No Parking On The Dance Floor

Join Joseph as he sits down with his Bison Fam, the world-famous experience curator and DJ Mr. Trye (IF IT AIN'T TRYFE IT AIN'T RIGHT!) to discuss the importance of the club within the lives of Black Queer Men. Find Tryfe on IG @mrtyfe. Find Joseph on IG/X/Threads @josephtheythem and on Buesky @josephtheythem.bsky.social. Email your praise reports and prayer requests to [e-mail] so we can shout you out on the show! HELLA BLACK, HELLA QUEER, HELLA CHRISTIAN is an iHeart podcast apart of the Outspoken! Network which seeks to amplify LGBTQ voice in podcasting. Please Like, Comment, Share, Rate and Subscribe!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hella, Black Hella Queer. Hello Christian is a production of
iHeart podcast on the Outspoken Network, which seeks to amplify
LGBTQ voices in podcasting. Show me how good is going
to get today? God, dear Universe, you have permission to

(00:21):
amaze me today. I am a beautiful and blessed being
who deserves great things always. I love my life and
I am thankful for my life. I am safe and
I have everything I need. Something amazing is happening for
me today. Show me how good is going to get today. God,

(00:42):
dear Universe, you have permission to amaze me today. I
am a beautiful and blessed being who deserves great things always.
I love my life and I am thankful for my life.
I am safe and I have everything I need. Something
amazing is happening for me today. Show me how good

(01:02):
is gonna get today? God, Dear Universe, you have permission
to amaze me today. I am a beautiful and blessed
being who deserves great things always. I love my life
and I am thankful for my life. I am safe
and I have everything I need. Something amazing is happening

(01:23):
for me today.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Hello, Family, Friends, Saints, eight's and don't wanna bees. My
name is Joseph Rees. I am the host and creator
of Hella Black, Hello, Queer, Hello Christian, a fully black,
fully queer, fully human, fully divide podcast around society, culture,
and other fresh fried niggashit I feel like talking about
with my dope ass friends. So let's go on and

(01:47):
get into these church announcements. You all will probably hear
this a little bit later in the year, But today
is Monday, June the ninth, twenty twenty five, and as
we were going through through our day, we thought it
was going to be just a regular Monday, recovering from
World Pride, and then we got news that a legend

(02:10):
left us. An architect of music and architect of black
music and architect of funk, fly Stone of Flying the
Family Stone passed away at eighty two years old today
at the time of this recording, gave us hits like
everyday people, thank you for letting me be myself today
be myself Again, which was sampled by Janet Jackson I

(02:33):
believe for the Janet album for the song if Everybody
is a Star, dance to the music. I mean, we
can really just go on and on as far as
the impact that he had. Fly high and fly free slide.
May you know the rest, the peace and the joy
in this next life that alluded you so much during

(02:55):
this one. Thank you for giving us your genius and
letting everyday people know we can make it if we try.
That we are all stars who have a right to stand,
and when this world tries to get us down, all
we need to do is sing a simple song and
keep dancing to the music. Enter into the great family

(03:15):
of affair, where joy will never end. Amen in our shame.
Safe travel sly. We're gonna pause for a second, but
don't go too far more of this conversation.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
When we come back. You're listening to Hella Black, Hella Queer. Hello, Christian,

(03:53):
I'm looking in the vegetabule and I think we got
a visitor that's trying to come in.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
So come on in. Let the people know who you
are what you want them to know.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Hey, Joseph, I am DJ Trif, better known by some
people that if it ain't right, if it ain't Trife,
it ain't it ain't right.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
I hail from the great.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
State of Texas, and I ended up in DC by
way of our illustrious Howard University.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, okay, so out feeling the rest because they're being modest.
I don't know how this mass is going to add
up because they were only two at the time and
I was only five. But seventeen years ago, summer two
thousand and eight, fall two thousand and eight, we both
landed at the Mecca Howard University during an exciting time

(04:51):
where we were trying to elect this senator from Chicago
with a funny sounded name to the president of the
United State. We dared to believe that he could be
the first black president, and we dared to believe, and
we dared to believe, and we dared to believe until
one Tuesday night that November it actually happened, and Trice stepped.

(05:16):
They pulled Trice up on stage and.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Try, Oh my goodness, I now know what you're discussing,
and we're talking. You were talking about election night. Yes,
Barack Obama was elected. The audacity of hope really is
what made me think about that. But we were in
Blackburn Auditorium. And this is such a weird thing because

(05:40):
it explains how I'm such a preacher's kid and I
grew up in the church because you just never really
leave it.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
I have no idea how I ended up in the
big room.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
I know that maybe four or five of the major
news networks were all there covering. They were doing coverage
kind of like election night, an election night covering.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
And right before I.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Guess was it right before right after, someone handed me
a microphone.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
It was like, we need to pray.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
It was Melic. If I was Melic, it was Melick Thomas.
It was Melock Tom, Melick Thomas.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
I was this eighteen year old boy from Texas, this country,
little kid, and I have no idea why he handed
me that microphone and we prayed.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
Over the United States. Howard University.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
One of those that was That was an interesting night
to bring that up how we met.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Because that's what I remember. And then I think kind
of like what kind of like would have had you
kind of like in that scope, is I you were?
You were? I think you were part of HGC by
that time, Howard Gospel Quiet.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yes, I probably weeks.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
In, so you were probably kind of like in that
religious life space. But anyway, you got pulled up and
you prayed us on in and just kind of knew
you from then and then of course you're time being
an Ra and Drew and then I just remember, and
this kind of ties into what we'll be talking about tonight.
I hear Calvinder started DJing because that's how we knew you,

(07:19):
and then DJ Trif and I'll never forget. I think
it was it's where Thirst is now before it was
Thirst and you spun like this bounced mix of Anita
Baker and.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
It wait, so I DJ at that building. It was
like an Asian restaurant child.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
That building was so many things before it became Thirst.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
So yeah, that's such a full circle moment.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
And I'll tell you about that later, but that that's
really crazy, but.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
You know to forward to it now. I mean, we
are talking to a gentleman who stood on the same
stage as Beyonce and Kamala Harris for VP Harris's you
know Texas Rally, someone who has seriously been around the

(08:14):
world and has just really such a metamorphosis and such
a transformation. And I'm just really glad that you know,
to be able to come in and talk to them,
you know, as my as my friend and I can
say with Patti LaBelle said at one time, and it's
a quote that I take with friends like this, I'll
never go broke. So and I mean, okay, so audience congregation,

(08:38):
you all will hear this a little bit later, but
we are recording the Monday after World Pride is kind
of starting to finally wind down. I know, for me,
it was a blast my first summer in d C.
So my first summer experience in DC's Pride season was

(09:00):
twenty eleven. So this makes my fourteenth sum experience in
like DC's Pride season. I have never seen DC be
alive and packed like it was this past weekend.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
I can say that just kind of seeing the city
this weekend in spite of what's going on down there
down Pennsylvania Avenue. As a young as a young child
coming to DC who was unsure of himself, who didn't
know anything, who didn't know who he was or have
an idea of who he wanted to be. I never
saw myself being disengaged in pride. I never saw myself

(09:34):
being in front of pride or being, you know, face
of it.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
In some sense.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
And I just never saw myself celebrating and gallivanting down
the streets of the District of Columbia in celebration for
a community that I didn't know I was even a
part of, or didn't want to accept being a part
of that entire journey from coming here, coming here in eighteen.

(10:00):
Seeing this now, it's just something that you almost can't
even pray for. It's something that you couldn't have dreamt,
you know, it was we never I guess I can
only speak for myself, but I never saw you know,
the White House celebrating Pride, or you know, they're being
huge parades in the streets, or even a thing called
World Pride where they're just going all over the world

(10:22):
celebrating the gays. Like that's crazy. I'm very happy to
see it. I'm very happy that there are younger generations
who are growing up. You know, you see kids in
the parades, and it's like, this is the only world
that they will ever know, is that we're just here
celebrating people and we're having a great time.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
And I think that's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Same and then I mean, it even speaks to cause
when we came to d C. Okay, when we came
to d C, Nellie's was a white ball. The black
girls did not go to Nellie's. And to even see
how that space has transformed in ways we can celebrate
it in ways that need to be critiqued. And then I

(11:02):
remember a time where it really was as far as
d C. You did Black Pride Weekend and Black Pride Weekend,
the white gays always made their mass exodus to Rahobe
with Beach. It would just be a very interesting case
study if someone would just kind of like really delve
into how race politics play out within the LGBTQ community

(11:26):
during Memorial Day weekend and to see how there's still
some of that, but to see, you know, where we've come.
I mean seventeen years. I mean that's a high school graduate,
but still seventeen years goes like that. So it's been
a minute, but you know it's also been a reasonably
short amount of time as well. The ice done been broken.

(11:48):
But I will just ask the question, just to ask
the question before we get into our main conversation, because
you know, as I was sharing during our church announce
to be lost slashed stone today, So that kind of
got me to thinking, what's the celebrity death that really
impacted you? And if that hasn't happened yet, what is
a celebrity death where it's kind of like Okay, when

(12:09):
this person goes like, y'all going to kind of have
to check on me.

Speaker 4 (12:13):
I have a.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Weird relationship to celebrities and art. I try my hardest
to and I think I do a pretty good job
to separate the artists from their art, and so the
human being and that person is just I let them
be them and in their own spaces.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
And so I said, I preface that.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
To say that I try not to get too emotionally
attached to the actual person because we don't know them,
and I feel like it's a little weird. So I
say that to say that we will always have their art,
and so I don't really see a celebrity death that's
going to kind of take me out, and there hasn't
been one that's taken me out. But as long as
we still have the discography, as long as we still

(12:55):
have the things that they created, I.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
Think I'll be okay.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
I don't mind going back listening to a project multiple
times of watching the movie. I think the thing that
would really take me out is if someone just like
hit the delete button on like Beyonce's disography or like
Stevie Wonder's disography, or you know, if we really lost
that that would probably send me like y'all would have

(13:20):
to come check on me if I couldn't listen to.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
R and B anymore, like I will probably be in trouble.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's fair. And I mean, even
with that, it's kind of like when the person physically
leaves or physically dies, like through their music, we're able to,
you know, keep them alive and like keep their spirit
within the physical realm. But I will say February twenty,
twenty twelve, twenty twelve, I was sitting in the eye

(13:53):
lab oh dang, and the report and it's Grammy Weekend,
uh huh. And the reports come.

Speaker 4 (14:03):
Out and no one wants to believe it.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Whitney Houston has died. And it's kind of like at first,
she kind of like girl, y'all, y'all, especially the tabloids,
y'all been killing Whitney for the past five years, so
it's kind of like, okay. And then it even kind
of like came out where there was kind of like
this response where like, oh, no, it's a hoax, But
then people were like, no, that tweet is from weeks ago,

(14:29):
and then the Associated Press finally confirmed it, you know,
that that she actually had passed. That was that was
sad for me, because even though we separate the art
from the artist, I really feel like Whitney was one
of those where like people were really kind of like
pulling for her to like really make it this time

(14:50):
and really kind of like get over her demons. And
then another one. So New York City prior two thousand
and nine, I had just come home for my first
year of Howard. It's the Thursday leading into New York
City Prize, So I volunteered with an organization called the
Autiloyd Project in Brooklyn, which did like LGBTQ advocacy. So

(15:15):
we were kind of like getting kissed together and we
were packing getting ready to do some events. It starts
to come across the radio, Michael Jackson has died. Kind
of like we Whitney, y'all been trying to kill that
man for years. So we were just like until the
Associated Press says something, we not, we're not gonna believe it,
and then Associated Press confirmed it, and I just remember

(15:39):
going to take a walk and the bar, just about
every bar, every restaurant just started playing his music.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
I do remember that it was probably for I want
to say, like the rest of it was like that
was late summer, right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Well, no, it was the beginning. It was the beginning
of the summer because.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
It was you you I say, I want to say
for the rest of that year, like most parties, whether
you were hip hop parties, dance idiom, your DJ worked
in a couple of Michael Jackson songs. Just had to
have a couple of Michael records because.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
It's Michael Jackson. And then I can say, and it's
kind of like I'm starting to prepare myself because because
they're getting up there, they have more behind them than
what they do ahead of them. But when Patty and
Diana go, y'all gonna have to check on me for real,
y'all gonna have to check on me. So those are

(16:39):
my two And with that, I think we can get
into the word. I think we can actually get into
the main conversation. So the name of this week's episode
is no parking on the dance floor. And I really
wanted to celebrate the nightlife and what the club has
meant for a black gay men, particularly as a sanctuary.

(17:03):
And I'm particularly thinking during those days of those early
days of the HIV AIDS pandemic when it was really
kind of like raging. The club really was where we
found community, and particularly if you want to talk about
how a lot of the messages that were coming from
our churches were condemning and were telling us that we

(17:25):
deserved this plague and we deserved to die, and the
way that black gay men were dying was consequence of
our quote unquote sinful lifestyle. The dance floor really became
an organizing space and a sanctuary for people, and it's
changed over the years because anything that's living is going

(17:46):
to change, but it's also stayed the same. So definitely wanted,
you know, to have Trife here, you know, as one
of you know, the leading kind of like influencers and
shapers of curators of that space. So the first question
I want to ask you, and I'll also respond, but

(18:07):
I'll let you go first because you're a guest and
I have manners. But the first question I want to
ask is a two parter, and is what was your
first club in general? And then what was your first
gay club?

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Well, well, well, well, my very very first club and
the first gay club I went to actually shared the
same parking lot and it made for a great way
to slip in between. There was this club in Dallas, Texas,
downtown Dallas, Texas.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
It was called.

Speaker 5 (18:43):
Club Blue, who they changed the name of Circu later on,
but it was called Club Blue, right downtown, next door
to the Majestic Theater, and like it was the thing
that you wanted to be at.

Speaker 4 (18:56):
And I remember I had some friends who.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
Worked in the radio station who I meant through church,
you know, my friends at church who worked at the
radio station, and they was able to get.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
Us into the club.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
I still needed some type of ID, so I took
my brother, my older brother's ID, and I went.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
To the club and I just remember walking in there.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
And this was back when they were this is the
two thousands, but this is.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
When they were still moving in the club, when it.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Was weird to be to not be sweating, like when
you did not wear your like it was common that
you don't wear your nice shoes to the club because
you are going to be dancing. I remember going in
there trying to go to the bar, and I had
no idea what was going on behind the ball. I
had never really had alcohol, and so I was just
ordering stuff that I saw on TV.

Speaker 4 (19:42):
And I was just like, can I get an incredible hulk?

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Oh girl?

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Oh, I guess that's why people are drinking the club,
want to get a love.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
I mean, if we're talking about the early two thousands, yes,
that's what you did.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, I'm gonna get a you know, little hypnotic at Alise,
Like that's the.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Girls lost sex on the beach.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
Three wise men, you know, that's what they were drinking
back then, the Tokyo teas, like those weird cocktails, and
I just remember being in there and like it just
felt like walking into a different world. The clubs then
were so euphoric in the sense of like people were
just there to interact. They were there to meet people,

(20:22):
they were there to speak to people.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
Like the charade of I'm better than y'all was not.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
A part of that of the club space. So it
was just a great time. It was very black, it
was very get old. My parents would have had a
big if they found out I was in there. But
I think it was a great introduction to the club,
and I think it was a great thing for me
to remember in the sense of it was community and
it was just people having a good time. My first

(20:51):
gay club was called elm and Pearl, and Elm and
Pearl was on the corner of Elm and Pearl, so
it was like the gay club here was this big
parking lot, the hood club was right here, and then
there was like another college age club Elm and Pearl.
I you know, back then, especially in the South, black

(21:13):
gay spaces were holes in the wall, like they did
not want those type of people in the good parts
of the city, or they just couldn't afford. You know,
that community just didn't you get it, So they were
holes in the walls. But that's fine. I remember I
walked into Elm and Pearl, and anybody who's been to Dallas,
Texas nos Elm and Pearl.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
It's now closed. They had I went to the bar
and they had two drinks behind the bar, justp.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
They had this pink drink called pussy Punch, and they
had a blue drink called ball Busters, and if you
mix them together, it was a royal fuck. And I
remember this was back when the gay clubs had the
shows first, and I was so scared because I had
never been I'm the church boy. I had never been
around so many like gay people, let alone drag queens

(22:00):
and like studs and just anything and everything.

Speaker 4 (22:05):
That was that is now what it's commonly around me.
What was so foreign to me.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
I was so scared and back then, you know, they
did the shows first, so you know. And I remember
one of the dances back then her name was bow
Legs and she had this little dance she did. I
remember watching her just being in so like just pure amazement,
like because the illusions, you know, the illusions in the
gay club are from the stage to the patrons. The

(22:31):
illusions are something to be talked about. But walking into
Elmin Pearl, I remember I was in a parking lot
when I went outside, so I needed a break, and
I remember seeing a car of like really gay guys
getting out and they had that bathroom body works what
was the Japanese spray and I remember them spraying and
his homewok was like this, this is so feminine. Yes, yes,

(22:53):
and I was like, but it was. It was sensory overload.
I'm very happy for my friends who took me to
that place, and even my straight homeboy at the time,
he was like, bro, I'm gonna go with you. Like
I hadn't even told my family and stuff, but he
was like, We're gonna go in here and we're.

Speaker 4 (23:09):
Gonna go have a good time.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
And you know, you don't need to be uncomfortable, you
don't need to be scared about seeing people you may know,
because you know, that was a big thing back then too,
people seeing you in the club. But those are my
two experiences.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
I think.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
I think it's hilarious that they were they shared the
same parking lot. I love the letout because I could
go to Elmin Pearl and then if I see friends
in the parking lot, I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, I
was in the club, but y'all, y'all don't see me.
It gave me that, you know, ability to hide.

Speaker 4 (23:39):
So it was it was really cool.

Speaker 3 (23:40):
It was a it was a great experience. Shout out
to those two clubs, Dallas Gyms.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Okay, So I came up in New York. So and
my first club was when we moved to upstate New
York because there would help this little town called Elevant,
New York, Oulster County by Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and they used
to do like this little teen night on Fridays at

(24:09):
this spot called the Brownstone. So that was kind of
like my first club, my first gay club. So we're
talking summer of two thousand and four. I'm nineteen years old.
I had just graduated from high school and that August
I went to my first Pride in the city. So

(24:32):
there was this black HIV AID service agency called People
of Color in Crisis. They were based out of Brooklyn,
and every August, like that first weekend of August, they
would do an event called Pride in the city and
it would be like a Black Caribbean Pride Weekend. And

(24:54):
I'll never forget because because that first year I went,
they did an advanced of Noah's Arc before it got
to logo, before the first season, but that I'll never forget.
I got into town that Thursday night and I stayed
with my sister out in Long Island for the weekend.
So I'm taking the Long Island Railroad into the city

(25:16):
and I go to this club on East one hundred
and twenty second Street in Harlem called the Clubhouse. It
was a club by night, and it was karate studio
by day, and from from like two to four was
like the hip hop dance club, and then from four

(25:38):
the club part ended and then it turned into a
ball so like from four to seven it would be
a ball and you know, I even think like that's
important to bring up because I mean, in kind of
like this post pos world, everybody wants to be a
part of a house, everybody wants to walk ball room.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
I mean, let's let's really talk about that, because if
you were black, and if you grew up in the South,
that you one hundred percent know that if like being
gay was one thing, but being a part of ballroom,
you were also shunned for that, like and within our
own community put ballroom people down.

Speaker 4 (26:13):
And like I think.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
One of the biggest like shakers to be which made
me fall in love with the ballroom community even more,
is that when I got to d C, especially on campus,
like you were hanging out with people and you had
people who you thought you was just friends with.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
And then you come to find out they're one of
these huge figures like internationally known ballroom and it's like,
when did.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
You have time to do all of this? Why didn't
you tell me?

Speaker 3 (26:39):
And a lot of people I think from from that
time you just didn't say it.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
Not it wasn't that they were ashamed of it, it
was just it was just something.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
You think, but it looked it was looked down upon.
It was and I mean, and I mean even for
me coming up with New York coming out in the
early two thousands as a black gay man, it was
like you either wanted to be a homo sug or
you wanted to be one of those professional black gay
men that looked like you stepped right out of an
Elin Harris novel. So I mean, now, it's cool and

(27:10):
it's cute to be a part of ballroom and to
be in the house, but I remember the time it
was stigmatized and it was looked down on to be
a part of the ballroom.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
Community, you know.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
And that's the thing with legendary and polls like, I
think it's beautiful that we were able to platform and
finally shine some light parts of our community that historically have.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
Not had that.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
I think the other good things that have come from
that is that people understand how ballroom got started and
why it got started. And I think when you start
to understand the why and how, you start to look
at ballroom differently. And I think outside of it being
platformed on television and on reality TV, I think people

(27:55):
especially through stories like that like that were told on
polls show you that this this was a community that
came together and created their own home because the rest
of y'all kicked them out. And then you look at
it as it's not this degenerate, but it's this ingenious
community that was able to create not just you know,

(28:19):
a place to call home, but they created hierarchy, They
created family, they created fashion, they created dances, they created music,
they created words in the English language, like all of
these things, slang that is used today, all of these
things came from this beautiful community. And most people don't
even know. If you if you talk to some black people,

(28:40):
they'll tell you, oh, this is just Southern Black women slang.
And it's like, no, your grandma was not saying read
and shame, no trey, no slag. No, your granny was
not saying that she was So where did you? Where
did your mama get it?

Speaker 5 (28:57):
From?

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Black gay men and black trans women?

Speaker 3 (29:00):
And you know, honestly, I will probably put black trans
women first and then us because it really, I mean
a lot a lot of that language came from their
type community of themselves, and it bled out into the gays,
the black gay men, and then the broader gay community.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
I mean, I mean even how we as as black
gay men use the term butch queen that came from
that came from ball room.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
And how like if someone had called me a butcher crane,
I'll be ready to throw, I'll be ready to fight.

Speaker 4 (29:30):
And now if someone caused.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Me, I'll be like, thank you, thanks for sticking with
hella black, hella queer, Hello Christian. Okay, So let me
ask this, and I think we already kind of alluded

(29:53):
to it, so we can just kind of like flesh
it out more. What was your religious upbringing? What were
you taught about the club in general? And then what
were you taught about sexuality?

Speaker 3 (30:05):
So I am a child caught between a couple of religions.
My mother is a preacher uh in Christianity and Baptists
growing up in the South. My father practice practices Santa
Ria like the Yoruba religion, and he's he's he was

(30:26):
a Baba lao, so a very high priest for those
who don't know that.

Speaker 4 (30:30):
My grandmother is Lutheran.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
So I grew up, I grew up amongst a lot
of different religions and a lot of different spiritualities, and
I was told by my Christian side that everything that
my dad's side was like. They didn't want to speak
bad on it because my dad, but it was just like,
you know, this is God. And as far as my
upbringing when it comes to sexuality and homosexuality, I grew

(30:55):
up in the Black Church, so it was a very
much don't ask, don't tell. I think everyone I can
say as a grown man that they obviously knew then.
And I was celebrated for the parts of me that
they loved, my art. I was celebrated for my work, ethic,
my ability to get shit done. But I was never

(31:18):
allowed to fully express myself, to fully be myself because
that's a little bit too far. So I mean today
I say I'm more spiritual, and I think you know
what really got me, Joseph is when I got to Howard,
I took a class. It was a religion class. I
don't know if you took this class, but it was
the history of religion. And in this class sits down

(31:43):
and it basically just chronologes like all religions and how
all of them share all these different common angles and
common storylines, how basically everything is being adapted and readapted
from like this Egyptian religion from the Sun god horse,
and it's like if you look at just that and
everything that's preceded it, a lot of those stories have

(32:04):
been recycled and resold and repackaged for control and for.

Speaker 4 (32:09):
Use, but not to go on that bad wagon.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
So I have a I have a very mixed relationship
with religion, and just because of how it was used
to oppress me growing up on one side, and then
how now I just I still see it as that
as a as a means to like oppress and control people.

Speaker 4 (32:29):
I do believe there's good in all religions.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
I think that does it does push humanity to do better.
That's the premise of most religion is hey for humans
to do better. But you know, I gotta love hate
relationship with it, especially as my upbringing was so oppressive.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
And then so what were you taught about the club?
So was that what were you kind of like raised
to believe that, you know, going to just going to
the club period was like sinful and raw.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
No no, no, my mom, my mom and I and my
family's progressive. So when they my mom spoke about the club,
it was just one of those things that like be safe,
you know, have a good time, don't get drunk, you know,
don't do drugs.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
My parents were okay with me going out having fun.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
And I believe my mother knew I was going to the
clubs high school and she was okay with it. I
think her thing was are your grades done? Is the
kitchen clean? Is your bathroom and your room clean?

Speaker 4 (33:28):
Is your homework?

Speaker 3 (33:29):
You know, like that's what she was really concerned with.
If I had all that done, she was okay with
me part of it. Another thing when it comes to
the club is my grandfather owned the club, So my
mom can't really you know, preach too heavy on that
with her father own two clubs.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Like come on, and then for me and I mean
especially if we think about the way I showed up
in regards to my faith when we met, people probably
think I came out the womb speaking and tongues and
shouting and pop. People probably think, like I grew up Pentecostal.
I didn't. I grew up I grew up Presbyterian. So

(34:12):
but we were but we were black Presbyterian. Yeah, so
we were presbyter So like we didn't full out shout,
but like growing up like I definitely we sang like
Kurt Franklin and Fred Hammond.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah, and that's really what what I like when it
comes to churches, people like this this, I'm like, what
is the music good?

Speaker 4 (34:36):
Like it's right, because that's that's what it's saying.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
And then you know, I also bring it up to say,
you know, I wasn't raised a kind of like a
strict kind of like practice of Christianity because you know,
we had dinner. My church had dinner dancers. So like
the men's ministry would do a dinner dance, the women's
ministry would do a dinner dance. There would be a
dinner dance.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
So what's what's the dinner dance?

Speaker 2 (34:59):
So so son, So dinner dance, you come, you're actually
served dinner, you're served to sit down dinner, and then
like closer to the end of the night, there's a
DJ that comes out and they play music and it
wouldn't just be gospel, they play secular music and you
dance and there there'd be a bar. So I was

(35:20):
really raised very liberal in regards to that.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
Uh huh okay.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
So so yeah, so we didn't. I wasn't really raised
in kind of like that repressive environment that you know,
a lot of other people dealt with.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
You know, and you know, I do want to kind
of clarify because when I say oppressive, I don't mean like.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
I was.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
I mean they are oppressive in the sense of being gay,
Like they oppressed those parts of me, but they weren't.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
They did allow people to live and like do their thing.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
I think, you know, in that case, it just was
the sense of you're allowed to be yourself and have fun, to.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Go out and and and even as you shared your story,
I saw a lot of my story because like they
appreciated my gifts, they appreciated I get up and speak well,
but it was still very clear that there was this
thing that was wrong with me that needed to be
fixed and I needed to get And then, of course,
you know, my father was a part of my life,

(36:21):
but he wasn't in the home, so I was primarily
raised by women. So it was like, you need to
get around more men to help you become a man,
and and and and things of that nature. So I
can definitely relate to what you were sharing. And then
because you kind of you kind of already shared where
you are now in regards to sexuality, faith in the club,

(36:43):
so we can move to the next question, the last
question before we engage in our rapid fire, and I
would say, how how do you feel about non queer
people in queer spaces? And then is there still an
need sports for specifically gay specifically black clubs to exist?

Speaker 3 (37:06):
How do I feel about nine gay people in our spaces?
I don't have a problem with people coming into our spaces,
but as with any space that you go into that
you are a guest, you need to act a fuck accordingly.
And I really think it just comes down it's really
that simple. As for me going into churches. If I
going to somebody's church, I am going to be respective

(37:28):
of their customs because this is their house and this
is how they want to do their thing. Now when
y'all come over here with us, please be respectful, like
we are not here for your entertainment.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
We are not you know.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
I think the one sticking point that I probably don't love,
and I'm not gonna say I dislike it, I don't
love is like the bachelorette parties, like come in and girl,
what you're doing here?

Speaker 4 (37:53):
Like people in here trying to get chose and trying.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
To be gay when they can't be gay nowhere else
Like they're trying to ship ad. They just try to
have a cocktail and like they're not here to clack
their fans for your Instagram. So I think, and I don't.
I don't want to like single out just only Bachette parties.
And that's why I started with the effect of if
you are in someone else's house, just please act like

(38:18):
you got some sense. Come in here and have a
good time and go home. You don't need to make
yourself the center of attention. You are the center of attention.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
Elsewhere in the world, wherever you, whoever.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
You are, because it may not be you know that
one demographic I was speaking of, But whoever you are,
if this ain't for you, just come in here and
let us have the light and let us let us
be comfortable and do our thing. The other thing you
mentioned was do I think our spaces are needed? It's
kind of full circle to you, to you. So when
Thirst got ready to open, so I have a consulting

(38:50):
company and I partner with Thirst, and I help them
build out all their musical programming, booking all the DJs
and just kind of sonically.

Speaker 4 (38:56):
Defining what that place sounds like.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
So they came to me originally, I want to say,
about three months before they opened, asked me to be
a part of the project. It's like a resident DJ
or it's to some effect and full disclosure.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
At the time, my father was on hospice and I
just my life was really chaotic.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
And I sat there and I told them people, I said,
don't waste your.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Money or your time on opening up punk bar. You're
gonna lose your money.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
I told them that three times, like, we sat down
multiple times, and I was like, I don't know why.
So then Brandon and Sean we were sitting at bus
Boys right up fourteen, and they were like, they didn't
tell me where Thirst was at the time. They didn't
tell me we were right up the street. They were
just like, hey, come have dinner with us. And so
I sat down with them and they were like, hey,

(39:46):
once you come see the space and just think about
it again, you know, just think about it. And I
was like, okay, cool, I'll.

Speaker 4 (39:56):
I'll go see it.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
So I walked in, I saw the space and I'm like, okay, cool,
we'll figure So let's let's let's let me think about
me marinate on it. I'll help get this going. The
very first night we opened, it was the very first
time that I ever saw that many different demographics of

(40:18):
our community in one room in a very very long time.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
I saw the ballroom girls, I.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Saw the educated, you know, the Howard butch queen's eyes.
I saw lesbians. I saw our trans girlies like.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
I most people.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
If you if you haven't partied in DC listening, you
know you don't.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
You may not know this, but DC is very segregated.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
And that's like amongst the gay community, the black community,
and it's segregated based on like money.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
There are different like different demographics.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
There's a lot of things that segregate us within our community.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
So we just don't hang together.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
And for the past ten years of me DJing, I
specifically leaned into that and helped create that divisive community.
And so it was my first time seeing all of
us in one space, like I just hadn't seen that.
And you know, when we were coming up, if you
were to go to the gay spaces, you may have

(41:19):
seen our trends and our ballroom girls and are out
with the gay friends, but you didn't see a lot
of your gay friends that you that you saw on campus.

Speaker 4 (41:26):
They wasn't going to those spaces, so it was just
this huge intersection of us.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
And in that very moment is when I realized that
this is way bigger than me, Like this is this
is way bigger than me, this this is.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
This is about our community.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
This is about using music to bring us all back together.
So you asked me that I am living that and
I am using my talent and energy.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
Every day every week to.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Make and affirm a space for us. And so I
do think these spaces are important. I do think that
we need them. I think we need multiple options of them.
I think we need them in every city. I think
it is time for everybody, not just the gays, but
everybody to have communities for themselves and places where we
all come together and inter and inter intermixed, but we

(42:18):
we we It is time for us.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
To have our spaces.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
And I think the demographics, the financial access that black
people are starting to gain, the gays are starting to gain,
it's setting us up and it's putting us in places
to make those dreams come true, like Brandon and Sean
did at.

Speaker 4 (42:34):
Thirst here in d C.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
And I will say the building of Thirst and the
design of Thirst and the artistry that you see in
Thirst is such a love letter to black l g
P t Q people.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
And did you also know that all of that there,
if you see pictures of buildings and the bathrooms and
the random hallways, those are all pictures of the black
gay spaces that came before them in DC. So they're
honored as well as the divas.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Oh Man, shout out to the mill, shout out to
Delta Elite, the fireplace, the fireplace which is for better
or worse, the fireplaces, the last temptation standing kind of
like outside of that era.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Thanks for sticking with Hella Black, Hella Queer.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
Hello, Christian, I think we can move into our benediction
rapid fire. So I'm just gonna ask about seven questions
and whatever possing to your mind. That's what you should share.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
Okay, what are you looking forward to the rest of
this summer?

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to I turned forty this summer,
so I what I turned forty next month, so I'm excited,
thank you. Yes, I'm hoping I can catch Kendrick. I
want to catch Beyonce when she comes into town. So yeah, yes,
I'm looking forward to it. What is one thing you

(44:14):
like about yourself.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
I love that I tend to always be smiler, for
good or for worse.

Speaker 4 (44:21):
I'm always smiling, and I love that. I love that
about me.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
I think it radiates really good energy, and I think
it attracts people to want to be around me, and
I love that about myself.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
I was gonna say the same thing because I was
looking at some photos of like some Facebook memories of myself,
and it was like, despite what may be going on
in here, at least outwardly, I consistently radiate joy and
I'm really excited. I admire that about myself. Where are
you a year from today, I hope.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
A year from today, I am just getting done with
the world tour.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
I see that for you. I absolutely see that.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
I hope that that is.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
I'm just getting done with a world tour with some
amazing artists, and I'm hoping for that to be my
next chapter.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
And then I'm thinking about it because we're coming out
of World Pride, and I'm like, see it. With the
various conferences and the panels that have happened over the
past couple of weeks, It's like there were too many
panels that happened that I should have been on stage four.
So I want to see a year from today, I
want to have some keynotes under my belt. I want

(45:36):
to have some panelists experiences under my belt, and hopefully,
you know this this podcast being the start of that,
and hopefully a year from now I will have been
able We'll be launching season two of this podcast. So
that's where I hope.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
To be yes.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
And maybe we could sit back down and do a
recap and see if we checked off all those goals
and be said was gonna.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
That would be cute. What are you saying?

Speaker 3 (46:00):
I am thankful for my my very close friends.

Speaker 4 (46:06):
You know, when you when you.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Were experiencing death in your family and you know, losing
a father, you don't realize how important those people are
that are standing right next to you and right around you.
So I'm very grateful and thankful for them.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
What about you?

Speaker 2 (46:23):
God is still God. God is still good. But it's
almost like twenty twenty five is one of those years,
like if I'm blessed to see December the thirty first,
it will definitely be one of those good riddance twenty
twenty five kind of years. Because with the.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
Political you have to take me out too, Okay.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
Yeah, and then you know, I'm one of the ones
whose employment was affected by the political climate. I was
very blessed from twenty twenty three to be a member
of the national staff for the NAACP. And they called
me in February and they were like, priorities are changing

(47:02):
at the organization. We thank you for your service and
your time, but we gotta let you go. So even
with this, like this is kind of like my bread
and butter. But it's kind of like to go from
getting having two streams of income to where you're getting
a check every week to kind of like going back
to square one where it's just that one check every
other week. It's been rough. But I bring this up

(47:25):
as my thankful because I made it to June the night.
So I'm thankful for that.

Speaker 4 (47:31):
Hello.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Hello, And I mean and even with what I lost,
I still laid it in a softer place than a
whole lot of other people, because there's a lot of
other people they got called in for that conversation at
their agency or their nonprofit and that was their soul
stream of income. Correct, So you know, I still had
something to fall back on, and I have something to

(47:54):
fall back on. You know, that's really created to my
passion and my purpose and my joy. So I'm thankful
for that. What are you proud of?

Speaker 4 (48:02):
How resilient I am?

Speaker 3 (48:04):
I am very proud that I get up and I
keep going. I get knocked down sometimes, I can look
down sometimes.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
But I get the fuck back up and I keep going,
and I'm proud of that. I am very proud of that.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
And when I look back at what I've accomplished this
past year to year and a half in spite of
all the things that I was carrying, I'm proud of
that resilience.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Well, I'm proud of I'm proud of the resistance that
I'm seeing and I'm proud and it's like I'm proud
of because and I mean, we say finally, but also
people really got the wind knocked out of them, and
I'm really proud to see that people are kind of
like getting themselves back together and resisting. What is a

(48:54):
thorn for you? What is something that annoys you, kind
of rubs you the wrong way?

Speaker 4 (48:59):
Our political.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Our political comment just is it's so frustrating, and I
think it's so frustrating. I want people to to get
out of the bubbles of the algorithm and the timeline
and to like wake up and do some research and

(49:22):
get upset, get active, and like realize that you too
are are impacted, you too are are in danger. I
that is really one of my biggest throws, Like even
right now, what's going on in LA and then how
you just see people at brunch in LA and it's

(49:44):
just like how can we how can we brunch when
like our military is being turned on us? And it
felt like that for me, even for World Pride, it's
just like like I want a party. I want to celebrate,
which I did, right, but I still it's like.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
There are people who were planning to come to World
Pride who didn't come because.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
They were scared.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
And then I believe there and and and because they
were coming from these from these international destinations, and it
was like if I get it, yeah, and then and
then it's also like even to your greater point, like
this whole particularly within Black American communities, like this whole
notion of well, we voted in November, we did what

(50:29):
we supposed to, We did what we were supposed to do,
so now we're just gonna sit this out. And it's
like I get it, and we should. We should well,
I would say we should not always have to put ourselves.

Speaker 4 (50:41):
On the front line.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
But at the same time, to think that we can
just put the covers over our head and just sit
out until twenty twenty six and just sit out, I
can't get with that.

Speaker 3 (50:53):
I'm halfway in between where you are and where I am.

Speaker 4 (50:59):
Is half way between them. This is what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
We have already did, did we We we salve the
whole Black Lives Matter movement. We're years from us getting
out and getting active.

Speaker 4 (51:11):
We led when it came to.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
This last election season, and it's just the majority in
this country has been very clear on what they want,
and you know, it is up to them to start
that change, to be the catalyst, because.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
It's we're we're we're tapped out over here.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
So once they're once they're out there, once they're once
they're on the front lines and they're upset about the
decisions that they made, then I will get behind them.
I'm not saying I'm sitting it out, and I'm not
advocating for anybody to sit it out, you know, as
a citizen, but I do think that we need to
wait and let the people who voted for this decide

(51:53):
they want change and when they want change, and when
they're ready to get out there first, I'll be coming
up the rear.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
He is to say, I think you'll be waiting a
long time.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
Well, and you know what, then, that's just kind of
what it is because going.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
To the voting the ballot box and marching in the streets.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
We've done that in the past two or three years
and that has not worked in our favor. So and
that's really where I'm done. I'm willing to protest. I'm
really peacefully marching protests, and I'm and I'm and go
vote like and I'm willing to advocate for people to
do that. I think anything past that is kind of asinine.
It's really insanity because we don't really hope. We're not

(52:34):
that big of a majority in this country, and so
until our fellow countrymen want to change this, we.

Speaker 4 (52:43):
Kind of stuck waiting for them to happen.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
I mean, our options are to leave right You don't
have to live here in the United States if you'll
want too. But as far as how this country is operated,
I think if we were to go out there right
now and get on the front lines, we will be
met with resistance and forced and we would not be
welcome with parties after the storm and the capitol. So

(53:07):
I just I'm kind of I'm kind of on a
waiting see list right now until we.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
But and no, I think that part of it is
fair as well. Now this is a little less serious
than what you offer. But my thorn, and let's be clear,
I'm an old way game, you know. I come from
the tower, payler bell and die in a row. So
I love me a good eyelash. But I went up
to the library today and there was these young girls

(53:35):
out there, and this younger generation of the girls with
these with these falsies. It's it's too far from me.
It's like, girl, how can you keep your eyes open
to even see?

Speaker 3 (53:48):
Okay, so, Mike, my sister, she's a few she's a
few years younger than me, and she loves she loves
the flood of the big fluffy fuffy and okay, you know,
I see it as a as an aesthetic, like think
of the nineties when the girls was shaving their eyebrows
off and just putting that pencil thing line like it was.

(54:11):
And I'm sure the Grandma's was like, girl, where is
your eyebrows?

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Baby?

Speaker 4 (54:15):
You don't cut all your eyebrows.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Off, you know.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
Now it's the big full brows. They want the brown
jail and they want the big full lash. I think
it's like their generational aesthetic. It's like when you see
millennials and skinny.

Speaker 4 (54:28):
Jeans or like.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
It's just that that's the new mom or dad jean.
It's a skinny jean. I think it's that, like, you know,
let the girlies do their thing.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
Okay, yes, and and and I'm but some of these girls,
y'all are too damn young to be wearing these damn wigs.

Speaker 3 (54:47):
How old do you even know these You don't even
know how old them babies are.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
Honey, you coming out of balloo three o'clock sophomore and
get their down stop it and it's.

Speaker 4 (55:02):
Okay, I'm with you. The full lace whigs in high
school is crazy.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
It is chaotic that you will be in a full
like lace wig that was designed for TV and theater
like andre like that's what you're in. Also, you know,
it's a form of expression. So if the girlies want
to wake up at six.

Speaker 4 (55:23):
Am to install their lace to be in school, then
you know, go for it.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
I kind of like it a little bit. It reminds
me of the Howard girlies. You remember the Howard Girls.
It could be a full blizzard in your seven am
class and you was pumping up the hill in full
cop for Catore because it's like, I don't care that
it's small, Like I'm still gonna be I'm still gonna
good in class.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
What gives you joy?

Speaker 3 (55:49):
Seeing other people have a like a U for release
in the club or while I'm DJing it.

Speaker 4 (55:55):
Honestly, that's that's how you can fill my cup up.

Speaker 3 (55:58):
It's like I know that, like these people are leaving
better than how they came in here, and that brings
me joy. I think of the club as church. It's
all the same same human experience. You come in here
broken and you leave it happy.

Speaker 4 (56:13):
That's the goal.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
So that really brings me joy just seeing people get that.
I think right now more than ever, people need a
little joy. So you know that that just really brings
me joy. And I think it's a blessing that I
get to bring people joy.

Speaker 4 (56:26):
For a living.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
This month is giving me joy and it's kind of
it's Pride month is Black music months it's about your birthday. Well,
next month it is about to be my birth it's
Caribbean Heritage months. And I don't know, Like the end
of May, I was kind of May. It was kind

(56:48):
of like math of me and I don't know. I
just woke up June first, and I just woke up
feeling lighter, and I don't know, and I just went
I went on my morning walked last Sunday, and it
was like DC had just woken up. There would like
neighborhood block parties. People were outside in sun dresses, and

(57:10):
it just felt like this real shift had happened.

Speaker 4 (57:13):
I felt that shift too.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
I the astrology girl that says, because you know, all
the big planets are changing signs, but moving into these
air signs and fire signs, So whatever it is, I
love it. And that's why another reason why I said
earlier I was excited about the summer because I was like,
I just feel like, this is gonna be a summer.

(57:35):
I don't know what's gonna happen, but it's just gonna
be a summer.

Speaker 4 (57:38):
A summer to remember what's giving you hope.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
The young girl generation, the one that's coming up the
rear right behind us the two thousands babies, because they
are just they are excited to like live and do
their own thing and be creative and be unique and
be gay, be straight, be whatever, be paying Like they're

(58:02):
just happy happy. They seem happier and maybe that's just
because you know they haven't lived, but that really gives
me hope.

Speaker 4 (58:11):
I think you mentioned being like being hearing people outside.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
I came home like the other day and I just
heard music and kids playing in the alley in the backyard,
and I was just like I love that.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
Yes, yeah, And then again, like this month and like
this part of the year is kind of like giving
me some hope, and I'm really hoping that this year
can kind of like be what they say about the
month's march. It came in like a lion, but it
goes out like a lamp. I like, Okay, so, well, congratulations,

(58:46):
you survived the rapid fire. Let the people know how
they can find you. If you want to be found.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
I only want to be found by people who want
to go look at If you want to find me,
you can find me on Instagram at mister Trice.

Speaker 4 (59:00):
That's a t R y f E.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Okay, So before we let you go. Is there anything
we can pray for you around?

Speaker 3 (59:09):
Yes, I have some really big projects coming up, and
you know I was talking about this tour thing, so
you know, I just pray, pray, pray for my prayers.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
Okay, we are back, Well we will do that once again.
We want to thank you so much for coming today,
give us a moment and we will be right back
for closing prayer or coming and just sharing their expertise
and their experiences with me. So we are going to
close out with a word of prayer, and I want
to remind you all as always, please if you have

(59:43):
any prayer requests, please feel free to send it to
Joseph Reeves and reads a spelled R E A V
E s at iHeartMedia dot com. So once again that's
going to be Joseph Freeze at iHeartMedia dot com. And
before we go into this time of prayer, I want
to actually share an experienceience because once again you all
will be getting this later in the year. But I'm

(01:00:05):
recording this the Monday after World Pride, and as I
was leaving the parade on Saturday, I saw this young
person who was proclaiming themselves to be delivered from the
experience of being a trans woman, and was just viewing
a lot of anti LGBTQ religious rhetoric for lack of

(01:00:32):
better wording, and my heart went out to that young person,
still goes out to that young person. I didn't engage
because my experience has been that those individuals aren't really
looking to have conversations. But in my heart, it was
just like, baby, I know you think you free, and
I know you think you're doing the right thing, but

(01:00:54):
you're really not. So I want to take this time
of prayer to lift that person up and also to
lift up the requests that Calvin DJ Trife excuse me
shared with us. So if you can get yourself in
a still place, get yourself in that still place. And
before we end our time together today, let's go to

(01:01:16):
God in prayer. Dear God, we love you, Dear Jesus,
we love you, precious and wonderful Holy Spirit. We love you.
And Dear God, we thank you in all few of
your persons for allowing us to see this moment, this time,
to have another week another episode of Hello Black, Hello Queer,

(01:01:40):
Hello Christian God. Thank you, thank you so much for
this platform, Thank you so much for blessing me with
this platform so that I could do my best, do
my part to be a beacon of hope. Thank you
for this episode. Thank you for DJ Trice, thank you
for their time, for their genius, for their creator tivity,

(01:02:00):
for their talent, for their gift, and just thank you
for another opportunity to have another dope conversation with a friend. God,
I'm asking that you touch that young person that I
saw on Saturday. God helped that young person to know
that we are all created in your image, including those
of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, all questioning. Lord,

(01:02:27):
be with Calvin, God, grant him the desires of your
heart in accordance to the goodness and the fullness of
your glory and your provision. Lord, be with us who
are suffering right now, who are making our ways through
this political climate the best way we can. God, give

(01:02:48):
us good night's rest, Let us find some community, let
us have some joy, let us have some good food,
and let us be able to gather again real soon.
All this I pray in your sweet and precious name, Jesus,
because Jesus, your name means so much to us. In
the name of Jesus the Christ. We pray. Amen, Amen

(01:03:09):
and amen. Well that was another episode of Hella Black, Hello, Queer,
Hello Christian. Once again, I am the host and creator
Joseph Freese. I am so thankful that you took time
to join us today. And if this show helps you
get through the week, if it's something that you look
forward to, please like, please comment, please share, please subscribe

(01:03:32):
on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your
favorite podcast, and just let a friend know and let's
keep this thing growing until the next time. Please know
that I love you very very very very much and
I hope you have a good day. Hello Black, Hello, Queer,
Hello Christian is a production of iHeartMedia on the Outspoken Slate,

(01:03:56):
which seeks to amplify LGBTQ voices in podcasting. I am
your host and executive creative producer Joseph Freese, along with
Gabrielle Collins, who also serves as executive producer. Dylan you
Are is a producer. Trevor is our lead producer and editor.