New podcast: A veteran and a warrior

Hanging out with Charlotte Clymer talking about yesterday's battles and today's too

A will to serve

This Memorial Day I wanted to have a veteran on the show and I’ve also been hoping to have Charlotte Clymer on the show forever so she was the perfect choice. She not only served in the Army but continues to serve in the fight for our nation’s future today as a passionate advocate for the LGTBQ community and a voice pushing back against growing extremism.

We constantly hear reference to the ‘culture war’ issues but for may of those who have served in the military it feels like a real war because real lives are in danger. Charlotte has been at the forefront of these battles for most of her adult life from serving in the Army’s famed ‘Old Guard’ at Arlington National Cemetery, to attending West Point, to speaking for the Human Rights Campaign, and now her popular and award nominated Substack ‘Charlotte’s Web Thoughts.’

This week was the perfect time to chat as Memorial Day is the holiday where we recognize those who gave "the last full measure of devotion,” as President Abraham Lincoln so eloquently described those who fall while serving. For many of us who wore the uniform and lost men and women as well as those like Charlotte who had the difficult job of tending to them when they came home for their final journey, it holds a special place in our hearts. We discussed this holiday and the battle we face in this engaging conversation. I hope you’ll check it out, like, share, and subscribe.

About Charlotte

Charlotte Clymer is a writer, transgender activist, communications consultant, and military veteran.

She writes “Charlotte’s Web Thoughts”, a blog/newsletter about politics, current events, and LGBTQ equality. In 2021, she signed an exclusive one-year deal with Substack to host her blog on their site. It was named a finalist for Outstanding Blog at the 2023 GLAAD Media Awards, featured at the 2022 SXSW Conference & Festival, and will be anthologized in a forthcoming textbook for young writers by W. W. Norton & Co.

She was most recently the Director of Communications & Strategy at Catholics for Choice.

Prior to that role, she served as the Press Secretary for Rapid Response at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest civil rights organization dedicated to advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) equality. Her day-to-day work involved running the organization’s messaging in response to the White House and federal policy.

Her political and social commentary has been quoted by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and numerous other outlets. Her work has been published in USA Today, The Washington Post, NBC News, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, GQ, The Independent, and other publications. She has also been a guest commentator on MSNBC and CBS Sunday Morning.

She serves on the D.C. Mayor’s Commission for Persons with Disabilities, the Board of Directors for the Center for Law and Military Policy, the Military and Veterans Advisory Council for Modern Military Families of America and the Advisory Councils for Running Start and the Lone Star Parity Project, organizations working toward gender parity in elected office.

She is a member of the Truman National Security Project’s Class of 2019.

She was named to Fortune Magazine’s 2020 40 under 40 list in the “Politics & Government” category and the 2019 40 under 40 Queer Women of D.C. by the Mayor’s Office and The Washington Blade.

She is a graduate of Georgetown University and resides in Washington, D.C.

The issues and stories we discussed

I opened the show with the startling revelation that just 11 people are responsible for the majority of the book bans across the country according to a Washington Post analysis of over a hundred school systems. The story is eye opening and infuriating as just a few extremists are holding our kids educations hostage for their far right beliefs.

Most frustrating is the simple excuse of having an LGTBQ character in a story as driving the book to be termed sexual in nature and banned. This shows that we are being held hostage by a small group of people intimidating thousands with the willign support of cowardly school leaders and elected officials. Read the story here:

Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges

Charlotte wrote in 2021 on the threat from extremists in the military ranks in USA Today and across the country.

Confront military's white supremacy and nationalism head-on, or it will get worse: Veteran

In Florida a young man is being charged with murder after he was confronted by a Sheriff’s deputy while sitting outside a business. After a struggle for his arrest the Deputy had a medical episode and died. They have charged the young undocumented migrant with murder in the case.

In the line of duty: St. Johns County sergeant dies during arrest and struggle

Join the conversation

Please comment below on what you think of the episode and join me on Chat and Notes to discuss the important topics we are facing. I try to read and reply to many of the comments on MeidasTouch as well and take your feedback. I’d love to hear from you!

Find the show:

Apple Podcasts: New episodes post every Thursday.

MeidasTouch: We premiere every Friday night at 11:00 PM EST and 8:00 PM PT on the MeidasTouch Network on YouTube.

You can watch last week’s episode with comedian Christopher Titus:

You can also catch my latest hot takes and analysis about the issues. I dove into a look at Ron DeSantis’ use of private donors jets to travel the world this past week and the outrageous lies surrounding a story about veterans being evicted from a hotel in upstate New York.

Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors for this episode: Lomi, Füm, and VIE Media. We love our sponsors and their work so I hope you’ll check them out.