EP 37 – Stan – We Are You
What happens when we stop focusing on what separates us and start building around what connects us?
This week on the GayPHX Podcast, Bily sits down at the Rainbow Tinted Microphone with Stan Roland Johnson, founder, CEO, and president of the We Are You Campaign, for a conversation about community, collaboration, and creating spaces where more of us feel like we belong.
Founded in 2024, We Are You grew from a simple but powerful idea: underneath all the labels, backgrounds, identities, and experiences we carry, there is a shared humanity connecting us.
Stan talks with Bily about bringing that idea into action — building bridges between Black, LGBTQIA+, multicultural, faith, and other communities throughout Arizona instead of allowing those communities to remain separated from one another.
They dig into some of the places where those divides still exist, including the gap Stan has experienced between straight Black and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and why meaningful change requires more than simply talking to people who already agree with us.
The conversation also explores the Future of Faith Forum and the importance of creating dialogue with faith communities without attacking anyone’s beliefs; the need for education surrounding HIV and other issues affecting our community; and the larger challenges of food insecurity, healthcare, literacy, shelter, and affordable housing.
Stan also shares some of his own journey as a Black trans man and what finding both his Black and queer communities has taught him about acceptance, affirmation, love, and the importance of creating spaces where people don’t have to leave part of themselves at the door.
Because We Are You isn’t about pretending our differences don’t exist.
It’s about recognizing that those differences don’t have to keep us apart.
Plus, Brian, our Desert Den Daddy, has this week’s Hot 3, and the Amory Pack is behind the microphones to get things started and bring us home.
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