Queer Voices
Queer Voices
October 23, 2024 Queer Voices Cheyenne Jackson, intersex awareness day with Mo Cortez, and journalist Eddie Robinson
Cheyenne Jackson, the amazingly talented Broadway star known for his electrifying and hysterical performances in "Xanadu" and "All Shook Up," opens up about his career in theater, film, and television, including cherished roles in "American Horror Story" and "Glee." He passionately discusses his transformative venture into cabaret with his latest show, "Signs of Life," where he shares personal stories and carefully chosen songs that create an intimate connection with his audience. Cheyenne is a treasure of our community, and it's a joy to hear him candidly talk about being a parent and engaging with the world.
In a heartfelt exploration of authenticity and activism, Cheyenne recounts his journey from Northern Idaho's oh-so-conservative landscapes to the vibrant life of New York City. He describes the challenges and triumphs of coming out, navigating fatherhood with twins, and balancing a thriving career in the arts while advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. Amidst sharing the joys of family life, the discussion highlights their involvement with Amphar's AIDS research and an eagerly anticipated cabaret show in Houston, underscoring the importance of community support.
Tickets for signs of life: https://www.thehobbycenter.org/events/cheyenne-jackson-signs-of-life/
Deborah Moncrief Bell talks with Mo Cortez about being intersexed and what that means in our community. It's a fascinating discussion about something people are often curious about but rarely gets explained as personally and properly as Mo does.
And Davis Mendoza Darusman talks with Sirius star Eddie Robinson about being a black, gay journalist who covers sports! He is also a single dad and has many topics to cover that reveal just what a community treasure he is.
Our episode takes a global perspective on LGBTQ+ rights, spotlighting critical issues from Italy's restrictive surrogacy laws to progressive steps in transgender rights in New South Wales, Australia. NEWS WRAP brings us the latest Global Queer News; we ensure our listeners are well-informed about the pressing issues shaping the queer community worldwide, reminding us all of the power of advocacy and awareness.
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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https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/
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, Brett Cullum talks with actor Cheyenne Jackson, who most recently appeared in Disney's the Descendants, about his career and being out in Hollywood.
Speaker 2:I spent so much of my youth in a little town in northern Idaho that was very Christian, republican, racist. Sorry, but it's true. I felt so repressed for so long that once I got out of there and came out at 19, there was no way, there was no way I was going to put myself in any kind of box.
Speaker 1:Then Deborah Moncrief Bell has a conversation with Mo Cortez about what it is to be intersex and the upcoming Intersex Awareness Day. David Mendoza-Druzman talks with Eddie Robinson about his experience as a black gay journalist in Houston and on SiriusXM and also what it's like to be a single father.
Speaker 3:The sports community needed to have content geared towards the LGBT community and to really have an opportunity on a platform like Sirius XM nationally around the world to have these narratives and stories and voices of gay athletes.
Speaker 1:And we have news wrap from this way out we're Voices starts now.
Speaker 4:I'm Brett Cullum and today the luminous and legendary Cheyenne Jackson joins me. He is coming to Houston to perform a cabaret show on October 26th at the Hobby Center called Signs of Life. Cheyenne started off in a regional theater in Seattle but moved to New York and took that town by storm. He played in everything you can imagine Alter Boys, I think he was Elvis at one point, a fairy tale character in Into the Woods. Cheyenne has also taken over television, starring in at least three seasons of Brian Murphy's American Horror Story. Oh, and he was on Glee and 30 Rock, some shows you might have heard of. He gave a moving performance in the film United 93, which was about the passengers in one of the planes of 9-11. He has sold out Carnegie Hall twice. I feel like I could spend an hour just going over credit after credit. So I am so honored, diane, and welcome to Queer Voices.
Speaker 2:Wow, thank you. It's so weird to hear your whole life like that. But yeah, I guess I did do those things. Yes, thank you.
Speaker 4:You hit my radar when you started Sonny Malone in the musical Xanadu and, ironically, a role that ruined poor Michael Beck's career when that film came out. But it seemed like it made you a star. So how? Did you end up in Xanadu.
Speaker 2:Xanadu came to me early on. It was it's actually me and Jane Krakowski who did done all of the uh, the readings and stuff. And it was so funny. Douglas Carter Bean wrote this crazy book and I just thought it was just fabulous. Jane couldn't end up doing it because her show 30 Rock was just a pilot at the time and she had to leave to do that and then I decided I kind of didn't want to do it without her, so I also let the project go, because the whole show is contingent on that chemistry. And then it went away. And then they started it again with Kerry Butler and James Carpinello and he broke his leg and they asked me to come in again and I went and saw it and Kerry Butler was so freaking genius and so different than Jane I just jumped in. Unfortunately, james couldn't continue and yeah, the rest is history. One of the highlights of my Broadway career for sure. Just pure joy.
Speaker 4:And that's what I think of when I think of it as just pure joy. But I have to ask you do you still roller skate? Is that still part of your regime?
Speaker 2:I'm sure I could, but I haven't. I did ice skate with my family last January. They came to New York with me when I was doing Once Upon a Mattress, so we ice skated and I can ice skate and I never had. So yeah, I think I can. Sure.
Speaker 4:Well, you've done stage film, television. I mean you've done everything. I mean it's like name of the medium, you've probably done it. Is there one that you enjoy the most? Is there one that you just say, ah, this is it.
Speaker 2:Man, it's so hard, it truly is. Whatever I'm doing, I really just try to have that be the only thing I'm focusing on. But I guess if I were to have to pick where I feel the most free, it's probably doing what I'm doing now, which is like long form narrative cabaret, like this show Signs of Life, that I'm doing right now in New York at 54 Below, and then in a few weeks I'll be doing in Texas. It's autobiographical, it's anecdotal. I go really deep. I believe that in order to connect with an audience, you have to go first, and I really go first, and that creates this great back and forth feeling of trust. And it's not just no shade to people that do this, but it's not just me standing up there saying then I did this show and in that song show I sang this song and I wanted it to be deeper, more meaningful. So I think that's probably where I feel the most connected.
Speaker 4:Well, it's interesting because this series has really brought a lot of Broadway stars in and they have taken that approach of talking about their life and interpreting songs, like recently we had Patti LuPone. How did you pick songs for this? I mean what we did, what goes into this cabaret thing of like, what am I going to sing?
Speaker 2:Some things you kind of just you can't get away with not doing. So there's definitely a few songs in there that I kind of always have to do, because if I don't afterwards people are like how come you didn't sing blah blah or blah blah, and so you know there's songs that you're known for. But as far as other ones, I really just dig deep and think about songs that really mean something to me now or meant something to me growing up and at seminal points in my life. Me now, or meant something to me growing up and at seminal points in my life, and I've never really been one to put myself in a box musically, so my influences are folk and jazz and big band and rock and roll and opera. I never trained professionally, so I think learning to sing on my own just by listening to music and mimicking and seeing what works, it's really opened up my the pantheon of music for me in a way that like I kind of feel like I could do anything.
Speaker 4:Maybe I'm a little delusional, but that's the, that's the mindset I go into any kind of new piece well, I remember when you came out with the album renaissance your solo piece and a lot of it was covers it was like all these things, and I was floored by your take on joni mitchell and a lot of it was covers it was like all these things, and I was floored by your take on Joni Mitchell's A Case of you. It was just incredible. What are your influences? Obviously, joni is probably who you want.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. And in that particular arrangement that's Diana Crawls. That's a version of her arrangement. I have to definitely give credit to her. And my influences growing up I went through such a phase of. Everything was old school jazz when I was about 12 and 13, I went to a yard sale and I found this CD Billie, ella, lena and Sarah. Billie Holiday, lena Horne, sarah Vaughan, ella Fitzgerald. I'd never heard of any of them and I just poured over it and studied the nuances of their voices and because to many people they kind of all sound the same, no way. Yeah, I would say those are my first four influences. And then as a teenager it really got more into George Michael. He was my vocal idol and just the way that just a phrase of his voice, a whisper of it, can evoke such an emotion a phrase of his voice, a whisper of it can evoke such an emotion.
Speaker 4:One thing that I admire about you as an actor is that, whatever you play, there is a sense of Cheyenne in there. Some folks, when they do a project, they kind of disappear into the character, but I always feel like you're always present. So how do you approach characters and acting what's?
Speaker 2:the secret of Cheyenne Jackson's acting approach. You know what Every part you bring yourself because you are you. All I know how to do is if I see myself in a character, and even if it's really a dark character or something that I don't even like to think about, I put myself in that position and I act as if I pretend that I am in that situation and I believe that it is real. Sometimes I wish I was more of a chameleon. Sometimes I watch Sarah Paulson or some of my peers who just do the wigs and the prosthetics and this, and I admire it so much, but that's just not me. What works for me is really connecting to the material, finding the humanity of the person not judging the person and then just breathing them to life.
Speaker 4:We're talking with Cheyenne Jackson and Cheyenne. One thing that I have always admired about you is that you are out and since we're on Queer Voices, your career has never been when you were in the closet, and that seems new to me, as I grew up in an era gay men hid. I mean, we talked about George Michael. He kind of hid his identity from the general populace, but you were a part of this for lack of a better term brat pack of LGBTQIA plus folks who are unapologetically out. We're looking at Matt Bomer, jim Parsons, zachary Quinto, neil Patrick Harris. What do you think gave all of you the power to be out and unapologetic about it at this point?
Speaker 2:All those guys you mentioned. They're all buddies of mine and we all have had our own journey and have come out at different points in our career for whatever reasons we needed to. For me, I needed to come out right off the bat because I just never wanted to hide. I spent so much of my youth in a little town in Northern Idaho that was very Christian, republican, racist, sorry, but it's true. I felt so repressed for so long that once I got out of there and came out at 19, there was no way. There was no way I was going to put myself in any kind of box and also I was trying to imagine how would that even work? You just kind of use vague pronouns when describing who you're with.
Speaker 2:When I got to New York at 27 and started working and then got my big break, all shook up, the Elvis show. It was arguably my big break. And then the New York Times did a big piece on me and I remember some people around me at the time were kind of saying like don't say, because I was playing this hypersexual, very masculine, all that on stage and I thought I'm not even going to entertain that. I am who I am, what I am. I have found that just from the jump being out from the beginning, it just freed me. Did I miss out on things because of that early on? Maybe I don't know. I mean, I have no proof and it doesn't really matter, because I've lived an authentic and open life. And the next generation coming up I hear from them all the time like, oh my gosh, you did this and that made me feel like I could do that, and so it's getting younger and younger and younger, and the shame is starting to, uh, dissipate a bit.
Speaker 4:Well, another thing you're a father and you and your husband have I think they're eight year old now twins. Next week they'll be eight. What has that been like? Is that hard when you're in this business and you have kids and a husband and all of that on the side?
Speaker 2:It is very hard, but that's what I wanted. That's all I ever wanted was to be a dad. I wanted a loud house with dogs and kids and energy and chaos and love and messiness. And people ask me some of my friends that don't have kids gay couples they'll say, yeah, we're thinking about having kids but we don't really know. And I always say then don't, because unless you are 1 million percent sure that this is what you want to do, don't do it, because your life will never be the same, forever, until the day you die. And it is a sacrifice and it is one that I give wholeheartedly. I love it so much.
Speaker 2:It hurts how much you love your children and it's hard to be away. It's hard to be away for jobs, but it's kind of part of the deal. They're used to it. Now the longest I've ever been away is three weeks. It was really really really difficult. I was shooting a movie in Hungary, I think once, maybe for three and a half weeks in Canada. But daddy's an artist and he's bopping around and that's what his job is. But yeah, it's my husband. I have to give him credit because he's hyper organized. He can do a million things at once and he keeps the ball rolling.
Speaker 4:Do they know? Like the kids, are they aware of who you are?
Speaker 2:Yes, just recently, just just recently, because of this movie, I did called the descendants. Yeah, recently, because their friends at school have seen it and they talk about it and now, yeah, it's really cute, like we went to disneyland recently and like kids always recognize and they would run up and see me and it's hades, and you could think it's very cool, that's very cool that I'm Hades in descendants there. Yeah, they know that they have a lot of friends whose parents are on TV or or great writers or whatever. So to them it's, it's just, I'm just dad.
Speaker 4:I know you've worked with Amphar. They do a ton of research for AIDS. What made you pick them as one of your causes? Are you still involved with them?
Speaker 2:I haven't really done anything for Amphar in the last couple of years. Covid happened then they didn't really have the events as much. I'm not as connected with Amphar anymore and there's nothing. There's no reason with that. But why I initially got involved was just I just I loved their unwavering focus on finding a cure, and Dr Mathilde Krim and Elizabeth Taylor you'd be hard pressed to find two more incredible women. And then Kenneth Cole, who used to be the chairman of the board. He and I became great friends and so that's how it got started. But I really, really loved working with them and I mean I guess I did something with them about a year ago. But I'd like to reconnect. It's just been a crazy time.
Speaker 4:We appreciate you coming to Houston, obviously on October 26th, hobby Center, signs of Life, a cabaret show with Cheyenne Jackson. Get to hear a little bit more about you and your musical tastes, hear you kind of entertain everybody. Thank you so much and I appreciate it and we'll see you there on the 26th. And we'll see you there on the 26th.
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Speaker 6:This is Deborah Moncrief-Bell and I'm talking with Mo Cortez. Mo is with the Houston Intersex Society and we're going to be talking about Intersex Day of Awareness on October 26th and other issues related to what it means to be intersex and kind of a 101 on the challenges that are faced by people who are intersex. So, mo, first tell me about the Houston Intersex Society.
Speaker 5:Let's first define what is intersex. So intersex for most people at home it's whenever someone is born that's born with an anatomical, chromosomal or hormonal difference that falls somewhere in between what's considered typical for male and female. So people have heard of the term hermaphrodite. No one's actually born with two full sets of genitalia, right? Intersex people, birth rates are about one out of every 2,000 births and things like that. So the Houston Intersex Society formed in June 2012 when myself and Kuma actually reunited.
Speaker 5:Me and Kuma went to an after-school Friday LGBTQ program. That's still here in Houston, right? We sat by each other every summer at this teen meetup for the LGBTQ youth, but we never knew the other person was intersex. I saw something on Facebook friends you may know, so I said add Kuma on there and I added him and he talked about doing an act. The topic was intersex issues and I was like what's up with having? Why are you talking about intersex stuff? And he said he was intersex too. So we met up that day at the TG Center when it was still around back in the day, at the Pacific location, and we created the Houston Intersex Society that day so that no one else would be alone on their journey.
Speaker 6:Intersex Awareness Day is designed to highlight human rights issues faced by intersex people. And let's just say, being intersex is not just one thing. There are several about a dozen or more possibilities that might mean that someone is intersex. Mo for yourself. How old were you and how did you find out that that's what you were?
Speaker 5:I didn't know I was intersex or something was different about my body until it may have been the age of five when I woke up in a hospital bed by myself and lift the covers and seen a giant red X in my groin area where they had done surgeries and things like that. So I knew at that time that something was to me. As a child it felt like something was so wrong and so horrible with my body that they had to remove part of me to make me be normalized. But I'm not alone in that right. Others are experiencing that too.
Speaker 5:But I was brought up in a Mexican single-parent Mormon household. My dad was locked up when I was young so I never got to see him and my mom raised me as this Hispanic female heterosexual and that didn't fit the bill. I think I was about 13 years old. I got my medical records and it said male pseudohermaphrodite, which is like the double term for partial androgen insensitivity syndrome. So my body doesn't fully process testosterone and it scared me. And then I didn't reach out for support from the intersex community until I was 18.
Speaker 5:And that's one thing I kind of want to highlight is that at age five I was subjugated to surgeries because they could have determined what sex to classify me, as Someone had turned my mom into the CPS saying that she was raising a little boy as a girl. So that's when they forced those surgeries on me at age five. Society it treats the parents as the patients instead of treating the patients as the patients. It should be about patient-centered care and things like that. But but yeah, that's my story. And then, uh, so I socialized as female, uh, but been pansexual since a young age. I finally started transitioning to taking testosterone at age 30, and I've been on it since then. I don't have a beard or a mustache, I mean, I have some stubble right. I've been on testosterone since my past 12 years.
Speaker 6:So appearance-wise you definitely would be readily classified as male.
Speaker 5:Absolutely. And to add to your point, there are. So intersex is a community term, it's an identity term. So there are some people who we would classify as intersex, as they would say they would have a condition, so they have PAIS or they have like what do they call it Variations in sex characteristics, right? So pretty much that's the one. So, um, I don't know if you remember from the olympics, but there there is a, an athlete, and they're calling her trans, but she was actually intersex. But intersex people and trans people were kind of lumped in together, right, because a lot of people don't want to understand the differences in people and gender and bodies, and and I feel like as a society we need to slow down and know, accept people as they are and let them tell us who they are, right? So more free agency.
Speaker 6:What are some of the challenges that are faced by intersex people?
Speaker 5:There's a lot in common with the trans community too, in the sense of just adequate health care. And one thing that intersex people patients have to do in medical settings is I have to educate my doctor, like yesterday I went for what is it a yearly physical? And the doctor's like, ok, what were you born with? Again, what parts do you have? Which was really good, right.
Speaker 5:A lot of times it's continuous process of having to educate your providers and having to educate about intersex health issues and about surgeries and things that have been done to your own bodies, right, and just for going in for like, if you have a cold, right, you have to talk about surgeries that you've had and things like that. So, basically having to educate your providers on a constant moment. And then also just the way the medical. I'll just say this from my own personal experience that some doctors really don't want to learn. They don't want to learn, they don't want to learn. They don't have good bedside manner, I would say.
Speaker 5:But also a lot of intersex people don't have access to health care, health insurance and things like that. There's a high rate of addiction in our community. I know Kuma knows the name of the study that was released recently. But intersex uh the negative effects of these surgeries bring about ptsd, uh suicide, suicidality, uh suicide ideation. Some more negative consequences of these four surgeries are like osteoporosis, osteopenia and then other health issues and uh scar tissue tearing, uh sexual and urinary problems for some intersex people. So society cares so much about appearances, about perception, and we just don't slow down and ask for perspective. And I think that we need to empower and listen to children and just wait, wait and see, like there is no logical reason why we have to do surgery to create, to change someone's genitals. There's no logical reason for that, you know, outside of a social scare, right?
Speaker 6:A child is born, they go by what appears to be the genitalia and decide boy, girl, and there have been some real horror cases where someone had surgery and was forced to live as a gender that they clearly were not. Is there a branch of medicine that particularly treats intersex people?
Speaker 5:Every branch. Really it's hormones and chromosomes and like gonads and you know body parts. Everything's all mixed together. But usually you see like surgeons, so like endocrinologists, or you see like urologists and things like that. I hear you know those specialties, right, but really just the impacts of surgeries that intersex kids are subject to. They have long-term negative consequences. Like my doctor said, hey, you need to get a DEXA scan, you know. I told her that. You know my testes were taken out when I was five and I've been on hormone replacement therapy since age 12. So she's like, yeah, it's time to check out your bones, check out the bone density. So, um, some some, um, some other intersex people in the community have osteoporosis and osteopenia. So you know, we're about to find out. You know what my bone density looks like, because I feel I felt other people's bones and their legs and their. Their bones feel very like like metal, right, and mine's feel like like play-doh or something.
Speaker 6:It doesn't feel sure this intersex is not a disorder, nor is it a disease, and that is something people need to know absolutely, and um, you know, and that's, that's something that happened.
Speaker 5:So we're talking about intersex awareness day. Um, so intersex awareness day is oct is October 26. It happened about 28 years ago or in 1996. I'll just read it off of here it marks the first public demonstration by intersex people in North America, and people from the Intersex Society of North America joined with allies from Transsexual Menace and other organizations. And, uh, they did a protest in front of um, the american academy of pediatrics in boston, massachusetts, and uh, and that was a outside one of their conferences, and uh, that was the first time, you know, there was a big protest. So you know, you know, basically signing up to medical professionals, the medical establishment, to say hey, hey, we're here, we're not going anywhere and stop doing these surgeries on us because they're not working.
Speaker 6:Has the American Academy of Pediatrics taken any kind of official position concerning intersex?
Speaker 5:From what I recall. No, I don't think so. I don't think so yet, but there have been initiatives here in Texas and even in the US. Then, uh, state senator silvia garcia, um, an intersex protection bill for, for kids in the foster care system. Uh, to basically give them the right to, um, you know, medical consent and you know, fully understand what's happening and basically have all these check marks.
Speaker 5:Um, I don't know if I feel like like I don't know. Engineer, engineer type people will know there's like checklist or anybody. Anybody who's good at checklist knows. Like you know, there's certain things that you have to do, but kind of making like, if they're going to do these surgeries, at least make it harder, right, so add more barriers for them to do it. So, getting a court order, you know, getting attorney talking to clinicians, asking the child, you know, getting attorney talking to clinicians, asking the child, you know, for their consent and assent to these surgeries and things like that, but basically letting the kid know that you have an option to wait, wait, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5:Um, so we're hoping to um, um, you know we're anticipating for that bill to be coming back again to be pre-filed this november. Um, and uh, this is part of um me Kuma's independent work. That's not part of the Houston Intersex Society with a bill and policy legislation introduction, but we anticipate that to be pre-filed by Representative Hernandez in November of this year for the next legislative session, and we have our fingers crossed that Congresswoman Garcia will introduce a similar intersex protective bill in the US House on the week of Intersex Awareness Day. Yeah, so we anticipate that happening.
Speaker 6:What are some other events that may be taking place?
Speaker 5:The City Hall will be illuminated purple and yellow. The City Hall will be illuminated purple and yellow, houston City Hall on the 25th of October, so that's Friday, which is also Houston Intersex Awareness Day, and then the regular Intersex Awareness Day or International Intersex Awareness Day is Saturday, october 26th, and we're anticipating, we're basically releasing intersex programming on the Houston Media Source HMS website and it will be one of Kuma's plays the History of the Happy Hermaphrodite and then kind of like a roadside show thing where it's a talent I would call it a talent show but intersex and trans people talking about intersex topics and expressing love, you know, just having community celebrating the arts and and people writing music about, you know, not doing these surgeries and letting intersex people be. So we hope people can uh tune into that what question have you been asked?
Speaker 6:that was surprising to you.
Speaker 5:I don't know. I've been asked so many questions Like I don't get asked this anymore because I appear male, right, but you know when was your last period? I've never had a period, I've never had a uterus, so you know, that's one thing in medical circles, you know.
Speaker 6:How do you approach the whole issue of your identity? Do you just let people understand that you're male, or do you disclose your intersex status?
Speaker 5:Right. I feel like, for the most part, if people are listening to me and they seem like they I don't know like they want to build some kind of rapport or something, I'll tell them. So most people, you know, I tell in most circles, just because right now, you know, there's not a lot of intersex people or trans people that are highly visible or openly visible. So I just want to normalize it for all of us, because it's every action we take, it's every appearance we make. You know we're able to heighten the awareness but also say we're here, you know there's nothing shameful about us and we're here, just deal with it this is deborah moncrief bell and I've been talking to mo cortez about intersex awareness day, uh coming up on october 26th.
Speaker 6:How do people get in touch or find out more information?
Speaker 5:on facebook we're um hugh enter or h uh o u I n t e r, and then on instagram, um, so so this, so think of the acronym this so the underscore Houston, underscore, intersex, underscore society. We're on Instagram as well, so you can reach out to us there on Messenger.
Speaker 6:Thanks for being with us on Queer Voices.
Speaker 1:This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9 FM Huntsville, and worldwide on the internet at kpftorg.
Speaker 7:I'm Davis Mendoza-Ruisman he him pronouns and today I have the pleasure of speaking with a legendary Houston radio host and executive producer, most recently of the award-winning Houston public media show. I See you with Eddie Robinson. Please join me in welcoming Eddie Robinson. Hi, davis, great to be here. I wanted to go back about a decade when you hosted SiriusXM's OutQ channel called the Outfield, where you spoke with LGBTQ athletes like tennis legend Martina Navratilova, as well as allies like NFL quarterback Warren Moon. Could you tell me about how that came to be? Had you always been an out gay man at that point? Were you always interested in sports? How did that come to be?
Speaker 3:I was always interested in sports and, as a matter of fact, when I first moved to New York I worked for Sports Radio 66, wfan. It was one of the most listened to sports talk radio shows in the country. I think they were the ones who started the trend and the whole phenomenon of sports talk formatting and I had an opportunity to be a producer there and it was just really exciting work, even had a chance to be on air with one of the legendary personalities on WFAN. So I learned a lot about sports talk in that format while working there from 2000, I think it was 2002 to 2007. I was working at CBS News during 9-11, actually, and then when 9-11 hit, I was like I got to get out of this news environment, which was really strange and ironic. Right here I am. I was doing that kind of thing as a career in news and when 9-11, when you're in New York City, it hits you a certain way, especially when you're doing that during that coverage. I digress, I apologize, but I stormed out of CBS News, scared out of my wits. But weirdly enough, I got a phone call from CBS Radio and WFAN in December of 2001. And they're like we'd love to have you on board at WFAN. I'm like I'm there. So that helped build a lot of chops.
Speaker 3:I worked with some incredible colleagues. One in particular was the fast forward to SiriusXM. He had quit WFAN, steve Cohen, and he ended up being like head of sports programming at Sirius XM. And another colleague who had worked with me at WFAN. He was also a producer for one of the NFL shows at Sirius XM and I just happened to just kind of reach out to him, I think around 2012, 2013. And he was basically like Eddie, if you're interested, you should come on to SiriusXM and work here and do some side gigs. And I was working at WNYC at the time in New York, and I said to myself you know what this could work out and I will try my best to hustle hustle. That's the thing with New York City it's always hustle hustle. Having so many jobs at one, you try to make ends meet, right?
Speaker 3:I connected with Steve Cohen there at SiriusXM, who was the head of the sports programming, and I had a very interesting conversation with him about wanting to host a show on SiriusXM. And basically Steve Cohen was like absolutely Eddie, where, who, what, when, why and how, let's do it, let's make it happen. But I mentioned and failed to mention a very interesting, strong word, which is called gay. And I told him in that same meeting. I said well, hold up, steve, what I want to do is actually have a talk show that's geared specifically toward the LGBTQ community. And he almost fell out of his chair and he was like ah, look, I can totally work with you in getting a talk show on SiriusXM because I love your voice. It's incredible. But you cannot say the word gay and that really hurt me. But at the same time I was just adamant. I was like you know what I really want to do this?
Speaker 3:And at that time there was some things happening with Michael Sam, I believe, and a lot of intense news going on around gay athletes, a lot of intense news going on around gay athletes. And so, steve, basically on a next conversation, a next meeting, he said look, eddie, you're getting on my nerves, but here's what I'll do. I will pay for your involvement with this talk show, but you cannot come on any of the sports channels. What I will work out is that you do this on OutQ, any of the sports channels. What I will work out is that you do this on OutQ and so I was like I don't give a. Well, I kind of did give a rat's behind, because I did want to have this show on a sports oriented network right, because I felt like the sports community needed to have content geared towards the LGBT community and to really have an opportunity on a platform like SiriusXM, nationally around the world, to have these narratives and stories and voices of gay athletes and those who admired them. At the end of the day, I said, eddie, it's best to just do it on OutQ than to not do it at all. So I agreed and we had the show for two years on SiriusXM, channel 108, I believe it really opened up an opportunity for even closeted folks to come on and talk and give their insight on what they believe to be the issue around why there weren't many gay athletes coming out professionally.
Speaker 3:We spoke at length on that and, as a matter of fact, we were getting ready in the process during this outfield show.
Speaker 3:I had worked with press with the Denver Broncos. We were actually going to bring an athlete who was playing on the team at that time and have him as a guest on the show, but we would ensure that the interview was pre-taped. We would make sure that his voice would be altered in some kind of way and we wanted to ask questions and have him to be a guest and he backed out at the last minute, at the very, very last minute. Thank goodness we had another guest on because it was a live show. But that was what we were getting at and that's what we brought to the table a show where people could actually get on and callers could talk about Bruce Jenner, talked about him, and that was during the time of Caitlyn Jenner. So again, yeah, that was a journey in and of itself. I'm grateful for you allowing me to just give that story, because no one I don't think anyone knows how that outfield show came about and that's exactly what happened. Thank you for that question.
Speaker 7:So much has shifted over the course of the past decade. And you mentioned your New York hustle. You're turning it to Houston hustle, bringing it to Houston Public Media. You mentioned being told not to say gay on air or not being able to be on the other sports network within SiriusXM. Did you ever encounter similar pushback with any sort of wanting to bring LGBTQ issues to the forefront in Houston public media or at your time at ICU?
Speaker 3:I did, and it was surprising, actually, because I didn't think that there was some incredible support as it relates to diversity and, looking at aspects as it relates to inclusion, doors of one of the content directors over at Houston Public Media and just bothering him year after year after year. Can we do a show that does X? Can we maybe do this show that does Y? What about this show that does Z? And I would constantly beginning Eddie, no, no, no, no, get all this. And then George Floyd's death. And then finally, we get the green light to do a show that I had pitched years before and I called it ICU thinking, our sixth episode within the realm of the ICU shows, and this was a show that, granted, I was very vulnerable. I'd had no idea of whether or not I wanted to do a show of this nature, but it had to do with me being a dad, a single father, with me being a dad, a single father. Hindsight, you would think that maybe there was some reluctance on the executive side because, I don't know, maybe they were trying to perhaps protect me. They didn't want a lot of information in terms of privacy to get out. Granted, this is an extremely, extremely personal decision to be right to want to be a father, you can't be a father. The quote unquote normal way and so, as a gay person, you look at it and go through surrogacy. I felt like this was an opportunity for me to really bring my show out into the forefront. At that time, npr didn't necessarily have a show that was directed to gay men, and especially single gay men, and fertility and what that means when someone wants to be an intended father through surrogacy. And for those who don't necessarily know what the show was about, you can definitely hear the show at icushoworg and it's a show where I speak about me being an only child growing up in the early 70s in rural Mississippi and I loved my parents so much. But when I came out to them in 2007, they shut me out for a year and didn't talk to me, and it was my father who finally broke the silence and expressed how much he really loved and supported me. Fast forward, with Obama being president, I think they got a lot of evolution from the president at the time and so they were really sort of supportive of me being gay, were really sort of supportive of me being gay. And here we are, or at least in 2017 or so. I've decided that. You know what I think. The big, big question that my father is telling me is that he really wanted to be a grandfather, plus, my mother was doing the same thing, and so I promised my father that he would be a granddad someday. I had no idea how it would happen I wasn't seeing anyone at the time, but I just told him that and in 2018, he unexpectedly passed away.
Speaker 3:He had very difficult issues with type 2 diabetes. It hurt me big time and it put me into a realm of depression and even thoughts of suicide. But I figured out and I said to myself you know what? I'm going to do this anyway. Even though I don't have a partner, even though I'm not seeing anyone, there is some money that I've saved up. Let's just go ahead and make it happen. So there was no partner. I had limited funds, of course, as I was going through this surrogacy process, and it was limited funds because I didn't think that it was going to be that expensive, but it ended up being horrendously expensive, davis, so I decided to still plow through it go for it.
Speaker 3:I discuss all of this in this show. It Go for it. I discuss all of this. In this show, episode number six, I have a really intense conversation and if anyone doesn't want to hear the whole show, if you could just listen to segment A I think it lasts maybe 10 minutes, the first segment of the show. That would be amazing, because it was a conversation that I had with my mother and I had never talked to her at all about what it meant to be a grandmother for her and for me to do this, raising a child on my own as a gay, single father.
Speaker 3:Now, all of this was, of course, presented to the executives at Houston Public Media Big, big red flag, red light. They did not want to air this episode at all. Eddie, no, this is not going to work, this is not going to happen, give it up. But it took a lot of convincing and it took a great deal of editing and then they finally gave in. But it was a very reluctant green light, so to speak, because there wasn't much promotion around the episode, the Texas Standard, which is another show that's on Houston Public Media.
Speaker 3:They did reach out to me and I did do an interview for them about the show, about this surrogacy episode, because no one really talked about this, no one really sort of explored this very, very personal and vulnerable journey of being a single dad. And look, though, I'm no longer with Houston Public Media, I'm thinking to myself sheesh, maybe this could be another podcast where I'm talking to people about what it means to raise a child on my own. I mean, this has been an incredible adventure in terms of fatherhood. My kid turns three this month, and so it's just been a whirlwind of emotion. But yeah, I just wanted to give you that's a very interesting nugget there, how it was just so, so difficult to get this show on the air with my journey of surrogacy.
Speaker 7:Episode six aired on June 18th 2021 for our listeners who want to tune in, because not only did you have your mother as a guest on that episode, you also had your surrogates.
Speaker 3:As far as my future goes, I'm not sure what the future holds for the podcast in and of itself, for ICU. We'll have to wait and see. I know for now it's on an indefinite hiatus. There may be opportunities down the line to even bring it back in another format, in another capacity, on another platform, but for now the creator has really taken a much needed break from it.
Speaker 3:Um, and at one point, davis, you know the actual show. We were working through a national distribution platform, prx, where at one point, 40 stations picked up ic across over 26 states. But, yeah, unfortunately the station would never put any money or any resources toward marketing or promoting ICU and I would never see any kind of digital marketing strategy behind the show. And that spoke volumes. You know, despite my constant requests, why I was never told, davis, I was never told. But in my heart of hearts, with U of H being a public institution, the show with a heavy foundation that's built on diversity, equity and inclusion measures, that helped create the show in the first place. I'm sure legislation that was brought down from Texas officials played a key role with the plug being pulled, and I'm sure other factors played a part in it as well. But we'll see. We'll see what the future has in store for ICU.
Speaker 3:I'm not quite sure at the moment myself. But yeah, I've moved on and I'm concentrating and focusing on other matters, namely my own family, like you mentioned, my mother is on that episode, but she lives with me temporarily. She lives in Mississippi, but she temporarily lives with me and my toddler son here in Houston. She was diagnosed with cancer back in September of last year and had surgery in December here in Houston. I insisted on her staying with me and my son for all of her medical needs and not rely on doctors in Mississippi. So this journey of having the C word and dealing with that is an adventure in and of itself, right. It just doesn't impact her, though. I'm sure the pain and the unfortunate, just the hardships of just going through cancer treatments is rough enough, but it also impacts the entire family when sickness like this enters into the equation. So yeah, these two people, my son and my mom, they're my priority now and soon we'll see how everything else falls into play.
Speaker 7:We'll definitely be following you on social media and we'll just try to stay in tune, because we are here for your journey.
Speaker 7:I want to thank you for sharing your very vulnerable stories and your incredible work uplifting our community and I don't know if anybody's ever said this to you, because I know you always say this at the end of your episodes but after what you've shared with me, I want you to know that I feel you, we hear you and I see you In the words of the legend himself. Thank you very much, Eddie himself. Thank you very much, Eddie Robinson. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. That means so much to me, thank you.
Speaker 8:I'm Joe Bainline and I'm Michael LeBeau With News Wrap. A summary of some of the news in or affecting LGBTQ communities around the world for the week ending October 19th 2024. Lgbtq communities around the world for the week ending October 19, 2024. It's now a crime in Italy for a couple to go abroad to have a surrogacy baby. The legislation was a pet project of right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney. It passed the Senate this week by a vote of 85 to 58. Parliament's lower house had already approved it. The harsh penalty is up to two years in prison on top of a fine equivalent to more than a million US dollars.
Speaker 8:Maloney is called surrogate arrangements to carry pregnancy for another person, A symbol of an abominable society that confuses desire with rights and replaces God with money. To veteran queer Italian activist, Franco Grilini, it's the law that's monstrous, when the Italian birth rate is plunging and same-gender couples want children, he told Reuters at a demonstration ahead of the vote. If someone has a baby, they should be given a medal here. Instead, you're sent to jail. Since domestic surrogacy and domestic or international adoption by lesbian and gay couples are already banned, the new law seems to specifically target queer families. 90% of Italian couples who use surrogacy are heterosexual, according to the Rainbow Family's president, Alessia Crosini. She pointed out to the Guardian that the new ban indeed targets lesbian and gay couples who cannot easily hide coming home with a new baby.
Speaker 8:Maloney's Brothers of Italy party habitually persecutes sexual and gender minorities. Last year, the country's first female prime minister ordered city councils in Milan and elsewhere to stop registering the children of same-gender couples. One of Maloney's 2022 campaign slogans was yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby. Cochinis responded defiantly to the new law in ANSA and vowed we, as rainbow families, will not stop and will continue our battle in the courts and in the streets. We will fight every day to affirm the beauty and freedom of our families and our sons and daughters.
Speaker 9:Police raided two clubs popular with the queer community in downtown Moscow and arrested some 50 people during the early morning hours of October 11th. It was National Coming Out Day in North America, which has been adopted around the world. Two pro-Kremlin Russian telegram channels claimed that the raid on Central Station was to fight drug trafficking. There were also claims that drag shows there mocked the Russian military's invasion of Ukraine. Riot police showed up at Three Monkeys, which is operated by the same ownership as Central Station. Videos show patrons at both venues being either forced to the ground or with arms up leaning against walls for an aggressive frisking. The official story is that the raids were prompted by civilian complaints of indecent behavior. Similar invasions of queer Russian night spots launched soon after anti-queer legislation was enacted in recent years. It's not yet known where this week's detainees are being held.
Speaker 8:A groundbreaking New South Wales law will establish rights for transgender people and strengthen existing protections for sexual minority communities. The Australian State's Legislative Council approved the Equality Legislation Amendment LGBTIQA Plus Bill 2023. Approved equality legislation amendment lgbtiqa plus bill 2023. After several starts and stops, it was first approved there last year, more than a year after its first introduction in parliament. This week's approval in the legislative assembly was the final step. The bill was sponsored by independent out mp alex greenwich. He said we've got more work to do and we start that work now with new confidence from these significant wins for our community.
Speaker 8:Anna Brown of Equality Australia called the measure the largest package of LGBTIQ plus reforms in NSW history. The new law allows trans people to change the gender marker on their birth certificates without having to undergo surgery. It also creates a non-binary identity option. Threatening to out a queer person becomes a criminal offense under the new laws. They also protect children born overseas via surrogacy and their parents from discrimination. Ashley Scott of All Kids Are Equal applauded the move. She said no loving and caring family should be unequal under the eyes of NSW law.
Speaker 9:The dishonorable discharges of 820 US veterans kicked out of the military for being queer are being upgraded to honorable. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that the move was to redress the harms done by Don't Ask, don't Tell and other policies on these former service members. This week's action follows a year-long review of individual service records. An estimated 13,500 people were booted from the US armed forces under Don't Ask, don't Tell. President Joe Biden issued pardons in June to service members wrongly discharged for their sexual orientation or gender identity under the policy or then existing anti-sodomy laws. However, applications for a certificate of pardon or a discharge upgrade required further review. Applications for a Certificate of Pardon or a Discharge upgrade required further review.
Speaker 9:There have been several complaints that the process is convolutedly complicated and unnecessarily antagonistic. Those obstacles have discouraged many from applying. Secretary Austin says that 96% of the applicants who made it through the system have been upgraded. Upgrades to Honorable allow queer veterans to access several major Veterans Administration benefits, including educational advancement, health care coverage and home loan programs. Cbs News reports that the Defense Department is sending letters to eligible veterans with information about how to get a copy of their new discharge papers. Because of confidential information in how to get a copy of their new discharge papers. Because of confidential information in these papers, a vet must make the direct request personally.
Speaker 8:Austin is promising to continue to strive to do right by every American patriot who has honorably served our country. Dr May Lau of Dallas, texas, is the first practitioner in the country to face legal jeopardy for providing hormones to her pediatric transgender patients. Infamously anti-queer state Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on October 17th accusing Lau of violating the state's ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors. Dr Lau practices at the Children's Health Center and is professor of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Paxton is demanding an injunction against her continued treatment of trans minors and punitive fines of up to $10,000 for each of the more than 20 alleged violations.
Speaker 8:Harper Seldon, with the ACLU's LGBTQ and HIV project, called Paxton's lawsuit the predictable and terrifying result of the anti-trans law. Seldon says it's the first time that any state has tried to actually enforce its trans minors treatment ban. The law in the Lone Star State prevents trans people under the age of 18 from accessing hormone therapies and puberty blockers. It also bans surgery on minors, which is rarely recommended for children. Paxton's press release called the widely approved standard of care for transgender minors dangerous, unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and damaging effects. Extensive research has proved that's just not true. Puberty blockers and hormone therapies are absolutely reversible, despite all of the evidence, paxton vows, doctors who continue to provide these harmful gender transition drugs and treatments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And treatments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a case challenging Tennessee's similar pediatric, gender-affirming health care ban in December.
Speaker 9:Finally, us Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, was treated to rare heckling at a campaign rally in La Crosse, wisconsin, on October 17th. Her snap-worthy response was a hit.
Speaker 10:We remember, donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v Wade, and they did as he intended. Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally. No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street.
Speaker 8:No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street. That's News Wrap, Global Queer News with Attitude for the week ending October 19th 2024. Follow the news in your area and around the world. An informed community is a strong community.
Speaker 9:News Wrap is written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle, produced by Brian DeShazer and brought to you by you.
Speaker 8: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 Joe Bainline. Stay healthy and I'm.
Speaker 9:Michael LeBeau, stay safe.
Speaker 1:This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston and as a podcast available from several podcasting sources. Check our webpage QueerVoicesorg for more information. Queer Voices executive producer is Brian Levinka, deborah Moncrief-Bell is co-producer, brett Cullum and David Mendoza-Druzman are contributors, and Brett is also our webmaster. The News Wrap segment is part of another podcast called this Way Out, which is produced in Los Angeles.
Speaker 11:Some of the material in this program has been edited to improve clarity and run time. 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. In case of death, please discontinue use and discard remaining products.
Speaker 1:For Queer Voices. I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
