April 7, 2021
Season 2, Episode 10
In this episode we discuss new legislation of Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and other political issues. We also dive into topics of depression, guns, controversies and we have a discussion on Asian Hate crimes.
Transcript
Hello, and welcome to The Q Lounge Podcast. I'm Eric and I'm Gil. Join us as we discuss news stories and life situations. As they relate to the LGBTQIAPK+ experience, please visit us at theQloungepodcast.com and hit that subscribe button or listen wherever you get your podcasts while you're there. Please leave us a five star review and don't forget to tell your friends.
Eric:Hello and welcome to The Q Lounge. I'm Eric
Gil:and I'm Gil.
Eric:So there's a lot to talk about Gil Just to touch base if, to any of our listeners out there. If you guys like what we talk about and you guys like what we're doing, please leave us some reviews. On Apple podcast, specifically, for some reason, the podcasts gods only listen to Apple podcast reviews. If you can please leave us a five star review and also leave us an actual written review on Apple podcasts that way. Our podcasts can get circulated more heavily. And that helps get the word of mouth out there and helps get us more listeners so that we can continue to deliver our opinions on life for your entertainment and for your knowledge.
Gil:Yes,
Eric:definitely. What do you think about what's going on? Politically let's just start with politics so we can get that out of the way. Of
Gil:course, the elephant in the room, the Republican
Eric:party. I am so mad. Someone pointed this out to me too. I agree with it. I'm super mad at they use the elephant as their mascot because elephants are awesome animals.
Gil:Yes they are. Yes, they are. They should update their logo to just an old white guy.
Eric:Yeah. Pretty much.
Gil:That's their party. They be dead here in a second or a coffin works too. Yeah. That
Eric:can't come soon
Gil:enough, right? Yes. Although
Eric:there is a little bit of blow back within the party on trying to nominate anti 45ers. Within the Republican party. Cause I know Adam Kizinger is now supporting a congressional seat in Texas for someone who's an anti 45er. So
Gil:it's Ridiculous Yeah. Oh my God. Even Reagan must be rolling in his grave and I can't stand that bastard.
Eric:It's ultimately evil too.
Gil:No, he absolutely. Yeah, but even, even him as much as I can't stand him, he deserves what he gets. It's just that this party has just it's. I don't know where the, where they're going. I don't know if they know where they're going.
Eric:Now. I do have to say something that I am very entertained about. Reagan's son how. And he's an atheist and how he is like the head of the atheist and agnostic Coalition I don't know what the group, the organization is called, but they have their commercials. And I think it's his son and he he said something about If that means I'm going to hell, then that's okay with me because I don't believe in it or I'm not scared or whatever. I don't remember. It was funny though, whatever his punchline is. Yeah. I don't know. I find that amusing.
Gil:Yeah, because I'd be, wasn't it all about us versus them. The commies and the Americans were, they were God fearing. And then you had the atheist Soviets. So
Eric:can you talk to me a little bit about this? I'm tangenting a little bit. It's still political though. So many people, when you say socialists, they think communist. Yes. And they're not the same. They're not, they're totally different things. So enlighten us.
Gil:So we talk about it. Obviously this is all going to be a pure philosophical kind of, yeah. These are all theories on how to work. So socialism is normally it's that bridge that leads to communism. So it's supposed to be the government and it's people working hand in hand towards the disillusion of dissolving of government. And it's supposed to be a little bit more government, like interactions and more like that more in, in our day to day business kind of thing. So that's kinda what it is. There's also, when you talk to the economy is the exact same thing. It's a little bit more involvement of the government, but ultimately what it's going to be doing is leading to, in theory to communism, Okay. It's eventually socialism that bridge and then socialism will dissolve revolutions in theory, supposed to happen. And then the people are supposed to be taking over and, working as a group so that there's no imaginary government ruling kind of thing. And so that's kinda what it is, but it's a hot word obviously for capitalist and for a Republican party against liberals. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty much what it comes down to. And then, but there were so true communist government or socialist government.
Eric:So Gil. What do you think about what's going on in
Gil:Georgia? Oh, dear Lord. Where do you begin with that hot mess of a bill? It's absolutely ridiculous. Just to get everyone up to date, I'm sure everyone already knows they're probably better than us, voters will not have less time to request for absentee ballot. It's all about restricting people of color from voting. Yes. That's what it comes. Let's be real. That's what it really comes down to it's because
Eric:the. GOPs or the G.O.P.'S, I call them now which actually rhymes with cops. But anyways sorry. They can't win on their own merit and on their own. What's the word I'm looking for platforms. Yeah, they have, yeah they're the platform of racism and misogyny. literally, that's what it is. And so now they have to restrict the voting rights of people who see through that bullshit in order to stay in power and control. That's my take away.
Gil:Isn't it ironic, especially since a lot of them were in power when Bush w invaded Iraq in Afghanistan on the basis of the democracy, and they can't even allow their own American citizens to vote. Normally I just find it very ironic. This is the same people who sent our boys and girls and theys across the planet. For this democracy thing for voting. Cause it's so important yet back home, this is what you come up with. This is what it's all about for this party. Hypocrites.
Eric:Yeah. It's the party of hypocrisy. It literally is the party of hypocrisy.
Gil:I don't, I, like I said, this party, and this is another thing, please credit to the millennials. We're killing that party off. That party will not exist. I
Eric:hope so. I hope it can't come soon enough. And this whole BS of, Oh, we're the party of Lincoln. No, you're not the same Republican party.
Gil:No, it's not even the party of Reagan and I can't stand that bastard. I don't know what this is.
Eric:Reagan literally ruined this country, but now it's even further. I will say the MLB did pull the all-star game from Atlanta. Congratulations. That was
Gil:awesome. How conservative generally baseball is like the last to react to anything. Yeah. So that's pretty
Eric:nice. I think that's an awesome step. I think the NBA would be good to do that too, and the WNBA and they actually did a lot though with Loffler who was co-owner and now she no longer owns it. And The player who brought all this to attention and who tried to get a meeting with Loffler to bring their grievances, who Loffler refused that meeting, that player now owns part of the team because she's part of a franchise that bought out the team. So that's cool full circle. Yeah. But I think they should definitely stick it to Georgia. And I think Hollywood should follow. I mean Tyler Perry has. A huge studio out there. Like it's larger than five of the Northeastern States put together. Know that's a huge feat, but still it's still. Yeah. Yeah, I think they need to be like, yeah, we're not going to film here anymore. We're not going to do this anymore. I know Delta airlines spoke up against it
Gil:because their hub, I believe it's not
Eric:Atlanta. Yeah. They spoke up against it and now Georgia lawmakers are decided they're going to take away all their tax breaks.
Gil:Oh, interesting.
Eric:Yeah. So you start to lose your airline hubs. And I also read too, that Texas has. A couple of similar bills that they're working on and American airlines and Microsoft and Dell computers have all said, no, that's not gonna fly.
Gil:It is not. I don't understand where, these lawmakers think that we are still in that society or that. Era and these companies have progressed. They are very diverse platforms. These are, national brands. What makes you think that's going to work?
Eric:Yeah, because you're gonna take away I would venture to say three quarters of your business. Yeah. When did you start supporting those types of bills and they're not going to do that cause that's going to hit them in the pocket because all this country cares about is money. You
Gil:would think the politicians would be caring about the money also. They should be. Yeah. It maximizes if you're inclusive of everyone, even if you don't necessarily agree behind closed doors, but the fact is like, money's money. You just widened the bill there.
Eric:Yeah, I think it's interesting. And then the fact that you can't give food and water to someone in line, correct
Gil:offering, and it States in their thing, offering food or water to voters waiting in line. Now risks, misdemeanor charges.
Eric:I honestly am almost tempted cause I early vote anyways. I'm almost tempted to go to Georgia during an election cycle on election day and just hand out food and water to people like I really am.
Gil:It was a green chili too. Why not? From New
Eric:Mexico to you. And then you heard it that state Congress woman from Georgia who kept knocking on the door because Kemp and his little cronies had to sign the bill behind closed doors. And she was knocking on she's a state representative knocking on the doors and they arrested her.
Gil:And they like stated,
Eric:I don't want to say brutally dragged her out, but they harshly dragged her out. Correct. Like they, they manhandled her and they tried to charge her. I know she was released, but I guess they were seeking felony charges against her.
Gil:If that was a white woman doing the exact same thing, they would not have treated her in that same manner. No, we know that. And I'm glad that everything is recorded. Everything is out there. People have their phones and cameras ready to go to live stream this shit, because otherwise it wouldn't have happened. It would be like no, they didn't treat her that way. No. They asked
Eric:her to leave and then they gave her a little picnic basket full of cookies. Yes. it's interesting. I think we're seeing a lot of this because. Like you said earlier, they're probably going away because the millennials, the gen Zers are like, fuck you. We're not doing this anymore. And so these are like their last attempts to like, be vocal and reach for it.
Gil:They're there. Yeah, because. The American it is, it really is. And they feel that their America is they're losing a grip on their America, whatever they talk about the good old days, those days are gone. They've been gone and this generation and the new generations are, they have thankfully pushed us more left. That we could have imagined. I
Eric:actually saw this article today. I was reading it and it was talking about being considered a radical left. And then it said, no, I'm a humane middle. Yeah. And it was like talking about Wanting equity for people wanting healthcare for everybody, livable wages, saving the planet, protecting the planet, protecting people of color and all races. And I'm like, yeah, if I check all those boxes, I'm fine with that. And I know a lot of people consider me a radical left because of my stances, but If me wanting what's best for humanity and wanting everyone to be able to survive and succeed makes me some sort of like radical nut job, then I'm fine with wearing that title right now. Cause it's not like I'm preaching divisiveness and hate.
Gil:That's true. That's very true.
Eric:So I wear that title proudly.
Gil:That reminds me of a quote from JFK. It's as if by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind someone who welcomes the ideas without rigid reaction. Someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties. Someone who believes we can break through the stalemate. It's suspicious that grip us in our policies abroad. If. That is what they mean by liberal, that I'm proud to say I'm a liberal. And I think that's very befitting, especially what six 60 plus years now. And we're still doing the same kind of thing. It's a Republican propaganda against us.
Eric:Yeah, pretty much. That's what it is like. Oh my God. He's a radical left. What do you think about Arkansas AR Kansas?
Gil:So they have their lead legislature can't speak today, passes a bill to allow EMT and doctors to refuse to treat LGBTQ people.
Eric:Yeah. What kind of bullshit is that?
Gil:Is the cake fiasco of Denver or Colorado, what? A few years back.
Eric:Yeah. But now you're actually playing with people's lives. Correct.
Gil:And healthcare. Correct. And it's sick. That's what it's bullshit. It's sick. It's. It's ridiculous.
Eric:It's so it's, I also weird to me how Arkansas is become so red. Cause the Clintons were from Arkansas and he was the governor of Arkansas. Not that the Clintons were like super like left, left liberal. They're pretty, I think pretty moderate, but they were still definitely more progressive than what Arkansas is right now.
Gil:Correct. They were determined to go back to the 18 hundreds. Yes. They're wanting to stay in their founding years. And this is
Eric:coming off of their, like almost total abortion ban that they just passed into law, which they specific. I saw an interview with the governor. They specifically wrote, and he signed as a vehicle to challenge R v W. Yeah. Which is disgusting. It's
Gil:they cannot get over it. I'm like that. Isn't going away. It's not going away this party. Go ahead. Know I was going to say it. So if people want to research, this is SB 289, and this is called the medical ethics and diversity act in Arkansas. So it seeks to give medical workers a right to refuse providing healthcare to someone's because of their workers, religious, moral, or ethical beliefs.
Eric:So here's my thing. If your religion dictates how you do your job, you have no business in medicine or healthcare. You have no business in law and you have no business in politics.
Gil:Anything public facing. Yeah, you shouldn't. You are working for a corporation you're working, and that's the whole purpose of this, especially in theory, the medical field is that you're neutral. You're there to get the job done regardless of who's on your table. What you believe. Look at,
Eric:The shooter in Colorado, he went to the hospital because of injuries sustained and they still treated him and he literally just killed eight people. Yeah. Yeah. That goes against my moral compass. Yeah. But you still going to treat him, but Oh, this person that you don't agree with, who they are as a person, so I'm going to let you die. Yeah.
Gil:Essentially. That's some bullshit. That's what it comes down. Fucking bullshit. They feel it. Same thing. This is a billion strong Christian faith. Worldwide always feels threatened. And I never understood that. They always either feel threatened. Are this minority? You may have started as a minority group in the beginning, but you're not in minority by any stretch of the imagination, especially in this country.
Eric:Yeah. And you're the one who causes all the
Gil:conflicts, the crusades. Do they not ring a bell? Yeah, literally just Wars after the war on religious discourse. That's what I mean, I don't understand. I really helped me understand this perpetual thing. It's a. I don't get it. I don't get it. So they feel they're under attack. They feel somehow their constitutional rights are being infringed lately because they have to help everyone. It works both ways, honey. Exactly. Who the fuck do you really don't want to be dealing with some bigot, the whole time hearing them spew their bullshit.
Exactly.
Gil:Yeah, I have people. I, and I work in the city. I work in San Francisco and I have people I know who voted for Trump. I still treat them equally as if I ever would. I greet them every fucking morning. And I'm there. Welcome on my team.
Eric:You are a much better person than
Gil:am, because I try to treat everyone equally as best as humanly possible, it's just part of my job. That's what I do. And I have customers who, after a year wearing a mask, some. Still are not quite getting the message. Oh my God.
Eric:You can potty train a child faster than you can get people to wear mask properly.
Gil:Absolutely. That should be a quote on a t-shirt.
Eric:I actually stole that. I saw it somewhere. They
Gil:didn't like that bill is sick. Any kind of bill like that, you're putting a restriction of some kind of, you're trying to mask it as something else. It's that equal? What is it? The same, but it was sorry. I'm butchering this one. Anyways, I for I'll come back to me later.
Eric:It's what was I going to say? Now I lost my train of thought. We both,
Gil:we both derailed.
Eric:We're just both so heated with
Gil:God because I just, after a while, I get tired of having to explain this. I mean granted it, would kill half our podcast, but it's just, it's so infuriating about it, where I'm like, it is the 21st century people, but they're holding onto these 19th century beliefs on how things ought to be. Yeah, that's not the way it is. This country is extremely diverse. What happens when you went West America, white America, specifically, there was already a thriving, Latino culture and communities. Before England even got to this part of the continent. So don't start you link it. I get frustrated. Oh my God. There are people speaking Spanish. You're why don't they know English because this was a Spanish speaking area for 300 years before you got here. Obviously the Spaniards were not friendly. They destroyed the Native American lands and that's a whole nother topic, the cultures here also, you went West by force. Destroying community diversity was already here, honey, the safety with you're trying to restrict the gays, then you're trying to restrict this.
Eric:I love when he started throwing the honey word around and you start like getting that little head twist kind of thing happening. No one can see it, but I can, and you can tell Gil's heated when he starts like throwing honey around
Gil:Southern person comes out to me. I'm like, who is he?
Eric:Yeah, and this whole thing, and this is actually what I was going to say earlier. Freedom of religion means you have the right to worship how you want to, how you see fit for you. Not so you can Discriminate against everybody that you want to and keep them from worshiping and believing the way they choose to. Correct.
Gil:like I said, your rights and where mines begin this country was based off of a philosophy out of a thought versus a lot of other nations are founded off of thousands of years of, killing each other and Kings and Queens and all this other bullshit we're based off of philosophy. It's not perfect. We know that. I know that, but the theory was about the, because these people fled their whole countries originally for religious persecutions, from the, I guess more white Anglo-Saxon style is that's what they, why they fled. And it's ironic now that they're forcing their own belief. Like I said, part of the hypocrisy onto everyone else that this has to be the way. Yeah. And they're always under attack now. You're not under attack. You're attacking everyone else
Eric:very much. Yeah. What do we think about Minnesota and their Supreme court? Saying that a man can not be charged with rape. If the woman knowingly drank beforehand, this was a unanimous decision by their state Supreme court on March 26 of 2021. Or at least that wasn't enough.
Gil:Yes, correct me if I'm wrong. That they're all male.
Eric:I that I don't know. I didn't get to see the makeup of the Supreme court.
Gil:Yeah. That part I'm going on a limb
Eric:here. They reversed? I don't remember the guy's name now. I should look it up. They reversed the lower courts convictions of him.
Gil:I just get lost, of words, lost of words. I don't get it. So if she's intoxicated.
Eric:Yeah. So a Minnesota man, can't be charged with rape with felony rape because the woman chose to drink beforehand the court rules.
Gil:But they're blaming the woman. Yes. Pretty much because they're in yeah, they're
Eric:insinuating. Yes, because she, this woman in particular was a 20 year old woman who had taken five shots of vodka and a prescription pill and was approached with someone to go to an after party. So went to this after party. She blacked out. woke up and found this man had sexually assaulted her. And almost four years later, the Minnesota Supreme court unanimously ruled this week that Francoise Momolu Khalil who was 24 cannot be found guilty of rape because the woman got drunk voluntarily beforehand. The decision Wednesday overturned Khalil's prior conviction of third degree criminal sexual conduct, which had been upheld by an appeals court and granted him the right to a new trial.
Gil:Wow.
Eric:So we're blaming the woman again? Yeah, basically. Oh, she shouldn't have been wearing a tank top or she shouldn't have been walking to her car by herself. I don't give a fuck if she was drunk.
Gil:It does. It
Eric:doesn't matter if she can choose to get drunk.
Gil:I have got, to be honest, like I've had drunk moments where I'm like, Oh my God, I'll make out, let's go ahead and kiss this person. And all the sudden you start being with that person, you're like, Oh no. Oh no bad choice. It is my right to choose that no longer I will pursue this. Really. I don't understand where it's not Oh, I gave him the green light and now there's no going back.
Eric:No, like I always say no, it means no stop means stop. The safe word is the safe word. I don't care if you are in the middle of riding some dudes, Dick, and then you say, okay, we're done. You're done. dude needs to pull out. You're done. Correct. I have been in situations and I think I've possibly talked about it on this podcast. If not, then I'm going to mention it. Now. I've been in situations where I was brought in as the third person and getting, and steamy. One of the participants was super nervous. So taking shot after shot and getting super drunk and we were all kind of drinking. And here I am with like a Dick in my mouth, then dude passes out. What did I do? Dropped it, put my clothes on. And I left. Cause I was like, that's not going any further, like legit that is sexual assault and rape. If it went any further. So I was like, we're done,
Gil:but why are straight men not getting the message?
Eric:Because they want to be able to just fuck anything,
Gil:except for another dude. Yeah. Let's bring him into the room on the tap. So you want to see what consent looks like? Yeah.
Eric:And the thing is too so drunken consent is not true consent. I don't think, I know a lot of people have their drunken nights, so I guess that's a debatable thing, but in coerced consent is also not consent. Yeah.
Gil:Where are you? Because I see guys harassing girls where they continuously come on. I'll give me anything. Come on, give me your Instagram. C'mon and the girls feel pressured. Yeah. That's not consenting. They're feeling pressured because they don't know how the guy's going to react. If he's going to act a fool. Yeah.
Eric:Because dudes have. A huge history of violence and outbursts. Yes. Look at that kid who was like that director's son in California who got mad because women rejected him and he went on like a killing spree. Yeah. I can't even fathom. Is that the right word? I just don't. I can't even imagine what women go through. Like this country is so shitty to
Gil:women. It's very eye opening. When you ask that question or ask a question to any female representative of the planet, it's, like even just what I was hearing for what my mom and my sister do, or I've asked some coworkers, you know what they're do at late at night for, in walking to BART, doing it. I cannot. I don't know what it is. Feel like. Cause I sit there I'll fall asleep on public transportation without even a thought or walking down a, a weird alley or something. I'm like, Oh, I'm just walking them. No. That's the male privilege. You don't even think about that. I don't, I genuinely don't. But with them, it's Oh, they have to go double. They have to, buddy system make sure there's multiples of them. Do they have pepper spray? Do they have this on them? You have to
Eric:have keys between my fingers and you
Gil:know, it's stuff that I don't even think about. It didn't cross my mind
Eric:and now we're trying to make it even more so correct. That's absolutely disgusting. I don't want it. And I'm shocked that it was Minnesota. Cause I know they have Klobuchar and they can be pretty democratic, but I don't know.
Gil:Yeah. And that's goes back to where. With our generation. We just need to stay very vigilant right now until they're put into their grave. And I want to make sure that the party is put in the grave by it's fully six foot under, ready to go cement, ensure this bitching coming back kind of thing. And I just don't want us to get lazy where we're like Obama and Obama years. We did. I, part of it, I know it. I admitted. And then I was not excited about Hillary. I was excited a female was going, but she wasn't necessarily my first choice. And there was a lackluster response from the democratic party and rep us voters, and then we're shocked with what we got. And I just, and he was able to put a lot of people in power, a lot of, judges, people, these lifetime need to go away. I think we should eliminate the lifetime appointments for judges there has to. There just has to be, cause it, I think it's be a little bit more reflective of the time in which we're in. It just needs to do that because the laws need to change. So I'm
Eric:a huge fan of younger people in power.
Gil:Oh, my God don't ever mention her name from New York to the Republic is by God. They hate her more than Hillary. I love AOC. I do too. I do too.
Eric:I know they were trying to shame her because she did that dancing video. Okay. Whatever, or, Oh, she's just a bartender. Yeah. I'm a working class person. I know what it's like to be working class. Why are you shaming me for that? Correct. So what about Matt Gaetz and what he's doing? The Congressman from Florida who was a huge fan of Trump. And a huge advocate of Trump who is now facing sex trafficking and money laundering.
Gil:So wonderful.
Eric:And even piss Tucker Carlson off and Tucker Carlson, even. Retaliated against him because he tried to bring Tucker Carlson along the ride with him on air and Tucker Carlson, distanced himself. And we all know what a he's
Gil:stumped. Yeah. Oh, hell Dell.
Eric:Oh so let me say this. So the, like the Gaetz thing they're talking about Oh, he, and he's what is it? He's connected with former representative Greenberg. And there's all this money laundering stuff or money, whatever. I think wire fraud. And so how I'm like, Oh, you had sex with, he was, had sexual relationships with a 17 year old, and then they're trying to say Oh, then he was bragging and showing nudes and videos of women that he supposedly had sex with to people on the Congress for while he was out work, like on the
Gil:floor. So this is on your money taxpayers.
Eric:And then he was like, bragging about all his conquests and they're saying, Oh he, there was all this money exchange between him and these prostitutes and people taking drugs and blah, blah, blah. I honestly, if it's a prostitution thing, I don't really. As much as I don't like him, I don't really have an issue with it. Cause I totally advocate for sex workers and sex work is awesome. And it's great. But if it is a true trafficking situation, Then dude needs to be held accountable, the Republicans are not going. They're gonna be like, Oh, whatever. Ha. He,
Gil:he was just having a very rough day here. This is all a big misunderstanding. Oh yeah. That whole, you know how they do thoughts and prayers,
Eric:tots and pears,
Gil:They're gonna respond to this. No, absolutely not.
Eric:He is. Yeah, he's saying he's being persecuted and people are trying to extort from him. He's the victim. Oh,
Gil:wonderful. Yeah.
Eric:That playbook. Oh yeah. And of course he's from Florida. So what do we think about the great state of Florida and their anti protest bill that they're trying to pass?
Gil:HB one combating public disorder. It gives anyone who wants to continue Googling all these wonderful, fun topics where it's going over goddamn such Florida. The Florida literally. Let's remove Disney world because I did love Disney world needs like five feet of water to drown out that whole fucking state. Can we just get a water? Huh? Can
Eric:we start with Mara Largo?
Gil:Yes, that'd probably be my first place. Literally just five feet of water. The whole state goes away for a couple of. Decades, then we can redrain the bitch down and start fresh.
Eric:You can drain the swamp.
Gil:It is ridiculous people. Please refer to your bill of rights. It's right in the very first thing to right to assembly. That is part of your right in the beginning. It's not the second it's before the gun amendment. Yeah, it's the right to peacefully assemble. There's no limitations on this. bitch it's very simple. I don't know how much more,
Eric:You know that the second amendment is the only one that counts, right? Of course. Yes it does. So I won't go on my high horse on that one right now, but no,
Gil:They're trying to, what they're essentially trying to do is make sure that these, when you're protesting. You're going to look like a Macy's day parade. It's well-controlled beautiful, blah, blah, blah. But at the end of the day, you go back to becoming someone's bitch at work. And that's what it is at the end of the day. You return back to whatever hole you came out of and done, because they're going to mask it like, Oh, you can't get angry. You can't burn things down. Literally there was a civil war because people couldn't have slaves.
Eric:Just saying, and they're trying to go back to that.
Gil:They were angry when people get angry, things happen.
Eric:Yeah. You can only whisper for so long. I say that all the time.
Gil:Yes. And that's true. It's very true.
Eric:So you heard about what happened with the Pope? Okay. So like a week ago, two weeks
Gil:ago, I did not
Eric:what happened how he said that. Cause like everyone's been saying like this new Pope Francis is like super progressive and all this other stuff. He pretty much just. Negated all of that. When he said that the Catholic church could not bless same sex marriages or same sex unions, because it was a sin.
Gil:So he's trying to dig his heels back in. Interesting.
Eric:I know some people who are pretty strong Catholics, but are very supportive of the community LGBTQ community that, or like just in disbelief, they're like he's been doing, he'd been saying all the right things. He'd been doing all the right things and now he had to pull this card and shit. Yeah. I'm like, yeah. Like again, people want to know why so many people are not religious.
Gil:Yeah. It's true. It's true. It's obviously the people moving away are becoming less reliant. And I don't think people necessarily have lost their faith. People are less, they're separating themselves from the church because the church is not a religion, churches, a building, churches, people, being run by people, reading to you what you could read on your own and interjecting their opinion to assume that it's the word of God when it's not their opinion is they are not God. They are not Jesus. They're not anything they're just a person reading to you. So I, I think that's what it is and people are tired of it. Yeah. Cause I know, like I said, I just, because I don't go to church, doesn't make me any less Catholic or any less of anything. Do you consider
Eric:yourself a Catholic?
Gil:No, I don't know what I am, but I, if I had to go back, like I said, it just, yeah, no. Okay. I was just wondering, yeah, I try not to question other people's faith cause everyone has their own, their own relation with God or Allah are whoever they,
Eric:yeah, absolutely. And I think we've talked about this, on this, talked about that before on podcasts that if your faith works for you, like awesome. Keep your faith, correct. By all means. Yeah. I'm not going to sit there and bash someone for having their faith. I just don't want it shoved down my throat.
Gil:Not in that way.
Eric:Other things can be shoved down my throat, but not religion
Gil:that no. And the clear separation I believe in it strongly because there should be I don't know, for me, it's always been there's what? 7 billion people on this planet, there should be 7 billion. Versions of God or their version of God. There's no way that we're all in the same exact thing.
Eric:Yeah. I remember when I was in high school because I'm sure people who listen know that I went to a Christian high school one of our religion teachers, cause we had to take a religion class every year. as I rolled my eyes and one of the religion teachers actually was lecturing us on religions one day in our chapel because we had to have chapel a few times a week to o she basically was stating though that like she looked at religion as a car. She used the analogy as a car. And basically was saying how like Christianity is the car. That was most comfortable for her that she related to the most, that was most comfortable for her that. It was the most comfortable ride to get her from point a to point B being point B being heaven and all that other stuff she's but I know people who are of this religion or that religion and to them, that was the most comfortable vehicle. And I refuse to believe that they're going to be punished because they're not riding in my car. Correct. And I was like, that's a really awesome way to put it. I know she got a lot of flack for it and a lot of people were mad about it but
Gil:that's the truth.
Eric:Yeah. So I've always actually appreciated that kind of.
Gil:So it's is there any one jeans that fits every body type? Absolutely not. I enjoy skinny jeans because I'm a millennial, but there's a whole generation right behind me that are like, absolutely not. We prefer flooded jeans and 24 inch wide kind of flare outs.
Eric:It doesn't matter. I'm sorry. I love super baggy jeans, which I can't find anywhere. So
Gil:I cannot get not forfeited crop jeans
Eric:in my defense. I have a really big ass. Yeah. Yes. You have really big thighs, not in a bad way. Baggy jeans and beyond baggy jeans fit me like loose jeans. So they don't fit me like baggy jeans. Yeah.
Gil:It would be flooded. I have no ass, regular size thighs and the itty bitty legs. That's why I'm always like the form-fitted. I'm like, hello. I'm
Eric:only muscular in my legs. And so I always went with the baggy jeans, but you can't find those anywhere anymore. Yeah.
Gil:Those are harder. So I used to where I go, I'm not gonna lie. I did wear it. What is this? Back in the day? This is like early two thousands was a slim cut or was a slim boot cut jeans or something like low rise Yeah. I just remember those now. I'm like, Oh my God. I was so popular. I think
Eric:the jeans I wear now are Loose bootcut cause those are like the baggiest ones I can find. Yeah. The only saving grace now is that a lot of them are made with a stretch material. I actually had someone the other day telling me that I should rock a crop top and booty shorts.
Gil:You could do it, but I don't
Eric:know that I have the confidence to do that. Like I, I totally could. And I was like super, I honestly was highly complimented by them even making that suggestion. Like I was very highly complimented, but yeah, I just don't know that I have the confidence. I just, I still have so many body issues,
Gil:positive bodies. That's all. That's what, it's all about. 20, 20, 20, 21. It's all about that.
Eric:It's I'm still in cycles though. And I'm trying to break certain cycles.
Gil:Maybe the
Eric:summer, maybe I was as a, you and I were talking in our precast or I don't know if that's a word pre-recording moment. Like I've been going through a lot of depression lately. Like the last, I would say five or five or six days, I've been pretty depressed. And so the fact that someone actually made that comment to me just a couple of days ago was like really nice. But yeah, I don't know what necessarily triggered my depression and doesn't necessarily need to be a trigger. But I don't know that we talk about depression a whole lot. I know we've mentioned it. I know I mentioned that I have depression, but I wanted to just address it a little bit more, I guess be a little bit more open and honest with our listeners. The other day, actually, I don't usually, I don't think I post a whole lot about my depression or I don't talk a lot about it. I always acknowledged that I do suffer from it, but I don't sit there and Oh, this happened and this happened. And I've been trying hard not to, but the other day I was just like, I needed to post something about it and I did, and then I got so much backlash for it. Like people like, Oh, stop it. Or I got messages saying you need to be more positive. You just need to be happy. And I'm like, that's not the whole point of my fucking posts. Like the post I wrote was like, today is one of those days where I'm acutely aware of all my flaws and. That just cycles me down. It spirals me downwards and I, people are like, Oh, stop it. Oh, you just need to be happy or, Oh, this is, you're just being silly. Get over it, just put it on a smile. And I'm like, it doesn't work that way. I had some people that were super supportive and they're like, I think you're awesome, but I totally get where you're coming from. Or so I ended up just like deleting the whole post cause I was like, I don't, if I could just like smile. Yeah. It'd be like, Hey, the sun's out. Then I would like who wouldn't, but it's very real. Like people suffer from depression and we sit here and tell them to not be depressed and to be happy and to just feel better or to think of things that make you happy or realize that you have it pretty good, because some people have things much worse than you do. None of that makes me feel better.
Gil:So what is the best because you do have it, what is the best way that people can help it? It's not even helping or what is, Is a coping the best way to say it is like, what is the best way to get at assistance or to ask for the help. Cause obviously saying, Oh, just get over it. You don't like, obviously that's not gonna work. You
Eric:need to be supportive. Like you need to listen. If someone's actual, like when someone who is depressed and is going through a depression cycle, a lot of times you're just so out of it that you're not going to really be communicated anyways. But when you're at a point where you're actually putting it out there, it means you're actually asking for help.
Gil:Okay.
Eric:It's not easy to put it out there to be like, Oh, Hey, like I'm totally suffering from depression today. Cause you get a lot of backlash. You get a lot of people like, Oh has it that much worse than you do? Or you just need to be happy? Or why are you sad? Put on a happy movie. Don't worry.
Gil:This is not a competition of who has it worse.
Eric:And so when someone's actually saying Hey, I'm sad, or, Hey, like I'm aware of all this shit that I think of myself, listen, and reach out like, Hey, are you okay? And a lot of times they're not going to want to talk. And a lot of times like me I just need to voice it so people can understand like, Hey, this is the space I'm in right now. And it may, I may not need conversation. I probably won't even be able to have much of a conversation, but treat it with the respect. Treat those people with respect and don't mock them and don't be little, their emotions don't negate them. Cause like I said it's a huge chore and a huge task to just like even put it out there or ask for help or ask for. Anything, and then you're going to have people coming down on you and it's shit. Like I shouldn't even have said anything. Cause it makes you feel worse. At least it does for me. And everyone's depression is different. I know when people say, how are you today? I'm like, I don't feel good. That's usually means I'm done. And then people with sometimes without, Oh, what's wrong. Do you have a headache? Do you have? I'm like, no, I'm not sick. I feel good. Let's just leave it at that. And that's usually my answer. So again, like I said, if I'm actually going to tell you or put it out there on the, for the public knowledge of this is what's going on with me. Don't. Combat me with it. Don't come at me. Combatively okay. Don't negate my feelings or emotion or my stage or my space that I'm in. I think that's pretty true for most people. If you, I don't think you suffer from depression. I could be wrong, but I don't think you do. But even if you were to like message me and be like, Hey Eric this is. Going on. I wouldn't be like, Oh, Gil, just smile. Let's talk. Do you need to talk? I would reach out to you. Yeah. And we've had discussions like that before where you're like, Eric, I need to talk. And I'm like, I am dropping whatever I'm doing and we will talk. Yes.
Gil:We've had plenty of those.
Eric:Yeah. I don't know. I know that's a tangent that we got off on that I went off on, but it's just something pretty real. And maybe we'll go into, but I know they're
Gil:going to it. So health has been, that is a trigger that's, especially with, since COVID happened with people being isolated for weeks on end or the lack of communication, with other family members or there's a slew of stuff that happened at, since what, almost a year over a year ago now over a year ago, over a year ago that everything changed. Our day to day changed are we are going to have new habits. We're going to have the new things. And that's what I'm most curious with you where, you have your you have depression and you're, you fight it day to day. It's a daily,
Eric:it's a daily thing. It's a multiple times a day, like day, anything can trigger me and then I'll just be like, spend the whole day just digging myself out of it. And honestly, I there's so many days that if I just get out of bed and I go sit on the couch, that's a win for me. Yeah. Because not only is like depression, like a mental stressor and mental anguish, but it's also very physically painful, like the fatigue and just your body not feeling right. And you not feeling like you're connected with your body. Yeah. It's a multiple times a day thing and I have, don't get me wrong. I'm not like constantly.
Gil:Yeah.
Eric:I have my days where I feel great and I feel completely normal and I'm always super chill. So no, like that whole thing doesn't like change, but I'm just like, Oh, this today was a really great day. And I have days that are like really good days, but because I'm depressed, I'm just like, it was okay. Nothing spectacular happens. And then I'll have days that where are amazing days and a whole bunch of shit happens. I'm like, I'm so glad I'm having a good day today with you, like completely triggered. And I know, like we were talking. All last season and earlier this season as well, like the pandemic in itself was actually not a trigger for me. And it was, I was really great and had a lot of like growth and all this other stuff, but depression has, it's fun habit of saying, fuck you, you're coming down for it right now. So depression's a monster. I hate to deal with it.
Gil:Yeah. So that's your little monster. I'm sure we all, it just like our listeners have our little things that, makes us. Yeah,
Eric:for sure. I'm lucky that I'm not super down right now. I'm like, I'm still, I'm depressed, but I'm not I'm still very functional right now, which is good. I haven't been completely incapacitated due to depression. I've been suicidal due to depression. So I'm not there right now. So that's a good thing.
Gil:Of course it can be, as I always say, like you, I would hope, always hope you never get to that point. You're loved, you have a whole little fan base around you and support system as always. We're still
Eric:here and I appreciate that, but again like that, we'll be here. Yeah. I don't know. I know. It's been a long time. I shouldn't say it's been a long time. It's been at least a couple of years since I've been that low. Yeah. So that's a good
Gil:thing. Yeah. Have you found any good coping mechanism or things like to that, okay. If I could go to this, that this could boost, I don't know if that's even a thing. I try to
Eric:keep myself busy so I can be in my head. And now that I'm trying to like, not be as busy I am in my head more so here's the weird thing. So dance was always that for me, because dance was a way for me to fully express everything, but I'm not dancing anymore. I actually just did my absolute last dance performance on a virtual show.
Gil:You're not being a Cher here. Are you?
Eric:No, I'm actually going to
Gil:show you're like, and I'm going to say goodbye for this year.
Eric:I'm actually probably going to probably start selling off some of my stuff. Oh, you're at that point. Yeah. Like I'm done. Okay. Cause dance just that used to be that for me, but it's not anymore. Dance is actually toxic. I love dance. Don't get me wrong. But my relationship with dance ended up being pretty toxic and that's why I stepped away. But writing has been cathartic, but I haven't been writing as much because I just haven't had the inspiration to write and yoga and going to the gym. So I go to the gym four times a week, four or five times a week right now, I'm only five weeks back on my return, but I've been going to the gym pretty regularly and bike riding and spending time with my dogs. I will say my one dog Kabuki who's over there, snoring somewhere has saved me, has literally saved my life many times when I've been that low. Thank you, Kabuki
Gil:and,
Eric:Oh, I know. I love her. She's so great. She's such a little bitch, but she's so amazing. I love her. When I say that, just because she has a lot of attitude and temperament, but she's great. Yeah, I think I'm trying to find a new coping mechanism. Yoga's been good, but I haven't been doing yoga as much because I've been at the gym lifting more, which being at the gym is great too. Like the other day I was like super, super down and I forced him myself to go to the gym. I was like, I just did not want to go. I actually kept because at the gym I go to right now because of COVID you have to schedule your time to workout and you can always camp. You can always cancel the reservation though. So I kept canceling it and moving it down and moving it down. And then I finally just forced myself and I was so glad I did. And okay. I have my little accomplishments and it makes me super happy. Like I've gained most of my flexibility back. Yeah. Just other stuff like that. But I don't know, depression isn't necessarily Oh, this do something that makes you happy and then you're going to be better. But I think it's just keeping myself. Yeah. I don't know. I can't really point to that right now. I think I'm just finding a new, I'm trying to find a new coping mechanism for me that will allow me to express myself. I am thinking about getting back into acting classes, so maybe that'll help.
Gil:That would be that'd be nice. Something different. Yeah. You've done it before, but I mean you would go back. Yeah.
Eric:So I don't mean to totally bring down the mood of this podcast, everybody. Sorry.
Gil:And is it, this is good stuff about you. This is us, this is our day to day. This is something that you deal with, like for me being in management, I know after awhile, I, Jesus Christ. I don't like to take to a bottle of Coke. I would Coca to like alcohol or anything like that. But I've learned how to, for me finding my own private Idaho, I guess is what you want to say. It figured out how long,
Eric:I'm sorry. That's a good movie by the way.
Gil:Oh, is it? Oh, it's almost like a private item from the B 52.
Eric:Oh no. My Private Idaho with river Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. And they played male prostitutes.
Gil:Oh, I need to watch that then. Okay. Yeah, because for me, I need to find that. Calming zone because once I'm under a lot of pressure and stress, I am break it out in my mouth with canker sores, I cold sweats, the full anxiety kicks in, and I need to calm my anxiety down that normally I, I find a lot of solace and going like to the ocean or going up high and seeing the full view. And I think it kinda reminds myself that I'm. At adpd.in the whole, whole of everything and not everything's weight, like lifting onto me. It's not all on my shoulder. It calms me down. So I'd normally go to the ocean or what else was in New Mexico? Go to the top of Sandia crest or on the hole? Deep on the West side, looking out at the view and okay, you're just one person,
Eric:I haven't been out as much.
Gil:Yeah. I never go see Nick or I go out to a Lake stare to the water.
Eric:And I think I'm still like hesitant with COVID stuff, even though I've been fully vaccinated. So I don't go out as much as I probably could. That might also help because being out in nature is actually pretty therapeutic.
Gil:Yeah. You know what, that's something that Chris and I did during the COVID like heading out to different areas that we normally would never have traveled to. So like we went up to Northern California. So we're talking about we were up in humble County. So that's the leftist coast that we were at up at Eureka asked what a horror is it? Yeah. Eureka is where we were up or a humbled state that direction it's real beautiful, really beautiful area. And it was fun. It was really nice to see it very green. The red are up North. It was awesome. It was something that I normally would not do because like, why would I go there if I could go to Europe, but COVID definitely forced us to rethink. And we did a lot more nature this time around. Oh, nice for us. So like even put like Lake Tahoe or looking around in North Lake Tahoe and it's just, it's stunning. World like why would I go to a Lake? And I'm like, what did I miss? Oh my God. How did I come here?
Eric:That sounds really nice. I will say too I'm super insecure about a lot of things. So I hate going places by myself, which I know is probably stupid to most people, but I'm stupid. I'm a lot of people don't like that. I'm super insecure about it. And so I have no one to go do things with. And so I ended up just not doing things because I don't want to go by myself.
Gil:I know a lot of people who don't like, I don't know for me, I don't know if it's because of the amount of fricking confidence I have of myself where I'm just like, I could go by myself. I used to go do dinners by myself, watch movies, whole thing, no issue. I go travel. I'm like, okay.
Eric:So admire that. I wish I could be that person. And I know people will be like, just do it. You just gotta do it. And I'm like, yeah, I can't. Yeah. I've done it I've gone. I actually went and saw Janet by myself because it was Janet. And I was like, I can go see Janet. I remember like when I was teaching at the community college and I was teaching, I would have to go between two campuses, but I had two hours in between, but it didn't make sense for me to drive all the way back to the West side and drive all the way to the far East side. So I would always stop at this little Korean restaurant and I would always order, I would always have some central. Yes, sushi and Saki, which I don't it was the Korean barbecue house, which I don't think is there anymore. But I would always stop there. And I always felt, I was super aware that I was by myself and there would be other people by themselves to eating, but I was always super aware that I was by myself. I'm always super paranoid about what I thought other people were probably thinking about Oh my God, that guy has no friends or whatever. And so I'm just, like I said, I'm inside my head so much. I beat myself up so much internally, which is just a horrible thing, but it. Just who I am. So Gil What do you think about Rachel Devine being the first trans woman to be confirmed by the Senate to
Gil:It's about time, little by little, y B At least she's the first and will not be the last yes. So that's, very great progress. I think we have to remind ourselves of the progress we've made, where we're going. It's not perfect. We know that it's work. It's going to be a continuous battle with definitely these are late little victories. It's celebrate it. It's okay. To celebrate from time to time. Oh my God.
Eric:Yeah. I thought that was awesome. And then you have what's his name? Rand. Paul was like trying to, he's just an ass. I can't assure that man, but he's basically trying to tell her like you're trying to do all these procedures on little kids and I'm like, Oh my God, dude. Like he, he was trying to trap her in some questioning about doing hormone suppressive therapies for younger. Younger people because and there's a lot of proof that shows, like if you start your hormone suppression before your, before puberty and those secondary characteristics kick in, then you pass, you're more passable for the gender that you're transitioning to. Okay. And he's basically it's such a detriment to them. And this pediatric board is saying that too. It turns out it's like a bunk pediatric board that he was trying to quote. And as she, and she so perfectly explained to him that type of medicine or those types of procedures are very nuanced. Yeah. And she's I would be happy to go have a conversation with you about it. We'll know we need to talk about this and we need to talk about that. And during the whole bullshit of trans women, not being women, that those Republicans, so like to talk about.
Gil:So I don't understand for a party that's so anti-government interference in your life. They are so big on everyone's goddamn personal business. I don't understand it. It's none of your damn business. Yes. If that's their whole stance government shouldn't interfere in XYZ. Yeah. But why are you keeping, bringing it up? I don't understand.
Eric:And another thing, and I know we got back into politics. A lot of them say Oh, we're constitutionalists. You guys are completely forgetting like separation of church and state. And I always go to that one, but they're completely forgetting about separation of church and state. What do you think about all this shootings that have been happening lately?
Gil:I personally, obviously any ethical person should be appalled. Will anything happen from it? No, absolutely not. It will not. Second amendment will not happen and either, so I don't know where the line is of what is okay. Cause obviously shooting up children should have I thought was going to be the red flag that obviously went by the wayside gays getting shot up with the bonus for a lot of people. You have shootings in grocery stores. He had it already multiple times to Colorado with the theaters. You had school shooting. I don't know. I genuinely do not know the line is what's going to piss people off. We're like, Oh my God, maybe it might be a gun being an issue. Obviously you could go to mental health, you could pull it everything else. But if you remove guns from the equation, would that cut it down a little.
Eric:Yeah, I see it. And that's what I think, I know someone was getting mad at me saying as far as like putting in like red flag laws and all this other stuff that's not the problem because the criminals don't buy legal guns anyways. I'm like, no, a lot of these people actually do buy legal guns. Yeah. They get them through loopholes, like the Colorado shooting that just happened poor people in Boulder. He obtained it legally. So when you're saying that people, the criminals don't buy legal weapons or don't buy weapons legally, you're basically saying like street criminals. Which is racist. Yeah. Minority, which is inherently racist.
Gil:Yeah. Pretty much if he ain't Brown, because like I said, it's another, it's like another white shooter, shocker. I, like I said, it was a bunch of Brown people shooting up everywhere every single day. It might be different than may. Maybe that's the way we go. Yeah. Although
Eric:the shooter in Boulder was from Syria originally. But look at what happened in the spas. Yeah. In Atlanta. And did you, I, this wasn't, I don't think this was covered. I came across this, between the Atlanta shootings at the Asian spas and the Colorado Boulder grocery store. There was seven mass shootings in seven days. Yeah. But you didn't really hear about the others. There was one in Philadelphia, one in Houston, one in Dallas, one in Stockton, one in Portland. And the one I know
Gil:Stockton one, for sure. That was, everything was covered out here. I'm like, Jesus.
Eric:And then there was the one in Atlanta, of course. And the one in Boulder.
Gil:It's like I said, I don't know. I genuinely don't know where, cause I, like I said, I thought, and
Eric:I don't know. I know I'm probably the last person who should be talking about this. Cause I don't own a gun. I've never owned a gun. I don't even know that I've even touched a gun. I have no desire to be around guns. So I don't see what the fascination is about them, but I do know that people do like their guns and that's fine. I'm not saying that we need to take away all your guns, but I don't think assault style weapons of war need to be in the hands of your everyday person. Yeah. You don't need it for a hunting rifle.
Gil:Yeah. Yeah.
Eric:That's no longer a sport.
Gil:Yeah. I don't know, like I said, it's God's is part of the equation and I think they are trying to ignore it. It's not the overarching, like completely, there might be some mental issues. Obviously like discrimination, stuff like that. That's lack of education. It could be, the toxic masculinity kind of issue. There's. There's other variables in it, but guns as part of the equation as well. Yeah. Oh yeah. Let's call it what it is.
Eric:Yeah. That's exactly what, yeah. I agree with that. And w look at how we regulate like cars and alcohol. I think you should have to like, apply for a license and you should have to go through some testing, at least put some sort of regulations in there. And
Gil:maybe they don't mind doing over voting rights. And Lord knows there's plenty protects in theory protection in the constitution, but they don't mind putting roadblocks on that sucker, not at all or your
Eric:vagina. Right.
Gil:I'm just saying
Eric:I was listening to this thing the other day. And it was, they were talking about how there's this whole stupid, toxic masculine perception of penis envy. But they're saying that the real issue is womb envy men have womb envy, but they try to turn it around to show their power over women. So they've changed the narrative to penis envy.
Gil:Only reason men are able to do or feel they could do it to can is because of testosterone, because they have the physical strength to do it. Yeah,
Eric:but it's also, it plays into the fragility part of it too, because if you think about it, you don't need a lot of men in the village to keep the village going. Yeah. You need more women and you need men. So you need 40 women and you only need 10 men. men can spread their seed wherever as many times as they want, but they're pretty like good toss them away. They're not needed. Yeah. And now with today's advances, you can just clone. So yeah. You really
Gil:don't. Yeah. We're going to war outdated.
Eric:What do you think about the Lil NAS X video for Montero. Call me by your name. Oh, all the controversy over that video. So let me say this. I don't understand why it's a controversial video. Like when I first watched it, I was like, why is this controversial? Okay. It's whatever. It really didn't do much for me initially, just because I didn't see what was wrong with it. I was just like, it just looks like any other video, but then when I actually looked at it through not my progressive lens, but through society's lens, I was like, okay, I get it. I see why all these Christians are mad because someone is challenging their beliefs that they have put on themselves. They've sat there and told every gay person that they are going to hell for being gay, that they are sinners, that God hates them, that they are going to spend any eternal eternity in hell. So he's okay, I'm just going to go join the party right now. And now they're like super mad about it. Yeah. He's embracing what you told us. You have literally given us that it goes back to our question that we ask often do we. Are we a stereotype or do we fit expectations of a stereotype? Yeah, he's literally saying this is what you expect from me. I'm just going to give it to you. And they're like all up in arms about it. And then if you also look at like the whole stripper pole part and then the twerking and the lap dancing on Satan's lap, which it was funny, he's just doing well, what guys have done with video Vixens for decades? Yeah, where they have the women models, dancing all over the male singer and his friends and getting them all excited and rock hard and blah, blah, blah. That's all he's doing. He just flipped the script and he's a guy doing it. Like he's pretty famous, like he's famous. And he has the number one song of all time with old town road. And. He came out at the Height of his fame and he it's using his platform to be like, yeah, I'm queer, I'm gay. Yeah. What are you going to do about it? I'm going to fully embrace it for everyone to see because that person over there who's being told that they're going to hell. And that person over there who's being told that there are no good. Can actually now see me, it's about representation, which we often talk about. Correct. That's my 37 cents on the topic.
Gil:No, but you're, it's all good points and it's very true. And it's, to me, I always take it. It's art. If people are always up in arms, as soon as you get any kind of religious, for God's sake, this is the same group from Madonna. All of her videos to pray. She was dancing, for the Like A Virgin, or it's the wedding dress or like a prayer, God that got everyone up in arms and God forbid the sex era or for the erotica album and bedtime stories. I become on people. Come on.
Eric:Yeah. Justify my love was the first video ever banned from MTV. Yeah. And I'm not a huge Madonna fan. I think most people know that I will never discount what she's done for women or women in music though. Yeah. That justified, I love video. If you just look at it through an artistic lens, it's a beautiful video. Like I honestly think it's probably one of the most beautiful videos ever shot. And I'm not Madonna fan. Yeah. It's a beautiful fucking video.
Gil:It just, I think it's just really broad. Just broaden your lens. Look at, from artistic standpoint, because to meet these artists, these are artists that are conveying a message. Normally like an art. There's always going to be a political message. Justice, there's always going to be a message in art as much as people are like, no, it's just there. No, it's not just pretty flowers are pretty this. Why do you think with the I was going to say the Vatican and how beautiful the artwork it's. Pushing a agenda, just everything, it's all political. It is, most of the time art is political. That's what
Eric:people are all up in arms with Lil NAS X Oh my God, my kids are, can watch this. Or my kids might've seen
Gil:this 71 million in growing, by the way, you know what?
Eric:It's not his responsibility. He's doing his thing. He's an adult. Correct. He's doing what he wants to do. If you have an issue with what your kids see, then you need to be on top of that as a parent, you want
Gil:parents to parent Eric, please. I'm just overwhelmed by that statement. I won't go down that road because I am not a parent. But I just have seen some stuff from. Question and I'm just like, Oh, that's alternative. I grew up in a different era,
Eric:so I guess me too anyway, so
Gil:yeah, but good for him. His shoe sold very well. I know Nike's make it a distance as well because he added a droplet of blood according or, of course I was like a
Eric:rumor. Yeah. That's not even true.
Gil:But they sold a lot of its use. Congratulations.
Eric:What? Five minutes or something? Yeah, it was something, it was really quick. I know people who are like hardcore metal heads or like eighties metal heads. And I'm like, I want those shoes. Cause if they, even if it's just a rumor that there's blood in there and they're Satan shoes, I don't want those shoes. Cause I'm a hardcore rocker.
Gil:Come on now he had Ozzie snapping. You know what that pigeon's head out about? What was it about? Oh God. Yeah, no, they'll
Eric:go.
Gil:So it, people always gonna be up in arms. You never get to please everyone at the same time. Yeah.
Eric:But you shouldn't have to. Yeah, not all, not everyone's art is going to appeal to everybody, but you still have the right to that voice. And if you don't like it, then you don't look at it. You don't watch it. You don't listen to it. You don't read it,
Gil:but you never stop it for me. I guess. Like abortion. It has no effect on me. Am I going to have to protest? No. It's no one should be. That is a woman's rights between her and her doctor. That's it? It has nothing to do with you. So mind your fucking business. Exactly. And I think there's where people just mind your damn business. Am I going to gossip as the fucking lutely? I'm gay. Of course. I've got to say something shit up in the podcast too. I'm going, of course I can say something, honestly, when it comes down to it, it's none of my damn business. And that's what I think people really need to start focusing focus on your own shit. I'm sure you have some old things you should be focusing on you all don't
Eric:want to focus
Gil:on their shit. Oh, the focus on everyone. Else's Oh my God. Did you hear about Betty, blah, blah, blah. Does it matter? It's fun. Gossip don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's look at your own stuff. I don't know. Look at Joe, your own dirty laundry. Keep that closer to you.
Eric:That's why everyone locks their closet doors. They don't want, they don't want them those skeletons out. They don't want the inner queer to come out.
Gil:It came out during college. C'mon Eric. It was wholly 19 times GLAAD dude, bro.
Eric:I didn't know what that hole in the wall was.
Gil:Oh my goodness. But it has been a hot week.
Eric:I saw this thing. It said that it shouldn't have to happen for it to you, for you to care about it. And that's true.
Gil:It's just what is it in Nazi, Germany and stuff like that where it's just it's not me getting discriminated against, it's the Jews. And then as it started trickling to every other minority group, then it was like, Oh shoot. I'm by myself. Now I'm the last minority group standing. And I think that's just, like I said, it's just like right now, we're having a lot of Asian hate crimes.
Eric:Which is disgusting. And this country never wants to talk about what they've done to the Asians. No,
Gil:what they did was, what to the Japanese, during world war II illegal, these are American citizens, completely illegal. Who the hell built it down? Railroads. The Chinese community, the Filipinos who were here before them. I don't understand. There's so many discrimination laws in San Francisco up until almost the sixties in restricting on where they could, it's just like the Jewish community where they can actually set up shop for jobs or they could actually operate businesses and what they can do specific businesses. There were so many, that's why we have the ghettos, the Chinese, Oh, it's Chinatown. It we're forced into it because it was fine if they were forced into these communities. Just like a lot of other minorities they're forced into these ghettos. You have to yeah. There's, there's plenty of discrimination a lot.
Eric:And then I always feel bad and maybe you can speak on this a little bit. Asians are always like considered like the good minority.
Gil:It's such a,
Eric:and it's basically a way to demonize other minorities. And it's basically trying to just you've talked about before there, people are trying to pit this group against this group so that these groups are fighting. So then this one group, the, white male group can just like rise to power.
Gil:Yeah. And I, I hear that a lot. I was like, Oh, the Asians are always the model minority. Look at them. They have jobs. To be, and B to be fair, like one, as I'll speak on, at least on the Filipino side is that, like my family, we were granted citizenship to United States because my great-grandfather's served was in the Filipino military and was able to, at the time they were offering Americans were offering. If you serve with us to fight the Japanese. Then you will be granted us citizenship, but a lot of Filipinos coming to the United States, you had to have a degree to come here. So it wasn't like we had an option to just to swim across the Pacific ocean. That's not an option. So to leave the country to go, especially to immigrate to another one, you had to be educated. You had to come from money or porches of money. So like a lot of Asian families, especially who are leaving, had degrees. That's why it's a lot of nurses, a lot doctors. There's a lot of engine like by my grandfather is an engineer. They had degrees coming to the United States already in comparison to a lot of like the Italians coming here or the Irish were poor, it was different standards. Then the Filipinos had to have a degree. So you weren't getting second rate or anything like that. These were. But also within the Asian community, do you have to adapt? It was a big thing. You're if you're going to United States, you had to learn English. It was a given. It wasn't it, because you knew to get ahead or to win at the game, you had to adapt to where you're at. So United States, there is no official language. We know that, but English is de facto. So a lot of Filipinos learned English because that's what, how you get. And why, I think there are certain things of like culturally that we were, it was it's different. So they were like, Oh, white Americans probably saw it's like, Oh, look at them. They're doing everything possible. No, it's because we wanted to make sure we could play equal grounds because these aren't stupid people coming here. For sure. Like I said, that's just my end. On that. But no, I
Eric:like that perspective. I'm glad you shared that with us.
Gil:Yeah. It's different. the Asian hate, like I saw it at my own work and I've asked people to leave because they would walk in on a heavy with certain areas of my my department. I have a lot of people who are there because we have a large Chinese community. We have a lot of, it's reflective. My floor is reflective in some parts of it. And we have people walking in tourists are the last of the tourists last year. Like they would go right down the middle Island. They're like, Oh my God, there's a China person. I'm like, what the hell is it? We've never saw that before. It was just very blatant open. They had this. audacity to deal with without any conviction. And I was like, you got to go. I, cause they told me no, yet to offer that, I'm like, Oh fuck this. You've got to go your options to get out of this, building. I will escort you out of this building. Like we don't do that. I don't tolerate hate in this building.
Eric:And you shouldn't and words matter,
Gil:they matter. And the
Eric:context in which words are used,
Gil:yes, I couldn't believe it, that's where we were this time. Last year, it was still a lot of it animosity on the floor. You don't get it as much lately because we haven't had any tourists because you get a lot of locals, but. Up until that we, like I said, it was very awkward. It was bad. So I don't know, like I said, I don't walk the streets anymore cause it's scary, but IB that's yeah. That's a different subject with the four of a city issue we have right now. Yeah.
Eric:I think that's going everywhere. So yeah. I want to say thank you everybody for tuning in and we hope to see you next week. Thank you so much.
Gil:Thank you. thank you for listening to us. We hope you enjoyed your time in The Q Lounge. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions on topics, or if you would like to be a guest or contributor, please email us info.TheQlounge@gmail.Com or through our contact page at theqloungepodcast.com. Don't forget to subscribe to continue listening wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to be our sugar, daddy hit that donation button.
Eric:Until next time live in your authenticity.
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