May 14, 2026 • 28 mins
On this week’s edition of What’s Going On we feature our monthly segment SpeakOUT with Angela Giampolo and we’re talking about the power of ritual, connection, and why gathering together may be more important now than ever.
Bestselling author Bruce Feiler joins us to discuss his new book, A TIME TO GATHER: How Ritual Created the World—and How It Can Save Us which explores how rituals—from weddings and funerals to honor walks and even divorce parties—help us heal, connect, and build community in a disconnected world. Bruce shares insights from his journey through sixteen countries and explains how meaningful rituals can strengthen families, friendships, and communities in everyday life.
A TIME TO GATHER: How Ritual Created the World—and How It Can Save Us officially releases May 19. Bruce will appear for a book talk at Main Point Books on Wednesday, May 27 at 6:30 PM and at Barnes & Noble Philadelphia on Thursday, May 28 at 6 PM.
Then on our monthly feature SpeakOUT, attorney and activist Angela Giampolo discusses efforts to overcome the harmful legacy of conversion therapy, concerns surrounding rhetoric and policies targeting transgender advocacy groups, and the ongoing fight for dignity, equality, and protection for the LGBTQ+ community.
And on a positive note, Angela shares the impact of her Caravan of Hope campaign, which brought free legal aid and support services to members of the LGBTQIQ community across the country last month—offering resources, advocacy, and hope to people in communities often overlooked and underserved.
Learn more about Bruce Feiler and A Time to Gather at Bruce Feiler Official Website
Follow Bruce on X: @BruceFeiler
Instagram: @brucefeiler
Facebook: Bruce Feiler Author
LinkedIn: Bruce Feiler on LinkedIn
Learn more about Angela Giampolo and SpeakOUT at Giampolo Law Group
Instagram: @phillygaylawyer
Facebook: Giampolo Law Group
Bestselling author Bruce Feiler joins us to discuss his new book, A TIME TO GATHER: How Ritual Created the World—and How It Can Save Us which explores how rituals—from weddings and funerals to honor walks and even divorce parties—help us heal, connect, and build community in a disconnected world. Bruce shares insights from his journey through sixteen countries and explains how meaningful rituals can strengthen families, friendships, and communities in everyday life.
A TIME TO GATHER: How Ritual Created the World—and How It Can Save Us officially releases May 19. Bruce will appear for a book talk at Main Point Books on Wednesday, May 27 at 6:30 PM and at Barnes & Noble Philadelphia on Thursday, May 28 at 6 PM.
Then on our monthly feature SpeakOUT, attorney and activist Angela Giampolo discusses efforts to overcome the harmful legacy of conversion therapy, concerns surrounding rhetoric and policies targeting transgender advocacy groups, and the ongoing fight for dignity, equality, and protection for the LGBTQ+ community.
And on a positive note, Angela shares the impact of her Caravan of Hope campaign, which brought free legal aid and support services to members of the LGBTQIQ community across the country last month—offering resources, advocacy, and hope to people in communities often overlooked and underserved.
Learn more about Bruce Feiler and A Time to Gather at Bruce Feiler Official Website
Follow Bruce on X: @BruceFeiler
Instagram: @brucefeiler
Facebook: Bruce Feiler Author
LinkedIn: Bruce Feiler on LinkedIn
Learn more about Angela Giampolo and SpeakOUT at Giampolo Law Group
Instagram: @phillygaylawyer
Facebook: Giampolo Law Group
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to what's going on? A show
about making a difference in our lives and our communities.
I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrel. Before we get started, the Celebrate
World Heritage Month Global Philadelphia, The Free Library of Philadelphia
and Literary Events and Projects presents a celebration of the
Global Culinary Arts on May twenty first, from six to
seven thirty at the Free Library. Andre Fowls, an award
(00:23):
winning Jamaican born chef, three time Chopped Champion, International restaurant consultant,
James Beard contributor, and Bruce Springsteen's personal chef, will present
My Jamaican Table Vibrant Recipes from a sun Drenched Island.
For more information, called two one five eight seven eight
book or go to the Free Library of Philadelphia website
(00:43):
to register. Today, we're exploring the power of ritual connection
and community with best selling author Bruce Feiler. Then, in
our monthly speak Out feature, attorney and advocate Angelo Giampolo
joins us to address issues impacting the LGBTQIA community and
the broader community as well. Stay with us. We're talking
about the power of ritual connection and why gathering together
(01:06):
may be more important now than ever. My guest is
best selling author Bruce Feiler, whose new book A Time
to Gather, How Ritual Created the World and How It
Can Save Us explores how rituals, from weddings and funerals
to modern traditions like honor walks and divorce parties help
us heal, connect and build community in a disconnected world.
(01:26):
We'll talk about his global journey through sixteen countries and
what we can all learn about creating more meaningful moments
in our own lives. Well, Bruce, congratulations on A Time
to Gather. What a great and timely book. Let's start
with a big picture. How do you define a ritual
and why do you believe rituals are especially important in
today's world.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, first of all, thank you for having me in
for that kind introduction. You know, I stumbled into this
story actually when my wife and I dropped our twin
daughters off at college and I came home and I
felt homesick in my own home, and I was realizing
that all of my relationships feel strained, like my dad
had just died and my mom was aging, and my
marriage needs to be renegotiate, my friendships remade, and I'm
(02:09):
not alone. I think so many of us feel this
craving to reconnect. Right, We're on our phones all the time,
and the algorithms divide us, and like, we want to reconnect,
feel belonging, feel like we're part of neighborhoods and communities.
And I said, you know what, I need something to
help me remake these relationships. And iized, Wow, we're in
(02:29):
this massive time of change because we know rituals of work.
We have three hundred thousand years of evidence of this,
and yet traditional rituals were turning our backs on and
as you just so beautifully said, all these new rituals
are popping up, and so there is this renaissance of
new ways of gathering. And that's really what I've set
out to chronicle in A Time to Gather.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, you know, it's so interesting because when I got
married for the first time, I remember the experience of
getting married and the whole ritual of it and the
saying of the vows. There was something profoundly moving about
that experience that it felt like I connected to all
(03:10):
these generations of people who've done things that were similar,
so to be able to have that kind of ritual.
I saw the incredible power of that particular ritual.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, that's so beautifully said, and that really is an
emotion that I kept finding on this journey where I
went to rituals all over the world, group baptism at
the Vatican, and a traditional bride price negotiation in South Africa,
and six weddings in the day in Las Vegas, and
ten funerals in a week in Ireland. And I remember
one funeral I went to an Ireland where this family
gathered and they were dropping long stem yellow roses into
(03:44):
the grave. And that's what my mother had done when
my father died. And I had this feeling like every
ritual you attend is every other ritual you attend. Right
when I remember at my own wedding now almost twenty
five years ago, I remember watching my parents give a
toast and imagining myself as a child looking at my
wedding photos and then maybe my own children someday looking
(04:05):
back at this one. And so I think there is
something timeless. If you think about your life. If I
ask you to tell me your life story, probably so
many of the highlights would be moments of connection, moments
of joy and celebration, babies, baby namings, funerals, graduations, your
milestone birthdays, but also the mournful occasions, the loss of
a loved one, the loss of a home, the loss
(04:26):
of a pet. Pet funerals are now a three billion
dollar business, and so I think that this shows us
that rituals connect us. They chronicle our lives. But also
one of the things that they do is they help
us kind of navigate conflict. Like we are surrounded by conflict,
but the act of coming together forces all those issues
out onto the table and gives us the opportunity to
(04:47):
make them better.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
You talk about rituals, You've explored so many rituals all
around the world, but there are also these new types
of rituals that people are creating, like the divorce parties
and the honor walks. Tell us about the role that
these new kinds of rituals are playing in our society.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, I love that question. In fact, guess my wife's
favorite chapter in A Time to Gather is the Taylor
Swift divorce party. Bought a woman on Long Island who
her parents got divorced, both grandparents. She's like, I'm never
getting divorced. You can imagine what happened. She got up
had children, grew up, had children, got married, got divorced.
Her husband took half their belonging, she gave away the rest.
And she came home and said, you know what I
need now? I need a registry. I got no sheets
(05:25):
to sleep on and no towels to bathe in. And
so she created the first divorce registry of all time.
And she realized that, oh, you know what people need more,
They need a ritual. So she wrote a blog about
a tailor swift divorce party with shacob Off cupcakes and
we are never ever ever getting back together with napkins,
and people rallied around it. And I think that the
(05:46):
essence of the story, Lorraine, is that one hundred years ago,
when the idea of rights of passage was first invented,
you know, they said that we're going to have big
four birth, coming of age, marriage, death, You're going to
have them in order, and that's what you're going to have. Well, now,
we don't live linear lives like that. We live non
linear lives with many more twists and turns. You know,
(06:07):
I've been writing about transitions for years. We spend half
of our adult lives in transition, and so in those moments.
We don't want to feel alone. We don't want to
be under the covers, don't We don't want to be
feeling like no one's along this journey with us. So
people in lives that have many more transitions are saying,
I want a ritual to market. So whether it's a
cancer versary or a sober versary, or an adoption party,
(06:30):
or a mastectomy circle, or a daddy daughter dance or
a mom prompt, these are all new ways of gathering
making meaning together. And what I've tried to do in
a time together is say, okay, this is the basic
blueprint of togetherness, Like here are three, five, ten, two
hundred things you can do to make the gatherings that
you're doing more effective and give you the sense of
(06:53):
belonging connection that you crave.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I like that, and I want to get back to
that point. But before we do that, I'd like to
speak to you one of the more moving stories in
your book about the creation of the Honor Walk for
organ donors. And I'm a big advocate of organ donation.
Why do you think modern rituals like this resonate so
deeply with people?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
That's such a great question. This is an unbelievable story
that almost nobody knows a nurse in Ohio. She grows
up in a family. Their dad's the mayor and the
fire chief. Her mom teaches Sunday school at the local church.
She goes up to become a nurse. She comes home
one weekend her little sister says, I'm getting engaged. Next weekend,
(07:33):
she gets in a car, skids on some ice and
crashes into a tree. The next morning, the doctors come
in and say she's an organ donor and wrench the
body away, and Missy, the woman I'm talking to, says,
I don't want anybody else to experience this. She goes
to work in a donor group and says I want
to solve this problem. And she creates a ritual, as
you say, called an honor walk. And what happens is
(07:54):
they put the deceased in a gurney. They put a
little smartphone by the ear it's playing any song by
John Denver, push the body into the hallway. The entire
hospital staff has lined the hall blue scrubs holding flameless candles,
and they pay tribute to this donor and remind the
family that she's not being taken she's giving in this moment,
(08:15):
and Missy makes a rule no one can take a photo,
but she makes an exception for the widow the first time,
and the next morning her phone blows up. I want
to do an honor walk. How do I do this?
The woman posts that photo on Facebook. It gets two
million likes. There are fifty donor support organizations in the country.
They all host honor walks. They have a quarter of
a billion views on YouTube. And it is a reminder
(08:39):
that in our most in the highest of highs and
the lowest of lows, we crave connection. We want to
feel together. As one ritual designer Millennial told me about
a mastectomy circle that she hosted, I listen for the
deepest fear and the highest hope, and the purpose of
the ritual is to turn the fear into hope by
reminding everyone that when I think are the three most
(09:02):
powerful words in the English language, you're not alone.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I wonder whether that HBO series The Pit might have
taken that idea, because there is an honor walk in
that particular show, and I remember crying as I you know,
and I'm going to get a little emotional right now,
you know, as they wheeled the gurney and all the
people were lined up, nurses, family, doctors with such deep
(09:28):
compassion and an honor, just giving honor to something that
is a tremendous gift, that gift of life for someone
who's donated their organs. And so, yeah, so you made me.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Cro I think the emotion that you're describing and capturing
is the craving that we all have to be together. Right,
these are difficult times. The enemies are in our pockets
like they are they are. We know that those algorithms
are designed to divide us. Ritual is the original human
algorith and it's why the greatest institutions now have become
(10:03):
ritual entrepreneurs, religious organizations, non religious. Right, this spans ages,
this spans genders, and you know you mentioned earlier about
you know kind of what do they have in common?
I say that successful ritual gatherings have three things in common. First,
they have boundaries. Right, we're going to invite people into
a sacred space. Right. What what Missy Holiday did was
(10:24):
took and in personal space a hallway in the hospital
and turned it into a sacred space. Right. And what
we say when we come into whether it's the circle
or the ring or the garden or the beach or
whatever it might be. Is outside we were that, and
inside we are this. Like we're going to come into
this space and be together. So the first thing you
need is boundaries, right, you need to welcome people with joy. Okay.
Then the second thing you need is empathy. Right. You
(10:46):
want to define the tension that we're experiencing and identify
the intention you're going to apply to it. So, if
we're here to celebrate, if it's a graduation, if it's
a family reunion, if it's a wedding, a baby naming,
we're here to dance, to eat, to sing, to be joyful.
If it's a difficult time, like the loss of a
loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of
a home, you know, the loss of a pet, then
(11:09):
we're going to honor. We're going to share, We're going
to weep. Maybe we're going I'm thinking of a time
to weep, a time to dance, right, a time to
scatter as stones, a time to gather them.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
This is from Ecclesiastes. It's the oldest story. We've been
doing this all along. And then you want to end
with a moment of hope. What I've been doing in
the rituals I lead is taking pebbles and giving people
markers and having them write their hope for how this
difficult or joyful or complicated or exciting transition will resolve.
And then take those pebbles, put them upside down in
(11:40):
the middle of the circle, and then one by one,
everybody else in the circle comes, takes the pebble, reads
the hope, and then carries not only their own hope,
but someone else's hope into the future. We've created a
web of hope, and at a moment when most of
the time we spend on the web, we're feeling divided, hateful, resentful, isolate.
(12:00):
If we build webs of hope, we can make a
dent in the loneliness epidemic. We can make everybody in
the group happier, and we can make ourselves happier too.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Finally, if listeners want to take away one message from
a time together, what do you hope stays with them
long after they finished the book.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
The number one thing people have said to me after
finishing reading this book is I want to hold a gathering,
and so to me, the number one messages that's all
you need. You don't need a degree, you don't need
lots of money, you don't need the perfect meal, you
don't need the perfect space. What you need is the
desire to fulfill the longing that we all have already.
(12:41):
So invite people over. If you do that, there are
three million occasions. If you add together birthdays and graduations
and milestones and canter diagnoses and lost jobs and people moving,
that's three million opportunities that we have in this country
right now. And you can start as quickly as this weekend.
Summer is coming the season of ritual. Invite people over,
(13:03):
Be thoughtful and mindful about what you want to do,
and you can create a kind of ripple effect. Domino's
falling to say, we are going to resist all the
hate around us, and we're going to counter it with
the most powerful thing and the first thing humans ever did,
which is to gather together and make meaning collectively.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Wow, you've inspired me. I'm going to get a ritual
gathering and definitely posed a picture, post a picture, and
get all the advice that you have inside your book
for how to do that. You are going to be
in the area signing books.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Tell us where, Yeah, I'm going to be in Wayne
at the bookstore there on Wednesday, the twenty seventh of May,
and on Thursday, the twenty eighth of May, I'll be
at the Barnes and Noble in downtown Philadelphia. I have
lots of family in Philadelphia, so it's going to be
a family occasion. Come out, join us, get some tips,
be inspired, and let's make this the Summer of Ritual.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And what is your website and your social media for
us to follow?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, I'm Bruce Filer, So it's FBI L E R.
I'm old enough that it's relief spelled backwards for those
of you remember the old commercials. So it's Bruce Feiler.
My website is Bruce Filer dot com. I'm met at
Bruce Filer and all social media channels, and I love
nothing more than hearing from readers and keeping this conversation
going online.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Fantastic, very inspiring. Bruce Filer new book A Time to gather,
How ritual created the world and how it can save us,
exploring how rituals, from weddings and funerals to modern traditions
like honor walks and divorce parties, can help us heal,
connect and build community in a disconnected world. Bruce, thank
you so much.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
My pleasure, thank you for inviting me here.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
We are once a month every month we speak with
Angela Giampolo for a feature we call speak Out, where
we discuss issues related to the lgbtqia plus community, but
also discuss how it impacts all because we are all
in it together, Angela, there is so much happening, it's
like drinking from a fire hose. So tell us top
(15:09):
issues facing the lgbtqia plus community right now.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah, right now. One of the sort of big wins.
If you will out of Colorado any day now, will
new law will go into effect where Colorado is effectively
banning conversion therapy. So in March, the Supreme Court came
out and said that the way that bans are written
(15:33):
are technically unconstitutional, not saying that conversion therapy is good
or bad. They didn't weigh in on that, but they
just said, you know, effectively, what you're doing is its
viewpoint discrimination right, that that therapist has a view point,
and that within the four walls of the therapy room
they are speaking a certain viewpoint that being LGBTQ plus
(15:56):
is not good, and that you know you should be different,
and they're all viewpoints, and that if that's what you're
going to base the ban on, then that is viewpoint
discrimination and against the First Amendment. So Colorado saw that
coming and months in advance. And so even though scotis
deemed the bands tomand constitutional March thirtieth, they had already
been working on a new law early January, almost immediately,
(16:19):
less than a month and a half later. This new
law is already passed Senate, which doesn't deal with the
constitutionality or even trying to ban conversion therapy. Instead, what
it does is create a cause of action for folks,
for people who have undergone conversion therapy, a medical malpractice
claim ultimately, and this new regime, this new set of
(16:44):
laws is so much better, you know. It's one of
the few times when Supreme Court opinion came down and
everyone was like, oh my god, and they're freaking out.
And what we have now is ten times better for
folks where they prior you didn't have anyone that you
could sue for the harm. There was a ban, right,
so there wasn't about creating a cause of action for
people and making them whole. Now someone and there's zero
(17:09):
there's no statute of limitations. It could be fifty years
after conversion therapy took place, and if that's when you're
realizing the damage that it has caused, and there's no
limit on the damages that you can recover. So if
someone was in therapy for forty years and forty years
where it's of therapy and all of the things around it,
all of those costs would be remversed, plus allowing for
(17:30):
punitive damages. And what's fascinating about it is they took
a very republican playbook in order to come up with
these laws. So they looked at in what areas was
something deemed constitutional but the people didn't want it to
be taking place, and that was basically the entire abortion
(17:53):
right scheme where reviewaid was in effect. But he had
certain states that didn't want abortions taking place. So they
looked at the laws that were put in place in
order to make it so that practitioners in certain states.
Texas in particular, the law is called SB eight and
they basically took that law and applied it to conversion therapy. Yes,
(18:15):
conversion therapy is now legal in all states, but we
don't want it happening here. So what kind of cause
of action can we use? So super super fascinating and clever. Yeah,
as far as how we came up with that. But
so it'll go into Effec July one. The governor still
has to sign it. But that is one big thing
that when you hear people talk about, oh, the ban
(18:36):
against conversion therapy, you know, Supreme Court said that conversion
therapy is legal. That's not what they said. They said
that the bans were on constitutional. I agreed violation of
First Amendment rights, but that there are often other ways
in which we can protect folks, and this is a
much better way.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Now let's talk about the the other things, because I
just you learned to me to something that absolutely shocked,
which was a defining say quote unquote radical support of
transgender to be a terrorist, a terrorist organization or a
terrorist category a terrorist officially. Yeah, tell me more. That
(19:17):
is insane. And not only that, allowing people to be
rewarded for turning folks in like nineteen eighty four. I mean,
this is insane. Clarify this for us.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
They've been alluding to it and alluding to it and
alluding to it in memos and this and that, but
as of six days ago, the government put it in
a official document signed by the President of the United
States counter Terrorism Strategy. And it all started back in
September of twenty five where Donald Trump created the foundational
(19:51):
aspect of this pro trans ideology as being a form
of domestic terrorism. Happened right after Charlie Kirks assassination, so
that was sort of the impetus behind it. And so
that was SMPM seven was Donald Trump's initial you know,
a directive to combat the enemy within it said, right,
(20:13):
So it was just the beginning of the rhetoric. And
then in December, I'm twenty twenty five, these bonding memos
came out in two different memos, and that was the
operational component. So you had Trump with the directive and
the foundational then you had the operational component of the
BONDI memos. How is this actually going to play itself out?
(20:34):
And that's where the cash bounty for informants and talking
about the FBI tip lines and promoting those more and
getting the tip line out there, and that they needed
that in putting orders out to the FBI to build
the list of domestic terrorist organizations inclusive of pro trans folks,
(20:56):
and I mean and that's me and you at the
end of the day, right, it's like the way that
it's defined, it counts o odds. Yeah, you say that
the show applies to everyone. Yeah, you know, you could
be the mother of a trans person and ends ideology.
At the end of the days. The Bondi memos were leaked.
They were not meant for public eyes, especially with the
cash bounty informants and how the memos were written and everything.
(21:18):
But so that was leaked. Then April of this year,
last month in the federal budget, there was a line
item for this. So you had the foundational component, you
had the operational house it's going to work, then you
have the financial Now there's a line item and the
budget for it. And then as of last week, the
White House published the twenty twenty six Counter Terrorism Strategy
(21:38):
signed its official radically pro transgender folks listed as a
terror category.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Wow, that's insane.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Hold on, there was more. The very first criminal subpoena
has been issued by Texas North District, Texas Court to
a New York hospital. The litigation has been ongoing, demanding
every transpatient family records for the last six years, all
(22:09):
of the things the beginning of the building of that list.
So we've seen over eighteen hospitals, including right here in
Philadelphia Chop successfully defend Boston's Hospital for Children. So you
had Boston's, you had Philadelphia's. We had a number of
hospitals successfully overcome the DOJ subpoenas because they didn't have
to give up this information. But now that it's a
(22:33):
criminal subpoena because these folks are terrorists, I don't see
how the hospital is going to be able to argue
that they don't have to give up this list. So
it's been multi staged at least five steps since September
of last year. And now here we are in the
United States of America are criminalizing the existence of a person.
(22:55):
We have gotten to that point that we are criminalizing
their very existence.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
The fact that people aren't marching in the streets right now,
it just it's almost like it's too much to wrap
your mind around.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Well, I think the other thing too is people don't know.
I mean I didn't know, So that's why we're here.
We're here to tell folks what the delio is. Well,
unfortunately we are running out of time, so I really
want to touch on your very successful caravan of hope,
so that on the plus side is something very positive.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
So the numbers are almost completely out as far as
the impact that we had, and I haven't even had
a chance to tell you yet, but I will make
a video post about it soon. So in the thirty
one days in the month of March, we stopped in
seventeen cities. I met with four hundred and sixty one
people and helped with one hundred and seventy seven name changes,
(23:46):
eighty two gender marker changes, seventy six estate plans, and
then through Pride Plans, we also donated two plans per city.
So if you take what we charge for those things,
that adds up to eight one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for just the hard costs. Then you add in
the time, the four hundred and sixty one hours, the volunteers,
(24:07):
all of the things that part I'm not done calculating,
but it'll be close to, if not exceeding, slightly a
million dollars in pro bono legal services to LGBTQ folks
in rural and underserved areas.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Ah, that is so fantastic. I just love that you
do it, and I love that you're reaching out to
communities that, as you say, don't necessarily have a strong
supportive community available or the resources. So that's that's extraordinary
and thank you for that. So what's what's next for you?
What's what's next on the Angelo Gimpolo agenda?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeering up for Pride Month? Yeah, right around the corner. Yeah,
Pride Month is right around the corner. So there's a
bunch of prides, a lot of talks at companies for
their urge their employee resource groups. So really June is
just a full packed month with Philly Pride. We go
to about all over the country anywhere from twenty four
to twenty eight different Pride festivals depending, so very very
(25:07):
busy for that. And then as far as on a
sort of personal note, finishing my book on LGBTQ state
planning as a means of empowerment. You know, I always
tell folks I didn't become I don't tell LGBTQ folks
to do their state planning because I'm an estate planning attorney.
I became an estate planning attorney because it's what LGBTQ
(25:30):
folks need to do to protect themselves. It's a form
of human rights, it's a form of empowerment and protection
and all of the things. And so if you'd have
told me twenty years ago, i'd be in estate planning attorney,
stick a pen in my eye. Boring. No, So I've
been right working on a book that is a not
(25:52):
boring LGBTQ state planning book.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Okay, LGBTQ estate planning for dummies, exactly great, we all
need those for sure. Well, if people want to get
in touch with you, because you do estate planning not
only for the LGBTQ plus community but for all folks
out there, and you do such a great job, how
do they get in touch with you? And also tell
us about the blog. You've got a blog?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yes, I always say I represent the LGBTQ community and
those who love us, So that is my only requirement,
and new one can feel free to reach out and
you can find me on Instagram. I'm your gay lawyer. TikTok,
I'm gay Lawyer. And then my website is Lawyer dot
lgbt so it's all very simple. And then I blog
at Phillygaylawyer dot com, so all of the same content
(26:37):
you'll find depending on some folks I can read it.
Some folks like videos and also my YouTube channel, Your
Gay Lawyer.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Thank you as always for raising our awareness about things
that you know that we're not even This thing with
the with Pambondi and the terrorism thing is just I
did not know about it, So thank you for that,
and thank you for always keeping us up to date
with all issues related to the LGBTQ plus community and
(27:05):
also how all of that affects us all and that
for us. We deeply appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
And thank you for the platform. You know, this is
your time ultimately that you donate fifteen minutes a month
to this topic, and if it weren't for your platform,
everyone who just heard this segment also wouldn't know about
what's going on right now. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Well look forward to seeing you once again next month.
Thank you, Angela. You can listen to all of today's
interviews on the iHeartRadio app and all podcast platforms by
typing in keywords Philadelphia Community Podcast. Follow me on Instagram
and threads at Lorraine Ballard and Lorraine Moral on TikTok
and that's Lorain with one R. I'm Loraine Ballad Tomorrow
and I stand for service to our community and media
(27:50):
that empowers. What will you stand for? You've been listening
to what's going on, and thank you.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Saman.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Are running
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Some sam and running
Good morning, and welcome to what's going on? A show
about making a difference in our lives and our communities.
I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrel. Before we get started, the Celebrate
World Heritage Month Global Philadelphia, The Free Library of Philadelphia
and Literary Events and Projects presents a celebration of the
Global Culinary Arts on May twenty first, from six to
seven thirty at the Free Library. Andre Fowls, an award
(00:23):
winning Jamaican born chef, three time Chopped Champion, International restaurant consultant,
James Beard contributor, and Bruce Springsteen's personal chef, will present
My Jamaican Table Vibrant Recipes from a sun Drenched Island.
For more information, called two one five eight seven eight
book or go to the Free Library of Philadelphia website
(00:43):
to register. Today, we're exploring the power of ritual connection
and community with best selling author Bruce Feiler. Then, in
our monthly speak Out feature, attorney and advocate Angelo Giampolo
joins us to address issues impacting the LGBTQIA community and
the broader community as well. Stay with us. We're talking
about the power of ritual connection and why gathering together
(01:06):
may be more important now than ever. My guest is
best selling author Bruce Feiler, whose new book A Time
to Gather, How Ritual Created the World and How It
Can Save Us explores how rituals, from weddings and funerals
to modern traditions like honor walks and divorce parties help
us heal, connect and build community in a disconnected world.
(01:26):
We'll talk about his global journey through sixteen countries and
what we can all learn about creating more meaningful moments
in our own lives. Well, Bruce, congratulations on A Time
to Gather. What a great and timely book. Let's start
with a big picture. How do you define a ritual
and why do you believe rituals are especially important in
today's world.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, first of all, thank you for having me in
for that kind introduction. You know, I stumbled into this
story actually when my wife and I dropped our twin
daughters off at college and I came home and I
felt homesick in my own home, and I was realizing
that all of my relationships feel strained, like my dad
had just died and my mom was aging, and my
marriage needs to be renegotiate, my friendships remade, and I'm
(02:09):
not alone. I think so many of us feel this
craving to reconnect. Right, We're on our phones all the time,
and the algorithms divide us, and like, we want to reconnect,
feel belonging, feel like we're part of neighborhoods and communities.
And I said, you know what, I need something to
help me remake these relationships. And iized, Wow, we're in
(02:29):
this massive time of change because we know rituals of work.
We have three hundred thousand years of evidence of this,
and yet traditional rituals were turning our backs on and
as you just so beautifully said, all these new rituals
are popping up, and so there is this renaissance of
new ways of gathering. And that's really what I've set
out to chronicle in A Time to Gather.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, you know, it's so interesting because when I got
married for the first time, I remember the experience of
getting married and the whole ritual of it and the
saying of the vows. There was something profoundly moving about
that experience that it felt like I connected to all
(03:10):
these generations of people who've done things that were similar,
so to be able to have that kind of ritual.
I saw the incredible power of that particular ritual.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, that's so beautifully said, and that really is an
emotion that I kept finding on this journey where I
went to rituals all over the world, group baptism at
the Vatican, and a traditional bride price negotiation in South Africa,
and six weddings in the day in Las Vegas, and
ten funerals in a week in Ireland. And I remember
one funeral I went to an Ireland where this family
gathered and they were dropping long stem yellow roses into
(03:44):
the grave. And that's what my mother had done when
my father died. And I had this feeling like every
ritual you attend is every other ritual you attend. Right
when I remember at my own wedding now almost twenty
five years ago, I remember watching my parents give a
toast and imagining myself as a child looking at my
wedding photos and then maybe my own children someday looking
(04:05):
back at this one. And so I think there is
something timeless. If you think about your life. If I
ask you to tell me your life story, probably so
many of the highlights would be moments of connection, moments
of joy and celebration, babies, baby namings, funerals, graduations, your
milestone birthdays, but also the mournful occasions, the loss of
a loved one, the loss of a home, the loss
(04:26):
of a pet. Pet funerals are now a three billion
dollar business, and so I think that this shows us
that rituals connect us. They chronicle our lives. But also
one of the things that they do is they help
us kind of navigate conflict. Like we are surrounded by conflict,
but the act of coming together forces all those issues
out onto the table and gives us the opportunity to
(04:47):
make them better.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
You talk about rituals, You've explored so many rituals all
around the world, but there are also these new types
of rituals that people are creating, like the divorce parties
and the honor walks. Tell us about the role that
these new kinds of rituals are playing in our society.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, I love that question. In fact, guess my wife's
favorite chapter in A Time to Gather is the Taylor
Swift divorce party. Bought a woman on Long Island who
her parents got divorced, both grandparents. She's like, I'm never
getting divorced. You can imagine what happened. She got up
had children, grew up, had children, got married, got divorced.
Her husband took half their belonging, she gave away the rest.
And she came home and said, you know what I
need now? I need a registry. I got no sheets
(05:25):
to sleep on and no towels to bathe in. And
so she created the first divorce registry of all time.
And she realized that, oh, you know what people need more,
They need a ritual. So she wrote a blog about
a tailor swift divorce party with shacob Off cupcakes and
we are never ever ever getting back together with napkins,
and people rallied around it. And I think that the
(05:46):
essence of the story, Lorraine, is that one hundred years ago,
when the idea of rights of passage was first invented,
you know, they said that we're going to have big
four birth, coming of age, marriage, death, You're going to
have them in order, and that's what you're going to have. Well, now,
we don't live linear lives like that. We live non
linear lives with many more twists and turns. You know,
(06:07):
I've been writing about transitions for years. We spend half
of our adult lives in transition, and so in those moments.
We don't want to feel alone. We don't want to
be under the covers, don't We don't want to be
feeling like no one's along this journey with us. So
people in lives that have many more transitions are saying,
I want a ritual to market. So whether it's a
cancer versary or a sober versary, or an adoption party,
(06:30):
or a mastectomy circle, or a daddy daughter dance or
a mom prompt, these are all new ways of gathering
making meaning together. And what I've tried to do in
a time together is say, okay, this is the basic
blueprint of togetherness, Like here are three, five, ten, two
hundred things you can do to make the gatherings that
you're doing more effective and give you the sense of
(06:53):
belonging connection that you crave.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I like that, and I want to get back to
that point. But before we do that, I'd like to
speak to you one of the more moving stories in
your book about the creation of the Honor Walk for
organ donors. And I'm a big advocate of organ donation.
Why do you think modern rituals like this resonate so
deeply with people?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
That's such a great question. This is an unbelievable story
that almost nobody knows a nurse in Ohio. She grows
up in a family. Their dad's the mayor and the
fire chief. Her mom teaches Sunday school at the local church.
She goes up to become a nurse. She comes home
one weekend her little sister says, I'm getting engaged. Next weekend,
(07:33):
she gets in a car, skids on some ice and
crashes into a tree. The next morning, the doctors come
in and say she's an organ donor and wrench the
body away, and Missy, the woman I'm talking to, says,
I don't want anybody else to experience this. She goes
to work in a donor group and says I want
to solve this problem. And she creates a ritual, as
you say, called an honor walk. And what happens is
(07:54):
they put the deceased in a gurney. They put a
little smartphone by the ear it's playing any song by
John Denver, push the body into the hallway. The entire
hospital staff has lined the hall blue scrubs holding flameless candles,
and they pay tribute to this donor and remind the
family that she's not being taken she's giving in this moment,
(08:15):
and Missy makes a rule no one can take a photo,
but she makes an exception for the widow the first time,
and the next morning her phone blows up. I want
to do an honor walk. How do I do this?
The woman posts that photo on Facebook. It gets two
million likes. There are fifty donor support organizations in the country.
They all host honor walks. They have a quarter of
a billion views on YouTube. And it is a reminder
(08:39):
that in our most in the highest of highs and
the lowest of lows, we crave connection. We want to
feel together. As one ritual designer Millennial told me about
a mastectomy circle that she hosted, I listen for the
deepest fear and the highest hope, and the purpose of
the ritual is to turn the fear into hope by
reminding everyone that when I think are the three most
(09:02):
powerful words in the English language, you're not alone.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I wonder whether that HBO series The Pit might have
taken that idea, because there is an honor walk in
that particular show, and I remember crying as I you know,
and I'm going to get a little emotional right now,
you know, as they wheeled the gurney and all the
people were lined up, nurses, family, doctors with such deep
(09:28):
compassion and an honor, just giving honor to something that
is a tremendous gift, that gift of life for someone
who's donated their organs. And so, yeah, so you made me.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Cro I think the emotion that you're describing and capturing
is the craving that we all have to be together. Right,
these are difficult times. The enemies are in our pockets
like they are they are. We know that those algorithms
are designed to divide us. Ritual is the original human
algorith and it's why the greatest institutions now have become
(10:03):
ritual entrepreneurs, religious organizations, non religious. Right, this spans ages,
this spans genders, and you know you mentioned earlier about
you know kind of what do they have in common?
I say that successful ritual gatherings have three things in common. First,
they have boundaries. Right, we're going to invite people into
a sacred space. Right. What what Missy Holiday did was
(10:24):
took and in personal space a hallway in the hospital
and turned it into a sacred space. Right. And what
we say when we come into whether it's the circle
or the ring or the garden or the beach or
whatever it might be. Is outside we were that, and
inside we are this. Like we're going to come into
this space and be together. So the first thing you
need is boundaries, right, you need to welcome people with joy. Okay.
Then the second thing you need is empathy. Right. You
(10:46):
want to define the tension that we're experiencing and identify
the intention you're going to apply to it. So, if
we're here to celebrate, if it's a graduation, if it's
a family reunion, if it's a wedding, a baby naming,
we're here to dance, to eat, to sing, to be joyful.
If it's a difficult time, like the loss of a
loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of
a home, you know, the loss of a pet, then
(11:09):
we're going to honor. We're going to share, We're going
to weep. Maybe we're going I'm thinking of a time
to weep, a time to dance, right, a time to
scatter as stones, a time to gather them.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
This is from Ecclesiastes. It's the oldest story. We've been
doing this all along. And then you want to end
with a moment of hope. What I've been doing in
the rituals I lead is taking pebbles and giving people
markers and having them write their hope for how this
difficult or joyful or complicated or exciting transition will resolve.
And then take those pebbles, put them upside down in
(11:40):
the middle of the circle, and then one by one,
everybody else in the circle comes, takes the pebble, reads
the hope, and then carries not only their own hope,
but someone else's hope into the future. We've created a
web of hope, and at a moment when most of
the time we spend on the web, we're feeling divided, hateful, resentful, isolate.
(12:00):
If we build webs of hope, we can make a
dent in the loneliness epidemic. We can make everybody in
the group happier, and we can make ourselves happier too.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Finally, if listeners want to take away one message from
a time together, what do you hope stays with them
long after they finished the book.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
The number one thing people have said to me after
finishing reading this book is I want to hold a gathering,
and so to me, the number one messages that's all
you need. You don't need a degree, you don't need
lots of money, you don't need the perfect meal, you
don't need the perfect space. What you need is the
desire to fulfill the longing that we all have already.
(12:41):
So invite people over. If you do that, there are
three million occasions. If you add together birthdays and graduations
and milestones and canter diagnoses and lost jobs and people moving,
that's three million opportunities that we have in this country
right now. And you can start as quickly as this weekend.
Summer is coming the season of ritual. Invite people over,
(13:03):
Be thoughtful and mindful about what you want to do,
and you can create a kind of ripple effect. Domino's
falling to say, we are going to resist all the
hate around us, and we're going to counter it with
the most powerful thing and the first thing humans ever did,
which is to gather together and make meaning collectively.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Wow, you've inspired me. I'm going to get a ritual
gathering and definitely posed a picture, post a picture, and
get all the advice that you have inside your book
for how to do that. You are going to be
in the area signing books.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Tell us where, Yeah, I'm going to be in Wayne
at the bookstore there on Wednesday, the twenty seventh of May,
and on Thursday, the twenty eighth of May, I'll be
at the Barnes and Noble in downtown Philadelphia. I have
lots of family in Philadelphia, so it's going to be
a family occasion. Come out, join us, get some tips,
be inspired, and let's make this the Summer of Ritual.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And what is your website and your social media for
us to follow?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, I'm Bruce Filer, So it's FBI L E R.
I'm old enough that it's relief spelled backwards for those
of you remember the old commercials. So it's Bruce Feiler.
My website is Bruce Filer dot com. I'm met at
Bruce Filer and all social media channels, and I love
nothing more than hearing from readers and keeping this conversation
going online.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Fantastic, very inspiring. Bruce Filer new book A Time to gather,
How ritual created the world and how it can save us,
exploring how rituals, from weddings and funerals to modern traditions
like honor walks and divorce parties, can help us heal,
connect and build community in a disconnected world. Bruce, thank
you so much.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
My pleasure, thank you for inviting me here.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
We are once a month every month we speak with
Angela Giampolo for a feature we call speak Out, where
we discuss issues related to the lgbtqia plus community, but
also discuss how it impacts all because we are all
in it together, Angela, there is so much happening, it's
like drinking from a fire hose. So tell us top
(15:09):
issues facing the lgbtqia plus community right now.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah, right now. One of the sort of big wins.
If you will out of Colorado any day now, will
new law will go into effect where Colorado is effectively
banning conversion therapy. So in March, the Supreme Court came
out and said that the way that bans are written
(15:33):
are technically unconstitutional, not saying that conversion therapy is good
or bad. They didn't weigh in on that, but they
just said, you know, effectively, what you're doing is its
viewpoint discrimination right, that that therapist has a view point,
and that within the four walls of the therapy room
they are speaking a certain viewpoint that being LGBTQ plus
(15:56):
is not good, and that you know you should be different,
and they're all viewpoints, and that if that's what you're
going to base the ban on, then that is viewpoint
discrimination and against the First Amendment. So Colorado saw that
coming and months in advance. And so even though scotis
deemed the bands tomand constitutional March thirtieth, they had already
been working on a new law early January, almost immediately,
(16:19):
less than a month and a half later. This new
law is already passed Senate, which doesn't deal with the
constitutionality or even trying to ban conversion therapy. Instead, what
it does is create a cause of action for folks,
for people who have undergone conversion therapy, a medical malpractice
claim ultimately, and this new regime, this new set of
(16:44):
laws is so much better, you know. It's one of
the few times when Supreme Court opinion came down and
everyone was like, oh my god, and they're freaking out.
And what we have now is ten times better for
folks where they prior you didn't have anyone that you
could sue for the harm. There was a ban, right,
so there wasn't about creating a cause of action for
people and making them whole. Now someone and there's zero
(17:09):
there's no statute of limitations. It could be fifty years
after conversion therapy took place, and if that's when you're
realizing the damage that it has caused, and there's no
limit on the damages that you can recover. So if
someone was in therapy for forty years and forty years
where it's of therapy and all of the things around it,
all of those costs would be remversed, plus allowing for
(17:30):
punitive damages. And what's fascinating about it is they took
a very republican playbook in order to come up with
these laws. So they looked at in what areas was
something deemed constitutional but the people didn't want it to
be taking place, and that was basically the entire abortion
(17:53):
right scheme where reviewaid was in effect. But he had
certain states that didn't want abortions taking place. So they
looked at the laws that were put in place in
order to make it so that practitioners in certain states.
Texas in particular, the law is called SB eight and
they basically took that law and applied it to conversion therapy. Yes,
(18:15):
conversion therapy is now legal in all states, but we
don't want it happening here. So what kind of cause
of action can we use? So super super fascinating and clever. Yeah,
as far as how we came up with that. But
so it'll go into Effec July one. The governor still
has to sign it. But that is one big thing
that when you hear people talk about, oh, the ban
(18:36):
against conversion therapy, you know, Supreme Court said that conversion
therapy is legal. That's not what they said. They said
that the bans were on constitutional. I agreed violation of
First Amendment rights, but that there are often other ways
in which we can protect folks, and this is a
much better way.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Now let's talk about the the other things, because I
just you learned to me to something that absolutely shocked,
which was a defining say quote unquote radical support of
transgender to be a terrorist, a terrorist organization or a
terrorist category a terrorist officially. Yeah, tell me more. That
(19:17):
is insane. And not only that, allowing people to be
rewarded for turning folks in like nineteen eighty four. I mean,
this is insane. Clarify this for us.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
They've been alluding to it and alluding to it and
alluding to it in memos and this and that, but
as of six days ago, the government put it in
a official document signed by the President of the United
States counter Terrorism Strategy. And it all started back in
September of twenty five where Donald Trump created the foundational
(19:51):
aspect of this pro trans ideology as being a form
of domestic terrorism. Happened right after Charlie Kirks assassination, so
that was sort of the impetus behind it. And so
that was SMPM seven was Donald Trump's initial you know,
a directive to combat the enemy within it said, right,
(20:13):
So it was just the beginning of the rhetoric. And
then in December, I'm twenty twenty five, these bonding memos
came out in two different memos, and that was the
operational component. So you had Trump with the directive and
the foundational then you had the operational component of the
BONDI memos. How is this actually going to play itself out?
(20:34):
And that's where the cash bounty for informants and talking
about the FBI tip lines and promoting those more and
getting the tip line out there, and that they needed
that in putting orders out to the FBI to build
the list of domestic terrorist organizations inclusive of pro trans folks,
(20:56):
and I mean and that's me and you at the
end of the day, right, it's like the way that
it's defined, it counts o odds. Yeah, you say that
the show applies to everyone. Yeah, you know, you could
be the mother of a trans person and ends ideology.
At the end of the days. The Bondi memos were leaked.
They were not meant for public eyes, especially with the
cash bounty informants and how the memos were written and everything.
(21:18):
But so that was leaked. Then April of this year,
last month in the federal budget, there was a line
item for this. So you had the foundational component, you
had the operational house it's going to work, then you
have the financial Now there's a line item and the
budget for it. And then as of last week, the
White House published the twenty twenty six Counter Terrorism Strategy
(21:38):
signed its official radically pro transgender folks listed as a
terror category.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Wow, that's insane.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Hold on, there was more. The very first criminal subpoena
has been issued by Texas North District, Texas Court to
a New York hospital. The litigation has been ongoing, demanding
every transpatient family records for the last six years, all
(22:09):
of the things the beginning of the building of that list.
So we've seen over eighteen hospitals, including right here in
Philadelphia Chop successfully defend Boston's Hospital for Children. So you
had Boston's, you had Philadelphia's. We had a number of
hospitals successfully overcome the DOJ subpoenas because they didn't have
to give up this information. But now that it's a
(22:33):
criminal subpoena because these folks are terrorists, I don't see
how the hospital is going to be able to argue
that they don't have to give up this list. So
it's been multi staged at least five steps since September
of last year. And now here we are in the
United States of America are criminalizing the existence of a person.
(22:55):
We have gotten to that point that we are criminalizing
their very existence.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
The fact that people aren't marching in the streets right now,
it just it's almost like it's too much to wrap
your mind around.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Well, I think the other thing too is people don't know.
I mean I didn't know, So that's why we're here.
We're here to tell folks what the delio is. Well,
unfortunately we are running out of time, so I really
want to touch on your very successful caravan of hope,
so that on the plus side is something very positive.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
So the numbers are almost completely out as far as
the impact that we had, and I haven't even had
a chance to tell you yet, but I will make
a video post about it soon. So in the thirty
one days in the month of March, we stopped in
seventeen cities. I met with four hundred and sixty one
people and helped with one hundred and seventy seven name changes,
(23:46):
eighty two gender marker changes, seventy six estate plans, and
then through Pride Plans, we also donated two plans per city.
So if you take what we charge for those things,
that adds up to eight one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for just the hard costs. Then you add in
the time, the four hundred and sixty one hours, the volunteers,
(24:07):
all of the things that part I'm not done calculating,
but it'll be close to, if not exceeding, slightly a
million dollars in pro bono legal services to LGBTQ folks
in rural and underserved areas.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Ah, that is so fantastic. I just love that you
do it, and I love that you're reaching out to
communities that, as you say, don't necessarily have a strong
supportive community available or the resources. So that's that's extraordinary
and thank you for that. So what's what's next for you?
What's what's next on the Angelo Gimpolo agenda?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeering up for Pride Month? Yeah, right around the corner. Yeah,
Pride Month is right around the corner. So there's a
bunch of prides, a lot of talks at companies for
their urge their employee resource groups. So really June is
just a full packed month with Philly Pride. We go
to about all over the country anywhere from twenty four
to twenty eight different Pride festivals depending, so very very
(25:07):
busy for that. And then as far as on a
sort of personal note, finishing my book on LGBTQ state
planning as a means of empowerment. You know, I always
tell folks I didn't become I don't tell LGBTQ folks
to do their state planning because I'm an estate planning attorney.
I became an estate planning attorney because it's what LGBTQ
(25:30):
folks need to do to protect themselves. It's a form
of human rights, it's a form of empowerment and protection
and all of the things. And so if you'd have
told me twenty years ago, i'd be in estate planning attorney,
stick a pen in my eye. Boring. No, So I've
been right working on a book that is a not
(25:52):
boring LGBTQ state planning book.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Okay, LGBTQ estate planning for dummies, exactly great, we all
need those for sure. Well, if people want to get
in touch with you, because you do estate planning not
only for the LGBTQ plus community but for all folks
out there, and you do such a great job, how
do they get in touch with you? And also tell
us about the blog. You've got a blog?
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yes, I always say I represent the LGBTQ community and
those who love us, So that is my only requirement,
and new one can feel free to reach out and
you can find me on Instagram. I'm your gay lawyer. TikTok,
I'm gay Lawyer. And then my website is Lawyer dot
lgbt so it's all very simple. And then I blog
at Phillygaylawyer dot com, so all of the same content
(26:37):
you'll find depending on some folks I can read it.
Some folks like videos and also my YouTube channel, Your
Gay Lawyer.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Thank you as always for raising our awareness about things
that you know that we're not even This thing with
the with Pambondi and the terrorism thing is just I
did not know about it, So thank you for that,
and thank you for always keeping us up to date
with all issues related to the LGBTQ plus community and
(27:05):
also how all of that affects us all and that
for us. We deeply appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
And thank you for the platform. You know, this is
your time ultimately that you donate fifteen minutes a month
to this topic, and if it weren't for your platform,
everyone who just heard this segment also wouldn't know about
what's going on right now. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Well look forward to seeing you once again next month.
Thank you, Angela. You can listen to all of today's
interviews on the iHeartRadio app and all podcast platforms by
typing in keywords Philadelphia Community Podcast. Follow me on Instagram
and threads at Lorraine Ballard and Lorraine Moral on TikTok
and that's Lorain with one R. I'm Loraine Ballad Tomorrow
and I stand for service to our community and media
(27:50):
that empowers. What will you stand for? You've been listening
to what's going on, and thank you.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Saman.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Are running
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Some sam and running
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