Rated LGBT Radio

As LGBTQ Kids are Under Siege, Who is There to Help Them? Not Who You Think

The fascist-leaning arm of the Republican Party is moving fast and hard against LGBTQ kids. As concerned advocates warn of "blood on your hands", the power brokers in many red states blatantly do not care.
Who can at risk LGBTQ youth turn to? The logical answer, the advocacy group most funded by the LGBTQ concerned population, is the Trevor Project. However, due to issues we will review in our special report by Brody Levesque today, that organization is falling down on its ability to help kids when they are at a crisis point.
We also will be talking to Lance Preston, Founder and Executive Director of the Rainbow Youth Project USA, a social welfare organization that promotes the health, safety, and wellness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual young people throughout the United States. We will be talking about the real-life experiences of kids persecuted by the new oppression being put upon them. We will be talking about the help they need, the hlep they are not getting, and what can be done.

A Film in the Making, SCRAPS - If HEARTSTOPPER was set in Montana

SCRAPS is not a film you can see... yet, but if filmmakers Ryan Nordin and Matthew Francis have anything to say about it, it is a film you will be able to see soon.
The film is set in the summer of 2003 in rural Montana, shy art student Gus Shepard and rebellious skateboarder Bridger Owens navigate unexpected young love and harsh small-town judgement while selling handcrafted boards to a gang of Livingston skaters.
Today we talk to writers and producers Ryan Nordin and Matthew Francis.  The story of SCRAPS is based on Ryan's own Montana coming out story.
At a young age, while growing up in Minnesota, Ryan found a passion for the outdoors and film. He got his start working as a visual effects artist, working with brands like Samsung, Oakley, Hyundai, and ESPN, before transitioning to directing. Ryan is currently based in Bozeman, Montana and is a founder of Mission Ranch, a production company . Matthew taught himself how to write scripts, direct, film, host, edit, and market digital video by launching his own cooking youtube channel and founding FrancisFilm, LLC. Matthew has directed and produced over 2,200 recipe videos for multiple major media companies including BuzzFeed, Tasty, Viacom, Jikoni, FOOD & WINE, EatingWell, Allrecipes, Southern Living, and more. He is the creator and host of his food interview show Dinner Views which has 2 seasons. 
 
co-host Brody Levesque
 

Chaz Bono ! We Talk With the Trans Pioneer, Author, Actor and Producer!

He is a NYT Bestselling author. He is a film producer. He danced across screens in Dance With The Stars. He discussed penises with Larry David. He is arguably the most well known transgender man in America, and possibly the world.
He is Chaz Bono, and today we are going to be talking to him about his new film Bury the Bride .
Bury the Bride is a thriller in which a bachlorette party ends up in a desert shack in the wilderness, far from any other living being, and certainly too far from anyone being able to hear you scream.  What could go wrong?
Chaz is both executive producer and a character actor in the film.
With Co-Host Brody Levesque

The Warrior Nun’s Mother Superion, Sylvia De Fanti, is in the House!

The Netflix series "Warrior Nun" is a powerhouse tour-d-force of woman empowerment while being a provacateur of deeply traditional religious mythologies. "After waking up in a morgue, an orphaned teen discovers she now possesses superpowers as the chosen Halo-Bearer for a secret sect of demon-hunting nuns." The "demon-hunting nuns" have a foundational and guiding mother figure, aptly named Mother Superion, played by acclaimed actress Sylvia De Fanti. Sylvia is our guest today.
The ground-breaking series is highly regarded by critics, and has established a deeply loyal following who call themselves Nunkind or Halo Bearers (we will explain on the show).  The second season scored 100% from critics and 99% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, a record high for a Netflix original series. When Netflix did not order a third season, a movement has exploded.  #SaveWarriorNun trended immediately following the news (it has been tweeted more than 5 million times). More than 107,000 people have signed an online petition to renew the show for a third season.
Called "one to watch" by People Magazine, Sylvia has appeared on the series Empire and Medici and starred for a season on Itally's longest running series Incantesmo.
Sylvia is a pioneer in both theater and human rights. She has co-founded cultural center Angelo Mai , theater company Bluemotion, and Teatro Valle Occupato, and organization the New York Times called "a maverick institution established to empower Italy's workers in the fields of art, entertainment and culture."
 
With co-host Brody Levesque

Rated G Radio: VIP Guest Co-Host Stephanie Gerard

Welcome back to Rated G Radio!
Tonight Garrett welcomes back fan-favorite special guest co-host, Stephanie Gerard.  You'll remember Stephanie from her highly acclaimed "Journey with Stephanie" podcast where she interviews healers and other gifted souls.  
Stephanie will update us on what's been happening in her world.  We'll talk about what's coming up for our Summer plans - and, of course, Rated G Radio's Hot Topics.   If you would like to call in ON TOPIC to chat, please call 323 657-1493.
To schedule a private reading with Stephanie for her unique chakra healing, theta energy healing or spiritual readings - simply click HERE.

Minnesota Mean Director Dawn Mikkelson and the World of Women’s Roller Derby

Today is everything you did not know about women's Roller Derby through the eyes of six powerful players.  We discuss their stories told in the new documentary Minnesota Mean by Dawn Mikkelson.
“Minnesota Mean” follows a tumultuous year in the lives of the six core members of the Minnesota RollerGirls, one of the most competitive roller derby teams in the world, as they strive to win the Hydra, the top prize in Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby. In the film, the star of the team gets injured, and the film shows how her teammates find their own power. “Minnesota Mean” is not just a riveting human drama about the pounding heart of roller derby, but about the spirit of powerful, self-sufficient women from all walks of life and identity (straight, gay, trans, etc.). It’s a vital and relevant story of triumph, loss, strength, determination, and a search for balance between individuality and community. 
 Dawn is our guest today and is an extraordinary LGBTQ director, editor & producer, who embraces stories and voices that are often not amplified and often marginalized. A steady theme in her work is the power and strength of community made family. With an incredible background in broadcast, Dawn also recently co-directed, edited & produced our Rated LGBT Radio spotlighted film from last week, the acclaimed "Finding Her Beat,” made by a predominantly female/nonbinary, largely Asian-American and LGBTQ filmmaking team, and cast.
 
With co-host Brody Levesque

Taiko Rock Star Jennifer Weir and the Film FINDING HER BEAT is in the House!

Taiko is a rich and varied form of drumming that is part of Japan's cultural heritage. While it originally started in other parts of Asia, it emerged in Japan over 2000 years ago. It became a powerful motivator in military preparations and evolved into Japanese Buddhist and Shinto religions as a sacred instrument. Taiko literally means "drum" in Japanese, and the musical discipline of Taiko takes that instrument to its most impactful limits.
Because of its origins in patriarcal warfare and religious traditions, Taiko has been done for centuries only by men. Forty years ago, women musicians around the world became enthralled with the art form and have individually created their own Taiko compositions and disciplines. None of their efforts were collaborative or integrated -- each artist created and performed on her own.
Until now. 
Jennifer Weir, our guest today, is the Executive Director of TaikoArts Midwest. She decided to create the very first concert that would bring together all the female, and nonbinary, Taiko superstars to perform together on one stage in one mind-blowing performance. While doing so, she collaborated with a film team to make the documentary Finding Her Beat to tell the story of how the concert came together, and more broadly, spotlighting the evolution of an art form that now can belong to women artists as well as men.
With co-host Brody Levesque

Sasha Korbut, Dancer, Director, Film Producer, is Our Center Stage Today!

Our guest today brings a unique blends of talent and perspective. Sasha Korbut is a Russian-American dancer, actor, writer, and producer based in New York City.
Sasha began his career as a journalist, TV host, and producer at National Television in Russia and later contributed to numerous print and online magazines. A graduate of the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, he has been dancing and acting professionally for more than two decades and has worked for dance companies in Russia, South Korea, Spain, China, and the United States.
Today we will be discussing his debut as a film director and his new film Incomplete. Dance movement plays an intrigal part of the film's emotion and impact. Of the film, Sasha has said, "I wanted to focus on the sense of isolation and loneliness within the LGBTQIA+ community. But these issues are universal and while filming in 2022, I strongly felt the echoes of all the sadly lost connections we experienced during the COVID-19 worldwide lockdown."
With co-host Brody Levesque

How the Horrible Tennessee Shootings are Fueling Anti-Trans Rhetoric & Hatred

Americans sat back in horror on March 27, 2023, as news of a mass shooting hit the airwaves and social media. The shooting occurred at The Covenant School, a private Presbyterian parochial school in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee. Six people—three children and three staff members—were killed.
First reports indicated that the shooter was "a woman."  Further investigation indicates that the shooter was trans or non-binary. 
While most sane people are reacting to America's seemingly inability to solve the rising gun violence crisis, right wing voices from Marjorie Taylor Greene, to the New York Post, to Tucker Carlson are using the killings to raise ire against the transgender "community."  Carlson has elevated the murders to being a hatred and a war declared against Christians by transgender people.
Today we discuss the escalating attacks on transgenderr people with award winning, premier civil rights attorney Shannon Minter. Shannon serves as the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Shannon was lead counsel for same-sex couples in the landmark California marriage equality case which held that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to marry and that laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation are inherently discriminatory and subject to the highest level of constitutional scrutiny. 
We will also be discussing the 303 Creative LGBTQ discrimination case in front of the Supreme Court and the dangerous ruling that could result from that.
With co-host Brody Levesque

”How We Won the War for LGBTQ Equality” Author and Editor Kevin Naff

Washington Blade Editor, Kevin Naff is known for best-in-class journalism and coverage of LGBTQ people and issues. He has been with the Blade since 2002, when he took the helm of the nation's oldest LGBTQ news organization. Previous to that, he spent four years at The Baltimore Sun, helping launch the paper's web site in
1996. He has worked as a financial reporter for Reuters, edited a national business trade journal and spent a year in the communications office of a U.S. senator. He graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor's degree in journalism and holds a master's certificate in public policy.
He has written a poignant memoir leveraging his birds-eye view of LGBTQ history through the marriage equality, hate crimes legislation, and  defeat of DADT fights. The memoir is boldly titled "How We Won the War for LGBTQ Equality", but its subtitle is the one to which we all need to pay attention: 
"And How Our Enemies Could Take it All Away".
Fear not, this is no dry telling of gay history, however.  While unlike the bestseller Spare , there were no penises frozen in the writing of How We Won, but there is still plenty of  "T". From the outing of a prominent Fox News Host, to frantically crawling under tables at the Washington Correspondents Dinner with Laverne Cox looking for diamonds --there are stories to talk about!  And we do!
With co-host Brody Levesque