Soldiers of the press with the British 8th Army in Egypt at an allied advanced base in Libya Those are date lines All of you have seen in your newspapers or heard on the air and many of you undoubtedly are familiar with the name of the man Whose byline appears above many of those stories the man whose story we bring you now Richard D. McMillan United Press staff Correspondent accredited to the British 8th Army in North Africa McMillan has seen and reported action on six fronts of the present war Paris the Low Countries London Gibraltar He saw the British fleet smash Italy's Navy at Toronto then came assignments to Cairo to Albania in Greece McMillan teamed with UP correspondent Henry Gorell to scoop the world with the first vivid eyewitness story of the British withdrawal For the past two years. He has reported brilliantly on the seesaw battle for control of North Africa I'm what my front office likes to refer it to as a veteran war reporter Well looking back over the past three years. I guess the description fits But my own impression is that I'm more of a veteran sandhog You see I followed virtually every drive across Egypt and Libya in both directions since the Germans and Italians Elected to make the North African desert a battlefield I've eaten sand with my food and cursed it and I've burrowed into it for safety from enemy shells and thanked God for it Many a time in the past two years But that's a long story So suppose we start with June 27th, 1942 That's a date that will stick in my memory for a long time. I had followed the British winter drive that push past Benghazi and Had managed a narrow escape from captured to Brooke when field Marshal Rommel started rolling the 8th Army back toward the Libyan border The night of June 27th. I was at Matru well inside Egypt. The British had been under constant pressure for days Our position was endangered and I could hear the rumble of an artillery duel only a few miles away But I fell into an exhausted sleep in a field truck a British soldier put an abrupt end to my neck Millen Mac old fellow wake up. Oh Come out of it man Wake up and listen. Hey, what's the idea? I'm sorry. I had to clip you a bit to get you awake But we've got to be on the move. We're abandoning my true abandoning my true I'm afraid that's how it's got to be if we're to avoid another towbrook Jerry's all but have us bottled up as it is I'm mechanized forces are fighting their way through the enemy columns to join the main army. There isn't much time Okay, what are we waiting for? Let's get going right you are Just let me get under the wheel of this lorry and pick up a couple of other newspaper laddies and we'll be on the way That's it We sped off on the cover of darkness joining other men and equipment that had been moving out as I slept Soon we began meeting tanks tanks going faster than I believed a tank could move Racing along the road westward from Alexandria to join the battle the air was choked with dust We came upon a tank stop beside the road for repairs We draw up to have a chat with a young British tank officer. He said the evacuation of mattress a bad blow Puts the entrance to the corridor leading along the coastal highway to Alexandria to the hands of Rommel Mark my words. We'll get him yet Through the bitter days that followed that statement kept ringing in my ears. We will get him yet It was typical of the spirit. I found everywhere expressed by Britain's hard-pressed troops Still we continued falling back back past Fouca past El Daba Then the Libyan Plateau fell off to the Qatarer depression and the British decided to make a stand at El Alamein guarding the narrow corridor between the sea and the impassable depression on June 30th Rommel's Africa Corps struck Corresponded Macmillan watch from the front lines as contact was established between British forward forces and enemy light scouting units Along the road west of El Alamein the big battle for Alexandria and the Nile was underway That night Macmillan wrote Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commander of the Axis forces knows that victory is in his grasp if he can hold it He is aware that if he delays he may lose it He also must be fully aware that if he is over hasty he may run into disaster He has struck. Are the British ready for him? All I can say is that in the front line the British think so The Imperial forces are convinced that they are going to fight this time to a finish Those were prophetic words for the British did hold at El Alamein They held and Correspondent Macmillan spent the succeeding weeks at the front sharing the lot of the defending British forces dodging shells and bombs and fighting the desert's constant scourge of flies and ants He ate his share of sand and in the process He became aware of a growing spirit of determination and self-assurance among the British forces Through July and August the British adopted the slogan hit the enemy and hit him hard wherever you find The expression bracing the enemy up the British equivalent of giving him the business was on everybody's lips I think the best illustration of what I mean occurred one night in mid-July The night in mid-July The desert silence was suddenly broken at about midnight by bursting flares and the distant buckle of machine gun fire. I Couldn't sleep so I went out to have a word with the troops Drop down beside the crew of a battery of 25 pounds. Hello there Nice fire you've got going mind if I join you this night airs a bit chilly. Okay, give now make yourself at home Yeah, what's that insignia you're wearing get a newspaper manager. That's right. My name is Macmillan Richard Macmillan of United Press Did you know you sir say how do you get such a swell fire to burn? There isn't enough vegetation on this entire God-forsaken desert to make a respectable bonfire And we are burning the blooming sand the trick is to take an empty petrol tin and fill her up with sand Then you pour petrol over it and you got as fine as to was ever was made in Birmingham It's a good idea and I does a great good job frying sausages to a try one This bite is done. I'll cover your fingers now Say this is good. You know how to cook these things just right and I ought to it's my business I'll run a fish and chip shop back home in London. Oh Are you getting homesick for London? I'd like to be home right enough. I can't say I'm exactly homesick We've been too busy fighting to talk or think about it. We're just getting on with the war Getting on with the war They were doing that all right The men of that battery went into action and sent their first shells of the new day screaming through the dawn as we sat there roasting sausages To a man those seasoned troops refused to think of anything but getting on with the war Through August and September they powered every thrust of Ronald's forces and one could sense a growing pressure behind our lines masses of supplies of men and Overhead we were becoming increasingly aware of a mounting allied superiority in the air American bomber and fighter forces appeared Then on the night of October 25th I was summoned together with other correspondence to the headquarters tent of Lieutenant General Bernard L. Montgomery General Montgomery sat under the marquee of his tent Carefully balancing a fly whisk on his index finger then in a manner as calm as if he were lecturing an army class he said During moonlight tonight terrific battles will be fought terrific When day breaks tomorrow, we shall see a hot stand But there is no doubt of the issue Since the beginning of the war We and our allies have been plugging holes Now it looks as if with the Americans on our side. We have passed from the defensive to the offensive So the battle begins tonight The eighth army and our air power are one British troops are first class all they want is success Tommy will never let you down The offensive begins with the speed of lightning. I scurry from Montgomery's headquarters to join a regiment of Highlanders The eerie scurl of bagpipes sounds in the chill night bright moonlight of the desert The sound shrills across the minefields to the German lines at Alamand So to me the pipes are drowned out by the reverberations of the biggest blast the desert ever heard as the British open up with a barrage The British troops move forward attacking German positions at many points tanks burst through the German outer positions I am accompanying the units of the 51st Highland Division Which is getting its desert baptism in its first action since it was reformed after the Battle of France In two years of covering Western Desert campaigns I've never seen the British go to battle with such drive Coordination of effort and meticulous timing 20 minutes after the first crash of battle troops with fixed bayonets have filed through the corridors in our minefields and have Mopped up enemy forward posts Everything is going according to plan Three nights later Macmillan was witnessing the action from an advanced post in the northern corner of the area where British forces had broken through fixed Nazi defenses He wrote It looks like a dark hour for Hitler and Africa tonight I've been watching the battle from an observation post inside a damaged crusader tank The post is on what is known as hill 27 Germans light dead only a few feet away atop the knoll and the battlefield all around is strewn with wreckage German machine gunners and riflemen are sniping at us from dug-in positions only a few hundred yards away About a mile and a half to the south the tank battle is being fought in a tornado of sound volcanoes of smoke and world winds of dust It is clear that the entire 8th Army has the real offensive spirit It must be clear now even to the Germans that this is a bold and vigorous attack back by a tremendous weight of arms But it is still too early to hang out the bunting Until Rommel has answered and we know beyond a doubt whether we are able to hold and break his best efforts to retaliate Well the answer to that question was not long coming After more than a week with advanced units I had dropped back to British headquarters to comply with a request from New York for a step-by-step analysis of the action a courier strolled into the press tent and told us that general Montgomery had scheduled a press conference within the hour I dropped what I was doing and went to the tent which served as his desert headquarters The weary desert be grand press corps was assembled in the blazing Sun Suddenly Montgomery stepped through the tent flaps and into the glare an expectant hush fell over the group Montgomery cleared his throat and said gentlemen We've had a fine battle and there is no doubt now of the result complete and absolute victory Boss is completely finished Some portions of the enemy are struggling to get away But those portions still facing us in the south will be put in the bag Well, you know the rest the Axis forces were put in the bag and After two years of watching the British buffeted back and forth across the desert You can bet that I was willing to go on eating sand a little while longer to follow every step of the action Correspondent Richard McMillan has seen and written much of history in the making in North Africa And you can count on ace United Press Correspondents like him to bring you speedy complete news of every phase of war action on the fronts around the world For these soldiers of the press are on the job around the clock covering the news wherever it is wherever it may be We will be back soon with another story of adventure with United Press correspondence. Be sure to listen And meanwhile remember to look for United Press news in your favorite newspaper Listen for it on the radio. It's your guarantee of the world's best coverage of the world's biggest news


Charles. Then I must be Keith Ghostland and this is all things LGBTQ. We are taping on Tuesday, September 8th. We tape in Montpelier which we acknowledge is unceded indigenous land. And now hopefully Linda has some headlines. Well as a matter of fact I do. Richard Eisenberg says in his op-ed piece in the advocate that COVID has really done a job on personal finances of LGBTQ people. We'll have more about that. Pete Buttigieg joins the Biden team as part of his transition team. Texas assistant AG is fired for anti-LGB and other outrageous tweets. Nick Mote's called trans people an abomination and women politicians the whores of Babylon. He also said that the ACLU should be used for target practice and black lives matter is our activists and terrorists. So at least he was fired right and in Texas. A little escape into LGBTQ movie on Netflix. A former log cabin representative is on a mission to stop Trump.  Second judge blocks an effort to end LGBTQ health care protections. A federal judge in DC blocks Trump administration and rule allowing anti-LGBTQ discrimination in health care. This is really good news because I love Star Trek. Star Trek Discovery cast its first ever trans and non-binary roles. Non-binary actor Blue Del Barrio and transgender actor Ian Alexander will be beaming up on October 15th. So mock your calendars. Two men are charged with hate crimes. Elijah Lee started Soul magazine because he said he wanted to educate and power and inspire the black LGBT community. After watching Brother Brother in 2004 a Randy Evans film he decided to grace space himself and launched Soul. So you can find that online. A documentary and film series will be featured on TMC, Toronto Movie Classics. Alex Morse has been mayor since 2002 after winning an election as an openly gay 22 year old in a historically patriarchal manufacturing city. And then I have a long quote from Billy Graham's granddaughter and I think that's about oh and I have a clip on a movie that's coming out and it's about these women who travel all the LGBTQ people who travel across country and end up at an anti-gun rally in DC and it's a documentary like they follow them across country. So anyway that's it for me right now how about you Ian? Well Linda I think you and I have overlapped. Why? Are you talking about the Philippines du Terté pardoning the U.S. Marine? Yes because it's a U.S. Marine. And I did it because du Terté did it. So we've overlapped. Okay no you can go right ahead if you want to. It's one of my headlines. Okay go ahead. Okay let's start with some news from Lebanon. I'd like to show you a picture now of Sandra Melhem who is the proprietor of a club called Ego. And I have a story about we remember the horrific explosion in Lebanon and a gay district and another progressive district were decimated. So Sandra Melhem is helping the community rebuild. So I have a story about that. More coalition building they are not alone. There's an LGBT plus march against fear on the German-Polish border. So the German LGBT community is expressing solidarity with the Polish LGBT community. About 2,000 people marched along their border. Now I have a picture before you of Billy B. Bryan who is the founder and president of Colors Cayman. And Colors Cayman continues the fight for legalization of same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands. It was legalized by a judge. The appeals court overturned it. Then it's gone to a same-sex partnership bill has been passed by the local ruler there. But it's not marriage. So Cayman Colors with Billy B. Bryan at the head is fighting to change that.  And I have a picture now before you of the nine men who were arrested. They are accused of being the organizers of this party.  Although as you can tell by this incident, harassment occurs regularly. In fact, homosexuality is not illegal and it's world's most populous Muslim nation. But police now have set up a special task force to investigate alleged homosexual activity. In February, members of the House of Representatives proposed a bill that would define homosexuality as deviant and require LGBT people to report to the authorities for rehabilitation. Of course, this has been denounced, but harassment continues. Speaking of difficulties for the LGBT community, Budapest Pride is blighted by far right extremists. They had in 2019 the Pride Center was broken into and a rat was left in the bathroom. But this year it is celebrating its 25th anniversary and it was later because of the pandemic. But the festival was attacked by a group of 20 extremists who descended on the Pride offices. They're involved. This disruption is carried on by Budhazis, which is a right-wing disruptive group who are followers of Georgie Budhazi, who's a far right nationalist politician, found guilty of terrorism offenses, including the petrol bombing of a gay bar. So they scaled the political opposition building this year, removing the rainbow flag, which I mentioned last time, that rainbow flags were removed from the embassies in Hungary. And Viktor Orban, the homophobic leader, said a lot of... And Hungary is not part of the EU. Correct. Like Poland and other parts of Central and Eastern Europe, they're increasingly dealing with societal rise of homophobic and intolerant sentiments as the difference between the right and the far right grows smaller. So that's bad news there. Good news. Well, let's take a turn to the good news. Queer swimmer Teresa Goh advocates for Singapore's LGBTQ community.  She's posing with her bronze medal that she got from swimming in the Paralympics. Now she's come out as queer, she says Singapore has a ways to go, but that swimmers are coming out increasingly. Corporate sponsors are sponsoring Pride events, so she's hopeful about the future. She was born with spina bifida. Morgan News, the Australian capital territory passes a ban on conversion therapy. And remember I told you last week that Queensland was the first territory to do it, but that they didn't ban it for faith institutions, but the Australian capital territory has. And it's, yes, it's really an exciting event. From early next year, anyone using the practices of conversion therapy would face up to 12 months in jail or a fine of $24,000. And it includes faith organizations. So progress there. Now we have exciting news from Valencia, Spain, involving two penguin super moms. Let's take a picture now and I'll be able to talk more about them later. Their names are Electra and Viola. I heard a newscaster pronounce it Viola, but that's the instrument, right? Viola is the penguin, a super mom. And I have a related story of interest about penguins that I'd like to share with you. I saw a clip about gay lions. Well, bring it in. It was in Africa, though, I think. It's out of my territory. Well, you should have passed it on. Okay, so we talked about Duke Charité and Linda's going to talk more about that story.   He can pardon anybody he wants and do what he wants. So that was the rationale there. I heard he wanted to get on the good side of Trump, which is why he did it. Exactly. Armed guards have been provided for a threatened lesbian couple in India, and they're both cops. And they fell in love.  And so they were being harassed by their family and getting death threats. So they asked the police to protect them and the police has. Good. Nigerian lesbians have been blackmailed with nudes on a social media site. You know, they've been tracked down, raped, and then nude pictures have been taken of them and they've been blackmailed. But social network is coming out against that. And they're getting visibility and some measure of protection, although social media is very tricky, as we know. And finally, bad news for a deplorable. A Ukrainian Orthodox church patriarch who has blamed same sex marriage for the COVID-19 epidemic has come down with it. Yes. He's 91. Should I say good? I don't know. But he said, oh shoot. Oh, here he is. He says, one of the country's most influential religious figures. He said COVID was God's punishment for the sins of men in sinfulness of humanity. First of all, I mean same sex marriage. The comments were condemned, of course, labeling his words very harmful. Such statements, activists and advocacy groups say are very harmful because they could lead to increased attacks, aggression, discrimination, and acceptance of violence against certain groups. I liked it better when the Communists banned religion. The World Health Organization says the equation of the pandemic to divine intervention fuels stigmatization and discrimination. As we may surmise, homophobia remains widespread in Ukraine with same sex marriages remaining illegal. So there's that Ukrainian high priest. I wouldn't say it's his comeuppance, but there we go. It goes around, comes around. I don't know. All right, that's enough from me. So if you're watching this show in at first airs Saturday the 12th, and you have no plans for Sunday the 13th, from 5 to 6 p.m., you could either stream on CBS All Access or watch on WCAX, Channel 3, or go on the Pride Center site and watch the Pride Stream Festival. Well, there will be speakers and entertainers.  And then from 6 to 7 will be the Glam or Us drag show. And someone we know, maybe one of the MC hosts, and then following that is out here, which is a virtual speak out Black Lives Matters Indigenous People of Color. Good. So that's Thursday. No, no, no, no, no. That Sunday, Sunday, let me write that down. I don't know where Linda's been or where she plans on going. But I kind of wonder what she was doing Thursday night when professional Charles might have been part of a virtual discussion online about disappearing women's space. It hasn't come up yet. It will by the time this airs, which is why I said I don't know where you were on Thursday, and of note, and maybe making a commitment on our interview show to go back and interview LGBTQ plus herstory before it disappears, such as the recent interview with Ava Weiss. And on our upcoming interview show, we're going to travel to Bennington, a part of the state where we haven't spent a whole lot of time. And Ann may be talking with Hunter O'Hanlon about the Stonewall Museum and Archive in Lauderdale. And Linda, that poet may be talking to another poet, James Cruz. Yes. So remember, the Saturday, we're not here telling you all the news. We're here interviewing people that you should be meeting Hunter O'Hanlon. O'Hanlon. All right. Never tried to spell things out phonetically. Also, you know, when Ann interviewed Ava Weiss, they talked about the Wow Cafe in New York City. So this week's trivia question. Vermont had a Wow. Where was it? What was it? And might there have been a signature event associated with it? Also, keep in mind, it's not too late to send a message to HUD, public comment section until September 25th about allowing shelters to refuse shelter to someone who is transgender based upon their gender identity. And what's important about this is if you write just a simple letter to them saying you oppose this policy, they have to take the time to formally answer all of them. And they cannot implement the policy until all of those responses have been sent. So regarding HIV, a very disturbing development, two men south of France have both developed a treatment resistant strain of HIV. And what is sort of distressing about this is that traditionally you might be resistant to a treatment. Both of these men who did not know each other but live in the same geographic region which would indicate their spread occurring are resistant to all three classifications of retroviolence. It means there's something that has happened to which we need to be attentive. And then as time allows, I'm going to talk about the legislature. Nothing about us without us. And how they finally heard that. And then I'm going to talk some about the upcoming election, our incumbent LGBTQ plus legislators, and encouraging news about the census. I was going to ask you about the census. They're making it like over in the end of September, but it's usually over the end of October. It's being fought. Do you know of anything? Okay. Well, I was going to report on that later. But what's happened is there's a federal judge who has ruled that they cannot stop the count until after the federal appeals court hearing happens on September 17th. And Phil Scott was one of the people who was part of that suit saying, no, no, no, no, this needs to be extended until October 31st. And it usually is, isn't it? Well, no, it everything got shifted relative to COVID. But it was very clear that the current federal administration was decreasing the amount of time with virtually no notice, so that the renumerators, the people who were actually going door to door, couldn't count immigrant workers, new Americans, the undocumented, because even though they cannot vote, they're part of the population and they count toward the census. Okay. Just checking in. Yeah. Okay. But now it's back to you. No, I have to be honest. Now you got to look at your notes. All right. Well, two men were charged with a hate crime to attack three Los Angeles trans women. They were assaulted, robbed and were called anti-trans insults. Two men have been charged in this. The transgender women were jostling flawless, eating the doll and jasling white rows. And they were attacked right on Hollywood Boulevard and apparently they were waiting for an Uber to pick them up. And people stood around and kind of didn't do anything. And one of the men that attacked the women grabbed your purse. They all ran after and they were beaten up some more and then the police finally came. But they did get them the two men who assaulted them. So we'll keep you posted about what happens with that. And there's a documentary film series which will be featured on tour movie classics, which celebrates women directors. The women make film features out directors and will offer a film school in which all the teachers are women. It's a 14-part documentary and film series and it aims to give women behind the camera their due. And that should be pretty interesting. That sounds really cool. I know. And let's see. A little escape to the movies on Netflix, LGBTQ movies. You might try Dairy Girls, which is set in Ireland during the time of The Troubles. Schitt's is a Greek comedy and it's special about gay men living with cerebral palsy. Elite is a Spanish thriller and Dear White People and many, many more. So check out all your LGBTQ movies on Netflix. We saw Dear White People. We did. And a former Lloyd Cabin representative is on a mission to stop Trump. Sarah Longwell says Trump threatens the GOP, but more importantly, democracy itself. Ms. Longwell is a longtime influential Republican operative and founder of Republican Voters Against Trump and was the former chairperson of the Lloyd Cabin Republicans. She left the organization in 2019. I hope more of them see the light. And a Marine that killed a transgender woman will be released after serving only six years. He killed a 24-year-old trans woman in the Philippines. Lance Pemberton was 20 when he met Jennifer Lawd loud at a nightclub and took her to a hotel room where he choked her and broke her neck. He used a trans phobic, a trans panic defense stating that he didn't know she was transgender when he brought her to the hotel. So do you have anything to add to that, Ian? Oh, just the boring details, which I'll spare you. Yeah, really? Thank you. Thank you. I know. So we're going to have another segment, right? So I'll just wait, because I have a long thing. And I have a clip later. So, Keith, Ian, sorry. I don't know where I am. I almost jumped right over you. And I'm waiting to hear about Thursday. I want to turn to some penguins. I think it's time for some penguins. I mean, I already showed you a picture of Electra and Viola, but let's see them again. They become parents to a newly hatched chick at one of Europe's largest aquariums. They're called penguin super moms by the establishment. They incubated and raised an egg from another couple or the Oceanographic of Valencia in Valencia, Spain, according to a statement on the aquarium's website. And they wanted the aquariums three gen two penguin couples to welcome a chick during the current breeding season. So they're apparently two heterosexual gen two penguins also giving birth or welcoming the chick. Although same sex couples are common in more than 450 species in both zoos and natures. It's the first time this has happened in our aquarium Oceanographic Valencia stated on the Facebook page. Welcome to the world, little one. It all began when penguin caregivers noticed the pair showing signs that they were ready to reproduce like constructing a nest out of pebbles. After observing this behavior, the aquarium decided to give the couple a fertile egg to raise. Now I have more information here. A sea life aquarium at sea life aquarium London. Long time duo Rocky and Marama and Rocky remember those. No, no, no. That was a new one. That was fed in magic. This is Rocky and Marama and Rocky is a female penguin. I was thinking maybe he might be a little butch. Anyway, the long time duo Rocky and Marama made headlines last July after adopting a chick and the moms made news again in September when their baby became the first genderless penguin chick. And just one more penguin note. In September 2018, two male penguins at the Denmark zoo nabbed a chick while its mother was swimming and the zoo staff returned the little one to its biological parents soon after but took heed of the couple's nurturing effect and found an egg for them to raise. But let's go back if we may to the sea life one in an aquarium. First gen two penguin not to have a gender assigned at birth. I think this is very interesting. Yeah. So Rocky and Marama made the headlines after adopting the chick and now the long time duo is making history by parenting with the world's by what may be the world's first genderless penguin chip chick. This chick is four months old has yet to be named will it be the first in its of its kind in history of the famous London aquarium not to be characterized as male or female. Well the decision may ruffle a few feathers. Get it. Gender neutrality in humans has only recently become a widespread topic of conversation said Graham McGrath the aquarium's general manager. However it's completely natural for penguins to develop genderless identities as they grow into mature adults. Despite this however newborn penguins are routinely given gendered names and colored tags at sea life until now. The adopted chick of Rocky and Marama has been tagged with a gender neutral purple band for identification purposes as for why this particular chick was chosen to be the aquarium's first genderless one. Sea life noted that this chick captured the Aquarius team and guests imagination after it was successfully adopted by two female penguins. I don't know if they were super moms like Viola and Viola and Electra. This was the first time we had successfully adopted a chick onto a same sex couple and to mark the parenting achievements of Rocky and Marama in helping to develop the chick into a happy and healthy penguin sea life wrote in a statement. It made sense to continue to allow it to be identified more naturally by staff and guests at the aquarium and in the future. Now since Linda mentioned Sven and Magic they are also legendary same-sex penguin parents and they adopted their chick last October and I reported at length about it so we won't continue along that vein. So I think genderless chicks should be the wave-ups of the future with purple arms, wristbands, leg bands. So that's my news. That's my segment. So now I'm going to bore you with the legislature. Okay. Nothing about us without us. Apparently our legislature heard it when our indigenous and people of color community said you're enacting all of this legislation and you haven't heard from us. This legislation is supposed to be in response to the issues of racial inequity. Why are you not hearing our voices? So our legislature has slowed the process down and what's now lovingly referred to as IPOC, the indigenous people of colors community, they are creating forums in which for them to come in and tell their stories and say if you are to do something this is what would have meaning and an impact based upon the experiences we're having here in Vermont. Now talking about the experience in Vermont you know we like to think. What if somebody has something a story they want to tell? Is it going to be advertised? Well it would be the same as any legislative hearing. If you wanted to give your story you have to get in touch with the clerk of the committee for which the hearings are being held and you can go on to the legislative website and there is a list that says weekly committee agendas and it gives you both the house and the senate and you can click on it and it will take you to the committee assignments. So you know the representatives and the senators and then who the contact clerk is and the bill that's being discussed and who already is being scheduled to testify. But it is actually very timely looking at what's happening around the state and Bennington reading the story about how they were painting Black Lives Matters on their street and there were counter demonstrators who came and stood in the middle of the street so they could not paint. And the recent story about my dear friend Tabitha Moore in Rutland County who's the head of the NAACP that she is a woman of color. She grew up in Vermont in the Rutland area and she's saying that she is having to move based upon the response to her standing up and giving voice to racial inequity in the state. So we are not immune you know and then looking at the demonstrations that are ongoing in Burlington and how they have not been able to sort of resolve you know those conflicts and those issues. Because they want two policemen fired. Three. Three. But and that gets into a difficult conversation because those incidents occurred over a year ago disciplinary an investigation and disciplinary action had already happened. So according to labor law those issues had already been fully investigated and resolved. However there's a counterpoint of course about the police policing itself and whether or not that's possible to produce a just outcome. Well and a lot of that happens on a municipal basis. You need to look at what your municipality does for oversight of its law enforcement and traditionally what happens with law enforcement is you don't investigate yourself but you're correct in you would bring in someone from an outside law enforcement agency to investigate what your department had done. And does that constitute a conflict and should there be a totally independent such as the Human Rights Commission that would investigate it. So when we come back around I'm going to talk about the elections and which of our incumbent LGBTQ plus legislators are facing opposition and who might not be. I know. Cliff Hanger. It is. So I'm I'm just going to talk a little bit about the granddaughter of late evangel evangelical Christian leader Billy Graham in accusing church leaders of spitting on his memory with their continued support of President Trump. So is this this is one of them the other one is pro-trump this one is anti-trump. I have spent my entire life in the church with every big decision guided by my faith but now I feel homeless Jarissa I think J-E-R-U-S-H-A-H Jar Hassan Duford wrote in an op-ed for USA Today like so many others I feel disoriented as I watched the church I have always served turn their eyes away from everything it teaches I hear from Christian women on a daily basis who all describe the same thing a tug at their spirits she wrote that she often feels that unpleasant tug when listening to Trump's rhetoric citing his recent comments about the scrapping and Obama ever rule men to squash segregation and provide low income housing so um Obama Obama era rule yes Obama era Jesus said repeatedly to defend the poor and show kindness and compassion to those in need our president continues to perpetuate and on us versus them narrative yet almost all of our church leaders say nothing she wrote she also wrote that the silence from the church leaders shows that marginalized communities are no longer valued by individuals claiming to uphold the values my grandfather taught so that was kind of interesting and uh there's a lesbian candidate and johnson who could help flip the texas to blue oh I know and a man went on an lgbtq went into an lgbtq bar in Missouri with an ar-15 and 160 rounds has been sentenced to 46 months in prison I guess he shot up some he was out in the parking lot with a man he walked out with and the man saw the gun and ran away and he shot up something in the air he shot his rifle in the air and the police heard it they happened to be close by and they got him but his parting words were he said he would have shot up all those faggots if the police hadn't showed up so he went out to get his gun and and then um I have a clip that I'm going to show right after I uh just say a few words about this a queer people nine queer people and an RV trying to stop a mass shooting a new film disarm hate chronicles the pain and resolve that followed the pulse massacre filmmaker juliana broodwick's got a vision of nine queer um and trans people from the west coast traveling in an RV to the nation's capital to join broodell's gun control rally so this is about their adventure it should be very interesting and here is a clip june 12 2016 pulse nightclub in orlando florida under siege and when the smoke cleared 49 people were dead with many more injured I didn't know those 49 people I didn't know that nightclub but I felt there was an attack on our entire community I have an idea we're gonna hold a national rally called disarm hate nine lgbtq activists team up in los angeles to board an RV bound for jason's disarm hate rally in washington dc to get a full understanding of the issue the team decides to visit lax shooting range it made me think of cops and robbers bang bang and just like that a life can be gone because irresponsible people are given a tool that can take lives what is the point of those high-capacity rifles this guy said that's for stress relief like going a bike ride that's what I do or masturbate RV I really underestimate it we want to fight homophobia and transphobia but we can't fight that on the outside until we address it within our very own community I'm not gay enough for y'all and I'm not straight enough for them the toilet was overflowing this is everything you need to organize a national rally here we are the best way to be an ally sometimes is just to stand with us just to listen she was shot in the head at close range it's not a pretty picture but that's the reality of what gun violence is Columbine or land goes the list goes on and on don't let them become yesterday's headlines because it happened again that's your choice to make disarm hate see the film and be part of the movement okay we'll have to see this the film is going to be out um um probably on Netflix or HBO or something I don't think they've really said where it's coming to yet but they're still working on I'm just waiting for nine lgbtq plus I know together nothing good good they talked a lot about the bathroom in the clip but anyway so well this is my opportunity in this segment to share a review of this memoir called a fixed star is called the fixed stars by molly wiesenberg do you want to hold it up okay is molly someone we know no no molly um is nobody we know personally right she's a chef and this is her third memoir um it's called the fixed stars it contains oh I should add this was published on august 11th in the lambda litter review and I wrote it in march so I've almost forgotten it but the publication was delayed because of the pandemic so here it is it's come out and here's the review molly wiesenberg's third memoir the fixed stars contains many narratives it's the story of a young woman's childhood in oklahoma and young adulthood on the west coast it's an account of a heterosexual romance culminating in marriage and the birth of a daughter it's the contemplation of motherhood in the story of a beloved uncle's death from aids a chronicles are coming out and traces the dissolution and reconfiguration of the heterosexual family unit and it's an exploration of the limits of the born this way ideology that has dominated lgbtq discourse in recent decades the action of the memoir follows a clear path in late spring 2015 while serving jury duty molly wiesenberg discovers an attraction to norah she is the second defense attorney norah is a one clad in a man's suit sporting a lesbian haircut at the end of the trial molly can't stop thinking about the lawyer she discusses the attraction with brandon her husband of almost 10 years and they agree to open their marriage then molly contacts norah and quickly discovers that the attraction is reciprocated eventually molly and brandon separate and establish a co-parenting plan after four months the relationship with norah ends and molly soon becomes involved with a non-binary partner named ash as the memoir moves moves forward molly reshapes her life in terms of both familial and romantic relationships of course the fixed stars comprises much more than this plot line suggests wiesenberg's voracious reading is on striking display throughout she cites a dazzling array of sources and references spanning a range of cultures and time periods the notes and bibliography present an added flourish that the bibliophiles among us will appreciate wiesenberg's writerly sensibility animates every page late in the memoir she declares we are constantly writing the novel of ourselves inventing more of it on demand to what the world asks of us throughout the narrative the writer employs the instruments of fiction to felicit this effect the periodic description of literal photographs affords an outsider's glimpse of a moment in time the short episodic fragments within each chapter disrupt chronological sequence quicken pace and enhance narrative immediacy but perhaps the most striking literary feature of the memoir concerns the thematic and symbolic use of astronomy that the title anticipates i learned a lot about astronomy in this memoir from reading it the theme of the deceptive fixity of the stars is introduced early as wiesenberg explains that although the stars seem stationary to the naked eye quote astronomers know that every star is in motion and that each moves along its own trajectory according to its own properties close quote she adds the constellations we see are temporary human creations our effort to draw order and meaning from a mo and mostly a noble universe to tell ourselves stories to guide our way home across endless oceans close quote though in this passage wiesenberg applies the metaphor to the construct of her heterosexual marriage its wider implications are clear not surprisingly the astronomical thread is woven throughout the entire book the chapter titles are enclosed within a four star depiction of a ryan's belt a configuration the author likens to the three freckles on norris collarbone in the province of us chapter the old hunter the concluding chapter uses the stars to underscore wiesenberg's assertion that sexuality is fluid and customs and more exchange constellations we know today will someday be unrecognizable she observes and even a ryan will eventually change however an info informed and talented its author there are some weaknesses in the memoir her argument against the born this way paradigm is often insightful and provocative yet occasionally slips into generalization at times it suggests a tendency toward what psychologist peter wasen calls confirmation bias in addition wiesenberg's female and non-binary partners function is secondary characters in a drama whose main focus is the separation and reassembly of participants in a heterosexual marriage we only we are only given an account of the sexual incompatibility that causes norra and molly's breakup although we learn early that norra is a writer and are given no information about what she writes similarly ash's top surgery is described but readers never discover what they do for a living fleshing out these female and non-binary characters would certainly have enriched the fixed stars these caveats notwithstanding the high quality of the pros the breadth of intellectual engagement and the probing honesty of the inquiry render molly wiesenberg a writer to follow with interest one comes away from the fixed stars eagerly anticipating a sequel and in this future book if the stars are our guide even if the broad outlines of wiesenberg's life seem the same everything will have changed oh that's very interesting and i did learn a lot about astronomy yeah are you getting a telescope i think not but i didn't even know what a ryan's belt looked like so i know i know i've learned many things those of us who were in the voice counts oh don't so that's a whole other show as soon as i sat in it was like oh so to finish the conversation about the census here in vermont remember i have said that there was great concern because of the under counting and that it has a direct impact on how much federal funding comes in and even though we're not being recognized on the federal level we certainly would be within the vermont political infrastructure so once we get the money here we can have a voice in what happens with it the current estimate as of september 6th and this information was just sent out to those of us sitting in the census commission today they think that 59 percent of vermonters have already self reported those renumerators the people going door to door have picked up another 31 percent wow and we think and they're estimating there's a little over 30 000 to still be counted before the census period ends so vermont is in the middle of the pack now according to states and we're looking as though we're going to exceed the reporting from 10 years ago which means that vermont could be looking at increased federal funding so be thinking about lgbtq plus senior housing yes and what we're going to want the elections they're coming right up and what jim con does the secretary of state has said is that the last two weeks of september you should be getting your mail-in ballots all of them all of them should be going out before october 1st this is what i'm going to tell you with all of that maneuvering that's happening within the postal system as soon as you get it read the instructions thoroughly to ensure that you're filling it out correctly because the ballots that were discounted during the primary were essentially because people forgot to sign the envelope into which they were putting the ballot items on mine did you well maybe we did what taylor said in in her interview that um people threw away part of it well no that's what i was going to go to next okay is that one of the other part that happened during the primary is people only returned the ballot they used you had to return the other two unused in the second envelope and you needed to sign both of them so it was read the instructions so and all of the political pundits who were talking now are saying none of these none of these races are guaranteed particularly the governor's race so your vote really counts so looking at our lgbtq plus incumbents there are two that we're not seeking reelection deanna kanzales in chitin tin six seven and debbie ingram chitin tin county senate so looking at people that we've interviewed on the show before kathleen james bennington four has no one running against her bill lippert chitin tin four two does have opposition and it's somebody that's run against him in previous elections brian china chitin tin six four he and his uh seatmate selene coburn have no opposition our friend john calacky chitin seven three has no opposition emily cornhouser wins her two one does have opposition brian campion who's running for bennington senate there is opposition as there is for becca ballant in running for senate in windham county one of the things with becca that we're going to be watching very closely is the prediction is she will become the first woman in out lgbtq plus president pro tem of the vermont senate so we're going to be watching those closely two other races to watch chitin tin six seven taylor small and in chitin tin ten amber quinn amber oh i thought it was amber i'm sorry ember quinn thank you have the potential of being our first openly transgender member of the vermont legislature and as taylor said in your interview they could be the fifth and six members of a state legislature on a national basis so yeah we're going to be watching closely taylor also mentioned kaya morris no kisha ram sorry it's okay kisha ram who looking at numbers could be the first woman of color to serve in the vermont senate right so our trivia question wow catchy title catchy name in vermont it might have been in wooster it might have stood for women of the woods a lesbian social group and they may have done an annual always a bridesmaid and there are photographs so with that i think we should move on towards the election and always resist


Thank you very much for coming, you came in the morning, you have shown commitment, this is the commitment that we need, and we have successfully filed a deal, it's not only me, this is not just about Shifataira, it's about all of us, so for the successful filing in of nomination, can we give ourselves that? Without you, it wouldn't have been possible, because of you, I managed to file in the nomination, and you must know, it must be in each one of us's mind, it must be in each one of us's mind, that this campaign is not about Shifataira alone, no, it's not about Shifataira alone, this campaign is all for us. It's for us, once we win this, it will not be my victory alone, it will be a victory for all of us who are here, and the people of Kavwata, nimi wuza, people will be watching what will be happening in Kavwata. I can assure you that people will be watching what will be happening in Kavwata and in parliament, Nizambu Ngaimirila, so Nizambu Onatizu Onan, our member of parliament has stood up to represent us, because that's what a member of parliament is all about, is about representing the people that voted for him. I know other members of parliament who have come before, they have done their part, and we commend them, we commend them, especially for me, I think given them that they did a good job, isn't it? Let's give them a good hand, give them a good job, and now it's asked to continue from where he left. Now what is going to happen is that the campaign has not yet opened, we have found it successfully, but the campaign has not yet opened. The campaign opens at 15 hours when they finish the nominations, once they finish, then the campaign will be declared officially open. But tomorrow we will go to Civic Centre again to go and draw a program of how we are going to be campaigning, because the ECZ and the police, they don't want a situation whereby we decide to go in challenging market or at challenging ground, and the UPND or the PF are also there, you clash. So, tomorrow's meeting is important because we sort of like agree. Idea aso nasot zanka lau. Idea aso naso awa wa zanka lau, so that you don't do what you don't clash. But I also want to emphasise that for us as the economic and equity part, people who are supporting Chilipatayari, please na papa. Let us not engage in any form of confrontation. Nikamba confrontation, I've not even spoken about violence. You see what I mean? Because confrontation can't guide a child. If somebody says, no, Tayari no wa feki, what, what, what, what. You know what? You don't have to fight with those people. You don't have to. It's not necessary. I don't want anyone to get physical confrontation because of Chilipatayari. For us, let us be peaceful. You have seen our symbol. Our symbol is the lamb. The lamb, kambeleri, kankosa. That is our symbol. I didn't choose that symbol for fun. I chose that symbol after a long thought process. A long thought process. A lamb does not fight. A lamb doesn't fight. A lamb sacrifices itself. A lamb is peaceful. And this is what we want. This is how we are going to conduct this campaign. I stood as mayor, not even one day did I engage in any physical confrontation with people. I don't. I don't insult.  No. We have no business to talk about other candidates. We have no business manbeleri. We have no business to talk about other candidates. We have no business. Our business is to talk about what we are going to do. That is our business. Talk about your candidate. Don't talk about Dany. We don't need that. We don't need that. That is not our campaign. Our campaign is talking about Chilipatayari. Talk about Chilipatayari. Tell people Chilipatayari is a man that is able to stand and represent you. Chilipatayari is going to represent not only the people of Kawwati. What you are doing, you people, you are actually giving this country, somebody that will represent it, through you. A lot of people will benefit. People that don't even stand in Kawwati. With what I do, I'm sure those of you who follow me on social media, how many people have I helped? Many. But when I even become a member of family, it will even be bigger. And a lot of people that will benefit, not only the people of Kawwati, but of course my allegiance is to Kawwati. That is my allegiance. You are my parents.  But I know other people will also benefit. So please let's do what we can to do a civilized campaign that the way we conducted ourselves today at the nomination, we conducted ourselves very well. That is how we are going to continue and campaign. We have high chances in Kawwati. We have high chances in Kawwati. We are going to win this one. This one is ours. This one is ours. This one is ours.


Stop dealing with them. Stop worrying about the triggerings that they bring and just try not to deal with them at all.