Happy Pride Month, Ten'ers! 🏳️🌈
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Season 2: Episode 122 Description
Ten News Gets Extra: 🏳️🌈 June is officially Pride Month so today, we are celebrating with LGBTQ+ people all over the world! Joining us in the studio is Queer writer, creator, and activist Lindz Amer to talk LGBTQ+ Pride with Ryan Willard. ✔️ Tessa Tidbit: did you know there are over 50 LGBTQ+ flags? 🌈 Let's find out what they represent. And, test your pride parade knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
50 Different LGBTQ Flags And Meanings Behind Them! (queerintheworld.com)
10 Facts About LGBTQ Pride Month (mentalfloss.com)
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TRANSCRIPT:
Ryan Willard 0:02
And, a rainbow flag for you, Bethany, and Tracy, and Pete.
Pete Musto 0:07
These are awesome. Thanks, Ryan.
Bethany Van Delft 0:10
Okay, everybody, let's go. I cannot wait to get to the Pride Parade.
Ryan Willard 0:13
Wait, where's Tessa?
Tessa Flannery 0:15
I'm right behind you.
Ryan Willard 0:16
Ah, wait, why are you dressed like half a unicorn?
Tessa Flannery 0:19
For the Pride Parade? Obviously, Ryan want to help me with something, of course. Okay, I need you to be the other half of this unicorn.
Ryan Willard 0:30
Tessa. I would, in fact, be honored to be the majestic butt of this unicorn. Thank you very much.
Bethany Van Delft 0:36
All right, y'all figure that out and I will meet you down there. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Saturday, June 4th, and this is no ordinary episode of the Ten News. This is the Ten News Gets Extra.
Various Voices 0:49
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:56
Happy Pride, Ten'ers. June is officially Pride Month. So, today we're celebrating with lesbian, gay, transgender, and queer people all over the world. And we invited queer writer, creator, and activist Lindz Amer to the Ten News studio to sit down with Ryan Willard to talk LGBTQ+ pride. Take it away Ryan and Lindz.
Ryan Willard 1:21
What up, Ten'ers? Ryan Willard here and I am thrilled because we have a very special guest to talk to you today. So first off, I want to know who are you? Where are you from? And what do you do?
Lindz Amer 1:31
My name is Lindz Amer. I am a born and bred New Yorker and I am an LGBTQ+ and social justice children's entertainer, writer, and performer.
Ryan Willard 1:43
That is amazing. Okay, I have a very serious question to follow up with... pancakes or waffles?
Lindz Amer 1:48
Waffles.
Ryan Willard 1:49
Breakfast or dessert? Breakfast. Pizza or Nachos?
Lindz Amer 1:54
This one's hard. I think pizza probably.
Ryan Willard 1:56
Would you rather have incredibly stinky feet or incredibly stinky breath?
Lindz Amer 2:01
Stinky feet, definitely.
Ryan Willard 2:03
Wow, that is insane. But okay. So you said you have a show called Queer Kid Stuff? Yeah. Can you tell me about it?
Lindz Amer 2:10
Yeah, it's a web series. I do LGBTQ+ and social justice education for kids and families. So, we do short-form videos on YouTube, talking about what gay means, and what is gender? Lots of things like that.
Ryan Willard 2:24
And you said LGBTQ+, can you tell me what that is and why that's changed over the years.
Lindz Amer 2:30
Yeah, LGBTQ+ is what I like to call an umbrella term. And that means that there are lots of different things under the umbrella and it stands for a particular community. So LGBTQ plus stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and then lots of other people who can also fall under that community.
Ryan Willard 2:52
So it's a term that can keep growing throughout time, right?
Lindz Amer 2:55
Oh, absolutely.
Ryan Willard 2:58
What kind of things do you do on Queer Kid Stuff?
Lindz Amer 3:00
Yeah, so we, me and my friend, Teddy, who's over here, but you can't see him because we're on a podcast, is my best-stuffed friend is my teddy bear from childhood, and Teddy and I talk about lots of different things. We address different questions like, What does gay mean? What is gender? What does it mean to be nonbinary? What does it mean to be transgender and lots of different social justice topics? Like what does activism mean and how to be a good activist and how to be a good ally to others to?
Ryan Willard 3:30
Well, there are so many things I want to ask you about what is Pride Month? And what are three important things I should know about it? Who
Lindz Amer 3:37
Pride Month is a really, really special month for the LGBTQ+ community. I mean, it's the first month of summer, which is always very exciting. But it really is an anniversary for the LGBTQ+ community because it's really the beginning of the activist movement for LGBTQ+ rights. So at the end of the month of June, on June 29th, I think, is the anniversary of something called the Stonewall Riots. When a woman, a black trans woman, named Marsha P. Johnson, and her friend Sylvia Rivera, another trans woman, they were having fun and dancing at a place called the Stonewall Inn, police officers came in and told them that they couldn't dance with each other anymore. They couldn't have fun. And Marsha and Sylvia said, absolutely, that we want to keep hanging out with our friends and being ourselves and, you know, being joyful. And they said no to the police, and that started something called the Stonewall Riots, which really was the first thing that started the LGBTQ+ movement as we know it today. And we celebrate that anniversary every year through Pride Month. What do you do to celebrate Pride Month?
Lindz Amer 4:58
Oh my goodness, I wear a lot of rainbows on the clothes I perform. I do lots of performances at schools at Pride Parade celebrations. at Pride celebrations generally. And I go and I hang out and you know, celebrate with my friends and my community. And I love going to the beach for pride. That's a really big thing that my wife and I love to do.
Ryan Willard 5:13
Cool. Hey, Lindz, why is the rainbow the symbol for LGBT+?
Lindz Amer 5:18
Yeah, so there's something called the rainbow flag. That's been a symbol for the LGBTQ+community for a really long time, a person named Gilbert Baker invented the rainbow flag with his friend Harvey Milk, who was the first gay mayor of San Francisco in California. And they came up with the rainbow flag as the symbol for the LGBTQ+ movement. And that flag has taken a lot of different iterations over the year, there are a lot of different versions of that flag. And now we have something called the progress flag, which is all the rainbow colors on one side. And then there's a triangle in the middle that has black, brown, pink, blue, and white stripes that symbolize the inclusion of black and brown folks in the LGBTQ+community, as well as trans people and being as inclusive as possible with that symbol. So, and also rainbows are are great. I love rainbows, they show you know, it can be really tough to be LGBTQ+ in the world right now. And what happens? How do rainbows get formed, they happen after the rain when the sun comes out. So I think that that's really a celebration of, you know, coming out of something that is cold and wet and not always pleasant and comfortable. But turning into something really beautiful.
Ryan Willard 6:33
Lindz, I've noticed there are a lot of controversies and talk about not educating kids about the LGBTQ+ community, why do you think it's important to educate them about it?
Lindz Amer 6:43
Oh, my gosh, I think it's so important because I think that we're really surrounded by representation in the world that doesn't show LGBTQ+ people, and especially doesn't show them being happy and enjoying their lives. Because I find so much joy in being queer and being trans. And that's a really important part of my life that brings me happiness. And I think that showing people through education, that it's awesome to be gay, it's awesome to be queer, it's awesome to be trans. And that is something that's possible for you in your life. Because when I was a kid, I didn't really have the language or the understanding that I could be queer. And then I could be gay and I could be trans. I knew that people existed in the queer community. But it wasn't something that I understood I could be because I didn't really see a lot of queer joy around me. So I think it's really, really important to teach people about this and teach people that queerness is joy in itself to and to just help people understand themselves and discover themselves. I'm so much happier. Now that I know that I like using they them pronouns, and I nonbinary, and I'm part of the queer community. And that brings me so much happiness. And I had to discover a lot of that on my own. When if I had had that education, and I've had that language and information a lot earlier, I think I could have been a lot happier sooner in my life.
Ryan Willard 8:10
Speaking of that, if I wanted to be a good ally, and I was a kid, how might I be a good ally to my queer friends or friends in that community?
Lindz Amer 8:17
Hmm, this is a great question. So there are lots and lots of ways to be a good ally. And, you know, Allyship is different from person to person. But sometimes it's just something as simple as you know, if a friend sees someone who's wearing a dress, who they think is a boy, and they say, No, boys can't wear dresses, but actually, maybe you know that that's not true. So standing up for that person and, and correcting them and saying that, hey, actually, boys can wear dresses if they want. And, you know, educating yourself and educating the people around you. And standing up for what you know to be true is a really, really important part of being an ally to the queer community.
Ryan Willard 8:58
What should a kid do or an adult, if they get someone's pronouns wrong?
Lindz Amer 9:03
This happens all the time. Pronouns can be tough sometimes. But you know, what you should do is if you mess up someone's pronouns, apologize, and don't make a big thing out of it. We can just move on. After that. Apologize, say I'm sorry. And then keep going on with your conversation. Keep going on with your day. And make sure that you are thinking to yourself I'm going to do better about these pronouns next time. Because that's what really matters. Because if you're just apologizing and not working on it, or you know, you go into I'm so sorry, and it becomes a big part of the conversation, then you're making it about yourself and not about the person who you've misgendered and so I think it's it's really important to take a step back, apologize really quickly, and then just keep moving on and think to yourself, Okay, how am I not going to make that mistake next time
Ryan Willard 9:53
Do you by chance have a podcast for parents or content that you make for them?
Lindz Amer 9:56
I do I do. We actually just start started a brand new queer and gender-affirming parenting podcast for grownups. It's not just for parents, it's for educators, caregivers, really, anyone who has little folks in their lives. And we just started that podcast in the podcast is called Rainbow Parenting. It's actually about first conversations, which is exciting. And I'm really, really stoked to bring experts who are educators and folks in the radical early childhood space.
Ryan Willard 10:29
Amazing, well, I will be checking it out and sharing it with my family and friends. I have two serious questions for you. Would you rather live with a unicorn? Or have a rainbow that could teleport you to the other side of it anytime you want it?
Lindz Amer 10:42
Oh, the unicorn question is interesting, because I have a dog and I don't know how happy she would be about having a unicorn in the house, too. But it would be awesome to travel places quickly and not have to drive my car. This is a really tough one. I'm probably gonna go rainbow teleportation 100%.
Ryan Willard 11:04
Rainbow. Okay, last question. I've heard a lot of rumors about unicorns. What does a unicorn fart actually smell like?
Lindz Amer 11:11
Oh, my goodness. I feel like bubble gum, probably. Yeah, that's just like the smell of my childhood.
Ryan Willard 11:19
Thank you so much. Linds. Is there anything else you want to leave our Ten'ers with on the beginning of Pride Month?
Lindz Amer 11:24
Just happy Pride everyone. It's one of my favorite times of year and I hope you all have an awesome time celebrating and remembering the history of pride and really just celebrating and having a good time. wearing lots of rainbows.
Ryan Willard 11:39
Awesome. Thank you so much, Lindz. It's been an absolute pleasure. Back to you, Bethany.
Bethany Van Delft 11:44
Thanks, Ryan and Lindz. To hear more from Lindz, check out their web series Queer Kid Stuff on YouTube. Their incredible TEDTalk, their kid’s podcast activist, and also Lindz's newest podcast, Rainbow Parenting is now available on all platforms. Hey, Tessa, I know you have some cool pride tidbits.
Tessa Flannery 12:08
I do, Bethany. Happy Pride, Ten'ers. I bet you've seen a lot of rainbow flags popping up for pride. But did you know there are over 50 Different LGBTQ+ flags? Each one represents a different queer identity. The transgender flag is blue, pink, and white. The asexual flag is black, gray, white, and purple. And the flag for bisexual people like me is pink, purple, and blue. You can see all the flags and their meanings at the link in our show notes.
Bethany Van Delft 12:41
Up next, it's time for...
Various Voices 12:43
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 12:47
Trivia on the Ten. Okay. Ten'ers, we're really putting you to the test today. Pride parades are usually held in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots. But, which city held the first Pride Parade? Is it a) New York, b) San Francisco, or c) Chicago? Did you guess it? The answer is C. Chicago held a Pride March one day before New York did in 1970. Back then police frequently rated gay bars, places where queer people gathered to dance and socialize. In June 1969, New York Police Department raided the Stonewall in a popular gay bar. And this time led by transgender women, the queer community fought back. Stonewall wasn't the first riot for gay rights either. Ten years earlier in Los Angeles, trans women led an uprising against police for mistreatment and harassment there today. Pride is so much more than the colorful costumes, floats, and face paint. It's a celebration of liberation, protest, and community, how far we've come and how far we still have to go for LGBTQ+ liberation. Well, that's our show. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is flying rainbow flags and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Logan DeYoung, and Tessa Flannery. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to the Ten News. Happy Pride everyone, take care of each other and support each other, not just this month, but every month!
