Honoring Pride Month!

[00:00:21] Speaker A: Welcome to just a bite. I'm your host today, Audrey Vanzant, and we have a split episode in honor of Pride Month. Every year for the entire month of June, we celebrate Pride. Pride is celebrated annually to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. This time is a celebration, commemoration, and activism for the LGBTQ community. It's not only a vibrant celebration of diversity and self affirmation, but also a potent reminder of the need to promote equity, acceptance, and respect for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Please join me for an hour of deep conversation and connection with two incredible guest individuals who are here today as experts in their field, Oliver Licking and Erin Upchurch. We're going to explore the insights, their experiences, and the ongoing journey towards a more inclusive and accepting society. [00:01:29] Speaker B: Hello, and welcome to today's episode of just a bite. It's me, Audrey Vanzant, director of communications here at the Ohio association of Food Banks, and I'm excited to be your host. Today I am joined by our two lovely guests and experts in the field. With me is Oliver licking, gender equity policy manager at Equitas Health, a nonprofit community health center and one of the largest LGBTQ and HIV AIDS healthcare organization in the country. Each year, they serve tens of thousands of patients in Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, and West Virginia. And since 1984, they have been working to advance care for all, as well as the wonderful Erin Upchurch, executive director at Kaleidoscope Youth center, the largest nonprofit in Ohio dedicated solely to serving and supporting LGBTQ youth. And I want to welcome the both of you to justify. [00:02:23] Speaker C: Thank you. Hello. [00:02:24] Speaker D: Thank you so much. [00:02:25] Speaker B: I'm really excited to chat with you today. I'm always excited to learn more about resources and hear stories directly from our communities. I personally am not from Franklin county, so I'm really interested to see specifically resources you guys have here in Franklin county, although we'll be talking, you know, a lot about Ohio and just society in general. But just to start, let's have you guys each introduce yourself, both at the professional level. Whatever you care to share about your organization, your role there, and anything personally you care to share. A fun fact about your family, maybe, that you love, that it's springtime, summertime. Yeah. So let's start with you, Erin. [00:03:03] Speaker C: Sure. Thank you again for having me here. So, my name is Erin. My pronouns are she, her. I'm from Ohio. I'm from Columbus adjacent. Grew up in Hilliard, but I love the city and I love the state, and I think that's important to say just because so many. There's so many reasons not to love Ohio politically in the city, but it's an important part of the work that we do. I am a social worker. I am in my 25th year of practice, and thank you very much. I still love it. And I'm a parent. I have a 22 year old son, and my daughter, who just turned 20, actually just moved out. So I'm also a new empty nester, but my daughter is going to be a social worker as well. And I had to really keep my squeal inside when she decided that. I have been at Kaleidoscope Youth center since 2018, so just celebrated my 6th year. And as you said, we are the largest nonprofit in Ohio to serve LGBTQI plus youth and young adults. We are actually celebrating our 30th year this year, which is very exciting. And to think that in 1994, I was a junior in high school, and I remember when it opened, but I didn't know who I was at all at that point, so I was like, I wonder what that place is. And it's just a really. It's a really phenomenal place to be. And I know we're going to talk more about some of the stories, but, you know, I. When I think about why I became a social worker, and it really was to work in the gaps of communities and society and also to. I didn't know this 25 years ago, but to really honor and hold the dignity and humanity of others and, like, that's. And facilitate those spaces of belonging, that's been my career kind of theme. And then a few years ago, I was like, oh, oh, yeah. That is what I like to do, and that's what's important to me. So otherwise, about me, I am a yoga instructor, still kind of a newlywed. We're a little over 600 days of married, and I have a really fluffy cat that I love so much. Her name is Temple. [00:05:16] Speaker B: I love it. There's so much to celebrate in your life. [00:05:18] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:05:19] Speaker B: Exciting. Sarah and I recently, unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, went to a hot yoga class that we were not prepared to be hot. [00:05:28] Speaker C: And was it bikram or just hot? Because those are very different. [00:05:32] Speaker B: No, it was hot. But it's quite the team bonding. We went out as a staff. [00:05:38] Speaker C: I'm proud of you. [00:05:39] Speaker B: And none of us were prepared for it to be, you know, 100 something degrees, but we did it. [00:05:45] Speaker C: I'm proud of you. [00:05:46] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:05:46] Speaker C: Well done. [00:05:47] Speaker B: Thank you. Do you teach hot yoga or. [00:05:48] Speaker C: I do not teach hot yoga. [00:05:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:50] Speaker C: Yeah. It's not for the week. [00:05:51] Speaker B: It's not. [00:05:52] Speaker C: It's not. But you made it. [00:05:54] Speaker B: I am the week, but I made it. So, Oliver, I don't know if you do yoga or if you just care. [00:06:02] Speaker D: To introduce yourself in another type of way. Yeah, I do yoga very casually. I drop into, like, various queer yoga classes around town and I think they're adorable. And also they're. They feel a little bit more of a safe, affirming spot as a trans person. [00:06:18] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:06:18] Speaker B: Do you have one you want to shout out? Like, do you know any local? [00:06:22] Speaker D: So there's two. And they're like, funding wise, accessible to many people. So queer behavior runs periodic yoga classes. Their schedule keeps changing. So I don't want to quote how often they have classes, but they do a mix of indoor and outdoor space classes for people as well as guided meditation for the outdoor class. And then also mosaic, which is a program of equitas health spelled with a z as in zebra, not an s as in Sam. Mosaic is a multi sort of purpose space. It's intended to be a third space for those who are familiar with that term, like a drop in social space for queer and trans folks. A particular focus on black and people of color populations. But everyone can come and engage with, like, sort of freeform social time. There's also activities like tarot readings and a queer yoga class. There's a free clothing closet with various ranges of gendered clothing at that facility as well. That one is only in the central Ohio area, so it's not, you know, something that exists everywhere. But they do drop their mobile clothing closet at events all over the state as they have the ability to do that. And so there's also some queer focused yoga classes that are free at mosaic. So I do drop into that one occasionally. [00:07:43] Speaker B: Cool. And that's part of Equitas. [00:07:45] Speaker D: That is part of Equitas. [00:07:46] Speaker B: Yeah, let's talk about that. Let's talk about your work that you. [00:07:48] Speaker D: Do there, for sure. So my name is Oliver. Licking. My pronouns are he, him. I am the gender equity policy manager. So what that means it's a newer promotion, so I'm still kind of learning my role. But I am hoping to better serve the Ohio community through advocating for better policy changes throughout the state. Related to. Lately, it's been mostly focused on anti trans legislation and trying to fight that. My hope is I also have some breathing room to actually fight for something positive rather than fighting against something negative. There's been a lot of negative in the last six months, though. And I also run the Ohio name change legal clinic in coordination with Trans Ohio. Ohio's longest running grassroots, trans led organization. And it's a free resource for adults or minors, anyone in the state of Ohio, or someone outside of the state with an Ohio document hanging out like a birth certificate to get free legal assistance on learning how to change their name and or gender marker on all state and federal documents that are accessible to them. Which has been one of my greatest joys of my professional life, to work in that legal clinic. It's beautiful. I love it so much. I'm gonna be sad when I backfill the role a little bit one day. Let's see. I'm trying to remember all that you asked me to cover. So, yeah, just. [00:09:13] Speaker B: I think you've talked to us a lot about your work, you know, and I introduced equitas. Is there anything you care to share about you personally? [00:09:22] Speaker D: A fun fact for sure. I'm very much an outdoorsy person and an animal person. So I spend anytime that I'm not working. I love to be outside. Some time around trees as an extrovert is the only time I could be by myself. That's not exhausting. I also have a really cool dog. His name is Remcycle. Anytime he falls asleep, he is dreaming really exuberantly, which also disturbs me a lot when we're sleeping in the bed. So we have cuddle time during the day, but then at night, he has a dog bed in my bedroom for him to curl up on because I need. I need to not be kicked in the face when the running is happening. [00:10:00] Speaker B: I get it. [00:10:02] Speaker D: He gets called Remy for short. But he is very sweet and charming. And I'm lucky that he is in my life. [00:10:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it. I love it. I can't resonate with the cat, unfortunately, but I certainly am a dog woman. I would be a catwoman if I wasn't allergic. [00:10:17] Speaker C: But that's fair. [00:10:18] Speaker B: I love that you guys have your four legged friends at home. I think it's really important, all of our well being and mental health. So thank you guys for just kind of that brief introduction. You've actually touched on, you know, a lot of the things that we're going to be talking about again today, which, you know, again, they're huge conversations, but we have these. We have these two incredible experts in the room. I'm sure a lot of you. You guys actually probably see a lot of the same constituents being here in Franklin county. And so I'm curious to hear, from your perspective on your respective organizations, some of these. These higher level conversations. And so, as I was preparing for today's, episode. Again, not being from the area, my colleague hope is very familiar and had recommended the both of you and kind of done the planning for this. So I kind of wanted to educate myself. And as I was going through both of your websites, I first Washington really impressed. I started with Equitas health and just a very short statement that says, at Equitas health, where we serve people, not patients. And that just hit me. I didn't have necessarily an initial reaction more than just, like, humanity. And so I kind of just, like, sat with that for a minute as I scrolled through your website. And then, of course, you know, it was my time to look at kaleidoscope and do my research on the wonderful work that, Erin, you guys are doing there. And I was really impressed with the statement on your website, which reads, belonging goes well beyond the physical space. And so these both have, you know, different meanings for your designated organizations, again, seeing a lot of the same constituents. And I just want to first applaud both of your organizations for the basic dignity, respect, and acceptance that those statements read. I think that's kind of why it hit me so much. Was this the sense of humanity that, unfortunately, we lack here in society? So I just wanted to talk about that. What do your organizations do day to day to combat this fight that LGBTQI individuals have to fight for the dignity and respect that they deserve as humans? So each of your organizations, Aaron, how does kaleidoscope maintain funding for your specific programs that benefit these individuals? And, Oliver, how is your work, especially for people in poverty and marginalized communities, when we're talking about the health space, how do those two intertwine? Do either of you care to start? Erin, do you have a thought off the top of your head? [00:12:58] Speaker C: I do. What's the problem with it? Well, a couple of things. I will talk about the programs that we offer first and then the funding. And so we do have our drop center, which are most widely known. This is for ages twelve to 20. We have our education outreach department, which we provide professional development training to communities, providers, anyone, really. And then we've got three housing programs and our behavioral health and wellness program. And then we do our civic engagement and advocacy program. We are about 70% ish, give or take grant funded, which is a really big shift. When I started in 2018, we were well under 20% grant funded, and our budget was $499,000, which, you know, it was nice. It was fine. And since that time, when we added our housing programs, behavioral health, our team has more than doubled. We're about 23 now. I never can keep track. I think we're at 23 people, and our grant funding has grown significantly. And so we were at 2.5 million at this point. And the grants are important. Everything we offer to our young people and their families is at no cost. And so those grants are so important to allow us to be able to provide those services. The mental health services, our drop in center, and even our housing. We got 20th in our housing program. But what I want to applaud, and sorry about our funders, is that they're willing to do something different. And I know in the philanthropy world, there's this idea of trust based philanthropy and all these different new ways, basically to give the communities the money and let them do the work. And we've been really fortunate to have funders who are trusting us to do the work. We know what our community needs, of course. We've got deliverables and outcomes and all those fund grant things, but because of that, that's how we're able to maintain the funding. Have multi year grants. It's being very strategic, of course. But then also, also our donors and our community is so generous. That's not even the best word I can think, but they give out of their abundance and what some might consider lack. We've got donors, we have a sustainable donor program. We have people who are giving five, $3 a month up to higher amounts. I was just looking at a report earlier today, and our direct contributions were a little over 5 million last year, which is huge. And people just give to us. I don't want to say this cause people stop giving, but it's not uncommon to get like a check in the mail. Like when people say that we get a check in the mail, you know, or we've got funders who are like, hey, we have this foundation. Our advisory board chose KYC, and I think it speaks to a lot of things. This is the easiest thing I've ever had to raise money for in my entire career. And I think there's a couple things. When you work with young people, people love to invest in kids. Like, kids are important. They're our future, all the things, right? And our community is under attack, and they're going for the kids. And that's the space where I feel like our community is really taking a stand to say, not on my watch. And they're doing it with their dollars, they're doing it with their time, they're doing it with donations, they're doing testimony. And so we're really seeing, especially this last couple of years, the community come around and say, like, we have your back. And so I think that's definitely one reason I have a really fantastic team who does our branding and communications. But I think you mentioned that belonging begins here. Goes beyond physical space. Belonging is something that all of us need. I still need it today. Right. And we remember what it was like to grow up and need that. And I do believe our message really resonates with folks and really, again, brings it back to that space of humanizing, you know, who we are as a community. [00:16:46] Speaker B: It resonated with me. [00:16:47] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:16:48] Speaker B: So thank you. I really appreciate that. I'd love to come over here to Oliver and chat about the work that you guys are doing. [00:16:55] Speaker D: For sure. I guess quick, I'm going to have a non sequitur. I interned with kaleidoscope youth center a million years ago when I was in college. It was such a joyful experience. I have a professional, like, friendship crush on you. I voted for you when you tried for the school board. I was so excited when you took over KYC. I was excited for what y'all's future was gonna be. And I've just been so joyfully, kind of on the outside, like, doing this work, but not with y'all directly. Just, like, watching y'all grow. The housing program has been so needed and something that, like, we in community space have been talking about for forever. I've been in Columbus here. I came for college, and I stayed because I love the city, and it's just been beautiful to see y'all's growth. And clearly, that's a testament to your, like, solid leadership and time there. And I'm just honored to be on a podcast with you right now. [00:17:47] Speaker C: Thank you, Oliver. I'm giving you a hug from here. [00:17:50] Speaker D: So we don't make the microphones unhappy, and I appreciate it. [00:17:53] Speaker C: Thank you. A little love bag. Thank you, truly. [00:17:59] Speaker D: Yeah, I needed to get that out there where I was gonna burst. So thank you for allowing me to have that, y'all. [00:18:05] Speaker B: I love it. [00:18:06] Speaker D: Oh, my goodness. Anyways, I took a note on my question. So how is my work, especially for people like folks in poverty? So the wider mission of our organization is it's care for. All right. So while we are great at specializing in our healthcare settings, in working with the LGBTQ BT population, especially trans folks 18 and up, for our healthcare and so forth, our dental does work with minors, though. It's, like, one of the few programs, and my legal clinic is one of the few programs that can work with minors because minor name changes are oddly, can be challenging in the state of Ohio. But anyways, taking that back, I connect so well with working with Equitas because a lot of the folks that I am lucky enough to work with see this as a system. Like, see things in the course of systems, right? We're not going to think of something as a single issue. Like, we're only focused on lgbt folks. We know how deeply affected the LGB population is, and especially the trans population is by poverty. We make healthcare accessible. So if someone is in a situation where they don't have health insurance and they need help, they're like, I may be qualified for Medicaid. I don't know. I'm really intimidated doing this paperwork. That's a service I'm happy to shout off. We have found financial counselors. You don't even have to commit to be a patient with us. We will just help you do that application and we'll verify your income to tell you, yeah, you've got a shot at this, and here's how you do it. And we're going to sit down with you and help you do it. And you don't even have to be our patient to do it. We'll just do that for you because it's the greater good. But also, if you want to be our patient, and maybe you're in that in between spot, right? You are uninsured, but you make just that $5 too much for getting into Medicaid programming. Then we have a sliding scale fee to make sure that that healthcare is accessible to folks. We do that through a mix of grant funding and 340 b funding, and that will get super into the weeds of that sort of thing. But yeah, we see this as a whole system thing and we need to be thinking through these issues in a complex way and making sure that it's accessible. If you're not doing well financially, then maybe your ability to get to our clinic is going to be reduced. Right? So we connect people on Medicare Medicaid to transport to their appointments for folks who are HIV positive. They can get connections through our case management division for like, the transport piece. Our clinics are not allowed to be opened unless they are on a bus line. I know there's a lot to be desired about our bus system in the central Ohio area or in any other place where we have clinics because we're dotted around the state. But we are doing what we can to make sure that we're trying to be as accessible as we can to folks in different situations. That sliding fee applies to our pharmacies, to our dental care, to our generalized healthcare. Gender affirming care, meaning HRT access, which is based on an informed consent model. We understand these systems, and we try to make sure that we're addressing people at the spots that they're at for the help that they need. Right. When we say you had that boilerplate about how we serve people in Kentucky and West Virginia, it's not because we have clinics there, but it is because people are coming across the border who do not have access in their state. A lot of it is based in poverty reasons. A lot of it is based in gender affirming care reasons. Right. It is tough to get care in other places that we are close to and people will travel to come see us. It's part of why we opened the Cincinnati clinic was to be a little more accessible to folks in that section of Appalachia. We have amazing staff, people who are queer in Appalachian who understand that connection and that need. And I'm rambling a little bit, but. [00:22:02] Speaker B: No, no, I think. Well, it's actually, I think a. It's a good segue into our conversation specifically about Ohio. But before we get there, it's brought up a really interesting thought. Again, I am learning these resources as some of our listeners not being here in the Franklin county area. So just to confirm, you guys serve adults, being 18 and older and you're serving under the age of 18 or what is. [00:22:29] Speaker C: We're twelve to 20, 412 to 24. [00:22:31] Speaker B: So there is some gap. There is some overlap where you're referring people. [00:22:36] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. [00:22:37] Speaker B: Okay. [00:22:38] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:22:39] Speaker B: Not able to go to Equitas because they're a minor where. What's that typical, like, referral look like? [00:22:46] Speaker C: I think it depends on what the needs are. So if it's healthcare, I mean, there's, we have nationwide children's hospital right here, and there's a lot of pediatric providers. There's a thrive program nationwide for those who want to start the agenda affirming care process. And then, yeah, for 18 to 24, we provide behavioral health services. And so we do have some folks who are on the wait list at Equitas, but it's really a community effort to make sure people are getting into care. [00:23:16] Speaker B: And are you seeing people coming outside of Ohio as well? [00:23:19] Speaker C: Yes, outside of Ohio more difficult. [00:23:22] Speaker B: You know, of course, with minors, transportation can maybe be a little bit more of a barrier. I don't know that to be true, but I'm just curious if you are. [00:23:31] Speaker C: Yeah, we have a couple northern Kentucky, which is right there on that line in Cincinnati. We've had families come for some of our drop in center programming, especially gender scope, which supports our trans and non binary youth. And we have a couple of youth in our housing program who are from outside of central Ohio area or the state. So people find us for sure. [00:23:55] Speaker B: Well, I'm glad that they're able to because clearly they're the needs not being met, you know, wherever they are. So I'm glad that they're able to come to you guys. Although we know Ohio is not perfect, so let's. Let's talk about it. Research demonstrates Ohio identified LGBTQIA plus population ranks 20th when you look at the rest of the country. However, we know a lack of laws and policies protecting the LGBTQ LGBTQ community could be contributing to Ohio's low self identifying percentage, ranking them again in that 20th place. It certainly doesn't help that lawmakers in the state broke a record last year for the most anti LGBTQI laws introduced in the country. The reality is, even without specific polities against the LGBT community, discrimination based on sexual preference is legal and common and contributes to a multitude of stumbling blocks to get ahead, like finding housing, food, transportation, and employment. So I'm not sure if either of you read the recent article again. My colleague Copeland Gavin actually recently forwarded it to me from the Columbus Dispatch. That came out just last week, and it was discussing the safest and least safest states for LGBTQI plus individuals. Ohio was the 6th highest record of hate crime based on gender identity and sexual orientation. So just a recent article in the last week putting Ohio at, you know, six of 50 is beyond saddening, although no state deserves to be in that spot. Right? But, you know, regardless, we're talking about Ohio. We hear the Ohio association of Food Banks. You guys are doing work in Ohio. It's a big question, but I'm going to ask personally what your opinion is personally and professionally concerning your organization. What do you think is the biggest challenge for the LGBTQIA plus Ohioans facing right now in 2024? And what is your call to action? I'd love to start with you, Oliver. [00:26:07] Speaker D: I wrote so many notes on this. To succinctly answer, this is tough. I think my organization would want to say healthcare access is key, and that is a huge barrier for LGBT Ohioans. I think more personally. Gosh, I have so many things I want to say about this. Again, these are systems, right? They play on each other and compound each other. Are you all familiar with the concept of the Overton window? [00:26:40] Speaker B: I'm not personally. [00:26:41] Speaker D: No, okay, so it is a political science theory about the more discourse you have. If we're thinking of things on a. I don't like thinking about things on a binary. But if we're going to do that with politics for a second, we think about, like, right wing political theory and left wing political theory, we. The more extreme. I'm just going to call this out that, like, certain right wing politicians, like, bringing in very extreme legislation and making very extreme, often, like, blatantly erroneous statements, and the more that they bring attention to that, and they drag the left towards the right. So our left wing. Our farthest left wing is like, a conservative in much of Europe, like, comparatively, right, we get ratcheted. Our window of tolerance gets shifted. So if we're thinking that the window of tolerance used to be somewhere in the middle for what meant moderate, you take that over this scale, and I'm making motions that no one can see on a podcast. So we've got a scale. We have a scale that we're. We've got, like, a slider bar, right? And we've got the right wing on the right of your view and left wing on the left. And then we've got this window that takes up, like, something in the middle. Think of it like a Venn diagram, but you're going to move it towards right wing political theory more and more and more. And the right goes, well, left. You have to follow us. Like, why aren't you, like, why do you want lgbt people to eat babies? And then we are constantly responding to, well, we don't eat babies. Actually, we found in pew research that no trans people ate babies. And they go, well, we hear that you floss with babies. So then instead of us talking about how hecking cool lgbt people are, how unique our culture is, we're constantly just talking in response to what the right is saying, and we're just constantly chasing what they are, instead of our left wing having enough power to actually say, like, actually, we're cool in this way, actually, like, trans people are beautiful and powerful. And the other thing I think about, and I don't have a fix for this, because I know some of why this happens, but I think a lot about. I'm collecting my thoughts to try to say this. Well, the right wing right now is fighting a lot of what seems like differing topics, right? And we're thinking of them as distinct. They are fighting trans healthcare access. They're fighting critical race theory in schools, which just means, like, equal opportunity for, like, the stories of black folks to be discussed in school settings. But you've got, you know, a minimal policy like, department in every, like, affinity type of nonprofit in your state or county or city who's like, my. My funders will only want me talking about this one hyper focused subject. Or we've got one person and they're doing a million other things and they've got a bunch of direct reports. I'm tapped out, and I've got to talk about the thing that is specialized to my agency as much as I want to do this, but we know from a. I believe from a political theory standpoint that if we're not working together to fight the anti blackness policy, things that are happening along with the lgbt anti lgbt policy, things like, they will fail separately if we're not working together and we're not fighting them in tandem. Right. We need to be working together. They know that they're doing that. These things are connected. They know the political theory, like, whatever they're saying and grandstanding. They know that attacking them, like, making us, putting us in a situation of attacking them separately, gives them more power to pass those laws and separate us and reduce our power that we could be doing. I don't know that I said that as well as I wanted to. I've thought about this a lot in the last few days. I think, come together and don't be just if you can help it. And I know that that's tough. Right? Like, my department's really small, and we've just been doing everything we can to save gender affirming care in the state. Right. And not even just in legislation. There were obscure healthcare administration rules that the governor attempted to put in place. We're going to see what happens with those. We almost lost gender affirming care for adults in this state. We almost became more restrictive than Florida and Texas. And while we had strong calls to action to be, like, public, please just send in an email, but please know that it's going to be public record so anyone could find it. So be thoughtful about what you say in that from a standpoint of protecting yourself. Right? And I loved how much response we got, but at the height of that, it was only a few thousand people who stood up for trans people, trans, even adults in the state, which is a more popular issue to be supportive of, trans adults seeking gender affirming care than for kids. Unfairly, perhaps. I want us working together more if we have the capacity to, or to figure out funding sources so that we could get more capacity to work on these multi tiered issues. Because if they're separating us to be hyper focused on the different ones. Right. Like we're going to fail separately, at least, I think. [00:32:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's a great time for you to jump in, Aaron, with some thoughts, especially, you know, around here in Ohio, and there's lots to talk about. [00:32:19] Speaker C: Well, first of all, I now have a political theory crush on you, Oliver, so thank you very much. I think I want to respond to what Oliver was sharing and say. Yes, absolutely. One of the things, I've been working in community organizing spaces for a very long time, and one of the things that grieves me the most is how we are not, we don't have a unified or a message around solidarity. And so for reproductive health, like, we put it in this silo, we put queer and trans rights over here, we put poverty here. And the thing is, it impacts all of us. And that is, if I were to have a call to action for all the community organizations and organizers, is that we have to figure out a way to come together around dignity or humanity or whatever we want to call it. But that's how we're going to mobilize people the best, because everything that happens, we're so interdependent. We're a living system. There's nothing that happens to me that is not going to in some way impact everybody here at this table. And so what I really appreciate what you're saying, because that's exactly what's happening, is it's a distraction. You know, Toni Morrison, in paraphrasing, talked about racism being a distraction. If we're so focused, if I am so focused on teaching my black son how to be safe when he's out driving, what else can I talk to him about? And how can I hone into him how important and necessary and beautiful he is when I'm also having to talk about racism. So it is a distraction. And it's also not lost on me that our lack of safety here in the state correlates with us having the most bills, which, again, fully supports what Oliver was saying. And it's terrifying, you know? And, you know, I was like, what is the biggest thing? And we have a problem with humanity. We really do. The only way that one group can treat another group so poorly is to dehumanize them. The only way I can harm you is if I don't see you as a person. And that's really what it comes down to. You know, I even remember talking about the gender affirming care ban and talking to folks who were like, well, this should be happening to trans kids. Well, guess what? It's not. What they're saying is not even true. But they were able to move forward on things that were incorrect, inaccurate, and just outright lies. And then people standing for children want. Wanted to support that. What they didn't understand is, as a parent, I don't care what I believe in. You're not going to tell me what to do with my child. And so we needed other families to understand that, okay, this is happening now, but what happens when they want to stop you from putting your kid on mental health medications one day or going to a certain doctor, you know, and so it is interconnected. And so I think, you know, bigger macro focus, and I consider myself a macro focused social worker, is looking at our system and how it is all interconnected, and we truly need to begin to, you know, through the lens of transformative justice, transform these systems. That's the only way things are going to change, and we've got to be willing to do something different. And so just to throw a few numbers out there, when we look at, like, poverty and homelessness at KYC, close to 40% of our youth would qualify for free or reduce lunch if that is happening. So, you know, we know that queer and trans youth are 120% more likely to be homeless than their peers and represent about 40% of the homeless population in its entirety. [00:35:39] Speaker B: That's. [00:35:39] Speaker C: Nationally, there's 4.2 million, roughly 4.2 million youth ages 14 and 24 in the United States who are experiencing homelessness. So mathematicians can do those numbers. And the main reason, the number one reason for our young people to be homeless is rejection from their family, lack of safety at home. The number one reason. What? Because your parents, your family of origin isn't. I can't wrap my head around it, and it's not safe. And so, you know, with our housing program, we talk about, you know, we serve those who are homeless, who are at risk for homelessness, but also that housing vulnerability where maybe you have a place to stay, but you're getting misgendered every single day and told a lot of things and being torn down, and you don't belong in your own family. You know, our education system needs, has a lot to be desired. And so I think, and then every day, you know, I always get asked, like, what are the youth saying about all this legislation? What do they want us to do? They want us to fix it? They don't come to the drop in center to talk about it because we are their third space. We are their space where they can set their armor down for a little bit. You know, we are a safer place for them. Doesn't mean we can guarantee safety, but we're committed to disrupting harm. And so getting into this, you know, collect the call to action, another one is, you know, how do we get to this? Collective consciousness that is not a cult, however, allows us to center the humanity and dignity of each person. That's really what it comes down to. And there's so many different ways that we can do this. I think I'll end here with this is, you know, Glennon Doyle talks about in her book, Untamed the unseen order of things. And what she's talking about is how we all have an imagination of what could be better, how the world can be. AJ Marie Brown talks about this as well and references Octavia Butler and Afrofuturism and how organizers are really, you know, like they're seers. And so we all say to ourselves, oh, that's just not right, or, this shouldn't be that way. Well, how should it be? And if we all can, like, lean into that and begin to do work in service of that vision collectively, individually, in the places where we exist, and Audrey Lord even says this, like, sometimes we have to do the revolution right where we are. And so there's. Anyone can do anything. There are so many different things, but we all have that vision. We all have that imagination. We all have that vision for something different. For me, it's a kinder, safer, more affirming world. And so my work can serve into that. And that would be my. It sounds simple. Most simple call to action. And I know it's probably the biggest one. [00:38:21] Speaker B: I feel like. Do you have some comments, some thoughts? [00:38:24] Speaker D: Oh, my goodness. Just, I wanted to remember some things, and I'm thinking through, yeah, there's. I mean, it's so. It's such a big question. I wrote down my notes, like, this is a huge, humongous question. [00:38:42] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's hard to talk about, especially when we're faced with what feels like every day something new, and it's just never ending. And I think you. I mean, we both have said it, and we play a part of it as well in our space here as food banks, is that we have to come together because at the end of the day, they're all interconnected. [00:39:06] Speaker D: Absolutely. [00:39:07] Speaker B: All here serving the same communities, all facing the same challenges. And it's just. [00:39:14] Speaker A: I don't know where. [00:39:15] Speaker B: I'm going with this, but it reminds me of, I found a stray dog yesterday. Okay. This is my thing. I find stray dogs all the time. [00:39:21] Speaker C: They come to you. [00:39:22] Speaker B: They come to me. [00:39:23] Speaker D: I never see them. [00:39:24] Speaker B: Oh, man. [00:39:24] Speaker D: Share your talent. [00:39:25] Speaker B: I was. [00:39:26] Speaker C: Whoa. [00:39:27] Speaker B: I was crying, and I was asked the woman, I said, how can you do this every single day? And then I thought to myself, how do I do it every single day? Because prior to even here at OAf, I was working, like, in a food bank that serves Ohio and in the direct service. And it's exhausting. The poor woman who's seeing these sad dogs every day is exhausted. I am exhausted by food insecurity. You are exhausted by what you're seeing with the youth, exhausted with what you're seeing in the healthcare system. And we're all exhausted. And just seems unfortunate that the people are exhausted are the people that seem to care. Like, it's just. [00:40:06] Speaker C: But it's. The question is, what exhausts you? It's not the work that exhausts. I'm not exhausted by the work dismantling. Right. But it's dismantling the systems that perpetuate that, the need for that work. That's what's exhausting. [00:40:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And we as a society all have to come in, and we're just not there yet. We're just not there yet. [00:40:25] Speaker C: I think, too, it's, you know, one of our theory of change is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And I know there's some criticism about appropriation and all of that, and that could be another show. But the truth is, if we don't meet people's basic needs, we can't expect them to thrive. Wow. Whatever way you want to look at that. And it starts very, you know, there's this really cool chart that also aligns with chakras. And if you get into energy work. But, you know, the root chakra is about that safety, that physiological safety, somewhere to live, something to eat. That's basic. You know, even when we look at violence in communities, people's basic needs aren't met. And so, you know, looking at, like, public officials, elected officials, governments, our people aren't being cared for at the most basic. I shouldn't have a job as a social worker. KYC shouldn't be necessary, but none of us should have. You all should not even exist, honestly. And we do. And not only do we exist, we have to fight for the funding and resources for sustainability just to keep people alive. And then we want them to experience belonging, and then we want them to go to school and graduate and thrive and be a contributing member of society. What that's a ridiculous cycle of life. [00:41:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. It's unfortunate. I do think that, you know, as we continue having these conversations, you hit on it just about the sense of security. Right. And so we see it specifically a lot here in the food banks. Right. Let's talk about food. Let's talk about housing and how much they're intertwined. And so for us and our work, which, of course, you're on the justified podcast, so we're going to talk about food. [00:42:07] Speaker C: Yes. [00:42:09] Speaker B: You know, we see neighbors from all walks of life. We see neighbors who are unhoused. We see neighbors who are driving a very expensive car that they bought yesterday. Then they had a fire, and now that's all they have, and they're living in that car. Right. Like, we see people from all walks of life, but we know that we have to have food to nourish our bodies, nourish our mind, nourish our souls. Right. [00:42:37] Speaker C: Our energy. [00:42:38] Speaker B: And so I'm going to kind of shift the conversation. I know that was a big question. I know we can talk about it all day, but I'm going to bring it back into food security. I wanted to reference a podcast that will be linked in the show notes. It's actually feeding America's podcast, and they did an episode in 2022, and they interviewed Bianca Wilson of UCLA's Williams Institute on Food Insecurity and Poverty in the LGBTQ community. And actually, since they've done this podcast in 2022, which, again, is a great episode, we'll have it linked. The Williams Institute has actually released the lgbt poverty in the United States report, which will also be linked. And from there, I was able to pull this. This one stat, both from that poverty report as well as their podcast interview. And I guess I, again, have another big question for you. But the report finds that the number of people experiencing poverty. I'm sorry. The number of lgbtq individuals experiencing poverty has decreased from 22% to 17%, which we love to hear, you know, decrease in anything is wonderful, but it's still higher than non lgbtq individuals. In fact, it's actually double non lgbtq individuals. So I'd like to hear from the both of you about how food access and food insecurity shows up in your work and at your organization. I know, Erin, at your organization, you do a lot of food in your programming. You know, on the website, we saw that you host pizza nights and cooking classes and all that good stuff. But then I also want to what we have Oliver here, because a lot of the work we do at the food banks. And a lot of this concept we're trying to educate people is that food is health, food is medicine. Right. And the work being done and that continues to grow, which we're incredibly grateful for. But just. Yeah. Again, both perspectives. I'd love to hear the work that you guys have with food and what the youth responses to that. And then, Oliver, kind of how you have integrated this. Kind of like, food is health, food is medicine work. Does anyone care to kick us off? [00:44:51] Speaker D: I can go for it. Yeah. So as far as a food is health, food is medicine piece, we. This is where I will admit, we do screen pretty thoroughly for housing security and poverty. Right. And if someone is qualified for Medicaid but doesn't have it, then we help them get on it, whether or not they want to be a patient. Right. And we are really good at working with patients with Medicaid, which shouldn't be unusual that that's difficult to work with. But I do get a lot of feedback from people who are in the Equitas, like, healthcare system personally, friends. I have a lot of friends who are sitting in places of precarity financially, who are like, Medicaid's great. It's easy to apply for because I got help. And look at all these doctors who take it and look, everything's free. And everyone else, like, who don't have an Aquitas nearby or a place like it, who are like, this is the most difficult system. I can't get to a specialist. We're really good at finding the specialists who will take it and will be decent to you from the lgbt perspective. Right. And so luckily, our patients get to generally, I don't have data on this. I hear feedback of, I have a really positive experience of being on Medicaid and discovering I even qualified for it. Right. I know that we've done work in the past with partnering with places like local matters to offer, not just, like, cooking classes, because, like, oh, how are we going to talk about cooking classes if, like, other stuff, you've got these other pieces of precarity, but also, and it's not perfect. It's a little bit like food. Financial literacy was part of this, like, eight week course, and I knew people who took this course. Right. It was specific for equitas patients to connect to this coursework. And they came home with a bag of groceries every night for whatever the meal was. They were taught how to make. Right. And they were taught how to read the cost per ounce at the grocery store, and they went home with a grocery store gift card and so forth. So while we don't specifically do that sort of screening, I know that our case managers are thinking through these things, right? We have this sort of case management, medical, non medical case management wing that are thinking through, like, my person needs access to food. Right. So how am I going to get that done? [00:47:12] Speaker B: What we can definitely talk about is pizza nights. [00:47:15] Speaker C: Yes. [00:47:15] Speaker B: Talking about cooking nights. How do you guys integrate food? [00:47:19] Speaker C: Sure. You know, my first contact with food pantry food banks was in early two thousands. I worked at Columbus AIDS task force and has now evolved into Equitas. But I vividly remember clients coming in and they wanted. They needed food. And that was my first experience ever of, like, I knew that people were poor, I needed food. But, like, that was. I'm still young, and packing up food boxes, it became like a meditation of sort of, like, making sure the ingredients went well and just trying to know what people liked. And the one thing that struck me then is I don't ever want to have to be in a space to limit what people have access to. And so, you know, fast forward. You know, I worked in community mental health for about seven years, and, you know, people would come in in a crisis facility. I worked at Netcare, and they were hungry. And I would always tell my team, like, we're going to give them food. It's not ours. It's not coming out of my refrigerator. Give it to them if they're hungry. People can't take their medication. If they don't have something to eat, if they don't have access to water, they can't take their medication. People who are diabetic, there's so many ways that food is medicine, not just for the soul, but for our actual bodies. And so being able to kind of carry that, like, I'm never going to limit as much as I can help it. And so, you know, at KYC pre pandemic, we provided a meal, like, an actual meal, every single day of drop and center, Monday through Friday. We had volunteers who would come in and cook those meals. Some of our team would do that. And then Covid happened, and we were. This was probably. I don't even know how I would categorize this, but we started doing a curbside resource pickup during COVID because our young folks, we didn't. I don't think we realized how much they were dependent upon us for that daily meal or the snack, just like in schools. So a lot of the schools were doing things, and we were having 1516 year olds sign up to get food for their whole families. And again, I know that happens. I know it. And at the drop in center, it's fun. And there's rainbows and unicorns, and they come in and they just get their thing. And then. But to see how that was happening, mostly with our black and brown youth and their families, it just. It was disheartening. And within 24 hours of us saying we were going to be closing because of the quarantine, the community raised over $9,000 on our Facebook. Like, Facebook Friday, we had a $5 Friday, $9,000 in 24 hours for us to be able to fill up our resource room so that we could provide those things. And so now we do have a resource room with food, and we do provide snacks every, you know, every. Every day of programming. We have our pizza and movie night. It's Friday. If anybody wants to sponsor us with our. With pizza, we'd love to have you. Our food budget for the drop in center is a little over $20,000, and that's so we can keep snacks. And we try to keep. Here's the thing is young folks like, ramen noodles and pop tarts, which, hey, they're delicious things. And so the mama in me is, like, the sodium, like, let's get that. You know, I can't. But, like, that's what they want. And we try to be youth led and informed and inspired at all times. And so. And there's lots of different dietary issues and so. But, yeah, a little over $20,000 each year just for our drop. What's nice is our young folks who are in our housing program has access to our drop in center resources to our resource room. And it's fun. Pizza's fun. We've also seen the young people who maybe aren't part of the community, but they know we offer food and bus passes even, and we'll pop in just for those things. So back to those basic needs. Well, one thing I just want to add real quick. I remember my daughter. I forget how old she was. I think she was maybe in middle school. And she always loved cooking. And there was this community garden. It was on the east side. I forget the name of it, but she and her friend spent a week there at, like, a cooking camp. And the idea of her, she loved going out to the garden and picking, you know, the herbs and stuff and cooking. And she brought a cookbook home, and she felt so proud of herself. And so, again, and food is medicine from our physical bodies and form, but also for our souls and our community and our relationships. And so, as much as we don't have to ever limit food, that would make me very happy if all places could just give, or there wouldn't be a need for that. Yes, food security. You know, within our housing program, the pantries and the services here just in central Ohio or Columbus are so important. And a lot of our young folks, part of us in helping them kind of lean into that independence in a safer way, is utilizing some of those resources in the community, and Kroger gifts us with gift cards to give to them. But that's part of back to that holistic kind of approach. And so I just want to shout out those food, not bombs and other pantries and spaces that provide those resources. It really is a very key part in our young folks thriving. [00:52:45] Speaker B: Well, I mean, we're talking about all things food. And so I've already referenced this podcast that was done in 2022 by feeding America and Doctor Wilson, and she made this statement, and I'm curious about what your thoughts on this ideology is. If you have any local data or stats, you can share about it. But again, referencing the podcast, Doctor Wilson states, we asked how they grew up. And, you know, over 70% of all low income people that we spoke to have identified across the spectrum of LGBTQ, but over 70% of them talked about childhood poverty and talked about growing up financially insecure. And among the people of color was over 80%. Yes, we need to talk about the LGBT related factors, but we also need to talk about how lgbt people are not much different than other people experiencing poverty. That is part of the integrational cycle. That means that many lgbt folks move into adulthood with lack of family, financial resources. And we've, you know, kind of already talked about this a little bit. We've touched on. On how we work in these silos and how we need to be more of a community, and all we're doing is siloing the LGBTQ individuals more. And so, just what are your thoughts to that statement that Doctor Wilson shared on the Feeding America podcast? Do you resonate with it? What are your initial comments? [00:54:19] Speaker C: Yes. Absolutely agree. You know, one thing I say at different tables and community groups is that LGBTQ people are everywhere. Even in statistics. We are literally everywhere, like, every facet of society. And I think it's definitely important to notice the diversity factors that make us different or unique. But we're everywhere, and there's reasons why these things happen. I mean, I think what I would be curious about, too, is, I know with black and brown folks, those numbers go up. I'd be curious, like, those households, who are they? Two single white, cis gay men, because they typically are included in these statistics. So what is that about pay equity? You know, like, there's all these, again, how it's all connected. But, you know, one of the things around for me is around prevention. And I can say this, I'll say it as KyCzd, but also as a private citizen, we can prevent all of this. We can prevent food insecurity, poverty, homelessness. We know in kindergarten. We know in preschool, actually, when families are poor or in poverty. We know if they're homeless. And we also know that we can predict future outcomes based on that. We can look at third grade reading levels and predict future outcomes. We can predict people who are more likely to be in poverty, food insecure, and housing insecure. We can stop that, right? Like, we can back it up till we know that our schools are not traditionally safe for queer and trans youth. Ohio is especially poor in terms, you know, collectively. And so we know our young folks are less likely to graduate high school, who are then less likely to be unemployed or underemployed and underinsured or uninsured and less likely to be housed, less likely to have access to food. I mean, we can trace it. That's why I'm saying these things are so preventable. Or to be involved in the justice system. Or if they're involved in the justice system, they can't get a job. You know, like, it all goes together. And I think I can think back just a personal story. When my. When I was in grad school as a single parent, I had a two year old and a four year old. And I, you know, for all intents and purposes, we would be considered very low income. That my kids were like, why do we always have Mac and cheese and broccoli? Cause it's cheap. Right. That's why. And so being a queer black woman, had I been. Well, I was bisexual then. Whole other story. But if, had I been surveyed, I would have fit into this. And what were the reasons? Well, because I'm a woman and I'm a social worker, and I'm in grad school and I'm single, and, like, there's all these other factors. And so I just. There's so much here within that. And I think the intergenerational cycle is. Is the thing that can be prevented the most, actually, outside of the one offs or people who are just impacted by their circumstances. [00:57:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. I appreciate. I appreciate that. And I think it's actually, as always, a great segue into the next question, because my last question, and you had just said a personal story. Can you share another one, the both of you? We have talked about, again, as I started the episode, huge topics. Anyone could be one long episode, and we've. We've hit on them. But I'd love to hear just kind of like, you know, we talk. I talked about that lady who, like, why is she still at the animal shelter taking the dogs? Why are we still in this line of work even though people are hungry? What is your story? What? Is there something that just, like, lives with you? Is there a neighbor's story? Is there a youth that lives with you? Is there a personal story? Like, I'm just curious. I just kind of want to end it on this note of why are you in this work and continue to do the work and kind of your little story as to why you do it. [00:58:14] Speaker C: Do you want to go? I've been talking a lot. You know, as a social worker, one of the challenges is we don't always get to see the end result or the positive or the survival, whatever you want to call it, is typically we're seeing people on their worst days. And I have plenty of stories about that that we're not going to talk about today. But one of my favorite parts about Kyc is the real time transformation that gets to happen. My first, you know, my first six months, there was a young person I remember, she would come in and traditionally, male clothing change, put a wig on at KYC, three and a half hours, would change back into the clothing she came in with and went home. And I have chills just even talking about this. And to know that we were a place that was safe enough of, like, this is. Is why we exist. This is it right here. You know, we provide free gender affirming undergarments, so, like, binders or gaffes. And to see the way a young person's posture literally changes the moment they put that binder on, who come up their shoulders down and walk out, you know, shoulders back, head up high. I mean, there's just so many stories of that, just the. The magic of seeing someone and allow and seeing them in their full humanity. There was one young person who went two weeks trying out a different name every day. And, you know, people are like, oh, these names and pronouns. Well, they matter because nobody wants to be called the wrong name or pronoun that's neither here nor there. But it was so cute to watch them try out new names every day. And for, you know, as a team, like, all right, you know, we do this thing. We call it, like, daily grace. One of my former staff members use this term, but there's a check in in our drop in center every day. They do highlights, lowlights, build community. They say their name and pronouns every day. And it's like that daily grace of, like, this is who I am today. And having been able to experience that euphoria, that gender euphoria, that identity euphoria, and then, you know, on the other end, you know, we. Our first housing client started in 2019, and she. She moved out on her own last year. And, like, she's doing really well. And our approach to our housing program is to be as low barrier as possible. We don't take HUD funding because it's so restrictive about definitions of homelessness and how long people can stay. And she got to stay until she was actually ready and we could do that work. And so when you talk about transforming systems and the way things are, like, we can do it, maybe it is one person at a time, maybe it's 20 people at a time. But knowing that not only is she thriving, I see pictures of her on social media, in community, and she didn't have that. And there's just so many stories like that, or a young person like, hey, you know, if they see me out and it's like, okay, they're gonna be all right. They actually are. Our young folks are so brilliant. They're terrifying because they're so brilliant. And they. I mean, I think every generation may have said this, but that's where the change is gonna happen. The things that we're talking about today or we talk about intersectionality, they live that if their friends don't eat, they don't eat. Everybody's eating with our young folks, and in that future. And so just. That's why. That's the why every single day, my sole reason for going to work and for KYC existing is to create spaces of belonging and community for a group of people who might not find it elsewhere. [01:01:55] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you for holding that space. [01:01:57] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:01:58] Speaker B: Oliver, what's your why? [01:01:59] Speaker D: Oh, my goodness. I am a mask person, and I'm not afraid to say that I'm almost crying listening to Aaron give her answer. I don't get to work with youth quite so directly as you do, but my intersections where I do are the moments actually, that remind me or with community in general, that this is why I'm doing this work. It's not when I'm, you know, yelling at politicians. I mean, giving testimony, it's. [01:02:37] Speaker C: That's kind of fun. [01:02:45] Speaker D: Maybe I. Maybe. Yeah, maybe I'm not tough enough. And that's why I'm not feminine. I'm too gentle, y'all. It's a gender identity problem. The moments that I get to connect with youth or around youth, even in an indirect way, like one of my job functions for the moment still is running that free legal clinic for name and gender marker correction on legal documents. Not that that should be what determines people's, you know, being honored, but it sure does help with job applications and diplomas looking the way they need to and so forth. Right. And alleviate some stress when you have to interact, maybe with cops, and it could be more dangerous otherwise. Right. The moments I get to talk to parents of trans kids, the one. The parents I get to talk to are the ones who are like, I'm 110 on board. I just don't know how to do this. My kid told me what's up, that I got it wrong when I named them. So now I need to fix this. So how do we. Where do we go from here? And getting to talk to those parents? And sometimes they say something cute like, oh, this is so helpful. Like, I wish you a cool pillow every night when you lay your head down, you know, or getting to talk to my community. I remember in the. Probably February when we've been fighting these anti trans administrative rules from the governor's office, getting to work with PFLAG and Dayton to do, like, sort of an educational panel on what's happening and helping the public understand, because it was changing every week as they edited and said, okay, now give us your public comment. You have three days. Right. I'm not quoting. It wasn't always three days, but it was something to that effect. Yeah. So we were just like, okay, we know you've heard a lot about what's happening. We want to make sure you understand what's happening, what it means. We're gonna. We had it printouts, and we're like, we're gonna go to this section. Okay. And be able to tell them, like, okay, it's not that bad anymore. This part got walked back. I know that was scary two weeks ago. I'm sorry that I have to change what I'm telling you every two weeks. I'm not trying to b's you, but, like, we're gonna get through this together. We need to work together. The moments, wherever I. I either connect sort of indirectly with youth, and I'm going to miss that sport so much. Or I get the opportunity to say to my community members, like trans and lgbt people, like, we're going to get out of this alive, but we're going to have to have each other's backs and, like, have my back. I'm fighting this in these ways. If y'all have the space and the safety to send an email, or if you have cis people in your life to harass and say, hey, if you care about me, send this quick email and say, these are the ways we can have each other's back. Because this is what we're going to need. At the end of the day, that's what's going to get us out of this mess or keep us fighting it. [01:05:38] Speaker B: Can I share a quote, please? [01:05:40] Speaker C: You inspired me. There's this quote. It's by Doctor Omalar uwomedimo. And it says, I don't need you to praise me for my resilience. I need you to stop creating space of trauma where being resilient is all I'm allowed to be. And yes, and yes. And on one hand, our community, we're going to be okay. We want to be more than okay. We know how to come together. We know how to fight. What you said is so beautiful. We can go all the way back generations and how we fed each other, we took care of each other. We keep each other safe. We helped people heal all these. And this could be said for multiple communities, but we want more. We don't want to just be resilient. We don't want to survive. And, you know, I know you'd asked about a call to action, and I think coming back to that is, what can we do collectively and individually to create spaces where people can be more than resilient? [01:06:41] Speaker B: Well, you both said it so elegantly and beautifully, and I. I think it's a. It's a great way to end the podcast. I personally have learned a lot. I am navigating my own experiences as an LGBTQ person and trying to navigate that. And I appreciate the space that you guys have allowed. [01:07:01] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:07:01] Speaker B: Thank you. [01:07:02] Speaker C: Thank you. Happy pride. [01:07:04] Speaker D: Thank you. [01:07:14] Speaker B: Again. Thank you for listening to today's episode. [01:07:17] Speaker A: I know this podcast is dropping in your feed in July, but we hope you listen and reflect on the conversation we shared just last month with Erin and Oliver. It is clear from our conversation that there is still so much work to be done and advocacy to be had. However, I want to commend Erin and Oliver for the work they are doing in this space each and every day and the resources and community they have cultivated here in Ohio. Please don't forget to check out the show notes for resources we referenced, and we will see you back next month for another episode of just a bite.