59 seconds
forged signatures, signature gatherers from out of state.21:03
21 minutes, 3 seconds
You
meant now again this is this is going to be going these anti-trans
referenda are going to be going forward in a couple of other states.21:12
21 minutes, 12 seconds
I'm sure uh Washington state and Colorado. Yes.21:16
21 minutes, 16 seconds
Now they are funded by a billionaire named Richard Uline. Uline Uline who the co-founder of Uline office21:24
21 minutes, 24 seconds
supplies if you ever thought of shopping there. He donated $800,000 for this effort and 250 million to political21:32
21 minutes, 32 seconds
causes
to and this is again these are the billionaire. Now why do the
billionaires do it? Well, they want to they want to pay low taxes and
then as21:41
21 minutes, 41 seconds
you
say, they pick out the transition or they think it's going to be
winner. And I think it's going to get worn out, especially when people
can't afford to21:49
21 minutes, 49 seconds
drive to the grocery store or buy groceries.21:52
21 minutes, 52 seconds
It will get worn out. But will it be in a year, in 10 years, in 20 years? The abortion issue mostly got worn out.22:01
22 minutes, 1 second
Same-sex marriage got worn out. All of these things may come back. But uh uh but I the trans issue is proving very22:10
22 minutes, 10 seconds
effective for them at the moment. Now and I think we have reported on how it's losing.22:16
22 minutes, 16 seconds
It's losing. It's some we win, some we lose.22:18
22 minutes, 18 seconds
No,
no, no. I mean that people It's just people do not rank it anywhere
near the top of Well, fine. And Ken Paxton wins the uh the primary
runoff.22:27
22 minutes, 27 seconds
Well, because Trump supported him. I mean, you could argue how did he win, you know?22:33
22 minutes, 33 seconds
All right. It's a mixed bag. But uh for those who think that billionaires, who cares? Let them do whatever. This is why22:42
22 minutes, 42 seconds
we
care because this is how they spend their money, right? There shouldn't
be any billionaires. I mean, that that's not such a radical statement.
Certainly, it's a Bob Donnie statement.22:51
22 minutes, 51 seconds
Certainly. Well, actually coined, I think, by Bernie Sanders as his mentor, but and what about the Democratic22:58
22 minutes, 58 seconds
National
Committee? some of their autopsy from 2024 leaked out and part of they
say part of the big reason Trump was very effective with the23:06
23 minutes, 6 seconds
anti-transgender ads against her and but how about talking about the people who are handling it well as I've said like23:15
23 minutes, 15 seconds
Graeme
Platner in Maine when they ask him about it he says we have two
athletes in Maine who schools who are who are transgender we have 40,00023:24
23 minutes, 24 seconds
people who are getting thrown off the ACA what what is it you care about yeah and you have people.23:30
23 minutes, 30 seconds
Well, I I think that's one way of approaching it. I think you also have to uh forthrightly talk about what the issue is.23:37
23 minutes, 37 seconds
Well, he does as well. He's he supports transgender rights.23:40
23 minutes, 40 seconds
And the other one other thing that came up this week is the Justice Department, I think, is now demanding that all23:47
23 minutes, 47 seconds
government employees sign this non-disclosure agreement. And their rationale is in private industry these23:57
23 minutes, 57 seconds
are standard and the government should not have a lower standard than private industry. No you idiots. The whole point24:06
24 minutes, 6 seconds
of having a government is that you have public information.24:10
24 minutes, 10 seconds
Plus public employees have a lot more first amendment protections than private uh corporations.24:17
24 minutes, 17 seconds
The government is not allowed to censor people's speech. Right.24:21
24 minutes, 21 seconds
So to propose this and claim that it's because you need to follow private industry is crazy.24:28
24 minutes, 28 seconds
They just throw crap at the wall and see what sticks. They do. And a lot of it is sticking.24:34
24 minutes, 34 seconds
Uh in New Jersey, the appellet division affirmed a judgment of $1.4 million against a Jersey school board for24:42
24 minutes, 42 seconds
failing to take appropriate steps in the aid of a student who is being subjected to homophobic harassment by a classmate.24:49
24 minutes, 49 seconds
This
is great. They don't name the student. That's good. Um, but it began in
middle school. It continued through high school. And, uh, the principal24:58
24 minutes, 58 seconds
testified,
"Oh, I was unaware of the harasser's disciplinary record as a bully and
sexual harasser." But all that came out at trial.25:07
25 minutes, 7 seconds
So, again, it's all about these, you know, sue kids. You should sue if you can, if you have the uh25:14
25 minutes, 14 seconds
the go the gall of these principles and teachers who say, "I didn't know he was being bullied."25:21
25 minutes, 21 seconds
What is wrong with you? So in um in Mississippi in Deberville High School,25:30
25 minutes, 30 seconds
they were celebrating a trans salut salutarian.25:36
25 minutes, 36 seconds
But when the picture of this trans boy showed up in the uh25:44
25 minutes, 44 seconds
yearbook, the school had erased his mustache, feminized his face. Um,25:52
25 minutes, 52 seconds
all they did for us is wipe out our his female name. His friends protested.25:59
25 minutes, 59 seconds
Uh, and other people were excluded from the yearbook for wearing clothes that were considered gender inappropriate.26:06
26 minutes, 6 seconds
You know what you do in those cases? You make up stickers with the right p.26:10
26 minutes, 10 seconds
Seriously,
with the right picture. They do this when books are screwed up
sometimes. And say everybody who cares, here's a here's a picture that
you can26:17
26 minutes, 17 seconds
paste into your yearbook. It's only a it's a very limited run.26:21
26 minutes, 21 seconds
I I would like it to be mandatory that it's universal. You don't have to ask for it. they do it the right way.26:29
26 minutes, 29 seconds
So, Colorado Governor Jared Polus, outgay Democrat, was censured by his own party because he made a decision to free26:38
26 minutes, 38 seconds
Tina Peters, who was a very high-profile election denier and supporter of Trump, who was serving a nine-year prison26:45
26 minutes, 45 seconds
sentence and was was totally unrepentant.26:49
26 minutes, 49 seconds
She messed with the voting machines or wanted to after the 2020 election. This26:56
26 minutes, 56 seconds
is one of these Trump won in 2020 and uh we're going to redo the election to27:04
27 minutes, 4 seconds
prove
that he in fact won. And the Central Committee of the Democratic Party
of Colorado passed a resolution censuring him for this with 90% support.27:15
27 minutes, 15 seconds
And the uh what was it? Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado, who was running for27:23
27 minutes, 23 seconds
governor, called what Polus did disqualifying. And if I become governor, I'm not appointing him to the US Senate seat.27:31
27 minutes, 31 seconds
Now, she was sentenced to nine years.27:34
27 minutes, 34 seconds
I know you're a more compassionate person than I am.27:36
27 minutes, 36 seconds
Well,
she had served two years. Maybe there's a middle ground. I We don't
believe in long prison sentences, right? That's my only problem with27:45
27 minutes, 45 seconds
censuring him. Well, but you say that's not why he let her out.27:50
27 minutes, 50 seconds
Well, of course, he was getting pressure from Trump. We're going to cut off federal funds if you don't let her out.27:56
27 minutes, 56 seconds
Trump,
he's learned the formula. I threatened to cut off federal funds. It
makes you think we shouldn't be so dependent on federal funds.28:04
28 minutes, 4 seconds
Certainly,
but we we've done that too over the years, saying you're not going to
get Medicare or Medicaid if you don't treat trans people nicely. You
know, we've done that.28:13
28 minutes, 13 seconds
Okay.28:15
28 minutes, 15 seconds
uh in where was I going to go? Oh, the Southern Baptists, they are uh they've decided to pass a28:25
28 minutes, 25 seconds
firm resolution confirming that no women can be pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention.28:32
28 minutes, 32 seconds
This is a picture. We got a picture of that guy. Uh his name Yeah. Al Mohler.28:36
28 minutes, 36 seconds
Al
Mohler is the I mean he he's saying we need clarity on this. We got
clarity about keeping the gays out. Now, we need clarity on keeping the
women out.28:47
28 minutes, 47 seconds
Shouldn't we just take a little corner of the United States and call it men's world and let them all go live there?28:53
28 minutes, 53 seconds
Well,
you know, look, I mean, the Pope came out with this this thing about AI
and it was a huge amount of press about it. Although, somebody who
actually read29:01
29 minutes, 1 second
it said it's a bunch it's it's, you know, it's it's, you know, nothing. Uh, but I'm not taking probably written by AI.29:11
29 minutes, 11 seconds
I'm
not taking moral advice from someone who can't just admit that women
are people and gay people are people who deserve equal dignity and he
knows that.29:21
29 minutes, 21 seconds
But he won't do it because he would lose his power and he comes from a boy's club and it's come on why why do people flock29:29
29 minutes, 29 seconds
around
and say, "Oh, look what the holy father said about AI." All right,
shall we get into the good news of Watertown, Wisconsin?29:40
29 minutes, 40 seconds
We
we we we can I have a couple of other stories I just want to do a
little bit more on that taxpayer funded Christian nationalist rally on
the DC mall that we29:48
29 minutes, 48 seconds
talked about. Franklin Graham described the United States as morally rotten blaming transgenderism and and same-sex29:56
29 minutes, 56 seconds
marriage
for for the depravity and America sunk so low. But he also talked
about, you know, the Bible predicted there would be these narcissistic
leaders who would not be for the people.30:06
30 minutes, 6 seconds
He's talking about Trump, but he doesn't realize it. And himself.30:11
30 minutes, 11 seconds
Oh,
God. Yes. Oh, the God. I mean, that's We shouldn't use the word God
there, I guess. And the Republican base is fracturing o over how much
bigotry is30:20
30 minutes, 20 seconds
tolerable. Florida International University suspended two students who held Republican party leadership30:27
30 minutes, 27 seconds
positions
for their text chat slurs against Jewish, black, gay people, and women.
Yes. And these were epic, epic kinds of things.30:35
30 minutes, 35 seconds
Egregious.
Avoid the colors like the plague. I would definitely not marry a Jew.
It goes on and on. And now they're suing. Tell me how you feel about
this.30:45
30 minutes, 45 seconds
For free speech.30:46
30 minutes, 46 seconds
First Amendment. You can't do this to us. You can't suspend us for speech.30:51
30 minutes, 51 seconds
Well, is Florida International a government entity? It is.30:55
30 minutes, 55 seconds
Well, that's why they might win because the government is not allowed to uh censor their speech.31:02
31 minutes, 2 seconds
Okay, let's go to Watertown. Let's do.31:05
31 minutes, 5 seconds
So,
we have a picture here of the composer of Mother of Revolution, a very
short orchestral piece. We've told you about it, which is inspired by
Marshia P. Johnson and the Stonewall Rebellion.31:17
31 minutes, 17 seconds
This is Omar Thomas, the author of the piece. So, and I composer I as I had urged when they they were31:25
31 minutes, 25 seconds
banned the school orchestra was banned by the school board from doing this piece because it glorified political31:32
31 minutes, 32 seconds
violence
which is insane. It's an orchestral piece and it's it's also that you
know come on the whole country's founded on violence.31:40
31 minutes, 40 seconds
We're going to pay billions of dollars to people who attack the capital.31:45
31 minutes, 45 seconds
Right. Exactly. So the so I said, "Come on kids, just do it outside the the spring31:53
31 minutes, 53 seconds
function." But a Lutheran church, you know, liberal church these days, they invited them in. Uh they were it was so32:01
32 minutes, 1 second
moving.
I have the whole uh video to show you. But the first speaker we're
going to show you Well, you're not going to show the video32:08
32 minutes, 8 seconds
here. You're going to uh link to it in the show notes.32:10
32 minutes, 10 seconds
The
whole video. Yes. But we're we're going to hear from uh but we're not
going to hear the music as No, we can't we can't do the music. That32:18
32 minutes, 18 seconds
gets
us in trouble. So, you'll hear the music if you s if you get the link
to this and you could Google it. A mo the a mother of the revolution. Uh
so, the32:26
32 minutes, 26 seconds
first one we're going to hear from is uh Charles Sucko who was a student in the Watertown band.32:36
32 minutes, 36 seconds
It's here where I was introduced to a mother of a revolution.32:40
32 minutes, 40 seconds
The
whole situation regarding the song has taught me a lot in a very small
amount of time. So, let's start with the basics. A mother of a
revolution was32:47
32 minutes, 47 seconds
written
to honor Marcia P. Johnson, a trans woman of color, and to commemorate
the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The song represents many32:56
32 minutes, 56 seconds
emotions,
but the biggest one that I took away from it was empathy. That's what I
spoke about on the board meeting on Tuesday, and I hold the same
opinion33:04
33 minutes, 4 seconds
now
that I did then, that empathy, a mother of a revolution at its core, is
about empathy. And empathy is never something that we that we should
try to33:11
33 minutes, 11 seconds
hide or take away in the past week or Thank you.33:21
33 minutes, 21 seconds
makes me feel good about our young people.33:23
33 minutes, 23 seconds
Exactly. And then the band director uh Matt Kaz Kazinski spoke of a brief clip from him.33:33
33 minutes, 33 seconds
They told these students that their labor didn't matter and that they and they told our LGBTQ plus youth33:41
33 minutes, 41 seconds
that their history and their identity are things to be hidden away. That is profound failure of educational leadership.33:54
33 minutes, 54 seconds
He works for the school system. And then so Omar Thomas who wrote this piece flies in from where I think he was34:02
34 minutes, 2 seconds
overseas or something and said he had to be here and we have two clips from him as he directed the orchestra that day.34:10
34 minutes, 10 seconds
This
is why I had to come because I had to feel the energy that you all have
generated by deciding that community is what matters and inspiring
people all34:19
34 minutes, 19 seconds
over this country nay all over the world because I've learned about this through34:26
34 minutes, 26 seconds
uh media from across the seas and that's what you all have done by choosing love by choosing to support these students34:34
34 minutes, 34 seconds
and by choosing to stand in community because I believe that that's the way forward in these dark times.34:43
34 minutes, 43 seconds
was. So, I said, "How about we make this about Stonewall if it's going to be about Stonewall? And how about we honor34:52
34 minutes, 52 seconds
the
members of the LGBTQ plus community who have fought the hardest?" And
the reason that they fought the hardest because they've had the most to
lose.34:59
34 minutes, 59 seconds
And that is the black trans community.35:09
35 minutes, 9 seconds
And so I decided to write this piece to honor Marshia P. Johnson. And it was actually a pretty easy decision to35:17
35 minutes, 17 seconds
figure
out what this piece was supposed to sound like. I was never going to
write something that was allegak or a durge or sorrowful. Because when I
think35:26
35 minutes, 26 seconds
about the trans people in my life, my students, my friends, my community, I think about strength. I think about35:34
35 minutes, 34 seconds
people who choose themselves and they choose joy and they choose laughter despite every time they step out the35:42
35 minutes, 42 seconds
door the world wanting to destroy and erase them. And that is the bravest act that I can imagine and I wanted to honor them.35:53
35 minutes, 53 seconds
It was a joyous evening and I I just want to thank the Watertown School Board because they have brought international36:00
36 minutes
attention
to something that would have not even been noticed had they just let
the damn thing go. It's a 4 and a half minute piece.36:07
36 minutes, 7 seconds
You're thanking them ironically because they're the ones who created this course censuring it in Boston.36:14
36 minutes, 14 seconds
I think uh I think Omar Thomas is someone that Trump should find attractive.36:19
36 minutes, 19 seconds
Yes, he's very cute. very fit.36:21
36 minutes, 21 seconds
All right. Uh, a couple of minor but annoying stories in Miami Beach. Uh, cameras caught a couple of German36:30
36 minutes, 30 seconds
tourists 62 and 58 vandalizing a rainbow bench. Remember how uh, Dantis outlawed36:39
36 minutes, 39 seconds
the
rainbow crosswalks and then they moved all the bricks to a park and one
of the things they did was create a rainbow bench. Well, these German36:47
36 minutes, 47 seconds
tourists happen along and they start vandalizing the bench with ready for this swastikas.36:53
36 minutes, 53 seconds
Swastika and Adolf was here. German tourists.36:59
36 minutes, 59 seconds
German tourists. The German gen council general apologized to Jews for this, but not to LGBTQ people. Yes.37:10
37 minutes, 10 seconds
Rainbow bench who are who are also in the camps being exterminated.37:14
37 minutes, 14 seconds
Yes. Uh but luckily there were security cameras that caught all this and so they were arrested. Have they been deported?37:21
37 minutes, 21 seconds
I don't know, but they were certainly reprimanded. And then in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there are there's an artist37:29
37 minutes, 29 seconds
there who does lovely uh pictures of koi fish on the sidewalk. What kind of fish? Koi. Koi.37:38
37 minutes, 38 seconds
Oh, okay.37:39
37 minutes, 39 seconds
The you know, like the goldfish but a little fancier. Uh so he picks little spots around the city and he does these37:46
37 minutes, 46 seconds
really lovely pictures of koi. Well, someone came along and and spray painted all over the uh koiish. Really? The37:54
37 minutes, 54 seconds
koiish are So that was uh that was another lovely moment. And38:02
38 minutes, 2 seconds
to those who think that we live all these great lives, many of us do, but it just hasn't stopped. the hatred, the38:11
38 minutes, 11 seconds
stigmatization, the attacks, the random uh attacks on us all over the place. I'm38:19
38 minutes, 19 seconds
going to get to more of that later in Believe It or Not Entertainment News.38:23
38 minutes, 23 seconds
Well, let's talk about some of the people we lost in Fort Pierce, Florida.38:27
38 minutes, 27 seconds
35-year-old trans Latina Lanessa Rodriguez was shot to death inside her own Florida business, which was a silver38:34
38 minutes, 34 seconds
and gold store, sort of a porn shop. A police arrested a 20-year-old uh who entered, pulled out a gun, sort of a what shop?38:43
38 minutes, 43 seconds
Pawn shop. Pawn shop. Yes.38:45
38 minutes, 45 seconds
Shot the victim multiple times before trying to open the cash register and leave the scene. This guy Ballard later said, "Is38:55
38 minutes, 55 seconds
it bad that I have no remorse?" Yes. Wow. It is. Wow.39:00
39 minutes
You know, and they made a second arrest in the case. Uh Vanessa lived in Fort39:08
39 minutes, 8 seconds
Pierce, managed a couple of shops. I mean, just trying to live her life.39:12
39 minutes, 12 seconds
Absolutely. Uh and then in Kentucky, a Northern Kentucky University39:19
39 minutes, 19 seconds
student, Murray Alexis Faustst, trans 22 years old, found dead on the campus. Uh39:29
39 minutes, 29 seconds
the the police are saying by a search party.39:31
39 minutes, 31 seconds
Yeah. No signs of foul play. Well, that was a very quick decision and there's more to be learned about Murray.39:39
39 minutes, 39 seconds
Murray was a fine arts major at the university and set to graduate this year.39:44
39 minutes, 44 seconds
And there are uh several murders of trans people discovered in Texas. Jade Roberts, 25 years old in Houston. Paris39:54
39 minutes, 54 seconds
Harris, 21 years old in Dallas. Just more trans murders. And again, this is the atmosphere being created by these40:01
40 minutes, 1 second
billionaires who want to keep their taxes low by running all these anti-trans ads. Exactly. All right. International news.40:08
40 minutes, 8 seconds
Well, start with the good news from Britain.40:12
40 minutes, 12 seconds
They announced a 21 million pound commitment to support global LGBTQ rights over the next three years. That's40:19
40 minutes, 19 seconds
nice. And they said London will host the 2027 Idaho bit forum, European forum. Uh40:28
40 minutes, 28 seconds
so that's that's welcome news. But then you read about things that are happening in places like Durham in in England that40:35
40 minutes, 35 seconds
the council is controlled by Nigel Farage's fascist reform party. They have cut up they cut off funding to the40:43
40 minutes, 43 seconds
annual
pride celebration. So what did they what happened? The labor movement
rallied around them and said we'll pay for it. Well, these are the
minors that40:52
40 minutes, 52 seconds
were saved by the gay community there when they went on strike and the gay40:59
40 minutes, 59 seconds
community came out and supported them and helped them.41:02
41 minutes, 2 seconds
Collected money, came up there that was that was dramatized in the movie Pride. It was a true story. A great movie.41:09
41 minutes, 9 seconds
I'll be seeing a musical about that in in London this year. And I ran into Andrew Scott who was in the movie and he41:16
41 minutes, 16 seconds
I said, "Have you seen the musical?" He said, "I saw it in Wales." He's, you know, Welsh and he said it's terrific.41:23
41 minutes, 23 seconds
Well, the original movie was terrific and the story is terrific. And now the miners have raised more money to save41:29
41 minutes, 29 seconds
Pride in Durham than the council had cancelled in the first place, which is what we have to do and take care of ourselves.41:39
41 minutes, 39 seconds
And yeah, we're going to continue to have our annual queer liberation march, which is outside the corporate march.41:46
41 minutes, 46 seconds
Exly.
and I am uh helping Marshall for the second year in a row the drag
march on Friday night that weekend and that will be a lot of fun41:55
41 minutes, 55 seconds
pride weekend after that. And I by the way I always get a note from one of our viewers in Chicago we had the first42:02
42 minutes, 2 seconds
pride parade in the country and they did they beat New York by a couple of days.42:07
42 minutes, 7 seconds
Uh, also in the UK, England, Wales, and Scotland have proposing no trans people in single sex42:17
42 minutes, 17 seconds
multi-stall restrooms and changing rooms. But if that's the case, the42:23
42 minutes, 23 seconds
facility must offer singleuse alternative places.42:28
42 minutes, 28 seconds
So
listen to this. Under the guidance now, a service could face sex
discrimination claims in court if they include trans people in single
sex42:36
42 minutes, 36 seconds
spaces
according to their gender identity. But if they exclude trans people
from single sex spaces, they could face a claim odd discrimination42:45
42 minutes, 45 seconds
against them based on gender reass gender identity re all that stuff. So it's just nuts about where people are42:53
42 minutes, 53 seconds
going to go to the bathroom. Well, don't go to Sagal because they have an urgent42:59
42 minutes, 59 seconds
search going on there for a quote vast network of homosexuals ever since they passed their drastic new law doubling43:08
43 minutes, 8 seconds
the penalties for being gay. Uh they've just arrested a hundred people in Sagal.43:16
43 minutes, 16 seconds
It's a a witch hunt.43:18
43 minutes, 18 seconds
And
you know the international lesbian ISA, I don't even know what it
stands for anymore. It used to be international lesbian and gay
association world43:25
43 minutes, 25 seconds
advisory
group. They note that the number of UN member states criminalizing
consensual samesex acts has risen for the first time in memory.43:34
43 minutes, 34 seconds
Well, now standing at 65 countries in check the list before you go anywhere. Absolutely.43:43
43 minutes, 43 seconds
Uh Malaysia in Koala Lumpur where we know they are ruled by Sharia law.43:50
43 minutes, 50 seconds
They've just arrested another 51 men at a so-called gay party in a hotel. They went room by room and arrested people.43:59
43 minutes, 59 seconds
They picked up $26,000 worth of ketamine and MDMA and one guy ended up dead and in the lobby of the hotel.44:10
44 minutes, 10 seconds
We
certainly can't object to them breaking up a drug party. Uh but uh they
but they're going after these people because they're gay. They're all44:17
44 minutes, 17 seconds
consensual adult. And Ilga also notes that Spain is now the best country in44:25
44 minutes, 25 seconds
Europe for LGBTQ rights. That's basically an assessment of the laws they have and their level of acceptance.44:32
44 minutes, 32 seconds
And a trans organization says that Iceland is the best place for trans people in Europe.44:40
44 minutes, 40 seconds
I've never been. Have you? No. No.44:43
44 minutes, 43 seconds
I have friends who've been, but I have not. Oh, and uh in Hong Kong for the second year in a row, they've cancelled the pink dot44:51
44 minutes, 51 seconds
festivities, which is their pride celebration. Yes. Because China will not give them, you know, when China took44:59
44 minutes, 59 seconds
over Hong Kong, which used to be evidently haven't been there either, uh a pretty free place, they've cracked45:06
45 minutes, 6 seconds
down on disscent and difference, and they're not issuing any permits for this. And so it's canled. Although it'll45:15
45 minutes, 15 seconds
be
interesting to see whether what will happen to samesex marriage and all
the LGBTQ rights in Taiwan when China takes over. Of course they
already think they own it.45:24
45 minutes, 24 seconds
Uh not looking forward to any Trump is Trump is standing aside and letting them have it.45:29
45 minutes, 29 seconds
Here take it. All right. Should we get on to Well, uh the Pussycat dolls are back, huh?45:36
45 minutes, 36 seconds
Well, sort of. They reassembled for a tour of Europe and then they showed up.45:42
45 minutes, 42 seconds
Uh, there were five of them. Now there are three of them. They're at the American Music Awards, headtotoe latex.45:50
45 minutes, 50 seconds
In the middle, this is why I wanted to use this picture. Nicole Schzinger, who last year won the Tony,45:56
45 minutes, 56 seconds
won the Tony Award for best actress in a musical for a revival of Sunset Boulevard.46:04
46 minutes, 4 seconds
And here she is in Las Vegas at the American Music Awards doing a very wild,46:11
46 minutes, 11 seconds
crazy, sexy performance of uh a medley of their hits, including most famously,46:18
46 minutes, 18 seconds
Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Were Hot Like Me, Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend46:24
46 minutes, 24 seconds
Were a Freak Like Me, and last year she was winning the Tony.46:28
46 minutes, 28 seconds
First time they've gotten together since 2006. And since they cancelled their North American tour, though earlier this month.46:35
46 minutes, 35 seconds
Yes. Uh there is dissension within the group there.46:39
46 minutes, 39 seconds
Oh yeah. Some of them didn't show up for the American Music Awards.46:41
46 minutes, 41 seconds
Yes. And there are charges of lipsyncing, but it was a very hot performance. I highly recommend you look it up on YouTube.46:48
46 minutes, 48 seconds
All
right. I went you many lovers of Heated Rivalry out there. I went to
see Heated Rivalry, the unauthorized musical parody, and it's very
clever.47:00
47 minutes
It's off Broadway at the Culture Club.47:01
47 minutes, 1 second
It's great fun. U a little starring are Jay Armstrong Johnson as Ilia and Jim and June as Shane. But the show is47:10
47 minutes, 10 seconds
framed as a show that is a favorite of women who watch it every week and that's that's the that that's how it starts and47:18
47 minutes, 18 seconds
it but it's but they do it in a very funny way. However, as a person with hearing loss, I have to say even though47:25
47 minutes, 25 seconds
it's very loud, um be it's sort of a cacophony and I miss some of your good lines.47:31
47 minutes, 31 seconds
That's that's why you did because it's a cacophony. Uh, and then there was the final show by Stephven Colbear on CBS,47:40
47 minutes, 40 seconds
although now he's already started a YouTube channel and he very cleverly went back to a public access show in47:48
47 minutes, 48 seconds
Michigan that he had done just before he started the CBS show. So, we as public access veterans are very charmed by him47:56
47 minutes, 56 seconds
showing up on public access. However, however, on his last show on CBS, he had a lot of celebrity cameos and people48:05
48 minutes, 5 seconds
coming
out of the audience or whatever, and Ryan Reynolds comes out of the
audience to give flowers or something to the band leader and gives him a
big hug.48:16
48 minutes, 16 seconds
And the the payoff for that is the band leader recoils in horror at being hugged by a man and every everybody laughs.48:27
48 minutes, 27 seconds
Well, that's that's late night forever.48:29
48 minutes, 29 seconds
Well, it's it's epidemic for I can't tell you how many people from Johnny Carson everywhere, Jackpar. You can go back forever.48:38
48 minutes, 38 seconds
jokes.48:39
48 minutes, 39 seconds
This is happening now. This is 2026 and it's still happening and it's just kneejerk, lazy, uh, bigoted humor and48:48
48 minutes, 48 seconds
people
just won't cut it out. It is everywhere. It's not just late night. It
is all over the place. And it I found it it was tiny. It was offensive.48:58
48 minutes, 58 seconds
Yes. Uh well, if you really want to be uh say somebody who's really out there, go see Cola Skola in his hit play Oh49:07
49 minutes, 7 seconds
Mary. He's coming. He's making his London premiere at the Trafalga Theater from July 20th to August 15th. Katherine49:15
49 minutes, 15 seconds
Tate is in the role. Until then, she's quite wonderful if you've if you've ever seen her. I don't know. Have I?49:21
49 minutes, 21 seconds
Oh, she does all these online. She's very funny. Okay. Are you going to be there then?49:26
49 minutes, 26 seconds
I am. I' I've seen I've seen Cole, you know. It's true.49:30
49 minutes, 30 seconds
So, well, good for him for doing it in London.49:35
49 minutes, 35 seconds
All right. Actor Thora Burch has come out as bisexual in an US magazine interview. No, she remember her.49:41
49 minutes, 41 seconds
She's married to a man, but she married to a man. American Beauty years ago. Ghost World was her big.49:46
49 minutes, 46 seconds
Yes. Where she was Kevin Spacy's daughter. Um, and she uh she was in the dramatic film Chronology of Water about49:54
49 minutes, 54 seconds
a young woman's recovery from childhood sexual abuse. A directed by bisexual actress Kristen Stewart, who is with a woman.50:02
50 minutes, 2 seconds
Kristen Stewart is always interesting, but so what does Burke say? I don't want to get too political, but find your50:09
50 minutes, 9 seconds
community
where you can stand with them, stick with them, and share that love
that you share together and reach it towards others. Well, that's nice.
Sure.50:18
50 minutes, 18 seconds
But
then she says, "We have to stop fighting." Well, but we have to fight.
Thor, we actually have to fight. Yeah. Well, maybe a little more fight.50:27
50 minutes, 27 seconds
By the way, she made this announcement while attending the 35th anniversary of the West Hollywood gay bar, The Abbey.50:33
50 minutes, 33 seconds
Elizabeth Taylor's Elizabeth Taylor's favorite bar.50:36
50 minutes, 36 seconds
Say it somewhere straight. Uh there's a rock group called Beartooth50:43
50 minutes, 43 seconds
and they have a singer Caleb Shomo, 33 years old, and he has just come out as a proudly gay man.50:54
50 minutes, 54 seconds
Is it Shomo? Shomo. Yeah.50:56
50 minutes, 56 seconds
He says that he spent a decade of burying his feelings with alcohol, depression, self-loathing, hopelessness.51:06
51 minutes, 6 seconds
Wow.
I thought that was just an astonishing statement for him to own up to
all of that and to connect his closetedness to depression and alcohol.51:18
51 minutes, 18 seconds
That was so insightful and and great.51:20
51 minutes, 20 seconds
Now, his wife of 14 years, Flu Shommo, uh said, "It's been very disorienting and a hurtful time, but I always want to51:28
51 minutes, 28 seconds
love, protect, and support Callum." Caleb.51:32
51 minutes, 32 seconds
Caleb, I assume. Let's call the whole thing off.51:34
51 minutes, 34 seconds
Uh The flur, the wife, says she supports him, but she is angry and devastated and51:42
51 minutes, 42 seconds
has lost everything. That sounds a little uh, you know, hyperbolic.51:49
51 minutes, 49 seconds
And then our pal Rob Shooter, who sometimes sits in here and who writes a wonderful substack of insight and51:58
51 minutes, 58 seconds
gossip. I'm And a new novel. A great new novel.52:02
52 minutes, 2 seconds
It began with a whisper. That's the title of the novel. So, Rob wrote about this and he says that lots of lots of52:10
52 minutes, 10 seconds
closeted rock stars are very nervous about Caleb coming out because52:18
52 minutes, 18 seconds
first, he may blow their cover. And second, he may uh change the perception52:25
52 minutes, 25 seconds
of the rockar star that uh you know, if rock stars are gay, what's rock music about? Now Freddy52:34
52 minutes, 34 seconds
Mercury might object to that and even Elton John.52:39
52 minutes, 39 seconds
I mean, look, the occasional Catholic priest comes out, but it doesn't start a stampede out out of the closet, does it?52:45
52 minutes, 45 seconds
It does not. But it's an interesting uh incident and I'm really just proud of52:53
52 minutes, 53 seconds
Caleb for being so forthright about his uh issues.52:58
52 minutes, 58 seconds
So, Peter Huar was a fabulous photographer outgay who really chronicled the53:04
53 minutes, 4 seconds
counterculture from the 60s on until he died in 1987. And I mentioned this last week, but now I've seen it and it it is53:13
53 minutes, 13 seconds
just it blew me away. Um it's a it's an exhibit of his contact sheets. And this one, I'd never seen these pictures. You53:21
53 minutes, 21 seconds
need a mic mic magnifying glass, but Marsha P. Johnson, the peers, gay life, stuff that I' I'd never seen before.53:30
53 minutes, 30 seconds
Well, these are the peers as I remember them in the 70s. I wasn't hanging out there, but uh I would visit and go by53:38
53 minutes, 38 seconds
and that's exactly what it all got pictures of young Fran Liowitz just hanging out in a bed. uh John Waters53:45
53 minutes, 45 seconds
with
very long hair hanging out in a bed. It it goes on and on and on and it
it it is just it's it's I find the peer pictures more53:53
53 minutes, 53 seconds
interesting because that was the people in real life. I I once saw Rudolph Nurv there on the peers. That was cute.54:01
54 minutes, 1 second
What What did you observe?54:04
54 minutes, 4 seconds
He had an entourage of a couple of young men with him and he was strolling the peers.54:10
54 minutes, 10 seconds
Oh, just strolling. Okay. Well, I didn't hang around to see everything.54:15
54 minutes, 15 seconds
Uh, well, anyway, it's at the Morgan Library. I highly recommend it. A lot of LGBTQ stuff. The Australian Ballet is54:23
54 minutes, 23 seconds
going to premiere this fall. Oscar, bringing the life of Oscar Wild to to a to an uh ballet for the first time,54:32
54 minutes, 32 seconds
centering
on his gay relationships. And I'm mentioning it. It's only going to run
from October 8th through October 11th in New York City at the New York54:41
54 minutes, 41 seconds
City Center. So, it it's it's it's a short run if you're interested.54:45
54 minutes, 45 seconds
Well, always available on demand forever and ever, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, where our hero Porsche, who has54:54
54 minutes, 54 seconds
had a long and checkered career on this show. She's the the her grandfather was a civil rights hero of Josea Williams55:03
55 minutes, 3 seconds
and she was famous early on for saying that the Underground Railroad was a railroad, not the sharpest knife in the drawer.55:16
55 minutes, 16 seconds
but she has grown up a lot over the years on this show and she is now exploring her sexuality and talking55:22
55 minutes, 22 seconds
openly about being with women and it's very very interesting. So check out the current season of the Real Housewives of55:31
55 minutes, 31 seconds
Atlanta to watch the evolution of Porsche Williams.55:36
55 minutes, 36 seconds
There's
apparently a lot a ton of gay stuff at con this year. Um, I just
noticed and I'm going to link to an article about that by Gary Kramer
from55:44
55 minutes, 44 seconds
the Gay City News, but the the best director award went to a tie uh for the movie Fatherland from Poland uh which is55:54
55 minutes, 54 seconds
about uh um Thomas Man and his daughter lesbian Erica. He was homosexual also taking a tour of Germany after the war.56:03
56 minutes, 3 seconds
they had left before the war. And I don't know how much they discuss their sexuality in it, but and then in the56:10
56 minutes, 10 seconds
other
one is based on an unfinished play by Ferto Rico Garcia Locker. It's
called Labola Negra. So, lots of lots of gay stuff coming out of there.56:20
56 minutes, 20 seconds
We're all over the place.56:21
56 minutes, 21 seconds
We are everywhere. They've been saying it for a long time. Stop taking shots at us.56:25
56 minutes, 25 seconds
But, uh, well, well, where would you be without us?56:28
56 minutes, 28 seconds
People are taking shots at or not taking shots at the Ginger's uh lesbian bar in Brooklyn. Oh, right.56:36
56 minutes, 36 seconds
Which has been there for 26 years and is really a mainstay of the Park Slope community, but apparently too noisy.56:43
56 minutes, 43 seconds
Well, evidently I actually drove right by it this week and uh the neighborhood is gentrifying a little more. Although56:52
56 minutes, 52 seconds
it looked pretty much the same to me, but they get noise complaints. Now, my attitude, of course, is just turn it down. But57:01
57 minutes, 1 second
yes, you know, really, does it have to be so loud that the neighbors are complaining? Put up some insulation.57:07
57 minutes, 7 seconds
Yes.
But evidently, that's not going to work. So, they've cancelled many of
their Pride events there because this is an ongoing problem.57:18
57 minutes, 18 seconds
All right.57:19
57 minutes, 19 seconds
So,
if you want to dance the night away at Gingers, check the dates when
you want. Well, have a wonderful break. Thank you. I will be gone for
two weeks.57:26
57 minutes, 26 seconds
I know I was just gone for a couple of weeks, but I hadn't been gone for months and months and months.57:32
57 minutes, 32 seconds
So, I'm going for two weeks and then I'll be back. Uh, Chris Cooper will be here.57:37
57 minutes, 37 seconds
Yes.
And then you're going to London and July. Yeah. And you'll have some
different co-hosts. Yes. All right. So, I'll see you then.57:46
57 minutes, 46 seconds
And we are done for this week. Thank you very much. See you in a while.
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