In The End It All Works Out

Explicit content warning

08/09/17 • 46 min

If you’ve been listing to the show from the start you’ve most likely heard episode 4 called The Trans Experience. That episode continues to be one of our top downloaded episodes and is also the episode I get the most feedback on from people all over the world about how much it has helped them in one way or another.

With that said, today we will have the chance to hear another story from a transgender women. Today you’ll be listening to Sharon Brown’s story. Sharon is a trans women of color who grew up in the south. Today she resides here in Los Angeles, CA.

Im excited to share Sharon story because I think it sheds a light on the segregation within ones own family that not only trans men and women experience but many LGBT people in general are faced with throughout our lives. At times the distance can be self-inflicted, and more often than not, it is put into motion by family members. That is a big part of Sharon’s story. In fact it is something that shaped her upbringing, and what life looked like for the majority of her adult life.

Telling Sharon’s story is meant to further our mission to unity two communities together in acceptance. I firmly believe that when those non-accepting, or those whom don’t understand the LGBT community, take the time to humble themselves and try to find some commonality between the LGBT community and themselves, that the possibilities for acceptance are endless.

Previous Episode

Lorri L. Jean - Los Angeles LGBT Center

Hi everyone. I want to take a moment to thank all of our listeners. LGBT Stories is growing, and it is growing fast. Honestly, it's shocking to me. In only 6.5 months we have surpassed 12K downloads on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher Radio. I receive emails from listeners all over the globe thanking us for what we are doing for our community. I want you all to know, each and every one of you is being heard. Unfortunately, I am unable to reply to them all but rest assured, I am working on it. All in all, I wanted to take a moment and simply say, THANK YOU. Thank you for your support, and your time listening. We are working on more amazing episodes hoping to bring light on all the stories our community has to offer the world! Thanks for listening.

It goes without saying that when having a show about LGBT people telling their life stories one would want one of the most successful and passionate activists on this planted to appear on the show. I consider this a major milestone for LGBT Stories. We’ve been working on this for quite some time now and I am more than pleased to share the amazing story of Lorri L Jean with you all.

For those of you who are not familiar with who Lorri Jean is, she is the CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. She has directed the LA LGBT Center to become the largest most widespread LGBT centers in the entire world. Because of Lorrie’s passion and drive, the LA LGBT Center has been able to help our community reach levels that many generations before us could have only dreamed about.

In today’s episode, Lorri tells her story of where she came from, and what her climb to CEO has been like.

Next Episode

Gay In The Military

In this episode we are going to hear the story of a good friend of mine... his name is Stan. For as long as I have known Stan I’ve always known that he was in the Army. Foolishly I never thought about was how it must have been for him to be a gay man in the army. For some reason, it just never crossed my mind. Stan is also a very spiritual man. He has a deeply personal relationship with his God and it is admirable, to say the least.

I would imagine that being a gay man in the army, and being a spiritual man who happens to be gay creates a sense of a distorted self-identity. However, much to my dismay, Stan does a wonderful job at debunking this belief of mine.Originally I had asked Stan to tell his story of what his experience was like being in the Army before and after DADT was repealed. What I got was a story about the intersection of faith, homosexuality,

Originally I had asked Stan to tell his story of what his experience was like being in the Army before and after DADT was repealed. What I got was a story about the intersection of faith, homosexuality, a living through personal challenges while having to portray an image of one's own masculinity.

Today's episode dives deep into a few hot topics that are used against the LGBT community (such as faith and homosexuality) to persecute us, or used to make us seem less-than. I'm hoping that when you listen to Stan’s story that his genteelness and his desire to share his message of hope and love inspire you to do the same. Love thy neighbor.