Join us for a poignant exploration of advocacy and remembrance in the transgender community across Texas. We promise to illuminate the ongoing challenges and the incredible resilience of this vibrant community. Deborah Moncrief-Bell speaks with influential voices like Gordy Carmona from Equality Texas and Austin Davis Ruiz, president of the Houston LGBTQ Plus Political Caucus. They share insights into the significance of the Trans Day of Remembrance and the urgent need for unity against stigmatizing legislation. With contributions from Atlantis Narcissus, founder of Save Our Sisters United, we underscore the power of community collaboration in addressing trans murders and creating a supportive environment for all.
Immerse yourself in the profound impact of the "Lost Faces Trans Day of Remembrance Exhibition and Vigil" in Dallas, a space offering both commemoration and a call to legislative action. This event, supported by organizations like the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, highlights the imperative of personal stories in influencing policy change. Learn how the Queens of Houston initiative strives to unify responses to violence against trans individuals, bridging gaps fragmented by racial lines, and providing a robust support system for affected families throughout Houston.
We also celebrate a transformative shift in the arts with Rose Morrigan's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in a modern, gender-reimagined production. This bold casting choice challenges traditional narratives and amplifies the evolving landscape for trans and non-binary actors. Rose's experiences shed light on the obstacles and opportunities within theater casting, enriching the stage with diverse perspectives. Her journey offers hope for a more inclusive and fluid artistic community, emphasizing the essential role of trans artists in redefining theatrical expression.
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everybody.
This is Queer Voices, a podcastand radio show that's been on
the air for several decades asone of the oldest LGBTQ plus
radio shows in the southernUnited States.
This week, deborahMoncrief-Bell speaks with Gordy
Carmona, community engagementand advocacy strategist with
Equality Texas.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
It tries to uplift messages from trans folks across
Texas and advocating onlegislation and other policies
that are being put forward tofurther stigmatize the trans
community and essentially erasetrans folks from existence
legally.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I also speak with Houston LGBTQ Plus Political
Caucus president Austin DavisRuiz and Save Our Sisters United
Incorporated founder AtlantisNarcissus, who've joined forces
as the co-chairs of the newlycreated LGBTQ Plus Coalition of
Local Organizations.
Queens of Houston.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
As you know, texas has lived sometimes with trans
murders and sadly here inHouston we have seen too this
year and with those we startednoticing that the way that we
were responding was so siloed weweren't responding as a
community.
It was only black trans peopleresponding when trans people
were being killed.
When it was a Latinx transperson it was only the Latin
(01:19):
community and it just did notspell community to me.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Brett Cullum wraps up our show with his interview
with house manager of stages,turned lead actress as Miss
Sherlock Holmes in Miss Holmesand Miss Watson.
Apartment 2B, Rose Morrigan.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Our first day of rehearsal, it was made very
clear that this is less an actof transferring Sherlock into
the 21st century and into awoman, and more what if Sherlock
Holmes was always in the 21stcentury and into a woman?
And more what if SherlockHolmes was always in the 21st
century and was always a woman?
So there's a nice release oflike.
We're not too worried about theprevious versions of Sherlock.
(01:56):
This is more of a new invention.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Queer Voices starts right now.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
November 20th is recognized each year as the
Trans Day of Remembrance.
This year there's a specialexhibit planned in Dallas and
there are other activitiesaround the state.
With us is Gordy Cormona ofEquality Texas.
Gordy, first of all, explainwhat Equality Texas is.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Equality Texas is the largest LGBT advocacy group in
Texas.
Gordy, first of all, explainwhat Equality Texas is.
Equality Texas is the largeLGBT advocacy group in Texas,
fighting for our rights down inAustin and across the state.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
And what is your role there?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I'm the community engagement and advocacy
strategist in the North Texasregion.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
So the Trans Day of Remembrance is a solemn occasion
, although some people are nowcalling the time around it Trans
Week, so we can talk about allissues facing the transgender
community and therefore thequeer community, because we are
(02:59):
all connected.
What are some of the thingsthat are being done around trans
issues with equality, texas?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
equality texas tries to uplift messages from trans
folks across texas andadvocating on the legislation
and other policies that arebeing put forward to further
stigmatize the trans communityand essentially erase, in
certain ways, erase trans folksfrom existence legally.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
They're very busy during the legislative session
every two years and they dotrainings and have other
activities through the year.
What is being planned in Dallas, where you're based this year,
for Trans Day of Remembrance?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So this year, beyond just honoring our trans siblings
that we've lost to violenceover the past year, we're doing
an exhibition to remember theTexans that we lost over the
past decade, from 2013 to 2023.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
And when we say those that we've lost, explain the
significance of that.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Considering that there isn't a set standard on
how murders of trans andgender-extensive people are
recorded, we don't know theexact total of individuals that
we may have lost.
When we refer to our Trans DayRemembrance List, it's of cases
that we have information, forOftentimes we don't learn about
(04:34):
them until days, weeks, maybeeven years later, which was kind
of the reason behind doing thisexhibition with the
notification that Life Oak Doe,who was a Black trans woman that
was murdered in South Houston,was finally identified after 35
years.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
That's very daunting to hear, and one of the things
that happens is that individualsare misgendered at the time of
their death.
Misgendered at the time oftheir death.
Their families may notrecognize their transition or
(05:15):
they may have not gone through afull transition and, just like
when a child is born and theygender it male or female, that
can happen at death as well, sothe reality is as well.
So the reality is it is acommunity that faces danger.
It is a community whereindividuals are targeted.
Some of them are involved insex work.
(05:36):
Many of them are not.
If they're a trans woman, theyface the added burden of the
fact that they're female,because women are more in danger
of being murdered.
So that's just a reality aswell.
What are some of the thingsthat one can expect to see at
(05:56):
the exhibit?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
So we partnered with the local artist here in Dallas
who is helping us create newportraits of our trans siblings
that we lost, instead of usingjust the usual photos that we
see in news articles or Facebookposts.
(06:18):
They're usually like Facebookphotos or, oftentimes, mug shots
that are used from some otherinstance in their lives, versus
any current or updated photo.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
And what do you think people will gain from seeing
this exhibit?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I would hope that they will take away the fact
that this is probably Texas isleading in the number of
reported cases across the UnitedStates.
We have roughly 38 individualsthat we have recorded within
that time frame of the pastdecade here in Texas alone and
(06:58):
in that same time frame acrossthe United States there is over
340 documented cases.
I don't often believe that manypeople do realize just the
magnitude of these incidences,just like in the past three
months we had at least threecases that were reported here in
(07:20):
Texas one in Houston and onehere in Dallas and one in Fort
Worth.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
We're talking with Gordie Cremona of Equality Texas
, the community engagement andadvocacy strategist, and we're
talking about Trans Day ofRemembrance, which occurs on
November 20th.
There are events in most majorcities around the state during
that time.
What are some other thingsabout the Trans Day of
(07:47):
Remembrance that you think isimportant for people to know?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The important part of Trans Day of Remembrance is for
everyone to take stock of alltheir loved ones and to realize
that those individuals couldhave been in any of us in our
lives or our immediate familiesor any acquaintances that we
have.
Yeah, trans violence affectseveryone, not just trans folk.
(08:14):
Last year there was tworeported cases of cisgender
folks who died because of transviolence.
One black woman was attackedbecause of the perceived idea
that she was trans, and thenthere was one cis white male who
died after protecting a transfriend who was being verbally
(08:37):
assaulted.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
You're right.
The threat is real and it iswidespread and has many
different shapes and forms, andit behooves us as a community to
be aware.
A person who was really greatat bringing awareness to this
issue was the late MonicaRoberts, who we lost far too
(09:01):
soon and was such a tremendousloss to the community, but her
legacy lives on because so manypeople were inspired by her and
understood about this issuebecause of her work.
Gordy, what can I expect to see?
Is it just portraits or isthere written word?
Is there going to be anyfilming or an online presence
(09:25):
for this?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
We will have a virtual zine that will have the
names listed within the exhibitand a collage of the
illustrations that were createdfor the exhibit, along with the
names of this year's Trans DayRemembrance List, of this year's
Trans Day Remembrance List.
Additionally, at the exhibitwe'll have an ofrenda, which is
(09:49):
essentially a vigil honoring thefolks who are on this year's
Trans Day Remembrance List, aswell as an installation piece
memorializing Laibok Do andphoto collages of all the folks
from across the United Stateswithin that same time frame.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
It's called Lost Faces Trans Day of Remembrance
Exhibition and Vigil.
It's from November 1st throughNovember 23rd, open to the
public on Thursday and Fridayfrom 4 to 7 pm or by appointment
.
So how does one make anappointment to see this exhibit?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
make an appointment to see this exhibit.
They can reach out to EqualityTexas at field at
equalitytexasorg to schedule anopportunity to have a tour of
the vigil.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Say that last part again.
Tour and exhibition.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
They can email us at field, at equalitytexasorg, to
schedule a tour of theexhibition and visual.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
And where is it being held?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
We have a great community partner at the
Adolphus Tower.
They have an exhibition spacecalled Space at Adolphus Tower
and they're providing us thespace to put this exhibition on.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
And for those of us who don't know Dallas very well,
what is the address?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
The Adolphus Exhibition Space.
Let me check real quick.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
I can tell you because I have it right in front
of me.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Sorry, the address is 1412 Main Street, Dallas, Texas
.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
And I had another question and it's gone from my
mind Is there going to be anopening event?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yes, we will have a grand opening on November 3rd
from 4 pm to 7 pm.
We'll be inviting communitymembers, members of the media
and local elected officials toattend.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
And this is not only being done by Equality Texas,
but there's a group of partnersthat have joined together to be
part of this.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yes, we're being joined by the Black Trans
Advocacy Coalition, new TransMovement Inc.
Hrc and many other communityorganizations across North Texas
.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Yes, I see GLAAD and Lambda Legal and Pride, frisco,
artitude, which is a great name.
So it's a community comingtogether in remembrance of these
individuals that have been lost, and it's also a time that we
can reflect and think about theissues that are involved and
(12:18):
maybe recommit to our ownadvocacy.
What else would you like peopleto know?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Well, I would like people to know that we do have a
legislative session coming upthat I would hope they would
come visit the exhibition, takestock of what it is that we're
actually fighting everylegislative session the rights
for every Texan across the state, whether they're part of the
LGBTQ community or not,submitted or making phone calls,
(13:01):
sending emails or coming downto Austin to register a position
in favor or against the pieceof legislation or to take the
time to give a testimony.
That way the elected officialsknow that these pieces of
legislation that are beingproposed are not Texans' values.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
And it's also to show them real people and how our
lives might be impacted, andthat personal testimony, that
witnessing, is the most powerfulmotivator for them in making
their decisions, althoughsometimes they ignore it.
So it is crucial for people tobe involved and it sounds really
(13:41):
kind of scary.
Oh, I got to go to the Capitoland I got to talk to these
people and, oh, my gosh, I don'tknow if I can do that, but what
happens at Equality Texas?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Well, we usually have a reserved space down in the
Capitol just where our communitymembers can join us in
congregating.
If they don't feel comfortablesitting in the actual chambers,
wherever the meetings are takingplace, they can be amongst
community members, maybe sharetheir testimony with others to
get feedback on messaging thatthey would like to make sure
(14:15):
that they get across with theirtalking points and just have a
safe space to be amongstcommunity.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
And Inquility, Texas provides training about how to
do all of this right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yes, we do have an advocacy day scheduled for March
24th from Dallas, houston, sanAntonio and some other possible
locations that are going to busfolks down to the Capitol to do
a small training and then we'llall walk together down to the
(14:46):
Capitol to do visits atlegislative offices and then
bring everybody back home at theend of the day.
But obviously not everyone hasthe opportunity or capability to
take off on a Monday, whetherit be family obligations, job,
child care.
We will have regional advocacydays, but we will do the same
(15:10):
training locally.
That way they can engageelected officials in their home
district offices if they're notable to make the track down to
Austin, since Texas is a largestate.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
Yes, it is, and we've got lots of good folks there at
Equality Texas and in otherorganizations around the state.
Again, we're talking about LostFaces, the Trans Day of
Remembrance Exhibition and Vigilin Dallas November 1st through
the 23rd at the Adolphus Towerand for more information, Gordy,
(15:44):
where do people find out?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
They can email us at field, at equalitytexasorg, to
find out more information or toschedule a tour of the
exhibition.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
I appreciate you being with us on Queer Voices to
talk about this important issue.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Thank you for listening to Queer Voices on
KPFT or wherever you get yourpodcasts.
I'm Davis Mendoza-Druizman heretoday with an exciting double
feature interview with communityleaders.
Atlantis Narcissus, founder ofSave Our Sisters United Inc, a
Houston-based nonprofitdedicated to empowering,
connecting and mobilizing transpeople of color.
And founder and co-chair ofQueens of Houston.
(16:35):
Founder and co-chair of Queensof Houston.
That's Queer Unified Emergencyand Empowerment Network of
Houston, a brand newcommunity-based coalition with
local LGBTQ plus orgs like theMontrose Center, montrose Grace
Place, hpd's LGBTQ pluscommunity liaison and, of course
, save Our Sisters United Inc.
And more.
Hey Alanis, hey Davis, thanksfor having me Absolutely.
(16:56):
And now for full transparency,I'm also a co-chair with Queens
of Houston through my work withHouston in Action, but we're
also joined by our third fellowQueens of Houston co-chair,
austin Davis Ruiz, who is alsopresident of the Houston LGBTQ
Plus Political Caucus, theoldest LGBTQIA plus civil rights
organization in the South.
Welcome back to Queer Voices,austin.
Speaker 7 (17:18):
Thanks so much for giving me this opportunity,
davis, good to be back.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
So glad to have y'all on Now this isn't either of
y'all's first time on QueerVoices Atlantis through your
Houston Pride 365 Pride GrandMarshal nomination, and Austin
through your work with HoustonLGBTQ plus political caucus, but
this is y'all's first time heretalking about Queens of Houston
.
So Atlantis I mentioned earlierthat Queens of Houston stands
(17:44):
for queer unified, emergency andempowerment network of Houston.
But could you tell me a littlebit about, like, the history of
what, how it came about, whyy'all believe that this is
necessary and what, what thework looks like?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Sure, Thanks, davis.
Queens of Houston came out ofthe evolution of Rain in
Paradise.
So, as you know, texas haslived sometimes with trans
murders and sadly here inHouston we have seen two this
year.
And with those we startednoticing that the way that we
were responding was so silo.
(18:19):
We weren't responding as acommunity, it was only black
trans people responding.
When trans people were beingkilled, when it was a latinx
trans person, it was only thelatin community and it just did
not spell community to me.
I start seeing that there weresome spots where we could be a
little bit more cohesive andstand as a community and that
sometimes the separation was outof respect in a sense.
(18:43):
So it was a double-edged sword.
I wanted to be able to removethat double-edged sword and
bring more community into thisfight.
For us this is not a me fight,this is a we fight and, as we
know, many trans people havestood up in front lines for
everybody's rights.
So why can we not do thattogether as a community?
(19:03):
As far as how we navigate in thework that goes through that, we
act like a supplement supportfor families when their love
member has been taken awayviolently.
We help navigate them throughour community to get the
information that they need.
We help battle misinformation,as we know, a lot of times on
(19:26):
the social media.
It could be a good thing, butit also could be a bad thing.
So battling and misinformationand having one voice, one
message, shows the cohesivenessof the community as well, and
it's not just about, like,violent crimes, it's also
natural disasters, any need thatthe LGBT community needs.
We are there as Queens ofHouston to be there, to respond
and to help navigate thesituation.
(19:48):
So many times we have liaisonscoming from community orgs, from
our allies.
Why do we not have liaisons andspace for us to stand up for
our community?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Thank you, Atlantis, Austin.
Atlantis touched on communitycohesiveness and bringing
community together, and you arevery prevalent in the community,
both with the Houston LGBTQPlus Political Caucus but also
the Harris County Commissioner'sCourt.
You work with Precinct 4, butalso with the LGBTQ plus
advisory board there.
But could you tell me moreabout this need for a unified
(20:24):
voice, a unified message?
Speaker 7 (20:26):
Of course.
So when we think of all of thetragedies that Atlantis just
touched upon, right, when wethink about community being
killed because of anti-transviolence, when we think about
natural disasters in Houston ofwhich there are many, right when
we think about, kind of all ofthe things that we have to face,
not just, as you know, lgbtqiaplus community, but also as a
(20:49):
greater kind of Houston, harrisCounty, a lot of times LGBTQIA
plus people are really left outof those kind of traditional
social support systems.
So when we think about disasterresponse coming from Harris
County or from the city ofHouston, it's typically not
thought of through the lens ofan LGBTQIA plus community or
(21:12):
even just looking at the lens ofhow can we best serve the
marginalized right, or even thehyper marginalized, those
communities.
And so that's really where thisneed for Queens, houston kind
of came from, and that's why ourmission is to proactively
support and empower LGBTQIA plusorganizations to ensure
effective, inclusive andequitable emergency and crisis
(21:35):
response strategies for thecommunity, with a focus on the
hyper-marginalized.
And so really, we are trying todo the work of creating this
social support system, creatingthis empowerment network, as we
call it, to be able to take careof our own in the face of
whatever disaster, tragedy kindof strikes.
Right, lynn has definitelytouched upon the kind of unified
(21:56):
response in the face ofanti-trans violence, of which,
unfortunately, there were twomurders this year but also
looking at how can we take careof our community when there is
another hurricane or whenthere's another natural disaster
.
Community doesn't necessarilyfeel safe seeking services from
(22:18):
the city of Houston or fromHarris County, or they may not
even know necessarily where togo right, and our elected
officials may not realize thatour community members need this
kind of specific care andattention.
And so that's really where Ithink a lot of this work is kind
of born from this need of ourcommunity to take care of us.
(22:39):
And this is something thatwe've done historically right.
When we're looking at the HIVAIDS crisis right, it was our
community mostly lesbian womenright that took care of gay men
during this kind of epidemic.
Right.
Even looking at the most recentimpacts health crisis right,
our community really was the onekind of leading the effort to
(22:59):
one push vaccinations for thecommunity, for people to get
vaccinated that could, but thenalso really fighting.
I personally did this.
I spoke at city council, Ispoke at commissioner's court
advocating for expandedvaccination guidelines to allow
more of our community members tobe able to get vaccinated
against impacts, and so, lookingat our history, this is
(23:20):
something that we're extremelyfamiliar with.
It's something that we'vealways done, and so, really,
this is not something new for usto do, but it is new
specifically within the space ofof Houston and Harris County.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
One thing would be identifying and navigating
people to resources.
As Austin mentioned a lot oftimes, we're not in that thought
plan, right?
So by us being in these spacesand reaching out to other
organizations hey, whatresources do you have, how do
you go there?
The goal is and also tellingthem what we need.
(23:52):
I think a lot of times whenpeople think about Houston's
LGBT community sorry, they thinkabout Montrose and all that.
But we're no longer in theneighborhood, right?
We're all around Houston.
So the need is bigger and it'smore stretched.
The resources have to be inthose spaces.
So, queens of Houston is ourgoal is to help people get in
(24:14):
those spaces.
Our goal is help to provideemergency kits, hurricane
preparation kits and all thosethings Like.
It's hard to just say one thing,because each need is unique for
different spaces.
Not everybody may need ahurricane kit.
Maybe someone just needs aspace to cool off and be able to
access the Internet, you know.
So I think that is a a.
(24:35):
It sounds like an easy answer,but sometimes it's not an easy
answer.
But I will say the easieranswer for this is just take
care of the human body.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah thank you, atlantis and y'all.
Both of y'all also mentionedvictims of acts of violence and
murders in Houston and Atlantis.
I'd also like to ask about theprocess of supporting victims
family members, and youmentioned vigils, so could you
kind of walk us through whathappens immediately after a
(25:09):
murder is reported and HPD ismade aware.
What happens like step by step,what?
What happens from there?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
sure, no problem.
Um, so normally it would justbe people jumping on the mic.
But this year we decided tochange the process.
Um, now, when a person has been, when a trans individual or a
community member has been takenaway from us, first thing I do
is connect with our HPD liaison.
They give me the informationwhat's going on.
(25:38):
Sometimes I may have to helpidentify the body or the
individual, but then from therewe normally would just start
posting about it.
But this time we're being alittle bit more smart and
strategic, so, and taking backsome of our power and our assets
.
So now, when we do that, wetalk with our community members,
ie Queens of Houston.
(25:59):
What's going on here, thelogistics, here's the plan, and
from there we make our plan.
And until HPD has said it'sokay to release the information,
we sit on the information.
But in that respect, we stillfind this general message to say
that we're aware blah, blah,blah, yack, yack.
As I said, social media could bea double edged sword and
(26:20):
sometimes, when we get on thereand we run wild with information
, we're not realizing that theperson who committed the crime
may be watching social mediaalso and learning how to avoid
us and avoid spaces where theycould be taken into custody
Right.
So from that we will sit andmake.
We have to block out time formedia to speak with us.
(26:41):
Only At this time, on this day.
This is the only time to speakwith us.
Then we will start planning thevisual.
But what we ask of the media isthat they, as much as they're
recording and want access to ourbad information, that they also
support our good information,celebrate us when we're doing
(27:03):
good things, like Black TransEmpowerment Week or the
launching of Queens of Houston,anything that's positive in LGBT
, houston's LGBT community.
We need to start highlightingthat.
We don't always need to besupporting messages of trauma.
So from there we would do thevisual.
We ask the news people not to,or media not to interview people
(27:25):
at that moment.
Let that space be a visual.
But in the midst of doing that,we are speaking to the family or
we have a person that is aliaison to the family.
What people don't realize isthat this family has lost a
member of their family that theylove, regardless of how we may
see them as our chosen family.
The biological family has therights unless somebody, unless
(27:47):
that person has put it in theirwill or written it up for us to
have access to take first stand.
But other than that, we workwith navigating the family, make
sure they're okay with thevisual and this and that.
Yes, we may want to celebratethem, but we have to be
respectful of the family as wellas the individual.
We can still celebrate peopleand not be disrespectful.
(28:10):
Right, and a lot of times thesefamily members may be just the
first time ever interacting withsomebody outside of their
individual family member.
So from there, we do the visual, we navigate that, we call out
media if they're misgendering,if they're not doing this.
But here's the thing about this.
Davis, I want to say that thereis a perfect plan, traditionally
(28:33):
that we say we walk this way.
The goal wasn't to develop aperfect plan.
Traditionally that we say wewalk this way.
The goal wasn't to develop aperfect plan.
The goal was to develop ahumane plan, right, that was
really respectful of the humanlife that was taken away,
especially that of an LGBTmember in Houston.
And to highlight that these aregoing on a number of times and
(28:54):
most times we do not catch theperson or catch anyone that is
connected with the crime.
But I am happy to say, withinthe past two situations that we
have had this year, we have hadsome arrests done and I think it
was because we chose to do it adifferent way.
I just think that we chose todo it a different way.
You know, getting somebody incustody and doing it a different
(29:15):
way has shown to work for usthis time, but maybe next time
it may not work and we mighthave to change it a different
way.
But I think it's a plan of justhaving some regular foundation
things and then you build onthat foundation sometimes for
each situation.
Speaker 7 (29:30):
Right, and so I think what Atlantis is talking about
is really important.
I think sometimes as community,whenever we are faced with a
tragedy, our gut instinct, ourresponse is to jump on social
media and to start posting aboutit, to start talking about the
person that was murdered, killed, assaulted, whatever it may be
(29:51):
right, before really HPD or thesheriff's office or whatever law
enforcement agency has beenable to take the time to really
do their due diligence tounderstand the situation Right.
We've seen situations in thepast, specifically in Houston,
where there has been rumors orthere has been misinformation
about the LGBTQ plus identity ofa person and specifically I
(30:17):
remember this was an instancewith the shooter at Lakewood.
There was a lot of rumors goingaround on social media that this
person was trans.
People started posting about it,started running with it,
ultimately turned out not to betrue, right, and so I think the
importance here is that when weare faced with tragedy in our
community, we understand thatpeople want to uplift that
(30:41):
person that was taken from ourcommunity, that people want to
tell their story, to really dotheir due diligence in
identifying the victim andseeing if there is any
possibility of catching theperpetrator, finding evidence
right, looking at securitycamera footage, right, there's
(31:03):
so many things that have tohappen before we can finally
talk about that person, and Ithink that that's really the
approach that we're trying totake here, and something that
we've learned this year throughsome of the tragedies we've
experienced with our community,is really to allow law
enforcement that time to dotheir job before we get in front
of the situation and before westart posting about it, because
we also have to be sensitive tothe victim, to the family, to
(31:25):
their lived experience, right,and so we we really need to be
cognizant of this situationbefore we we really jump to any
kind of conclusions.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Thanks for that, austin.
This ties in very well withRain in Paradise and the Queens
of Houston kickoff event onNovember 20th.
So, alanis, could you tell me alittle bit about Rain in
Paradise, what it means, itshistory and what it will look
like this year?
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Well, good, thank you .
But before I go into Rain inParadise, I wanted to point out
something that I want everybodyto take from this conversation
in here.
Yes, I am the founder co-chair,but I have two co-chairs, davis
and Austin that we all have asector and a knowledge that we
are really good in, and I am aHort person, but I also need a
(32:15):
person like Austin to be thereto come in and give us the
details about it, like I'mcommunity from root to root,
just like everybody else on thiscall, but we work in different
sectors right, and I think thoseare important, and when you
bring in a group as large asours together to make this one
thing right, so I think it isimportant to point out the
(32:36):
differences of it and theapproach, in that this is not a
pretty package.
It is a package of diversityand individuality that's built
towards working toward acollective message.
So bringing that back about amessage.
It's Rain in Paradise.
We have been doing for probablylike four or five years now, and
(32:57):
what it was was that I gottired of just lighting a candle
and blowing it out.
I thought that was not reallyrepresentative of trans people
that we have lost, and that whentrans people have been
violently taken away from us,they become their death
narrative, nothing else aboutthem but their death narrative.
So what we decided to do sowhat we decided to do, or what
(33:18):
we started to do, was takingthese pictures of all these
individuals and researchinglittle parts of things about it,
about them, and putting itunder their pictures, um, and
posting them, making this big umdisplay.
Sometimes we've done it in artmuseums and mixed in art, and
sometimes we've done it for thetea party, but this year,
(33:39):
uniquely, we're doing itdifferent.
Of course, we have theLaunching a Queen social mixture
that will be happening from 630down on November the 20th at
Queen Rain and Paradiseinstallation.
But this year we also have hada candle that will be curated by
(34:04):
Black Folks Candle, where wewill be dropping the names into
the wax at six o'clock and thatis to symbolize that, embracing
our family members that we havelost, and this love and this
power to know that we got you.
And, sadly, we know that wecan't erase trans murders.
So we need to be realistic, butI want to send a message that,
even in death that we are, westill have you, we hold you
close to us.
We embrace you, we empower youon your next journey.
(34:24):
So we have that.
Then we have an artist that isdoing like two or three actual
pictures that they have paintedor drawn themselves.
That will be added to theinstallation as well, as we will
be starting this new traditionfor Black Trans Empowerment Week
having shirts of the peoplethat we've lost in Houston there
for community members to writetheir own love letters or their
(34:46):
own empowering statement on thatshirt for that person.
I think that so many times wehave had this event and it has
been within the LGBTQ community,but we know these are happening
.
Our goal here for Rain inParadise as well as Queens, is
to push this bigger.
Where Houston community peoplesee it, like having this display
(35:10):
up in City Hall.
Our goal is putting it morepublic.
We don't need to be justrepetitive and seeing it as the
LGBT community.
We need to bring it out intothe Houston community.
We need them to see the humanbeing that was taken away and
attach them back to theirhumanity and let people say, hey
(35:30):
, this is somebody who loved todo hair and was good at this, or
loved to go sing and walk inthe park, normalizing that they
were doing that.
There are human being doingregular human things, and that
was their life was taken awayviolently.
We keep looking at trans peopleas the deviants of society and
(35:51):
we keep separating them, puttingus on trans island, when, if
you remove all theseintersections about us, if you
remove our gender, our race, thecolor of my hair, my sexual
orientation, my gender identity,the one thing that we all are
and will continue to be, fromthe moment of conception to
death, is a human being, andthat is what I want to bring
(36:13):
back forth into this.
I want to bring humanity backin front, in the front line of
the movement, instead of itbeing so back in the back.
No, we need to bring humanityback.
I think we're missing that.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Absolutely Atlantis.
And my last question for bothof y'all and I'll start with
Austin is what does a successfulyear, a successful first year
of Queens of Houston, right?
So, rolling out November 20th,but from November 20th 2024 to
2025, what does a successfulyear for Queens of Houston look
(36:47):
like?
I?
Speaker 7 (36:47):
think a successful year for Queens of Houston
honestly looks like being ableto prepare our community for the
next natural disaster season.
Right, as you mentioned earlier, hurricane season ends on
November 30th Well, it starts upin May, so that's not a whole
lot of time that we have reallyto get these kind of emergency
(37:09):
action plans in place.
So I think that that's reallythe first thing looking at how
we can start to create thatunified community response to
make sure that our community isnot being left behind in the
face of any kind of naturaldisaster.
Secondly, I think it's alsobeing able to develop and really
have a solid process for how werespond to these acts of
(37:32):
violence in our community.
Unfortunately, it does not seemthat anti-trans violence is
going to stop anytime soon, andwe continue to see murders
happen throughout Texas andspecifically here in Houston,
texas right, we are almost oneof the epicenters of anti-trans
violence across the country, andso I think, making sure that we
are able to take care ofcommunity, as Atlantis pointed
(37:55):
out, through supporting theirfriends, their families, you
know, supporting the victim'smemory right through vigils, but
also making sure that we arespeaking as one throughout a
community, which is never reallysomething that we've been able
to do successfully before, andso I think for me those two
things are really going to beparamount in terms of success
for the first year of Queens ofHouston and hopefully we'll be
(38:19):
able to continue to grow uponthat work apply for funding to
be able to fund some programs,distribution, start to bend the
ear of more community membersand get more people into the
coalition.
But I really think, with themembers that we have right now
in the coalition, with the ideasand the support that we have
(38:41):
right now, I think reallysuccess had the ice storm, I
mean winter storm, yuri, andthen we had the power grid
scenario.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
So this isn't something that is just seasonal.
Queens is needed all season.
I would say that success lookslike everything Austin said, but
I need the Houston communityand everybody that is listening
to understand that this shouldhave been started eons ago,
(39:19):
right, and to get to prepare fora hurricane or to prepare for
natural disasters not when youthink it's coming is you prepare
for things when they aren'tcoming.
So I don't want people ever tothink that, oh, it's not
hurricane season, so weshouldn't be thinking about this
, oh, it's not winter, becauseit's winter and we really don't.
No, we need to be thinkingabout what Houston needs.
(39:41):
We need to be forward thinking.
We need to think about whatpast experiences we have had
with each season.
I think what we saw this yearwhen we had the tornado in the
center of Houston to a degree wehad never had, that Everything
is changing of Houston to adegree we had never had, that
Everything is changing.
So I think that we need tounderstand that emergency
preparations need to beconsidered at all times here in
(40:04):
Houston.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Well, thank you both so much for your time.
Thank you, atlantis Narcissus,founder of Save Our Sisters
United Inc and co-chair andfounder of Queens of Houston,
and Austin Davis Ruiz, presidentof the Houston LGBTQ Plus
Political Caucus and co-chair ofQueens of Houston, and Austin
Davis Ruiz, president of theHouston LGBTQ plus political
caucus and co-chair of Queens ofHouston.
Thank you both so much.
Speaker 7 (40:21):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 6 (40:27):
This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 8 (40:34):
Hey, I'm Brett Cullum and today I am talking with
Rose Morrigan.
She will be in the next Stagesshow Ms Holmes and Ms Watson,
apartment 2B, which is ahilarious romp with a fresh take
on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle'sLegendary Detectives.
And Rose gets to play Sherlock,which is like a dream, but with
(40:54):
a twist, gets to play Sherlock,which is like a dream, but with
a twist.
Now Rose has been in Houston awhile and, surprise, she and I
both went to Climb Forest, whichis a strange coincidence, and
she went on to Sam Houston andstudied theater there, a place
that I'm pretty familiar with aswell.
And Rose has worked with theMatch, one of my favorite places
in the world, where you canfind me all the time.
So I feel like I already knowyou, rose, but welcome to Queer
(41:18):
Voices.
Speaker 4 (41:19):
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, that's a lot ofcoincidences.
Speaker 8 (41:22):
It's a lot, uh-huh.
So tell me what is it like tostep into the role of Sherlock
Holmes, transition him to herand do it as a woman.
Speaker 4 (41:35):
Yeah, first, I think what was amazing is our first
day of rehearsal.
It was made very clear thatthis is less an act of
transferring Sherlock into the21st century and into a woman,
and more what if Sherlock Holmeswas always in the 21st century
and was always a woman?
So there's a nice release oflike we're not too worried about
(41:58):
the previous versions ofSherlock.
This is more of a new invention.
But I think it's interestinghow much of that character and
their tenants line up anywaywith how we're taking it.
It very just the kind ofmeticulousness, the brashness,
the otherness of Sherlock fromeveryone else around them.
(42:18):
I think that translates superwell into kind of being this
antisocial, intense girl thatshe is in this show.
Speaker 8 (42:26):
Oh great, Well, tell me about what the show's like.
I mean, you mentioned that it'sa little bit more updated.
Is it current day?
Speaker 4 (42:32):
Yeah, so it's set 2020-ish a little bit after.
It's very aware of the worldthat we live in post pandemic,
all of that stuff.
Social media, the internet, isa big element of the show.
So sorry, I got a little bitlost with what the original
question was oh, I'm just askingwhat this?
is like I mean basically, yeah,it's um, it's a heightened
(42:54):
comedy set in the modern day.
It's very aware that it's aplay, so there's lots of moments
where set pieces asides to theaudience.
They're all done verytongue-in-cheek.
We're not pretending that.
You know you're beingtransported into this apartment.
You're kind of joining us inplaying a little bit.
Speaker 8 (43:16):
So you break the fourth wall a little bit.
Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 4 (43:19):
In some cheeky ways.
Yes, Sometimes absolutely, theshow starts with a character
talking directly to the audienceand once you get going, it's
almost like we continue to kindof nudge you and go hey, you're
here with us, we're all playingand we're all pretending at the
same time, and I think thatopens the show to be a lot more
(43:39):
silly than you would expect evenout of a Sherlock Holmes comedy
.
It's kind of a medium-sizedcast right.
Yeah, four people.
So it's like very nice andintimate.
You have Holmes and Watson andthen the lovely, my lovely
compatriots who are playing theother roles.
Are filling in for lots ofdifferent characters all at once
(43:59):
.
Speaker 8 (44:00):
Tell me a little bit about the design, if you know
about it.
I know the scenic designer.
I know she is like an excitingvoice here in Houston, so do you
know what's in store for yourscenic type stuff?
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Yes, without giving away too much of the lead.
It's very ethereal in a waythat I wasn't expecting, in the
sense of uh, with the heightenedcomedy, they're going with
heightened colors so manymoments are monochromatic, so
you start to associate differentlocations with a color and
(44:35):
they're kind of taking that ideaand running with it.
So I think there will be lots ofmoments where everything is
just kind of basked in a certaincolor or a certain vibe and I
think this show just doesn't doanything half.
And that goes with the scenic,it goes with the props, without
giving away.
There's a lovely moment wherean entire bucket of blood is is
(44:55):
poured.
So there's very everything isextra, including the lights and
sound and set well talking aboutthat.
Speaker 8 (45:03):
I noticed that there is a fight director and there is
also an intimacy directorlisted in this.
How wild is this play?
Speaker 4 (45:11):
I mean with the fight direction, I can say, more wild
than I even thought.
My first rehearsal was two daysago and I was already swinging
a sword.
The fight director, funnilyenough, is my old professor from
Sam Houston, kevin Crouch, sohe's the person that taught me
how to sword fight.
Yeah, the amount of whichswords and other various items
(45:34):
are being swung around andthrown, there's an entire
wrestling match at some point.
So with the fighting,absolutely, I think what's
really interesting aboutintimacy directors is, no matter
what show you're working on, iftwo people are going to be
touching each other in any way,there's a kiss in here, but it's
not extreme, I'd say.
But it's nice that it's becomecommonplace now that if two
(45:56):
actors are going to touch eachother in any way, boundaries
need to be talked about, wantingto make sure everyone's
comfortable.
Everyone knows when they cansay no to certain things.
You'd be surprised how manyshows have intimacy directors
just to.
I think, a good thing to makesure their actors are safe.
Speaker 8 (46:13):
Absolutely.
It's definitely a different eraand I think that we really take
these things a little bit moreseriously than we used to, and
it makes a safer environment, Ithink because, there's a lot of
trauma that can be caused bythat.
So how did you end up gettingcast?
I mean, what was the auditionlike for this?
Speaker 4 (46:29):
Well, I worked at stages for several years as a
house manager before this show,so I've been trying to get in
with them for a while on stage.
So whenever they released theirnew season I looked at it all
and this show just kind ofcalled out to me.
I love gender bendy stuff, ofcourse, but just the playfulness
(46:50):
that was with the script.
So I did a small audition andthen that got me my callback and
then that's really where itcame alive.
It was very fast paced.
I was reading with one Watsonand then another and then
another.
So it's that fun environmentwhere what's being asked of you
keeps you in a heightened state.
And I feel like that was thefun of that audition is.
(47:12):
I kind of felt like Sherlock upthere just running around being
being crazy, non-stop talking,that kind of thing what shows
have you done before and liketell me some of your favorites,
maybe from the past yeah, in asimilar vein, my first
collegiate show was Noises Off,and that was I think I will
always have a love for farces.
(47:33):
Before my curly hair went down,it used to just go up and out.
So I think I was always have alove for farces before my curly
hair went down, it used to justgo up and out.
So I think I was often chosenfor kind of bouncy, energetic
roles, and I love those kinds ofshows just because the amount
of physical prowess and likeintense coordination that goes
into it.
It's fun not just on the actinglevel but on just the pure look
(47:55):
what I just did level.
And then another one that I wasin was Silence by Moira Buffini
, which is just a lovely quietshow.
I played a priest who's kind ofcounseling this young Viking
boy who discovers that he's notactually a boy he was just
raised that way, and so that'skind of a more like intimate,
(48:16):
quiet, thoughtful show with lotsof deep discussions about
religion and gender and sex, andso I think those are my two
balances.
I love both of those a lot.
Speaker 8 (48:26):
Yeah, it's a far distance between Noises Off and
Silence.
Physical comedy farce.
Deep thinking, violent showwell, can we talk a little bit
about you personally?
Yeah, absolutely okay, rosemore again.
You are an out and proud transwoman.
(48:49):
Can you tell me a little bitabout that part of your identity
?
Speaker 4 (48:53):
what's lovely about trans people is that every
single journey is so unique anddifferent, and I find that
especially to be so in my case.
One of those things I alwayskind of knew I wasn't able to
really accept myself until I wasabout 18 years old, when I
moved out of the house and Icame out as a trans woman but
didn't physically transition foranother six to eight years and
(49:15):
then, when I was in my my earlytwenties, that's when I finally
made the decision to get onhormones, and that was that was
kind of empowered by all of thepeople around me.
So I think my mind was verymuch a journey of knowing who.
I was very early, coming outvery early, but it took being
(49:36):
especially down here in Houston,in Montrose, around so many
other lovely trans people, andthat's when I kind of was like
finally able to fully takeaction and start my journey the
way that I wanted to start.
Speaker 8 (49:49):
It Were there any challenges associated with I
mean, you're an artist and youdo theater and things like that.
Was there any challengesassociated with that and
transitioning?
Speaker 4 (49:59):
Absolutely.
I think as a performer, youalways there's always a
temperance of knowing that youmight not get a role for so many
reasons.
But I think it was verydifficult.
I I worked very consistentlythroughout my college years and
I think a lot of that was due toone, I think, a skill that I
had worked on and honed.
(50:20):
But also I'm 5'5", I had bigcurly hair and I wasn't
physically transitioning.
So there was a very specifickind of male role that I fit
into and these past five years Igraduated 2020.
So that was already kind of adifficult entrance into the
theater world.
But I have I've run into a lotof long, deep conversations with
(50:41):
artistic directors and castingdirectors.
I could see the difficulty theywere running into as an early
transition trans woman.
They could see the male roles Icould fit into.
I was giving a good performancein female roles and I think
(51:11):
when you kind of live in both ofthose areas, it's hard for
someone to pick you becausethere's almost always a clear
choice to them.
But I think, hopefully, withthis show, I feel like I'm
really starting to come into myown.
I'm kind of discovering whatkind of women I portray on stage
and where I comfortably fall,but I also think it's just a
matter of time with the world.
I think casting trans people isnot something that has been
(51:36):
integrated into theaters.
I don't think there are systemsor kind of vocabulary yet that
makes it easy to becomecommonplace.
Speaker 8 (51:40):
I think we're in an interesting place historically
and I'm so thrilled to see youhere at Stages doing a role like
this because I think it'simportant To me.
I like the idea of that.
It's something that should justcome natural to the theater.
I mean, we have this history ofgender bending that goes back
to Shakespearean times.
(52:01):
I mean there shouldn't be alimit on what you can audition
for for anybody almost.
Speaker 4 (52:07):
Absolutely yeah, I think, especially with this show
.
I think it's so importantbecause I think a lot of people
are going to be coming in withexpectations of oh, it's Miss
Sherlock, so there's already forthem, they're already preparing
themselves.
I think what's beautiful aboutthe show is, if it was a
cisgendered or a transgender,miss Holmes, the plot doesn't
(52:30):
change Even the flavor.
The plot doesn't change eventhe flavor.
You know it very much justcomes down to when I read the
script I went oh, I know exactlywhat kind of girl this is and
on top of that, I know exactlywhat kind of trans girl.
You know.
There's a very certain kind ofenergy that I'm pulling for her
and I don't think that itchanges the direction of the
(52:51):
show one way or the other.
I think it just colors her in adifferent way and I really hope
a lot of theaters start tonotice that when you're doing
any show Cinderella, you know, aShakespeare or a contemporary
show, anything that when youcast a trans person, trans man,
a trans woman, someone who'snon-binary, it doesn't change
(53:12):
the meaning of the play.
I think it just alters it in away that fits to someone else
and flavors it differently.
I think.
Speaker 8 (53:20):
Well, it's a conversation that I think is
long overdue in theater.
I think there's been a lot offight over gender and what is
appropriate for roles and thingslike that, and I think it's
we're overdue to have a littlebit more fluidity in theater,
and I'm so glad to see itbecause I definitely, when I was
growing up, playwrights andproduction companies and
(53:40):
artistic directors really put alimit on how you could cast a
show, and I'm so glad to seestages being at the forefront of
this and taking that on.
I mean, it's definitely.
We're very proud of you fordoing this and putting yourself
out there, rose.
I think it's amazing.
You're doing amazing work forthe community and we'll all be
there to support you, of course.
Thank you, I really appreciatethat.
(54:02):
Yeah, no, thank you Rose Morganand Ms Holmes, Ms Watson,
apartment 2B at stages October25th through November 17th, and
I will give you a pro tip.
The first week is previews.
You can get a little bit of adiscount on tickets if you go
early in the run.
But, of course, please justmake your reservations.
Go see it.
Support Rose, support transartists, it's so important.
(54:25):
I think you're the next voicecoming up in theater and I'm
excited to see it.
So, and of course, justSherlock Holmes.
How am I going to skip that?
Speaker 4 (54:35):
No, yeah, this is one that you do not want in this,
absolutely Especially thisversion of Holmes.
She's something else.
Speaker 8 (54:41):
I'll say that Let me ask you just real quick before
we go Do you go by Sherlock?
Speaker 4 (54:47):
in the show.
Yes, In fact it's a very clearpoint which I think works fun
enough with my trans identity.
Her birth name is Shirley, butshe will not be referred to as
Shirley.
She does not like that name.
She does not register it.
She is Sherlock and that's that, and that's something that I
can very much sympathize with.
Speaker 8 (55:07):
Well, that's so perfect.
Yes, All right.
Well, thank you again, rose,and we will be, excited to see
you at Stages.
Speaker 6 (55:22):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our Web pageQueerVoicesorg for more
information.
Queer Voices executive produceris Brian Levinka, deborah
Moncrief-Bell is co-producer,brett Cullum and David
(55:46):
Mendoza-Druzman are contributors, and Brett is also our
webmaster.
Speaker 9 (55:52):
Some of the material in this program has been edited
to improve clarity and runtime.
This program does not endorseany political views or animal
species.
Views, opinions andendorsements are those of the
participants and theorganizations they represent.
In case of death, pleasediscontinue use and discard
remaining product.
Speaker 6 (56:05):
For Queer Voices.
I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
Hello everybody.
This is Queer Voices, a podcastand radio show that's been on
the air for several decades asone of the oldest LGBTQ plus
radio shows in the southernUnited States.
This week, deborahMoncrief-Bell speaks with Gordy
Carmona, community engagementand advocacy strategist with
Equality Texas.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
It tries to uplift messages from trans folks across
Texas and advocating onlegislation and other policies
that are being put forward tofurther stigmatize the trans
community and essentially erasetrans folks from existence
legally.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I also speak with Houston LGBTQ Plus Political
Caucus president Austin DavisRuiz and Save Our Sisters United
Incorporated founder AtlantisNarcissus, who've joined forces
as the co-chairs of the newlycreated LGBTQ Plus Coalition of
Local Organizations.
Queens of Houston.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
As you know, texas has lived sometimes with trans
murders and sadly here inHouston we have seen too this
year and with those we startednoticing that the way that we
were responding was so siloed weweren't responding as a
community.
It was only black trans peopleresponding when trans people
were being killed.
When it was a Latinx transperson it was only the Latin
(01:19):
community and it just did notspell community to me.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Brett Cullum wraps up our show with his interview
with house manager of stages,turned lead actress as Miss
Sherlock Holmes in Miss Holmesand Miss Watson.
Apartment 2B, Rose Morrigan.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Our first day of rehearsal, it was made very
clear that this is less an actof transferring Sherlock into
the 21st century and into awoman, and more what if Sherlock
Holmes was always in the 21stcentury and into a woman?
And more what if SherlockHolmes was always in the 21st
century and was always a woman?
So there's a nice release oflike.
We're not too worried about theprevious versions of Sherlock.
(01:56):
This is more of a new invention.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Queer Voices starts right now.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
November 20th is recognized each year as the
Trans Day of Remembrance.
This year there's a specialexhibit planned in Dallas and
there are other activitiesaround the state.
With us is Gordy Cormona ofEquality Texas.
Gordy, first of all, explainwhat Equality Texas is.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Equality Texas is the largest LGBT advocacy group in
Texas.
Gordy, first of all, explainwhat Equality Texas is.
Equality Texas is the largeLGBT advocacy group in Texas,
fighting for our rights down inAustin and across the state.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
And what is your role there?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I'm the community engagement and advocacy
strategist in the North Texasregion.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
So the Trans Day of Remembrance is a solemn occasion
, although some people are nowcalling the time around it Trans
Week, so we can talk about allissues facing the transgender
community and therefore thequeer community, because we are
(02:59):
all connected.
What are some of the thingsthat are being done around trans
issues with equality, texas?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
equality texas tries to uplift messages from trans
folks across texas andadvocating on the legislation
and other policies that arebeing put forward to further
stigmatize the trans communityand essentially erase, in
certain ways, erase trans folksfrom existence legally.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
They're very busy during the legislative session
every two years and they dotrainings and have other
activities through the year.
What is being planned in Dallas, where you're based this year,
for Trans Day of Remembrance?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So this year, beyond just honoring our trans siblings
that we've lost to violenceover the past year, we're doing
an exhibition to remember theTexans that we lost over the
past decade, from 2013 to 2023.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
And when we say those that we've lost, explain the
significance of that.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Considering that there isn't a set standard on
how murders of trans andgender-extensive people are
recorded, we don't know theexact total of individuals that
we may have lost.
When we refer to our Trans DayRemembrance List, it's of cases
that we have information, forOftentimes we don't learn about
(04:34):
them until days, weeks, maybeeven years later, which was kind
of the reason behind doing thisexhibition with the
notification that Life Oak Doe,who was a Black trans woman that
was murdered in South Houston,was finally identified after 35
years.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
That's very daunting to hear, and one of the things
that happens is that individualsare misgendered at the time of
their death.
Misgendered at the time oftheir death.
Their families may notrecognize their transition or
(05:15):
they may have not gone through afull transition and, just like
when a child is born and theygender it male or female, that
can happen at death as well, sothe reality is as well.
So the reality is it is acommunity that faces danger.
It is a community whereindividuals are targeted.
Some of them are involved insex work.
(05:36):
Many of them are not.
If they're a trans woman, theyface the added burden of the
fact that they're female,because women are more in danger
of being murdered.
So that's just a reality aswell.
What are some of the thingsthat one can expect to see at
(05:56):
the exhibit?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
So we partnered with the local artist here in Dallas
who is helping us create newportraits of our trans siblings
that we lost, instead of usingjust the usual photos that we
see in news articles or Facebookposts.
(06:18):
They're usually like Facebookphotos or, oftentimes, mug shots
that are used from some otherinstance in their lives, versus
any current or updated photo.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
And what do you think people will gain from seeing
this exhibit?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I would hope that they will take away the fact
that this is probably Texas isleading in the number of
reported cases across the UnitedStates.
We have roughly 38 individualsthat we have recorded within
that time frame of the pastdecade here in Texas alone and
(06:58):
in that same time frame acrossthe United States there is over
340 documented cases.
I don't often believe that manypeople do realize just the
magnitude of these incidences,just like in the past three
months we had at least threecases that were reported here in
(07:20):
Texas one in Houston and onehere in Dallas and one in Fort
Worth.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
We're talking with Gordie Cremona of Equality Texas
, the community engagement andadvocacy strategist, and we're
talking about Trans Day ofRemembrance, which occurs on
November 20th.
There are events in most majorcities around the state during
that time.
What are some other thingsabout the Trans Day of
(07:47):
Remembrance that you think isimportant for people to know?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The important part of Trans Day of Remembrance is for
everyone to take stock of alltheir loved ones and to realize
that those individuals couldhave been in any of us in our
lives or our immediate familiesor any acquaintances that we
have.
Yeah, trans violence affectseveryone, not just trans folk.
(08:14):
Last year there was tworeported cases of cisgender
folks who died because of transviolence.
One black woman was attackedbecause of the perceived idea
that she was trans, and thenthere was one cis white male who
died after protecting a transfriend who was being verbally
(08:37):
assaulted.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
You're right.
The threat is real and it iswidespread and has many
different shapes and forms, andit behooves us as a community to
be aware.
A person who was really greatat bringing awareness to this
issue was the late MonicaRoberts, who we lost far too
(09:01):
soon and was such a tremendousloss to the community, but her
legacy lives on because so manypeople were inspired by her and
understood about this issuebecause of her work.
Gordy, what can I expect to see?
Is it just portraits or isthere written word?
Is there going to be anyfilming or an online presence
(09:25):
for this?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
We will have a virtual zine that will have the
names listed within the exhibitand a collage of the
illustrations that were createdfor the exhibit, along with the
names of this year's Trans DayRemembrance List, of this year's
Trans Day Remembrance List.
Additionally, at the exhibitwe'll have an ofrenda, which is
(09:49):
essentially a vigil honoring thefolks who are on this year's
Trans Day Remembrance List, aswell as an installation piece
memorializing Laibok Do andphoto collages of all the folks
from across the United Stateswithin that same time frame.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
It's called Lost Faces Trans Day of Remembrance
Exhibition and Vigil.
It's from November 1st throughNovember 23rd, open to the
public on Thursday and Fridayfrom 4 to 7 pm or by appointment
.
So how does one make anappointment to see this exhibit?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
make an appointment to see this exhibit.
They can reach out to EqualityTexas at field at
equalitytexasorg to schedule anopportunity to have a tour of
the vigil.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Say that last part again.
Tour and exhibition.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
They can email us at field, at equalitytexasorg, to
schedule a tour of theexhibition and visual.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
And where is it being held?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
We have a great community partner at the
Adolphus Tower.
They have an exhibition spacecalled Space at Adolphus Tower
and they're providing us thespace to put this exhibition on.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
And for those of us who don't know Dallas very well,
what is the address?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
The Adolphus Exhibition Space.
Let me check real quick.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
I can tell you because I have it right in front
of me.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Sorry, the address is 1412 Main Street, Dallas, Texas
.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
And I had another question and it's gone from my
mind Is there going to be anopening event?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yes, we will have a grand opening on November 3rd
from 4 pm to 7 pm.
We'll be inviting communitymembers, members of the media
and local elected officials toattend.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
And this is not only being done by Equality Texas,
but there's a group of partnersthat have joined together to be
part of this.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yes, we're being joined by the Black Trans
Advocacy Coalition, new TransMovement Inc.
Hrc and many other communityorganizations across North Texas
.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Yes, I see GLAAD and Lambda Legal and Pride, frisco,
artitude, which is a great name.
So it's a community comingtogether in remembrance of these
individuals that have been lost, and it's also a time that we
can reflect and think about theissues that are involved and
(12:18):
maybe recommit to our ownadvocacy.
What else would you like peopleto know?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Well, I would like people to know that we do have a
legislative session coming upthat I would hope they would
come visit the exhibition, takestock of what it is that we're
actually fighting everylegislative session the rights
for every Texan across the state, whether they're part of the
LGBTQ community or not,submitted or making phone calls,
(13:01):
sending emails or coming downto Austin to register a position
in favor or against the pieceof legislation or to take the
time to give a testimony.
That way the elected officialsknow that these pieces of
legislation that are beingproposed are not Texans' values.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
And it's also to show them real people and how our
lives might be impacted, andthat personal testimony, that
witnessing, is the most powerfulmotivator for them in making
their decisions, althoughsometimes they ignore it.
So it is crucial for people tobe involved and it sounds really
(13:41):
kind of scary.
Oh, I got to go to the Capitoland I got to talk to these
people and, oh, my gosh, I don'tknow if I can do that, but what
happens at Equality Texas?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Well, we usually have a reserved space down in the
Capitol just where our communitymembers can join us in
congregating.
If they don't feel comfortablesitting in the actual chambers,
wherever the meetings are takingplace, they can be amongst
community members, maybe sharetheir testimony with others to
get feedback on messaging thatthey would like to make sure
(14:15):
that they get across with theirtalking points and just have a
safe space to be amongstcommunity.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
And Inquility, Texas provides training about how to
do all of this right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yes, we do have an advocacy day scheduled for March
24th from Dallas, houston, sanAntonio and some other possible
locations that are going to busfolks down to the Capitol to do
a small training and then we'llall walk together down to the
(14:46):
Capitol to do visits atlegislative offices and then
bring everybody back home at theend of the day.
But obviously not everyone hasthe opportunity or capability to
take off on a Monday, whetherit be family obligations, job,
child care.
We will have regional advocacydays, but we will do the same
(15:10):
training locally.
That way they can engageelected officials in their home
district offices if they're notable to make the track down to
Austin, since Texas is a largestate.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
Yes, it is, and we've got lots of good folks there at
Equality Texas and in otherorganizations around the state.
Again, we're talking about LostFaces, the Trans Day of
Remembrance Exhibition and Vigilin Dallas November 1st through
the 23rd at the Adolphus Towerand for more information, Gordy,
(15:44):
where do people find out?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
They can email us at field, at equalitytexasorg, to
find out more information or toschedule a tour of the
exhibition.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
I appreciate you being with us on Queer Voices to
talk about this important issue.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Thank you for listening to Queer Voices on
KPFT or wherever you get yourpodcasts.
I'm Davis Mendoza-Druizman heretoday with an exciting double
feature interview with communityleaders.
Atlantis Narcissus, founder ofSave Our Sisters United Inc, a
Houston-based nonprofitdedicated to empowering,
connecting and mobilizing transpeople of color.
And founder and co-chair ofQueens of Houston.
(16:35):
Founder and co-chair of Queensof Houston.
That's Queer Unified Emergencyand Empowerment Network of
Houston, a brand newcommunity-based coalition with
local LGBTQ plus orgs like theMontrose Center, montrose Grace
Place, hpd's LGBTQ pluscommunity liaison and, of course
, save Our Sisters United Inc.
And more.
Hey Alanis, hey Davis, thanksfor having me Absolutely.
(16:56):
And now for full transparency,I'm also a co-chair with Queens
of Houston through my work withHouston in Action, but we're
also joined by our third fellowQueens of Houston co-chair,
austin Davis Ruiz, who is alsopresident of the Houston LGBTQ
Plus Political Caucus, theoldest LGBTQIA plus civil rights
organization in the South.
Welcome back to Queer Voices,austin.
Speaker 7 (17:18):
Thanks so much for giving me this opportunity,
davis, good to be back.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
So glad to have y'all on Now this isn't either of
y'all's first time on QueerVoices Atlantis through your
Houston Pride 365 Pride GrandMarshal nomination, and Austin
through your work with HoustonLGBTQ plus political caucus, but
this is y'all's first time heretalking about Queens of Houston
.
So Atlantis I mentioned earlierthat Queens of Houston stands
(17:44):
for queer unified, emergency andempowerment network of Houston.
But could you tell me a littlebit about, like, the history of
what, how it came about, whyy'all believe that this is
necessary and what, what thework looks like?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Sure, Thanks, davis.
Queens of Houston came out ofthe evolution of Rain in
Paradise.
So, as you know, texas haslived sometimes with trans
murders and sadly here inHouston we have seen two this
year.
And with those we startednoticing that the way that we
were responding was so silo.
(18:19):
We weren't responding as acommunity, it was only black
trans people responding.
When trans people were beingkilled, when it was a latinx
trans person, it was only thelatin community and it just did
not spell community to me.
I start seeing that there weresome spots where we could be a
little bit more cohesive andstand as a community and that
sometimes the separation was outof respect in a sense.
(18:43):
So it was a double-edged sword.
I wanted to be able to removethat double-edged sword and
bring more community into thisfight.
For us this is not a me fight,this is a we fight and, as we
know, many trans people havestood up in front lines for
everybody's rights.
So why can we not do thattogether as a community?
(19:03):
As far as how we navigate in thework that goes through that, we
act like a supplement supportfor families when their love
member has been taken awayviolently.
We help navigate them throughour community to get the
information that they need.
We help battle misinformation,as we know, a lot of times on
(19:26):
the social media.
It could be a good thing, butit also could be a bad thing.
So battling and misinformationand having one voice, one
message, shows the cohesivenessof the community as well, and
it's not just about, like,violent crimes, it's also
natural disasters, any need thatthe LGBT community needs.
We are there as Queens ofHouston to be there, to respond
and to help navigate thesituation.
(19:48):
So many times we have liaisonscoming from community orgs, from
our allies.
Why do we not have liaisons andspace for us to stand up for
our community?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Thank you, Atlantis, Austin.
Atlantis touched on communitycohesiveness and bringing
community together, and you arevery prevalent in the community,
both with the Houston LGBTQPlus Political Caucus but also
the Harris County Commissioner'sCourt.
You work with Precinct 4, butalso with the LGBTQ plus
advisory board there.
But could you tell me moreabout this need for a unified
(20:24):
voice, a unified message?
Speaker 7 (20:26):
Of course.
So when we think of all of thetragedies that Atlantis just
touched upon, right, when wethink about community being
killed because of anti-transviolence, when we think about
natural disasters in Houston ofwhich there are many, right when
we think about, kind of all ofthe things that we have to face,
not just, as you know, lgbtqiaplus community, but also as a
(20:49):
greater kind of Houston, harrisCounty, a lot of times LGBTQIA
plus people are really left outof those kind of traditional
social support systems.
So when we think about disasterresponse coming from Harris
County or from the city ofHouston, it's typically not
thought of through the lens ofan LGBTQIA plus community or
(21:12):
even just looking at the lens ofhow can we best serve the
marginalized right, or even thehyper marginalized, those
communities.
And so that's really where thisneed for Queens, houston kind
of came from, and that's why ourmission is to proactively
support and empower LGBTQIA plusorganizations to ensure
effective, inclusive andequitable emergency and crisis
(21:35):
response strategies for thecommunity, with a focus on the
hyper-marginalized.
And so really, we are trying todo the work of creating this
social support system, creatingthis empowerment network, as we
call it, to be able to take careof our own in the face of
whatever disaster, tragedy kindof strikes.
Right, lynn has definitelytouched upon the kind of unified
(21:56):
response in the face ofanti-trans violence, of which,
unfortunately, there were twomurders this year but also
looking at how can we take careof our community when there is
another hurricane or whenthere's another natural disaster
.
Community doesn't necessarilyfeel safe seeking services from
(22:18):
the city of Houston or fromHarris County, or they may not
even know necessarily where togo right, and our elected
officials may not realize thatour community members need this
kind of specific care andattention.
And so that's really where Ithink a lot of this work is kind
of born from this need of ourcommunity to take care of us.
(22:39):
And this is something thatwe've done historically right.
When we're looking at the HIVAIDS crisis right, it was our
community mostly lesbian womenright that took care of gay men
during this kind of epidemic.
Right.
Even looking at the most recentimpacts health crisis right,
our community really was the onekind of leading the effort to
(22:59):
one push vaccinations for thecommunity, for people to get
vaccinated that could, but thenalso really fighting.
I personally did this.
I spoke at city council, Ispoke at commissioner's court
advocating for expandedvaccination guidelines to allow
more of our community members tobe able to get vaccinated
against impacts, and so, lookingat our history, this is
(23:20):
something that we're extremelyfamiliar with.
It's something that we'vealways done, and so, really,
this is not something new for usto do, but it is new
specifically within the space ofof Houston and Harris County.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
One thing would be identifying and navigating
people to resources.
As Austin mentioned a lot oftimes, we're not in that thought
plan, right?
So by us being in these spacesand reaching out to other
organizations hey, whatresources do you have, how do
you go there?
The goal is and also tellingthem what we need.
(23:52):
I think a lot of times whenpeople think about Houston's
LGBT community sorry, they thinkabout Montrose and all that.
But we're no longer in theneighborhood, right?
We're all around Houston.
So the need is bigger and it'smore stretched.
The resources have to be inthose spaces.
So, queens of Houston is ourgoal is to help people get in
(24:14):
those spaces.
Our goal is help to provideemergency kits, hurricane
preparation kits and all thosethings Like.
It's hard to just say one thing,because each need is unique for
different spaces.
Not everybody may need ahurricane kit.
Maybe someone just needs aspace to cool off and be able to
access the Internet, you know.
So I think that is a a.
(24:35):
It sounds like an easy answer,but sometimes it's not an easy
answer.
But I will say the easieranswer for this is just take
care of the human body.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah thank you, atlantis and y'all.
Both of y'all also mentionedvictims of acts of violence and
murders in Houston and Atlantis.
I'd also like to ask about theprocess of supporting victims
family members, and youmentioned vigils, so could you
kind of walk us through whathappens immediately after a
(25:09):
murder is reported and HPD ismade aware.
What happens like step by step,what?
What happens from there?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
sure, no problem.
Um, so normally it would justbe people jumping on the mic.
But this year we decided tochange the process.
Um, now, when a person has been, when a trans individual or a
community member has been takenaway from us, first thing I do
is connect with our HPD liaison.
They give me the informationwhat's going on.
(25:38):
Sometimes I may have to helpidentify the body or the
individual, but then from therewe normally would just start
posting about it.
But this time we're being alittle bit more smart and
strategic, so, and taking backsome of our power and our assets
.
So now, when we do that, wetalk with our community members,
ie Queens of Houston.
(25:59):
What's going on here, thelogistics, here's the plan, and
from there we make our plan.
And until HPD has said it'sokay to release the information,
we sit on the information.
But in that respect, we stillfind this general message to say
that we're aware blah, blah,blah, yack, yack.
As I said, social media could bea double edged sword and
(26:20):
sometimes, when we get on thereand we run wild with information
, we're not realizing that theperson who committed the crime
may be watching social mediaalso and learning how to avoid
us and avoid spaces where theycould be taken into custody
Right.
So from that we will sit andmake.
We have to block out time formedia to speak with us.
(26:41):
Only At this time, on this day.
This is the only time to speakwith us.
Then we will start planning thevisual.
But what we ask of the media isthat they, as much as they're
recording and want access to ourbad information, that they also
support our good information,celebrate us when we're doing
(27:03):
good things, like Black TransEmpowerment Week or the
launching of Queens of Houston,anything that's positive in LGBT
, houston's LGBT community.
We need to start highlightingthat.
We don't always need to besupporting messages of trauma.
So from there we would do thevisual.
We ask the news people not to,or media not to interview people
(27:25):
at that moment.
Let that space be a visual.
But in the midst of doing that,we are speaking to the family or
we have a person that is aliaison to the family.
What people don't realize isthat this family has lost a
member of their family that theylove, regardless of how we may
see them as our chosen family.
The biological family has therights unless somebody, unless
(27:47):
that person has put it in theirwill or written it up for us to
have access to take first stand.
But other than that, we workwith navigating the family, make
sure they're okay with thevisual and this and that.
Yes, we may want to celebratethem, but we have to be
respectful of the family as wellas the individual.
We can still celebrate peopleand not be disrespectful.
(28:10):
Right, and a lot of times thesefamily members may be just the
first time ever interacting withsomebody outside of their
individual family member.
So from there, we do the visual, we navigate that, we call out
media if they're misgendering,if they're not doing this.
But here's the thing about this.
Davis, I want to say that thereis a perfect plan, traditionally
(28:33):
that we say we walk this way.
The goal wasn't to develop aperfect plan.
Traditionally that we say wewalk this way.
The goal wasn't to develop aperfect plan.
The goal was to develop ahumane plan, right, that was
really respectful of the humanlife that was taken away,
especially that of an LGBTmember in Houston.
And to highlight that these aregoing on a number of times and
(28:54):
most times we do not catch theperson or catch anyone that is
connected with the crime.
But I am happy to say, withinthe past two situations that we
have had this year, we have hadsome arrests done and I think it
was because we chose to do it adifferent way.
I just think that we chose todo it a different way.
You know, getting somebody incustody and doing it a different
(29:15):
way has shown to work for usthis time, but maybe next time
it may not work and we mighthave to change it a different
way.
But I think it's a plan of justhaving some regular foundation
things and then you build onthat foundation sometimes for
each situation.
Speaker 7 (29:30):
Right, and so I think what Atlantis is talking about
is really important.
I think sometimes as community,whenever we are faced with a
tragedy, our gut instinct, ourresponse is to jump on social
media and to start posting aboutit, to start talking about the
person that was murdered, killed, assaulted, whatever it may be
(29:51):
right, before really HPD or thesheriff's office or whatever law
enforcement agency has beenable to take the time to really
do their due diligence tounderstand the situation Right.
We've seen situations in thepast, specifically in Houston,
where there has been rumors orthere has been misinformation
about the LGBTQ plus identity ofa person and specifically I
(30:17):
remember this was an instancewith the shooter at Lakewood.
There was a lot of rumors goingaround on social media that this
person was trans.
People started posting about it,started running with it,
ultimately turned out not to betrue, right, and so I think the
importance here is that when weare faced with tragedy in our
community, we understand thatpeople want to uplift that
(30:41):
person that was taken from ourcommunity, that people want to
tell their story, to really dotheir due diligence in
identifying the victim andseeing if there is any
possibility of catching theperpetrator, finding evidence
right, looking at securitycamera footage, right, there's
(31:03):
so many things that have tohappen before we can finally
talk about that person, and Ithink that that's really the
approach that we're trying totake here, and something that
we've learned this year throughsome of the tragedies we've
experienced with our community,is really to allow law
enforcement that time to dotheir job before we get in front
of the situation and before westart posting about it, because
we also have to be sensitive tothe victim, to the family, to
(31:25):
their lived experience, right,and so we we really need to be
cognizant of this situationbefore we we really jump to any
kind of conclusions.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Thanks for that, austin.
This ties in very well withRain in Paradise and the Queens
of Houston kickoff event onNovember 20th.
So, alanis, could you tell me alittle bit about Rain in
Paradise, what it means, itshistory and what it will look
like this year?
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Well, good, thank you .
But before I go into Rain inParadise, I wanted to point out
something that I want everybodyto take from this conversation
in here.
Yes, I am the founder co-chair,but I have two co-chairs, davis
and Austin that we all have asector and a knowledge that we
are really good in, and I am aHort person, but I also need a
(32:15):
person like Austin to be thereto come in and give us the
details about it, like I'mcommunity from root to root,
just like everybody else on thiscall, but we work in different
sectors right, and I think thoseare important, and when you
bring in a group as large asours together to make this one
thing right, so I think it isimportant to point out the
(32:36):
differences of it and theapproach, in that this is not a
pretty package.
It is a package of diversityand individuality that's built
towards working toward acollective message.
So bringing that back about amessage.
It's Rain in Paradise.
We have been doing for probablylike four or five years now, and
(32:57):
what it was was that I gottired of just lighting a candle
and blowing it out.
I thought that was not reallyrepresentative of trans people
that we have lost, and that whentrans people have been
violently taken away from us,they become their death
narrative, nothing else aboutthem but their death narrative.
So what we decided to do sowhat we decided to do, or what
(33:18):
we started to do, was takingthese pictures of all these
individuals and researchinglittle parts of things about it,
about them, and putting itunder their pictures, um, and
posting them, making this big umdisplay.
Sometimes we've done it in artmuseums and mixed in art, and
sometimes we've done it for thetea party, but this year,
(33:39):
uniquely, we're doing itdifferent.
Of course, we have theLaunching a Queen social mixture
that will be happening from 630down on November the 20th at
Queen Rain and Paradiseinstallation.
But this year we also have hada candle that will be curated by
(34:04):
Black Folks Candle, where wewill be dropping the names into
the wax at six o'clock and thatis to symbolize that, embracing
our family members that we havelost, and this love and this
power to know that we got you.
And, sadly, we know that wecan't erase trans murders.
So we need to be realistic, butI want to send a message that,
even in death that we are, westill have you, we hold you
close to us.
We embrace you, we empower youon your next journey.
(34:24):
So we have that.
Then we have an artist that isdoing like two or three actual
pictures that they have paintedor drawn themselves.
That will be added to theinstallation as well, as we will
be starting this new traditionfor Black Trans Empowerment Week
having shirts of the peoplethat we've lost in Houston there
for community members to writetheir own love letters or their
(34:46):
own empowering statement on thatshirt for that person.
I think that so many times wehave had this event and it has
been within the LGBTQ community,but we know these are happening
.
Our goal here for Rain inParadise as well as Queens, is
to push this bigger.
Where Houston community peoplesee it, like having this display
(35:10):
up in City Hall.
Our goal is putting it morepublic.
We don't need to be justrepetitive and seeing it as the
LGBT community.
We need to bring it out intothe Houston community.
We need them to see the humanbeing that was taken away and
attach them back to theirhumanity and let people say, hey
(35:30):
, this is somebody who loved todo hair and was good at this, or
loved to go sing and walk inthe park, normalizing that they
were doing that.
There are human being doingregular human things, and that
was their life was taken awayviolently.
We keep looking at trans peopleas the deviants of society and
(35:51):
we keep separating them, puttingus on trans island, when, if
you remove all theseintersections about us, if you
remove our gender, our race, thecolor of my hair, my sexual
orientation, my gender identity,the one thing that we all are
and will continue to be, fromthe moment of conception to
death, is a human being, andthat is what I want to bring
(36:13):
back forth into this.
I want to bring humanity backin front, in the front line of
the movement, instead of itbeing so back in the back.
No, we need to bring humanityback.
I think we're missing that.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Absolutely Atlantis.
And my last question for bothof y'all and I'll start with
Austin is what does a successfulyear, a successful first year
of Queens of Houston, right?
So, rolling out November 20th,but from November 20th 2024 to
2025, what does a successfulyear for Queens of Houston look
(36:47):
like?
I?
Speaker 7 (36:47):
think a successful year for Queens of Houston
honestly looks like being ableto prepare our community for the
next natural disaster season.
Right, as you mentioned earlier, hurricane season ends on
November 30th Well, it starts upin May, so that's not a whole
lot of time that we have reallyto get these kind of emergency
(37:09):
action plans in place.
So I think that that's reallythe first thing looking at how
we can start to create thatunified community response to
make sure that our community isnot being left behind in the
face of any kind of naturaldisaster.
Secondly, I think it's alsobeing able to develop and really
have a solid process for how werespond to these acts of
(37:32):
violence in our community.
Unfortunately, it does not seemthat anti-trans violence is
going to stop anytime soon, andwe continue to see murders
happen throughout Texas andspecifically here in Houston,
texas right, we are almost oneof the epicenters of anti-trans
violence across the country, andso I think, making sure that we
are able to take care ofcommunity, as Atlantis pointed
(37:55):
out, through supporting theirfriends, their families, you
know, supporting the victim'smemory right through vigils, but
also making sure that we arespeaking as one throughout a
community, which is never reallysomething that we've been able
to do successfully before, andso I think for me those two
things are really going to beparamount in terms of success
for the first year of Queens ofHouston and hopefully we'll be
(38:19):
able to continue to grow uponthat work apply for funding to
be able to fund some programs,distribution, start to bend the
ear of more community membersand get more people into the
coalition.
But I really think, with themembers that we have right now
in the coalition, with the ideasand the support that we have
(38:41):
right now, I think reallysuccess had the ice storm, I
mean winter storm, yuri, andthen we had the power grid
scenario.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
So this isn't something that is just seasonal.
Queens is needed all season.
I would say that success lookslike everything Austin said, but
I need the Houston communityand everybody that is listening
to understand that this shouldhave been started eons ago,
(39:19):
right, and to get to prepare fora hurricane or to prepare for
natural disasters not when youthink it's coming is you prepare
for things when they aren'tcoming.
So I don't want people ever tothink that, oh, it's not
hurricane season, so weshouldn't be thinking about this
, oh, it's not winter, becauseit's winter and we really don't.
No, we need to be thinkingabout what Houston needs.
(39:41):
We need to be forward thinking.
We need to think about whatpast experiences we have had
with each season.
I think what we saw this yearwhen we had the tornado in the
center of Houston to a degree wehad never had, that Everything
is changing of Houston to adegree we had never had, that
Everything is changing.
So I think that we need tounderstand that emergency
preparations need to beconsidered at all times here in
(40:04):
Houston.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Well, thank you both so much for your time.
Thank you, atlantis Narcissus,founder of Save Our Sisters
United Inc and co-chair andfounder of Queens of Houston,
and Austin Davis Ruiz, presidentof the Houston LGBTQ Plus
Political Caucus and co-chair ofQueens of Houston, and Austin
Davis Ruiz, president of theHouston LGBTQ plus political
caucus and co-chair of Queens ofHouston.
Thank you both so much.
Speaker 7 (40:21):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 6 (40:27):
This is Queer Voices.
Speaker 8 (40:34):
Hey, I'm Brett Cullum and today I am talking with
Rose Morrigan.
She will be in the next Stagesshow Ms Holmes and Ms Watson,
apartment 2B, which is ahilarious romp with a fresh take
on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle'sLegendary Detectives.
And Rose gets to play Sherlock,which is like a dream, but with
(40:54):
a twist, gets to play Sherlock,which is like a dream, but with
a twist.
Now Rose has been in Houston awhile and, surprise, she and I
both went to Climb Forest, whichis a strange coincidence, and
she went on to Sam Houston andstudied theater there, a place
that I'm pretty familiar with aswell.
And Rose has worked with theMatch, one of my favorite places
in the world, where you canfind me all the time.
So I feel like I already knowyou, rose, but welcome to Queer
(41:18):
Voices.
Speaker 4 (41:19):
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, that's a lot ofcoincidences.
Speaker 8 (41:22):
It's a lot, uh-huh.
So tell me what is it like tostep into the role of Sherlock
Holmes, transition him to herand do it as a woman.
Speaker 4 (41:35):
Yeah, first, I think what was amazing is our first
day of rehearsal.
It was made very clear thatthis is less an act of
transferring Sherlock into the21st century and into a woman,
and more what if Sherlock Holmeswas always in the 21st century
and was always a woman?
So there's a nice release oflike we're not too worried about
(41:58):
the previous versions ofSherlock.
This is more of a new invention.
But I think it's interestinghow much of that character and
their tenants line up anywaywith how we're taking it.
It very just the kind ofmeticulousness, the brashness,
the otherness of Sherlock fromeveryone else around them.
(42:18):
I think that translates superwell into kind of being this
antisocial, intense girl thatshe is in this show.
Speaker 8 (42:26):
Oh great, Well, tell me about what the show's like.
I mean, you mentioned that it'sa little bit more updated.
Is it current day?
Speaker 4 (42:32):
Yeah, so it's set 2020-ish a little bit after.
It's very aware of the worldthat we live in post pandemic,
all of that stuff.
Social media, the internet, isa big element of the show.
So sorry, I got a little bitlost with what the original
question was oh, I'm just askingwhat this?
is like I mean basically, yeah,it's um, it's a heightened
(42:54):
comedy set in the modern day.
It's very aware that it's aplay, so there's lots of moments
where set pieces asides to theaudience.
They're all done verytongue-in-cheek.
We're not pretending that.
You know you're beingtransported into this apartment.
You're kind of joining us inplaying a little bit.
Speaker 8 (43:16):
So you break the fourth wall a little bit.
Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 4 (43:19):
In some cheeky ways.
Yes, Sometimes absolutely, theshow starts with a character
talking directly to the audienceand once you get going, it's
almost like we continue to kindof nudge you and go hey, you're
here with us, we're all playingand we're all pretending at the
same time, and I think thatopens the show to be a lot more
(43:39):
silly than you would expect evenout of a Sherlock Holmes comedy
.
It's kind of a medium-sizedcast right.
Yeah, four people.
So it's like very nice andintimate.
You have Holmes and Watson andthen the lovely, my lovely
compatriots who are playing theother roles.
Are filling in for lots ofdifferent characters all at once
(43:59):
.
Speaker 8 (44:00):
Tell me a little bit about the design, if you know
about it.
I know the scenic designer.
I know she is like an excitingvoice here in Houston, so do you
know what's in store for yourscenic type stuff?
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Yes, without giving away too much of the lead.
It's very ethereal in a waythat I wasn't expecting, in the
sense of uh, with the heightenedcomedy, they're going with
heightened colors so manymoments are monochromatic, so
you start to associate differentlocations with a color and
(44:35):
they're kind of taking that ideaand running with it.
So I think there will be lots ofmoments where everything is
just kind of basked in a certaincolor or a certain vibe and I
think this show just doesn't doanything half.
And that goes with the scenic,it goes with the props, without
giving away.
There's a lovely moment wherean entire bucket of blood is is
(44:55):
poured.
So there's very everything isextra, including the lights and
sound and set well talking aboutthat.
Speaker 8 (45:03):
I noticed that there is a fight director and there is
also an intimacy directorlisted in this.
How wild is this play?
Speaker 4 (45:11):
I mean with the fight direction, I can say, more wild
than I even thought.
My first rehearsal was two daysago and I was already swinging
a sword.
The fight director, funnilyenough, is my old professor from
Sam Houston, kevin Crouch, sohe's the person that taught me
how to sword fight.
Yeah, the amount of whichswords and other various items
(45:34):
are being swung around andthrown, there's an entire
wrestling match at some point.
So with the fighting,absolutely, I think what's
really interesting aboutintimacy directors is, no matter
what show you're working on, iftwo people are going to be
touching each other in any way,there's a kiss in here, but it's
not extreme, I'd say.
But it's nice that it's becomecommonplace now that if two
(45:56):
actors are going to touch eachother in any way, boundaries
need to be talked about, wantingto make sure everyone's
comfortable.
Everyone knows when they cansay no to certain things.
You'd be surprised how manyshows have intimacy directors
just to.
I think, a good thing to makesure their actors are safe.
Speaker 8 (46:13):
Absolutely.
It's definitely a different eraand I think that we really take
these things a little bit moreseriously than we used to, and
it makes a safer environment, Ithink because, there's a lot of
trauma that can be caused bythat.
So how did you end up gettingcast?
I mean, what was the auditionlike for this?
Speaker 4 (46:29):
Well, I worked at stages for several years as a
house manager before this show,so I've been trying to get in
with them for a while on stage.
So whenever they released theirnew season I looked at it all
and this show just kind ofcalled out to me.
I love gender bendy stuff, ofcourse, but just the playfulness
(46:50):
that was with the script.
So I did a small audition andthen that got me my callback and
then that's really where itcame alive.
It was very fast paced.
I was reading with one Watsonand then another and then
another.
So it's that fun environmentwhere what's being asked of you
keeps you in a heightened state.
And I feel like that was thefun of that audition is.
(47:12):
I kind of felt like Sherlock upthere just running around being
being crazy, non-stop talking,that kind of thing what shows
have you done before and liketell me some of your favorites,
maybe from the past yeah, in asimilar vein, my first
collegiate show was Noises Off,and that was I think I will
always have a love for farces.
(47:33):
Before my curly hair went down,it used to just go up and out.
So I think I was always have alove for farces before my curly
hair went down, it used to justgo up and out.
So I think I was often chosenfor kind of bouncy, energetic
roles, and I love those kinds ofshows just because the amount
of physical prowess and likeintense coordination that goes
into it.
It's fun not just on the actinglevel but on just the pure look
(47:55):
what I just did level.
And then another one that I wasin was Silence by Moira Buffini
, which is just a lovely quietshow.
I played a priest who's kind ofcounseling this young Viking
boy who discovers that he's notactually a boy he was just
raised that way, and so that'skind of a more like intimate,
(48:16):
quiet, thoughtful show with lotsof deep discussions about
religion and gender and sex, andso I think those are my two
balances.
I love both of those a lot.
Speaker 8 (48:26):
Yeah, it's a far distance between Noises Off and
Silence.
Physical comedy farce.
Deep thinking, violent showwell, can we talk a little bit
about you personally?
Yeah, absolutely okay, rosemore again.
You are an out and proud transwoman.
(48:49):
Can you tell me a little bitabout that part of your identity
?
Speaker 4 (48:53):
what's lovely about trans people is that every
single journey is so unique anddifferent, and I find that
especially to be so in my case.
One of those things I alwayskind of knew I wasn't able to
really accept myself until I wasabout 18 years old, when I
moved out of the house and Icame out as a trans woman but
didn't physically transition foranother six to eight years and
(49:15):
then, when I was in my my earlytwenties, that's when I finally
made the decision to get onhormones, and that was that was
kind of empowered by all of thepeople around me.
So I think my mind was verymuch a journey of knowing who.
I was very early, coming outvery early, but it took being
(49:36):
especially down here in Houston,in Montrose, around so many
other lovely trans people, andthat's when I kind of was like
finally able to fully takeaction and start my journey the
way that I wanted to start.
Speaker 8 (49:49):
It Were there any challenges associated with I
mean, you're an artist and youdo theater and things like that.
Was there any challengesassociated with that and
transitioning?
Speaker 4 (49:59):
Absolutely.
I think as a performer, youalways there's always a
temperance of knowing that youmight not get a role for so many
reasons.
But I think it was verydifficult.
I I worked very consistentlythroughout my college years and
I think a lot of that was due toone, I think, a skill that I
had worked on and honed.
(50:20):
But also I'm 5'5", I had bigcurly hair and I wasn't
physically transitioning.
So there was a very specifickind of male role that I fit
into and these past five years Igraduated 2020.
So that was already kind of adifficult entrance into the
theater world.
But I have I've run into a lotof long, deep conversations with
(50:41):
artistic directors and castingdirectors.
I could see the difficulty theywere running into as an early
transition trans woman.
They could see the male roles Icould fit into.
I was giving a good performancein female roles and I think
(51:11):
when you kind of live in both ofthose areas, it's hard for
someone to pick you becausethere's almost always a clear
choice to them.
But I think, hopefully, withthis show, I feel like I'm
really starting to come into myown.
I'm kind of discovering whatkind of women I portray on stage
and where I comfortably fall,but I also think it's just a
matter of time with the world.
I think casting trans people isnot something that has been
(51:36):
integrated into theaters.
I don't think there are systemsor kind of vocabulary yet that
makes it easy to becomecommonplace.
Speaker 8 (51:40):
I think we're in an interesting place historically
and I'm so thrilled to see youhere at Stages doing a role like
this because I think it'simportant To me.
I like the idea of that.
It's something that should justcome natural to the theater.
I mean, we have this history ofgender bending that goes back
to Shakespearean times.
(52:01):
I mean there shouldn't be alimit on what you can audition
for for anybody almost.
Speaker 4 (52:07):
Absolutely yeah, I think, especially with this show
.
I think it's so importantbecause I think a lot of people
are going to be coming in withexpectations of oh, it's Miss
Sherlock, so there's already forthem, they're already preparing
themselves.
I think what's beautiful aboutthe show is, if it was a
cisgendered or a transgender,miss Holmes, the plot doesn't
(52:30):
change Even the flavor.
The plot doesn't change eventhe flavor.
You know it very much justcomes down to when I read the
script I went oh, I know exactlywhat kind of girl this is and
on top of that, I know exactlywhat kind of trans girl.
You know.
There's a very certain kind ofenergy that I'm pulling for her
and I don't think that itchanges the direction of the
(52:51):
show one way or the other.
I think it just colors her in adifferent way and I really hope
a lot of theaters start tonotice that when you're doing
any show Cinderella, you know, aShakespeare or a contemporary
show, anything that when youcast a trans person, trans man,
a trans woman, someone who'snon-binary, it doesn't change
(53:12):
the meaning of the play.
I think it just alters it in away that fits to someone else
and flavors it differently.
I think.
Speaker 8 (53:20):
Well, it's a conversation that I think is
long overdue in theater.
I think there's been a lot offight over gender and what is
appropriate for roles and thingslike that, and I think it's
we're overdue to have a littlebit more fluidity in theater,
and I'm so glad to see itbecause I definitely, when I was
growing up, playwrights andproduction companies and
(53:40):
artistic directors really put alimit on how you could cast a
show, and I'm so glad to seestages being at the forefront of
this and taking that on.
I mean, it's definitely.
We're very proud of you fordoing this and putting yourself
out there, rose.
I think it's amazing.
You're doing amazing work forthe community and we'll all be
there to support you, of course.
Thank you, I really appreciatethat.
(54:02):
Yeah, no, thank you Rose Morganand Ms Holmes, Ms Watson,
apartment 2B at stages October25th through November 17th, and
I will give you a pro tip.
The first week is previews.
You can get a little bit of adiscount on tickets if you go
early in the run.
But, of course, please justmake your reservations.
Go see it.
Support Rose, support transartists, it's so important.
(54:25):
I think you're the next voicecoming up in theater and I'm
excited to see it.
So, and of course, justSherlock Holmes.
How am I going to skip that?
Speaker 4 (54:35):
No, yeah, this is one that you do not want in this,
absolutely Especially thisversion of Holmes.
She's something else.
Speaker 8 (54:41):
I'll say that Let me ask you just real quick before
we go Do you go by Sherlock?
Speaker 4 (54:47):
in the show.
Yes, In fact it's a very clearpoint which I think works fun
enough with my trans identity.
Her birth name is Shirley, butshe will not be referred to as
Shirley.
She does not like that name.
She does not register it.
She is Sherlock and that's that, and that's something that I
can very much sympathize with.
Speaker 8 (55:07):
Well, that's so perfect.
Yes, All right.
Well, thank you again, rose,and we will be, excited to see
you at Stages.
Speaker 6 (55:22):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our Web pageQueerVoicesorg for more
information.
Queer Voices executive produceris Brian Levinka, deborah
Moncrief-Bell is co-producer,brett Cullum and David
(55:46):
Mendoza-Druzman are contributors, and Brett is also our
webmaster.
Speaker 9 (55:52):
Some of the material in this program has been edited
to improve clarity and runtime.
This program does not endorseany political views or animal
species.
Views, opinions andendorsements are those of the
participants and theorganizations they represent.
In case of death, pleasediscontinue use and discard
remaining product.
Speaker 6 (56:05):
For Queer Voices.
I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
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