You are listening to an excerpt from Ask the Experts on Talk 860 WWDB AM with weekly guest, LGBTQ legal expert Angela Giampolo.
Today Angela and host Steve O try something a little different.
They begin with a roundup of news that impacts the LGBTA community such as:
- The election of over a thousand LGBTQ officials as a result of last week’s voting
- A recent poll which shows that 30% of millennials identify themselves as LGBTQ
- The evolution of LGBTQ acceptance in the United States
- Angela and Steve also discuss the importance of a pre-nuptial agreement for LGBTQ couples
As Angela puts it, “It’s the only game where you get to make the rules.”
Speaker 1:
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Speaker 3:
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The following programming is sponsored by Ask The Experts. The videos expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management, or Beasley Media Group.
Speaker 3:
Welcome to the Ask the Expert show, sponsored by the Cardamone Law Firm for injured workers. Now sit back as Philadelphia’s top experts in the legal, health, financial, and home improvement world educate you in the fields of workers comp law, wealth management, family law, estate planning, pain management, and more. Call in now if you have a question for our experts at 888-329-3306. Now let’s welcome our host, Steve O.
Steve (host):
Hey, good morning, Philadelphia. What a beautiful day. I got to hope it’s beautiful there, but it sure is beautiful here in sunny Florida. Today’s show, beginning each show every Tuesday at 10:00 we are doing our LGBTQ law show, and I got to tell you, first of all, I have learned so much, but we are finding out because of phone calls we’re getting that we have the top lawyer in this area. And today we’re going to actually try some new things. We’re going to throw in a little news as well as questions. So let me introduce you to our expert, Attorney Angela Giampolo. Good morning, Angela, with the smiling face.
Angela 9guest):
Good morning, Steve.
Steve (host):
Good morning.
Angela 9guest):
Yeah, you get to see the smiling face, and I wish I were in sunny Florida with you.
Steve (host):
I don’t know what the weather’s like there in PA, but it is beautiful here today. And I got to tell you, it was your idea to start maybe bringing in some of the news. I can’t believe all the news that’s come out in the last three or four days.
Angela 9guest):
Yeah. I mean, literally just 48 hours, even. Absolutely.
Steve (host):
It’s amazing. And one of the things that really surprised me was I saw that, God, I hope I have this right, 30% of millennials identify as LGBQ. Is that right?
Angela 9guest):
LGBTQ, yeah.
Steve (host):
30%?
Angela 9guest):
Yep. Yeah, so I mean, my thought process in bringing some news into the show is that more so than any other practice area of law, the politics or just politics generally impact LGBTQ law, and that doesn’t necessarily make sense and that isn’t necessarily right or correct, but unfortunately it’s a very politicized topic. It always has been, right? Bush wanting to amend the constitution to make marriage gender neutral or to ban, rather, marriage while Canada was making it gender neutral. Bill Clinton giving a stoma defense against marriage act in “don’t ask, don’t tell” because he was trying to appease the other side, even though he didn’t believe in those things.
Angela 9guest):
And so we’ve been at the whim of politicians for generations, for decades, and so to not bring in the news and politics into an LGBTQ law show, it doesn’t do the topic justice ultimately.
Steve (host):
But you’re not surprised by 30% of millennials.
Angela 9guest):
Oh, as far as millennials? No, because LGBTQ is a broad umbrella ultimately, and what that also entails is gender non-binary people identifying as they/them. So LGBTQ is, like I said, it’s a broad umbrella. 30% of people falling underneath, millennials in particular falling underneath that is not surprising.
Steve (host):
We also found out that the Navy wants to rename some of their ships.
Angela 9guest):
They do. So on Sunday-
Steve (host):
Is it Harvey Milk?
Angela 9guest):
Harvey milk. Yep. I mean, again, people on the radio can’t see behind me, but I have a picture of Harvey Milk that says, “Got milk?” like the commercial. But so Harvey Milk was assassinated back in the ’70s, San Francisco councilman, and ultimately was assassinated for living out proud as a gay man and demanding that people come out. He was known for going on TV and asking every single LGBTQ employee to stay home from work, because if we did, we’d cripple the economy. Right? And so very, very early pioneer of living out and proud and being out of the closet, regardless of what may happen to you, regardless of whether you may get fired, regardless of whether your family will disown you. I mean, he was a staunch, staunch advocate to the point that he was assassinated.
Angela 9guest):
But a lot of people don’t know that he spent four years in the Navy before that-
Steve (host):
Oh.
Angela 9guest):
… and before becoming, yeah, a politician and ultimately was kicked out of the Navy for being gay. So the Navy, his nephew Stewart Milk is also a politician and very active. And this past weekend on Sunday, the Navy in San Diego Harbor named a ship after Harvey Milk.
Steve (host):
Wow. How did … Because I didn’t see the movie. They actually made a movie about his life.
Angela 9guest):
Yep.
Steve (host):
How did they portray him?
Angela 9guest):
Wonderful. I mean, I was just talking to someone over the weekend about it, and I think it was Sean Penn’s best movie. The resemblance, if nothing else, was uncanny, and I think he even said so himself, Sean Penn did. And yeah, I mean, they portrayed him exactly as he was. A staunch advocate, an out proud man. He stumbled upon San Francisco’s Castro area, which at the time was a burgeoning LGBTQ mecca, if you will. And even the person who ultimately assassinated him, how he was portrayed was I think very beautifully done, because it’s not known whether or not he was a closeted gay man and whether the hatred that he felt towards Harvey Milk came from that. And so they obviously couldn’t go one way or another on that, but how they danced around not knowing was very well done. So as far as cinematography goes and as far as a movie goes, it was very well portrayed, in my opinion.
Steve (host):
Well, I guess to finalize this as to the news, look what happened with the elections. Wow.
Angela 9guest):
Huge.
Steve (host):
That-
Steve (host):
Wow, that blew me away! More than 1,000 serving LGBTQ officials for the first time in history? 1,000? That is amazing.
Angela 9guest):
It’s huge. I mean, 1,000, if you think about how many politicians are generally… is still a very small percentage, but to the point of the article, that it’s the most that we’ve ever had. I remember when it was a handful. So to go from a handful to a 1,000, is exponential leaps and bounds in terms of having LGBTQ representation. That’s the point, is if you’re not at the table discussing topics that impact your community, then you’re likely on the menu. So if you’re not at the dinner table actively discussing what’s going to happen to your community, then you’re likely on the menu. So for the first time ever in US history to have that many LGBTQ individuals, and if you look at the makeup of these 1,000 people, it’s not just that they’re LGBTQ+, within, let’s say, their lesbian status or within their gay male status, they’re also African American. They’re also Latinx, they’re also… So the intersectionality of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, within these 1,000 people, it’s not just a bunch of white people, ultimately, is my point.
Angela 9guest):
Is we have a lot of diversity coming through with these 1,000 people, in addition to their LGBTQ status, which was really, I think, enlightening and heartening as well, is that there’re people from both sides of the aisle. Usually, you would think, “Oh, they’re a bunch to progressive Democrats. Republicans are going to be all mad about all these progressive Democrats and diversity coming to the table and whatnot.” But there are a lot of LGBTQ individuals that identify as Republican. I don’t know them personally, no, I’m kidding, but there are, and out of those 1,000 people, we have people on sides of the aisle, which is, in my opinion, really good for just the political discourse generally.
Steve (host):
Angela, I’ve told this to you before on our show and I don’t mind admitting it, but just showing how things have changed. I got to tell you, 10, 12, 15 years ago, boy, if I saw two guys walking down the street holding hands, I mean, I’ve got my hands over my eyes. Now, I don’t know what that would’ve done, but it was like, I don’t want to… But now, who cares? Who cares? If they’re happy, that’s cool. It just doesn’t affect me anymore.
Angela 9guest):
So what do you think happened for you in 12 to 15 years? I mean, you can only speak to for you ultimately, what do you think happened?
Steve (host):
I just accepted it. That’s hate and I don’t want to hate anybody. It’s like, you know what? It’s really no big deal, but I got to tell you, what my message is, is how… because I’m sure there’s others out there like me, how we’ve changed, how we’ve evolved.
Angela 9guest):
Do you think it happened over time? Do you remember any particular event…
Steve (host):
Yeah, I do. No, I do.
Angela 9guest):
… yeah, over time?
Steve (host):
I do. I mean, even on TV, if I saw it on TV, I would turn the channel to like… I look back, what did that do? Now it’s like… just part of life. I guess what I’m saying is things… because you work so hard at this, at educating people. I guess I want to tell you the work that you’re doing is getting through.
Angela 9guest):
Yeah. I’m asking you questions, because I don’t want to gloss over your change. If people are listening, your evolution, rather, because it’s not so much change, it’s not on Wednesday, and on Friday you change, it’s an evolution of sorts, but for someone who has not yet evolved or for someone who does close their eyes or change the channel, or has feelings, in my opinion, and to get macro with the show, there are really only two feelings that we feel and it’s either love or fear. If we can boil everything down, so did you feel hatred walking down the street? No. I don’t think you did. It may have-
Steve (host):
No.
Angela 9guest):
The base feelings is love and fear, but it’s really hard to feel that, to admit as you’re walking down the street very quickly to be like, “Oh, I’m afraid.” So we go to the more superficial feelings, which is hatred or disgust, or whatever, dislike. So I think it’s important as you and I have this ability to discuss on this platform and people are listening, if they still choose to listen, that person may have changed the dial, but to discuss your evolution over time and how it went from a feeling of hatred and closing eyes, to indifference, to even more than indifference, where as a radio show host, you want to bring this topic and you want to change people’s minds.
Angela 9guest):
So that’s why I ask you more questions about your evolution. I know you have a message, but in discussing, I have questions for you about over 12 to 15 years, having dinner parties with your friends, and whereas maybe 15 years ago, you were laughing right alongside of them. Now today, you’d have a different discourse at that dinner table. What do your friends think? Have you lost any friends? Have they evolved with you? So I think it’s important, since you’re the only human I get to talk to and you’ve evolved, that it’s important to delve further.
Steve (host):
I was long, long before, I was the same way about… God, I was a bad person back then, but about interracial couples, oh my God, the same thing. But now, it’s like, I don’t care. Now, I also look back at… I had a friend that had a gay couple that I actually spent time with and it was like, these guys are cool. I mean, I enjoy being around them and that changed me too. I don’t know, I had this facade about what I thought, but you know what the most important thing is and what I got to tell people, Angela, is not just satisfied on educating people in Pennsylvania through our show, but you’re going to be going throughout the country and I’m so proud of you. I think it is so wonderful, because first of all, the way you express yourself, people understand you. I think you could not make for a better spokesperson, seriously. I mean, I’m not saying that because you’re with our show. I’m just saying that I think you’re going to make a lot of changes in the world-
Steve (host):
… In that, I think you’re going to make a lot of changes in the world and not too many people can say that.
Angela 9guest):
Thank you. I mean, I think it’s important. We’re lucky. You’re down in south Florida, we’re both on the east coast. You go to the west coast, you look at LA, San Diego, Seattle all down the west coast and it’s very progressive and it’s open. But there’s middle America, and I don’t know why I innately have this empathy for really the LGBTQ community all across the world.
Angela 9guest):
I mean, I lived in Beijing. I lived in Tanzania, where it’s illegal to be gay. And I think that that having traveled so much and really being French Canadian originally, and coming from Canada and having the laws be so different there, I think that, that experience, the international experience and also living and growing up in a country where LGBTQ people have been treated equally for 20 years and yet, we’re still fighting for basic equality here in the United States.
Angela 9guest):
I think that’s where that wanting to take this national, goes. And that just educating and helping people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it’s not enough. And if nothing else, here in Philadelphia, people are lucky, right? Fort worth, Texas and Mobile, Alabama, it’s not the case. And there aren’t necessarily out, LGBTQ lawyers in the middle of Alabama in a town of 1,000 people where there may only be a handful of gay people, right? Who do those people avail themselves to, from a legal perspective?
Steve (host):
I was just thinking, because we’re talking about other cities and I used to live in Houston. And Houston has a large gay population in an area called Montrose. 15 years ago, when I lived there, they didn’t call it Montrose. They called it the gay area, the good old boys.
Angela 9guest):
Right, the [gayborhood 00:02:26].
Steve (host):
Yeah. But now, no one calls it that. Now it’s Montrose.
Angela 9guest):
Right.
Steve (host):
There’s no more trying to label as anything.
Angela 9guest):
Right. Were you there when Annise Parker was mayor?
Steve (host):
No.
Angela 9guest):
And she may even still be mayor. I don’t know, but Annise Parker, lesbian mayor of Houston for a long time. And obviously, it was already a very LGBTQ city for them to even elect a lesbian mayor at a time when Tammy Baldwin was one of our only out LGBTQ politicians. And so Annise Parker, and then she was named one of the top 10 mayors in the whole country, in terms of things that she did for Houston. And so, being one of the first openly LGBTQ mayors of a large city, right. Houston’s not, doesn’t have just five people to it, it’s one of the largest cities in the country.
Steve (host):
Yeah.
Angela 9guest):
And doing so many good things for Houston, generally being put on the map for a long time. So I’ve never actually been to Houston, but only know of it as a very LGBTQ friendly city because of Mayor Parker doing such great things there.
Steve (host):
Well, we got to go to break, give everybody your office number.
Angela 9guest):
Sure. Give me a call, 215-645-2415.
Steve (host):
And we’re going to go to break. We come back and God, you got a cast going on.
Angela 9guest):
Yeah. We’ll actually talk about some legal question or answer some legal questions actually.
Steve (host):
We’ll get into legal crap. We’ll be right back. We’re here with Attorney Angela Giampolo. We’re talking about LGBTQ law and we’ll be right back.
Speaker 3:
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Speaker 3:
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Speaker 3:
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Speaker 3:
You’re listening to the, Ask The Expert Show, sponsored by the Cardamone Law Firm for injured workers. Now here’s your host, Steve O. and his expert guest.
Steve (host):
And we are back. We’re here with Attorney Angela Giampolo is a local attorney here in the Philadelphia area, and she works with LGBTQ law. This is the Ask The Expert Show, with you every Tuesday, from 10 to 11. Be. Our next show will be at 10:30, we’ll be talking about healthcare law. Angela, you have a podcast.
Angela 9guest):
I do. So it’s called Out Boss Talk, talking to out bosses, ultimately, so any industry across all segments, LGBTQ entrepreneurs. We bring on entrepreneurs in any and all industries ultimately, but to give tips on how to be a successful entrepreneur.
Steve (host):
Well, speaking of tips, two areas, well, you actually work in three areas because you also do real estate law too, but you work a lot in family law and estate planning law. So let’s talk about weddings. What do people need to do when they’re going to get married? You got to do some estate planning for the future. You have to.
Angela 9guest):
Yeah. So I feel like, well, a couple things. The LGBTQ community in my opinion has really changed the way we look at premarital agreements, right? So we’ve only been allowed to get married for the last seven years and we’ve been watching straight people, no offense, mess it up for 300 years. Right? Okay. So being new to this privilege, this legal privilege of marriage, for just seven years. In, I’d say the last 15 years, I have done one prior to marriage equality, did one prenup and it was for a straight brother of a gay client.
Angela 9guest):
And now that marriage equality has passed and gay people can get married. We’re getting prenups left, right and sideways. I did one in 15 years, now I’m doing one a week. Yeah. And it’s because, like I said, A, we’ve been watching straight people mess up marriage for 300 years. We know that we’re not immune to divorce and we’re getting married later in life because marriage-
Angela 9guest):
… and were getting married later in life, because marriage equality is brand new. So I got married at 38, for example, and I owned eight properties when I got married. And so when you get married at 20 years old and you own nothing, it makes sense to be like, all right, let’s conquer life together. We own nothing, we’re 20 years old, and what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours. But if you get married at 38 and you have 401ks and SEPs and IRAs and real estate, and this, that, and the other, you kind of come to the enmeshment of legal and financial things differently.
Angela 9guest):
And I always tell people, everyone has a prenup. Everyone has a prenup. Everyone has a premarital agreement. It’s whether or not you wrote it, or the state in which you live in wrote it. Whether or not Texas wrote it, whether or not the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania wrote it, whether or not the state of Florida wrote it. But you have a prenup. There is something in writing that we’re going to read if you get divorced, and it’s called the Divorce Code, and it’s meant for everyone in your state. Therefore, it’s meant for no one. If it’s meant for every single Pennsylvanian, then it’s not meant for you and your partner, your spouse, specifically.
Angela 9guest):
So all you’re doing when you’re getting a prenup is you’re putting in writing what you want to have happen if we have to read the rule book of divorce. So another way that I explain it, when people are like, oh, that’s not romantic, I’m like, listen, you’ve never played the game of marriage before. If you were to come over to my house for game night and I pull out a game that no one’s ever played, what’s the first thing we’re going to do?
Steve (host):
Read the instructions.
Angela 9guest):
We’re going to read the instructions. And so write your own. It’s the one game that you get to play where you get to write your own instructions. In my opinion, it’s very empowering. The things people put in it are very specific to them as a couple. And it’s nothing that they would find in the Divorce Code. So I am a huge proponent of premarital, postmarital agreements, as well.
Steve (host):
They need you to hold their hand to walk them through, because there’s going to be things that they’re not going to think of that you will.
Angela 9guest):
Oh, 100%, 100%. And not even that they wouldn’t think of it. We have to think of things that haven’t occurred yet. So let’s say they own one home, but they haven’t bought a shore house yet. Well, we need to plan for, if on D day they own a shore house and their home, or what if they don’t have kids yet, but they are going to have kids in the future? So not only am I helping them ask questions that they may not have thought of, but I’m also helping them walk through hypotheticals that they may not have even thought of.
Angela 9guest):
And then once they’re married, legally married, then that’s when the state planning as a married couple comes in, which is obviously very important, but you want to wait until after you’re married to do that so that you can put the legal relationship of spouse, or husband, husband, or wife, wife, whatever it is that you’re going to choose. But you have different laws available to you in your estate planning if you’re married versus if you’re not. So the premarital agreement obviously comes before the wedding bell, and then the estate planning comes after the wedding bell.
Steve (host):
Well, we only have a few minutes. I’ve got to get this in. A friend of mine just texted me.
Angela 9guest):
Uh-oh.
Steve (host):
A friend of mine from Louisiana, listen to this. Good old boys, you know? He said, “Tell Angela I’m one of the few men that watch the, what is it? The Million Dollar Listings.” And he said, “Frederick in New York is my favorite.” Wow. For all of you who don’t know, Frederick is married. He’s gay. He’s married. They actually have a, I think a child or twins. But there’s three of them. There’s an LA, there’s a New York, and I think there’s another one.
Angela 9guest):
Maybe Atlanta somewhere.
Steve (host):
But of all my shows, Frederick is my favorite.
Angela 9guest):
And he’s from Louisiana. So that says a lot.
Steve (host):
A good old boy from Louisiana.
Angela 9guest):
Right.
Steve (host):
So making headways there. Give everybody your phone number and your website, and let’s tell them about your podcast one more time.
Angela 9guest):
Yeah, sure. So the website is giampololaw.com. My last name, Giampolo, and then add law.com. And you can call me at 215-645-2415. And the podcast is, season one is about to drop. So I’m looking forward to being able to tell you that you can actually listen to it, but until then, it’s going to be geared towards LGBTQ entrepreneurs and anyone who considers themselves a boss in their industry.
Steve (host):
Wonderful. Angela’s going to be with us again next week. We’re going to start probably adding a little news to it. But we’re going to start opening up phone lines next week and we will let you ask questions. You don’t have to text them to me. Angela, this is like, we just went on the air. Wasn’t it like two or three minutes ago?
Angela 9guest):
I know. It flies by.
Steve (host):
It’s amazing. But listen, we love having you on the show. You’ll be back with us at 10 o’clock next week with more Ask the Experts. Thank you so much.
Angela 9guest):
Thank you, Steve. I’ll see you next week.
Steve (host):
We’ll talk to you next week. We’re going to go to break. When we come back…