Hi, I'm Anna Marie Cox and welcome to With Friends Like These, the show where we talk about the differences between us without letting them divide us.

This week's guest is Michael Arsino. He's the author of, I Can't Date Jesus, Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I Put My Faith in Beyonce.

And this book is now a bestseller and it is health hilarious. It is a lot about pop culture, a lot about Beyonce.

A lot about his personal journey as a queer black man from Houston. And he may not seem like an obvious choice to be a guest on this show, although he has written about politics too.

But as he and I discuss, you know, everything he mentions in that title has a political aspect to it.

Jesus, Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Yes, even Beyonce.

Michael Arsino, coming right up.

I'd like to welcome to the show The New York Times bestselling author Michael Arsino. He is a Houston bread, Howard University Educator, writer currently living in Harlem.

Michael, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me. It's such an honor.

I am thrilled to have you. Your book is hilarious. I think it will be a great follow up to anyone who has read the book by last week's New York Times bestselling author Rick Wilson. You are a great counterpoint.

Yes, I felt like I'm on Morning Joe.

You should be on Morning Joe. You were on Morning Joe, I would totally tune in. Not that I don't already watch.

It's called, I can't date Jesus, Love, Sex, Family, Race, and other reasons I've put my faith in Beyonce.

I almost want to tell people before you do the excerpt that we've decided on.

The book isn't extraordinarily political, but I really liked this one section. I think it speaks to the ways that the book is political, which is that it's about your life.

I really appreciate you saying that because it's been hard. It was hard to sell this book. One house in particular wanted me to be overtly political because I do political writing.

But I wanted my life to be a political statement in of itself. So actually, thank you for validating my position.

I firmly believe that you're that well, all of our lives are political, but I actually have some more questions about that particular intersection for you.

But let's get on to the actual excerpt because I want people to hear why this is a New York Times bestseller.

Yes, this is from the Pink Print, which is an Nicki Minaj reference for anyone that is Hashtag Team Minaj.

I don't care about white people like that. That's not to say I carry with me some pointed irrational hostility towards white people.

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