Strange Fruit

It's a story we heard several times during WFPL's Defining Fairness series: a young person leaves his or her rural town for college in a bigger city, meets other LGBTQ folks, and comes out! But for some folks, when the holidays roll around and they head home for Christmas... they have to go back into the closet. This week we spoke with Dr. Stephanie Budge from UofL, who recently taught a workshop on coping with the holidays as an LGBTQ person. She says while some families do overtly antagonistic things (like using the wrong pronoun for trans folks, or refusing to let their LGBTQ family member bring a partner to holiday functions), what she hears about the most is simply ignoring. A young person might come out as queer to their family only for the response to be silence, and an unwillingness to acknowledge their identity.Dr. Budge gave us some coping strategies we can all use during moments of holiday stress and family conflict, how to take full advantage of your chosen family's love when your family of origin doesn't support you, and how to tell when things are so bad or unsafe it might be better to skip going home altogether. We also spoke this week with porn performer and producer Trick Wolf, founder of Slanted Tendency, about her career, and her goal of creating good porn, modeling good sex, and creating jobs for queer people of color. In our Juicy Fruit segment we try to figure out what statistician Nate Silver meant when he said he's "sexually gay but ethnically straight," and talk about what's behind the negative reaction to transgender model Connie Fleming looking a lot like Michelle Obama on the cover of Candy Magazine.We'll be off next week, so happy holidays from Strange Fruit, and we'll see you in 2013! Follow Up: If you find yourself in crisis mode over the holidays (or any time!): Dr. Budge recommends The Trevor Project's hotline. Their marketing is youth-oriented, but they provide support for LGBTQ folks of any age. You can reach them any time at 1-866-488-7386. Stay safe this holiday season!

It's been one week since Kansas City Chiefs player Jovan Belcher shocked the football world by shooting his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, then himself. In the intervening seven days, people have tried to make sense of his actions in different ways. Could he have suffered concussions during his time on the field, which made him prone to violence and poor impulse control? Some outlets speculated Belcher was angry at Perkins for various reasons. ESPN was criticized for airing a graphic in tribute to Belcher. To try to make some sense of the story and resulting coverage, we called Gina McCauley, who blogs at What About Our Daughters. McCauley says all the speculation about the causes of last Saturday's events is offensive, and an avoidance tactic. "Why are we going out of our way to ignore the fact that the reason this woman was murdered is because of misogyny and sexism?" she asks. "She was murdered because he wanted to control her in some way. He couldn't, so he killed her." Her post on the murder cites the CDC statistic that black women ages 25-29 are about 11 times more likely than white women in that age group to be murdered while pregnant, or within one year of giving birth. She had a lot to share with us about the disparity in those numbers and why the media doesn't talk about it in cases like this. We also spoke this week with documentary filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons, who directed "No! The Rape Documentary." In the film she examines sexual assault in communities of color, and unique issues surrounding survivors within our community. Follow Up: The Crucifixion of Kasandra Perkins: Victim Blaming, Black Maternal Homicide, and Stupidity, by Gina McCauleyGetting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered Violence, by Jody Miller (mentioned by Gina McCauley during her interview)No! The Rape Documentary, produced, written, and directed by Aishah Shadidah Simmons

Pornography has long been a divisive topic among feminists. From Second Wavers who ended up in unlikely anti-porn alliances with conservatives in the 1980s to today's Third Wave feminists who call themselves sex- (and porn-) positive. But no matter whether you feel that porn is de facto exploitation, a liberating sexual tool, or somewhere in between, there's no denying that lots of porn is misogynistic, racist, classist, able-ist, and just about any other -ist you could name. Earlier this month, the New York Times hosted an essay debate called, "Should Porn Come Out of the Closet?" One of the respondents was Dr. Mireille Miller-Young, an associate professor of Women's Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara who's been researching the porn industry for a decade. She writes that performing in adult movies can be empowering to the women on screen, and that the typical argument against porn "ignores the diverse ways that women actually interact with it." We wanted to hear more about her work—and how her identity as an African-American, queer feminist shaped her opinion and research—so we speak with Dr. Miller-Young on this week's show. Also this week, the AP updated its Stylebook to discourage use of the word "homophobia" in political and social contexts. Phobia, the reasoning goes, is a psychological term meaning an irrational, uncontrollable fear, often appearing as a symptom of an anxiety disorder. So to call an anti-LGBTQ remark homophobic may not be strictly accurate. Since the AP Stylebook is rightly-called "the journalist's bible," this move could have far-reaching effects on how LGBTQ issues are covered in the media. Not everyone is happy about the change, especially since the AP apparently made the call without consulting any actual LGBTQ organizations or media outlets. It was just our luck we we scheduled to speak this week with a psychologist who specializes in anxiety disorders! Dr. Kevin Chapman is the director of the Center for Mental Health Disparities at UofL, and he joined us to talk about how anxiety tends to affect African-Americans differently than other population groups. While we had him in the studio, we asked him to explain what a phobia really is, and whether the AP was right in calling for the change.

"I've been talking about this since 1998, and we still aren't any closer to having integrated LGBT organizations. I don't want the rest of this decade to drag along. We can't afford it anymore. We can't afford it anymore. Our people are getting slaughtered." Those are the strong words we heard this week from TransGriot blogger Monica Roberts, an African-American transwoman who once called Louisville home. We called Monica for an impromptu interview for this week's show, and she was gracious enough to make some last-minute time for us. We were trying to make some sense out of Jai and Doc's experience at Sunday night's Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) ceremony in Louisville. Every year on the TDOR, we honor transpeople around the world who have been killed during the preceding year due to transphobia (of hate crimes against LGBTQ folks, transgender and people of color are disproportionately at risk). This year, 265 names were read as part of the ceremony—each the name of a lost brother or sister. Around 70% of those victims were black or brown people. Every single one of the 13 victims from the United States this year was African American or Latina. But the Louisville TDOR was strikingly white. This phenomenon encompassed organizers, participants, and the audience—wherein the three people of color were all cisgendered, and two of them were Jai and Doc. Monica talked to us about the pervasiveness of segregation within trans activism and how the solution could lie in more trans people of color in leadership positions throughout LGBTQ organizations. Later in the show we bring you the second part of our conversation with writer and activist Darnell Moore. This week we talk about being black, gay, and Christian. "I remember this evangelist saying she would rather her son be addicted to drugs than to be—she didn't use the word, she just did the broken-wrist type of gesture—than to be gay," he says. "I was mortified." But he reminds us that the black church is not a monolith, and there are also LGBTQ-affirming spaces within black Christianity. "I got to a point where I said if it means that my truth, the true person that I know myself to be, is something that will lead me to quote-unquote hell, then I would rather go to hell [...] for living in my truth than to go to heaven and live in a lie."

He's a poet, activist, counselor, wellness consultant, performance artist, and more. But this week, what got our attention about Yolo Akili was his article, Gay Men's Sexism and Women's Bodies. In it, he talks about incidents of gay men giving unsolicited advice about (and sometimes nonconsensually touching) women's bodies, and why it's often seen as more acceptable behavior in gay men than it would be in their straight brothers. We've talked before about how being gay doesn't give you a free pass to be racist; Yolo reminds us that it also doesn't give you carte blanche to make sexist comments or treat women's bodies like public property. We also spent some time this week with writer and activist Darnell Moore, whose work has been seen in Ebony, Feminist Wire, and regularly on the  Huffington Post. Darnell spoke to us about how early experiences in his life lead him to embrace social justice activism and anti-domestic violence work. "I've been haunted, and in a very good way, by Audre Lorde's notion of: What did you come here to do? What is your work?" Darnell says. "And when that work finds you, we have no choice but to respond." We'll hear part one of our conversation with him this week. Every day this week there was another news story we wanted to talk about in our Juicy Fruit segment, from the head-scratcher about a straight teacher accused of turning a student gay, to the horrifying story of a lesbian in Cape Town being stabbed to death with a spear. In the end, we tackled the so-called Kill the Gays Bill in Uganda, celebrated the first out gay black mad nominated to the federal judiciary, and talked about the accusations leveled against Elmo muppeteer Kevin Clash. Are large age differences between partners more accepted in queer communities? Jai and Doc offer some real talk about why how old you are sometimes matters less than how out you are.

This week's election has been widely regarded as a victory for LGBTQ rights. Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin will become the first openly-gay U.S. Senator, and several state passed ballot initiatives legalizing same-sex marriage. This week, we spoke with Constitutional Law Professor Sam Marcosson from UofL's Brandeis School of Law, to find out what the implications of the results could be, and whether we will ever see marriage equality in the Commonwealth. Wil Heuser, a Louisville native who's appeared on American Idol and Big Brother, joined us in the studio this week to talk about his career, his family, and how reality television portrays members of the LGBTQ community in both beneficial and harmful ways. And in our Juicy Fruit segment this week, a recap of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars leads to reflections on folks for whom English is a second language, and whether they internalize the oppression they experience. We also talk about how one cast member engaged in some pretty harsh policing of black women's bodies on the premier of Real Housewives of Atlanta, Draya's positive representation of queer women of color on Basketball Wives LA, and a new BET documentary called Black Girls Rock.

Who is black? That's the question the (1)ne Drop Project seeks to answer. The project, created by Dr. Yaba Blay, features photographs of people who identify as black, African-American, biracial, and other identities—but whose physical appearances may provoke curiosity, or even disbelief, in strangers. Dr. Blay will appear on CNN's Black in America 5 to talk about what it means to be black. But this week she made some time to talk to us about her work. Kenny Leon is a Broadway director, filmmaker, and the artistic director of True Colors Theater Company. Leon directed "A Raisin in the Sun" for both Broadway and television, and his recent work includes the all-black-cast version of the film "Steel Magnolias" for Lifetime. We spoke with him this week about his work, his life and his dedication to preserving classic theatrical works by African-American writers. Bravo TV aired a segment this week featuring Derek J and Miss Lawrence, supporting cast members of "Real Housewives of Atlanta." Our hosts say it's an example of what Marlon Riggs called "negro faggotry"—over-the-top, flamboyant portrayals of black gay men that serve to emasculate them, thereby making them more more palatable to the American media consumer (while at the same time, robbing them of their individuality and humanity). We tackle this TV spot and this concept on this week's Juicy Fruit segment.

The Louisville AIDS Walk is this Sunday, and for many, it's a time of solidarity and celebration. But AIDS activism in Louisville faces a big challenge: apathy. There are more people living with HIV in Louisville now than ever before, but the disease doesn't make the headlines it once did. One thing that hasn't changed as much as activists want is the stigma that comes along with living with, being tested for, or even talking about HIV and AIDS. And we know the effects are racially disproportionate; African Americans make up 32% of HIV cases in Kentucky, even though only 7.7% of the commonwealth's population is black. This week on Strange Fruit, we spoke with Brad Hampton, director of the AIDS Walk, about what we can expect this year (hint: wear red!). Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, gave us the stats on the HIV racial disparity in our city, and some of the reasons why it may be so broad. Chicago-based poet Tim'm T. West explores the difficulty of telling a new partner you're HIV positive—and some of the reactions that may follow—in his piece "Umm... Okay." It's featured in the anthology For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Still Not Enough. We also met Gary, an African-American gay man living with HIV for the past seven years. He told us the story of his diagnosis and offered some advice that it seemed could apply to us all, regardless of HIV status: Openly communicate with your partner, even about difficult subjects, and value yourself enough to make your life and your health a priority.

October is LGBT History Month, and this past week was Pride Week at UofL. So this week, we talked to some of our favorite people about notable moments in LGBTQ history, and what festivities took place this week on campus. Our hosts, Dr. Kaila Story and Jaison Gardner, were joined in the studio by three guests: Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman, UofL student Colton Wilson, and Civil Rights activist Mandy Carter.

Our first episode, "Does Your Mama Know?" looks at the coming out process for LGBT people of color. We start with a roundtable discussion with young people who have come out to their families. Later in the show, we talk to some mamas about their reactions to their children coming out, then talk with Lisa C. Moore, editor of Does Your Mama Know?: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories. You can keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter, and we welcome your feedback. We'll post a new episode each Saturday; stay tuned!

"Do you, personally, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender?" That was the question Gallup posed to 121,290 people June 1 and Sept. 30, 2012. The result is the largest single study of the distribution of the LGBT population in the U.S. on record, revealing data that turns the stereotype of the affluent, white, gay man on its head. For starters, African Americans and other ethnic minorities are more likely to be LGBT than white people. On this week's episode, we speak to one of the study's co-authors, Dr. Gary Gates, about his findings, the researchers' methodology, and how he hopes the data will affect the gay rights movement in the U.S. In our Juicy Fruit segment, we preview the upcoming season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (our picks: Jujubee and Raven), and talk about a film currently making the rounds on the festival circuit. It's called UNFIT: Ward vs. Ward, and it tells the story of a lesbian mother who lost custody of her child when a judge placed her in the care of her father, saying, "This child should be given the opportunity and the option to live in a non-lesbian world." The girl's father had been convicted of killing his first wife.

The immigration portion of the second presidential debate got attention for what the candidates said, but also, for how they said it. Undocumented? Illegal? It made us wonder: How much do words matter? How does what we call someone affect how we think about and treat them? We spoke with Karen Lopez, a UofL graduate student and member of the Kentucky Dream Coalition, and community activist Tiff Gonzales about the debate, and the campaign to eradicate the "i" word. Singer/songwriter Teneia Sanders was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, but she spent a significant part of her early music career in Louisville. She's on tour now promoting her new single, and will be back in town this Thursday night to perform. We spoke with Teneia about growing up Southern, black, and bi—and how those identities influence her music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m35insg0wZw