John Green's Commencement Address

Tweet Pin It

The Internet is so vast that I feel lucky to come across things like this.

A couple years after I graduated from college, I was living in an apartment in Chicago with four friends, one of whom was this Kuwaiti guy named Hassan, and when the U.S. invaded Iraq, Hassan lost touch with his family, who lived on the border, for six weeks. He responded to this stress by watching cable news coverage of the war 24 hours a day. So the only way to hang out with Hassan was to sit on the couch with him, and so one day we were watching the news and the anchor was like, "We're getting new footage from the city of Baghdad," and a camera panned across a house that had a huge hole in one wall covered by a piece of plywood. On the plywood was Arabic graffiti scrawled in black spraypaint, and as the news anchor talked about the anger on the Arab street or whatever, Hassan started laughing for the first time in several weeks. 

"What's so funny?" I asked him. 

"The graffiti," he said. 

"What's funny about it?" 

"It says, Happy Birthday, Sir, Despite the Circumstances." 

For the rest of your life, you are going to have a choice about how to read graffiti in a language you do not know, and you will have a choice about how to read the actions and intonations of the people you meet. I would encourage you as often as possible to consider the Happy Birthday Sir Despite the Circumstances possibility, the possibility that the lives and experiences of others are as complex and unpredictable as your own, that other people—be they family or strangers, near or far—are not simply one thing or the other—not simply good or evil or wise or ignorant—but that they like you contain multitudes, to borrow a phrase from the great Walt Whitman.

The rest of author John Green's wise and wonderful commencement speech to the 2013 graduates of Butler University can be found here.

An Interview with Greg Sherrell

Tweet Pin It

In 2005, after spending 10 years on the promotional side of radio, Greg Sherrell, then a resident of Dallas, burst onto Bay Area airwaves when he called into the San Francisco morning show of longtime friend Fernando Ventura. Three weeks later, Greg sold everything that wouldn't fit into his car and drove from Texas to California to make his mark on Ventura's show as Greg the Gay Sportscaster. A short time later, he and Ventura began co-hosting Fernando and Greg in the Morning, now one of the most popular radio programs in the Bay Area.

My first experience with Fernando and Greg in the Morning came during a segment dubbed "Homo vs. Hetero," a twice-weekly contest pitting one gay player against one straight player in a trivia battle in which the gay player attempts to answer questions geared toward straight people, and vice versa. In the nearly two years since hearing them for the first time, I've come to value not only the humor Ventura and Sherrell bring to my morning, but the perspective they offer as the first openly gay co-hosts on American commercial radio.

Inspired by the energy and humor he exhibits during his morning show, I reached out to Sherrell this week to discuss what it's like to be gay on the radio, his admiration for Charles Barkley and his hope for the LGBTQ community.

Greg Sherrell makes up one-half of Fernando and Greg in the Morning, the first morning show on American commercial radio to feature openly gay co-hosts.
(via)

AN INTERVIEW WITH GREG SHERRELL

CL: What are you up to these days? 

GS: Professionally, I've been part of Fernando and Greg in the Morning since 2006 and we're now in our fourth year on 99.7 Now, which covers the entire Bay Area. We also record a side show podcast twice a week.

CL: What's it like to be gay on the radio? 

GS: To be honest, I don't even think about it anymore. It's just Fernando and I coming in and doing the show. When we first started we were told not to be too gay. In fact, our first program director didn't want to put us on the air together at all because he thought it would turn people off, and he was a gay man. Luckily, the owner, who was straight, thought Fernando and I were great together, so he really pushed for it.

CL: How is what you're doing making a difference in the LGBTQ community?

GS: Growing up, I didn't think that there was anybody else in the world like me. All I knew was that being gay was considered wrong. Now, when a young gay kid is on their way to school and they turn on the radio, they can hear Fernando and I and know that there are other people like them out there and that they don't have to hide. I think our radio show gives us that voice in the LGBTQ community. Hopefully it gives others a positive perspective on being gay so they don't have to feel like the only gay person in the world like I did.

CL: What LGBTQ issue are you most passionate about?  

GS: Like a lot of people today, I'm most passionate about issues dealing with LGBTQ youth. There's a lot of great work being done, like the It Gets Better Project, which I admire, but I think my passion goes past bullying. The worst thing for us is that we can hide our sexuality, and if you can hide a problem, there's a chance that you'll never deal with it. I know I wasn't truly happy until I was living my true life, so I hope I can inspire young people to just be themselves.

CL: Can you name the one person whose contribution to the LGBTQ community has inspired you most?

GS: I wouldn't say there's one person who I look at and say, "Oh my god, look at what they're doing." I think what inspires me today is seeing gay and straight people working in unison for the same cause. They're working for equal rights because they know it's the right thing to do.

CL: As Greg the Gay Sportscaster, can you talk a bit about homosexuality in professional sports?

GS: When Jason Collins came out of the closet, sure his story touched me, but it was really the reaction of other athletes that got me most. Charles Barkley is one of them. He has been such a force in speaking for the gay community even before it was being talked about. His response has been amazing. One of the things he said is that as an African American he can't imagine discriminating against other people because he knows what it's like. Other players like Kobe Bryant and Tony Parker have been strong advocates and have supported the cause as well.

Tim Hardaway is another strong advocate. And if you look up Tim Hardaway, you'll see that he has said some horrible things about the gay community in the past, but he recanted on his own and apologized for what he said and now he works with transgender youth who have a higher suicide rate than everybody else. For someone to realize that they did or said something wrong and actually showed that they were sorry, that's the kind of stuff that truly inspires me.

CL: If you had to recommend one book, movie or song with an LGBTQ bent, what would your recommendation be?

GS: I would recommend a pair of books called One Teenager in Ten and Two Teenagers in 20 that were put together by a couple of therapists and feature personal stories of LGBTQ youth coming out. The story that I remember most from these books was written not by the person coming out, but by the mother of a young lesbian. Her daughter had tried to come out to her many times, but the mom just couldn't understand it or deal with it and her daughter ended up committing suicide. The toll that it took on the mother realizing what she did made her share her experience as a way to help others. It's an incredible story about how people's reactions to the differences of others can impact somebody to the point of suicide.

I would also recommend anything by David Sedaris. Me Talk Pretty One Day is a must-read if you're gay and grew up in the 60s or 70s or 80s. It's so easy to connect with and it assured me that there were others out there just like me. It was like Sedaris was telling my story. While I was reading it I thought, 'Oh my god, this is my life.'

CL: What do you hope for the LGBTQ community?

GS: To be honest, the strides we've already made are amazing. I remember the first person I knew who was an advocate for gay marriage. She drove us all freaking nuts because she was so into it when nobody else cared about that issue because we didn't think we deserved it or we weren't conditioned to the idea that it was even possible. And now it's so talked about. It's incredible that it's on the lips of everybody in America, from the President of the United States on down. In a way, she and the people like her were visionaries.

To answer your question, I guess my hope is that one day it won't be a big deal to come out anymore. I remember when I was a kid and I didn't know what gay was yet, I asked my mom why everybody was making such a big deal out of Billie Jean King. My mom told me it was because she was a lesbian. Not knowing what a lesbian was at the time, I asked my mom if it was illegal and when she told me it wasn't I said, "Then what's the big deal?" So I hope that people will just feel comfortable coming out and it won't be a very big deal.

To connect with Greg Sherrell, follow him on Twitter.

For more info about Fernando and Greg in the Morning, visit their website.


Note: Every week I post an interview with someone who I believe is making a positive impact on the LGBTQ community. Previous interviewees have included athletes, authors, businesspeople, entertainers and politicians. For a complete list, click here.

GLAAD Media Awards Red Carpet

Tweet Pin It

Do you recognize anyone at 28:38?

Why yes, that is me in the black suit and receding hairline.

Thought: #26

Tweet Pin It

It takes my body longer to recover from an airplane ride than a hangover.

An Interview with Fred Sainz

Tweet Pin It

In 2010, Fred Sainz joined the Human Rights Campaign, the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, as its Vice President of Communications and Marketing. Earlier this year, Sainz' work made headlines when nearly three million Facebook users changed their profile pictures to a modified version of the HRC logo to show support for marriage equality in the days leading up to the Supreme Court hearings on cases affecting the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8.

"Red, which is the color of love, was selected, basically, to represent the fact that what we are looking for is for the Supreme Court to recognize long-term committed and loving relationships of gay people," Sainz said of the new-look logo, which received an estimated nine million views and 60,000 shares in the campaign's first 24 hours. "There's a lot of serious conversation going on and there's an awful lot of important concepts that the Supreme Court justices are discussing. What this logo going viral means is individuals have reduced it to a very straightforward concept. It shows the enthusiasm and the passion."

Inspired by the fact that his work is helping to unite people, both gay and straight, in the spirit of equality, I reached out to Sainz earlier this week to discuss his work with the Human Rights Campaign, how he's making a difference in the LGBTQ community and Alan Downs' book The Velvet Rage.

Fred Sainz is the Vice President of Communications and Marketing for the HRC.
(via hrc.org)

AN INTERVIEW WITH FRED SAINZ

CL: What are you up to these days?

FS: Today I'm preparing for the mark-up of the immigration reform bill, working with reporters on the one-year anniversary of President Obama's support for marriage equality and getting ready for the Supreme Court decisions on the two marriage cases, DOMA and Prop 8. I'm also taking press calls and answering hundreds of emails.

CL: What role does the HRC play in assisting with issues like immigration reform and the Supreme Court's decisions on the two marriage cases?

FS: The Human Rights Campaign is a partner in the coalition effort aimed at LGBTQ inclusion in the immigration bill and my boss, Chad Griffin, the President of the Human Rights Campaign, was the founding president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the sponsor of the Prop 8 case, so my job is to lead the messaging efforts from the HRC's perspective on these issues.

CL: Speaking of messaging, can you share a bit about the movement back in March that saw millions of people change their profile pictures to a modified version of the HRC logo in support of marriage equality?

FS: First of all, I think the show of support went well beyond just marriage equality. It was a moment when people from all walks of life, not just LGBTQ people or even our straight allies, were looking for a way to show their support for equality. That event allowed everyone to have a role and to show their support. Supreme Court deliberations are so highbrow that I think the genius of the moment was giving people something to do that everyone could accomplish.

CL: How is what you're doing making a difference in the LGBTQ community?

FS: I don't think of it that way. I would like to think that I make a difference, and I certainly believe that the HRC's work is strategic and impactful, but I think things go horribly wrong when you are convinced that you are the difference. I think it's important to be respectful and inclusive of a broad array of perspectives and work plans. We're a social justice movement and it has and will continue to take the efforts of all of us to achieve full and legal equality for every LGBTQ American.

CL: What LGBTQ issue are you most passionate about? 

FS: All of them, really, because there's no one issue that solely guarantees us equality. We have to pursue multiple and simultaneous paths to make sure that we get it all. And that's why I love working for a multi-issue advocacy organization like the Human Rights Campaign.

If you nailed me to a wall and said I had to choose one, I would say issues that affect our youth are most important to me. I remember being a scared 13-year-old gay kid with feelings of isolation wondering when the cavalry would arrive and come to my rescue. I'm now that cavalry and it's a responsibility I don't take lightly.

CL: Can you name the one person whose contribution to the LGBTQ community has inspired you most? 

FS: I think about Harvey Milk virtually every day. Eight out of every 10 Americans know someone who is LGBTQ. In my opinion, we have come as far as we have because it's virtually impossible to continue to discriminate against us the more you know us, so I see the genius of Harvey's strategy and thinking every day.

CL: If you had to recommend one book, movie or song with an LGBTQ bent, what would your recommendation be?  

FS: It bears mentioning, and the author is very upfront about this, that it's a book intended solely for gay men, but I would recommend The Velvet Rage by Alan Downs. It should be required reading for every gay man in America. A friend of mine gave it to me two years ago and it has changed my life. I now understand so many of my actions as a gay man.

CL: What do you hope for the LGBTQ community?

FS: I hope for full and legal equality within my lifetime for all LGBTQ Americans. It's a tremendous privilege to be working on these issues at this point in history and I never forget that we stand on the shoulders of so many amazing people who paved the way for what is now possible.

To connect with Fred Sainz, follow him on Twitter.

For more information about the Human Rights Campaign, visit hrc.org.


Note: Every Wednesday I post an interview with someone who I believe is making a positive impact on the LGBTQ community. Previous interviewees have included athletes, authors, businesspeople, entertainers and politicians. For a complete list, click here.