Tag: LGBTQIA

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Episode 73: Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration

What do you do when the world has gone mad and American democracy seems to be collapsing right in front of you? One thing you can do is to find the thing that matters most to you and dedicate yourself to that cause. It might be diversity, equity and inclusion. It might be climate change. It might be economic justice. But find that one thing and focus your efforts and your energy on it, because no one of us can solve all the world’s problems.

That’s why we continue to be involved in Lambda Legal, one of the country’s oldest and most successful LGBTQIA+ civil rights and advocacy groups. For 51 years, Lambda Legal has fought for and secured the rights of LGBTQIA+ people and people living with HIV, and they are more dedicated to that fight than ever before.

So, as we discuss on this week’s episode, we ask you to join us for (or, at the very least, contribute to) Lambda Legal Midwest Region’s major annual event: the Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration, which takes place on Friday, May 9, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. Central time at the Art Institute of Chicago. You can buy tickets for the event here, or, if you’re not able to make it, you can donate here. We’ve got our tickets, and we hope to see you there!

There’s more to this week’s episode, too, including other ways to maintain your sanity in these crazy times, our Valentine’s celebration, and ways to stay connected with friends and family, which is incredibly important right now.

In addition to the audio podcast you can find here, you can watch a video version of this episode (and future episodes!) on our YouTube channel and on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave).

We hope you enjoy the show, please feel free to leave us a comment, and we’ll talk again soon. 

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Episode 72: Understanding Our Transgender Friends and Family

Inspired, in part, by the new Amazon Prime series Clean Slate starring George Wallace, Laverne Cox, and Telma Hopkins, we take a different approach to this week’s show: We talk directly to those of you who may be confused about transgender people, who are both increasingly visible and increasingly under attack these days. We understand that many of you — many of us — grew up without learning or being taught accurate information about sex, gender, and sexual identity, and so many of us labor under misconceptions about our transgender friends, family members, and neighbors. But that can change if we approach these subjects in good faith, with an open mind, and an acceptance of our shared humanity.

So, with that in mind, we consider some common questions that we think many people are unclear about:

  • What does it mean to be transgender?
  • According to science, aren’t there only two genders and two sexes? For some background information that may be helpful, please read this Scientific American article. 
  • Isn’t this a “new” thing? How come I never heard of transgender people before?
  • Hasn’t the number of kids identifying as transgender exploded in recent years? Aren’t adults “indoctrinating” them?
  • What about kids getting gender affirming care? Isn’t that dangerous and won’t they regret permanent or life-altering treatment? This article in Mother Jones provides some useful statistical information. 
  • Isn’t it unfair to allow transgender athletes to compete in girls’/women’s sports?

Please listen to our answers to these questions. We think they may help people are confused and don’t know what to think. And, if you are interested, please watch this interview with George Wallace an Telma Hopkins on Clean Slate.

In addition to the audio podcast you can find here, you can watch a video version of this episode (and future episodes!) on our YouTube channel and on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave).

We hope you enjoy the show, please feel free to leave us a comment, and we’ll talk again soon. 

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Episode 70: Airing of Grievances

We got a lot of problems with you people. Well, maybe not you people, but … some people.

In this episode, we talk about the chaos that followed Monday’s inauguration and the never-ending stream of outrages coming from the new administration. In no particular order, we talk about Trump attacking transgender people, rescinding a 60-year-old executive order on race discrimination, raising tariffs, and gutting the federal government; Bishop Budde’s sermon and the rightwing reaction to it; Elon Musk’s unmistakable Nazi salute … and a whole lot more.

We also revisit the discussion of the Equal Rights Amendment that we began last week, and we’re less optimistic than we might have been.

Finally, with Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, we talk about the importance of speaking up, how ordinary people have answered the call in times of crisis, and how we should be those people today.

In addition to the audio podcast you can find here, you can watch a video version of this episode (and future episodes!) on our YouTube channel and on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave).

We hope you enjoy the show, please feel free to leave us a comment, and we’ll talk again soon. 

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Episode 64: Come for the Christmas Shopping, Stay for the Polio

On this week’s episode, we talk about Christmas coming up fast, Black Friday, and transitioning from shopping in malls to shopping online.

And then we turn to America’s recurring nightmare, because we can’t help ourselves.

First up: The incoming president nominating Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. We used to point and laugh and crazy anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists. Now one is about to run the department that basically oversees healthcare in America.

We then have a very frank conversation about the threat RFK, Jr. poses to mental health treatment in America, which could, like his opposition to vaccines, have deadly consequences.

Finally, we talk at length about this week’s oral arguments before the US Supreme Court in United States v. Skrmetti, a case in which the federal government and a number of private plaintiffs are challenging Tennessee’s outright ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. While the outcome of the case is far from certain, the lawyers for the US and the private plaintiffs — US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and ACLU attorney Chase Strangio (the first transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court) — were just fantastic. Please listen to this extended discussion of a very important topic, and check out this excellent piece by Chris Geidner on the Skrmetti arguments. 

You can also listen to a recording or download a transcript of the oral arguments on the Supreme Court’s website.

We hope you enjoy the show, please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave), and we’ll talk again soon.

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Episode 63: ’Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

On this week’s episode, we begin with the story of how we met on November 23, 1993, the night before Thanksgiving. We did it the old fashioned way: In a bar, forced to have an awkward conversation by well-intentioned friends. And here we are, 31 years later!

We also talk about Rep. Nancy Mace’s Michael-Richards-style meltdown over Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, who will be the first transgender member of Congress, and the Republican Party’s obsession with other people’s genitals. As Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch pointed out last week, this is perhaps the first major moral crisis of Trump II. Long story short: we need more people, including more Democratic politicians, to speak up for Rep. McBride and the broader LGBTQIA community.

To hear more, you’ll have to listen in … but do yourself a favor and read Will Bunch’s column. It’s very good.

We hope you enjoy the show, please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave), and we’ll talk again soon.

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Episode 62: The Election, Part 2

This one actually required two takes because somebody had a hard time coping on our first attempt to record it …

Anyway, this episode focuses on the outcome of the election (as compared to last episode, recorded on election night, where we still felt some measure of hope). We talk about the consequences of the election, the impact on our mental health, and the need to vent a little. We also talk about making connections and staying connected to good people who are making the world a better place, which is more important now than ever.

And, respectfully, to all the politicians giving us their hot takes on what just happened: Please be quiet. You should be listening, not talking.

Other topics we cover include the future of education under the incoming administration, Trump’s political corruption, the (very!) slim margin of his victory, the value of immigration, and much, much more.

So stay connected, be you, be out, be loud, and don’t give up! 

We hope you enjoy the show, please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave), and we’ll talk again soon.

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Episode 59: More on Will & Harper

After talking about our Saturday morning walk (or hike, as Jennifer called it) and Illinois’ 21-7 victory over Michigan, we continue our conversation about the Netflix documentary, Will & Harper, featuring Will Ferrell and Harper Steele. We talk about the challenges of coming out late in life, the importance of having support from family and longtime friends, and dealing with the inevitable haters.

But you’ll have to listen in to find out more!

So, we hope you enjoy the show, please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave), and we’ll talk to you soon.

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Episode 56: Reformatting

On this episode, we talk about reformatting this podcast or possibly starting a new one to supplement this show. Either way, the emphasis would be on the three things we talk most about in our day-to-day life: Music, food, and politics. And we plan to let the expletives fly.

Kidding aside, all three topics are connected in many ways and all three provide more than enough to fill a lifetime of shows.

And on that note, this episode also delves into the relationship between politics and music, including several interesting music documentaries that either have been released or will be coming soon. In keeping with our usual focus on LGBTQIA+ issues, we also talk about Will and Harper, the documentary about Will Farrell’s longtime friend Harper who came out as trans. We’ll have much more to say about that in coming episodes.

Finally, related to the topic of food and “wellness,” as they say in corporate-speak, we talk about the fairly successful healthy eating and exercise routine we adopted — and more importantly, stuck to — over the past year.

We hope you enjoy the show, and please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave). Until next time! 

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Episode 51: Time Warp

Hey, we’re back already! After a less-than-consistent podcasting schedule, we’re posting an episode for the second week in a row. Which is pretty remarkable, all things considered.

This week we talk about using people’s preferred names. That is, everybody’s preferred names. Not just trans and nonbinary people. It’s a sign of respect and you should get in the habit of doing it.

On a sort of related note, we talk about the term nibling, a gender-neutral collective term for nieces and nephews, which is particularly useful if you have nonbinary relatives with that relation to you. Again, it’s all about treating people with respect.

And because we’ve been inconsistent with posting lately, we talk about trying to record and post more often and suggest that you might be interested in some of our earlier episodes, including Episodes 49 and 50, in which we talk about our recent trip to Ireland to see Bruce Springsteen and a host of other things.

That leads us to revisit our recent impromptu/informal high school “reunion” and how we reconnected with old friends. We also spend some time talking about maintaining lifelong friendships and how valuable they can be for your mental health. And we talk about surprise parties, which are somehow related to this topic. You’ll just have to trust us.

From there, we recap our past couple of weeks, including walking in the Chicago Pride Parade with Lambda Legal, a fantastic organization that advocates (and litigates!) for LGBTQIA+ individuals and people living with HIV. We did an awful lot of walking that day — and struggled to find parking, as you do in Chicago — but it was a great time.

Finally, we talk about our youngest daughter’s college graduation party, living in a swamp, and the curious (and annoying!) morning time warp. Which is an appropriate way to wrap up this episode!

So, we hope you enjoy the show, and please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave). You can also follow us on the site formerly known as Twitter, where our joint account is @JennandDave1 and the podcast account is @itsotetPodcast. Until next time! 

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Episode 48: Civil Rights Galas, College Graduations, Kind Words, and Bruce in Ireland

In this week’s episode, we talk about Lambda Legal’s Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration at the Art Institute of Chicago, for which Dave is on the host committee. It’s not too late to make a donation to this fantastic organization, which has been fighting for LGBTQIA+ rights for more than 50 years. 

Then, Jennifer gives a recap of her fun but very hectic trip to San Antonio last weekend, we talk about our youngest’s college graduation this weekend, and the importance of sharing kind and supportive words … even if it doesn’t come naturally to some of us!

Finally, we spend some time talking about our upcoming trip to Ireland to see Bruce Springsteen (again!), Bruce’s European tour opener in Cardiff, and his (first ever?) performance in Belfast, a city that could use a lot of love.

We hope you enjoy the show, and please feel free to follow us on Instagram (@jenn_and_dave). You can also follow us on the site formerly known as Twitter, where our joint account is @JennandDave1 and the podcast account is @itsotetPodcast. Until next time

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