May 28, 2024 • 32 mins
In this episode, we sit down with Darrell Parsons, a licensed clinical social worker and the director of San Antonio's Fiesta Youth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ youth. We delve into the various challenges faced by young people in the LGBTQ+ community, including issues of acceptance at home and in society.
In honor of Pride Month, we also discuss the upcoming Riverside Pride Festival, taking place on June 8th at the Comal County Fairgrounds in New Braunfels. This informative conversation sheds light on the importance of mental health, the role of supportive parents, and the crucial services provided by Fiesta Youth, including their unique programs like LGBTQ prom and parent education meetings.
Tune in to learn more about how Fiesta Youth is making a difference and how you can get involved.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.
(00:14):
Podcast. On this episode, we spend time talking to Daryl Parsons,
licensed clinical social worker.
He's the director of San Antonio's Fiesta Youth, a nonprofit organization supporting LGBTQ plus youth.
We spend time talking about issues affecting young people in the LGBTQ plus
community, their acceptance at home and other issues they face in society.
(00:37):
And in honor of Pride Month, we talk about the Riverside Pride Festival,
June 8th at the Comal County Fairgrounds in New Braunfels. It's an informative conversation.
I've learned a lot, and I'm sure you will too.
Welcome to the podcast, Daryl Parsons, licensed clinical social worker from San Antonio.
We are talking to you today because, well, Pride Month is coming up for one
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thing, and you do a lot of work for the LGBTQ community, right?
Yes, I do. I've been doing it for quite a while, and I'm also a member of the community.
Okay. Well, let's talk a little bit about that. Now, in your practice,
do you deal specifically with youth or all ages or?
All ages. I work with youth ages 12 and up, and I also work with adults even into their 80s.
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I've had clients as old as those in their 80s.
And is it traditional then, are most of your clients then in the LGBTQ community or you do standard?
I provide therapy services to anybody who wants it. Anybody who needs it.
You know, we all need help every now and then, right?
Oh, yeah, that's true. And you know, I think it's actually becoming more and
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more accepted in society.
I think in general, it used to be kind of, there was a stigma attached to people
seeking therapy, right?
Oh, I would definitely agree. In fact, one of the reasons I got into this was
my mother struggled with Jin when I was growing up, but we didn't call it that.
She just had the blues, so to speak, and when she wasn't feeling well,
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she would just shut her bedroom door and stay in there.
Well, sure, and that's still, you know, depression, levels of depression anywhere
are very common, especially in as stressful of a society as we live in.
It's getting really bad for a lot of people, you know, especially in the LGBTQ.
Community, mental health statistics show that they struggle more than people
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in the, in the, just the normal mainstream community.
Sure. Sure. Yeah. And I have some statistics I'll share with you on that later
if you're, if you'd like.
Sure. Yeah. And when you talk about youth that have to deal with LGBTQ issues,
it's tougher for them because as you know,
High school age, junior high, you know, kids are struggling to find identity anyway.
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Absolutely. You know, and it's not just at the school that they're sometimes.
Well, their social, social pressure.
Well, even at the home, in the home. Some of these kids are coming from homes
that, well, being LGBT is just not okay.
You know, so they can't tell their parents. They can't tell anybody.
So they kind of feel lost and alone.
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Yeah, I can understand that. So you deal with situations like that, obviously.
How can you re-educate parents that, you know, it's a process and the child
has to figure out what's right for them?
Well, first of all, the parents have to be open to education.
Well, yeah, absolutely.
But in terms of like, say they're more conservative and they don't want to believe
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in that or don't want to accept it or have a hard time accepting it.
Is there an approach to reeducating them?
There is, you know, and like I say, they have to be open and willing to want to learn.
I get a lot of parents, I've had a lot of parents in the past that were just,
they're closed off to me.
You know, sometimes they just have to be told the truth. Well,
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this is who your child is. You may not like it, but this is who they are.
Do you want to have that child in your life? Because moving forward,
when they become adults, they're going to make a choice as to whether or not
they want to be in your life. because maybe you didn't give them support or not. Yeah, yeah.
Sometimes it comes down to that. We have a program in San Antonio called Fiesta
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Youth. It was founded back in 2013.
So that year, a mom was traveling back and forth to Austin to take her child
to a support group in Austin.
So in San Antonio, seventh largest city in the nation, there was nothing here
or nothing there for youth, to LGBT youth to go to and get support.
So she approached several members of the community, myself included,
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and we decided that, you know, it's time that we start our own program.
So back in 2013, the Fiesta Youth Organization was created.
And since then, it's probably served well over 5,000 youth that have come through
the doors. We provide Tuesday night programming.
We have a program for youth ages 12 to 18.
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They come in, they grab a snack, they say hi to their friends.
They do a welcome circle where everyone goes around and says their name and
preferred pronouns and so forth.
And then they have the activity, whatever that activity is for the evening.
Sometimes it's a guest speaker.
Sometimes it's just something fun like open mic night. That's probably one of the most popular.
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Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, the kids love that. And when I say open mic night,
they can get up there, they can talk about, they can talk comedy,
they can play an instrument, they can just do whatever they want, poetry and so forth.
This gives them a sense of belonging, a sense of community with their peers.
And it's an all volunteer run organization, except we do have two,
two youth facilitators that we do pay.
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But as far as everything else goes, it's all volunteer. here.
Fiesta Youth also provides parent education. We have a parent meeting the second
and fourth Tuesday of every month.
And that's where parents who are maybe supportive or maybe who are questioning,
maybe not sure what to do with their kids, they can come in.
They can listen to other parents' experience and they can sometimes gain knowledge that way.
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So you can talk about how do you educate the parents.
That's a great way to do it. Just have those parents come.
Fiesta Youth youth also participates in pride celebrations. And one of the things
that we offer is pretty unique. It's an LGBTQ prom.
Oh, really? Yeah, that's been happening for about seven years now.
And we have had kids come to this prom as far away as Corpus Christi, New Braunfels, Seguin.
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It's a lot of fun. I've actually chaperoned a couple of them myself.
And just to see the kids being able to dress however they want to dress,
bring whoever they want to bring to the prom, it's amazing. It just really lifts their spirits.
And that's something these kids need. Because, you know, these kids already
have the odds stacked against them. Absolutely. You know, they do.
And maybe it's not just at school. Sometimes, like I said, it's at home.
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Another thing Fiesta Youth provides is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week Discord service.
Oh, really? Yeah. So kids can get on the Discord server. I'm not too familiar
with that because I'm not of that age group that Discord was always considered
a bad word whenever I was growing up.
You know, there's a Discord and Dysparmony and so forth.
But yeah, the kids have that available to them and they really need it.
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You know, the statistics that are out there from the Trevor Project,
the Trevor Project is a nationwide suicide prevention organization that works
to prevent LGBTQ youth from committing suicide.
Why is that important? Because 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered
committing suicide in the past year. That is many times higher than their straight counterparts.
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56% of LGBTQ young people who wanted mental health care couldn't get it.
Why couldn't they get it sometimes their parents wouldn't take them to get mental health services.
Or other times you know they were afraid to come out and say mom dad i'm gay
can you can we go talk to a therapist about this yeah it's really hard for a
kid to do yeah so fiesta youth they don't provide therapy services but that
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peer support just having those just having that support there,
trim helps their mental health yeah i'm sure yeah oh another thing that fiesta
youth does too is uh We give out scholarships every year.
Oh, do you? Yep. And to date, we've given out over $65,000 in scholarships. Wow. That's terrific.
So it's a 501c then? It is a 501c3 nonprofit, yes. Okay. Cool.
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All right. So you said you had like 5,000 clients-ish, is that correct?
Fiesta Youth over the year since 2013. Oh, yeah. Through your history.
I would say that they probably had 5,000 kids come through the door.
Some of these are repeat attendees, but they do keep the numbers and so forth.
Yeah, I don't have the exact numbers, but I would say it's over 5,000.
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So how do you reach out to youth that may not be aware that the services are
available or that you guys are around?
Well, that's a great question. We reach out through the school districts,
and believe it or not. And are they pretty receptive to that? Absolutely.
You know, one of the things that Fiesta Youth also offers is a sensitivity training
program to educate people on LGBTQ issues.
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They offer this free of charge. And we've taken this program and we've presented
to the entire school district for the San Antonio Independent School District.
We have presented to the Alamo Heights Independent School District and Bernie
Independent School District right here in the Hill Country.
Terrific. Yeah. So we reach out that way. Of course, we have counselors in the
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community that also refer their clients and so forth. And word of mouth. Yeah.
That's important, too. Do you find, you said, you know, school districts are
pretty receptive to your services and to... Most have been. Yeah, to the issues.
But there's a lot of pushback in the state of Texas against more open-mindedness
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in schools, whether it's banning books or what types of courses are taught,
et cetera, et cetera. So you have some pushback on that, I'm sure. Sure.
Absolutely. You know, and it's being, the LGBTQ community is being demonized by politicians.
You know, it's a political ploy for certain people to try to get reelected.
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That's my opinion. But you know, it's interesting, you bring up the book thing.
If something comes to mind is the San Antonio Public Library System partners with Fiesta Youth.
In fact, we've given them thousands of dollars to buy LGBTQ themed books or
books authored by LGBTQ writers.
And there are probably about 650 titles that you can get through the San Antonio
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Public Library system that revolve around LGBTQ issues, you know,
and these are not graphic.
Novels. Like some people like to say, well, if you do that, it's like putting
pornography in the libraries and that's ridiculous.
Yeah. And I was going to say that type of thing is not a form of indoctrination,
which is a big fear, of course. Correct.
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One of the books you'll find in the public library system that she asked the
youth purchased is called Stonewall.
Stonewall is the history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement,
which basically started at a bar named Stonewall in New York City.
That was back in 1968, 69.
The police would regularly raid this bar and they would arrest the people who
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were dancing with members of the same sex and so forth. And they would take them to jail.
There were no equal rights back then. Well, the people at this bar got sick and tired of it.
And one night they decided to have a riot and they actually locked And they
locked the police officers in that club.
And that was called the Stonewall Uprising, which now it's remembered through
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pride celebrations that are held every June in cities across the United States.
So, you know, pride didn't start as a parade.
It actually started as an uprising, as a rebellion.
Wow. That's, yeah, that's an interesting piece of history there.
I know I'm kind of getting sidetracked. You're going from the library system
to that. No, I find it fascinating.
(12:16):
So it's the Stonewall Uprising. Stonewall Uprising. So Google that, kids.
Maybe you can learn more about it. Read the book, Stonewall.
It's an amazing book. It really is. Yeah, it sounds pretty interesting.
Okay, so then I suppose there's a degree of, at least with some parents that
are opposed or just don't understand what their children are going through,
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if they're finding themselves that at some point, maybe, you know,
if you can just reach, get them to reach acceptance on some level,
that makes a huge difference, right?
Yeah, and quite honestly, I think that there are a lot more supportive parents
out there than we know about.
Yeah, I agree with that. You know, when somebody in your family.
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You can you can look outside and see gay people whatever and you may have an opinion of them,
maybe it's a positive one maybe it's not but when somebody in your own family comes out to you,
the dynamics change yeah absolutely sure this is my kid you know am i going
to accept my child or am i going to reject my child do i unconditionally love
my child or are there conditions that i place on my love of my child and i'm
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sure most parents would say they unconditionally love their their You know,
I've had some that at first, maybe they were not opposed,
but just uneducated and uncertain of what that meant for their child.
But they decided to go and learn for themselves. A lot of them attended the
Fiesta Youth Parents Group and learned from other parents, you know,
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what it's like to be LGBTQ and how to be supportive.
Yeah, maybe to some degree, it's almost like the stages of grief,
you know, where at first you don't want to believe it, and then eventually it
evolves into acceptance, and then moving on, you know? No, that's a very good point.
Yeah. The acceptance stage is the final stage. And I hope all parents can get
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to that stage because chances are their child is not going to change.
You know, you can listen to all sorts of voices out there telling you why it's
wrong, but why is it wrong?
What is so wrong that LGBT people?
People are doing? What are they doing wrong? I can, I don't know an answer to that question.
Well, it's been an issue that's probably been misunderstood.
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I mean, you know, for centuries, there's been a gay community,
not history, all of world history, right? Absolutely.
Absolutely. It's nothing new. Right. It's nothing, you know, here's the problem.
I think the pushback you're seeing against the LGBT community is because we're
actually gaining equal rights.
We're gaining the exact same rights that everybody
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else has the LGBTQ community has not
always had equal rights that's why we have pride celebrations you know
I hear some people straight people say why don't we have straight pride I'm
like well you've been able to be proud of yourself for your entire life yeah
LGBT people they haven't been able to be proud because they were told that it's
wrong that it's bad you know that you shouldn't be that way well it is okay
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to be that way because that's how we were born.
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Right, right. so forth. Is it, do you think some conservatives maybe,
they perceive it as flaunting in public, perhaps?
Does that make sense? I don't want to offend anybody.
You know, not like with old top cliche displays.
Most of the gay people that I know, I wouldn't know by looking at them or seeing
them walk down the street, what their sexuality is, you know?
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You know, and I'll just say it. Yes, there are some people that attend pride
festivals. Maybe they take it a little too far. Maybe they are over the top.
But, you know, they're just being themselves. Yeah, I realize it's a celebration. Yeah.
I've been to some concerts, though, where there's been plenty of straight people,
and they're taking their clothes off right there.
You know, so. Absolutely. Probably had a little too much to drink, I'm assuming.
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Sure. You know, but, yeah, there has been that. Like, why do you have to flaunt
it? Why do you have to push in our face?
Right. I think that's on a lot of other issues, not just sexuality issues,
too, but that some of the conservative Bible thumpers are afraid of.
You know, it's like, why do you have to flaunt it? Why do you have to shove it in my face?
Like drag shows, for example, or, you know, and I think that's how they that's how they feel about.
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We're not putting drag shows in their face unless they actually attend a drag show.
Well, of course not. If you don't like drag, don't go to a drag show.
Right, right. You know, it's like if I don't want to go to a Baptist church,
I'm not going to go to a Baptist church, right?
Nothing against the Baptist, of course, but I'm just using that as an example.
Well, yeah, yeah, absolutely. If you don't, you know, if you don't want an abortion,
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don't have an abortion. Yeah, if you don't want a gay marriage, don't get one.
So it's not like we're pushing stuff in people's face
i think they use that as a as a as
an excuse but you know that's what i mean yeah i go i you know
my husband and i we go down to the river walk quite often and we see straight
people kissing and sometimes making out down there they're not pushing our face
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they're they're doing public displays of affection which i'm not a big fan of
but you know they're not kissing in front of us because they're saying saying,
look at us, we're straight,
and we're going to kiss in front of you, you know? Yeah, you're absolutely right.
They're just kissing each other, you know? You're right about that.
How many people give their loved ones a kiss when they drop them off at the airport?
Every single one that I've known. Is that shoving at anybody's face?
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No. I mean, yeah, you know, there's considered, what is considered an acceptable
display and what might be a little over the top, whether you're gay or straight
or whatever, it doesn't matter, but... It's called...
Expressing your affection for the person you love there you
go you know that's what it is i give my husband a
kiss just like a straight couple would give
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each other a kiss whenever they're saying hello goodbye yeah there's nothing
wrong with that sure perfectly natural yeah as far as other things that your
organization that you work with and that is transgender youth i know I know
you probably run into even more pushback,
and I think there's a lot of misconception in the public about what is involved
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in that whole thing, right?
Like an 11-year-old kid, 11-year-old boy is going to go to their parents and
say, you know what? I think I'm a girl.
They're not just going to go to the doctor and then go, okay,
well, we'll start giving you hormones and yada, yada, yada.
There's a whole process to that whole thing, and there's a lot of therapy involved.
I mean, it's not an overnight thing.
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You're absolutely right. There is a process involved.
So I think a lot of parents and some of that pushback is that they just don't
understand what all is involved. And it does start with therapy.
You need to go and talk to a therapist about this.
You know, if you're having feelings that your brain isn't matching your body,
you know, your body may show that you're male, but your brain is thinking female.
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You go to a therapist. You talk about this and a therapist isn't going to just
say to the kid, yep, you're transgender, you need to be a girl or you need to be a boy.
You know, they were assigned, people were assigned a certain gender at birth
and most people, you know, will probably identify as cisgender.
Cisgender means you're comfortable with the gender you were assigned at birth,
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but sometimes, you know, there's a gray area. It's not just black and white.
No, nothing is black and white when it comes to gender. Transgender term is
an umbrella term, first of all. And there's, you know, there's people who are
non-binary, people who are maybe have, you know, they know that they're in the
wrong body. So what do they do?
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You know, they did nothing before because there wasn't treatment available.
So when a kid comes to me, I talk to them, you know, and if they've already
come up to their parents about this, I talk to the parents about this. I explain the process.
You know, the kid may want to say, well, I need to change today.
And I'm like, well, you know, you're going to have to learn a little patience
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because that's not how it works. Walk us through the process a little bit.
Yeah. So you need to go to therapy. You need to talk to a therapist about your
feelings. Why are you having these feelings?
You know, where's it coming from? How long have you felt this way, et cetera, et cetera.
And then you need to come up with a plan. You know, if the kid feels like they
need to do something because, you know, it's really affecting them mentally,
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then you talk to the parents about that.
Usually the first thing that I would recommend, you know, if the parents are
on board with this is puberty blockers, you know, so if a kid's going into puberty,
there is something that a doctor can prescribe and it's a puberty blockers.
It basically just It just puts a pause on everything.
The hormones that they're struggling with won't continue. It's just gonna put a pause on everything.
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Down the road, if they realize that, hey, you know what, maybe this isn't the
path I wanna be on, you just stop the puberty blockers.
Yeah, that's something that's probably not understood very often. It's not. It's not.
In fact, unfortunately, doctors can't do that anymore because here in the state
of Texas, our enlightened state senator, I guess, that you all have here,
what's her name, Donna Campbell, who happens to be a physician herself, she got it all wrong.
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She introduced a bill, SB 14, that I think it was SB 14.
I could be wrong. It could be SB 12, but it doesn't matter.
She authored and introduced a bill that effectively stops treatment for trans
kids here in the state of Texas under the age of 18.
So they can no longer get this treatment. It's against the law.
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Now, the problem is her, first of all, because she's a physician.
However, the American Medical Association tells us that it's okay to provide
these services to trans kids if they meet a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
Sure that this is the correct way to treat kids and
there's a there's a program a plan in place to treat kids
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the american pediatrics association they
disagree with the senator as well they say that
best practices you treat these kids with gender dysphoria you know and unfortunately
that is not the case though and i've had instances where i've been working with
families and they were on puberty blockers or some were actually on hormones
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and now they're just taken away and And that's not healthy to just,
when you start a procedure or a medication of any type, you shouldn't just stop it.
You know, doctors will tell you that that's not wise.
A lot of these families are leaving Texas.
They're going to blue states where it is allowed. You know, and that's a shame.
Yeah, it is a shame. It really is. I mean, here these families are having to
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uproot everything and leave because they can't get the health care services
that they need for their child.
So when you mentioned, you know, they start out with therapy and maybe puberty
blockers, they're not going to actually be transitioned until they're 18.
Correct. So that that's another common misconception, I think. Correct.
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There's not a physician out there that I know of that would ever do gender confirming
surgery, gender affirming.
Affirming, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, here's the deal. Why is legislation like this being introduced?
Dues because legislation like this, nearly one in three LGBTQ young people said
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their mental health was poor most of the time or always due to anti-LGBTQ policies and legislation.
So legislation is driving mental health issues, not in a good way.
Without a doubt, yeah. In a negative way. Why are these politicians proposing
bills like that? Because it's politics.
That's why. They found a base, maybe the base that you were talking about earlier
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with the religious groups and so forth.
They found a base that likes these anti-LGBTQ groups.
Legislation, and they will get
out there and they will vote for these candidates who are proposing it.
Who, because of their own personal beliefs, want to impose those beliefs on everyone else.
Yeah. And personally, I mean, I can't prove this, but I think some of these
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politicians, I don't think they actually believe what they're proposing.
They are doing it because they don't want to lose their job.
Yeah, you're absolutely right. They need to lose their job.
They're not fixing problems, they're making them worse. Term limits, anybody.
Well, because when you think about it, Adam, if you don't treat mental health
early on in a kid's life, if you don't give them something to work with that's
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going to help them, what happens to them in adulthood?
Do they turn to alcohol and drugs to deal with their mental health?
Yes. Do they become homeless?
Yes. Do they become members of gangs?
Maybe. Yes, if they're accepted and so forth. So we're not fixing anything by
proposing anti-LGBTQ laws.
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We're actually creating something
that's going to happen when those kids transition into adulthood.
Yeah. Well, sure. And like with some laws that are passed on based on what might
be feel good legislation, then it creates a whole new set of problems.
And sometimes they have to walk it back or, you know, make adjustments and they
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just don't think it through or look at all. I mean, of course,
it's probably impossible to look at all the.
Possible ramifications of some legislation, but.
You know, another crazy thing about that Senate Bill 14 that stops mental health
treatment or any sort of treatment for transgender kids is the Governor Abbott,
he sent out a letter stating that physicians,
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mental health workers, medical providers need to be turned in if they are caught providing services.
But he also took that one step further and said, if you know of anybody,
you are, as a citizen, you are going to be required to turn them in too.
So if you know your neighbor is getting some sort of health services for their trans kid.
(26:36):
Oh, you gotta be kidding. You don't turn them in, you're in trouble too.
And you know what that reminds me of? It's like the anti-abortion law.
Well, yeah, but you know what else it reminds me of is, you know,
this may be a stretch, but But back in World War II, Nazi Germany,
people were required to turn their neighbors in if they were hiding Jewish people.
You know, is there a difference?
(26:59):
Semantics, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't even aware that there was that aspect of the law.
But that's pretty sad. I don't think it's being enforced, to be honest with you.
Well, sure. Sure. And I think a lot of it depends on the cities or the communities,
the counties, I guess, on whether or not they want to enforce it.
(27:20):
That's true. And how maybe on the books, but I guess.
But there's a lot of conservative law enforcement out there,
too, that probably looking for an excuse.
But how are you going to track something like that? I mean, that's,
you know, there's first of all, there's HIPAA laws that protect medical information.
Right. So how would they even know? No, that's just it.
It's a law that it's not meant to be enforced. It's just meant to score points.
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It's meant to score political points and votes.
But see, the voters, sometimes they don't realize that. They don't realize that
they're being used as pawns, maybe.
Yeah, they're throwing these things out there, but they're not enforceable.
And the other sad thing is, you know, are the people who don't vote,
you know, how many people out there support LGBTQ equality?
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Quite a huge number. In fact, it's over 75% that agree that two people of the
same sex should be allowed to marry.
Yet that is potentially going to be threatened with the makeup of the Supreme
Court should it ever get to the Supreme Court.
We have a couple justices there that said they would like to overturn the marriage
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equality that happened back in a few years back. People need to vote.
Yeah, that's an underlying message of every episode of our podcast so far.
And that's one of the big issues, especially here in Texas, is non-voting.
We're a non-voting state. Mm-hmm.
Okay well daryl i know uh you were mentioning something we were talking about
(28:50):
the san antonio library was that the school library system or just the public
san antonio public library system is uh okay across all of bear county okay
and you were saying that it was the largest.
So it is the only the only the only partnership of its kind in the state of
texas no other public library system in the state of texas partners with an
(29:14):
lgbtq youth organization,
to provide this, you know, and you think about that. Why is that important?
Because now people are out there wanting to ban books.
They're wanting to ban educational books. You know, like I mentioned,
we're not, they're not putting, you know, graphic pornographic novels in the library.
These are books about the history of the LGBT movement, you know,
(29:38):
stories about people who have overcome, you know, being afraid of coming out
and being who they are, you know, and this This is a resource for people to go to.
Instead of denying people access to educational resources, we're providing it
here in our library system. And they're legit, healthy discussions. They're not how-to.
(30:00):
Absolutely. There is no how-to guide. Right, right. Yeah.
Okay. Well, you know, I know we can get a lot more information.
We've got the Pride Festival coming up June 8th in New Braunfels.
June 8th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and your organization will be out there?
Yes, Fiesta Youth will be there. Stop by. We'll have some brochures to hand
out, ways you can access our services.
(30:23):
We'll give out some freebies like fans because it's probably going to be a hot
day, so you want to stop by and at least grab one of those fans.
And we also hand out flags, and the flags are a huge hit.
They're the little flags, and they're the rainbow flags, they're the progressive
flags. There's flags for the transgender community and anything else that a
person may identify with.
(30:43):
So they're free of charge coming by. Yeah. And anybody that wants to learn more
about the community or whatever, straight or not, they can come out. Certainly welcome.
Absolutely. I'll be there to answer any questions anybody has.
Terrific. You mean you're productive members of society?
Well, believe it or not, yes, we are. And so are all LGBT people. They really are.
(31:05):
We're out there, we're not going away, and we're not hurting anybody.
At the end of the day, what we really want is we just want to be left alone.
Oh, yeah. Just like everybody else. Yeah.
Nobody's nobody. You're not forcing anybody to join your ranks or anything.
You're not trying to corrupt people or we're minding our own business and we
want our politicians to mind their own business as well. Well,
(31:28):
that makes perfect sense.
And that's a great way to wrap up this discussion, Daryl.
Appreciate you spending time with us today. It's been a pleasure.
Tell us again how we can get a hold and find out more about your organization?
Yes. If you want to check out Fiesta Youth, it's fiesta-youth.org.
(31:50):
Okay. That's fiesta-youth.org.
Hyphen, not dash. Well, yeah, dash. Dash, hyphen. Yeah. Okay.
All right. Well, thanks again, Daryl. It's been a real pleasure and hopefully we'll talk to you soon.
Thank you, Adam. Your family, your pure vote.
Conversations from the Hill Country
is a production of the Kamal County Democratic Party, Precinct 204.
(32:14):
Precinct Chair and Podcast Director, Teresa Patrick.
Deputy Chair and Podcast Executive Producer, Donna Kelter.
Music provided by John Mullane. Online at j-o-n-m-u-l-l-a-n-e.bank.
Music.
Music.
(00:14):
Podcast. On this episode, we spend time talking to Daryl Parsons,
licensed clinical social worker.
He's the director of San Antonio's Fiesta Youth, a nonprofit organization supporting LGBTQ plus youth.
We spend time talking about issues affecting young people in the LGBTQ plus
community, their acceptance at home and other issues they face in society.
(00:37):
And in honor of Pride Month, we talk about the Riverside Pride Festival,
June 8th at the Comal County Fairgrounds in New Braunfels. It's an informative conversation.
I've learned a lot, and I'm sure you will too.
Welcome to the podcast, Daryl Parsons, licensed clinical social worker from San Antonio.
We are talking to you today because, well, Pride Month is coming up for one
(01:01):
thing, and you do a lot of work for the LGBTQ community, right?
Yes, I do. I've been doing it for quite a while, and I'm also a member of the community.
Okay. Well, let's talk a little bit about that. Now, in your practice,
do you deal specifically with youth or all ages or?
All ages. I work with youth ages 12 and up, and I also work with adults even into their 80s.
(01:24):
I've had clients as old as those in their 80s.
And is it traditional then, are most of your clients then in the LGBTQ community or you do standard?
I provide therapy services to anybody who wants it. Anybody who needs it.
You know, we all need help every now and then, right?
Oh, yeah, that's true. And you know, I think it's actually becoming more and
(01:46):
more accepted in society.
I think in general, it used to be kind of, there was a stigma attached to people
seeking therapy, right?
Oh, I would definitely agree. In fact, one of the reasons I got into this was
my mother struggled with Jin when I was growing up, but we didn't call it that.
She just had the blues, so to speak, and when she wasn't feeling well,
(02:08):
she would just shut her bedroom door and stay in there.
Well, sure, and that's still, you know, depression, levels of depression anywhere
are very common, especially in as stressful of a society as we live in.
It's getting really bad for a lot of people, you know, especially in the LGBTQ.
Community, mental health statistics show that they struggle more than people
(02:29):
in the, in the, just the normal mainstream community.
Sure. Sure. Yeah. And I have some statistics I'll share with you on that later
if you're, if you'd like.
Sure. Yeah. And when you talk about youth that have to deal with LGBTQ issues,
it's tougher for them because as you know,
High school age, junior high, you know, kids are struggling to find identity anyway.
(02:51):
Absolutely. You know, and it's not just at the school that they're sometimes.
Well, their social, social pressure.
Well, even at the home, in the home. Some of these kids are coming from homes
that, well, being LGBT is just not okay.
You know, so they can't tell their parents. They can't tell anybody.
So they kind of feel lost and alone.
(03:13):
Yeah, I can understand that. So you deal with situations like that, obviously.
How can you re-educate parents that, you know, it's a process and the child
has to figure out what's right for them?
Well, first of all, the parents have to be open to education.
Well, yeah, absolutely.
But in terms of like, say they're more conservative and they don't want to believe
(03:37):
in that or don't want to accept it or have a hard time accepting it.
Is there an approach to reeducating them?
There is, you know, and like I say, they have to be open and willing to want to learn.
I get a lot of parents, I've had a lot of parents in the past that were just,
they're closed off to me.
You know, sometimes they just have to be told the truth. Well,
(03:57):
this is who your child is. You may not like it, but this is who they are.
Do you want to have that child in your life? Because moving forward,
when they become adults, they're going to make a choice as to whether or not
they want to be in your life. because maybe you didn't give them support or not. Yeah, yeah.
Sometimes it comes down to that. We have a program in San Antonio called Fiesta
(04:20):
Youth. It was founded back in 2013.
So that year, a mom was traveling back and forth to Austin to take her child
to a support group in Austin.
So in San Antonio, seventh largest city in the nation, there was nothing here
or nothing there for youth, to LGBT youth to go to and get support.
So she approached several members of the community, myself included,
(04:43):
and we decided that, you know, it's time that we start our own program.
So back in 2013, the Fiesta Youth Organization was created.
And since then, it's probably served well over 5,000 youth that have come through
the doors. We provide Tuesday night programming.
We have a program for youth ages 12 to 18.
(05:03):
They come in, they grab a snack, they say hi to their friends.
They do a welcome circle where everyone goes around and says their name and
preferred pronouns and so forth.
And then they have the activity, whatever that activity is for the evening.
Sometimes it's a guest speaker.
Sometimes it's just something fun like open mic night. That's probably one of the most popular.
(05:26):
Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, the kids love that. And when I say open mic night,
they can get up there, they can talk about, they can talk comedy,
they can play an instrument, they can just do whatever they want, poetry and so forth.
This gives them a sense of belonging, a sense of community with their peers.
And it's an all volunteer run organization, except we do have two,
two youth facilitators that we do pay.
(05:47):
But as far as everything else goes, it's all volunteer. here.
Fiesta Youth also provides parent education. We have a parent meeting the second
and fourth Tuesday of every month.
And that's where parents who are maybe supportive or maybe who are questioning,
maybe not sure what to do with their kids, they can come in.
They can listen to other parents' experience and they can sometimes gain knowledge that way.
(06:10):
So you can talk about how do you educate the parents.
That's a great way to do it. Just have those parents come.
Fiesta Youth youth also participates in pride celebrations. And one of the things
that we offer is pretty unique. It's an LGBTQ prom.
Oh, really? Yeah, that's been happening for about seven years now.
And we have had kids come to this prom as far away as Corpus Christi, New Braunfels, Seguin.
(06:38):
It's a lot of fun. I've actually chaperoned a couple of them myself.
And just to see the kids being able to dress however they want to dress,
bring whoever they want to bring to the prom, it's amazing. It just really lifts their spirits.
And that's something these kids need. Because, you know, these kids already
have the odds stacked against them. Absolutely. You know, they do.
And maybe it's not just at school. Sometimes, like I said, it's at home.
(07:01):
Another thing Fiesta Youth provides is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week Discord service.
Oh, really? Yeah. So kids can get on the Discord server. I'm not too familiar
with that because I'm not of that age group that Discord was always considered
a bad word whenever I was growing up.
You know, there's a Discord and Dysparmony and so forth.
But yeah, the kids have that available to them and they really need it.
(07:23):
You know, the statistics that are out there from the Trevor Project,
the Trevor Project is a nationwide suicide prevention organization that works
to prevent LGBTQ youth from committing suicide.
Why is that important? Because 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered
committing suicide in the past year. That is many times higher than their straight counterparts.
(07:50):
56% of LGBTQ young people who wanted mental health care couldn't get it.
Why couldn't they get it sometimes their parents wouldn't take them to get mental health services.
Or other times you know they were afraid to come out and say mom dad i'm gay
can you can we go talk to a therapist about this yeah it's really hard for a
kid to do yeah so fiesta youth they don't provide therapy services but that
(08:14):
peer support just having those just having that support there,
trim helps their mental health yeah i'm sure yeah oh another thing that fiesta
youth does too is uh We give out scholarships every year.
Oh, do you? Yep. And to date, we've given out over $65,000 in scholarships. Wow. That's terrific.
So it's a 501c then? It is a 501c3 nonprofit, yes. Okay. Cool.
(08:38):
All right. So you said you had like 5,000 clients-ish, is that correct?
Fiesta Youth over the year since 2013. Oh, yeah. Through your history.
I would say that they probably had 5,000 kids come through the door.
Some of these are repeat attendees, but they do keep the numbers and so forth.
Yeah, I don't have the exact numbers, but I would say it's over 5,000.
(09:00):
So how do you reach out to youth that may not be aware that the services are
available or that you guys are around?
Well, that's a great question. We reach out through the school districts,
and believe it or not. And are they pretty receptive to that? Absolutely.
You know, one of the things that Fiesta Youth also offers is a sensitivity training
program to educate people on LGBTQ issues.
(09:22):
They offer this free of charge. And we've taken this program and we've presented
to the entire school district for the San Antonio Independent School District.
We have presented to the Alamo Heights Independent School District and Bernie
Independent School District right here in the Hill Country.
Terrific. Yeah. So we reach out that way. Of course, we have counselors in the
(09:44):
community that also refer their clients and so forth. And word of mouth. Yeah.
That's important, too. Do you find, you said, you know, school districts are
pretty receptive to your services and to... Most have been. Yeah, to the issues.
But there's a lot of pushback in the state of Texas against more open-mindedness
(10:04):
in schools, whether it's banning books or what types of courses are taught,
et cetera, et cetera. So you have some pushback on that, I'm sure. Sure.
Absolutely. You know, and it's being, the LGBTQ community is being demonized by politicians.
You know, it's a political ploy for certain people to try to get reelected.
(10:24):
That's my opinion. But you know, it's interesting, you bring up the book thing.
If something comes to mind is the San Antonio Public Library System partners with Fiesta Youth.
In fact, we've given them thousands of dollars to buy LGBTQ themed books or
books authored by LGBTQ writers.
And there are probably about 650 titles that you can get through the San Antonio
(10:47):
Public Library system that revolve around LGBTQ issues, you know,
and these are not graphic.
Novels. Like some people like to say, well, if you do that, it's like putting
pornography in the libraries and that's ridiculous.
Yeah. And I was going to say that type of thing is not a form of indoctrination,
which is a big fear, of course. Correct.
(11:09):
One of the books you'll find in the public library system that she asked the
youth purchased is called Stonewall.
Stonewall is the history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement,
which basically started at a bar named Stonewall in New York City.
That was back in 1968, 69.
The police would regularly raid this bar and they would arrest the people who
(11:33):
were dancing with members of the same sex and so forth. And they would take them to jail.
There were no equal rights back then. Well, the people at this bar got sick and tired of it.
And one night they decided to have a riot and they actually locked And they
locked the police officers in that club.
And that was called the Stonewall Uprising, which now it's remembered through
(11:55):
pride celebrations that are held every June in cities across the United States.
So, you know, pride didn't start as a parade.
It actually started as an uprising, as a rebellion.
Wow. That's, yeah, that's an interesting piece of history there.
I know I'm kind of getting sidetracked. You're going from the library system
to that. No, I find it fascinating.
(12:16):
So it's the Stonewall Uprising. Stonewall Uprising. So Google that, kids.
Maybe you can learn more about it. Read the book, Stonewall.
It's an amazing book. It really is. Yeah, it sounds pretty interesting.
Okay, so then I suppose there's a degree of, at least with some parents that
are opposed or just don't understand what their children are going through,
(12:37):
if they're finding themselves that at some point, maybe, you know,
if you can just reach, get them to reach acceptance on some level,
that makes a huge difference, right?
Yeah, and quite honestly, I think that there are a lot more supportive parents
out there than we know about.
Yeah, I agree with that. You know, when somebody in your family.
(12:57):
You can you can look outside and see gay people whatever and you may have an opinion of them,
maybe it's a positive one maybe it's not but when somebody in your own family comes out to you,
the dynamics change yeah absolutely sure this is my kid you know am i going
to accept my child or am i going to reject my child do i unconditionally love
my child or are there conditions that i place on my love of my child and i'm
(13:23):
sure most parents would say they unconditionally love their their You know,
I've had some that at first, maybe they were not opposed,
but just uneducated and uncertain of what that meant for their child.
But they decided to go and learn for themselves. A lot of them attended the
Fiesta Youth Parents Group and learned from other parents, you know,
(13:44):
what it's like to be LGBTQ and how to be supportive.
Yeah, maybe to some degree, it's almost like the stages of grief,
you know, where at first you don't want to believe it, and then eventually it
evolves into acceptance, and then moving on, you know? No, that's a very good point.
Yeah. The acceptance stage is the final stage. And I hope all parents can get
(14:06):
to that stage because chances are their child is not going to change.
You know, you can listen to all sorts of voices out there telling you why it's
wrong, but why is it wrong?
What is so wrong that LGBT people?
People are doing? What are they doing wrong? I can, I don't know an answer to that question.
Well, it's been an issue that's probably been misunderstood.
(14:29):
I mean, you know, for centuries, there's been a gay community,
not history, all of world history, right? Absolutely.
Absolutely. It's nothing new. Right. It's nothing, you know, here's the problem.
I think the pushback you're seeing against the LGBT community is because we're
actually gaining equal rights.
We're gaining the exact same rights that everybody
(14:49):
else has the LGBTQ community has not
always had equal rights that's why we have pride celebrations you know
I hear some people straight people say why don't we have straight pride I'm
like well you've been able to be proud of yourself for your entire life yeah
LGBT people they haven't been able to be proud because they were told that it's
wrong that it's bad you know that you shouldn't be that way well it is okay
(15:13):
to be that way because that's how we were born.
(15:45):
Right, right. so forth. Is it, do you think some conservatives maybe,
they perceive it as flaunting in public, perhaps?
Does that make sense? I don't want to offend anybody.
You know, not like with old top cliche displays.
Most of the gay people that I know, I wouldn't know by looking at them or seeing
them walk down the street, what their sexuality is, you know?
(16:07):
You know, and I'll just say it. Yes, there are some people that attend pride
festivals. Maybe they take it a little too far. Maybe they are over the top.
But, you know, they're just being themselves. Yeah, I realize it's a celebration. Yeah.
I've been to some concerts, though, where there's been plenty of straight people,
and they're taking their clothes off right there.
You know, so. Absolutely. Probably had a little too much to drink, I'm assuming.
(16:29):
Sure. You know, but, yeah, there has been that. Like, why do you have to flaunt
it? Why do you have to push in our face?
Right. I think that's on a lot of other issues, not just sexuality issues,
too, but that some of the conservative Bible thumpers are afraid of.
You know, it's like, why do you have to flaunt it? Why do you have to shove it in my face?
Like drag shows, for example, or, you know, and I think that's how they that's how they feel about.
(16:57):
We're not putting drag shows in their face unless they actually attend a drag show.
Well, of course not. If you don't like drag, don't go to a drag show.
Right, right. You know, it's like if I don't want to go to a Baptist church,
I'm not going to go to a Baptist church, right?
Nothing against the Baptist, of course, but I'm just using that as an example.
Well, yeah, yeah, absolutely. If you don't, you know, if you don't want an abortion,
(17:21):
don't have an abortion. Yeah, if you don't want a gay marriage, don't get one.
So it's not like we're pushing stuff in people's face
i think they use that as a as a as
an excuse but you know that's what i mean yeah i go i you know
my husband and i we go down to the river walk quite often and we see straight
people kissing and sometimes making out down there they're not pushing our face
(17:42):
they're they're doing public displays of affection which i'm not a big fan of
but you know they're not kissing in front of us because they're saying saying,
look at us, we're straight,
and we're going to kiss in front of you, you know? Yeah, you're absolutely right.
They're just kissing each other, you know? You're right about that.
How many people give their loved ones a kiss when they drop them off at the airport?
Every single one that I've known. Is that shoving at anybody's face?
(18:04):
No. I mean, yeah, you know, there's considered, what is considered an acceptable
display and what might be a little over the top, whether you're gay or straight
or whatever, it doesn't matter, but... It's called...
Expressing your affection for the person you love there you
go you know that's what it is i give my husband a
kiss just like a straight couple would give
(18:25):
each other a kiss whenever they're saying hello goodbye yeah there's nothing
wrong with that sure perfectly natural yeah as far as other things that your
organization that you work with and that is transgender youth i know I know
you probably run into even more pushback,
and I think there's a lot of misconception in the public about what is involved
(18:49):
in that whole thing, right?
Like an 11-year-old kid, 11-year-old boy is going to go to their parents and
say, you know what? I think I'm a girl.
They're not just going to go to the doctor and then go, okay,
well, we'll start giving you hormones and yada, yada, yada.
There's a whole process to that whole thing, and there's a lot of therapy involved.
I mean, it's not an overnight thing.
(19:11):
You're absolutely right. There is a process involved.
So I think a lot of parents and some of that pushback is that they just don't
understand what all is involved. And it does start with therapy.
You need to go and talk to a therapist about this.
You know, if you're having feelings that your brain isn't matching your body,
you know, your body may show that you're male, but your brain is thinking female.
(19:36):
You go to a therapist. You talk about this and a therapist isn't going to just
say to the kid, yep, you're transgender, you need to be a girl or you need to be a boy.
You know, they were assigned, people were assigned a certain gender at birth
and most people, you know, will probably identify as cisgender.
Cisgender means you're comfortable with the gender you were assigned at birth,
(19:57):
but sometimes, you know, there's a gray area. It's not just black and white.
No, nothing is black and white when it comes to gender. Transgender term is
an umbrella term, first of all. And there's, you know, there's people who are
non-binary, people who are maybe have, you know, they know that they're in the
wrong body. So what do they do?
(20:18):
You know, they did nothing before because there wasn't treatment available.
So when a kid comes to me, I talk to them, you know, and if they've already
come up to their parents about this, I talk to the parents about this. I explain the process.
You know, the kid may want to say, well, I need to change today.
And I'm like, well, you know, you're going to have to learn a little patience
(20:39):
because that's not how it works. Walk us through the process a little bit.
Yeah. So you need to go to therapy. You need to talk to a therapist about your
feelings. Why are you having these feelings?
You know, where's it coming from? How long have you felt this way, et cetera, et cetera.
And then you need to come up with a plan. You know, if the kid feels like they
need to do something because, you know, it's really affecting them mentally,
(21:01):
then you talk to the parents about that.
Usually the first thing that I would recommend, you know, if the parents are
on board with this is puberty blockers, you know, so if a kid's going into puberty,
there is something that a doctor can prescribe and it's a puberty blockers.
It basically just It just puts a pause on everything.
The hormones that they're struggling with won't continue. It's just gonna put a pause on everything.
(21:23):
Down the road, if they realize that, hey, you know what, maybe this isn't the
path I wanna be on, you just stop the puberty blockers.
Yeah, that's something that's probably not understood very often. It's not. It's not.
In fact, unfortunately, doctors can't do that anymore because here in the state
of Texas, our enlightened state senator, I guess, that you all have here,
what's her name, Donna Campbell, who happens to be a physician herself, she got it all wrong.
(21:48):
She introduced a bill, SB 14, that I think it was SB 14.
I could be wrong. It could be SB 12, but it doesn't matter.
She authored and introduced a bill that effectively stops treatment for trans
kids here in the state of Texas under the age of 18.
So they can no longer get this treatment. It's against the law.
(22:08):
Now, the problem is her, first of all, because she's a physician.
However, the American Medical Association tells us that it's okay to provide
these services to trans kids if they meet a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
Sure that this is the correct way to treat kids and
there's a there's a program a plan in place to treat kids
(22:30):
the american pediatrics association they
disagree with the senator as well they say that
best practices you treat these kids with gender dysphoria you know and unfortunately
that is not the case though and i've had instances where i've been working with
families and they were on puberty blockers or some were actually on hormones
(22:51):
and now they're just taken away and And that's not healthy to just,
when you start a procedure or a medication of any type, you shouldn't just stop it.
You know, doctors will tell you that that's not wise.
A lot of these families are leaving Texas.
They're going to blue states where it is allowed. You know, and that's a shame.
Yeah, it is a shame. It really is. I mean, here these families are having to
(23:14):
uproot everything and leave because they can't get the health care services
that they need for their child.
So when you mentioned, you know, they start out with therapy and maybe puberty
blockers, they're not going to actually be transitioned until they're 18.
Correct. So that that's another common misconception, I think. Correct.
(23:35):
There's not a physician out there that I know of that would ever do gender confirming
surgery, gender affirming.
Affirming, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, here's the deal. Why is legislation like this being introduced?
Dues because legislation like this, nearly one in three LGBTQ young people said
(23:55):
their mental health was poor most of the time or always due to anti-LGBTQ policies and legislation.
So legislation is driving mental health issues, not in a good way.
Without a doubt, yeah. In a negative way. Why are these politicians proposing
bills like that? Because it's politics.
That's why. They found a base, maybe the base that you were talking about earlier
(24:20):
with the religious groups and so forth.
They found a base that likes these anti-LGBTQ groups.
Legislation, and they will get
out there and they will vote for these candidates who are proposing it.
Who, because of their own personal beliefs, want to impose those beliefs on everyone else.
Yeah. And personally, I mean, I can't prove this, but I think some of these
(24:42):
politicians, I don't think they actually believe what they're proposing.
They are doing it because they don't want to lose their job.
Yeah, you're absolutely right. They need to lose their job.
They're not fixing problems, they're making them worse. Term limits, anybody.
Well, because when you think about it, Adam, if you don't treat mental health
early on in a kid's life, if you don't give them something to work with that's
(25:07):
going to help them, what happens to them in adulthood?
Do they turn to alcohol and drugs to deal with their mental health?
Yes. Do they become homeless?
Yes. Do they become members of gangs?
Maybe. Yes, if they're accepted and so forth. So we're not fixing anything by
proposing anti-LGBTQ laws.
(25:29):
We're actually creating something
that's going to happen when those kids transition into adulthood.
Yeah. Well, sure. And like with some laws that are passed on based on what might
be feel good legislation, then it creates a whole new set of problems.
And sometimes they have to walk it back or, you know, make adjustments and they
(25:51):
just don't think it through or look at all. I mean, of course,
it's probably impossible to look at all the.
Possible ramifications of some legislation, but.
You know, another crazy thing about that Senate Bill 14 that stops mental health
treatment or any sort of treatment for transgender kids is the Governor Abbott,
he sent out a letter stating that physicians,
(26:13):
mental health workers, medical providers need to be turned in if they are caught providing services.
But he also took that one step further and said, if you know of anybody,
you are, as a citizen, you are going to be required to turn them in too.
So if you know your neighbor is getting some sort of health services for their trans kid.
(26:36):
Oh, you gotta be kidding. You don't turn them in, you're in trouble too.
And you know what that reminds me of? It's like the anti-abortion law.
Well, yeah, but you know what else it reminds me of is, you know,
this may be a stretch, but But back in World War II, Nazi Germany,
people were required to turn their neighbors in if they were hiding Jewish people.
You know, is there a difference?
(26:59):
Semantics, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't even aware that there was that aspect of the law.
But that's pretty sad. I don't think it's being enforced, to be honest with you.
Well, sure. Sure. And I think a lot of it depends on the cities or the communities,
the counties, I guess, on whether or not they want to enforce it.
(27:20):
That's true. And how maybe on the books, but I guess.
But there's a lot of conservative law enforcement out there,
too, that probably looking for an excuse.
But how are you going to track something like that? I mean, that's,
you know, there's first of all, there's HIPAA laws that protect medical information.
Right. So how would they even know? No, that's just it.
It's a law that it's not meant to be enforced. It's just meant to score points.
(27:46):
It's meant to score political points and votes.
But see, the voters, sometimes they don't realize that. They don't realize that
they're being used as pawns, maybe.
Yeah, they're throwing these things out there, but they're not enforceable.
And the other sad thing is, you know, are the people who don't vote,
you know, how many people out there support LGBTQ equality?
(28:09):
Quite a huge number. In fact, it's over 75% that agree that two people of the
same sex should be allowed to marry.
Yet that is potentially going to be threatened with the makeup of the Supreme
Court should it ever get to the Supreme Court.
We have a couple justices there that said they would like to overturn the marriage
(28:29):
equality that happened back in a few years back. People need to vote.
Yeah, that's an underlying message of every episode of our podcast so far.
And that's one of the big issues, especially here in Texas, is non-voting.
We're a non-voting state. Mm-hmm.
Okay well daryl i know uh you were mentioning something we were talking about
(28:50):
the san antonio library was that the school library system or just the public
san antonio public library system is uh okay across all of bear county okay
and you were saying that it was the largest.
So it is the only the only the only partnership of its kind in the state of
texas no other public library system in the state of texas partners with an
(29:14):
lgbtq youth organization,
to provide this, you know, and you think about that. Why is that important?
Because now people are out there wanting to ban books.
They're wanting to ban educational books. You know, like I mentioned,
we're not, they're not putting, you know, graphic pornographic novels in the library.
These are books about the history of the LGBT movement, you know,
(29:38):
stories about people who have overcome, you know, being afraid of coming out
and being who they are, you know, and this This is a resource for people to go to.
Instead of denying people access to educational resources, we're providing it
here in our library system. And they're legit, healthy discussions. They're not how-to.
(30:00):
Absolutely. There is no how-to guide. Right, right. Yeah.
Okay. Well, you know, I know we can get a lot more information.
We've got the Pride Festival coming up June 8th in New Braunfels.
June 8th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and your organization will be out there?
Yes, Fiesta Youth will be there. Stop by. We'll have some brochures to hand
out, ways you can access our services.
(30:23):
We'll give out some freebies like fans because it's probably going to be a hot
day, so you want to stop by and at least grab one of those fans.
And we also hand out flags, and the flags are a huge hit.
They're the little flags, and they're the rainbow flags, they're the progressive
flags. There's flags for the transgender community and anything else that a
person may identify with.
(30:43):
So they're free of charge coming by. Yeah. And anybody that wants to learn more
about the community or whatever, straight or not, they can come out. Certainly welcome.
Absolutely. I'll be there to answer any questions anybody has.
Terrific. You mean you're productive members of society?
Well, believe it or not, yes, we are. And so are all LGBT people. They really are.
(31:05):
We're out there, we're not going away, and we're not hurting anybody.
At the end of the day, what we really want is we just want to be left alone.
Oh, yeah. Just like everybody else. Yeah.
Nobody's nobody. You're not forcing anybody to join your ranks or anything.
You're not trying to corrupt people or we're minding our own business and we
want our politicians to mind their own business as well. Well,
(31:28):
that makes perfect sense.
And that's a great way to wrap up this discussion, Daryl.
Appreciate you spending time with us today. It's been a pleasure.
Tell us again how we can get a hold and find out more about your organization?
Yes. If you want to check out Fiesta Youth, it's fiesta-youth.org.
(31:50):
Okay. That's fiesta-youth.org.
Hyphen, not dash. Well, yeah, dash. Dash, hyphen. Yeah. Okay.
All right. Well, thanks again, Daryl. It's been a real pleasure and hopefully we'll talk to you soon.
Thank you, Adam. Your family, your pure vote.
Conversations from the Hill Country
is a production of the Kamal County Democratic Party, Precinct 204.
(32:14):
Precinct Chair and Podcast Director, Teresa Patrick.
Deputy Chair and Podcast Executive Producer, Donna Kelter.
Music provided by John Mullane. Online at j-o-n-m-u-l-l-a-n-e.bank.
Music.
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