tranS Drag & Spirituality with Honey Mahogany

Activist, politico, and drag queen Honey Mahogany is a San Francisco native and a social worker by training who received her Masters in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Currently serving as the 3rd Vice Chair of the the San Francisco Democratic Party, Honey is also co-founder of the Transgender Cultural District, a co-owner of the Stud Bar, and currently works as a legislative aide in San Francisco. Honey's work has earned her recognition from the City of San Francisco and the State of California; Sainthood from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; and awards from: Harvey Milk Club, SF Young Democrats, SF Women's Political Committee, and the Women's Foundation of California. Mx. Mahogany has been featured in the Stonewall 50, Queerty's list of advocates continuing the legacy of Stonewall, and appeared twice in Out Magazine's Out100, a yearly list of the 100 most impactful and influential LGBTQ people in the world.

Facebook.com/honeymahogany

IG @honeymahogany

Hosted by B0NNi33 Vi0L3T, a conversation about drag, being trans and spirituality.

LIVE streamed at 7PM PST in June 2021 on YouTube, Facebook & Twitch @ a queer chaplain OR @ Glide on YouTube & Facebook.

To learn more about our sponsors

Engage! Rate, Follow, Subscribe & Share
Book! Keynote, Panel, Guest on Show, Officiate Wedding/Memorial In/Out of Drag
Collaborate! Join Team, Guest, Make a Pitch
Sponsor! Patreon, Support My Work 
Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for creators to get paid. 

🌐 a queer chaplain
Bonnie Violet, is a trans femme genderqueer spiritual drag artist & a digital queer chaplain.

Splintered Grace

Bonnie Violet & Tina Frank

Tina, is a conservative christian woman and Bonnie Violet, a trans gender queer drag queen. While many family members are choosing to no longer speak, we have chosen to sit at the table and engage in difficult conversation to find peace and restoration.

🌐 https://linktr.ee/aqueerchaplain

🌐 a queer chaplain
Bonnie Violet, is a trans femme genderqueer spiritual drag artist & a digital queer chaplain.

🌐 a queer chaplain
Bonnie Violet, is a trans femme genderqueer spiritual drag artist & a digital queer chaplain.

🎙 Drag & Spirituality
45 Drag Artists talk about their drag & spirituality hosted by Bonnie Violet

Support My Work
Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for creators to get paid.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

0:00
I would say I'm most proud of the trans
0:07
district for sure I mean I think that's the you know I would I talk about this with Ari all the time I'm like well that
0:13
was pretty cool like are we ever gonna do anything this cool ever again right
0:20
um you know it's not every day you helped found a district um but it you know and I I see that you
0:26
know it was many of us who did it and like it was you know definitely a Community
0:31
Driven initiative thank you [Music]
0:40
hey y'all going it's Bonnie Violet um and you are on the trans Spirit
0:45
podcast and I just wanted to take a moment to say um it's National Trans Awareness Month
0:52
November 2022 and I'm currently working on creating a new uh trans Spirit Series
0:59
where I'll be interviewing 12 trans folks from around the globe hopefully
1:04
um to hear and capture their um stories with spirituality and their
1:11
trans identity that's trans non-binary intersex [Music]
1:17
um basically non-cis gendered folks or folks who might be in the trans umbrella
1:24
um I'm kind of open to whatever but I'm really curious to understand someone's gender outside of the CIS gender world
1:31
I'm in their experience with spirituality um so I am working on that in the
1:37
meantime I did want to continue putting out some episodes so what I'm going to do is
1:43
um be uploading some of my previous interviews with drag artists who were also trans uh talking about their
1:49
spiritual experience and other episodes or interviews that I've done that involve trans people talking about their
1:56
spirituality I hope that you enjoy this and I'll keep you posted on the next
2:02
series and uh yeah I'd love to hear from you please rate and review that helps other people find out about the podcast
2:10
um and feel free to engage with the links in the description you can support the work of a queer chaplain and trans
2:15
Spirit by supporting our patreon um just go to go to the links check things out
2:21
I'm not gonna believe her list any longer enjoy the podcast love you and uh
2:28
I see you I feel you I'm so glad that you're in the world with me my trans
2:33
siblings [Music] activist Politico and drag queen honey
2:42
mahogany is a San Francisco native and a social worker by training who received
2:47
her masters in social welfare from UC Berkeley
2:53
currently serving as the third vice chair of the San Francisco Democratic party honey is also co-founder founder
3:00
of the transgender Cultural District the co-owner of the stud bar and currently
3:06
works as a legislative aide in San Francisco Honey's work has earned her recognition
3:11
from City of San Francisco and the state of California Saint Hood from the
3:16
sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and awards from Harvey Milk Club SF young
3:22
Democrats SF women's political committee and the women's Foundation of California
3:29
Mex MX mahogany has been featured in The Stonewall 50. querty's list of Advocates
3:36
continuing the legacy of Stonewall and appeared twice in out Magazine's out 100 a yearly list of the 100 most impactful
3:44
and influential lgbtq people in the world and here everyone is honey
3:51
mahogany hello hey how are you I'm good how are you good good good
3:59
super busy season huh with pride oh my God not just Pride girl it is fried but
4:05
on top of that it is the budget season for the city of San Francisco so we are in hearings all day and um it is also
4:13
fundraising season for the San Francisco Democratic party so there's just been a little too oh it's also my partner's
4:19
birthday our anniversary so there's thank you there's just so
4:24
much going on this month June is a it's the solstice happy Solstice right right no no time for sleep no time for sleep
4:31
no time for no rest for the wicked right right well I really appreciate you um
4:37
coming on the show this evening um I usually like to start um by hearing a little bit about
4:43
people's childhood um and you can feel free just to share what you like talking about what it was like being a child and maybe how
4:49
spirituality or even drag was a part of that if it was sure yeah absolutely well first of all
4:56
you look stunning tonight yeah it is night right it's still bright out but it's summer I know yeah you look
5:02
stunning um I grew up here in San Francisco and um my parents are from Ethiopia they
5:09
came here as political uh political asylees um and uh you know I grew up in a very
5:17
Christian household and Ethiopia has a very uh long history of Christianity
5:22
which predates actually Europe um so you know Orthodox Christianity my dad's parents
5:29
my dad's family is Orthodox Christian my mom's family is actually Catholic and um grew up with I guess a very
5:36
um I guess within a very religious household went to church every Sunday went to Catholic School K through 12
5:42
um was you know God and Faith were very much a part of everyday life
5:48
um and I you know I felt found comfort in that I mean I think that there was obviously a little bit of discomfort
5:55
because you know I had these inclinations and feelings that I knew were at odds with the teachings of my
6:02
church and the things that I was hearing both at home and at school and you know again in the church and so that part was
6:09
tricky but I think the thing that I really took away from it um and the thing that I think was most ingrained
6:15
with me was a sense of you know being a person for others and um you know treating others as we want
6:21
to be treated and you know that we are in fact our our brothers and sisters Keepers and
6:28
um that is I think you know this message of love and and uh justice and kindness
6:35
I think is really what kind of came through all of that and and it also I
6:41
think worked along along the lines of you know the environment in which I grew up in you know growing up in San Francisco and being a part of this
6:47
incredibly diverse City where there were so many immigrants and being um you know from a family of immigrants myself in a
6:54
neighborhood that was very much um you know there were a lot of immigrants in in the sunset where I grew up
7:00
um specifically from you know aapi communities and so just really valuing that diversity whether we came to race
7:06
or religion and you know eventually like sexual orientation and gender identity um was key I think for me growing up and
7:14
um that also played into the spirituality because you know you know one of the things that we learned in the church is that you're not supposed to
7:20
judge others and you know nobody's nobody's perfect and so you know you
7:25
know um let he without or she without sin cast the first stone so
7:31
um I think that a lot of my I think drive for social justice
7:36
and understanding of the world did actually come from those early religious
7:42
teachings and I kind of you know it in fact made me really question some of the other teachings like homophobia and
7:49
misogyny that I think are ingrained in a lot of um the abrahamic religions I guess I can
7:55
say for sure um that you know that those those parts of
8:01
the teachings were sort of at odds with these other sort of more like all-encompassing teachings of you know
8:06
God is love and you know don't judge others and um and and that you know we're all brothers and sisters in this in this
8:12
fight in this life so um yeah that was kind of that's kind of a a rough overall sort of picture of my
8:20
childhood upbringing within the church oh that's fantastic you covered a lot of a lot of bases thanks so much for that
8:26
and so at some point in time you know it sounded like there was maybe some conflicts with
8:32
um the religion that you grew up with did you end up needing to leave or did you just
8:37
I guess I was like in college and you know I was again very sort of in it I
8:44
was you know an an altar boy back in the day and
8:49
um you know even when I went to college and I went out of town for college I was still really involved in like our campus
8:55
ministry Center and um did a lot of interfaith stuff between
9:00
um actually the Catholic Center and the um the Shalom Center which was um sort
9:06
of where they had like a synagogue and like a Jewish Community we actually worked a lot together and did um Interfaith um events and had dialogues
9:13
and worked together on on on on things um and so spirituality remained a part of my life I mean even in college but I
9:22
think it was you know I think there was a lot of pushback specifically when
9:29
um gosh Cardinal rat singer became Pope
9:34
Pope Benedict um and there was a lot of sort of like well there were the cover-ups around
9:41
um the child sex abuse scandals and then there were also um there was also this
9:47
like really I think homophobic um rhetoric coming out from the head of the church
9:53
um and many people high up in the church and it's sort of scapegoating homosexuality um and equating that with with child sex
10:00
abuse when it was when you know it wasn't necessary it wasn't you know the two aren't necessarily connected right
10:05
we know that right right um and so I just found myself being really disgusted by that and you know
10:12
kind of pushing away from my pushing myself away from the church as an institution that's really fallible
10:19
specifically the Catholic Church um and you know really sort of turned
10:24
Inward and kind of figured out ways in which I didn't need the church um and was able to sort of pursue my
10:30
spirituality and be more open and try different things and you know um be have a more sort of generalized
10:37
faith in spirituality versus a religion yeah um
10:42
and you know and and I and I don't at all I don't think I knock religion at all I
10:49
think that religion is super important for many people and you know I find myself sometimes missing it and really
10:55
enjoying being in Services when I am in Services um whether it be of you know Catholic
11:00
services or you know a service that Glide or or somewhere else um really missing that sort of sense of
11:06
community and and music music was a big part of it for me too um but I'm not as connected as I used to
11:13
be um I do think about if I become a parent at some point you know would I want to
11:19
be more engaged in a spiritual practice just to pass on some of that to my
11:26
potential children um and even just to like be more involved in a community because I mean
11:33
not that I need to be more involved in more things but um but I do think that
11:38
there is you know as I think that religion and and and churches are are really in uh big ways in which people
11:45
develop uh meaningful ties to community especially um uh for folks who maybe otherwise feel
11:52
marginalized and so um yeah there's a part of me that misses it or maybe thinks about you know ways
11:58
in which I could bring that back into my life again but um I have distanced myself a bit over
12:04
the years Community is so is so important and it seems like it's I mean I think a lot of queer folks we end up
12:10
kind of you know we end up kind of finding our own churches and our own community in places that might not be
12:16
temples you know they might be bars and clubs or you know wherever else we can uh I guess hang out and and you know
12:24
like just I think lift each other's Spirits you know that's why I started to do this uh
12:30
I think back in 2014 before I ever even did drag I saw drag queens as kind of the spiritual leaders of our community
12:37
because they're the ones that are visible they're the ones that are taking all the heat they're the ones that are
12:43
bringing Joy they're raising money they're you know what I mean to me that's what like church that's what
12:48
church is all about yeah absolutely I mean I think that the bars definitely became my church for a
12:54
while um and you know I think that that is a queer tradition as you said you know I
12:59
think that um when queer people were very much uh reject queer trans you know were very
13:06
much rejected from not just their families but their churches and their communities they had to rebuild those
13:11
communities and the only place that was where they where they could be themselves which is at the bar behind
13:16
closed doors where they were amongst others like themselves and could again like as a as a community that was you
13:24
know oppressed and you know sort of shunned um being able to connect with folks who
13:29
are like you and build a community that way was incredibly powerful and meaningful and still is to this day I
13:34
mean so many people still come to the US and to San Francisco in particular you know freeing persecution you know hoping
13:40
to be able to find themselves and be themselves and and and many of the way the the way in which many of those folks
13:46
first connect with people is still at a bar um and so yeah bars are I think
13:53
incredibly important places specifically to the LGBT community and and definitely hold a lot of power and in spirituality
13:59
and I think that also leads to you know what we're talking about which is drag because I think that drag
14:06
um within those spaces does take on a spiritual power that is very tangible I
14:12
think for people and inspiring and you know people are uplifted by it and
14:19
um and and I think it it's it's it's it's it's like a good sermon it delivers a message
14:27
um it's inspiring it's um entertaining um and it brings people together
14:33
yeah and when did when did drag come into your life
14:38
uh I first did drag for a friend's film um you know uh it was for it was in
14:46
college I think it was my sophomore year and my friend Rue Sommer I was in the
14:52
film program at uh my undergrad at the University of Southern California and
14:57
you know he was like oh I think you're you know I want you to do this role for me um because I think you're the only guy
15:03
that I know that would look good as a girl and so um I did it and it was super fun and I
15:11
got to wear like you know my roommate at the Times clothes and it was super basic but you know looking back on that film
15:18
actually I don't know like it was very unclear on whether that person that character was a drag queen or
15:25
trans maybe they were more trans and so for me it was also just very like
15:32
uh what's the word I guess um a prescient moment
15:38
um it was you know kind of uh what what's that what's I'm looking for a certain word but basically I think
15:44
it was it was showing me a little piece of my future it was just a little yeah sneak peek
15:49
um and I yeah so that was my intro and then I did direct a couple more times in
15:55
college and that's actually how I ended up coming out to my family um which
16:00
which again was also part of the script of that first film so again like very um incoming out as
16:07
as as a Dr well as queer first um and you know my my family found out
16:13
because you know I had some sort of like Flixster account or something and I had pictures in there of me dressed in drag
16:19
amongst other pictures and one of my cousins ended up forwarding it to members of my family and so that's how I
16:25
was I wouldn't come out I was outed but um it yeah I just I think it kind of
16:32
happens in a way that was just sort of poetic I mean it was definitely traumatic at the time and and and uh you
16:38
know but also like I think kind of powerful and um you know I I survived it and I think
16:47
I learned a lot from it and I think you know that's as much of much in life like sometimes I think we learn our our best
16:54
lessons from some of our darkest and hardest moments so that definitely was the case there right how do you feel
17:00
that um drag had um impacted your I guess journey of
17:05
understanding your gender well um again like you know
17:12
things sort of like looking at you know foretelling the future
17:18
um when I first started doing drag I think people were just like first of all this was way before RuPaul's Drag Race
17:23
so there was no like there was no like drag aesthetic that was sort of established that people like looked to
17:30
to be like this is the definition of drag and specifically in San Francisco people were doing all sorts of different
17:35
types of drag and very little pre what we call pretty drag um and so uh you know I grew up in Soma
17:43
seeing things like you know um you know going to the stud and going to
17:49
you know what a bar called truck which no is no longer there now and just seeing very like what I would call I
17:56
guess like sort of typical Soma gutter drag that was very Ram shackles and
18:02
um all about sort of like you know creating a scene and being messy and being funny and fun and
18:10
um and I I came in and I think I was just you know very pretty and sort of
18:16
like uh a very looking looking less like a drag
18:22
queen and more like a trans person perhaps and I remember being you know
18:28
backstage at one thing and I was telling someone you know that I was they were asking about you know where I was living
18:35
and I was like well you know I'm in transition and I'm you know kind of going between you know moving I was at
18:40
grad school in Berkeley at the time we're leaving grad school and I was coming back to San Francisco moving back to San Francisco but they I later on
18:47
found out that they they thought that I had said that I meant that I was transitioning and that I was you know on
18:53
hormones and then so the next time I came to the show I just remember people being like Oh like congratulations and I was like for what
19:00
um right um and then there were you know other people like I don't know folks know Jupiter knows who's just like I think
19:07
such a goddess and such a you know wonderful spirit who always used to come
19:13
out to me and tell me like you know girl are you pickling um and I was just like what what does
19:20
that even mean and she's like you know picklin are you on the juice and I was like I I know you know I don't do drugs
19:26
and she was like no no no I mean the hormones and and I and I was like oh no
19:35
um but you know there were all these moments in my life her and you know gosh a couple other just like Elders in the
19:41
community who are just always like oh you know have you ever thought about it you know I think that might work for you
19:47
and I and I and I hadn't but then you know I just I reached a point in my life where I was like oh like I guess this is
19:54
true for me um and I do think it's because I don't know it might it might have
20:00
happened without drag but I definitely think drag made it easier in a variety of ways
20:05
um I got to play around with it more you know in a in a way that was sort of like
20:11
out in the open and I got to learn a lot from other queens and trans women and be
20:16
around other queens and trans women and people who were in between and um gosh just so many little moments of
20:23
like figuring out when other drag queens were realizing
20:29
that they were trans um like I gosh there was one moment I remember when
20:35
um I was backstage at the stud and I won't say who this was but it was a person who was sort of uh someone in The
20:42
Nightlife scene who was you know a drag queen and you know eventually
20:49
um ended up coming out as trans many many years later maybe like a decade later um but when I saw her that night
20:56
um it was it was the first time I hadn't met her and um I saw her in the corner
21:01
and I remember seeing like you know she's she started talking to me and I was like Oh I thought you were
21:08
um a girl at first and you know one of those awkward things that people say before we knew how to talk about gender
21:14
or anything like that um and and she was like well I am
21:20
um and but you know again like she was not actually out as trans at that time I
21:26
think it was just like you know it was like a subconscious moment and I think that oftentimes in those environments
21:33
you know where maybe our guard is down in a certain way where we have community members where we feel safe you know we
21:40
can have moments where we have those realizations and where we we're like oh well this makes sense
21:49
yeah I really relate to a lot of that when I first started doing drag too I felt like I was obviously experiencing
21:55
drag I think a little differently than most of the girls around me you know like I don't know I just felt like I
22:01
just felt so connected to it and I also had people that were like uh you know if you wanted to soften up a little bit you
22:08
know when I was a bearded lady um but we do have a question from Perry
22:13
Perry asks where in your spiritual practice have you found space for healing
22:21
where have I found space for healing gosh I you know I could probably use
22:28
some space for healing I'm not very good at making space I mean I I know that's that you know it's not
22:34
funny but I I wanna I just I don't know that I ever I don't oftentimes take time to stop and I don't know that I find
22:41
when I do I don't know that I find that in spirituality I mean again like some of it like when I go to mass when I have
22:48
gone to mass for various things or been in spiritual spaces like it is a little bit like riding a bike and you go you
22:54
can kind of like hop back into it um but it's not something that I seek out I will say that I guess I have like
23:00
in many points in my life like I've had conversations with the universe
23:05
um which I you know feel like Are Spiritual moments for me when I'm looking for direction and I the universe
23:11
talks back all the time um I remember the you know right around my Saturn's return just
23:18
sort of like being done with or just you know I I was done with grad school and I
23:24
was working full-time but I was also doing drag a lot I was doing drag like five times a week or something like that
23:30
and it was exhausting but I loved it um and I needed to figure out what to what direction my life was going to take
23:35
me and I remember just having a being open to the universe and being like okay well should I be for
23:41
performing should I be doing social work you know give me some sort of Direction here like I need to figure out like
23:48
where I need to be investing more time and I kid you not within like
23:53
I think within like two to three weeks I was reached out to by producers from
23:59
RuPaul's Drag Race this for America's Got Talent and producers from the uh X Factor and and made it onto two
24:08
of those shows so like it it kind of like yeah so I've had moments like that where I
24:14
um where I think that you know have that have helped sort of guide me I don't know that it was necessarily healing but
24:20
it definitely like directed me in a certain it took me to a
24:25
certain place I mean even when I was like double eliminated on RuPaul's Drag Race I remember being on that stage and kind of praying and being like Universe
24:31
god goddess whoever like you know if this is what I'm supposed to do then let me continue but if there's other better
24:37
things for me like I am kind of sort of like open my like leave it up to you like I
24:43
you know you you know best so show me the way and then I was double eliminated so um
24:48
it was a very clear answer um and um you know it's not always
24:54
something that I think you're you're wanting necessarily but I think
24:59
if you're open to it you know like I think it can can definitely take you places and that it has for me you know
25:06
and I I look at where my life is now and I I think that I'm I'm much happier doing what I am now even as exhausted as
25:13
I am even as crazy as things have gotten for me um then I would have been if I you know had really continued to pursue the
25:19
RuPaul's Drag Race um track would you would you say that
25:25
your work is helps you with your healing process yeah I mean I think my work is
25:32
incredibly rewarding I mean it's so hard and difficult but I think most things that are rewarding are you know
25:39
um like being a parent like being a parent is not easy but I think most people would say that it's rewarding
25:44
um I I yeah and so I I find a lot of joy in my work in my ability to connect with
25:51
you know not just my community but many communities that are you know in fact a
25:56
part of my community in one way or another um I uh
26:02
I find that I do find that healing and then in figuring out that most people most of us have more in common than you
26:09
know not and that you know many of us have the same goals even if we think we
26:14
we may have different you know routes to get there and um that part has been healing although
26:20
there's been a lot of toxicity in there too so it is a little bit you know you got to take the good with the bad sometimes and maybe out with the bath
26:27
water um so yeah I think
26:33
I think what I have found most healing most recently is really sort of like
26:38
taking time to reconnect with nature I feel like that's a very Millennial thing to say but
26:44
um and not even Millennial but like you know a very human thing to say um in that like I really enjoy my little
26:49
patio garden and I you know dream about being able to escape to the countryside and have a cabin in the woods with you
26:57
know a little Cottage Garden or something that I can tend to it's like my ideal retirement scenario and somehow
27:02
also like be close enough where I could come to the city and still be with my my friends and family yeah I mean it's
27:10
we're gonna I'm gonna play like a little 30 second clip take a little break and then we'll be right back
27:17
foreign [Music]
27:30
[Music]
27:52
and we're back folks if you have questions um please do put them in the comments
27:58
now now it's a really great time to to ask questions um I I have to admit I didn't like I
28:06
didn't realize how much you've like done and accomplished I didn't I didn't realize you were a singer for some
28:11
reason I enjoyed listening to a lot of your music and you know there are a lot of different facets of yourself
28:18
um is it what are you like what are the things do you think that you're most proud of or
28:25
um I guess that would be well I mean it's
28:31
I would say I'm most proud of the trans district for sure I mean I think that's the you know I would I talk about this
28:37
with Ari all the time I'm like well that was pretty cool like are we ever gonna do anything this cool ever again right
28:46
um you know it's not every day you help found a district um but it you know and I I see that you
28:52
know it was many of us who did it and like it was you know definitely a
28:57
Community Driven initiative and but it was it's so powerful and I think you
29:03
know under arya's leadership specifically has grown so much and um you know I think is growing into our
29:11
wildest dreams or what we had dreamed it would be so that is definitely the proudest thing that I've done you know
29:16
um and hopefully it will be a lasting um have a lasting impact on not just our
29:22
community but you know the city of San Francisco and do you do you still do a lot of drag now
29:30
uh do I still do a lot of drag now occasionally it's very rare
29:38
um these days although I've done it a couple times already this month because Pride but um
29:44
it yeah I not as much I mean you know at the height of it I was doing drag
29:49
probably three four or five days a week um and then now I just I don't have the
29:55
time I I I I think I I may actually end up hosting RuPaul's Drag Race swimming
30:01
parties um starting this Thursday we're gonna give it a trial right at the lookout and then see how that goes and if I can can manage it I may end up
30:08
making it a fundraiser for the San Francisco Democratic party because that is um something that I need to be doing
30:13
all the time and so um yeah I'm finding ways to incorporate
30:19
it into the stuff that I do when I can fantastic um and you recently were
30:27
um voted vote like you were recently you recently why am I messing up with my words it
30:34
happens sometimes when you're talking for a while you know it's just like I know right but you you recently were
30:40
elected to a position with the Democratic party correct yes so I am so in my bio my bio needs to
30:48
be updated because well I think when I sent it over I was still third vice chair but I am now chair chair of the San Francisco Democratic party
30:55
um which uh was an internal vote but um you know we were all elected to our
31:01
seats by the public in March um the Democratic party
31:06
um yeah it's made up of Representatives that the public votes on and then it also includes you know what we call ex-officios or people who are elected to
31:13
sort of Statewide or or um or or off or federal office
31:19
um so people like you know Scott weiner David Chu Phil Ting Nancy Pelosi
31:25
um Dianne Feinstein the lieutenant governor kunalakis um Jackie Speer many other folk I think
31:30
those are all mexicos um so them and then all the folks that were elected by the people of San Francisco
31:37
um specifically to the seat and then they all vote on who their chair is and so I was elected as chair
31:43
congratulations thank you and it was another first yes yes first black person
31:49
for uh to be chair of the San Francisco Democratic party and first uh trans
31:55
person in the country to be appointed or to to be chair of a Democratic party
32:00
yeah yes you you uh participate in a lot of Firsts it's really fantastic you know
32:08
I you know it's funny because I know a lot of trans people don't talk about their their birth names but um my
32:14
parents named me Alpha so I just feel like that there's a there's a lot of I don't know just Juju or whatever you
32:20
want to call it but um um no I'm very proud to be able to [Music]
32:25
um to fill that role I think it's uh you know I definitely am building on the
32:31
work that has been done by generations of people before me and we are at a moment in history I think in a moment in
32:37
in this country's history where you know we are ready I think to have trans
32:42
people take the lead and take leadership and you know have a greater understanding of gender and gender identity and intersectionality and all
32:49
of those things and race and um and so you know I'm proud of the work that we have all done
32:55
um so that I can continue to do this yeah uh Perry has a question uh what
33:00
advice would you give to Young activists what advice would I give to Young
33:08
activists um
33:13
I you know I mean there's so much I mean I think it it kind of I'm like trying to figure out what exactly I would say I
33:20
mean I think you know just keep going is the most important thing because I think that you know
33:25
um but also take time for yourself this is the advice that I should give to myself because I never take it but like um I think I admire those folks who and
33:33
and try to prom make promises to myself to take more time for myself and take
33:39
time to recharge and um so that you can continue doing the work because the work can be exhausting
33:45
sometimes and you know is oftentimes thankless um and so uh that's what I would say um
33:52
is you know try and take time for yourself but also you know I think just keep going because it's not always
33:59
easy I forget who's you know there's that saying that like um progress is made uh progress isn't isn't
34:07
like a smooth or you know straight road it's it's sort of like um
34:13
flipping over like a brick you know okay you kind of make you kind of advance in like these sort of like
34:19
weird shapes weird sort of like slow you know like all of a sudden you sort of
34:25
hop forward and then you you don't move for a while and you hop forward um it and so yeah it's just a lot of
34:31
Labor um and and I just you know I think people just need to remember that you know change will eventually happen I
34:38
think that putting that positive energy out there um uh consistently believing in your
34:44
movement you know and and bringing people into the movement I think uh you know takes time and energy and but it in
34:51
the end it's it's worth it yeah I think that's one thing that the the universe does for us too is it gives us
34:57
opportunities to tell people what we need to hear I know I often find myself
35:02
telling people and I'm like oh girl you you probably could you could probably do that yourself you know right right
35:10
and so what's what's next for you well who know I mean you know I I
35:17
currently work in The District Six office of advisor Matt Haney I would you know love the opportunity to be able to
35:23
run for the district six seat I mean I you know I feel like we've been able to do such great work um while here especially in the
35:29
tenderloin but also in in Soma and Treasure Island and you know other parts of District Six and I
35:36
um I would love to be able to see that work continue um so that is something that I have thought about a lot and I you know I am
35:43
at this point talking publicly about my intention to run when when Matt is done with uh here serving a supervisor
35:50
um but I'm not sure exactly when that will be you know he could potentially be there for another five years so might be a while and things might change and and
35:57
politics wasn't something you initially like set out to do is that correct
36:03
no I did not want to be in politics um well it's I shouldn't say that I I
36:09
never thought about being in politics um it wasn't something that I grew up thinking that I wanted to be you know
36:15
mayor or president or anything like that um but I find it to Be an Effective means
36:22
to an end I mean I got involved you know I'm a trains trained as a social worker um and a lot of the work that I've done
36:30
has been really about trying to be that person of others you
36:35
know going back to sort of that like childhood you know um teachings and and values that I've
36:41
carried forward um in helping my community um and I found that a really effective
36:49
way to do that is to build relationships with local government and you know be politically active and involved and help
36:55
shape policy and well it it it started with you know building relationships
37:00
with your local government officials and then you know helping educate people on
37:06
on what to vote for so that we can create positive change and then it was like okay well then how do we write you
37:12
know even better initiatives and you know and then how do we get people elected and how do we and then it became
37:18
you know then before you know it you're like involved in politics and then before you know it you're you know
37:23
running yourself because you know I I do believe in being the change you want to see in the world and so I I
37:30
think it's a I think also you know for me it's it's there's been a tremendous
37:36
amount of gosh I guess for me I I feel like I have
37:43
a duty because I feel like there's you know been given certain advantages and you know privileges or you know worked
37:49
hard to get you know all of these things I think all of us have privilege right in different ways
37:54
um you know certain people have more certain people have different kinds but we all have skills that we bring to the table that you know we can use to level
38:00
and and I think have a duty to leverage and so for myself you know I've been given this platform and you know I you
38:08
know been given this Edge was able to get an education and do all these different things and so if I can bring all of these experiences and all this
38:14
education and all of these things together um to create change then you know I I
38:20
want to do that and so that's why I continue to sort of pursue this and run for office and and do these things and
38:27
I'll continue to do them as as long as I feel like I can be useful you know I may come to a point where I'm just like I
38:32
don't know I do I feel like you know I don't know how much more useful I can be to movement or to you know I'm tired and
38:39
need to take a break um but right now I you know I'm going to take advantage of um it's all the
38:45
opportunities I have right now to to do that yeah I think often times Community folks you know politics kind of choose
38:52
choose you you know what I mean it just kind of like you said it kind of becomes part of a responsibility once you get a
38:59
certain amount of visibility or you get seen in a certain way just kind of naturally comes especially like if
39:05
you're in a marginalized group of people or whatever you know I think it's you know it just kind of calls us to to do
39:11
it yeah yeah no absolutely and would you call that spiritual
39:20
I mean I guess you could uh you know it all to me is just I think that there is
39:27
a spiritual thread to it for sure I mean you know when you talk about being called
39:32
um and it seems like it's a value to you like it's do you know what I mean yeah
39:37
is it a value that you hold to give back or to yes I mean for me for
39:45
me yeah for me it's about giving back and being able to and and also like yeah all the things I
39:51
talked about you know using again like what privileges I've been afforded and what what you know achievements I have
39:56
to sort of Leverage those to create change and to um yeah uh again be a person for others and
40:05
um all of those things I think have led me to this place and so some of that is based on spirituality
40:11
um for sure foreign [Music]
40:17
episode that was do take some time and rate and review this episode or the
40:24
podcast in general also please do reach out and let me know what you're thinking about the podcast what would you like to
40:30
hear um guests you'd like to see on there are you interested in being involved in some way
40:36
um please do reach out you know right now this is a one person show and I kind of do this on my own but I am looking to
40:42
really try to increase production and would love to bring on folks who are looking to to be editors or co-hosts or
40:51
guests or in other way involved sponsors in helping to make this podcast just so
41:00
much more uh sparkly and hopefully accessible to more and more people
41:06
please do like seriously like reach out if you're interested you're feeling
41:12
drawn to it this work can feel really isolating alone sometimes and just have having one
41:18
other person with me in some form or fashion really means a lot so thank you so much for listening to the
41:25
podcast and supporting the work of a queer chaplain take care and I love you
41:30
all so dearly bye-bye [Music]