"So there is a small genetic but significant genetic component to sexual orientation. And it's slightly different in males and females. And interestingly, it's not general. So for example, if I were to have a gay brother, then the chance of me being gay would become higher. But if I have a lesbian sister, that does not change the chance of me being gay or vice versa.If a woman has a lesbian sister, then the chance of her being attracted to women is higher. And if she has a gay brother, it doesn't make any difference at all. So it's not like gayness or straightness is what heritability is acting on. It's attraction to males or attraction to females. And that's a subtle distinction, but I think it's very important.The other thing that is really interesting and fascinating is that there is, from a big meta-analysis that was done by the American Psychological Association, there is really no evidence whatsoever that links events in the family to your probability of being gay or straight or bi. So, well, that's a mystery.If it's not how you were raised by your family and it's only a little bit genetic, what is it? Well, you know, I think you had a hint of some of it when you're talking about hormones. There is some evidence that hormonal exposure in utero matters. So, for example, if biologically female fetuses are exposed to what we call androgens, the class of male hormones, that includes testosterone, that increases the probability that the child who is born and then grows up will be attracted to women when they grow up. Even if that child is biologically female. Likewise, there seems to be something similar for gay men and exposure to estrogen and female sex hormones. That said, there's of course mystery. We're far from understanding in totality how the trait of sexual orientation arrives. And we also know that there are enormous cultural influences. There are societies that have sort of a revered place for homosexual behavior in the Pantheon and others where it is really looked down upon, and that seems to have influence on how this trait develops."David J. Linden is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the author of Unique: The New Science of Human Individuality, The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God, The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good, and Touch: The Science of the Hand, Heart, and Mind. His laboratory has worked for many years on the cellular substrates of memory storage, recovery of function following brain injury and a few other topics.www.davidlinden.orgwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

David J. Linden is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the author of Unique: The New Science of Human Individuality, The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God, The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good, and Touch: The Science of the Hand, Heart, and Mind. His laboratory has worked for many years on the cellular substrates of memory storage, recovery of function following brain injury and a few other topics."So there is a small genetic but significant genetic component to sexual orientation. And it's slightly different in males and females. And interestingly, it's not general. So for example, if I were to have a gay brother, then the chance of me being gay would become higher. But if I have a lesbian sister, that does not change the chance of me being gay or vice versa.If a woman has a lesbian sister, then the chance of her being attracted to women is higher. And if she has a gay brother, it doesn't make any difference at all. So it's not like gayness or straightness is what heritability is acting on. It's attraction to males or attraction to females. And that's a subtle distinction, but I think it's very important.The other thing that is really interesting and fascinating is that there is, from a big meta-analysis that was done by the American Psychological Association, there is really no evidence whatsoever that links events in the family to your probability of being gay or straight or bi. So, well, that's a mystery.If it's not how you were raised by your family and it's only a little bit genetic, what is it? Well, you know, I think you had a hint of some of it when you're talking about hormones. There is some evidence that hormonal exposure in utero matters. So, for example, if biologically female fetuses are exposed to what we call androgens, the class of male hormones, that includes testosterone, that increases the probability that the child who is born and then grows up will be attracted to women when they grow up. Even if that child is biologically female. Likewise, there seems to be something similar for gay men and exposure to estrogen and female sex hormones. That said, there's of course mystery. We're far from understanding in totality how the trait of sexual orientation arrives. And we also know that there are enormous cultural influences. There are societies that have sort of a revered place for homosexual behavior in the Pantheon and others where it is really looked down upon, and that seems to have influence on how this trait develops."www.davidlinden.orgwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“Creators Ron Fitzgerald and Rolin Jones and Team Downey, this was a sort of a thing that they came up with, but I think what we wanted to explore in season two was really to dig more into this idea of what is it to be a woman with ambition in this era, 3% of attorneys were women in the entire nation in 1933. So that alone is an uphill battle. And then when you add the complication of being queer in this time, and that there are laws against it that you have to make sure every step you take is so calculated and so careful that you don't slip up. It's all based on fear and threat and what happens if something you've established all of a sudden, a woman can come in and do it.When we look at the current political climate, and we look at the way they're trying to erase history, to whitewash history, I think is such a dangerous precedent because we can only learn from our past. We can learn from our mistakes. We can learn from what happened. If we don't tell the truth, where does that leave us? If we can cherry-pick what's important to know and not know, and by an elite view, well, how different are those elite views from the elite view of a hundred years ago? We have to learn from our past. It's the only way to have a future. And I think that to me is essential.”Michael Begler is showrunner, writer, and executive producer of Perry Mason, which debuted as HBO’s most-watched series in nearly two years upon its premiere in June 2020. The critically-acclaimed show stars Emmy-winner Matthew Rhys, Juliet Rylance, Katherine Waterston, Hope Davis. In the second season of the Emmy-nominated series, the scion of a powerful oil family is brutally murdered. Power, social justice, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and what it truly means to be guilty, are among the issues raised by the series.Begler’s previous series include the Peabody Award-winning The Knick, starring Clive Owen, directed by Steven Soderbergh, writing/producing credits also include comedy series The Tony Danza Show, The Jeff Foxworthy Show and the film Big Miracle starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski.www.imdb.com/title/tt2077823www.instagram.com/perrymasonhbowww.imdb.com/name/nm0066764www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Michael Begler is showrunner, writer, and executive producer of Perry Mason, which debuted as HBO’s most-watched series in nearly two years upon its premiere in June 2020. The critically-acclaimed show stars Emmy-winner Matthew Rhys, Juliet Rylance, Katherine Waterston, Hope Davis. In the second season of the Emmy-nominated series, the scion of a powerful oil family is brutally murdered. Power, social justice, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and what it truly means to be guilty, are among the issues raised by the series. Begler’s previous series include the Peabody Award-winning The Knick, starring Clive Owen, directed by Steven Soderbergh, writing/producing credits also include comedy series The Tony Danza Show, The Jeff Foxworthy Show and the film Big Miracle starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski. “Creators Ron Fitzgerald and Rolin Jones and Team Downey, this was a sort of a thing that they came up with, but I think what we wanted to explore in season two was really to dig more into this idea of what is it to be a woman with ambition in this era, 3% of attorneys were women in the entire nation in 1933. So that alone is an uphill battle. And then when you add the complication of being queer in this time, and that there are laws against it that you have to make sure every step you take is so calculated and so careful that you don't slip up. It's all based on fear and threat and what happens if something you've established all of a sudden, a woman can come in and do it.When we look at the current political climate, and we look at the way they're trying to erase history, to whitewash history, I think is such a dangerous precedent because we can only learn from our past. We can learn from our mistakes. We can learn from what happened. If we don't tell the truth, where does that leave us? If we can cherry-pick what's important to know and not know, and by an elite view, well, how different are those elite views from the elite view of a hundred years ago? We have to learn from our past. It's the only way to have a future. And I think that to me is essential.”www.imdb.com/title/tt2077823www.instagram.com/perrymasonhbowww.imdb.com/name/nm0066764www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“So after coming out, I went to Mexico, which is where my mother's from, and spent most of my time there interacting in queer communities and queer spaces. And it just made such a huge difference. It was, again, such a flip from what I had seen in the US where so much of queer media and queer representation is mostly white, right? And creates this idea that the queer community automatically means the white community and Thankfully, I think that's shifted a lot. I think shows like Vida that came out recently and just a ton of other movies that are coming out lately and books by Latinx queer writers are really shifting that. I think this generation coming up now will have so much more representation to look at. But for me, I think what was most healing and most necessary at that time was to go back to Mexico and to see for myself what queerness looked like under a Mexican context. How it was different than what I had seen in the States, how it might more feel like home.And also really unpacking the history behind queerness and Latinx culture is how it had always been there, right? This idea that it was invented recently or something that just came out of nowhere is completely false. And really understanding the way indigenous communities in Mexico had interpreted queerness, had words for queerness. There was a word that I learned, patlacheh, which is a Nahuatl word that meant women that were in love with other women. And had been used for a really long time. So learning that history of transgender communities in Oaxaca that were called muxes. Just knowing that there was always terminology for this. These ideas always existed.A lot of writers of color have talked about this. James Baldwin had a similar experience when he went to France, you know, that was the most American he had ever felt. And I think this is the case for a lot of people who have a marginalized identity in the United States.”Amanda E. Machado is a writer, public speaker and facilitator whose work explores how race, gender, sexuality, and power affect the way we travel and experience the outdoors. She has written and facilitated on topics of social justice and adventure and lived in Cape Town, Havana, Mexico City, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, and other cities. She has been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, New York Times, NPR, and other publications. She is also the founder of Reclaiming Nature Writing, a multi-week online workshop that expands how we tell stories about nature in a way that considers ancestry, colonization, migration trauma, and other issues.www.amandaemachado.comIG www.instagram.com/amandaemachado0www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Amanda E. Machado is a writer, public speaker and facilitator whose work explores how race, gender, sexuality, and power affect the way we travel and experience the outdoors. She has written and facilitated on topics of social justice and adventure and lived in Cape Town, Havana, Mexico City, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, and other cities. She has been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, New York Times, NPR, and other publications. She is also the founder of Reclaiming Nature Writing, a multi-week online workshop that expands how we tell stories about nature in a way that considers ancestry, colonization, migration trauma, and other issues.“So after coming out, I went to Mexico, which is where my mother's from, and spent most of my time there interacting in queer communities and queer spaces. And it just made such a huge difference. It was, again, such a flip from what I had seen in the US where so much of queer media and queer representation is mostly white, right? And creates this idea that the queer community automatically means the white community and Thankfully, I think that's shifted a lot. I think shows like Vida that came out recently and just a ton of other movies that are coming out lately and books by Latinx queer writers are really shifting that. I think this generation coming up now will have so much more representation to look at. But for me, I think what was most healing and most necessary at that time was to go back to Mexico and to see for myself what queerness looked like under a Mexican context. How it was different than what I had seen in the States, how it might more feel like home.And also really unpacking the history behind queerness and Latinx culture is how it had always been there, right? This idea that it was invented recently or something that just came out of nowhere is completely false. And really understanding the way indigenous communities in Mexico had interpreted queerness, had words for queerness. There was a word that I learned, patlacheh, which is a Nahuatl word that meant women that were in love with other women. And had been used for a really long time. So learning that history of transgender communities in Oaxaca that were called muxes. Just knowing that there was always terminology for this. These ideas always existed.A lot of writers of color have talked about this. James Baldwin had a similar experience when he went to France, you know, that was the most American he had ever felt. And I think this is the case for a lot of people who have a marginalized identity in the United States.”www.amandaemachado.comIG www.instagram.com/amandaemachado0www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"So when you go into parole, like when you're on your way, your friends will tell you, the ones who have been there, "Don't let them like upset you. Don't let them get you out of your character." And I remember the first time I went up to parole, I survived a police-involved shooting. So I was shot multiple times. And it was my time to go down there and talk about this situation. And I was wondering if I wanted to tell the truth, or if I wanted to say what they want you to say because if you go in there with the truth, it's called "not taking responsibility.” You have to say exactly whatever is on that police report. So that was gonna be hard for me because they was basically trying to make it seem like I knew that these guys were cops, and I just shot this guy because he was a cop. That wasn't true. And I went in there and when I got to them asking me those questions, because they start tearing you down, they start saying, you're a horrible mom. Look what you did. Look, you left your kid. Now your kid is all f***ed up. They go in, they call you all kind of...despicable, worthless, bad mom, you know, horrible person, whatever you are and whatever your thing is, what they attack. And I remember them telling me that I was not taking responsibility. I still had came this far, and I still was choosing to lie and X, Y, and Z. And I remember my eyes started to well up, and I was like, I'm not going to let 'em do it because even crying to them is like manipulation. You can't cry while they're attacking you. Can't talk back, you just kind of have to take it. So I remember just kind of self-absorbing it. And when I walked out, and my eyes was like to the brim, the guard was like, "You did great." She was like, “You're going to get parole. You did a wonderful job."Fury Young and BL Shirelle are the powerhouse team behind Die Jim Crow Records, the first non-profit record label in United States history for currently and formerly incarcerated musicians. DJC Records’ mission is to dismantle stereotypes around race and prison in America by amplifying the voices of our artists.  As a pair, Fury Young and BL Shirelle form a perhaps unlikely, but unstoppable duo.  Young is a Jewish New Yorker who has not experienced incarceration. Shirelle is a queer, Black woman from Philadelphia who has been heavily impacted by police violence and incarceration. The two formed an inseparable bond. As friends, musical collaborators and now Co-Executive Directors of Die Jim Crow Records, their leadership and commitment to values of representation, fairness, passion for the cause, and a love for art, are at the core of DJC.www.diejimcrow.comhttp://www.blshirelle.comhttp://www.furyyoung.comwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Fury Young and BL Shirelle are the powerhouse team behind Die Jim Crow Records, the first non-profit record label in United States history for currently and formerly incarcerated musicians. DJC Records’ mission is to dismantle stereotypes around race and prison in America by amplifying the voices of our artists.  As a pair, Fury Young and BL Shirelle form a perhaps unlikely, but unstoppable duo.  Young is a Jewish New Yorker who has not experienced incarceration. Shirelle is a queer, Black woman from Philadelphia who has been heavily impacted by police violence and incarceration. The two formed an inseparable bond. As friends, musical collaborators and now Co-Executive Directors of Die Jim Crow Records, their leadership and commitment to values of representation, fairness, passion for the cause, and a love for art, are at the core of DJC."So when you go into parole, like when you're on your way, your friends will tell you, the ones who have been there, "Don't let them like upset you. Don't let them get you out of your character." And I remember the first time I went up to parole, I survived a police-involved shooting. So I was shot multiple times. And it was my time to go down there and talk about this situation. And I was wondering if I wanted to tell the truth, or if I wanted to say what they want you to say because if you go in there with the truth, it's called "not taking responsibility.” You have to say exactly whatever is on that police report. So that was gonna be hard for me because they was basically trying to make it seem like I knew that these guys were cops, and I just shot this guy because he was a cop. That wasn't true. And I went in there and when I got to them asking me those questions, because they start tearing you down, they start saying, you're a horrible mom. Look what you did. Look, you left your kid. Now your kid is all f***ed up. They go in, they call you all kind of...despicable, worthless, bad mom, you know, horrible person, whatever you are and whatever your thing is, what they attack. And I remember them telling me that I was not taking responsibility. I still had came this far, and I still was choosing to lie and X, Y, and Z. And I remember my eyes started to well up, and I was like, I'm not going to let 'em do it because even crying to them is like manipulation. You can't cry while they're attacking you. Can't talk back, you just kind of have to take it. So I remember just kind of self-absorbing it. And when I walked out, and my eyes was like to the brim, the guard was like, "You did great." She was like, “You're going to get parole. You did a wonderful job."www.diejimcrow.comhttp://www.blshirelle.comhttp://www.furyyoung.comwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org

"I think that what is really important on this journey is to understand when we talk about gender and intersectional equity - and yes, gender is that element that is the most universal across different geographies. So for organizations that are present across many different countries and many different continents, there will be one backbone which will be gender, the binary definition, to which they will be adding other aspects of the broader diversity spectrum based on the specificities of the countries of operations. For example, L'Oréal in the U.S., they look at the intersection between gender, race, and ethnicity. We have organizations in Europe that are very often looking at the intersection between age, gender, and sexual orientation. In Southeast Asia, sexual orientation and working with a disability are definitely emerging topics.So allowing ourselves this flexibility in saying we have a solid backbone - which is the one that can be legally measured and tracked across all geographies - which is the gender binary. And on this, we will be building this intersectional view with other beautiful characteristics that compose us as individuals. Having this flexibility allowed organizations such as L'Oréal, but then also some other institutions that we are working with within the UN system or international finance institutions, such as the IMF or the World Bank, to add different intersectional lenses to their gender binary approach."Aniela Unguresan is Co-founder of EDGE Certification, the leading global assessment methodology and business certification standard for gender equality. Launched at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in 2011, EDGE Certification measures where organizations stand in terms of gender balance across their pipeline, pay equity, and effectiveness of policies and practices to ensure equitable career flows, as well as the inclusiveness of their culture. EDGE Certification has been designed to help companies not only to create an optimal workplace for women and men, but also to benefit from it. EDGE stands for Economic Dividends for Gender Equality and is distinguished by its rigor and focus on business impact. Their customer base consists of 200 large organizations in 50 countries across five continents, representing 30 different industries.Prior to co-founding EDGE Certified Foundation, Aniela acquired extensive professional experience as a consultant with Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting, as a trader and project manager with TXU Europe and SIG Geneva, and as the CEO of CT Technologies.https://edge-cert.orgwww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.org

Aniela Unguresan is Co-founder of EDGE Certification, the leading global assessment methodology and business certification standard for gender equality. Launched at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in 2011, EDGE Certification measures where organizations stand in terms of gender balance across their pipeline, pay equity, and effectiveness of policies and practices to ensure equitable career flows, as well as the inclusiveness of their culture. EDGE Certification has been designed to help companies not only to create an optimal workplace for women and men, but also to benefit from it. EDGE stands for Economic Dividends for Gender Equality and is distinguished by its rigor and focus on business impact. Their customer base consists of 200 large organizations in 50 countries across five continents, representing 30 different industries.Prior to co-founding EDGE Certified Foundation, Aniela acquired extensive professional experience as a consultant with Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting, as a trader and project manager with TXU Europe and SIG Geneva, and as the CEO of CT Technologies."I think that what is really important on this journey is to understand when we talk about gender and intersectional equity - and yes, gender is that element that is the most universal across different geographies. So for organizations that are present across many different countries and many different continents, there will be one backbone which will be gender, the binary definition, to which they will be adding other aspects of the broader diversity spectrum based on the specificities of the countries of operations. For example, L'Oréal in the U.S., they look at the intersection between gender, race, and ethnicity. We have organizations in Europe that are very often looking at the intersection between age, gender, and sexual orientation. In Southeast Asia, sexual orientation and working with a disability are definitely emerging topics.So allowing ourselves this flexibility in saying we have a solid backbone - which is the one that can be legally measured and tracked across all geographies - which is the gender binary. And on this, we will be building this intersectional view with other beautiful characteristics that compose us as individuals. Having this flexibility allowed organizations such as L'Oréal, but then also some other institutions that we are working with within the UN system or international finance institutions, such as the IMF or the World Bank, to add different intersectional lenses to their gender binary approach."https://edge-cert.orgwww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.org