♪ With a knick knack paddy whack ♪
♪ Give a dog a bone ♪
- Hey Gram, I'm headed out.
- Hey, where you headed off to?
- Oh, I'm going to the Pride parade,
gonna go celebrate LGBTQ+ rights.
- But weren't you just at the Black Lives Matters
protest yesterday?
- Yeah.
- So, what's up with that?
Did ya change sides or something?
- No.
- You said you cared about BLM yesterday,
and now you're caring about LGBTQ,
don't you think that's a little hypocritical honey?
- No, I can care about both causes.
I'm going to the Women's March tomorrow too.
- What?
Okay, so now you're a feminist too?
That seems a little confusing.
- What is confusing about that?
- So many things all at once.
I mean, who are you really?
- I'm your granddaughter, I care about multiple things.
It's pretty common.
- It's just a lot.
I think I need a moment.
- Before I go, can you take a picture of me?
- Yeah, sure.
But this is a phone.
- It's also a camera.
- What?
- It's also a computer.
Have you never seen a smartphone?
- You stop!
You stop this madness now, okay?
- Wow, Gram, are you okay?
- It's a phone, it's a camera, it's a computer!
I mean, what is anything anymore?
- Gram, Gram, it's not that deep.
- Life is an illusion!
Okay, you look stressed.
Do you wanna just chill out, maybe hang with my dog?
- What kinda dog?
- It's a Labradoodle.
- A Labradoodle?
- Yup.
- Both a Labrador and a poodle?
Together?
- Yeah.
- Oh!
- Gram?
So you're here because you care about LGBTQ+ rights.
Great, me too!
Now what?
There's so much to celebrate within the community.
There have been so many successes,
so much more representation, policy changes
that have led to more equity and access,
and yet, there are still places in our country
and in the world where it's dangerous
to be a part of the LGBTQ community.
Not to mention, what happens when your identity
intersects with another marginalized community?
What happens when you're Trans and Muslim?
Intersex and unhoused?
Queer and living with a disability?
What happens when your identity
and your activism is multifaceted?
Welcome to intersectionality.
Intersectionality is a framework to understand
how a person's social and political identities
combine to create both advantage and disadvantage.
As we've talked to our various activists,
we see how similar themes keep coming up.
When we talk about racial justice,
issues of mental health and education reform come up.
When we talk about mental health,
issues of local government policy
and LGBTQ rights come up.
When we talk about climate change,
racial justice, mental health,
and local government policies have to be a part
of the conversation.
It seems that to be an activist is to be intersectional.
That's why I am so excited to talk
to today's youth activist, Ezra Wheeler.
University of San Diego student and activist,
Ezra Greyson Wheeler, created We Exist,
a collective targeting accessibility
and intersectionality within activism.
And, they are also writing a book about being
a Trans student and the systemic issues within education.
They have been pushing systems,
institutions, and activists to be more inclusive.
So let's dive in.
Hey Ezra, it's so nice to meet you.
Thanks so much for joining me today!
- Of course, thank you for having me.
- I believe that it's not just you here
at the interview today, that you might also
have a partner in crime?
- Yes, this is Maple, she is the best little sausage around.
- I'd love to start with, if you are speaking
to a brand new activist, what advice and tips
would you give them for their first step
supporting and joining LGBTQ+ rights?
- The first steps anyone can take
to joining in LGBTQ+ activism
are some really, really simple things
that we don't often think about,
like adding pronouns to your bio
and email signatures if you're in a safe place
and an environment to do so.
Introducing yourself and just taking that initiative,
saying, "Hey, my name is Ezra, and I use
"they/them pronouns."
Create that space for other people to also share
if they feel comfortable.
So that's really important to me
as someone who uses pronouns that are they/them.
- Can I try with you now, just practicing
introducing myself with my pronouns?
- Yeah, definitely.
- Hey, I'm Tessa, and my pronouns are she and her.
- That's great, sometimes people also include
Spanish pronouns, like ella or ellos,
that's usually if they do use binary pronouns though,
because there isn't a great gender-neutral one in Spanish,
but that is one that I see a lot
in the communities that I'm in.
So that's also something to be aware of.
- Thank you so much, and that's something
that I can put on my Instagram bio, at the end of my emails,
any kind of form of communication.
- Yeah, I typically just advise,
if you're able to and feel comfortable,
anywhere your name goes, your pronouns should go too.
- Oh great.
- Something else is also just, get really educated
on the history, because Pride was started as a riot,
and Pride was started by Black Trans Women,
and that is oftentimes forgotten.
And in the recent activism, it's often overlooked,
and so I think it's really important to get to the roots
of the history of this activism.
- How do you balance your intersectionality
in your activism?
- Balancing intersectionality in activism
isn't really a balancing act.
It's either you're intersectional, or you're not.
There is a spectrum of intersectionality,
but you have to approach activism
through an intersectional lens,
and that includes knowing histories,
and knowing where these activisms truly came from,
because it's probably not where you're first told
they came from.
Think about, what have I been taught?
Who have I been taught it by?
Why have I been taught it?
My intro to ethnic studies class
in my freshman year of college taught me more
than four years in activism did,
and that's also why I'm majoring in ethnic studies.
- When you're thinking about participating in something,
are there questions you ask to assess
the intersectionality of the event,
or organization, or institution?
- Yeah, definitely.
Some specific questions I may ask include
things like, how is this program specifically
reaching out to LGBTQ youth of color?
For example, or, disabled LGBTQ people,
or Black Trans people.
Because likely, if they are an intersectional
organization, institution, or program,
they already have those answers.
- I think it's really interesting the way you're saying,
"How are they reaching out," because I know
that I've seen, in different organizations,
they're trying the same tactics, and just saying,
"Well, I don't know, the people of color
"didn't show up," or, "I don't know,
"the people living with disabilities
"just didn't show up to our event, or organization."
And I hear you saying that we need to assess
how they're reaching out to these
different communities as well.
- Yeah, I think the question that is asked
a lot of the time is, where are the diverse voices,
but not why aren't they in this space?
And what is in this space that is creating
an unsafe space for them?
We can't ask them to come to that same space for peace
where they were caused harm, unless it's a changed space.
And so, I think that that's really important.
- Wow, I just wanna underline and highlight the question,
"Why aren't they here?"
Ezra, you created an organization called We Exist.
What was the mission for that organization?
And why?
- This originally started as kind of a rallying cry
between my friends and I, a bunch of disabled teenagers
living in Orange County, and we wanted
to go to things like Pride, and the Women's March,
and protests that were happening.
A lot of us were in wheelchairs,
or needed mobility aids.
Those spaces aren't accessible to us,
and so, our voices aren't heard,
but our voices are incredibly powerful.
And so, it really just came from that,
really wanting to create a platform
that specifically highlights how vital
disabled activism is.
And I think it's really interesting
to see how that's changed, how the perceptions
of disabled activism, and especially virtual activism,
has changed since Corona virus,
since everything is virtual.
My friends and I, we have been doing virtual rallies
for pieces of legislation since we were 16-years-old.
- Wow.
- But now everyone's doing it,
and it's seen as legitimate.
And I just think that it's so important to state
that a lot of disabled activists
have been doing this for years.
- Wow, that's so interesting,
and it gives me goosebumps too,
because it's like, "Oh, now you're experiencing
"a temporary limitation in your ability to engage
"in the way that you want?
"Well, come on over to us, because we've been
"doing this for a while, and we've got some stuff
"we can teach you about it."
- Yeah.
- I know that your activism includes
a lot of poetry and art.
Can you tell me a little bit about that?
- I am definitely a poet and an artist.
I've been writing basically my whole life,
but I really didn't start sharing it
until I was about 19-years-old,
just out of fear.
But it's been really empowering,
ever since I've started, and art also just has been
powerful to me.
And seeing those activists take up
those artists and poetry roles as well
has been really cool, and really impactful,
and it's really spoken to me.
- You've already touched on it a little bit,
but I'd love to hear, how do you see racial justice
and LGBTQ+ rights interacting?
- LGBTQ people cannot be fully liberated
until Black people, Brown people, Indigenous people,
Asian people, all people of color,
are also liberated.
LGBTQ people are in all of those populations,
and so, there's just no liberation
without racial liberation.
- I'm wondering if you have any tips or advice
for folks who care about LGBTQ+ issues,
but don't necessarily identify as a part of the community?
- Definitely.
So, something that you actually did earlier
is practice your name and pronouns
when you introduce yourself, and also,
when someone is Transitioning and coming out,
practice their name and pronouns in private,
and just make up sentences using
their correct pronouns and names.
And it'll feel really silly looking at yourself
in the mirror doing that, but I promise you,
it does not feel silly to me when you get it right.
- We're talking a lot about how language
is an important part of activism and support,
so I was wondering if you wanted to play
a little game with me that plays with language?
- Yeah, definitely.
- The game is called Big Yikes.
I'll give you some words, and you can tell me
whether it's a little yikes, a big yikes,
or a no yikes.
And explain to us why.
Neopronouns.
- No yikes.
Neopronouns are great, and they need to be normalized
and practiced, just like any others.
Some neopronouns include things like, Ze, Xe, or Zem.
'cause those are seen as more gender neutral
in the English language, typically.
- A deadname.
- A deadname is a big yikes.
Honestly, it really does depend
from person-to-person, but generally,
deadname's off-limits.
If you know someone's deadname, don't share it with anyone.
I read something about how it's called a deadname
because that's what the media will use
to misgender you when you're killed
in Transphobic violence.
- Oh wow.
- And so, personally, I don't look at my birth name
as shameful or embarrassing, I honestly don't care
if people know it.
I have been a public figure, to some scale,
since I was about 14-years-old,
so it's out there, there's no erasing it,
and I'm okay with that.
I'm not okay with it being weaponized against me,
and I'm not okay with my real name, Ezra,
being disrespected for any reason.
- I just learned a lot from that,
I had no idea that that's where the word
had come from.
And I also just really appreciate you also being clear
that your real name is Ezra, as you introduce yourself as.
Simple as that.
Okay, I've got another one for ya.
Gender nonconforming.
- No yikes.
There is, I think, a distinction that some people make,
some people don't make, between gender nonconforming people
and Trans people.
I personally see myself as both Trans
and gender nonconforming.
Some people see themselves as just one or the other,
but either way, great, be you.
- And it sounds like what's important
is just to be open to whatever
that person identifies as, and what language
they're using around it.
- You just gotta trust that I know myself
and my identity better than you could,
and I can also trust that you know your identity
better than I could.
And so, I'm gonna trust you when you tell me
what name, what pronouns, what identities,
what labels to use.
- The term sexual preference.
- So this one is a somewhat yikes, I feel like,
because it has brought up a lot of attention
to the term sexual preference,
versus sexual orientation,
in the Supreme Court Nominee Hearings.
Personally I don't think you should be
using the term sexual preference,
because it does make it sound like a choice.
Like, yes, I prefer a vanilla shake
versus a chocolate shake, but my sexuality
is not the same.
And my sexuality is an inherent part of who I am,
and it means a lot to me, and it means a lot
about my lived experience and my interactions
with the world, and it's not a choice,
and it's not something I can take off or remove
when it's inconvenient for me.
And so, I think that, generally, orientation is better.
- Ezra, what about slurs?
And you can pick a slur that you wanna discuss.
- Yeah, so slurs are big yikes
if they are not yours to reclaim.
They are no yikes if they are yours to reclaim.
Something like the N word, I cannot reclaim,
because I am white.
And the only people who can reclaim that word
and say that word without it being a slur
is Black people.
Same with cripple.
I can say cripple because I am reclaiming that
as a disabled person, but a physically abled person
shouldn't be saying cripple, or crippled,
or crippling honestly.
The act of reclaiming a slur takes back the power
from the oppressor and puts it in your hands.
That can be really powerful, but some people
are not comfortable reclaiming slurs,
even if they do have a right to do so.
And that has to be respected as well.
- I hadn't thought about the word crippling.
I think it was still a part of my vocabulary.
It all goes back to what you were originally saying
about thinking about the history
of where something comes from and how it started.
- Yeah, definitely.
I think the history of languages,
history of movements, and history of people
and places is really important
in finding where your fight is,
and finding where your activism should take you.
- Ezra, I've learned so much already.
For our aspiring activists, and folks
who are already involved, what are four things
that you would say are action steps
that people can take?
- So the first I already mentioned,
add your pronouns anywhere your name is
if you're comfortable and safe.
Second is, if you're eligible to,
continue to be active in politics
and use that avenue for change as a way to fight
for the things that matter to you.
Read up on some intersectional feminism
and critical race theory.
A good place to start is Kimberle Crenshaw,
or Michelle Alexander.
And then four, volunteer.
Just get out there, even virtually.
Just see what organizations are in your community
and just get out there and see what you can do to help.
They're always looking for volunteers,
and it's a great way to also build community.
- Wow, I really enjoyed talking to Ezra,
and I learned so much!
They really remind us that we each have so much to offer,
and that we deserve to all feel like we belong.
If you wanna get involved and learn more,
check out GLAAD's youth engagement programs,
the Human Rights Campaign, or the Trevor Project.
I'm Tessa Claire Hersh, and this is Now What?