This week, we decided kind of last minute to do a fun, light-hearted episode instead of the episode we’d been planning to do (probably going to table that one for next Friday). This week, since this episode drops on June 1, we talk about Pride! We tell our fun stories from Pride festivals, and to end the episode, we each give our accounts about the first day we met each other. It was a fun conversation and we kept it super casual and not planned out. Next week will be a more serious and researched topic. For now, though: Happy Pride to you! If you live in a place without a Pride parade/festival, know that we are thinking about you and you’re never alone. 
Podcast: The Queer Arabs
We spoke to Mekhi Adams (he invites you to email him at [email protected] if you have questions/feedback). Mekhi is one of the many individuals who has seen the impact and manipulation caused to many by Rabi’a.
Some points from this episode:
-Rab’ia is a supposed “ally leader” but abuses her position.
-She consistently misrepresents herself, her position and the positions of those around her using her respectability as a minority leader as a sword and shield.
-She turns questions of her credibility into arguments over race and religion. She creates situations where people are pitted against each other for their own interests.
-She poisons the reputation of others in order to get people to believe in who she says she is.-
We have heard from Bay Area (and even Oakland specifically) queer Muslims who feel a part of the vibrant social justice and progressive communities did not get reflected in Rabi’a’s interview.
EDIT/UPDATE May 29th, 2018: This track was also be added to the end of Rabi’a’s episode, however upon her request her interview has been removed. Thanks for listening and we are very sorry to all who we did not listen to immediately. We have learned a lot from this experience and we hope we never cause harm to people in the future again.
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