TR3: Queer and Called

On this, the final episode of Traitor Radio, we're talking disability and the 'r' word with Schuyler and Robert Rummel-Hudson, the father-daughter pair behind Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords, a brilliant blog and writing project dedicated to disability advocacy. Rummel-Hudson's book, Schuyler's Monster, is a must-read.

Schuyler, who'll graduate from high school this year, and Robert discuss how it felt the first time they heard President Donald Trump mock a reporter with a disability, how they've overcome clashes with institutional resistance to ability accommodations, and what to say -- and do -- when someone uses the "r" word as a slur.

RESOURCES:

- Miracle League

- Special Olympics

- The Arc of the United States

- American Disabled for Attendant Programs

Hurricane victims still need your help. On this episode, we'll talk with a poet who lost her home to Harvey, and introduce you to groups in Houston, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico who need your time, your resources, and, if you can -- your physical help.

RESOURCES:

Caribbean hurricane relief: Community Resource Initiative

Puerto Rico hurricane relief: Hispanic Federation via LMM

Houston hurricane relief: West Street Recovery

Houston hurricane relief: Houston DSA

This week, we're un-fucking sports fandom with journalist and baseball lover Stacey May Fowles, purveyor of the excellent Baseball Life Advice newsletter and eponymous memoir.

Fowles, a Blue Jays obsessive, recalls the story of her first formative experience with baseball fandom -- how it was marred by one dude's decision to be a huge creep, and how, 20 years later, things haven't changed much. But things don't have to be so bleak for women sports fans, and Fowles offers three key tips to making baseball stadiums -- or your sporting arena-field of choice -- more welcoming.

Resources:

• Stacey's book + Stacey on Twitter
• Women + Nonbinary People of Color in Sports Media on Twitter
• Burn It All Down

This episode is for the good guys, the nice guys, the cool guys, the feminist guys, the dudes of earth who say they want to end sexual violence but who don't know where to start. No more excuses, dudes.

The "me too" movement that Tarana Burke started a decade ago went viral after the New York Times broke decades' worth of sexual assault and abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. "Me too" started as a way for survivors to talk to each other, but warped into a kind of victimhood performance as women and nonbinary people were encouraged to make their experiences public, again -- in hopes of, this time, making good guys give a damn.

We're tired of it. We're tired of asking, of begging, of cutting open our wounds again and again. So on this episode anti-rape activist Wagatwe Wanjuki tells men: It's your turn. 

We're also joined by journalist Helen Rosner, who talks about her essay "20 Things Men Can Do RTFN to Support Women, Beyond Just Literally Ceasing to Sexually Harass Us."

Can’t listen? We'll posted the episode transcript below in the next 48 hours — something we’ll be doing for all of our episodes as part of our commitment to accessibility.

Another mass shooting and mass murder in the United States: What comes next? More "thoughts and prayers" from politicians who thrive on contributions from the gun lobby? Here's a script -- including a recorded call with host Andrea Grimes and her congressman's office -- on what to ask your elected officials, plus an organizing action item to bring people together in their communities.

From the homework -- find your elected officials' contributions from the gun lobby:

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2018&ind=Q13

Shakesville's Melissa McEwan joins the show to talk about fat hatred and fat shaming, and her own journey to loving and accepting her fat body -- and allowing herself to feel the breeze.

For the homework section, we're talking to fat and not-fat folks alike. Melissa talks about how to shut down diet talk and body negativity, offers some essential reading from fat activists, and recommends a film comedy with big laughs that aren't at the expense of the fat woman at the center of the plot.

RESOURCES:

• Health at Every Size
• @YrFatFriend
• First, Do No Harm
• Cat Pausé at Friend of Marilyn
• Kat at Fat Heffalump
• Ragen Chastain at Dances With Fat

Become a Traitor! Donate $5 to support the podcast at Patreon.

Abortion stigma is real, y’all! It can be scary, intimidating and anxiety-inducing to talk positively about abortion -- which is why Traitor Radio host Andrea Grimes launched the Taco or Beer Challenge, a month-long fundraising movement to support abortion access. It's the most delicious homework assignment we've given you on the show so far.

Our storyteller on this episode is Aimee Arrambide, a badass reproductive justice crusader, lawyer and Texan of Mexican and Filipino descent who is part of We Testify, a group of storytellers working to bust abortion stigma. Aimee’s story is about abortion, of course, but it’s about so much more: It’s about her mental health journey, her professional career, and her relationship with her father -- who was also an abortion provider. Aimee’s story beautifully weaves her abortion experience into the larger fabric of her life -- she talks about what an important  decision it was for her, and how essential it was that she had access to abortion during a time in her life when, as she’ll tell you, she was approaching “rock bottom.”

Listen, then take the Taco or Beer Challenge by eating a taco or drinking a beer (or both) and donating to your local abortion fund.

Listen to one Texas woman’s story about living with incurable cancer -- living with it, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Her name is Nicole Stewart Cortez, and she's just one of millions of people who rely on the ACA, which is still under attack, even as the GOP fails again and again to pass a "Trumpcare" replacement that would leave tens of millions of people, like Natalie, without health insurance. Donald Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell haven't given up, and neither can the resistance: Keep calling! Keep faxing! Keep emailing! 

After a years-long battle wherein Methodist church officials publicly interrogated M Barclay's private life, including their gender identity and sexuality, M Barclay is now Reverend M Barclay, the first openly non-binary queer and trans person to be commissioned as a deacon in the United Methodist Church. Today, M is able to provide a visible and enthusiastically queer ministry to people of faith, but that wasn't the case a year ago, when M stood amid the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida, desperate but unable, within the confines of their own church doctrine, to do what they knew they had been called to do in that moment: Minister to queer people in grief. Not because M wasn't faithful, not because M wasn't educated, not because M didn't know how, but because, the church said, M's sexuality prevented them from inviting others into the presence of God.

On this episode of Traitor Radio, M gives listeners a heartfelt, and often heartbreaking, first-person look into their journey to ministry and, on the second half of the show, talks with host Andrea Grimes about how people of faith can make their own church communities places where queer and trans people -- especially queer and trans children -- can flourish.

For a full transcript of this episode, visit TraitorRadio.com.

Increased visibility has become a double-edged sword for transgender, intersex and non-binary Americans, who are increasingly targeted by religious conservatives and Republican lawmakers. You've probably heard of "bathroom bills" like HB 2 in North Carolina, which force people to use public restrooms according to the gender they were assigned at birth. But in addition to playing bathroom police, politicians are also championing "religious liberty" legislation -- bills that are, in actuality, just about letting people discriminate against trans, intersex, non-binary and other queer folk if they claim Jesus told them to.

We're at a pivotal political moment, and allies must support trans, intersex, non-binary and queer activists in their fight for freedom. On this episode of Traitor Radio, we talk about how. Visit TraitorRadio.com for notes and links to the organizations and activists we talk to on this episode.