Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year

Our civic and sacred duty to hold onto hope

This is the 22nd and final episode of “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year.” Last week, we began our look back on the key insights from this podcast’s past six months. We heard guests talk about the need for concerned voters to take action; the way in which the rise of MAGA has mobilized progressive grassroots activists nationwide; the focus by organizers on the art of persuasion and mobilization; and how in a more fundamental way progressive activism has been supported by building and strengthening community in places where political power and civic infrastructure have traditionally been lacking. Today, we will look at other critical factors at play in this year’s campaign, including the building of coalitions, in particular those centered around the need to strengthen and protect reproductive freedom in the wake of the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade; the ongoing dialogue about whether the Democratic Party can maintain its historically overwhelming strong support in the Black community; how the race for control of the US House and Senate are shaping up and to wh at degree candidates and issues on the ballot impact the prospects for other candidates up or down the ballot from them; and what conclusions we can draw from the blizzard of polling that we see out there every day and from what for many of us is the confusing phenomenon of the still-undecided voter. This episode closes with the recognition that we simply do not know what will happen on November 5 — uncertainty that underscores a central truth of our democracy: that we all have a civic duty to hold onto hope. “Talk It OUT” has been presented by Gay City News and its editor-in-chief Matt Tracy. I am grateful for the opportunity to have hosted this podcast. (Music courtesy of IMG via uppbeat.io [http://uppbeat.io].)

What we’ve learned in this queer election year

This is the 21st episode of “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year,” and we are now just two weeks away from Election Day, when America renders a defining verdict on the kind of country we want to be. In the final two episodes of this podcast, I will look back on the most compelling insights that my guests have offered about the state of our nation, what’s happening on the ground in critical battleground contests, and what each of us can do to ensure good outcomes for our society and our politics. In the first episode of this podcast, I talked about a book from 2020 I had just read by Eitan Hersh, a political scientist at Tufts University. The book, “Politics is for Power,” has as its subtitle “How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change.” In that book, Hersh noted that among American voters in 2016 who were alarmed by the rise of Donald Trump and who followed the news closely every single day, less than five percent of them did anything beyond voting to ensure a good outcome that year.  That insight forms the core of this podcast’s philosophy. Guests we are looking back on this week include Oath.Vote’s Brian Derrick; Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta; Shannon Powell from Indivisible Westchester; Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee chair Bob Binney; Emme Zanotti from Equality Michigan; Nadine Smith of Equality Florida; longtime progressive organizer Dave Fleischer; Adam Barbanel-Fried of Philadelphia’s Changing the Conversation Together; Abigail Swetz and Sean O’Brien of Fair Wisconsin; André Wade of Silver State Equality; Cathy Renna from the National LGBTQ Task Force; Rebecca DeHart of Georgia’s Fair Count; Leo Murrieta from Make the Road Action — Nevada; Denzel McCampbell from Progress Michigan; Marques Thompson from Democracy North Carolina; Raymond Greene, Jr., from Akron’s Freedom BLOC, the Black Led Organizing Collaborative; and Eliazar Posada from Equality North Carolina. “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year” is presented by Gay City News. (Music courtesy of IMG via uppbeat.io [http://uppbeat.io].)

Bostonians rushing into the breach

In the 20th episode of “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year,” we visit Massachusetts, among the least likely of swing states — the only state where bumper stickers could boast, “Don’t blame me, I voted for McGovern.” Massachusetts is important because it demonstrates what folks in deep blue states can do to pitch in to help secure a Kamala Harris [http://kamalaharris.com] victory on November 5. That might mean canvassing and driving voters to the polls in nearby purplish New Hampshire. It might mean traveling to Scranton, Pennsylvania, the weekend before the election to pitch in on two key congressional races (here [https://wildforcongress.com/] and here [https://cartwrightcongress.com/]), on Bob Casey’s Senate reelection fight [https://bobcasey.com/], and in the crucial effort to put the Keystone State’s 19 electoral votes in the Democratic column. And for committed activists looking to contribute while staying in their own neighborhoods, it might mean spending Sunday afternoons writing letters and postcards to Democratic-leaning voters in swing states. I speak to Bob Binney, a retired owner of a financial software company who first became involved in politics out of his despair over the results of the 2016 election. In the eight years since, Bob has become the campaign treasurer to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu [https://www.boston.gov/departments/mayors-office/michelle-wu], who made history in 2021 by becoming the first woman and the first person of color to lead that city. Bob is also the chair of the Ward 5 Democratic Committee [https://bostonward5dems.org/]. The phrase Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee might conjure images of political machines and big city bosses, but what Bob describes is a picture of concerned citizens finding camaraderie in devoting hours to reaching out to fellow Americans hundreds or thousands of miles away to protect our 250-year-old democracy. “Talk It OUT” is presented by Gay City News. Subscribe now on Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-it-out-lgbtq-voices-in-a-queer-election-year/id1747081633], Spotify [ttps://open.spotify.com/show/5ySHfW1PCjdiKsTdEg5Juz?si=96cb6ff620b442cd], and other podcast platforms. Music courtesy of IMG via uppbeat.io [http://uppbeat.io].

With squeaky tight polls, Harris takes aim at Trump’s strengths

In the 19th episode of “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year,” I welcome back Dr. Patrick Egan [https://wp.nyu.edu/egan/], a political science professor at New York University who studies and writes about American public opinion and the influence it has on policy, partisanship, and identity. With the election just a month away, Patrick helps guide us through the thicket of public opinion polls, discusses some of the unique ways Kamala Harris is tackling the challenges she faces in taking on Donald Trump, offers insight on the impact of down-ballot races and referendums, and gives an interesting take on which recent presidential election he sees as most comparable to this year’s contest.  Patrick also delivers his assessment on the value and limitations of betting markets that take wagers on the presidential and other election contests, In next week’s episode, which goes live on Wednesday, October 16, I speak to a Boston Democratic activist who first got engaged in his local ward committee in the wake of the 2016 election when his frustration and anger about the rise of Donald Trump convinced him it was time to do something in support of his beliefs.  Bob Binney’s story is probably a lot like that of many other voters. The story of the leadership role he has taken on in Boston’s Ward 5 Democratic Committee [https://bostonward5dems.org/] and the work he has led in reaching out to thousands of voters in swing states is a timely lesson in what we can all still do in the weeks left in this year’s presidential contest.  “Talk It OUT” is presented by Gay City News. Please subscribe now on Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-it-out-lgbtq-voices-in-a-queer-election-year/id1747081633], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5ySHfW1PCjdiKsTdEg5Juz?si=96cb6ff620b442cd], and other podcast platforms. Music courtesy of IMG via uppbeat.io [http://uppbeat.io].

Is it time’s up for Ted Cruz?

In the 18th episode of “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year,” we take a look at Texas, a Republican stronghold for decades. But this year, Texas is worth watching because of the potential vulnerability of two-term Senator Ted Cruz, who is facing a spirited challenge from Dallas-area Democratic Congressman Colin Allred [https://colinallred.com/], a former NFL linebacker and civil rights attorney. Cruz breezed to his first Senate victory in 2012 with a 16-point margin over his Democratic opponent, but six years ago, Beto O’Rourke trimmed Cruz’s victory margin to just two and a half points. Recent polling [https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/2024/texas/] in the Cruz-Allred contest has ranged from giving Cruz a four-point advantage to showing Allred up by one. It’s not just Democrats who see Allred as having a shot at toppling Cruz.  Several weeks ago, Chris LaCivita, Donald Trump’s senior campaign adviser, took to X to lament [https://x.com/LaCivitaC/status/1834869331169247608], “What the hell is wrong with the Senate race in Texas?” And since then, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has announced plans for a multi-million dollar spend in support of Allred.  Despite its reputation as a deep red stronghold, Democrats have shown signs of growing strength in Texas in recent years.  In 2012, Mitt Romney won a commanding 16-point edge over Barack Obama. Four years later, Trump bested Hillary Clinton there by nine percent, and Joe Biden narrowed that gap to five and a half points.  Recent polling [https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/texas/] in the presidential contest in Texas has shown Trump up over Kamala Harris by roughly six points. I speak to Johnathan Gooch, communication director at Equality Texas [http://equalitytexas.org], that state’s LGBTQ rights group. Equality Texas has faced tremendous odds in recent years against the Republican-controlled Executive and Legislative branches of state government in Austin, which have pursued increasingly hostile and radical anti-LGBTQ agendas — agendas out of step, however, with public opinion in the state.  Equality Texas works with volunteers across the state and in partnership with allied groups such as Planned Parenthood and GLAAD to stave off some of the worst that the state GOP has tried to throw at them. “Talk It OUT” is presented by Gay City News. Please subscribe now on Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-it-out-lgbtq-voices-in-a-queer-election-year/id1747081633], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5ySHfW1PCjdiKsTdEg5Juz?si=96cb6ff620b442cd&nd=1&dlsi=49fd42c76f1d4f36], and other podcast platforms. Music courtesy of IMG via uppbeat.io [http://uppbeat.io].