Krikorian: I don't have many rules in my life, but one of them is to not leave when somebody first says, "Get the [beep] out of here," you know.

You might eventually have to leave, but don't leave on that first one.

They call you what?

Mendenhall: Big Mama.

Krilorian: No more sister-- You'll always be Sista Soulja to me.

Mendenhall: I'm Big Mama now.

Remember, the last time I seen you was at the wine tasting... Krikorian: Yeah.

Mendenhall: with Deshawn.

They invited Deshawn... Krikorian: Right, yeah.

Mendenhall: and then when Deshawn came out, and that's what I'm doing, that, too.

I'm here housing gay and lesbians and trans.

Krikorian: Well, you go to 10 guys, and you're not going to get to trust that way, but then you talk to them individually and talk to them as a human being, you know, it was like, "Hey, I just want to get your side of this story," and they would get there.

Mendenhall: We got a lot of trans in our community.

Krikorian: In here?

Mendenhall: All over because a lot of them want to commit suicide because their family, if they Christians, they turn their back on them.

Even regular people, they turn their back on them, but they're not monsters.

They're human beings.

All they need is love.

Krikorian: Just take a lot of effort, you know, repeated attempts, them maybe sometimes telling me things and say, "Don't write this," and I didn't and getting to slowly getting the trust of somebody like you would in any situation.

Mendenhall: Deshawn, you look pretty.

Deshawn: Thanks, Mama.

Lunch?

Mendenhall: Uh-huh.

Krikorian: How long ago we do that story?

Deshawn: Um, it was a minute, huh?

Krikorian: 10 years?

So has it gotten any easier for you for just being, you know, who you are?

Cole: Yeah.

Yeah.

It get easy, you know, but there's always a challenge.

Krikorian: Remember when-- Of course you do.

You told me.

It was rough.

Cole: You know, there's always a challenge, you know, but-- Krikorian: How old were you?

Cole: Then?

I was probably, like, 20-something.

Krikorian: You had to prove to them that you could fight, too, right?

Cole: You already know.

You got to prove that everywhere.

Krikorian: Every day still.

Cole: Every day everywhere, you know, and some people get to really know you-- Krikorian: Do people still [beep] with you?

Cole: Uh-uh.

Krikorian: No.

This is not something that you're going to get in a week or two.

I mean, I've been coming here for, you know, 25 years.

Few things happened at the beginning that I earned my respect, and I was just Mike.

I wasn't the white guy.

I was just Mike, you know?

So Sista says now they calling her something else.

Cole: Big Mama.

Krikorian: Big Mama.

Yeah.

Where'd Big Mama go?

Let's go see.

Cole: She's about to set up.

You know, she do the afterschool program with the kids and stuff.