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LGBTQ&A

Karine Jean-Pierre: The Historic White House Press Secretary

LGBTQ&A

Jeffrey Masters

Society & Culture

4.7703 Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As of today, a Black lesbian is now the voice and face of the United States government. Karine Jean-Pierre, the newest White House press secretary, joins us to talk about why there is a place for all of us in politics, no matter what you might think of as the typical background or narrative for a politician. If a queer woman of color who immigrated to the U.S. as a kid could make it in politics, she says, then so can you. 

LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod 

[This interview was originally recorded in November 2019.]

Transcript

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0:00.0

Okay, so this is something that I still haven't fully processed.

0:04.0

As of today, right now, Kareen-Jean Pierre is the new White House Press Secretary.

0:11.0

That means that a black lesbian is now the face and voice of the United States government.

0:17.0

It's completely wild to think about, especially considering the fact that when

0:22.1

Kareen was working as a staff member of the Obama White House, she couldn't even legally marry

0:27.0

her partner. So on the podcast today, I want to celebrate this bit of good news, something that

0:33.5

we in the community are desperately in need of. And to celebrate, I wanted to share this

0:38.4

conversation that I had with Kareen when her memoir came out. That memoir is called Moving Forward

0:44.2

and the message of the book is that all of us, no matter what you might think of as a typical

0:49.8

background or story for a politician, all of us have a place in politics.

0:55.5

If Karene Jean-Pierre, a queer woman of color who immigrated to the U.S. as a kid,

1:01.6

could make it in politics, she says, then so can you.

1:06.2

Who knows, you might even just be the next White House press secretary.

1:11.4

When we spoke, Kareem was appearing on NBC and MSNBC as a political analyst,

1:16.4

so you'll hear us talk about that, as well as what she learned working for a rather wide array of politicians,

1:23.4

including John Edwards, Anthony Wiener, and of course President Barack Obama.

1:28.8

So from The Advocate Magazine in Partnership with Glad, I'm Jeffrey Masters, and this is LGBTQ and A.

1:43.9

Thank you for having me.

1:45.4

Of course.

1:45.9

I'm excited.

1:46.7

Thank you.

1:47.1

Yay.

...

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