Black trans film Kokomo City is in theaters now & Ken Mejia-Beal, the first Black gay chair of the Democratic Party in DuPage County joins Queer News - Monday, August 14, 2023

Welcome to our summer interview series. This week Anna DeShawn realized she hadn’t talked to any politicians as part of the Summer interview series. So she’s starting with Ken Mejia-Beal. Ken is a published commentator, a vocal activist for chronic illness for the last 16 years, in 2019 Ken was interviewed by the Smithsonian museum of African American history due to his groundbreaking work in the HIV/AIDS realm. Ken is also the first Black Chair of the Democratic Party of DuPage County, the first chair Under 40, first LGBT Chair, and the first Chair to win the Esteem Award for Man of the Year, 2022. We had a wonderful conversation about being Black & Queer in politics and why it's so important for us to be represented.

Follow Ken on Twitter: @KMBFORDUPAGE

00:00 - Welcome to the Queer News podcast

00:32 - Join the QCrew for Anna’s 40th Birthday 🥳

2:22 - Top queer news stories

5:45 - Subscribe to The Head Nod, https://pod.link/1699870161

8:36 - Subscribe to Rebound Revolution, https://pod.link/reboundrev

9:09 - Buy an Ad on the Queer News podcast, https://bit.ly/3ohYXAw

9:41 - Intro Music by Aina Bre’Yon

10:17 - Interview with Ken Mejia-Beal

14:49 - Who is Ken Mejia-Beal

29:25 - Anna’s Got a Word

30:32 - Outro

More on the Summer Interview Series

The Queer News team is changing it up for the next couple of months so we have a little more time to enjoy the summer, our families, and rest. We hope you enjoy these conversations with some really wonderful queer folks doing good in the world. Those are the stories we want to amplify here on Queer News.

During the interview series we won’t leave queer news stories on the sidelines either. Anna will provide brief commentary about the top one or two queer news stories happening that we should be following. Not full stories but know we are still closely following the queer news feeds. You can always follow Anna on social media to stay up to date.

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Things for you to check out

Join the QCrew & Celebrate Anna’s 40th Birthday

https://bit.ly/3L3Ng66

Buy an Ad on the Queer News podcast

https://bit.ly/SponsorQueerNews

Get Your Ticket! Queer News is on Tour

https://theqube.app/tour

Subscribe to The Head Nod

https://pod.link/1699870161

Subscribe to Rebound Revolution

https://pod.link/reboundrev

Listen to our first Qube Original podcast

Black HIV in the South: How Did We Get Here?

https://www.urban1podcasts.com/black-hiv-south

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About Queer News

An intersectional approach to a weekly news podcast where race & sexuality meet politics, entertainment and culture. Tune-in to reporting which centers & celebrates all of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & comrade communities. Hosted by Anna DeShawn. New pod every Monday by 7am CT.

We want to hear from you. Tune in and tell us what you think. email us at [email protected]. Follow Anna DeShawn on Twitter: @annadeshawn. Interested in advertising? Check out our packages here, https://bit.ly/3ohYXAw

Podcast Editing by Xperience J of Shhh! Jus’ Listen Media https://.instagram.com/xperiencejay