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Representative-elect Wick Thomas (D) – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024

12 Thursday Dec 2024

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“…If someone hands you their playbook, read the playbook, read the plays…”

“…But I think that there is a lot of reason to be hopeful. They have really, look, they’ve rallied us, you know. How many times have we seen this many people in a room together, uh, working towards a shared movement? When was the last time you saw that or felt that? We use this moment, and we keep going forward…”

Missouri Representative-elect Wick Thomas (D) – 19th Legislative District.

On Sunday night the LGBTQIA+ community in Kansas City, Missouri held a Townhall in a supportive establishment on Main Street. More than 150 people attended the over two-hour standing room only event.

Missouri State Representative-elect Thomas Wick (D):
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….We’re underrepresented in that building um, and we did change that. Um, I’m gonna do what I can, um, behind the scenes. I need everyone here to come visit [Jefferson City], though. I need everyone here to lobby. And I’m gonna, we’re gonna be doing a lot of trainings. We’re gonna, uh, be explaining how to get down there, but that’s the people’s house. That is not, that is not their house. That is the people’s house, that is everyone in this room’s house. So, please come visit. Uh, I’m gonna need some friends and some friendly faces I think….

[….]

…[bill] prefiling has started for the next session. Um, there are about six bills I think so far that specifically target our community. Um, they are actually not quite as egregious as I had expected the prefiled bills to be so far, But they are not, uh, they’re not good. Um, and there’s very high opportunity for there to be more [inaudible]. We’re still in prefiling so none of these will be moving forward yet.

Uh, we have to be really smart about how we move forward….

[….]

….Our community is gonna be targeted. I have here with me, uh [voices: “Boo!”], everyone’s favorite book Project 2025, but, and I know, I know, right. But I am a librarian, I’m not leaving this here but if you want to look through it, I have been trying to get through to any of the parts that address gender, or sex, um, or marriage, or anything that affects our community.

Um, there’s a lot in there. If someone hands you their playbook, read the playbook, read their plays. So, we’re gonna have to be really smart, we’re gonna have to be really organized, we’re gonna have to be really educated, and we’re gonna have to come together as a community. That’s the biggest piece. Look how many people are in this room right now. This is just the people who could be here tonight. There’s so many people that care about this community, that care about us, that are our allies that we would never know. And we have to start building those coalitions, um, some unexpected coalitions. I have some people who supported my candidacy that I never, never would have thought would have supported me and our community in the way that they have.

We’re gonna have to be really bold, reaching out to people that we wouldn’t have expected to be our allies because it is going to be bad. I’m not going to sugar coat it. There is a lot working against us. Um, we are obviously being targeted, as a state vote for poor governance, we are not going to allow that anymore, though. And, hopefully I can open up those halls and, uh, and help everyone get down there, start lobbying. ‘Cause again, they need to hear. They need to hear from each of this in this room.

Uh, that’s, that’s how we’re gonna make this change.

And, please vote. Please, uh, do, but also, like be active in your communities. Do direct action. Do whatever you think is your place in this movement, but do it all. You know, like I believe in a multitude of tactics. We’re gonna have to, have to use all of them in the coming years.

But I think that there is a lot of reason to be hopeful. They have really, look, they’ve rallied us, you know. How many times have we seen this many people in a room together, uh, working towards a shared movement? When was the last time you saw that or felt that? We use this moment, and we keep going forward….

Previously:

LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 9, 2024)

Justice Horn – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 10, 2024)

Liz Davis – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 10, 2024)

Arden Pearson – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 12, 2024)

Arden Pearson – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024

12 Thursday Dec 2024

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“People are more important than beliefs”

On Sunday night in Kansas City the LGBTQIA+ community in Kansas City, Missouri held a Townhall in a supportive establishment on Main Street. More than 150 people attended the over two-hour standing room only event.

Arden Pearson.

Arden Pearson, Missouri Kansas Queer Law:
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….Our family law branch is getting a lot more busy now that we, after the election, so we do divorces, we do a lot of second parent adoptions right now, and really, anything under the family law umbrella we’re willing to talk about…

[….]

…We’ve seen a really big influx of cases after the election, which really makes a lot of sense, it’s a scary time, you want to get your items in order. Uh, so, because of that we have had to refer some more people on than we would like to do. So, we are trying to get a good network of attorneys that we trust with our queer clients and that we can refer people on to. So, even if you don’t know if we can handle the kind of law or like the legal question that you have, feel free to reach out and we’ll see if can put you in touch with someone that we think can help you. That’s kind of our goal…

[….]

…So, we will do gender marker changes in Missouri and name changes in both Kansas and Missouri. If you are worried about getting a gender marker change in Missouri because of how strict their laws are and you only have hormone therapy, please reach out to us, we can talk to you about getting that done and taken care of.

So, I’ve had, like I said, I’ve had a lot of people come and want to speak to me and my law partner because of the election results and what is going to happen, what the future is going to hold. We have no idea. But we have some thoughts. And I’m going to share probably the two most asked questions that I have received so far.

So, the first one is about marriage. Do we think that you marriage is going to go away? And in the off chance that it does, what can I do to protect the legal rights that I already have?

We don’t think that they are going to be going after gay marriage because I think they’re going after trans rights. And gay marriage is lower on the, on their bucket list at this stage. They’re not too concerned about it. However, I understand that that is a fear. I think that we’re going to see it coming from really far away because there is several layers of protection at this stage. We still have Obergefell and President Biden and the Congress got, passed the freedom to marry in 2022 [Public Law No: 117-228 (12/13/2022); Respect for Marriage Act]. So, there are several layers of protection that they have to go through, so we’ll see it coming.

However, it’s still fair to be nervous. And my main recommendation is to get your estate plan in order, get that all taken care of, and powers of attorney. So, powers of attorney are really important, especially for trans folks who don’t have affirming family. So, you can have two different kinds of powers of attorney. Medical and then a general, which I generally say is for, like, financial things. If you are a trans person and you don’t have affirming family, I highly recommend getting a medical power of attorney put in place right away. Because you can designate who will make medical decisions for you if you’re incapacitated. That’s really important…

[….]

…And then the other question that I’ve been getting asked a lot is about trans rights. Um, we, like I said, that’s where I think people, the, that’s what’s being attacked the most right now. Um, and medical care’s really scary, the Supreme Court heard that for adolescents this week. And the Supreme Court will take a while, so we’ll hear about that in a little bit. But my biggest recommendation is to work on getting your gender marker done if you live in Missouri as soon as possible.

And the biggest thing is to get your passport taken care of. So, your passport is a federal document, so that’s the quickest thing that Trump can change. Um, and right now it’s a self-attestation to change your gender marker on your passport. So, you can just request that they change it and they will. You can also get an X gender marker on there. And with a passport you can have a passport book or you can also get just like a card. So, you can use that for like almost any kind of identification, except for a driving incident. So, if you can’t get your preferred gender or, not your preferred gender, your gender on the correct documentation, like if you live in Kansas, a passport is a really good option. And because it’s federal we are recommending that you get that taken care of right now.

Um, my final note on that is if you are non-binary and looking at the X gender marker there are some considerations to think about if you are actually traveling outside the United States. Um, some folks are not friendly for trans people and that outs you very, very quickly. So, think about it, but the option is there…

[….]

Previously:

LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 9, 2024)

Justice Horn – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 10, 2024)

Liz Davis – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 10, 2024)

“Trans Liberation Now” – March 29, 2023

Liz Davis – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024

10 Tuesday Dec 2024

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Liz Davis.

Sunday night in Kansas City the LGBTQIA+ community in Kansas City, Missouri held a Townhall in a supportive establishment on Main Street. More than 150 people attended the over two-hour standing room only event.

Liz Davis, Liz Davis Therapy Group:
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….The second Trump administration is causing a lot of people to be overly worried, stressed, anxious, and have other mental health symptoms. I know, at least personally, with some clients. I have these orange pillows in my office and I’ve literally had multiple clients like, where we just like, get our anger out by punching the orange pillows. [laughter] It’s like, yeah, we’re punching this mother fucking orange face in, you know, [laughter] like. ‘Cause we’re like, we’ll fight it out, and then we’ll process it, then we’ll cry, then we’ll, you know, grieve, and, and we just get it out…

[….]

…The one thing I wanted to say is that also the holiday season is coming up. And dealing with family and possibly family members who voted differently than you did, or who voted for Trump may bring anxiety or a little bit of conflict into what should be a joyful time. And, um, despite that there are tools and ways that we can cope with that, that I just wanted to speak to.

And, like, one of the ways is just being clear and direct. And, for example, it’s saying things like ‘I’m not comfortable discussing my relationships, let’s focus on catching up on work or hobbies instead.’ You know, just like diverting to something more like general if people start bringing up things that you’re not comfortable talking about.

Secondly, is limiting your time. And that is something I’ve personally had to do with my family. Where if gatherings feel overwhelming you can plan like an exit strategy, um. Let them know you’ll only be able to stay for a couple of hours or just have a backup plan. I even tell my clients sometimes ‘go hide in the bathroom and take a breather.’ No one’s gonna question how long you’re in the bathroom, ’cause, you never know what you’re doing in there. So, like if you need to do some decompression and some deep breathing and some, you know, mindfulness, go hide in the bathroom and like just take a break.

Um, next is prepare to, prepare responses for tough topics. So, like, having go to phrases like, ‘I don’t want to get into politics right now, let’s just acknowledge that we disagree and just try to enjoy the today.’ And just being that diffusing presence, right, like if someone’s gonna come to you with conflict just why spend the holidays that way? That’s exhausting, like, we may as well just like divert it back to ‘Can we just remember what this is supposed to actually be about?’

[….]

… Next, is create a self-care plan, which I’m a huge fan of. Um, build in time for yourself before and after family events for self-care and recharge with activities that ground you. So, I’m a big fan of like making sure you are going into family holiday events, where it may be conflictual or difficult, in the most grounded head space that you can. And also having a plan for when you get home to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself in ways that serve you. And that’s different for everyone, so I can’t get to specifics. But whatever brings you peace, comfort, and joy I recommend having a plan for that.

And lastly, it’s being able to say ‘No’ without guilt. If you have to skip a gathering, um, that’s honestly okay. You can politely decline by saying like, ‘I won’t be able to make it this year, but I hope you all have a wonderful time.’ Like, ‘Love you, I just can’t be there.’

[….]

Setting boundaries doesn’t make you a bad family member, it just makes you someone who values your own mental health and wellbeing. And like, sometimes we all have to do that. And I, I can speak from personal experience that it was hard for my family at first, but they got fucking used to it. [laughter]

So, those are my little tips and tricks for the holidays….

Previously:

LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 9, 2024)

Justice Horn – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024 (December 10, 2024)

Justice Horn – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024

10 Tuesday Dec 2024

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“….So, when we talk about government systems, this is why it’s important to get systems. Because when they talk about, when they try to legislate and use legislative violence against our community it’s important we know these systems so we can use these same systems against them….”

Justice Horn.

Sunday night in Kansas City the LGBTQIA+ community in Kansas City, Missouri held a Townhall in a supportive establishment on Main Street. More than 150 people attended the over two-hour standing room only event.

Justice Horn was the keynote speaker.

.

….So, yeah. I’m gonna admit, I walked in here. Felt like a funeral. [inaudible] But, I just really want to name that there’s absolute power when we come together. That all of us, no matter if we live in Kansas City, to Independence, to Blue Springs, to Kansas, to Johnson County, Northland, that there’s fucking power when we’re all together in a space. So let’s fucking name that right now. [applause]

So, let’s be real. We are a ship. A big, beautiful…curvy ship that is fast moving towards an iceberg. Let’s be real. Yeah. Be it the Missouri state legislature and be it a second Trump administration.

And let’s be real, you know, we’ve done this before. The Missouri state legislature, last year we made history for leading the nation in the most anti-LGBT bills filled. Twenty-seven bills. Ban [voices: Boo!], a ban on gender affirming care, ‘don’t say gay’ bill, a ban on life-saving care for adults, sports bans, to even rolling back same-sex marriage which our elders have fought for, and even just putting in place sodomy laws. Like, if any, any of our elders know that that’s like old laws….

….People don’t get models of government. Because it moves very fast. These are models that are meant to leave people behind, are meant to confuse you, and really were not built to include queer people, if we’re being fucking frank. So, um, when we talk about the issues that are impending it’s from the state, it’s from the federal government. So, when we talk about what needs to be done, we have to look at our local partners and our local allies. Um, last year when there were twenty-seven anti-LGBTQ bills filed only two stuck. A sports ban on the Missouri side and a gender affirming care ban on the Missouri side. [….]

What we did is we passed legislation at the city level that insured that Kansas City was a sanctuary city, that we basically wouldn’t enforce the law. So, not only was that important, there were two other important pieces. Your county prosecutor, the county government, is the enforcer of state law and as the mechanism that the state uses. So, let’s say the state passes, oh, cars are illegal. It’s your county prosecutor that enforces that state law into the county jurisdiction. So, she has prosecutor authority. So, we not only got the city, pass sanctuary ordinance, county prosecutor commit to not enforcing and using her office to go after trans people. And, also, lastly, we don’t have control of our police department. We worked with the chief of police, who’s still the chief of police, to put out a statement and pass policy the Board of Police Commissioners that we will not go after trans people….

….So, when we talk about government systems, this is why it’s important to get systems. Because when they talk about, when they try to legislate and use legislative violence against our community it’s important we know these systems so we can use these same systems against them. If these sanctuary cities didn’t work they wouldn’t gripe so much about them, especially when it comes to immigration enforcement. Local governments have home rule and have a lot of respect. And you are not asking too much, especially from your local government, your county governments, that want to show up for Pride, to put in some fucking policy and show up when it fucking matters. [voices, applause]….

….So, if you know history you know that these same talking points, the same idea that, you know, trans folks are villains or that they are the boogeyman is what they did to gay people. Gay people couldn’t be teachers. This inuendo that gay people were pedophiles and stuff, until, you know, we turned the curve and now everyone, including Republicans, is fine with gay marriage.

But we are now getting to a place where it’s gonna be a rough time, but we’re gonna get over this curve where not only trans folks, but access to care is not gonna be a controversial issue.

But you got to understand that change is a rough and uncomfortable thing. And there are some people who really think these folks have just shown up, but it’s just they’ve always been here, always been a part of society, and that’s the same with gay folks, LGBT community, and any oppressed minority. So, I think it’s absolutely important we understand that, yeah, this is an uncomfortable time, but we’re going to look back here in ten years, twenty years and we’re going to think, ‘What the hell?’….

….I really want you all to understand that, that we all have to stick together, we all have to get creative, and we all have to distribute out information, and we all also need to understand that, you know, some days we’re not have capacity. And that’s okay….

Previously:

LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024

LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024

09 Monday Dec 2024

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Last night in Kansas City the LGBTQIA+ community in Kansas City, Missouri held a Townhall in a supportive establishment on Main Street. More than 150 people attended the over two-hour standing room only event. We arrived at the venue at 4:30 p.m. A number of groups had information tables. The speakers started a little after 5:00 p.m. We left the venue after 7:00 p.m., with a question-and-answer session still in progress.

The organizers:

Nikolette Kilz (right) and Ezra Komo (left).

The opening benediction by the City of Fountain Sisters, Kansas City House of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence:

The City of Fountain Sisters, Kansas City House of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

….We are here to advocate for our community and provide strength, light, and hope, even in the darkest times. Tonight, we gather under a veil of uncertainty, a cloud of fear, a looming future of some unthinkable possibilities. But let us not dismay, for where we are gathered, we are powerful. [applause] Where one goes, we all go. And if you’re a nerd like me, you know that when one party member is attacked, we all roll initiative. [cheers] May this gathering be a space of belonging, where each voice is heard, and every individual is valid. May we be inspired by the courage of trailblazers like Marsha P. Johnson, who fought for the dignity and rights of all people, and Harvey Milk, whose unwavering hope showed us that change is possible. May we carry forward the legacy of Sylvia Rivera, whose resilience reminds us that we must never leave anyone behind in our fight for justice. May we stand strong in the face of adversity, just as Audre Lorde taught us to use our differences as a source of strength. And as RuPaul reminds us, we were all born to be fabulous. You can woo. [“Woo!”, applause] May our hearts remain open, our spirits resilient, and our actions rooted in equality as we continue to advocate for the rights of all people. May we leave here inspired, knowing that the power of community can overcome any obstacle and that together, we will rise. Now, repeat after me. Amen. [“Amen.”] Awomen. [“Awomen.”] Atransfolk. [“Atranfolk.”] And all the magical glittery beings. [“And all the magical glittery beings.”] Thank you. [cheers, applause]….

Liz Davis, Liz Davis Therapy Group, speaking on counseling resources and strategies:

Liz Davis.

On health care resources:

Arden Pearson, Missouri Kansas Queer Law, on legal resources and strategies:

Arden Pearson.

On self-defense:

Nyla Foster, PROMO and Trans Women of Color Collective, on empowerment and education:

Nyla Foster.

On Jefferson City and politics:

Missouri Representative-elect Wick Thomas (D) – 19th Legislative District.

They’ve already told us what they’re going to do [Agenda 2025]:

JD Besares, LGBTQ Commission of Kansas City:

JD Besares.

Representing Envision Recovery:

The keynote speaker:

Justice Horn.

“Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit”

A community is communicating about the paths forward. There is brutal honesty about these times and the challenges. Present is also a very moving and uplifting resilience.

“…May we leave here inspired, knowing that the power of community can overcome any obstacle and that together, we will rise…”