Isnt It Queer

Jonny, flying solo this week, offers an eclectic review of 2017 in LGBTQ news.

Jonny and Danette are joined by John to mourn the death of Net Neutraility, Jonny conducts and interview with IL Senator Daniel Biss who is running for governor, and we end with a discussion of how to push past #resist in political actions going forward.

Jonny and Danette discuss the fresh election results of the Alabama special election for Senator, check in on the arrival of marriage equality to Australia, and take a closer look at the impact (and sometimes, unfortunately, the lack of impact) of sexual harassment and assault charges on political and media figures.

Jonny and Danette discuss holiday deserts and how a current Supreme Court case is addressing cake as freedom of speech and freedom to discriminate. We also extend concerns for preserving Net Neutrality to concerns about recent moves to consolidate news and media outlets and how this can negatively impact LGBTQ+ community.

Jonny and Danette are joined by Tara Bell, the newly elected Chair of the Board of Directors for the Rainbow Cafe, to discuss partnerships, upcoming events, and plans for the organization. You can find out more information about the Rainbow Cafe here: http://rainbowcafe.org/ Jonny and Danette also discuss the pending vote on the tax reform bill that will significantly impact (among so many others) graduate students.

Jonny and Danette return from a brief hiatus to acknowledge the troubling history of Thanksgiving, talk about the challenges of teaching about racism (with an acknowledgement of the usefulness of Muted Group Theory), offer a warning about the consequences of losing Net Neutrality, and count down their top ten gratitudes.

Jonny and Danette are joined by AB and Charlie Hope Dorsey to talk about their upcoming performance of "Heavier than Air," a play based on interview transcripts about Australian LGBTQ educators. We also reflect on the off-term election results and respond to yet another mass shooting.

Jonny and Danette discuss cultural appropriation and Halloween costumes and the Keven Spacey apology/non-apology to Anthony Rapp while coming out as bisexual.

Jonny and Danette are joined by Shelby and Colin to discuss the final week of events in LGBTQ History Month, with specific focus on Shelby's one woman performance, "Birthplace: A Florida Woman Show" and Colin's one man performance, "Bless Our Hearts: An Oral History of the Queer South."

Jonny and Danette discuss upcoming LGBTQ History events this week in Carbondale, the controversy over the Rainbow Flag at the Stonewall Inn National Monument, President Trump's inappropriate joke about VP Pence's desire to "hang all the gays," Cleveland State University organization distributes posters encouraging LGBTQ people to commit suicide and depicting an image of a hanged figure, gay artist Kehinde Wiley to paint President Obama's official portrait, responding to the #metoo campaign to make sexual harassment and assault more visible, and Star Trek's first gay male (human) couple on Star Trek: Discovery.

Jonny and Danette check in on Danette's visit to the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender (OSCLG), celebrate another successful Rainbow Cafe Gala fundraiser, offer a quick review of some of the recent Trump administration assaults on LGBTQ rights, contrast the NFL take-a-knee protest with Kim Davis's paid trip to Romania to spread anti-marriage equality propaganda, and share a recorded public interview with Mike Ziri from Equality Illinois, recorded at this year's Carbondale Pride Festival.Note: The nale of the Gala Speaker I could not recall on air is Elise Malary. Sh was wonderful!

Jonny is joined by Tara Bell to preview the upcoming Rainbow Cafe Gala fundraiser. We also offer a sound collage of this past weekend's Carbondale Pride Festival 2017.

Jonny and Danette debrief Jonny's trip to the 2017 Gay Spirit Vision fall conference and then discuss with guest Shay Miller the upcoming Carbondale Pride Festival. Jonny and Danette then discuss the WDBX Friendship Drive, Hurricane Maria's devastation of Puerto Rico and why the protests by NFL players matter. Please, if you listen to this podcast regularly, consider supporting our host station, WDBX, FM 91.1. You can pledge a contribution by calling 618-457-3691 or by contributing directly at WDBX.org.

Jonny and Danette discuss more details on upcoming Pride Festival and LGBTQ History Month events, congratulate Danette on passing her preliminary exams for her Ph.D., mourn the death of Edith Windsor, review the problematic DOJ amicus brief in the SCOTUS case about a Colorado baker refusing to serve gay clients, discuss the appointing of under-qualified and anti-LGBTQ federal judges in Texas, and take a look at the controversy over a Stanford AI that can predict sexual orientation from a photograph.

Jonny and Danette discuss upcoming Pride and LGBTQ events in Carbondale IL in late September and early October, revisit the problems of Bi erasure, announce a local relief package for Houston, and discuss the problem of systemic racism as revealed by the recent hiring and firing of trans+ activist DJ Munroe Bergdorf by L'Oreal.

Jonny and Danette discuss personal and cultural memory and the problem of forgetting with references to Hurricane Harvey, the pardoning of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Governor Rauner's veto record in Illinois, the IL Attorney General suing the city of Chicago over police practices, revisiting President Trump's military trans* ban, and grieving the death of another trans woman, this time in St. Louis and with a heinous drive by attack on the mourners of her passing.

Danette and Jonny unpack their eclipse experiences in Southern Illinois and then turn to other darkness in the land. They discuss President Trump's two contrasting speeches this week, evidence that shows the alt-right is as anti-LGBTQ as it is racist, conservative attacks on college campuses under the charge of liberal bias in higher education, considering various kinds of diversity including diversity of thought, explaining and understanding why Affirmative Action is still relevant and necessary, and a call for LGBTQ open and affirming churches and pastors to take more of an active lead in resisting the alt-right.

Jonny flies (mostly) solo today to discuss the President's response to violence in Charlottesville VA, the usefulness of taking a break from social media, the failure of the Texas anti-trans "bathroom bill" to get out of the House, parsing the primary results from the Senate special election in Alabama, the activist take-down of a Confederate statue in Durham NC, and news that the Trump trans-ban via Twitter may have been a deliberate distraction from shocking developments in the Russia investigation.

Danette returns! Jonny, Danette and John discuss Danette's recent writing projects, particularly her work on how black communities deal with LGBTQ issues and an analysis of the 2014 documentary "The New Black," and the Facebook response to actor Stephen Amell attending the Vancouver Pride Parade and what it can teach us abut homophobic arguments, particularly the charge to "be civil!"

Jonny is joined again by Craig (Danette will return next week) to discuss the Trump planned trans* ban from militaty service and its fallout, the Breakfast Club's and lil' Duvall's apparent endorsement of murdering trans* women, emotional labor and the unequal burden it places on minorities and women, a lawsuit settlement in a ground-breaking intersexuality case, and (briefly) the DOJ's assertion that Title IX does not protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. All links for the stories and music from today's show an be found on our Flipboard site: https://flipboard.com/@bungy32/isn%27t-it-queer-0hrecisdy