Richie & John | July 15, 2025 | Newsday Tuesday: Supreme Setbacks & LGBTQ Standouts

TRANSCRIPT:

Richie Roy: [: 00:00:00

John McMullen: We do, and I have to admit, this is where I have to come clean about the fact that as much as I took some time off to get our new studio together here in Palm Springs, there are still a bunch of tech bugs that we're working out. And I have a feeling that we may be off again this coming Saturday. And so until, uh, further notice, I think we're gonna be at Newsday Tuesdays.

k into our regular schedule. [: 00:01:00

So it's kind of critical that all the wiring and everything works. And right now we're at the whim of a engineer who we have to allow him to do his day job as well, so that that's what's going on.

Richie Roy: Exactly. We will still bring you the most important L-G-B-T-Q news that you need for the week in the meantime, and we've got some stories for you this week, and I think we should just jump right into them.

ghting for marriage equality [: 00:02:00

Richie Roy: Yeah, it's, it's a tough time. Actually it's a tough time generally at the Supreme Court. Uh, we just recently, um, on Monday there was a decision, uh, where they're allowing the current administration to essentially dismantle the Department of Education. Firing almost everyone there, and they just keep siding with this administration on all kinds of things.

s not favorable to our trans [: 00:03:00

Telling L-G-B-T-Q Nation. Service members have faced setbacks, quote, the Supreme Court's, big footed us and issued a stay. He said, highlighting the precarious future for trans service members. Minner also criticizes the court's ruling instrumented, which allows bans on gender affirming care for trans youth.

. So Retti was obviously the [: 00:04:00

Step towards trying to just make life untenable for trans youth and eventually trans adults. Um, you know, with the, with the ban on transgender service members, we're seeing a lot of action at the state level. And yeah, the Supreme Court is not, is not our friend. It just really isn't. And, and, and I think that, you know, the, the, the point about it being a complete muddle.

Is really important because one of the things is this Supreme Court is making decisions. They, they aren't sort of sticking a lot of times to even what the question before them is right. There will be a narrow question in front of them that's, you know, for instance, like what's the proper level of scrutiny?

of go into the merits. They [: 00:05:00

Right? And so we, we, well

John McMullen: this is, this is how you pay back all the people who've been covering your vacations and other things, you know? These other expenses, maybe buying the house that your mom lives in, uh, and things like that. You know, it, it is just unbelievable. What I don't understand is how they think this is gonna work when somebody gets elected from the other side and is going to have precedent set for them to be equally as corrupt in a way that they don't like.

this is like, they, this is [: 00:06:00

Meanwhile, Trump can just kind of destroy the whole government, you know, uh, you know, just sort of throw out there that maybe birthright citizenship isn't in the 14th amendment, which is like. It, you know, or like is not covered and this Supreme Court's like, yeah, you know, we'll let that one ride. You know, let's see how that one plays out.

So they're super hypocritical and you're right, it's a double, it's always been a double standard though with, with the conservatives, you know, nothing Biden or Obama or Clinton did was acceptable. It was always, you know, outside of the realm of authority. But if it's Trump. Or, you know, whoever's next,

John McMullen: anybody who's outrageous

Richie Roy: right then.

Sure, go ahead. Do it. It [: 00:07:00

John McMullen: trying to get Shannon on the show and I hope that we'll be able to do that sooner than later.

Richie Roy: Yeah.

John McMullen: Yeah. I'd also like to get John Davidson on from the ACLU's, LBTQ and HIV projects as well. He's a very bright attorney. He is the significant other of a good friend of mine who lives in San Francisco, and I think we'll get him one of these days. So.

Richie Roy: So stay tuned for, for some, some good stuff in that regard.

es as non-binary, uh, let me [: 00:08:00

Engaged in discriminatory, retaliatory, and torturous actions. Following their email, advocating for support of trans and non-binary students, Chini Claims Rooks and Hill launched a smear campaign falsely accusing them of grooming children leading to harassment and vandalism despite being cleared of unprofessional conduct.

Chini resigned from Desert Harbor Elementary School after enduring relentless discrimination. Nui announced that part of the settlement will support their nonprofit, the Family Prison Project. Prism, like P-R-I-S-M project aimed at helping lgbtq plus families during a recent, you know why

hie, is because any anymore, [: 00:09:00

Project where they Right. Exactly. And put kids and parents in the same facility. They just separate them, uh, so that they cannot be with one another before they ship them off to the moon or Mexico or wherever it is that they send them.

Richie Roy: Exactly. During a recent school board meeting at Chini thanked Brooks for helping push me from quiet teacher to proud advocate, stating without your public comments, I may never have been radicalized into this work.

o dug in that they must have [: 00:10:00

Because, you know, again, these days that it's like with the administration signaling how little regard they have for queer folk, non-binary folk, trans folk, gay folk, you know, it's, it's pretty much like a dog whistle. Like, go ahead, discriminate, treat 'em like shit. Doesn't matter. We don't care. So this must have been pretty bad for them to settle.

And you know, we don't talk a ton actually about our nine, uh, our non-binary friends in the community. But I think that's actually a, you know, a thing that we should try to cover a little more. I, I have a sense just kind of anecdotally that, that non-binary is a really big part of our community, especially with the younger, the younger folks.

r junior high aged children, [: 00:11:00

John McMullen: Can we define that for people who have no concept of what it means?

I think a lot of people think of that as being, you know, people who are trans or questioning or, you know, uh, maybe, you know, somewhere else on that alphabet spectrum. How, give us an idea as to the breadth of the non binaries among us.

Richie Roy: Yeah, I mean, I, I think it, it's, it is a pretty, I think it's a pretty broad umbrella, but it's basically when you step outside of the gender construction of male and female, and I think it's also a lot of times stepping outside of some concepts.

ea that you would transition [: 00:12:00

It can with either. Being bisexual or you can be completely, you know, queer or pan and non-binary. And it's just kind of, again, just saying like, I, I'm not interested in that, in sort of the either or here, and whether it has to do with sort of identity, you know, or expression. It's just, it's a really broad umbrella and I think a lot of young folks are just.

hink non-binary is something [: 00:13:00

John McMullen: I have an idea for that now. Uh, go to work on that this week. I have a couple of people in mind who might be perfect for that conversation, so, mm-hmm. We'll see if we can get some, some folk in here and, and talk about that. There is, uh, a number of other stories that we've got this week, including one that deals with the Treasury Secretary, and that is a former employee of the Treasury Department is speaking out about worsening conditions for lgbtq plus staff under Secretary Scott bein.

at staffers are increasingly [: 00:14:00

Concerns escalated after house Democrats urge. To maintain protections against discrimination. Hayes noted that the department has stopped processing anti LGBTQ plus discrimination complaints and highlighted the departure of a former, uh, LGBTQ plus group board member. Due to explicitly transphobic treatment, employees are feeling like it's harder to find members of their own community.

at the Treasury Department. [: 00:15:00

Yeah. And, and the whole Omega, um, mind rott that has overtaken our government.

Richie Roy: Yeah. And we're seeing this in, in ways both big and small, you know. For instance, this EEO complaint form. That sounds like a just a, a little thing, right? Just a little piece of paper that's changed, but it's indicative of a mindset.

We saw a story. It was two sort of, I think just sort of, we didn't put it in our stories for the week, but it is something that was sort of out there, which is for the Stonewall. Uh, Memorial or Stonewall as like a sort of, uh, you know, a federal recognized place. Landmark? Yeah, landmark. They, uh, removed trans from the website.

Recently, [: 00:16:00

John McMullen: happened here in June of 1969. So just go home.

Richie Roy: Right? It, I mean, it's reminding me a little of like the back to the future when he looks at the at the picture and it just sort of slowly starts to disappear.

It's like that, you know, it's like you're watching in real time as there's just erasure of our community. And you know, this Scott Best Besson guy. You know, we, we had a term, my friend and I refer to this type of person as a Vichy gay, which is to say, um, 'cause you know, if you look at his, he's married to a man and is living.

ey have two children through [: 00:17:00

John McMullen: that It's a mid-century modern picket fence because of from here.

Richie Roy: Of course, but yeah. And so, you know, it's, it, it's this class, you know, hedge fund, you know?

in this capacity, perfectly [: 00:18:00

Staff, you are not welcome here. And you know all this, you, he was probably

John McMullen: the treasurer of his chapter of the Log Cabin Ricard liens.

Richie Roy: You know, he probably was, um, you know, he, he's just kind of, he's one of those gays where you're like, we don't want you, can we return you like to like set, like put you in a basket and put you on a fire department doorstep because like, we don't want you get outta here.

Yeah. So yeah, that, that, that. But yeah, it's just, it's just part and parcel of how this administration works. And I think when you think about things like treasury and you think about things like defense and all kinds of places, this is ultimately not only bad for L-G-B-T-Q employees and staff because they.

like maybe won't have their [: 00:19:00

And we're gonna be left with the dumbest, you know, most sycophantic people making important decisions at what is left of our administrative state.

those brains and have those [: 00:20:00

Commercially working on continuing to do things that develop and, and maintain the advantages that we have in this country. Research and development wise in various sciences and, you know, uh, different disciplines that we're gonna need when it's time to restore order to the, to the nation. Am I out of line?

Richie Roy: I mean, I, I think that's. It's re it's a really ambitious goal. I mean, I think part of why it's hard is th that infrastructure, the infrastructure. Has been built for decades. I mean, really the world that we live in now was built out of sort of post World War II land grant colleges and funding and, you know, setting up, you know, the, well, that's exactly it.

It,

fect opportunity for various [: 00:21:00

Richie Roy: Yeah. It depends on the kind of work, because I think it, I think if the work we're talking about is certain types of any kind of identity based work, I mean, I think that the administration is, is trying to make the case that if you even do that work, no matter how it's funded, that you are.

Status with, in terms of federal funding for other things is in jeopardy. So for that stuff they're making, they're I think making the case that you can't do it no matter what, no matter how it's paid for. But maybe for the science stuff, maybe that's different. Yeah. Maybe there is a, a, a a, a way to do that, but at the same time, they're, they're kind of putting the screws in all these different places in terms of.

To end though. Why are they [: 00:22:00

John McMullen: I know. I mean, but to what end? Because in the end, you know, like if, if you're killing cancer research, for instance, for kids.

Richie Roy: Mm-hmm.

John McMullen: You know, you're still gonna have kids who are ultimately going to be stricken with and perhaps killed by. That disease and it's gonna affect them.

It, it, it doesn't pick and choose based on your wealth.

Richie Roy: It doesn't. It doesn't. That's true. And this is something that I, I truly don't understand, is the, is the, the dis the, a lot of these policies, the direct outcome of them from this administration is. Either worsening sort of conditions or, or leading to death, you know, um, like things like, you know, what they're doing to, you know, dismantling the CDC,

John McMullen: I mean, it feels to me like they don't want those things.

Not because they [: 00:23:00

Richie Roy: But it's so hypocritical though because when you look at this budget, they, they increase the budget of I so that that swamps all of that discretionary spending on, I mean, it is pittance what we pay for science. Um, and all these important FEMA and all these things, it's a pittance compared to the amount they were willing to just splash out to create a paramilitary in ice that is only only beholden to the president.

's what they wanna fund. And [: 00:24:00

Science is, there's no science without facts and truth and testing and reality and quantitative outcomes. Those are all things that are scary to them because those, those are threats. Because if you have, you know, if you have someone, you know, if, if the current president says, which, you know, he says things like.

Gas prices have come down. It's now a dollar 95 a gallon for gas. That's demonstrably not true, right? But if you don't have anyone do crunching the numbers anymore, he can lie as much as he wants. 'cause no one can call him on his bullshit. And it's that for everything. It's, and, and also, I mean, the, the

John McMullen: Well, I will, and you will, you're right.

ald, if his mouth is moving, [: 00:25:00

Richie Roy: Right? Absolutely. So, yeah. So Secretary Besant, I'm not surprised that he's being a traitor to the L-G-B-T-Q community to the event. He may be gay, but I don't think he's a member of our community.

He probably never was. I, I wonder, I wonder if he ever like went to a, a pride parade.

John McMullen: Yeah. Probably didn't. No. But he probably hooks up with hookers on Grinder and goes and does meth with, you know, freaks

that another thought was good.

t by transgender individuals [: 00:26:00

That is not that. That case is not that old and is still good law and. You know, for how long? We'll see, but it's still, that is still the law of the land, even if the administration doesn't like it. So Klaw emphasized that cases related to hiring, discharge and promotion would be reconsidered. Though investigations into workplace harassment are sort of up in the air still.

for transgender individuals. [: 00:27:00

So they did kind of put all these claims on hold and kind of just kind of dismiss them. They're back now, but when you look at the process, including, you know, review by this chair, who doesn't believe in protections for trans individuals, I think what's happening here. Putting in place a kind of kangaroo court process to prevent lawsuits that would probably be successful arguing that if they didn't do them, they were violating bostock.

e putting in place a process [: 00:28:00

Unreal. Yeah. I mean, it is one of those stories where when you first see the headline, you're like, oh, that's great news. They're finally, they're back at it. They're looking at trans discrimination again, and then you read it and you're like, oh, this is a fig leaf, this is a canard, this is a red herring.

It's all the things, everything else, it's all, yeah, it, they're not in, they're not interested in, in providing. Justice for aggrieved trans folks. They're just doing what they need to do to prevent it from being a lawsuit.

John McMullen: You know, I had a meeting on Sunday with, uh, past guest of ours, Joyce Silver, the chairwoman of the Riverside County, California Democratic, uh, party, and I also had a meeting.

Yesterday, on Monday [: 00:29:00

Whisking them away in vans and shipping them out of the country. She is absolutely convinced that that, um, our trans element of our community, that they are highly likely to be one of the next major targets [00:30:00] of this Gestapo action that we're seeing across the country and country. That really scares me because after then them, it's gonna be queer, other queer people, and, and that may be an.

Overreaction to some, but you know, slowly but surely, these people are working to eliminate anybody who they see as a threat here and who are not going to get in lockstep with their way of thinking. And it's why it's so critical that we have to stay on top of. Responding to this stuff in communities, large and small, all across this nation, just as we saw people doing on No Kings Day.

Richie Roy: Yeah, no, it, and you see these sort of stories, you know about folks who

llen: thought honestly, that [: 00:31:00

Richie Roy: I mean, I, you, you know who, who I think thought that it was Margaret Atwood. Look at the Handmaid's Tale. I mean, it, this is like the dumbest Gilead on the planet.

You know? It's like, it, it is, it is. Folks have just kind of like sleep, walked into. Like complete fascism, um, for, for the dumbest reasons. You know, like literally because they, and he

John McMullen: led to, to be led in this march by an idiot like Trump. God.

Richie Roy: Yeah.

John McMullen: No, I, I know that guy is silly putty.

Richie Roy: Yeah. It's, it's, but it is, it is something, it's worth vigilance for sure.

stories of local communities [: 00:32:00

Healthcare and they came in to try to, you know, take them out of the exam chair.

John McMullen: Yeah. It's so despicable.

Richie Roy: Yeah. So,

John McMullen: you know, the next story though gives, is one that gives me a degree of hope because in a place that's as war torn, as screwed up as Ukraine is right now, and with the threat from, you know, one of the worst people in the, the history of the world.

[: 00:33:00

Richie Roy: Yeah. Um, it is so district court in Ukraine has made history by recognizing a same-sex couple as a family.

uk, have lived together since: 2013

Keith expressed his gratitude stating, quote, a very big and important step towards [00:34:00] marriage equality in Ukraine, and a small victory in our struggle for simple family happiness. While public support for LGBTQ plus rights has surged, legal advancements remain slow. Proposed bill for civil partnerships is stalled in parliament, but the ruling signals maybe some hope for progress in the future.

John McMullen: Yeah, I mean, if it can happen there, I. Anything is possible. I think, I mean, uh,

n Union if they want to be a [: 00:35:00

So I was happy to read the story.

Richie Roy: I'm happy to read the story too. And I think, I think you bring up a good point, which is, I think. Also, I don't know if this, this is kind of me speculating, but in a moment where, you know, obviously Ukraine and Russia, there's such tensions and, you know, active military combat, uh, that, and Russia is famously extremely hostile towards L-G-B-T-Q rights that I, I, I would like to think that maybe there is an aspect of this, which is like, we are not them, we're not Russia, we're not.

ulus here is that, you know, [: 00:36:00

I saw a, a thing today on social media and I was, I. I was puzzled and I looked it up. So I don't know if you ever watched Chip and Joanna Gaines. Do you know this couple? They, they do home renovations in Waco, Texas.

John McMullen: Oh, no, I, I haven't seen them

Richie Roy: and I'm try, I'm blanking on the name of their show. I used to watch it religious.

for being on HGTV, which is [: 00:37:00

There's tons of gaze on there. I mean, well,

John McMullen: and I think part of that is because most of the content that is on that channel is out of Canada.

Richie Roy: Well, there's a lot outta Canada, but even, even the ones that aren't out of Canada, you know, uh, like House Hunter International. Just generally, you know, I think that there are just a, there are a lot of gays also that like, like to do home renovations, right?

got, I saw a tweet that was [: 00:38:00

And so they have their own network now. It's called Magnolia Network and it's sort of Magnolia. Magnolia, yeah. And it, you know, it, it's, it's all their lifestyle brand. And they have, you know, other shows and they have a whole slate of programming and they have a show that is coming out, which is. Sort of like Frontier House, I think.

Um, which is basically some families go move to like the, the Canada Prairie and live in the way that you would have to live in like the 18 hundreds uhhuh, you know, for small, you know, so where it's like no electricity, you know all, no, you know, you're living like in the past. That's the whole gist of the show.

John McMullen: Little house on the Canadian Prairie.

Richie Roy: Yeah. But one [: 00:39:00

MAGA Christian Conservative. Oh, stands of Chip and Joanna Gaines. And they're, I mean, they're, they're like, you know, they're burning their shiplap, they're pissed. Um, and, and there was, you know, chip and Joanna Gaines. I, you know, I think they issued a statement or something. It basically was, you know. They weren't, they weren't holding, you know, a, a pride flag or something, but it was this kind of very watch and, and watch and see what you think, you know, is a very milk toast thing.

tually in this moment. Yeah. [: 00:40:00

Actually, that could be fun.

John McMullen: You know, I'm gonna tie that story you just told into our next story, uh, because speaking of somebody who I think is actually living their faith, honestly, on the North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has vetoed several controversial anti diversity bills, including one that sought to ban gender affirming care for transgender inmates.

. Aimed to [: 00:41:00

Could he be a real person of faith?

Richie Roy: Hmm.

John McMullen: Um, I mean, seriously, the legislation originally began as a bipartisan effort to verify ages for adult websites, but morphed into a far right initiative against transgender rights. Imagine that Stein also rejected additional bills that would limit diversity funding in schools and state agencies stating we should not whitewash history advocating for diverse perspectives in education.

ity, they require democratic [: 00:42:00

That's awesome. Yeah. Another, another piece of good news this week, I think.

u d don't deserve any rights.[: 00:43:00

Um, you know, you don't deserve, uh, to, uh, have health, you know, any kind of healthcare, you know, let alone gender affirming care. Um. You know, one of the, one of the things that's always a pet peeve of mine is casual jokes about prison rape. People think it's hilarious. That is not, you are not sentenced to 10 years of non-consensual sexual assault.

You're sentenced to a period of time in a facility. Yeah. And so the idea that

John McMullen: part of your punishment is the deprivation of your liberty not to be tortured.

Richie Roy: Yeah. And so it, it's kind of all a piece of that puzzle, you know? And so, uh, you know, we've seen attempts in the past, you know, in different places to, to dehumanize trans inmates, you know, to put them in the wrong facility if there's a men's jail.

They [: 00:44:00

Um, and were a judged by a jury to have done so. You're still a human, um, and you are afforded basic protections, including your gender affirming care, which again, um, it's like saying to someone, you know, because you. Uh, you know, I, I don't know because you broke, because you

John McMullen: men and women in the same cells in jails or prisons,

Richie Roy: right?

oke into a Chipotle and, and [: 00:45:00

And conditions don't matter. Your medical care doesn't matter. Your food doesn't matter. And there are a lot of, if

John McMullen: you had, if you ever had any question about any of that, the fact that right now we are dealing with this situation down in. Florida with this so-called alligator Alcatraz. Mm-hmm. Where the conditions are deplorable.

Absolutely deplorable.

Richie Roy: Yeah.

r housing anybody. It's just [: 00:46:00

Richie Roy: Me too. And the, the idea that we've gotten to a point over however many years, and I think really again, amplified and metastasized by Trump 1.0, Maga the whole thing to where you can completely dehumanize people.

people to essentially like a [: 00:47:00

Um, and the, there's one, like one toilet for all of them. The toilet is right next to all the beds and the water that they drink is filtered out of that to, you know, in, in essentially a tent in Florida, you know, in the middle of summer. The fact that anyone. Would be happy to be complicit with. That means that they have gone so far down, uh, into such a dark place that they truly don't believe that people who were asylum seekers or even green card holders, uh, who maybe did a, uh, had a misdemeanor, that those people are actually not even humans end.

ho have that much disrespect [: 00:48:00

you're either pro-life or you're not.

Richie Roy: Mm-hmm.

John McMullen: And if you are, I'll tell you what, you definitely went to a different church than I did as a kid. I never heard any messages that indicated that that is how we should treat our fellow humankind.

Richie Roy: Yeah, I, I, I don't think it's in there. I mean, maybe, you know, we can, uh, you know, maybe do a control F on the Bible and search, um.

you're right. These are also [: 00:49:00

I think most

John McMullen: of us, regardless of whether we were people of faith or not, I think most of us were at least raised with some message or some version of the quote unquote golden rule, and that we have fallen so far away as a, as a whole. That we have fallen so far away from that, that ideal, it gags me.

Richie Roy: Mm-hmm.

John McMullen: I mean, not only, not even a 14 inch dick is gonna gag me. That gags me.

Richie Roy: Yeah.

n: So, you know, I think you [: 00:50:00

Richie Roy: Yeah. It's, it's very disparing. You know, I think, um, but go, you know, looking back at the stories from today, you know, we have some good, some bad. Mm-hmm. I think one of the things that all of them kind of highlight is keep on it.

Put the, put the pressure on, pay attention, applaud, bravery when it is there, you know. Because it's rare now. Um, so we, we'll celebrate it when we see it, um, because we want to give that positive reinforcement, right? Do you know, do do it even if it's not, do the right thing, even if it's not popular. But, um.

You know,

now, looking for some of the [: 00:51:00

Fighting the Megas and anybody that you listen to, maybe that you watch on TikTok or that you follow on a YouTube channel or in Instagram or on, you know, any of that social media stuff that you think, wow, every time I hear them talk, I'm like, that person is fearless. They are fearless. They are on the ball and they want change, and I think the way that they do that, they articulate what I feel.

chieandjohn.com. If you have [: 00:52:00

Please send them to info@richieandjohn.com. We would love to hear from you.

Richie Roy: Absolutely. A hundred percent. And, um, yeah, keep. Let us know. Yeah. 'cause you know, um, we, we can't see all the social media other, there's a lot of it. Um, and I have to say, if they're, if the person's on TikTok, I'm certainly not seeing them 'cause I don't do TikTok.

a story you hear about that [: 00:53:00

'cause that's the thing too, is. We, we sort of source our stories from a, a broad array of places, but we can't know everything that's happening everywhere. You know, you may be in, you know, Meridian, Mississippi and the local news may ha or you may hear from a friend about something that's happening at a local store.

We don't let us know. We'd love to cover stuff that, you know, maybe isn't anywhere else. And that is stuff that you're gonna bring to us. So reach out to us no matter what about anything. We'd love to hear from you and have a great week, John. I hope that you get all of that engineering stuff. Worked out in our new HQ in Palm Springs.

in the next week or two. So [: 00:54:00

Until then, may your shadow fall in pleasant places. Have a great week, Richie.