Queer Voices
Queer Voices
July 31st 2024 Queer Voices - Ft Bend County Pride, "The Color Purple", and remembering Josephine Tittsworth
Ever wondered how a local festival can unite a diverse community under the rainbow flag? This week, we bring a vibrant spotlight to the Fort Bend County Pride Festival with exclusive insights from Honey Phillips, the festival's President, and Nadia Hakeem, Director of Communications. Get ready to hear about the inclusive activities that range from a kid's zone and senior corner to mesmerizing performances by drag queens and an Indian fusion dance. With partnerships with the Texas Renaissance Festival and live animal adoptions, this family-friendly event promises to be a celebration for all ages.
Theater enthusiasts will not want to miss our conversation with Logan Vaden, Artistic Director of the Garden Theatre, about their bold new production of "The Color Purple" at the Match. Discover the dynamic collaboration with the Sankofa Collective and the unique perspectives brought by co-director Alrick Davis. Logan opens up about the challenges and triumphs in bringing this powerful musical to life, highlighting the shared mission to make theatre accessible and reflective of community diversity. Also, we touch on the controversial musical "Assassins" and its timely themes.
Finally, we pay tribute to Josephine Titsworth, a pioneering transgender activist whose work in implementing trans-inclusive policies has left a lasting legacy. Maria Gonzalez joins us to honor Josephine’s impactful advocacy within Texas educational institutions. Additionally, we delve into global LGBTQ+ legal challenges and progress, offering updates from Ghana, Namibia, Germany, and the U.S., while celebrating the spirit of resilience and progress within our community. Tune in for an episode filled with inspiring stories, cultural celebrations, and critical discussions on LGBTQ+ rights.
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
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Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a podcast version of a broadcast radio show that's been on the air in Houston Texas for several decades. This week, debra Moncrief-Bell talks with organizers of the Fort Bend County Pride Festival.
Speaker 2:There's a lot to do and it's for everyone. There's a kid's zone, there's going to be a senior corner, there will be the Fort Bend County Health and Human Services. So lots of different resources, lots of different activities.
Speaker 1:Brett Cullum has a conversation with Logan Vaden, the artistic director of the Garden Theater. They will be producing the Color Purple at the Match. Debra and Marie Gonzalez eulogize Houston transgender activist Josephine Titsworth.
Speaker 3:After the game. I'm escorting her to her. I assumed truck. No, she had brought her motorcycle and we were escorting her to her motorcycle, where she got her scooter on there. Then she hopped on her motorcycle, put on her helmet and zoomed away.
Speaker 1:We have Brett's community calendar of events for August and we have news wrap from this Way Out Queer Voices starts now.
Speaker 4:We have a number of Pride festivals coming up over the next several months. We have a number of Pride festivals coming up over the next several months, including the very next one, which will be August 11th Fort Bend County Pride. This is Deborah Moncrief-Bell, and I have President Honey Phillips with us and Nadia Hakeem. Nadia, what is your title?
Speaker 2:I'm the Director of Communications for the organization.
Speaker 4:So tell me about Fort Bend County Pride.
Speaker 2:Of course, honey. Since this is kind of your baby, do you want to take it away and describe it a little bit?
Speaker 5:Fort Bend County Pride. It's been a year now. It was basically birthed because I felt like Fort Bend County, we would have to drive into Houston for everything that was LGBT and I was like, why don't I bring the LGBT community to my community, to our community? So they have Fort Bend County Pride started.
Speaker 4:Yeah, a lot of the queer community actually live in Fort Bend. It takes place at the fairgrounds in Rosenberg. And what is planned for this year?
Speaker 5:This year, with our Pride Festival, we wanted to create an experience. So, with creating that experience not just being just regular entertainment, vendors and food trucks, we have partnered with some amazing organizations and businesses. The biggest thing that we're excited about we've partnered with the Texas Renaissance Festival so they actually have their king and queen coming out and then ambassador team of about 10 people to come and greet our guests. We have Yellow Rose Roller Derby They'll be rolling around on their rollerblades. We have the Houston Art Cars they're coming down with cars. We have Monster, we have Eve Healthcare, we have Hawaiian Bros Just tonight, some of our big sponsors, the Pink Macaroon, and the best thing about it is most of the stuff is inside, so you won't be in the heat, you will be in AC.
Speaker 5:We have our entertainment under a large pavilion, so it is outside but you won't be directly in the sun. You can bring your chairs, you can bring your doggies as long as they're on a leash. We have Rosenberg Animal Control and Shelter doing three live adoptions the same day, or you can foster to adopt. So it's a lot of things planned.
Speaker 4:That sounds like a lot of fun. It's very family friendly.
Speaker 2:That's exactly it. It's family friendly and it's not just a parade kind of what we're used to seeing, that kind of the big thing with a lot of other prides. Right is, you've got the parade and the festival is kind of you know, oh yeah, that's that thing that happens while the parade's happening or like leading up to the parade. But there's a lot to do and it's for everyone. There's a kid zone, there's going to be a senior corner, there will be the Fort Bend County Health and Human Services. They'll be talking about family planning and all sorts of things. So lots of different resources, lots of different activities. We also have sensory friendly areas for those of our friends who are neurodivergent.
Speaker 5:And also the senior corner. What's going to take place in that corner? We're going to do cross-work puzzles. We just have games and prizes and we have you in your own area so you won't be all in the hustle and bustle of things. We even have a soft play area for the toddlers, one to five. They come out. When we planned this festival, we literally wanted to plan from ages zero months old all the way to 100. And you'll be out the way won't be ran over by the traffic or any of those things. But the most I feel like the best part of the festival is the opening, which will be the beginning. Part of the festival is the opening, which will be the beginning. We've contacted all the majority of the prides and most of them will be coming out to cut a rainbow ribbon in unity of us coming all together, and we'll do that before our entertainment starts.
Speaker 4:What is some of the entertainment?
Speaker 5:When we started to look for entertainment, with Fort Bend County being one of the most diverse counties in the US, I wanted to touch part on every part of the LGBT and nationality, culture-wise too as well. So we have a drag queen performing Bury Me Dandy. We have a couple of queens performing. In particular, she'll be singing acapella no mute, no lip syncing. Uh viva vidalia. We have two queer indian, um indian females that will be doing a classic indian fusion dance. So we have in many more. Uh pate dior. She's like um a cross between a mix between Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj, without the cuss words, and so much more.
Speaker 4:I had to laugh at that description. It sounds good. I think that would be a lot of fun. What is her name?
Speaker 5:again, Tati Dior. She's not a drag queen right, no, but if she gave you a drag queen, she would love it. If she heard you say she's a, but she give you drag queen, she would. She would love that if she heard you say if she a drag queen, she's a african-american bisexual female. So I like that. I wanted to get all races, all parts of the lgbt. A lot of times the b is left out. We're real happy to have her on board what time does it start?
Speaker 4:2 pm 2 pm until 8 pm. Until 8 pm you did something, I think, that's a little different, in that you partnered with the Central Fort Bend County Chamber of Commerce. They welcomed you in. Have you been pretty well received by the community?
Speaker 5:Oh yes, when I first put the idea out there I got a call immediately, maybe a later, from Commissioner Dexter McCoy. His office asked what can we do to help? I called his bluff and I was like we need a venue. He told me what I needed to do put in the paperwork to take it to Commissioner's Court, take it to Commissioner's Court and the county. They donated the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds to Fort Bend County Pride for free.
Speaker 4:What are you most excited about for this year?
Speaker 5:Doing it at the fairgrounds. For one, that's an amazing venue. I don't know if you've been there before, but it's big enough to do everything that we need to do. We're grateful for it. Just for people to receive the experience, to accept the experience that we're going to have for them, I want to see the look on everyone's face, from the decor to everything that we're offering, nadia?
Speaker 2:what do you think we are? You know, as a country and like in the community, right where things are very tense and people are feeling very isolated or very polarized, and I'm just looking forward to the wholesomeness that this event is going to bring, Because love is love and Fort Bend County is a really amazing community. So I actually originally worked for Harris County and now I work for Fort Bend County. I actually work with Commissioner McCoy, who Honey spoke about earlier, and that's how we were introduced. I'm very excited to see the love and support that this community is going to bring for the LGBTQIA plus community.
Speaker 4:And if people want to find out more, where's the go-to website?
Speaker 5:You can go to Fort McMount, prideorg.
Speaker 4:Honey Phillips and Nadia Hakeem. Thank you so much for being with us on Queer Voices.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 6:This is Brett Cullum. Today, I am joined by Logan Vaden, the Artistic Director of the Garden Theatre. This company started performing at the Match in 2021 and has become one of the theatre groups that I always look out for whenever they do anything. They've done Bonnie and Clyde Cruel Intentions, reefer Madness, but coming up one weekend only at the Match. Logan's company is putting on the musical the Color Purple. It runs only August 2nd through the 4th, but it is in the big auditorium there. Welcome back to Queer Voices, logan. Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be back. Usually, the Garden Theater producers shows alone. It's usually just you, right? I mean, you're bored and people around you, but you have a partnering company this time around. Who are they, and tell me a little bit about how that came about?
Speaker 7:We are partnering with the Sankofa Collective, who is a theater company that's actually celebrating 10 years here in Houston. They started 10 years ago. It was three high school students led by Ulrich Davis, who is a very familiar name here in our Houston theater scene, and he his team decided that there was something missing even at that young age, and so the Sankilfa Collective's kind of mission is not just to put on great shows, but it's also to educate. Their whole mission is to bring things into schools, to into older homes as well, and just to make sure that the message of theater is reaching everyone, because, as we know, it's very frequent that theater can become just a bubble. They want to make sure that they're reaching out of that bubble to people that desperately need the arts in their life. So that's a theater company that I've known and have been well aware of their great reputation for several years, and I've known Alrick for several years as well, and we actually were supposed to do a different show, which will now be in our next season, because that show that we were supposed to do is an original show, we decided we wanted a little bit more time to focus on it, to maybe make some more adjustments to the writing, and so we decided to move it. And so then we were in the position of what do we do instead? So we wanted something similar, something similar in theme and feeling and inspiration.
Speaker 7:I went through, I think, every single catalog for musical theater licensing houses and had a short list, but there was nothing that was really speaking to me. And then, on Christmas of 2023, color Purple, the new movie musical, came out. It's a tradition for my grandmother and I to go see a musical on Christmas if a musical comes out, and so we went and saw it. As the credits were rolling, I was like this is what we need to do. This is the show we have to do.
Speaker 7:Alrick and I had already kind of been discussing maybe doing something together. Meetings kept getting pushed back because of schedules or whatever, but as soon as those credits were rolling, I text him and said, hey, let's have a meeting next week. What if we did Color Purple this summer? And lo and behold, he was like that's the show that I wanted to speak to you about. So it was very serendipitous and we're thrilled that we get to do it together. It's a perfect gel of garden theater artists and then Sankofa artists and then some new artists to both of our organizations. It's been a really great time.
Speaker 6:How does that collaboration work? Who's directing this time out?
Speaker 7:Alrick and I are actually co-directing. So the way that that works is, and the way that the process is working, is, we sit down once a week and we so of course we sat down several months ago and talked about, kind of, the themes of the show, the vision, the shared vision that we had. We each brought some ideas to the table. And then we sit down every week before the week's rehearsal start and we look through what we're going to do and we decide, well, you're going to do this, I'm going to do this. But then we talk about what we're going to do so the show doesn't look like, oh, this is Logan's stuff and this is Alrick's stuff. It's very cohesive and the vision is shared.
Speaker 6:Alrick is such a smart guy. I've known him for many years and he's a great critic, he's a great director, he's an incredible performer. He's kind of like one of those all around threat.
Speaker 7:We're very lucky that we're getting to work with Sankofa and Allric in particular. He actually he has a deep history with the show. He was in the very first high school production of the Color Purple at GW Carver Magnet School here in Houston. He played Harpo. The director actually asked him if he would assistant, direct and block some scenes and I believe that was his first experience in directing. So the Color Purple kind of has his theatrical roots in it, which is great. So he's bringing a totally exciting perspective to this production because he's lived with it for so long.
Speaker 6:That is amazing, although I can't imagine a high school group doing the Color Purple. That's crazy, I know, and it was nominated.
Speaker 7:So it was nominated for all the Tommy Toon Awards. Back then it was directed by Rashonda Jones, who won the Tony a couple of years ago for Educator of the Year, and she's still there. She's still at GW Carver. We're very lucky to have her in our Houston theater community and educating young people.
Speaker 6:Well, I hope she's there on opening night to cheer all Rick on. I think she will be a Tony winner, exactly. So what do you think is the biggest challenge in bringing this show to life?
Speaker 7:Of course, through film and then the original Broadway production. It was very defined. The show takes place over about 30 to 40 years, and so it was very defined what the time periods were throughout the show. The revival in 2015 kind of stripped it down and made it just one set. Everyone kind of just wore one costume and there were no indications of the passing of time. The scenes just kind of just wore one costume and there were no indications of the passing of time. The scenes just kind of flow into each other. There's no blackouts, there's no major scene changes that the audience has to sit there and wait for. So that's kind of.
Speaker 7:The biggest challenge is how do we take this show that takes no breaks. Once the train starts, it's going. How do we do that with indicating time passage as well? I think it's the number one thing.
Speaker 7:The second thing is is that this is actually the very first all-local, all-professional production of the Color Purple in Houston ever, which is crazy to me considering that we are the most diverse city in the country. There has been a college production and one high school production, the one that Alrick was in, but outside of that, professionals here in Houston haven't had the chance to sink their teeth into this. So it was almost it was a mental block to me, because once we decided to do it, I thought, well, there has to be a reason. No one's done this before. What if no one shows up? What if there's not enough talent for this? And I mean we had over 100 people audition for the show and had to turn away so many talented people because there was so much talent. So, luckily, that's a challenge that we have overcome in spades. So yeah, it was a little scary there for a second, but we overcame that easily.
Speaker 6:That is amazing to me. You know I go to the Fade to Black festival every year and I'm always amazed at the amount of talent that we have in the diverse communities in Houston and how they find all of these actors to do this Just amazing. How big is your cast this time out? I think it's a fairly large cast.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it's 23 people, which is the largest cast the Garden has ever had, and I would venture to probably say it's the largest cast St Koph has ever had as well.
Speaker 6:What's your favorite song in the show? I mean, I know everybody has a favorite. Which one just do you wait for every time you see this you?
Speaker 7:know I am an absolute sucker for opening numbers. I have a Spotify playlist that is just musical theater, opening numbers that when I want to feel energized, that's what I listen to, and the opening number in Color Purple is no exception to that.
Speaker 9:Like a condition, like a religion, so easily mistreated. Every decision, sometimes it's. It is joyful.
Speaker 7:It personifies Black church culture in a way that is just beautiful. We had our first stumble through of Act One Non-theater people, a stumble through is kind of the first time you put all the pieces together and you call it a stumble through because you're probably stumbling through it because it's the first time. But we did our first stumble through of Act 1 last night and that opening number I mean I had chills instantly. There's these three church ladies that pop in and out of the show. There's a garden theater favorite, david Allen III. He is playing the preacher and of course there's Celie and all the principals just getting introduced through this number and it's just really a fun, joyful number. Of course there's also like the beautiful ballads, like I'm here, which is everybody's favorite.
Speaker 9:Take a deep breath. I'm gonna hold my head up, I'm gonna put my shoulders back and look you straight in the eye. Gonna flirt with somebody?
Speaker 7:When they walk by. I'm gonna say the score of this show. It's just kind of hard to narrow it down. It's a show that I've lived with since the cast album came out, I believe in 2005, maybe 2006, when I was in high school, and all of the songs have just kind of lived inside of me since then. It's a show full of bops, that's for sure.
Speaker 6:Well, just a reminder. It's running at the Match one weekend only, so it's August 2nd through the 4th. You can find tickets on the Match website or you can look up Garden Theatre, and that is the theatre spelled the European way with the R-E. One of the things I love about the Garden Theatre is you do things that are very unexpected.
Speaker 6:I think that you guys always produce shows that I wouldn't see coming and I can't say that I saw the color purple coming from your company, but it makes sense that you're collaborating with Alrick on it and all of a sudden it was like oh, this makes perfect sense and I love the idea of two companies coming together to produce this beautiful big show. Yes, but I also wanted to touch on something that you just had auditions for, just to talk about it a little bit, because I think it's somewhat newsworthy. Just to talk about it a little bit, because I think it's somewhat newsworthy. You are going to put on Assassins from Stephen Sondheim. It's going to be your fall production. That will be October 11th, but given what happened recently, I was looking at your audition notices going oh no, this could be a tough topic to confront. Are you still all in on Assassins for the fall?
Speaker 7:We are still all in on Assassins. It's a great Stephen Sondheim show that's very rarely done. I think the last time it was done in houston was nine years ago by sro productions, which was a fantastic production. But sondheim wrote this show. He wrote it to be polarizing. He wrote it on purpose so that you either absolutely love it or you absolutely hate it, and there is no in between. That's just kind of where we're at, Of course, with the recent news. I mean, we had auditions the day after the Trump assassination attempt, so that evening I was thinking, oh my gosh, is this the right decision? Do we cancel this? What do we do, Especially with auditions literally the next day? But I went back to that Sondheim quote where it's just like it is for everyone, but it's also either you love or you hate it. So that's just what we're going to go for. We hope that most people love it. It may be too controversial for some, but viewer discretion advised, I guess.
Speaker 6:Well, just to clue in the listeners a little bit, because I think we're theater nerds and we skipped what this show actually is Assassins actually dramatizes every single presidential assassination or assassination attempt. Now these are presidents that are sitting in office. It turns them into musical numbers. And what Sondheim does, which is so brilliant, is, I think, that, rather than being a statement about political violence, it is more a statement about the American dream and what happens to us when that goes wrong or when we feel like we're not quite part of that fabric. Everybody's got the right to be happy. Don't be mad, life's not as bad as it seems.
Speaker 6:If you keep your goal in sight, you can climb for any height.
Speaker 7:Everybody's got the right to their tree. Yeah, no, I agree with that completely. There's a brilliant. So the? I keep talking about licensing houses, but the licensing house that licenses Assassins is Music Theatre International, and back in the 90s they used to do kind of mini documentaries on some of their shows with the writers, and Assassins happened to be one of them, and it used to be that you only got these mini documentaries if you licensed the show. Now they've released some of them on YouTube and, lucky for me, Assassins is one of the ones they've released on YouTube.
Speaker 7:It's an hour-long conversation with Sondheim about the piece. What he said is exactly what you just said about not feeling like you might fit into the great quilt work of the American dream, but also it is a huge statement about the gun culture in our country and the fact that so many of us think, oh my gosh, this didn't happen that long ago. It did, and that's kind of the point of the show is it's literally it started with Abe Lincoln, which was so it was at the very beginning of our history, of our American history. So the gun culture has always been there and that's kind of a big theme as well for Sondheim.
Speaker 6:It's fascinating to see. I actually did this show a long time ago. I don't even want to admit what year it was, but I remember one of the things that we had to talk about and think about a lot is the presence of guns through the entire show and the different ways that they play and they're in people's hands and they're being pointed. It's just this constant, almost safety drill of guns and I mean, and who does a musical with guns? Right, and there's even a musical number about guns.
Speaker 7:I know I know Well, I mean, you're talking to the person that produced Bonnie and Clyde a year ago.
Speaker 6:So I know. That's why I bring this up.
Speaker 7:Yeah, with guns, gotten the musical theater, that's a little bit of a theme with us. But yeah, I think it's going to be great. I think it's. We already were going. I'm a sucker for a gimmick, you know. That's why we did Reefer Madness over 420. I had already planned this. It's going to close the week before the election, which was why I chose those dates already to kind of make a statement. Now it's even more relevant and I'm excited to see how it goes, for sure.
Speaker 6:I am so excited That'll be assassins in October. Of course, august we're looking at the color purple. August, second through the fourth yes, yeah, all these dates jumbling into my head. I know I I'm excited about both. I think the Color Purple says something very distinct and unique about our culture, and then, of course, assassins is a good extension of that. So you're doing some really cool stuff. Like I said, I've been so interested in the garden theater and the choices that you make, and it's so brilliant. It's so much fun to see what you guys are going to do next.
Speaker 7:So the thing, the thing about the garden that I think is maybe kind of sets us apart from other theater companies to a degree, is that our mission statement quite literally says that we want to match the diversity of our city. That doesn't just mean the performers on stage or the audience, it also just means our programming. So, you know, next year we have assassins, and then we also have Doubt, which is a very dark show about religion and questioning religion, and then we also have who's Holiday, which is a one-woman show about Cindy Lou, who all grown up living in her double wide trailer, which is a hilarious comedy. And then we have While Childhood Slept, which is the original musical about the children of the Holocaust. So we try to make sure that there's something for everyone. I think is what we're really trying to do, and that means for our artists and for our audiences.
Speaker 6:Well, gospel music guns, I think you're getting there. So thank you so much.
Speaker 6:We will talk to you very soon, probably closer to assassins, but thank you. Thank you, brett, and I have your community calendar for August of 2024. We start the month off at Main Street Theater. August 1st, they're going to have Pride Night for the Woman in Black. It's kind of a scary, fun, mysterious kind of show with lots of ghosts and good chills. So definitely look at that one.
Speaker 6:August 3rd, through the 4th Houston's International Origami and Art Festival will take place and it's a great place to see some inventive paper art, some new things, some big scale things. So definitely check out August 3rd through the 4th Houston's International Origami and Art Festival, alley Theater. Finally, august 8th and then there were none they are going to have their Act Out Night. If you've never been to an Act Out Night at the Alley Theater, it's amazing. You get to see the show, you get drinks beforehand, a little bit of food. It's really fun. So definitely, if you get a chance, august 8th at the Alley Act Out Night, if you're a chance, august 8th at the Alley Act Out Night, if you're a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race, rupaul's Drag Race, all-stars Live shows up and it's going to be a fun show. It is all of your things from the All-Star season that just recently completed and they will be at the 713 Music Hall, so you definitely don't want to miss that Coming up.
Speaker 6:In general, just around town in the theaters, we have Thunderclap Productions producing Melville and Hawthorne. It's the story of authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, as Melville is actually writing Moby Dick, and the two have a very personal relationship that could be characterized as romantic, and this production starts on August 1st. It runs through the 10th at the Match Complex. So again, that is Melville and Hawthorne from Thunderclap Productions and that will start August 1st and run through the 10th. Early in August as well, the color purple comes to the Garden Theater and that is also at the Match and that will be opening August 2nd.
Speaker 6:Now that is only one weekend. If you are looking to be entertained by a certain nun, the sister is coming back for Summer School Catechism at Stages Houston and that will be on August 20th. And don't forget, of course, at the end of August, august 20th, funny Girl. That opens up with the Broadway Across America series and that is going to be amazing and one of the ones that I've been waiting for for a very long time. So that is Funny Girl at the Hobby Center starting August 20th, and that is your calendar for August. Thank you so much. I'll be back next month with a rundown of what's happening in September.
Speaker 4:It's been a week where we have been gobsmacked with the loss, the loss of many celebrities, popular people that we've loved through our lives, and then some on a more personal level, and certainly that was true this week with the passing, most recently, of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. We hope to pay tribute to her soon on Queer Voices. But now we're talking with Maria Gonzalez, former president of the Houston GLBTQ Plus political caucus, of the Houston GLBTQ Plus political caucus. Maria was good friends with, and worked closely with, josephine Titsworth, and Josephine passed on July 13th in hospice after an illness, and it's a huge loss to our community. She was a fierce advocate for us. So, maria, tell us some about Josephine.
Speaker 3:I'm glad we're recognizing Josephine. Josephine Paulette Titsworth was born October 23, 1950. She transitioned from being identified as male to who she really was, and that is female, and she was one of the earliest individuals to do important work for the transgender community, not just in Houston but nationwide. She was a strong advocate for the trans community and always, always knew what was important in terms of the things she could change. She started school, her college. After leaving retiring from IBM, she went back to school. She got her associate's degree and she was very proud of her associate's degree from San Jack College, her bachelor's of social work in 06 from the University of Houston Clear Lake. And that's important because it was at the University of Houston Clear Lake that Josephine began her transgender activist work and wrote publications on this. She co-published numerous research articles on the transgender community and did some really groundbreaking work on heterosexual cross-dressers a rarely understood community.
Speaker 3:In 2007, she received her master's degree in social work, an MSW. She was very proud of her social work degrees. In 2009, josephine founded an organization called Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Summit that the trans community was as welcomed at University of Houston-Clear Lake as any other student as, for example, a student with veteran status. There was a veteran's office to help assist the undergraduate student who was a veteran, or a graduate student who is a veteran, navigate the complexities of a Byzantine university. Josephine wanted the same thing for the trans community a supportive environment, an environment where trans students could learn and flourish At the University of Houston, the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She immediately got to work on this and basically tried to develop transpositive policies at these universities. It was a challenge, as you can imagine.
Speaker 4:Well, is it the saying that Josephine said something about never miss out on taking the opportunity to create an opportunity?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I wish I had that quote in front of me. But yeah, it was something like never miss the opportunity to create opportunities.
Speaker 4:Josephine was a veteran, having served in the Coast Guard, and she was very proud of that military service and she also was very proud of her good conduct medal, because she referred to it as her didn't get caught medal, which of course that was because at the time people, if you were queer, are certainly across us. Even though she wore female clothing items under her suits at IBM and under her uniform, no one ever found out about that identity and I had not realized her history, because she came to identifying herself as transgender after identifying as a cross-dresser and in fact fact helping start an organization, tri-s, which was the Society for the Second Self, and it's a national group that offers support to heterosexual cross-dressers and their families. So it was 30 years after that that she founded the Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Summit. How did you get involved with working with her in that organization?
Speaker 3:That's one of Josephine's stories. In terms of specific to Josephine, at Clear Lake, josephine began the process of trying to get University of Houston-Clear Lake to have trans-supportive policies. The University of Houston system included sexual orientation in its non-discrimination language but did not include gender identity or gender expression in its policies. And Josephine knew to succeed at any academic organization, you have to have inclusive policies, and so she began the process at Clear Lake to try to get gender identity, gender expression, added to the non-discrimination language. At the same time I was doing similar work at the University of Houston and that's how we crossed, because she was actually succeeding at Clear Lake. She got the University of Houston, clear Lake, to agree to this addition, but then the university system said no, it has to be system wide. So when Josephine came to the University of Houston main campus to get started with her master's in social work in 2006, she brought that experience to UH and that's when we met. She was part of what we called Rainbow Cougars. Basically Rainbow Cougars basically it was staff, faculty and students who were attempting to reconstruct and add gender identity, gender expression, to the non-discrimination language at the University of Houston system, at the same time trying to make sure that we were an LGBTQ plus positive welcoming university, so a whole lot of things we were bringing in. For example, josephine helped with getting the LGBT Resource Center started at UH before we could get the language in there, and what happened was Josephine having been successful at at least getting UH Clear Lake to add gender identity and gender expression to their non-discrimination language.
Speaker 3:Josephine was always fielding phone calls from all kinds of individuals, from all kinds of individuals, mostly all over the state, because in 2009, when she created the Non-Discrimination Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Summit, there were only three schools that had gender identity, gender expression, included in their non-discrimination policies language, and that was Rice, ut and the South Texas College of Law. And Josephine having been successful and people getting the word out that Josephine knew how to do it was always fielding phone calls. So one day, josephine tells me hey, maria, let's have a meeting. I go a meeting. She goes yeah, where we invite everybody who wants to figure out how to expand and how to create inclusive policies and programs and language at their university or college. Let's just have a meeting, invite them all to UH.
Speaker 3:Well, sure enough, in 2009, we had a little meeting and that meeting was a day long. It was at the Social Work School on campus that Josephine organized. We had the ACLU here, judge Phyllis Fry present, we had Jennifer Poole being an important part of this, chris Busby all kinds of members of the community. It was a small group and we met, you know, it's like maybe 20, some around a conference table. We met and everybody said, yeah, let's keep this going. We've got to figure out how to make educational systems in the state of Texas far more trans-inclusive, trans-positive, and so in 2009, she said, okay, let's create the Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Summit. The following year, we went to Rice and had a two-day summit. Rice University, having already set including gender identity, gender expression, their non-discrimination language, was more than welcome to invite us.
Speaker 3:Brian Riddle was one of the earliest supporters, lorraine Schrader, the founding director of the LGBT Resource Center, was one of the early board members, and I was, more than anything else, an informal participant. It wasn't until about a year and a half later that I actually became an officer of this organization, that Josephine had invented whole cloth, from start to finish, and that was Josephine. And one of the things about Josephine that was just amazing is that she would find her path to run and then she would run hard in it, and trans-inclusive policies, language. The trans community was her place to make sure that the challenges she faced would not be the challenges that future generations would face, and she succeeded at that so amazingly well that last year, the state of Texas did its best to call it all back. They submitted anti-diversity, equity and inclusion policies that wiped out LGBT resource centers all over the state, that made trans inclusive language programs, the LGBT resource centers all those things that have taken us years to build. Remember TXTNS was invented in 09.
Speaker 3:In 2023, the Texas legislature attempted to dismantle much of the work Josephine had succeeded in doing. We had most universities in this state, most colleges in this state, many independent school districts in this state, with positive trends, positive supportive language included in their non-discrimination policies, and the state is trying to slowly dismantle that. But they can't anymore. The toothpaste is out of the container and while certain universities cannot host a summit and the Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Summit is now known as the Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Scholars, we're doing different work. We're trying to make sure resources are available to individuals to figure out how to navigate an explicitly hostile state.
Speaker 3:Universities were no longer allowed to host our conferences and summits. We would find other ways to get the information out to universities to make sure that their policies and programs remained trans-inclusive and trans-positive, and the trans community was welcomed onto Texas campuses, which is a testimony to Josephine. Josephine was always, as you said, never miss an opportunity to create an opportunity. The other tagline she really enjoyed was never give up, never surrender, and that's from Galaxy Quest, where Josephine basically called herself and sometimes Commander Taggart. She never gave up and she never surrendered. The trans community in this world had a champion who, no matter what obstacles were thrown in her way, would continue to move forward and create positive change. That's who Josephine was and continues to be.
Speaker 4:Josephine had quite a history in that. For one thing, her hometown was Pasadena, which at the time had an active chapter of the Ku Klux Klan with an office right on Red Bluff Road. She was married, she had children, she had to deal with her sister, her one sibling, and I think a lot of people. They don't necessarily think about the navigation that a trans-identified person has to do in order to get through their life First to come to acceptance within themselves and then to be able to be part of a community. I knew several transgender people who would have never used that term. They didn't want anyone to know, they wanted to just be whatever identity, male or female that they were. Her shoulders will be ones many people stand on.
Speaker 3:Deborah, you're so accurate in terms of someone whose own struggles she acknowledged but was more than willing to make sure others would never have to go through university system, college systems, school boards was because she understood that if you're not exposed to these conceptions, you don't understand what's happening to you. Josephine acknowledged that she thought she was a heterosexual cross-dresser and what she really was was, in many ways, a lesbian woman. If she'd been born cisgender she would have been a lesbian cis woman, but she wasn't. She was identified as male and yet if you look at her I mean Josephine was like in many ways. If you look at her I mean Josephine was like in many ways a sister to me. I would have identified her as a butch lesbian. She loved her overalls. She had the most amazing skills with tools which I never had.
Speaker 4:And motorcycles, don't forget.
Speaker 3:And those, motorcycles, oh my God. Motorcycles, oh my god. My favorite moment, one of my favorite moments with josephine is she, she. She was being honored by the university of houston at uh at a football halftime, as you know one of their important alums and she shows up and she invited me to join her in the president's box. It was a real honor. And she shows up in her scooter, her mobility scooter. That's right, she shows up in her mobility scooter, so we escort her to her after the game. I'm escorting her to her. I assumed truck. No, she had brought her motorcycle and we were escorting her to her motorcycle where she got her scooter on there. Then she hopped on her motorcycle, put on her helmet and zoomed away. I mean, talk about the coolest lesbian I knew it was Josephine Titsworth.
Speaker 4:I love that vision of her riding off on her motorcycle, and that is what I will think of her as she has made this transition from life. Maria Gonzalez, thank you so much for being with us on Queer Voices and sharing your memories of Josephine Titsworth, and for us to be able to honor our friend this way.
Speaker 3:A real pleasure. Thank you all very much.
Speaker 9:This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 11:I'm John Dyer V and I'm Kaylin Hartman With News Wrap, a summary of some of the news in or affecting LGBTQ communities around the world for the week ending July 27, 2024. A lawsuit challenging Ghana's ban on same-gender sex has been dismissed by the Supreme Court. All seven members of the court voted to uphold the Ghanaian Criminal Code of 1960, which defines private adult same-gender relations as unnatural carnal knowledge. The punishment for breaking the relic of British colonial law is up to three years in prison. Presiding Justice Paul Bafo Bonney said that the July 24th decision would be explained, but he declined to say when To Liz Throssell of the UN Human Rights Office. The ruling was especially concerning given reports of a recent spike in violence against LGBTQ plus people in Ghana.
Speaker 11:Meanwhile, more violence is feared as suspense surrounds a Supreme Court ruling on the promotion of proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values bill Unanimously approved by Parliament in February. It not only increases the jail time but essentially criminalizes being out. It punishes anyone who even promotes LGBTQ rights to minors with up to 10 years behind bars. Ghanaian President Nana Afuko Addo has said that he will not sign the bill until the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality. Un Commissioner for Human Rights, volker Turk issued a statement saying we urge Ghana to uphold its obligations under international human rights law, including in the human rights treaties it has ratified, and to ensure that all people living in Ghana, without exception, are able to live free from violence, stigma and discrimination. Ghana, without exception, are able to live free from violence, stigma and discrimination. Queer activists told Pink News that uncertainty over the looming provisions of the Family Values Bill are making life in Ghana a daily challenge. Some say they are considering fleeing the West African nation.
Speaker 12:The government of Namibia is appealing a high court decision that struck down laws criminalizing same-gender sex. Several members of the cabinet jointly filed an appeal of the June ruling to the Supreme Court on July 20,. According to the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, the government argues in its appeal that the high court failed to consider public opinion and the original intentions of the Constitution regarding sexual orientation. Those provisions date back to the apartheid era, before Namibia freed itself from South African rule in 1990. While the government warns that the ruling could have significant implications for Namibian society and public morality, namibia Equal Rights Movement founder Omar Van Rien says that there are two motives behind the government's appeal To buy cheap campaign points for their minority homophobic base and showing that they are fighting against homosexuality in the country. His social media post concludes we know our constitution is clear that the apartheid era laws have no place in a born free Namibia. So fear not. Dive into community and not into despair. We will win at the Supreme Court.
Speaker 11:Organizers say the annual Christopher Street Day parade in Cologne, germany, was the largest parade of any kind in the city's history. Record crowds estimated at up to 1.4 million people celebrated LGBTQ pride on July 21st. An online video plea for physical violence against the event was eventually dismissed by police officials after they found no evidence of any real threat. However, 13 men who were shouting anti-queer epithets and tearing down rainbow flags were arrested. They are being charged with incitement to hatred and property damage. The alarming rise of anti-LGBTQ hate in his country and across Europe has not escaped German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. He called the Christopher Street Day parade an important demonstration for democracy, freedom and the rights of queer people.
Speaker 12:Wrongdoers can no longer use the queer panic defense. In Michigan, democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the legislation on July 23rd that forbids the use of the sexual orientation or gender identity of a victim as a defense to a crime. The bill passed in the state Senate by a vote of 24 to 14, including two Republicans. Countless perpetrators have won reduced sentences with the so-called queer panic defense. The American Bar Association's assessment says that it has been used to partially or completely excuse crimes such as murder and assault on the grounds that the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity is to blame for the defendant's violent reaction. Michigan is now the 20th state to prohibit the legal maneuver. Democrats introduced legislation to federally ban the queer panic defense last year. Unfortunately, it needs comfortable majorities in both the House and Senate to succeed.
Speaker 11:Finally, US President Joe Biden is passing the torch of the Democratic Party to Vice President Kamala Harris. The 82-year-old Biden has been a stalwart friend to the LGBTQ plus community during his long, storied career as Vice President to President Barack Obama. Biden caused what was a major stir at the time when he upstaged his boss in announcing his public support for marriage equality. It happened during a May 2012 interview on NBC's Meet the Press.
Speaker 13:Look, I just think that the good news is that, as more and more Americans come to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition who do you love? Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love? And that's what people are finding out is what all marriages they're ruder about, whether they're marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals.
Speaker 11:As president Biden often reminded young transgender people of his ongoing support.
Speaker 13:For example, in a State of the Union address, he said the onslaught of state law is targeting transgender Americans and their families. It's simply wrong. I said last year, especially to our younger transgender Americans I'll always have your back as your president so you can be yourself and reach your God-given potential.
Speaker 11:A disastrous performance in a debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump in late June was a career ender for Biden. Party leadership convinced him that he was not the best candidate to defeat the would-be dictator. He reluctantly made his decision known on July 21st. It became official with an address from the Oval Office three days later.
Speaker 13:I revere this office, but I love my country more. It's been the honor of my life to serve as your president, but in the defense of democracy which is at stake, I think it's more important than any title.
Speaker 11:Biden vowed to vigorously advance his agenda as president until his term ends. In early January, he unequivocally endorsed his 59-year-old vice president to the top of the Democratic Party ticket. The party in turn has rallied behind her in the first days of a reinvigorated campaign. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate also has a long history of LGBTQ plus allyship. As Attorney General of California, kamala Harris championed the state's first same-gender marriages. Married dad and US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was pleased with the Harris candidacy.
Speaker 8:We happened to have the TV on in our kitchen as she addressed the campaign staff in Wilmington. It was just as we were putting the mac and cheese out for our son and daughter and it was amazing. When my daughter, who's about to be three, pointed to the TV and said what's that? I just felt goosebumps as I heard myself saying that's Kamala Harris and she's going to be three, pointed to the TV and said what's that? I just felt goosebumps as I heard myself saying that's Kamala Harris and she's going to be the next president.
Speaker 11:Harris kicked off her campaign with a speech at West Allis Central High School in West Allis, Wisconsin, on July 23rd.
Speaker 14:Before I was elected vice president, before I was elected United States senator, I was elected attorney general of the state of California and I was a courtroom prosecutor before then, and in those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.
Speaker 12:That's News Wrap, global queer news with attitude for the week ending July 27th 2024. Follow the news in your area and around the world. An informed community is a strong community.
Speaker 11:News Wrap is written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappell, produced by Brian DeShazor and brought to you by you.
Speaker 12:Thank you. Help keep us in ears around the world at thiswayoutorg, where you can also read the text of this newscast and much more. For this Way Out, I'm Kaylin Hartman. Stay healthy.
Speaker 11:And I'm John Dyer V Stay safe.
Speaker 1:This has been Queer Voices, which is now a home-produced podcast and available from several podcasting sources. Check our webpage queervoicesorg for more information. A home-produced podcast and available from several podcasting sources. Check our webpage QueerVoicesorg for more information. Queer Voices executive producer is Brian Levinka. Andrew Edmondson and Deborah Moncrief-Bell are frequent contributors. The News Wrap segment is part of another podcast called this Way Out, which is produced in Los Angeles.
Speaker 10:Some of the material in this program has been edited to improve clarity and runtime. This program does not endorse any political views or animal species. Views, opinions and endorsements are those of the participants and the organizations they represent.
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Speaker 9:Queer Voices. I'm Glenn Holt.
