Queer Voices
Queer Voices
December 10th - Author Jenny Block, Roundtable on BATHROOM BILL, and changes to HUB Certification
This week, the QUEER VOICES team assembles for three segments. First up, Deborah Moncrief-Bell catches up with author and comedienne Jenny Block. Jenny has just finished a book called "Badass Manifesting," and she discusses how to make your dreams a reality. Then the entire Queer Voices team gathers together to discuss the nightmarish bathroom bill and Texas politics in general. Finally, Brett Cullum talks with Julie Irvin Hartman about shocking and sudden changes to HUB certification that will leave minorities and women out in the cold.
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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This is Queer Voices, a radio show on KPFT and a podcast that has been around for over five decades. We are the voice of Houston's LGBTQIA plus community. I am Red Cullum, and coming up, we have Deborah Moncrief Bell talking with author and comedian Jenny Block about how to be a unicorn and how to manifest. And then several of our queer voices gather together for a roundtable discussion of the bathroom bill and several other political issues. And finally, I get to speak with Julie Irvin Hartman about changes to the hub certification for small businesses. Queer Voices starts now.
Deborah :This is Deborah Moncrief Bell, and I have caught up with Ginny Block. I've been trying to catch up with her for several weeks now because Jenny has a new book called Badass Manifesting: How to Manifest Abundance, Success, and the Joyful Life of Your Dreams. Now, last time we had you on, Jenny, you had just uh come out with Be That Unicorn. What's the story behind that?
Jenny Block :People always tell me that my superpower is making other people feel good about themselves. And they would say, I just wish you got I could just put you in my pocket and just have you next to me all day long saying, You got this, you're doing great, you're terrific. And I thought, huh, you sort of could have me in your pocket if there was a cute little book with a unicorn on the cover. So be that unicorn is all about being your very best self. That unicorn is someone who knows how to stand up for him or herself without hurting other people. I was worried that too many folks, especially LGBTQ folks and women, minorities, were always leaning in. We're always saying, yeah, okay, that's fine. And then the other thing, just sort of saying, whatever, I didn't love that attitude either. So my thought was how can we walk through life and be ourselves and be authentic and stand up for ourselves, but still be kind to other people along the way.
Deborah :Now you've written several other books. I urge everybody to check out Jenny Block and the publications she has produced. Now you have this book, Badass Manifesting. How did this book come about? Was it a segue from the other one?
Jenny Block :A little bit. It was interesting because it was kind of what you just said. It was that people looked at my life, watched my Instagram, followed my books and my career, and thought, holy smokes, how did this small town rabbis girl from Maryland end up writing for the New York Times and a five-time book author and traveling all the world? I thought about that for a minute, and some of everything is luck, I believe. I hope some of what I've done has to do with talent. And I think the other part is really believing that you can, plus putting yourself in the room where it happens. I remember when that book, The Secret, came out and people were making vision boards and thinking positively, and there were all these mantras. And then there was this weird downfall afterwards because people said, Well, nothing happened. I didn't get the Mercedes. I never became VP. I didn't meet the person of my dreams. And when I talked to these people and asked about their process, I learned there was no process. There was nothing beyond the vision board. And I am a firm believer in thinking positive. I am a firm believer in putting your, you know, putting your vision board together and thinking about what it is you really want. And then you have to put something into action to let the universe know that you really want that. I mean, the universe is out there ready to support us. The universe really wants us to succeed. But the universe is a blank slate and needs to know what it is that you really, really, truly authentically want. Not what you've said you wanted, but the things that you're willing to do the work for in order to have. I have long said I wanted to be an actress. And I did all this acting work when I was younger. And then my I would whine to my dad, Oh, I wish I lived in New York. I wish I could be an actress. And he said, Well, then go. And I said, Oh, I can't. I don't have any money. He said, I will loan you money to move you to New York. Oh, I don't know anybody there. I have lots of congregants who have family there. Every excuse I made, my dad trampled all over. And my dad said, if you really wanted this, you would have said, Great, when do we start? And so part of manifesting is really figuring out what the heck you actually want and what you're willing to do to make that happen. Does it mean it automatically happens? Of course not. There's still the world and reality and science and all of that. But I guarantee that manifesting it will give you a hundred percent more chance of it making happen than not doing it.
Deborah :Yeah, you've got to at least try because it otherwise it's not gonna happen for sure. Absolutely. What are some of the steps that people need to use in order to move beyond vision board to accomplishment?
Jenny Block :The very first one is to say it out loud, and it can be as simple as saying it to yourself. I am working on making my body stronger. So every morning when I wake up, I say, I get stronger every day, every day I'm getting stronger. That's how I start my morning. So it reminds me that I need to go on my walk. It reminds me that I need to pull out my little weights and my elastic bands. It reminds me first thing in the morning what we're gonna focus on as we walk throughout the day, that I should take the parking space that's further away, that I should take the stairs instead of the elevator. Then I really believe in writing it down. You can believe me or not, but one day I wrote this, I don't know, three paragraphs about my ideal partner. And six months later I met my now wife. Now, is it a magic trick? I don't know, maybe a little bit of universe magic, but a lot of it has to do with consciousness. Once I wrote it down, once I said it out loud, then I was actively paying attention to what would lead me to meeting that kind of person. The other thing is to tell someone, make yourself accountable by saying out loud to someone, I am writing a novel. And then when you see them again, they say, How's that novel coming? And you can check in with yourself and say, gosh, I haven't started it. Maybe I really don't want that. Or maybe today's the day to start working on it. So you have to put it out loud in the universe, you have to share it with someone else, you have to take the steps that are going to get you there, you have to write it down, you have to really put yourself in the mindset and in the physical space of making those things happen for you.
Deborah :So, what sorts of things are in the book? Is it a step-by-step or uh how how do you present badass manifesting through the book?
Jenny Block :So each chapter has a story of how I have manifested something, a literal story from my life, from you know, silly to, you know, more important things. And then it has mantras for you to wake up every day and say. And then it talks about how you can use those to figure out what it is you want, and then how you can make those things happen. The back of the book even has space for you to take notes and work through your process. And you can even email in to get a journal that you can print out so you can keep track of what you said you wanted and check back later and be like, holy smokes, I actually made that happen. Or keep track of the things that you've written down, and six months later you think, huh, maybe that's not really what I'm working towards anymore. Or maybe today's the day I start working on it. I think so much of manifesting has to do with accountability. I think it gets really easy. I hate the word lazy, maybe laxadaisical. Half the time I can hardly remember what it is I have to do that day and remember to eat something and remember to go to bed on time. So we lose track of the bigger picture of the higher things that we want. And then all of a sudden time passes and nothing happened for us. So I really believe that manifesting has to do with being accountable in whatever ways are useful to you, writing it down, speaking it out loud every day, having a buddy. I have a uh my best friend and I walk together every morning. She texts at 650 or 750, depending on the day. And we're outside by seven or eight, depending on the day. Without that, I mean, that's not, I mean, is that manifesting? I don't know in a way. I kept saying to myself, why can't I get up every morning and walk? And then all of a sudden my best friend called and was like, Do you want to walk with me in the morning? Again, was it a magic trick? Did the universe poke her and tell her to text me? I have no idea. I don't how I don't know how it works in terms of that part. I just know that if you do those steps, it does work. You lose nothing by trying. Right. Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, the very fact that I write for the New York Times was a complete and total manifestation. I was writing about food and entertainment and travel, and then COVID hit. And literally I had nothing to write about. There was no restaurants to go to, no trips to take, no shows to see. Clearly the world stopped. And I thought to myself, what am I gonna do with this time? How long are we gonna be doing this? Where would I like my brain to be? And I thought, if I could just tell happy stories, love stories or happy stuff all the time for my sake and to share that with other people. Well, I'll be darned if a week later someone posted on Facebook, you know, you see, I don't know, whatever, however that algorithm works, like a friend of a friend that posted there's a really cool wedding coming up, a COVID-safe wedding. Does anyone know anyone at the New York Times? And I thought, huh, I don't, but I could. So I went into my writer's group. Does anybody know anyone at the New York Times? Someone offered to write the story. I said, oh no, no, I'm I want to pitch it. She very generously shared her contact there. I emailed the New York Times on a Friday morning, and that afternoon I got an email that said, Let me call you on Monday. And it was the longest weekend of my life. But on Monday morning, she booked me to write that wedding, and I've been with them almost six years now. I mean, how on earth does that happen? You you have to believe in something. How on earth otherwise would that happen?
Deborah :You've provided some wedding stories for Outsmart magazine, and you also publish articles in the Dallas Voice. So you've been at this writing gig for a while. Was that something that you studied to be a writer, or did it come about afterwards?
Jenny Block :It's funny you should ask that because my mom would say that I've been writing since I could write, or even before I could. I would write stories and illustrate them, and she would turn them into books for me. I started out in college in mass communications, and a very mean professor waggled her long red finger-nailed finger at me with her diamond-encrusted Rolex rattling and shit, said, Promise me you'll never write for publication, and gave me my first F. And so I toddled myself in tears over to the English department and became an English major, ended up getting my master's in composition and rhetoric, and started teaching writing. And one day a student said to me, What do you write? And I said, Sometimes I write test banks or workbooks. And they're like, So you teach writing, but you're not a writer? And I thought, holy guacamole. Yeah, you're right. I teach writing and I am not a writer. I mean, I'm an academic writer, I guess. I qualified, I have the degree, I know how to teach an argumentative essay. But wow, I I am not a writer, but I would like to be. So I went to a writing conference, and I'm ashamed to say that I cornered an editor in the parking garage so he couldn't get to his car until he agreed to let me write for the um Virginia Horse Quarterly. He assigned me a 250 words on a trail ride that I went on for $50. And that was my first article ever from that article. I just kept parlaying that. We moved to Dallas, Bub the editor at D magazine, took that and ended up at The Observer. Then it ended up at the Dallas Morning News. Along the way, I got a column at the Dallas Voice. I ended up writing a book that took me to write for magazines, led me to my next book. I mean, it's it was, I mean, was it manifested? Was it yeah, yes, I'm going to answer my own question. I manifested that life by starting with a simple question and answering it for myself.
Deborah :Yep. It always that's a very good way to come up with something is someone I know said, I'm I'm gonna go have a sit-down with myself.
Jenny Block :I love that. I love that. That's I don't think we have enough sit-down with ourselves. And a lot of it is that we're busy and overwhelmed. And there's that wonderful adage uh about the man who went out every day to saw down trees. And every day it seemed like he was sawing down fewer and fewer to the point where he went from, you know, a hundred to two. And his friend said, Well, have you thought about why that might be? And he's like, No, I don't know. I'm getting old or tired of this job. He said, Have you thought about your tools? And he said, What do you mean? He said, When was the last time you sharpened your saw? He said, I don't have time to sharpen my saw. I think about that all the time. If we spend a little time sharpening our saws, a little time manifesting, a little time focusing on what it is that we really want and how we could get there, we would be back to chopping down a hundred trees.
Deborah :Although we really don't want to chop down all the tricks.
Jenny Block :Good point. So maybe I need to come up with a new one for that. But how about uh fishing in a well-stocked pond?
Deborah :Yeah, yeah. That sounds good. So you said that you had this dream of being an actress and you have done some performance. And in recent years, what you started doing stand-up?
Jenny Block :Yes, it was kind of funny how that happened because the stage bug has long stayed with me. And I started speaking on Olivia Travel cruises and Olivia Travel Resorts. After people would see me, they were like, that was really great, but I wouldn't bill yourself as a speaker. I would bill you as a stand-up comedian. And I thought, wow, I really never thought about myself that way. But, you know, a lot of comedy is storytelling. And when I tell the stories that, you know, led to my books or part of my early books, they're funny. So I had spoken to a music festival in Michigan that used to take place on what we call the land, which is where Michigan Women's Festival or Michigan, uh, where Mitch Fest used to take place for 40 years. They've sort of reinvigorated that land and are having festivals there now. And they asked me to, they asked me to MC. And I was like, oh my gosh, I would love to. That would be great. And she said, you know, you can talk in between the acts and introduce people. And I was like, okay, that would be terrific. So I get there and they hand me the program and it says Jenny Block Comedian. And I was like, uh-oh. And I thought, well, there you have it. You manifested that a little too strongly. And so I went on stage, and I will admit, I think it's harder to be funny when you're expected to be funny, but it went great. And from that festival, someone asked me to do stand-up at their club in Colorado. I don't know if that will end up being a big chunk of my career, but definitely speaking. I I love, I love that. I do love an audience, I won't lie. And I do love people making people laugh. I like making them cry too. I like making people think, like stop for a minute and think. Because again, the world is so fast, and in some ways we're, I don't know, spending a lot of time surviving, especially these days. But I think there's a lot to be said for taking a moment to think about how we can do more than just survive.
Deborah :What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Jenny Block :Well, you kind of said it yourself. My dad always says if you don't go up to bat, you're never gonna get a hit. I mean, he has told me just to say yes. I mean, that that is probably the best piece of advice I've ever gotten. My father just says to say yes. He says, I've never gotten a job that I'm qualified for. I always just figure it out. Can you do this? Yeah, sure, absolutely. And then I call somebody or nowadays Google it, or if they think I can do it, well, then sure I can do it. I just need to figure it out. Um, I didn't realize how often I would see people who had things or were doing things or were being things that either they simply gave themselves permission or they asked somebody. And then I would remember, well, that's what your dad always says. Just ask. I mean, as simple as we went out to dinner with a bunch of people at a very crowded restaurant. We had a reservation, and the table was one of those really tall bar tables. You know, you sit on stools. Right.
Deborah :I had to do that.
Jenny Block :And my exactly. And my friend had just had a hip replacement. I'm only five feet tall, so that's not a great place for my all five feet of me. And it was swamped. And my friend had already asked when we checked in if we could have another table, and she said we were too they were too busy. And I thought, okay, but re- are you sure? And I looked around and saw some tables we could push together. And I went back up and said, Listen, I know you're busy. I know this is basically impossible, but we will help. You know, this will be a very uncomfortable meal for my friend if if we can't do this. I I would, it just would mean a lot to me. And she was like, Yeah, okay, sure, let's let's make that happen. Like, and I thought, I could have not asked. I could have not wanted to quote unquote bother her, but I wasn't rude, I wasn't demanding, I didn't have any expectations. She could still say no to me. But sometimes we just have to ask for the things that we want or need, again, without expectation, without demand, knowing that no is a complete sentence. Um, but we have to at least ask.
Deborah :Well, we've been talking with Ginny Block, a writer, a performer, badass, about her book, Badass Manifesting. Ginny, you've been so busy going around uh launching the book. Uh, where are we with it right now? And what comes next for Ginny Block?
Jenny Block :So with the holidays, and my wife and I are going on a week-long cruise with MSc because they are happily here in Galvasoon. Um, and then right after Christmas, we're spending three weeks on a princess cruise, going to all the Caribbean islands, going to try to relax a little, and then it's right back to the races. I have a signing in Dallas in January, and we're gonna start booking into the new year. So, and I'm gonna say out loud, Deborah, I'm going to write a novel. All right. So that's those are my plans.
Deborah :Well, you can titillate us with what developed with the novel, and be sure to come back and join us so we can talk about it on queer voices. When someone gets the book Badass Manifesting, they don't just get a book because you have made available through email for people to contact you, and you're you're also serving as a guide towards this uh philosophy of badass manifesting. So that's good.
Jenny Block :Yeah, it's terrific. And I love to be to hear how how it's working for people. I love for people to DM me on Instagram who say, you know, they love it or this is what they've tried. The book contains a lot of quotes from a lot of people who have manifested things in their lives, and I love to see how that works for people.
Deborah :Well, I appreciate you being with us on Queer Voices.
Jenny Block :Well, I thank you so much for having me and giving me the opportunity to talk about badass manifesting and to Just spend some time with you.
Brett:Hi there, this is Brett Cullum, and today I am joined by several of our queer voices. We have Deborah Moncrief Bell, we have Brian Hlavinka, Joel Tatum, and Arlie Ingalls all together for a roundtable discussion of recent events. And I wanted to kick us off with the Texas Bathroom Bill. This is Senate Bill 8. They recently enacted it. December 4th is when it took into effect. It restricts transgender individuals from using restrooms and changing facilities matching their gender identity in public buildings, schools, and universities. So it requires you to use the bathroom that is your sex assigned at birth. It also impacts prisons and domestic violence shelters. It's really hateful because it is asking you to identify as strictly what you are assigned at birth.
Brian:Stringly your papers. It is very much that. We live in 1930s Germany. I say it all the time.
Deborah :What's particularly disturbing is because this targets trans women. They're men, and men shouldn't be in women's spaces such as bathrooms. But the reality is what we don't want is men in those spaces. And there's already laws to that effect. So this was totally directed, mean spirited towards trans women. I've been in the bathroom with trans women, and my only complaint is that they hog the mirror.
Brian:It's good old-fashioned red-blooded hate. They're dividing our community into segments and going after them.
Lee:Yeah, I think that there's certain politicians that have found a wedge issue that they can use to separate our society in a way that uh that polarizes people, which which is unfair to our trans community. But if they really were truly concerned about fixing that problem, there are other options that they haven't even entertained, such as instead of making them public spaces, those rooms are typically large enough that you could carve them up into smaller, intimate spaces where there aren't multiple people in there. And then who would know? So I don't think that they're looking to solve the problem. They're only looking to use it as a wedge issue.
Brett:Well, and it's been so long that they've been working on this. And I don't understand their fascination with bathrooms.
Deborah :I mean, what's so low on my list of things? Because it's not about bathrooms, it's about them uh as has been expressed, dividing a community, dividing people, targeting a vulnerable population that already has threats against it all the time. I've been in restrooms with other women who maybe they had a bit of a masculine presentation and they sometimes were challenged about where they were, which in a way was kind of funny. But it's that that happens too. I know there's already been a few cases where a cisgender person was in a restroom and got challenged for being in the wrong bathrooms. If I were a trans person, I must be feeling about to be targeted this way and concerned about what if I'm someplace and I need to use the bathroom and it's one of those places where I'm not allowed to go to the restroom that that I identify with as far as gender. What do you do on a plane?
Brian:If you're on a plane, what do you do?
Brett:Right, exactly. And that's kind of my point. Well I mean unisex bathrooms are everywhere. Yes. Yeah. We have them all in our houses. I mean, come on.
Deborah :On a plane, it's just one person at a time. There's not likely to be a situation. Everybody can use the restroom on a plane.
Brett:Right. Yeah, it's not designated. And I don't know what it would do with unisex bathrooms in public spaces, but the law is aimed at public spaces. So we're looking at courthouses, we're looking at schools, we're looking at things that are somehow tied to a government. A private, a restaurant, a club, they can do whatever they want. They can still assign bathrooms and not enforce this. Now, the wild thing is that the enforcement is on the establishment. The person that gets fined is the establishment. If there's a violation, the building or the person that runs it is $25,000 for the first instance and then $125,000 per day for every subsequent violation. Wow.
Lee:Right. And the bill goes on to identify those areas within those buildings that are being looked at restrooms, showers, changing rooms where you're going to have multiple people in a shared space. So index operates it from the airplane restroom there. Right. It's not a shared space.
Brett:Yeah, it's not a privately owned, corporate, you know, or personally owned thing. But one of the wild things about this is you think about universities and showers and changing rooms. Well, here we are again talking about the sports ramification of that.
Lee:Right. Because a few years ago, I don't remember if it was a sport event or the rodeo, but during one of the breaks in the performance, the women's room, the line was so long, many of the women went to the men's room to use the restroom, and we never heard anything about that. Uh yeah. How would that have been treated?
Deborah :Yeah, we take over. There's been lots of cases where that was the case. The men's room was a lot more uh available than the women's room because uh the it takes us a little longer. Uh we're not using the urinals, we've done that. Somebody keeps lookout and for the most part it's fine. I've never had a situation where there were any problems.
Lee:Right. So I go back to I don't believe the objective of this bill was to solve the problem. I think it was to continue the wedge.
Deborah :Yeah. We're talking, I mean, trans people that as they navigate the world, there's so much they have to take into consideration, just as as women do about safety. It's just like one of the stupidest things that we could be doing because they're manufacturing a problem and then coming up with a so-called solution. There was already a law in the books about using the appropriate bathroom, but that's based on the gender you identify with.
Brian:I I think that they need a boogeyman, and this is a tr this is a very convenient target. Well, it's decades old. I mean, it's been going on forever.
Brett:They've been pushing it for a long time. They just have the power now to actually get through it. They've been in bold. Yes. And it it's it's wild to think about what it impacts on shelters and prisons because that prison housing, a shelter some family violent shelters, that's gonna cause a really huge problem for the trans community. Nobody's protecting anybody from any pain.
Brian:Such a small percentage of the community.
Brett:Yes, and how do you enforce this? I mean, they're they're asking like are you gonna it's gonna be vigilante, it's gonna be people in the restroom that just suspect. And like what Deborah said earlier, where's the line?
Joel:How are you gonna go about knowing who is supposedly male or female when they're stepping into a woman's bathroom, unless you do certain things that are intrusive to to women. So isn't this just gonna affect women harder just as much as it affects trans women?
Deborah :Well, it will affect women who who are accused of being male, uh when they're when they're actually cisgendered women, just maybe masculine presenting. The ACLU did a workshop addressing this bill, and hopefully we can get them on to talk more in depth and ideas for navigating the situation.
Brian:You know, we've seen this movie before. There's going to be patches that go on your your shirt that tell identify who you are. I mean, this is not new.
Brett:And then they also uh tweaked Senate bill 12. So that was the bill that addressed uh drag shows in public and also addresses DEI in schools. You cannot teach anything that is not approved by the state. So no inclusive programming or anything like that. Heinous. They're calling it the Texas Don't they gay bill. Where are the kids going to get their information?
Deborah :They've done the 1984 thing where they've rewritten history or taking people out of history on the websites and in school curriculum. It's like these people didn't exist or their contributions didn't matter. But they've done it certainly with black and indigenous people as well as women. I just wonder what their fear is. Why are they so afraid of an inclusive and diverse society?
Lee:They should want those discussed in a supportive environment where you can give them the first message that comes into their head about communities that that you might be concerned about or want to stay away from. If your message is not the one that comes into their mind, when they meet these communities, uh, you're gonna send them out in the world without them knowing anything about it. And somebody who has no allegiance to the well-being of your child is going to explain to them what those communities are, and they're probably going to do it in a way that preys upon them. For me, it's counterintuitive to not have those discussions about those all communities that exist in our society, and then give your child the words they they should that should come into their mind first.
Brett:And that just stays on the books, the SV12. So uh definitely impacts our part of our community that does drag and the part of our community that does any kind of outreach in schools.
Deborah :So that's what's the restriction on drag?
Brett:It is not allowed to be in any kind of public setting where children might be exposed to it. Right.
Brian:Um save the children. Yes, save them from the evil drag queen. The makeup.
Deborah :From what I understand, children love drag queens. Of course they do. If you've seen any of the interactions, they're just like in awe of uh and and it's so cute. You're brainwashing those kids. So so that they'll be good and loving, fine human beings?
Brett:Yes, and they'll take it all the time up with the mirror. Well, another thing that happened this past week, I there were revisions to the historically underutilized business certification program. We we refer to it as hub certification. So this program used to help women-owned business, it used to help minority-owned businesses, and it helped veteran-owned businesses. Well, now they have stripped women and minorities completely out of it. The program now is only gonna be eligible for service-disabled veterans. So no women, no minority. They're actually they're gonna call it now uh veteran heroes united in business. So it's still hub, but we had the V. Wow. Yeah, but it's gonna really impact the LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. I have a segment coming up next that we really go into it a little bit more. So we don't have to talk about this too hard in the actual bill. They removed any reference to gender and replaced it with the word sex. So what do you think that means?
Deborah :Because the concept is that sex is what you're born with, what you're identified as birth, male or female, based on what your genitalia is, whereas gender is a social construct and people can identify with their gender, which for most of us, if we're cisgender, is in fact the gender we were born with, or identified at birth, I should say. We we don't we don't always know right at first. Again, doesn't make any sense, and our mind keeps trying to find the logic, and you know it's painful.
Brett:Well, it amazes me because again, it's another way to gatekeep. But this one actually goes for cis women and minority-owned businesses as well. So I mean it's gonna impact more than just our community.
Deborah :Brett, did you see anything as to why they made this change?
Brett:No. And we'll definitely talk about it with our next guest, but it was just something that they instituted last Wednesday. It's been talked about for a while. It's been a program that's been under scrutiny and they have paused a lot of these certifications within the state ever since October, but now they've absolutely redefined it. And they did it when they got somebody that would have no political ramifications because they weren't elected, they were just a temporary comproller. So they're again taking advantage of the fact that it's the time when they have the power to do these things. So, and speaking of that, of course, we have been redistricted, and the Supreme Court has upheld the decision despite uh several lower federal courts saying it was not right.
Deborah :The whole redistricting thing, they they did this one time before where they scheduled redistricting in an off time. It it's done every 10 years after the the census comes in. They look at maps and say, well, the populations have changed and there's been growth here and people leaving this area, so we we have to come up with districts that cover new new concerns. You and uh the it's so obvious as to why I mean they told us why it was done. They they wanted to make more districts that would be Republican to the point to where no Democrat could get elected in those districts. And what they came up with tears the fabric of what the districts that existed were. It's again that power grab, which they keep doing on the state and national level. The more damage that they can do, the happier they are. Look at what happened to the east wing of the White House. That says it all. You just tear it down. You're tearing down this country. It behooves us to to know what is going on, uh uh and to try to understand it, but also to put in place ideas about what we can do to make it better. What what powers do we have, what rights do we have that we can utilize to uh minimize any damage, I guess uh eventually electing people who are going to make good policy.
Brett:Well, it just always fascinates me. Where are the checks and balances? Why why is this just so unfettered right now?
Brian:Because they had the courts and they manipulated the courts to get the decisions that they want. There's no safeguard now.
Deborah :Well, nationally, Congress has certain roles and they have let the person in the White House um or on the golf course do whatever and not hold them to account and not to exert the fact that they're the ones that have the say so over certain things. I mean, there's been all kinds of things violated, but they're not holding the administration to account. And I would I would really like for us to see that. We we do see that uh Democrats are winning races across the country in s uh uh seats where the the it was thought that a Democrat could never win. It's it goes back to the New Deal and FDR and having a social safety net in our society, um in in what what's called the liberal consensus, where we agree that this is a government and how we want to function, and that that includes things like infrastructure and safety net regulations that you know, health and safety regulations, and nationally they provide for the common good. Um, and when we do that, we're taking care of one another, we're taking care of our neighbors. It it just makes me profoundly uh sad, and I realize I'm in grief about what is happening in our country.
Brett:It's a definitely hard time to look at all of these and feel uh that there's some kind of hope. And that's always what I always ask myself is where is the hope? And I suppose the hope is with S SB 8 or the bathroom bill, is that um it can't impact the private restaurants, clubs. They're gonna do the right thing.
Lee:They set their own policy.
Brett:And then this uh idea of not being able to teach anything in school that's not uh state mandated. I don't know what the answer to that one is, except for you know, we have to find ways to educate people. And maybe we're part of that. I don't know.
Deborah :Well, we can be involved in different ways, as what has happened with the election earlier in November in school districts all across the country, they got flipped from conservative to more progressive. People getting involved run running for office, pick your candidate and and work for for them, being informed, elected uh people they they want to hear from us. They may not agree with us, but even if if you're contacting the people that represent you or at least are supposed to be representing you, whether it be yay or nay, they need to hear from us because they do pay attention. It's uh it uh my community is not just the queer community, it's the third word community, it's the city of Houston, it's the county.
Brian:Did we talk about voting at all yet? I think this is the runoff election for city council, so you only have one name to vote for. It's Alejandra Salinas, is that yes, Alejandra Salinas.
Deborah :I heard her on a program and I was very impressed.
Brian:We know that Jack Velinski's there right now painting out cards. Oh, he's always there.
Brett:I drive by. He's there 24-7. I don't think he goes home. I think he lives in that parking lot. We could start a rumor, right?
Deborah :Well, no, it's not a rumor.
Brian:Jack lives in West Grave parking lot.
Deborah :Yeah, and there you go. There's somebody that they're not just sitting at home uh wringing their hands, they're out doing something to make a difference.
Brian:Does that give you hope? I I'm hopeful, but I don't know if I have full hope because Jack's been doing this for years and it seems to be getting worse. What are you doing, Brian? What do you do to make you feel like you're making an impact right now? I do a lot of prof nonprofit work. I I'm part of a group called the Texas Pride Community Foundation, which is a statewide LGBT advocacy fundraising organization. I feel like our whole state is being attacked. It is. And and we've spent the last entire segment talking about the ways that we're being attacked. I hate to say that we're privileged to live in a big city with all the resources, but we are. And the people that live 50 miles outside of Houston are just in a different world. This is very true.
Brett:The city of Houston. One of the things that I got out of the interview that I'm about to do with the hub certification process, the city of Houston still has that. The city of Houston still will certify you. And they will even certify you as an LGBTQIA plus business.
Brian:And you know, I think we need to credit Tammy for that in the LGBT Houston Creative Houston Chamber of Commerce. Yes.
Brett:They're definitely not there advocating, and another person that gives me a lot of hope.
Brian:Making a lot of difference in the community. Thank you, Tammy.
Deborah :Tammy Waltz. Was there anything giving you hope? There's a history professor named Heather Cox Richardson. This woman has given me whatever kind of hope uh to understand what is going on. She's a history professor, but she does these nightly letters. They're called Letters from an American, and they're available on Facebook or on Substack. This is just this isn't just opinion. This is someone who knows what Yeah, they know what they're talking about and can connect what is going on. On two historical references. We see a pattern. There's the same kind of thing was happening.
Lee:Anything giving you hope? I know that we've lived in dark days before. I'm and we are there today for sure. But it n the dark days never last because people don't like to live there. They like to live where uh there is light and hope, and they will gravitate toward that when they're presented with that. I don't want to cheer that we you know we're seeing the tides turning too early because we've seen that in our more recent political environment. I would like to have some success behind us before we start cheering that yeah, maybe the tides have turned. So that that's what gives me hope. And Joel, what gives you hope?
Joel:I'm gonna be honest. Right now, the only thing that's really giving me hope right now is the black community. Yeah. I'm watching everything on social media about how the black community is tackling problems within its own community, how it's tackling white supremacy outside of the community. I'm watching how we are from our black trans queens who have been the soothsayers of what it what these bathroom bills and everything else is gonna be, and how it's not only just gonna affect, which is what the point I was making earlier, not only gonna affect the trans community, but affect women, especially African American women. Because African American women are usually have always been considered masculine on some level. So right now that's where my hope is because I am seeing my Jasmine Crockett, who is tearing Washington, D.C. up. She is tearing Washington, she's tearing everybody apart, including the orange man in office. It's amazing to watch. So that's that's where my hope is.
Brett:Well, Jasmine Crockett definitely gives me a lot of it. She's she's amazing. Yeah. So, Brett, answer your own question. What gives you hope? Oh my gosh. I thought I could avoid this because I could just ask all y'all. No, no, no. I have hope that things are cyclical and that we will see it swing back. I've seen it swing to the right, I've seen it swing to the left. It feels like this last week. When I look at all of these things that have happened, it seems like we are still in that right swing where things are looking bleak. But I have hope when I look at people like Jasmine Crockett, when I look at people like Deborah mentioning the professor on Facebook, uh, and it does give me hope that still anything that's not government controlled, we can still make that difference.
Brian:And still do that. I'm hopeful that Queer Voices is making a difference.
Brett:I hope that too.
Brian:That we're allowing people to talk and tell the stories of things that may not be heard on other places.
Brett:Yep, I agree. Yeah. And that is uh why we're here. Hi, this is Brett Cullum. And this week we got unfortunate news that the Texas Comptroller is restructuring the historically underutilized business, or what we call the Hub Certification Program. They have decided to strip away the designation for women and minority-owned businesses. And according to the Texas Tribune, the program will now only be eligible for service-disabled veterans, which in effect makes it the Veteran Heroes United in business. Now, the hub program was originally created with the intention of giving minority and women-owned businesses a leg up when seeking state contracts, but it looks like this has been impacted. So, my guest right now is Julie Irvin Hartman of B2G Victory. She works with a company that helps businesses obtain their certifications to win government and prime contracts. She helps us get this designation. So, Julie, what does this mean to minority and women-owned businesses? It's a state level, right?
Julie:Correct. And Brent, thanks so much for taking the time to chat about this because this is this is a really big deal. And um want to make sure that that we talk about this in terms of an economic issue and a Texas issue and an issue for Texas small businesses of of all shapes, sizes. So the hub program, the state of Texas Hub program, has been around for quite a while. And what that program does is it certifies that a business is a couple of things. And first and foremost, the criteria is that it needs to be a small business. 99% of all of the businesses in Texas fall in that category. So this is a huge economic impact across the state with government agencies. There's over 300 state of Texas government agencies, but this trickles all the way down to counties, right? There are 254 counties in the state of Texas that accept the hub certification as a part of their small business programs. Then you've got all of the cities as well as school districts. What do they all have in common? One, they're all businesses. They buy anything and everything that these small businesses provide, whether that's paper, pens, carpet, computers, lights, landscaping, anything and everything. So there's opportunities for all shapes and sizes of businesses to diversify in government contracts, regardless of what the government agency is. So what does the HUD program do? That certifies that a business is a small business. It certifies that it's a local business. That means local in terms of the state of Texas. Then the other criteria that has been flipped upside its head when Mr. Hancock became the acting controller is that that criteria of are you a women-owned business or are you a minority-owned business or are you a service-disabled veteran? And absolutely, my father is a veteran, and I want to make sure that we support everyone who has supported this amazing country and this amazing state that we live in, but that shouldn't preclude it from other businesses as well. That certification does not guarantee a contract. It what it does is it increases the amount of opportunities for these businesses. You still have to prove that your pricing is competitive, that you have the capability and capacity to do the work. What it does is it helps open up some doors and open up some opportunities that may have not been aware of for these businesses. So what's happening right now? Well, with this emergency rules and these new things that are out, it's added just even more confusion in the government um contracting space and has allowed different government agencies at their discretion to whether or not how they're going to handle the HUB program. Well, that's why we have legislation, that's why we have tax codes, that's why we have procurement rules and regulations to follow to ensure the transparency of our tax dollars and how they're spent and ensuring that they go to qualified businesses to do the work.
Brett:What I'm hearing is that you are looking at flipping this whole idea of the historically underutilized business, the women-owned, minority-owned businesses, and just saying, hey, you know, not any more certifications for you. Right. And you're not gonna have that little extra advantage of having that certification. Even though that that certification only allowed you to bid on the business, but it made people aware of you, made them more attractive, gave them some incentive to look at you. So did you think that this is a part of this whole state's mission against DEI?
Julie:It's it's coming now for a couple of things. And and some of this writing was already on the wall. Hancock, you know, when he became acting controller, he was very clear that that this is one of his top priorities. But even going back to to January when the the Greater Houston LBGTQ chamber had their event, you know, I was one of the speakers, and it was supposed to be at the Federal Reserve. And two days before the event, the Federal Reserve canceled and said, you can't have your event here anymore. And so Tammy and the entire team at the chamber scrambled two days before the largest event of the year, and it was nominally. And that shows the support and in the community around it to make sure that things happen. That was kind of part of it. And then with some of the other changes that that other states are doing, as well as other government agencies that are either changing their programs and making them more race and gender neutral, or pausing their programs entirely to restructure them. So this is a trend we've been seeing happen starting in the beginning of the year, specifically with our business, when the comptroller at the end of October issued a freeze of the program and said that they're not going to be doing any more renewals or any more certifications. That happened on October 28th. As a certified hub business, guess how I found out about it?
Brett:Email, probably.
Julie:Unfortunately, no, the comp troller didn't notify businesses. I found out when a reporter reached out to me.
Brett:So they broke up with you via the media. Exactly. Horrible.
Julie:So the comp troller has has not done a very good job of communicating it to the businesses, a hub certified business. Our certification, which is a multi-year certification, was up for renewal in December of this year, ironically. We started the renewal process in October. On Wednesday at 11 o'clock, I got an email from the state comproller that said our certification was renewed. Then at three o'clock, I got the email that the entire program, if you're not a service disabled veteran, then you're no longer certified.
Brett:That's just crazy.
Julie:Like so going back to the noise, the confusion, the lack of communication from the comproller to the hub certified businesses, these 15,000 businesses that are impacted. The majority of hub-certified businesses found out was on Wednesday when they got their email.
Brett:It sounds crazy as far as that goes, but and this is a state level thing. And then we're looking at the reaction from the city of Houston, which, you know, trickles down, obviously. I mean, a lot of times these organizations and these governments, as they go down, it's the state, it just kind of trickles down. So what are you even seeing from City of Houston?
Julie:So City of Houston is a certifying agency. So you've got the state of Texas, which is a certifying agency, and then you've got your city of Houston. So for City of Houston projects, the airport, right? All three of the airports are under um city of Houston. They have goals as well. And if you want to get your state of Texas hub certification, in the past, the city of Houston had um a memorandum of of agreement and MOA with the state of Texas hub. So if you got your city of Houston, you could also get your state of Texas hub. So obviously that's not there anymore. And the city of Houston is actually one of the few government agencies that actually accepts the LGBTQ certification.
Brett:Wow, I did not know that.
Julie:Yes, yes. So the city of Houston actually has a certified directory that includes LGBTQ businesses, and they're one of the few cities in the country that has it. So with the city of Houston, you can get a minority-owned business certification, a woman-owned, a small business, or a person with disabilities. So if you have your LGBTQ certification through the NGLCC, which is the National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, then the city of Houston will accept that certification and put you in their directory. So that is still intact.
Brett:I'm talking with Julie Irvin Hartman of B2G Victory, and we're talking about the hub program at a state level that is uh obviously been redefined completely uh just by this uh comp troller. Now, this is an emergency act. Is that what you were saying?
Julie:This is, and so they issued actually house um rules and meetings um under the Texas register. And and I went ahead and sent and sent those those two, and we can kind of talk about a few of those. Interesting, a couple of things here is Kelly Hancock is the acting controller.
Speaker 4:Correct.
Julie:He was not voting.
Brett:Exactly.
Speaker 4:He's just acting.
Julie:The state of Texas hub program was on the floor in this last legislative session to either make changes to it or to to to disband it. There was a couple different legislation, legislative bills, like none of those passed.
Brett:Oh, so they couldn't disband it through the legal process.
Julie:They couldn't disband it through the normal legislative process. What they did do, which is to help businesses, small businesses, is they increase the threshold. So it used to be $50,000 that had to go out for formal procurement, RFP, and all of that. Um and they actually increased it from $50,000 to $100,000. So that definitely helped Texas small businesses enter this space and increase the amount of opportunities based on, once again, your business size, your capacity, and your pricing, right? You still have to compete in all of this and whether you have a hub certification or not. And now with the Texas Register, did these modifications to the rules that became effective December 2nd, changed a couple of things back to the hub program. So they changed a couple words from to assist agencies. This is Rule 20.281, and it says it is the policy of the controller to encourage the use of historically underutilized businesses by state agencies and to assist agencies in the implementation of this policy through race, ethnic, and it used to have gender neutral means. It has now changed it to and sex neutral. It now reads all rules, guidance, and statutes related to the hub program must be interpreted, applied, and implemented in accordance with the prohibition against race and sex-based discrimination.
Brett:What do you think this means to the L QIA plus community? How does it impact on like the Tammy Wallace and the chamber? What what are they gonna get hit with?
Julie:All small businesses are looking for ways to diversify, ways to insulate against market volatility, ways to grow in in scale and to hire more people for businesses that are considering you know diversifying in the government space, whether that's your local school district or a university or a city or a county, Texas Parks and Wildlife or Textile, you know, any in all of the different state of Texas agencies where they might have been excited before that there are programs and certifications to help them through that process. Now there are still contracts and opportunities of all shapes and sizes out there, whether they're under 50,000, under 5,000, under, you know, five million. But I think it just adds noise and uncertainty in places that we just don't need it. Let's just make it a small business program. If we're gonna take all the race and gender and all of that other stuff out of it, then the one thing that all 99% of these businesses have in common is their small businesses. Let's take this energy and put it towards something good. How do you navigate this space? And and what are some other specific resources that you need in order to be successful?
Brett:And you're with B2G Victory, so that's what they're gonna look for.
Julie:Correct. It's uh b2g victory.com, or you can email me directly, it's Julie at B2G Victory.com. We've got a YouTube channel that's got over 200 videos um up there as well that businesses can can access anytime.
Brett:Okay. Just real quick, if I am a small woman-owned business and I identify with the LGBTQ IA plus community, uh, and I want to get that certification, would I do that through the national chamber or would I do that through the city of Houston, or can I go either way?
Julie:So I would reach out to Tammy and the team. Okay, yeah, the the Houston Chamber. Uh-huh. The Greater Houston LGBTQ chamber and go through them because they're an affiliate with the national. City of Houston does not certify LGBTQ businesses. They have a directory. So once you get the LGBTQ certification, you can be listed in their LGBTQ directory.
Brett:Okay. So Tammy Wallace, Greater Houston LGBTQ plus Chamber of Commerce. Commerce is the one that you're gonna look for.
Julie:Yes, that's where you're gonna go to get your LGBTQ certification if you're interested in doing that. Yes.
Brett:And we'll definitely keep you on RSpeed Dial to uh talk about whatever happens next.
Julie:Absolutely. And thanks for the opportunity for government contracting and procurement uh by fire hose. Thank you so much.
Brett:Thank you for listening to Queer Voices. Please consider donating to KPFT at the website, kpft.org. This is listener-funded radio and podcast programming. We get no other funding, and all the people on this podcast were volunteers.
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