Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hiro, I'm here, Hi doctor, how are you doing today?
I'm doing very well and you I'm fantastic. And I'm
so glad that we get to have this conversation today
because there are two things here. I want to thank you,
first of all for sharing this story, because I really
feel like we're moving backwards. And number two, thank you
for sharing your story because I think through your story,
we're also moving forward.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We I mean, it's so amazing how it I mean,
the nation is changing, and I feel like that in
reading your biography and things, I feel like that, are
we going to go back to that area where it
becomes top secret and nobody wants to know what's going
on because they're afraid to talk about it And we
need authors like yourself to give us love stories that
we can have faith in.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, absolutely, And I think the stories in my books,
both Making the Rounds, which is an earlier memoir and
a place for us, shows that we can strive and
lead astounding lives despite you know, little support for mainstream society,
and it provides hope. These stories provide hope for young
(01:07):
people who are shocked by the current backlash and lots
of rights and freedoms that they've taken for granted.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I mean, because it really feels like that, you know.
I mean I realized that June is Pride month. But
the thing about it is, though, is that in so
many ways it feels like a spectator sport rather than
what it's really trying to promote and grow forward with.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes, I mean it started basically in response to the
Stonewall riots as originally it was a platform for activism
to call out to bring to awareness to ongoing issues
like discrimination, violence and the legislative challenges. And you know,
(01:51):
more recently it's become somewhat commercialized in a marketing opportunity.
But I think now, of course we need to go
back to the original purpose.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, I'm shocked at these numbers that I read that
one in ten people admit to being LB LGBQ. I mean,
the thing is is that, I mean, I thought it
was more open than that, but I was shocked to
see that number and to see only one intent tails
me we are headed in the wrong direction.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, you know, there's a demograph. It's demographically skewed, so
older people are less inclined to admit their sexual orientation
and younger people feel much freer. In fact, it's quite
interesting the number of women who admit to being either
(02:42):
lessian or bisexual has gone up dramatically, especially in the
younger population.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Love Redemption and Sanctuary in your book, Oh my god,
I would love to hear a Taylor Swift song written
about this.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yes, that would be good for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Did you pull from your own personal life to put
this story together? Because I'm as an author? I mean,
to me, we're all sponges. We can go into a
Starbucks and get a book idea.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Oh totally, I mean so auto fiction is my sweet
spot for writing, and indeed it does. The characters are
not me and not my partner, but it does draw
from our experience trying to find a country in which
we could live together legally. So my partner is British
and I'm American, and at the time, this was before
(03:29):
marriage equality in two thousand and three, we couldn't live
together legally in either of our home countries. We could
in Canada, but we'd have to show that we had
lived together as conjugial partners for a year, but there
was no country in which we could do that. So yeah,
(03:51):
catch twenty two, I.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Was with George de Kai just a couple of days ago,
and to hear his love story with Brad, and to
hear your story, I just see it's stories like this
that we need as a generation and for generations that
are still coming our way.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Oh totally. I mean, I think readers are demanding happened
for at least a decade or more more stories that
represent their own lives. And as queer people, we want
to be known as complex, multifaceted individuals, not just defined
by our sexuality. So yeah, so I was really pleased
(04:28):
in the feedback that I got on making the rounds
and early reviews of this novel, you know, and that
others saw themselves in the story and felt validated and
lets alone.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Please do not move. There's more with doctor Patricia Greyholl
coming up next. Thank you so much for coming back
to my conversation with doctor Patricia Greyhall. The name of
her book A Place for Us. Joe and Lauren, who
are they inside your heart? Are they somebody that you
met along the way? I mean, because I mean you
make them feel so real to me.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, well, you know, Joe is of course not me,
but she's an ambitious, ambitious environmental attorney and my specialty
with occupational environmental medicine, so there's a bit of an
overlap in our values and goals there. And Lauren is
(05:30):
a free spirited British woman who takes risks, which is
not unlike my current partner who risked everything actually to
be with me.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
See, because my main goal is is that I want
heterosexuals to read this book. I want them to be
able to pick it up. I don't want them to
put a label on this book. I don't want them
to judge the cover of this book. I want them
to be able to say, my God, they were in love,
they had challenges, they faced different things, and they did
it together.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah. I think well, if you can tell by my
early reviews, which were mostly done by heterosexuals, that it
did resonate with straight people because you know, it's basically
it's a romance at its core, and who doesn't love
a romance, And you know it's also a meditation and
(06:21):
self acceptance and the search for a home and not
just in the physical sense, but in the arms of
someone who truly understands and cherishes you. So it should
resonate across all, you know, all sexual orientations. Really, wouldn't you.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Say that this book is a story of continuation. In
other words, no matter how challenged things may have been,
they continue to grow together as well as forward. It's
a continuation.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Well, yes, I mean we we have made tremendous progress
as queer people, and you know, especially in the last decade.
And yes there's a current backlash, but we've been through
dark times before and hopefully my both of my books
(07:10):
making a Round and a Place for Us should give
young people hope who are currently shocked by what's going
on that in fact, we can thrive if we continue to,
you know, stay together as communities and build our allies
and live our truth and don't submit to tyranny in
(07:34):
ways big and small.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Is it available on audible because we are such a
podcast generation that we you know that we love to
listen to books and stories.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yes, it's available on audio wherever audio books are sold.
There's been a bit of a glitch on Audible on Amazon,
but it'll be up shortly on Amazon as well. In
an audio form.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
As an author, what does that like for you to
hear someone reading your book put it in your inflection?
Is it the same voice that you heard while you
were writing it.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
No, I mean it's I mean Abby Creighton Crayton is
such a you know, she's such a wonderful voice actor,
so I have to say, you know, it's it shocked
me a little bit to hear it in her voice. Uh,
and especially Lauren's voice, but uh, you know, I mean,
(08:28):
she does a great job. So uh, it's you know,
the story comes alive in her voice.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Where can people go to find out more about your
two books and give you a lot of love and support?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Oh well, the best place is my best my website,
which is www. Patricia Grayhall dot com. And I'm also
on Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I love it. You got to come back to the
show anytime in the future. I love where your heart is.
I love the way that you write, and I really
do believe that people will be inspired to step out
a little bit more than what they're doing today.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I hope. So we really need it.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
You'd be brilliant today.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Okay, thank you, you too.