YouSaid · the spoken record

Imani Rupert Gordon

lines on the record: 42
first: 2023-08-21
most recent: 2023-08-21
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, so legislation is a, I mean, absolutely a wonderful tool. Right now, you know, we'd be hard-pressed to have something like that happen, but absolutely if we could, that'd be that would be incredible. We'd love to see that. You know, I talked earlier about narrative shift in culture change work. That does have an impact too. What we have to realize is that, you know, even in the Supreme Court that folks have folks live in the world and are influenced and impacted. And so if there's a culture shift here, I think that that could have some real changes as well. And our own sort of public education, you know, finding, getting our own talking points out there, a lot of the things that we hear, a lot are from our opponents. And I think a reason that a lot of the things that they put forward work is because they have talking points, because they are all over. And I think for a lot of people.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But I think, and they feel fine about that, and I think that's like folks feel emboldened to just go and throw something and be like, well, let's see what's next, you know, like because I don't think that what came out of this is like, you know what, let's turn things around. Let's be really honest. Let's see how we really can support LGBTQ people. That is not what we're going to see come out of this, but that'd be pretty awesome if we did, you know?”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know I'm worried about how LGBTQ people will be weaponized. And when I say that too, you know, we were just talking about the DeSantis video. You know, you can't just say that you've been supporting LGBTQ people if you haven't supported LGBTQ people. We've just gotten to a place where just this disinformation and dishonesty has become just so commonplace. But we have to hold folks to this. It doesn't make something true because someone says that it's true and we have to make sure that we're holding people to that because we're seeing this in a way. We're seeing dishonesty come up in ways that I never would have imagined. I never would have a particular case.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I always say that the ways that we can make a great deal of change is in local elections. You know, think about the difference that we've talked a lot about the don't say gay or trans bills, like what school boards can do, like the effect that folks can have in their individual, in their individual communities. That's something that's going to be amazing. But I also”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, absolutely. But you know, honestly, there are some days where you're just like, you know, I want to leave the party, but often, you know, when I think about what my work is, when I do the very best work that I can do, it's not actually like walking away. It's actually doing what I can to change hearts and minds, you know, on a day like that, sometimes it's the hardest work, but it remains some of the most important work that I have done in this like in this role, but also in my life, because I know that that stays with folks. And we have to remember, you know, we are We're changing the world. We want to make the world better and we want to make it safer and we want to do that. We want to make the world better and safer even for our opponents. We're trying to create something that we have never seen before, but it's beautiful out there, y'all. Like it's going to be amazing. And I think that's what we're.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean Think there's pushback out there, you know. I think people understand our group understands the reason we do the work, but there is pushback out there from time to time. But I think there's also not always the best understanding of how of why of what it looks like when you are part of an underrepresented identity. And in that identity, you have privilege and you also have oppression within that same identity. We haven't always had the best analysis of that. And so I think some people are grappling through that. And it's painful. And I think that as people are grappling through that, I think that's where some of this is really coming up and coming up as hatred, you know.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“As a group, we are, you know, as a movement, we really are trying to follow up with specifically trans bills because they are experiencing the highest levels of marginalization. And that's what we say all the time when people say we have to be inclusive. We have to be intersectional. It does mean that we have to meet folks that are experiencing the highest levels of marginalization. Now, I know that that gets complicated for people. You get pushback.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely. You know, I mean, we're worried because there are issues that are complicated and complex, and it's okay to have conversation about them. That's okay. And we want, we don't want to lose sight. We want to make sure we're asking the right questions. And I'm not sure that we're always doing that. You know, are we really trying to protect people? Is that what really is that what's really happening? I just haven't been convinced that that's exactly what's happening, you know, but absolutely everything should be able to be on the table. We should be able to ask questions about fairness. That we should be asking questions about access. Absolutely we can. But this does seem disingenuous. It doesn't seem like it's about fairness at all. It actually seems like cruelty more than anything.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Ways to look at taking care of women's sports. You know, there are long decades long of document history about trigger warning about sexual assault in women's athletics, about just not having equal pay, about not having equal facilities. There's so many ways that can take care of women in sports. And this has been an actual. You know, you were talking about there being no one here and, you know, Just looking at what was in our annual report in Utah, Governor Cox was saying that there are 75,000 students and of the 75,000 students, four of them are trans and one person wanted to play on a girls team. You know, this isn't about, this isn't about protecting anyone. This is about hurting trans people and hurting trans people hurt to all of us.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I agree. And that is what I'm most concerned about because I think it's because it's polarizing. I think it's because it divides our community. And if it divides our community, then we are fighting with each other and not with our actual enemies. And I'm actually, and I'm scared, I'm worried because, you know, all of these things, these don't say gay or trans bills that we're seeing, you know, keeping trans kids out of sports, the conversation that trans people shouldn't be able to play sports. Those things are, I don't think that it's, I don't think that this is about, I don't think it's about protecting women's sports. I don't think that it's about that. In fact, I think that it hurts women's sports by, you know, keeping trans people out. But I think that this is, I don't think that it's about that at all. I think it's about trying to take trans people out of public life in every way that we can. Because otherwise, there are so many...”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because we're fighting for something and we're taking for granted that there's something that is consistent. There's something that this court isn't political. And I don't think that that's true anymore”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Obama had a constitutional responsibility to put someone on the court, and when that was taken away, that was taken away from him. It really, there's nothing special about the Supreme Court now. And I do think that something actively needs to go to correct that. And it's not just because things aren't going the way that I want to. It's because this is legitimately not how the court is supposed to work. This isn't okay. And, you know, what we've been talking about is just people saying, no, no, no, it doesn't matter. We'll just, the next president will choose this and it's fine. And if this happens again, you just hold me to this. And when it happens again, nothing. You know, there's just so much dishonesty. We really need to think about this differently. That's what I'm concerned about.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, honestly, what I'm concerned about is I'm concerned about the Supreme Court. And because it's any of the cases that we've talked about, but I am concerned about this Supreme Court because, you know, last year in the Dobbs decision, that was the first time that we lost a fundamental right and nothing had changed there. You know, it had been 49 years of legal precedent. And the only thing that had changed was the makeup of the Supreme Court. And they alluded to wanting to see something else. You know, this 303 creative case, you know, it started that they didn't have standing and they were going to take the case anyway, you know, in the ways that we just said. And they took that case anyway. There are a lot of ways that I'm just really concerned about it. The court's illegitimate. It's making, you know, very, you know.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, you know, I am afraid. You know, I grew up very differently than my parents. And there's ways that they looked at the world. And as a young person, I was just like, I just don't see it the same way. But, you know, I'm not someone that had to think about if there's a space I can walk into, but I was raised by people that had to think about that, had to think about that every single day. And so even though it's not something I felt, it's something that I am aware of. And so I am terrified of that. And I think a lot of people are. And I'm hoping that we can and won't go back there, you know, I think the Supreme Court has, I don't know, there's not a lot precious about it anymore.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was. And both the KKs and this one, it was the same organ. It was Alliance Defending Freedom that represented both people in that presumably to advance the.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It doesn't, but he's also, but yeah, and he's also a wedding or a website designer himself. I'm just saying just how ridiculous this is, you know, but it doesn't even matter that that was untrue because they were going to take it anyway.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, that's another thing there, too. You know, I mean, really, this is wild. You know, later she did say, like, actually a gay man did contact me, so we do have someone, except they didn't. And what we found out is that the person that contacted her is straight and been married for 10 years, which is just weird. I don't think it matters.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. So, when we're talking about restaurants, we're talking about motels, when we're talking about movie theaters, you know, things we don't people shouldn't have to worry if they go somewhere, if they're going to be served. And so that is something that we want to start paying attention to. Now, in this particular thing, if she's explaining this the way that she's doing it, this isn't actually a public accommodation that she just takes a certain number because there are some creative spaces where they're just not a public accommodation. You're only going to have a certain number. You're not going to see everyone. You are going to work one-on-one with very particular weddings.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But we really need to hold them to this being a very narrow, narrow decision that this would only be in very rare circumstances. Because really what this reminds us of is, you know, a public accommodation is, you know, a legal term for basically a business that serves people. And that term really comes from civil rights.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Need to hold them to that. And they said that this is not about everything that's like this. This is very specific for this particular case. On free speech. I mean, to Yeah. So it said because this is creative, and what she says is, I meet with each client and we work together and build this so I can't put something out because I wouldn't because I don't believe in it. And that is, you know, and so part of free speech, it's also a right to silence there. Now the part that's a little complicated is that that actually wasn't the question. The question was about non-discrimination because it violated Colorado's non-discrimination class. So that's not actually a thing, but that's just, again, the Supreme Court does wild in kind of doing whatever they want there.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sure. So, in the 303 creative case, there was a woman that is a graphic designer and she wanted to start building wedding websites. But she knew that she wanted to start doing this, but she only wanted to serve straight couples, didn't want to serve LGBTQ couples. And so this case went to the Supreme Court in sort of an odd way because typically when cases start, you have to prove that you've had some sort of harm and that didn't come until later. And that was just wild how that happened. But the Supreme Court held that she wouldn't have to serve LGBTQ people. Now, what's important here? So one, this is something that is chipping away at LGBTQ equality, and we actively should be paying attention to this, but we shouldn't be ceding any more ground than what actually happened because they gave them a very narrow rule and they did that intentionally. And so we.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we're not seeing marriage bills right now, but we do, you know, obviously we need to pay attention to this. You know, last year in the Dobbs decision, Clarence Thomas, in his concurrence, said that we really need to reconsider bills that would include O'Borgerfell and Lawrence and Griswold, which are all around the cases that build to make marriage quality possible. So this is something that we actively want to see. And, you know, with the recent 303 creative case, we know that this Supreme Court really is really chipping away at LGBTQ equality. And I think that while that's not something we have to think about right now in this moment, it is something that let's take a bath.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, if we think about these anti-LGBTQ bills, this is really just a lot of bills made by a small number of groups. It's not that the majority of people in this country think that way. And that's the part that we need to remember.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That we lose, it's when they don't often be at the appellate level when there's not someone right in front of you. And so it does matter that we're able to tell our stories there. That's something that's really, really powerful. And there's no denying that public opinion is something that's important. And that's why our opponents want to control that, even if it's not true, you know, and we have to think about in the history of our civil rights movement, we've never really owned that narrative. Part of working to achieve and advance civil rights means that we're on the defensive. And if we're on the defensive, the other side of that, we don't get to control the narrative, but we do get to control how people come to understand us. And that is something that really helps in our storytelling. So I'd like to see us do more with this narrative shift, you know, because the vast majority of people in this country do support LGBTQ people. And when we...”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, and that is why our opponents do it, you know, because there are two different things. One is that our stories are very, very important. I think so often when people say, well, what can we do? And we say, well, tell your stories. And I don't think we really go into why that is so important. But when you hear about how someone experiences something and really get to experience their humanity, it's hard not to see. You know, it's hard. And we see that even in our legal landscape as well, because when you're in front of judges and we see this a lot of time at the trial court, so that's the first court that when you have a plaintiff there who is explaining their experience to and in front of a judge that the judge that may have been previously an anti-LGBTQ judge when hearing this, it's hard for them to rule against these plaintiffs. And that's how we're getting a lot of support. When we actually see that.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, this is a disinformation campaign and putting it in all of our schools at the very earliest levels. And that's what we're seeing. And really, it has been the playbook of many of our opponents is just saying things that aren't true and pretending like they are. And that's something we're seeing. If you're saying that, you know, we're talking about third graders having sex education. Third graders are not having sex education. These second graders are not having sex education. That does not make it true. That's not what's happening there. And this is an attack on our education system. When we're saying that you can't tell the history of slavery because it makes some people feel bad. You know, like who are you making feel bad when this happens? And then following this, you know, like with saying that we don't really want to talk about slavery, but in the ways that we do want to talk about slavery, we want to say that slaves benefited, that black people benefited from slavery.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Don't tell the true and accurate history of slavery and the impact of racism in this country, then it makes it easier for this type of discrimination to happen. And that matters because, you know, there's also an attack on critical race theory. And we don't ever really break down what critical race theory is, but it really talks about structural and institutional discrimination, which actually are the exact same tools that we would need to see pretty clearly that they're doing exactly that and doing it for sexual orientation, gender identity, racism, and other things.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely said they did, and this is what they and this is what they've done. And this is something that we really want to pay attention to because it matters when we grow up. Think about it. When we were in school, we think that when something is presented to us, that this is not only true, but that it's the full history. And so if we don't think that we are taught, we can talk about an LGBTQ identity. And even if LGBTQ people or non-LGBTQ people stop hearing about LGBTQ folks, then it makes it easier to discriminate against LGBTQ folks. If you don't see any of the positive representations, you know, and we're at a time where this is happening, there's this attack on education right during the time that we're also seeing trans people be marginalized, you know. And this is part of the same playbook because we've also seen this done with racism.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Prominent LGBTQ people. They started taking down their own pictures of people in their lives. You know, they stopped sponsoring gender and sexuality alliances. And, you know, in Florida, they extended this to, you know, through 12th grade. And that's something that you have to pay attention to because they...”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely. And that's a thing that's hard too. One of the things that is helpful about litigation is that you have to tell the truth. You have to prove something. And a lot of times when we're talking about things, you kind of just say something's true. But that's just because you say like, oh, we're not, you shouldn't be teaching third grade or sex ed. Well, no one's teaching third grade or sex ed. That's not part of the curriculum and it never was. But what is part of the curriculum is that a third grader might go and draw a picture of their family. They might talk or tell a story about what they did that weekend and who their parents are and who the people are that love them. And those things are very much part of the curriculum. And because these laws are so intentionally vague, we're not really sure if you can talk about your LGBTQ identity or your parents. And we know for teachers, we know that immediately when these bills started, just when they were introduced that people started taking down posters of”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it passes. And then so equality Florida said, you know, we need a legal group to help us sue. And we trust you all. We like you all. We want you to come out here. And so we go and sue. And in a situation like this, these don't say are gay or trans bills. And this is why these bills are so insidious is because it's really not really clear. These are intentionally vague laws. And so even though we're challenging them, it's hard to prove that, you know, that these are unconstitutional, even though it's really clear that they are discriminating against LGBTQ people. And so we just keep doing this until we're able to make inroads there.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And all these various places. Absolutely. So, like I said before, you know, we really want to work in places that we have relationships. And so NCLR is one of the organizations that is working on the don't say gay or trans bill, the one in Florida. And we are working on us.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so how we're winning the medical challenges right now is because a lot of times these bands, I mean, they're unconstitutional. They're just so incredibly broad, like having a complete ban on healthcare, having a complete ban on sports and figuring out what this process is. You know, something to understand is that our wins are built on other wins. And so a lot of times when we come up with legal strategies, these really are looking at previous cases. And one case really does build on another, and it starts to make sense that way. But this can take a lot of time. It takes a lot of effort. So having someone do that and then being able to share that with someone else is incredibly helpful.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The task force. We work with a lot of different organizations. But you'd be proud of the ways that we're doing our work because our budgets are so much smaller than our opponents. There's so much research that shows it's just a drop in the bucket, but we make sure that we are all handling different cases and that we're in different parts of the country. The other thing is that we want to make sure that we have relationships in those states. And that's something that's really important. You don't just want to, especially as a national group, you don't just want to pop into a state and say, these are the things that matter, but you want to work with the people at the state groups that know the communities, know what works with them. And then we also are working in coalition with other national partners so that we're able to really share expert witnesses so that when we're able to develop a strategy that is getting wins, that we're able to effectively communicate.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely. So we want to make sure you know the work that we do is impact litigation. So we want to make sure that we are making the biggest amount of change that we can. And so for us, we want to make sure that we are prioritizing the healthcare bans. And the reason is because those are the bands that save lives. We know that kids die without the health care they need. So we really do prioritize those. We're a small national organization, but we really do have an enormous footprint. We work very closely with other national legal organizations and that matters because when we're talking about all of these LGBTQ bills, these are being challenged primarily by LGBTQ organizations. And there's just a handful of us. So, you know, like we're working with, you know, places like Lambda Legal, ACLU, HRC, and then also non-legal organizations, family equality.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But we're still seeing the bathroom bills. We're seeing bills that are requiring or encouraging teachers to out their students, to parents. Sometimes these parents wouldn't be, that wouldn't be supportive of their identity. I mean, there's a bunch of these bills that don't say gay or trans bills. Those are still popping up. You know, we talk about the ones that happen in Florida, but there are nine other, don't take A or Trans bills across the country.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yep. We heard there was a report. These governors are signing bills into laws when they can't name a time it's happened in their state. And so it's just, I mean, you can just see how cruel this is. We're also still seeing bathroom bills. We're not talking about those as much, but we're seeing those. I think that a lot of people thought that that was something that was, you know, back in 2015.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so there's that. There are the sports bands that are keeping trans kids from playing sports, which is honestly just cruel. We're not even talking about a lot of kids in these situations.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They typically are. So these are the bills that are typically keeping trans kids and in some cases trans adults from getting the healthcare they need. Some people call that gender affirming care, but it's healthcare that trans people need that is every major medical association says that trans folks need. So it's not something that's made up. So the trans health care bills.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And it's something where it's something we're seeing out because we, you know, it is difficult. We're not able to respond to every bill that's out there. And also, you know, some of that there's a lot of disinformation too. You know, we're under the impression that these bills are coming from specific states, but we also know that a lot of these bills are just being recycled from a handful of anti-LGBTQ organizations. And we know this because, yeah, exactly. It's a playbook. And we know this because the bills look identical. They've done analysis of the same bills that are coming out. And so it's definitely a scary time right now. You know, the part that we don't always hear is that we've also been quite successful in being able to follow up with some of these bills. So when we challenge them, a lot of times we're actually able to be very successful, especially around the trans sports bills and the trans healthcare bills. We don't talk about that all the time, but telling our stories.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But in 2015, just to give a little bit of context, in 2015, we had just over 100 anti-LGBTQ bills. That number went and increased. And then last year around this time, we had over 350 bills. And at the time, that was a record. We had never seen that before. And now we're seeing 650. And so, and I've said this before, you know, it's not a particularly sophisticated strategy, but it can be an effective one because what they're trying to do is really just put as many bills out as possible so that we can't respond to all of them. So let's zone, which is a big...”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, that's a great question. So I didn't know what to expect because we were also right during an election year. You know, I started the start of 2020. So I didn't know what the election year would hold for us. And what we did end up seeing is, you know, in the beginning of 2021, that we saw a lot of executive orders really supporting LGBTQ people in some of the work that we were doing just, you know, we'd been working on it for years, like the transmilitary ban. And then all of a sudden an executive order, and now we have some time freed up. So, you know, in some ways it was a pleasant surprise. But, you know, in other ways, it was also really disconcerting. You know, you can't talk about what's happening in the LGBTQ community right now without talking about the anti-LGBTQ bills. And right now we're at 650 anti-LGBTQ bills.”
2023-08-21 · On with Kara Swisher · Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT