Making A Difference: Special Guest LGBTQ Activist Ewan Barker-Plummer
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Episode 100 Description
🏳️🌈 Celebrate Pride month with us! 📣 Who was Harvey Milk? 👏 Learn about activism past and present with special guest, 16 year old Ewan Barker-Plummer. ✅ Test your flag knowledge in today’s Trivia on the Ten! 🧐
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Sources for this episode:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/06/harvard-scholars-reflect-on-the-history-and-legacy-of-the-stonewall-riots/
https://www.nps.gov/ston/learn/historyculture.htm
https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/a27657496/stonewall-riots-significance-facts/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/27/tasmanian-devil-australia/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/science/microbes-subway-metasub-mason.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/eric-carle-dead/2021/05/26/cbb39414-2234-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/books/eric-carle-dead.html
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/27/1000786862/k-pop-group-bts-and-mcdonalds-launch-exclusive-meal-and-clothing-line
https://www.sftravel.com/article/brief-history-rainbow-flag
http://media.fla-keys.com/press-kit/worlds-longest-rainbow-flag-brought-recognition-key-wests-diversity.htm
TRANSCRIPT:
Various Voices 0:00
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Bethany Van Delft 0:06
I'm Bethany Van Delft and this is The Ten News where we get the lowdown on what's up in the world. It's Tuesday, June 1, June marks the start of LGBTQ pride month on celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people all over the globe. So let's kick it off and get to The Ten.
This month, you might see an extra abundance of rainbow flags and an explosion of color everywhere from commercials on TV, to incredible parades in the street. Pride is here. So what is it? Pride began as a demonstration created to remember the events at the Stonewall Inn in 1969. The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar in New York City, and during this time, gay people faced regular attacks and persecution. The police regularly raided the Stonewall Inn, but this day LGBTQ people there had enough and fought back. Protests and violence continued for days afterwards, capturing national attention. This event became a turning point and it's credited with launching the modern gay rights movement, which still continues to this day, as LGBTQ people fight for equality. Pride events like parades and street festivals are held all over the country and around the world. Many will return in person this year after being canceled last year because of COVID and others will offer tons of virtual events for celebration and learning. Well, LGBTQ rights have come a long way since the uprising and Stonewall the fight isn't over. Pride Month is a time to remember and learn about incredible activism past and present. Our correspondent Ryan Nerz recently sat down with youth activists, Ewan Barker-Plumber, who this pride remembers a trailblazer made a mark on LGBTQ history, Harvey Milk.
Ryan Nerz 2:23
You may have heard a lot about June being Pride Month. But did you know May 22 was an important day for gay rights activists. It was Harvey Milk day, which celebrates the life of a man named, you guessed it, Harvey Milk and his efforts to end discrimination against gay americans. But who was Harvey Milk? And what exactly were those efforts? To help answer that we've reached out to Ewan Barker-Plumber, a 16 year old youth organizer and activist in San Francisco.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 2:53
So Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official in California and is sort of the most famous openly gay elected official in the US
Ryan Nerz 3:03
Nicely stated Ewan. But let me add just a little more background about who this man was. In 1972, Harvey Milk opened a camera store in the Castro district of San Francisco. It quickly became a gathering place for the local gay community. After organizing for the rights of local businesses, he ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors twice and lost both times but he didn't give up. And the third time was a charm. In 1977, his election made international headlines. Tragically, just over a year later, Milk was assassinated by a former supervisor who considered him a political rival.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 3:46
But he has left an impact on our city and on our country as a historical figure. And as someone that young people and young queer people, but all young people can look up to.
Ryan Nerz 4:01
Ewan remembers when he first heard about Harvey Milk.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 4:04
I remember first learning about him in third grade, you know, we had there was a series of like, books being read to us, picture books of all of these inspirational figures, I had MLK, Susan B. Anthony, and we came to Harvey Milk. And I remember just being so impressed by how early it was just in the timeline of gay rights that he was that he ran and was elected.
Ryan Nerz 4:28
For those who don't live in San Francisco, many other people first learned about Harvey's life by watching the 2008 movie Milk. Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for portraying Harvey, who often addressed his crowds with this catchy slogan.
Inspiring right? And not just for the gay community. In order to gain supporters Milk had to think bigger than that.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 4:58
It wasn't about him. It was about everyone. And it wasn't just about the queer community, it was about every minority community, every person who's been, you know, pushed down and pushed away in society. And we need to work on elevating those voices. And that's going to mean, you know, encouraging those groups of people to get involved.
Ryan Nerz 5:19
Having come out as gay at the age of 11, Ewan was inspired by Harvey Milk and people like him to become an activist himself.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 5:26
I'm now a part of that community. And I'm now a part of kind of the change that we are still fighting for today, as a part of that community.
Ryan Nerz 5:34
As part of his fight for change you and organizes for better housing in San Francisco. He sits on the boards of the United Democratic club, and the Alice B. Toklas democratic Club, which is the oldest LGBTQ political club in the nation. And when Pete Buttigieg ran for president, you can guess how much that meant to you. And
Ewan Barker-Plumber 5:54
I mean, it's monumental. I actually volunteered on his campaign here in San Francisco, I was super excited to see an openly gay presidential candidate.
Ryan Nerz 6:03
And though Buttigieg didn't win, he was appointed by President Biden as the first openly gay cabinet member when he was appointed Secretary of Transportation, the importance of that appointment is not lost on us.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 6:16
To kind of have someone from his generation represent the future of queer people in this country. And the needs of young queer people is really inspiring. And it's really important.
Ryan Nerz 6:28
Ewan knows that not everyone shares his passion for activism, especially at such a young age. And it's okay with him if some of his schoolmates don't get it.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 6:37
I think some of them think I'm a nerd. Well, they might not understand at all, sometimes, just as we all don't understand each other's interests. I think that they, I think that we collectively, look at ways to help.
Ryan Nerz 6:55
When it comes down to it you and says, most kids he meets pretty much want the same things.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 7:00
I talked to a lot of young people in San Francisco. And I think we all have the same goals of trying to create a better city and a better future for ourselves. And, you know, we know that we need to do it today. Because if we don't do it now, our future is going to look dramatically different than what we would like it to.
Ryan Nerz 7:18
So if you have any interest in changing your school or community Well, Ewan thinks you should go for it.
Ewan Barker-Plumber 7:24
Like Harvey always said, we're here to recruit you. There are a myriad of ways you can get involved in your local government, you can get involved in your local community. I would say you know, step one is Googling, you know, where you live and political clubs, Kind of see who's doing what, what you agree with what you want to work on.
Ryan Nerz 7:43
Who knows what kinds of positive changes you can make. It just takes one person like Harvey Milk, or even a Ewan Barker-Plumber, to make a difference that lasts for generations. And there's no time like the presidents,
Ewan Barker-Plumber 7:56
I would say, you know, now is the time to take action for our future. Now it's time to get involved.
Bethany Van Delft 8:05
And now let's check in on some headlines.
In some exciting animal news from down under, Australia reports that baby Tasmanian devils are being born on the Australian mainland for the first time in 3000 years. Before now, they were only on the island of Tasmania, which is off the coast of the mainland. conservationists hope that the cute little devils will help rewild and restore balance in the ecosystem.
Researchers have created a brand new atlas, not one filled with maps and charts but with microbes. The atlas is a catalogue of viruses, bacteria, and other teeny tiny organisms all collected from subways around the world. I wonder what that smells like. In the world of children's books. Eric Carl, do you author of classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar,Brown Bear brown bear and more than 70 other books that sold millions of copies around the world passed away late last week at the age of 91. Rest easy Mr. Karl And finally, have you always wanted your food and clothes to match? Well, now they can. McDonald's has collaborated with Kpop superstars BTS to create a meal and clothing line. The meal includes chicken nuggets and two dipping sauces inspired by McDonald's South Korea. The clothes from BTS feature logo with a box of seven fries, one for each band member you'll be too cool too cool for school in that gear.
Okay, it's time for...
Sound Bit 10:07
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 10:10
Trivia on The Ten. During LGBTQ Pride Month, you might see a kaleidoscope of color, including lots of waving rainbow flags. The world's longest rainbow flag was enormous. But how big was it? Was it a the length of A) blue whale, B) five miles long, or C) 1.25 miles long?
Did you guess it? The answer is C, 1.25 miles long. The original creator of the rainbow flag, Gilbert Baker, was actually encouraged by none other than Harvey Milk to create the iconic LGBTQ symbol. The original eight striped flag featured pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo and violet colors. The first of these flags was waved during San Francisco's Pride parade in 1978. Turquoise and Indigo eventually had to be removed from the flag because of production problems, but on the 25th anniversary of the flags debut, Baker went for fame. He and a bunch of volunteers handmade and original eight striped flag that was over a mile long in Key West Florida. Thousands of people marched with it down the main street of the city. Wow. Today the rainbow flag has evolved. And there are many different flags with colors that represent different groups within the LGBTQ community. Doesn't matter which of those flags you fly, just fly and proudly. Time's up. 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. You can go deeper into today's stories by visiting thetennews.com. The Ten News is a co production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team oopss dipping sauces named after them, and they include Kate Hale, Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Jenner Pascua, and Sarah Olender. Ryan Nerz contributed to this episode. 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 friends.
