welcome back welcome back it is always a pleasure catching up with our next guest George M Johnson is the New York Times best-selling author of all boys aren't blue which shares the reality of life growing up in this country as a black queer person one year after it was published in 2020 it became the second most banned book in the country putting George among the most banned Black authors but they refused to be silenced fighting back every step of the way including right now with the paperback release of all boys aren't blue Taman F back for a third time please welcome author and activist George M Johnson oh my [Music] God beautiful of course [Music] of oh my go of course you never disappoint never disappoint how Gorge G you are uh first of all time 100 next list yes Bravo look at you there yes um you were featured in Harper's Bazar icon isue yes look at you there yes and you were and you were nominated for an Emy last year for the audio recording of your book yes um I love it I love first of all everything you say I hang on to every word but I know this personally when you said I don't take any moment for granted no you don't take a single moment of this for granted at best case scenario what did you think was going to happen here you know the book came out I was like okay even if just one person gets the message then I'm okay with that and I even wrote that in the book and that's something that I've always stuck true to like if it just reaches one one person than I did my job uh to to watch it now be in six different languages and reach hundreds of thousands of people um in a myriad of ways is something that I is beyond my wildest [Music] dreams I as I said you you were part of our show when we talked about books that were being banned across the country uh even I could not have imagined September 22 the assault that was coming our way right and what I mean it's our way because whenever a book is banned it it damages everyone yeah everyone because the book that you need to read might be next on that list absolutely and so there you were this ongoing Federal lawsuit against the school district in Florida that banned your book this is the outfit you wore to court last month yes [Laughter] yes wait I I'm GNA be the I'm going to be the neutral reporter here so what what were you messaging here you know when we first filed the lawsuit I made a joke on Twitter and I was like all right I'm going to make sure I put my court Bob on because I don't know if y'all have noticed but like when cardi B would go to court it was always the Bob the bass suit when mag stallion went to court it was the Bob in the bass suit so I didn't put the Bob on but I was like I could still put it on you know and so I was like if I'm going to come to Florida I want to make my presence shown and I also wanted to stand out in the courtroom so that the people who were on the other side knew that I was there and knew that they weren't going to ignore me and in the ways that they try to ignore me in the real world uh so I wanted to be the brightest in the room and so and take up space I love it cuz it also tells me the serious nature of this all and we know the impact of it all you have still managed to smile in this and have fun with this because you have you are so protected um from there and from a woman in this room your mother K yes my mom she was in the audience talking about how your message needed to be heard and there she was defending you in front of everyone you had a standing ovation there and what I love about that is so often which it is true many lgbtq plus queer kids are abandoned by their families but so many others are not yes or not and that's not to diminish the struggle at home but I love to see the other side of it that everyone is not abandoned yes and there are so many like you who have people like your mom rooing in the building yes yes I love that and K why were you so confident that George's message needed to be heard because you don't stifle your children your children are who they are you God gave them to us we mold them we show them which way to go and when I saw who George was becoming well Matt I call him Matt when I saw Who Matt was becoming and I saw what Matt was talking about he was always very outspoken and so I knew always I got to fight with this one because he's going to say something and somebody's going to say something back and it's going to be the wrong thing I've even lost friends over things they may have said about lgbtq and I don't need you cuz you're not going to discredit my child your mother is getting a standing ovation she deserves listen I know who I'm going to call when somebody say something about me in the comment section your latest book flamboyant the queer Harlem Renaissance I wish I'd known yes that is so beautiful um yes it hasn't come out yet it is this is by the way this is an exclusive this is an exclusive look at the front cover why was this important for you to say this is next this is next up yeah I'm very big on the idea of going back in the past and telling the stories that were either incorrectly told or where our ancestor stories weren't told completely at all and so when I thought about what all boys AR Blue had done I feel like that's the present and it helps the future but it's like sometimes we need to go back to the past to also retell those stories too uh because they give us a road map and they give us a blueprint of where we are today and how we got here today and the culture of the Harlem Renaissance it's like I wanted people to to understand you don't have Blackness without queerness you don't have queerness without Blackness they all go hand inand together and so in creating this book I wanted to create my own Harlem Renaissance it's my version of the new negro so I wrote poetry for it it's essays it's fully Illustrated so it's not just about the Harlem Renaissance it is giving the future generation the Harlem Renaissance I I got goosebumps I'm telling you thank you so much it's been an honor to having me back thanks you um as I said to you at an award ceremony I am so proud that my child lives in a world where someone like you exists as one of our leaders that's it all boys art blue is out now in paperback and guess what you're all going home with a copy George thank you so much I am so proud of you I love you so so oh Give It Up George M Johnson