On podcasts and unintentional vulnerability
Pride often involves risk...here I am being a little risky.
I guest on a lot of podcasts; I love to talk with folks and wrestle over deep things.
Usually, I go in knowing what we’re going to talk about, and that’s what we talk about.
I went onto the Noize PolluZion podcast expecting to talk about Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, particularly in relation to race.
But somewhere around minute 16, the host decided she had a BUNCH of questions around gender, pronouns, and what all the letters in LGBTQ+ stand for. Oh, and what happens when people say you can’t be gay and religious?
If we’ve worked together, you know that I like to work on issues of intersectional justice, where we pay attention to how race and gender and class and orientation intersect, and how that shapes our policies.
I rarely put myself forward as an expert primarily on LGBTQ+ justice as a stand-alone issue. Despite having spent decades as an active ally in the work of LGBTQ justice, I’ve only identified as a member of the queer community for six years, and I think others have more wisdom to offer.
But when Jasmine (who hadn’t really come out to her audience as bi until that conversation) decided she had questions, I ended up doing a LOT more talking about my personal journey than I normally would.
So in honor of Pride month, I’m sharing with you the link to this fairly unusual (for me) podcast.
And one of the sweetest things about it for me is that as a result of our conversation, Jasmine made sure to use they/them pronouns for me in the show notes, a sign of how intentional she was about our conversation.
I hope that if you have time (whether it’s listening to the whole episode or just picking up around minute 15), you enjoy it. And whether the conversation is old hat to you or it’s the first time you’re learning what the A in LGBTQQIA stands for, I’d love to hear your thoughts. HERE is the link to the show.
Some of Pride is about risking a little vulnerability to create more and more safety, so here’s my little effort at doing so, thanks to so many very brave people doing so throughout history and also in my own life.
Peace,
Sandhya
What's keeping me entertained!
The second week of the month, the Joy in Justice newsletter features a show or podcast Sandhya's enjoying, connected to the themes of our work.
Well...this week the article was a particular episode of a podcast, so I'll just post it again here. :) Here's the link.