The Final Five Sellouts

This ENDA mess is reminding me more and more of Battlestar Galactica.



Mara Keisling reminds me of Gaius Baltar, who was seduced by Number Six only to discover to his horror within moments of the devastating Cylon nuclear attack on the Colonies that she was a Cylon. He also discovered that he unwittingly aided and abetted the destruction of the Colonies (think transgender community) by letting his girlfriend poke around the Colonial Military defense mainframe computer. He also submitted a Command Navigation Program to the Colonial military (think the 'HRC Is Our Friends' PR strategy) that contained an electronic backdoor that the Cylons used to neutralize Colonial defenses.

NTAC and current chair Ethan St. Pierre is represented by Admiral William Adama, who because of his previous service in the First Cylon War refused to network the computers on the Galactica, which saved his ship from destruction (and as we found out later and it was expounded on in Razor, the Pegasus as well because it was undergoing a retrofit at the Scorpian shipyards.

Admiral Helena Cain, AKA Dawn Wilson not only figured out what happened after the attack, but has been an unrelenting opponent of the Cylons (oops, HRC). But people in the transgender community, despite her obvious talents and leadership skills, fear her.

You have President Laura Roslin, AKA former NTAC chair Vanessa Edwards Foster, who has grown into leadership stature despite being attacked by the cancerous whisper campaign orchestrated by the head of NCTE, outright efforts to sabotage her organization by repeated raids on the NTAC BOD and calls by transgender sheeple for NTAC to close its doors and merge with NCTE. While all this was going on she was being called 'crazy' like myself and others who refused to drink the 'HRC is our friends' Kool-Aid.

Joe Solmonese is Aaron Doral, the smooth talking polished media pro who excels at sowing seeds of confusion and deception. Ask the folks who were in attendance at the 2007 SCC who parted with $20,000 of hard earned cash during his speech how good he is.

But as entertaining as this Battlestar analogy is getting, I'm going to skip ahead and get to the heart of it. It seems as though the HRCylons and Barney Frank are tired of me and the Admiral Adamas in the transgender Colonial Fleet criticizing them over their duplicitous amoral BS around ENDA and want to hand pick their own leaders to negotiate with.

The word from the transgender grapevine is that Mara is out and they are grooming Susan Stanton to become their new spokessellout. She's perfect in their eyes for the job. She doesn't know the community history because she's new, has a nationally known name, a very public discrimination story that played out in front of television cameras and hasn't had an opportunity to talk to us old HRCylon War vets about HRC's sorry history. HRC in conjunction with Barney Frank's office are putting together their own transgender 'leaders' that they feel will be pliable enough for them to work with.

I've seen this game run before. It's the same one the Republican Party has been trying to run on the African-American community for decades. The GOP doesn't wanna talk to the NAACP or our elected leadership in the Congressional Black Caucus, so they have spent millions cultivating their network of megachurch black preachers and black conservatives that they conveniently use and ignore when it suits their purposes. HRC and Barney Frank are trying to run the same game on the transgender community.

The information that we do have on the Final Five sellouts thanks to Donna Rose is that they are upper middle class white transwomen. No peeps of color, no transmen, no working class transpeeps who will inconveniently call them out like Commander Lee Adama on cutting transpeople out of ENDA. So far Susan Stanton's name is the only one that has surfaced, and we are working hard to find out the identities of the Final Five.

Fortunately I won't have to do what Deanna Biers (aka Number 3) did to find out that information and I'll definitely let you TransGriot readers in on the secret when they are revealed.

You Can't Judge A Transwoman By Her Shoe Size

One of the more amusing conversations I recently eavesdropped on while I was out and about was two brothers trading their 'how to spot a transsexual' tips. In addition to the usual stereotypes about height, broad shoulders, and 'masculine' facial looks, the one that made me chuckle was about shoe size.

"I can spot a transsexual from ten miles away because of them big feet." the so-called tranny-spotting expert proclaimed.

Yeah, right. If that was the case, how'd you miss spotting my elegantly dressed 6'2" behind wearing the hell out of my black Timothy Hitsman pumps, size 12? I have a size 13 navy pair of the same shoes in my wannabe Imelda Marcos sized shoe collection sitting in my closet.

I laugh sometimes when I hear biomen and some biowomen spout that fallacy. While there's a grain of truth to the fact there are some transwomen who have to shop at Payless or online at various websites to get fashionably stylish heels in double digit sizes, we are increasingly jostling with biowomen to grab the limited pairs of size 11s, 12s and 13s that are made available on store shelves.

Take note, alleged tranny spotters. Americans are not only getting fatter, we're getting bigger and taller as well. Feet are keeping evolutionary pace with that reality.

According to podiactric historian William Rossi, the foot enlarging trend for women has been occuring for about 150 years. At the beginning of the 20th century, the average American woman wore a size 3.5 or a 4. That climbed to a size 5.5 by the 1940s.

According to the Professional Shoe Fitting Manual, the average American adult female's shoe size in the 1960s was a size 5.5 to a 6. By the '70s it climbed to a 7.5 and in the '80s it had reached a size 8 or 8.5. As of yet stats haven't been compiled for the 90's, but you can do the logical progression and presume that the average American woman's shoe size will have climbed to a size 9.

In addition, thanks to regular wear and tear, pregnancy, and the stretching of foot ligaments and joints, over the course of a lifetime a woman's shoe size tends to increase by about a half to one full shoe size.

My homegirl Tracy discovered that fact to her horror after she gave birth to her daughter a few years ago. She's six feet tall and before her pregnancy wore a size 10. Her foot grew an inch during her pregnancy and she now wears a size 11. She used to mildly tease me when I'd whine about how hard it was for me to find fashionable shoes. Now she feels my pain.

And bioboys, don't be so quick to diss the sistahs about expanding shoe sizes either. This phenomenon isn't just limited to the feminine half of the US population. According to US Army records, the average shoe size worn by male recruits has gone up from about a 6 to about a 9.5 since the American Revolution.

But back to my regularly scheduled post. Transwomen come in all shapes, sizes and shoe sizes. I had a roommate back in Houston who was 5'6" and wore a size 7. My homegirl Lexi is 5'7", is a size 0 dress size and wears a size 9 shoe.

I know more than a few transsistahs that wear anywhere from size 7.5-to 11. Dawn needles me about the fact that she wears an 11, which is the largest size that most women's shoe catalogs display.

Conversely, I not only personally know more than a few biowomen who wear double-digit shoe sizes like my homegirl, but I'm aware that some celebrity women such as Paris Hilton (size 11), Tyra Banks (10), assorted supermodels, and most of the WNBA wear double digit sizes as well. There are some women's college and WNBA basketball team players that have bigger feet than mine. I remember the day I quit griping about my shoe size when I read that Chamique Holdsclaw wears a size 14.

So bioboys, better check your pseudoscience at the door. You may be missing out on a wonderful woman because you're either mistaking her for a transwoman based on her shoe size, or not taking the time to get to know a transwoman who has character, class and substance because of her size 12 pumps.

Yvonne Buschbaum's Retirement With A Twist

German Olympian Yvonne Buschbaum, the world junior record holder in the pole vault, announced her retirement November 21 from the sport. She finished third in the European championships in 1998 in Budapest, Hungary, won the European junior title in 1999 and placed sixth at the Sydney Games in 2000. Buschbaum's best year was 2002, when she finished second in the European Indoor Championships in Vienna, Austria and third at the European Championships contested on home soil in Munich, Germany.

The interesting twist in this story is that the other reason she cited for her retirement decision in addition to her persistent injuries was a desire to transition to male.

In a statement from her web site, Buschbaum said, "I feel as if I am a man and have to live my life in the body of a woman. I am aware of the fact that transsexuality is a fringe issue, and I do not want to be responsible for it remaining on the fringe."

Buschbaum also asked for respect for her decision and urged observers not to draw false conclusions. "I do not dope," she said and added that her upcoming hormone treatments to facilitate her transition contributed to her decision to quit along with the persistent injury.

As I keep saying over and over, transsexuality is an international medical and social issue that cuts across class, race, religious and geographic boundaries. Just as transpeople exist who are in politics, business, education, law, and the arts and sciences, we have transgender athletes as well. It's why the IOC and other international sports governing bodies allow transgender people to participate.

I wish Yvonne much happiness and success as a new chapter unfolds in her life.

End of 2007 Musings

In a little more than 17 hours we say goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008. It's been an interesting but tumultuous year not only for the transgender community but for me personally as well.

I started the year with a newspaper column I loved, a job I didn't like and 15 pounds heavier. I lost that job three days into the New Year and got my current one, lost the weight through the course of the year, got a year older and unexpectedly lost my column in September.

And still I rise.

While I don't have my column any more and I miss writing it once a month, I still have this blog. There was a silver lining in the loss of the monthly column although I'm majorly pissed about the way it went down. It allowed me to focus more of my creative energy on TransGriot and other writing projects. I've been blessed to see my readership grow from just 100 hits per day from the time I installed my counter on January 17 to 400 per day.

I set a record for one day hit totals twice. I received 1200 hits for my posts on the Miss Universe pageant and broke it when I received 1500 hits on the blog for my history on HRC-transgender community relations. I composed my 500th post since starting TransGriot. And best of all, thanks to the blog, I'm blessed with the ability to intelligently expound on a wide range of issues. I also get the bonus of corresponding with and meeting some wonderful people and fellow bloggers I wouldn't have otherwise.

The transgender community has gone through similar ups and downs. Here in the States we've not only seen increased coverage of transgender issues in our media, but several television shows that have or debuted with good and bad transgender characters. We've seen a transperson get elected statewide in Hawaii but lose locally in Riverdale, GA and Aurora, CO. We've had several cities and states pass inclusive rights legislation.

But in late September our world got rocked by being messily cut out of ENDA by so-called allies. It's triggered not only a schism in the GLB_t community, but a long overdue American transgender community reexamination of how we do business as a community, how inclusive we really are, what tactics we use to pursue our twin legislative Holy Grails of a transgender inclusive ENDA and hate crimes bills and our place in the GLBT community. We transpeople are also searching for, as Aretha Franklin so eloquently sang, R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

It's been a mixed bag of success and failure in the worldwide community as well. We've had legal reversals mixed with success. They too have experienced increasing popularity and media coverage as well. But at the same time while my transgender cousins in Jamaica and on the African continent are catching hell, my African cousins are garnering more positive press as well. (hey, that rhymed)

Around the world, it's becoming more obvious by the day that being transgender is a worldwide medical issue that calls for a compassionate medical, social and legal response, not faith-based hatred and condemnation. Despite what the Catholic Church, fundamentalists and many conservative pundits think, we exist, we have human rights and we aren't going away.

That's one part of the worldwide struggle that will continue into the New Year, and we'll also see the various societies and governments around the world adjust to varying degrees of success or failure.

As for the Phenomenal Transwoman herself? I've been spending the last few days in my traditional end of the year assessment of my life. Been reassessing goals, rechecking my New Year's resolutions I wrote down at the beginning of 2007 and seeing how much progress I made (or lack thereof) toward achieving them.

I'm also at a personal crossroads in my life on a few fronts. Over the next year I'll be working diligently toward successfully resolving those issues. The issues need to be resolved in order for me to continue maintaining my forward progress toward evolving into the type I woman I want to be.

But the best news about 2008? It's a presidential election year.

Trantasia

Transtasia is a documentary about the 2004 World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Pageant. It not only shows scenes from the pageant, but interviews several contestants about their lives.

BBC America 'Teen Transsexual'

BBC America
Sunday, December 30, 2007
10:00pm EST /7:00pm PST
Repeated at 1:00am EST / 10:00pm PST

All Richard Parker wants for his 18th birthday is to be Lucy Parker.
Richard has spent his life dealing with gender identity issues and has long dreamed of the day when he can have surgery to become a real woman.

Unable to get the surgery until he turns 18 and has proven to doctors that he is psychologically committed to life as a woman, Richard has spent the last two years living as Lucy. This is her story.

Premieres December 30th at 10pm et/pt. Part of BBC America Reveals.

Happy Kwanzaa!

Tonight is the first night of Kwanzaa, which runs from December 26 to January 1. The celebration was founded by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 in the wake of the Watts riots in Los Angeles.

Dr. Karenga searched for ways to bring African-Americans together as a community. He founded US, a cultural organization, and started to research African "first fruit" (harvest) celebrations. Dr. Karenga combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and those of the Zulu, to form the basis of Kwanzaa.

While Kwanzaa has the flexibility to be celebrated by people in many ways, it's based on seven core principles called the Nguzo Saba. They are values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing community among African-Americans and each of those core principle is celebrated over the seven nights of Kwanzaa.

The core principles are:

Umoja (Unity)
To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose)
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity)
To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Imani (Faith)
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

The core principles are not just for being remembered during the Kwanzaa celebration, they are also to be used to help not only organize the community, but be used by individuals as well.

Kwanzaa is growing in popularity among some African-Americans since it's founding as people look for ways to reconnect to our African cultural roots.

Happy Kwanzaa to all you peeps who celebrate it.

The Great Debaters

I'm a huge Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker fan. Any time I have an opportunity to see a movie that has either one of these guys acting in it, I'm jumping at the opportunity to head to my favorite multiplex, chow down on some popcorn and watch these gentlemen work.

I get to double my pleasure in the movie that just opened yesterday called The Great Debaters.



Denzel plays Wiley College Professor Melvin B. Tolson. He inspired students in 1935 to form the school's first debate team, which in reality went on to challenge Southern Californa, but in the movie is depicted as debating Harvard in the national championship.

The movie has already been nominated for a Golden Globe Award and is produced by Oprah's Harpo Productions.

One little known tidbit about my hometown is that Houston is a city with a great debate tradition. Texas Southern University has a outstanding debate team that was founded in 1949 under the leadership of the legendary Dr. Thomas F. Freeman. The late US Rep. Barbara Jordan was a member and a national champion along with my former Texas state senator Rodney Ellis. The TSU debaters were also technical advisors for this film as well

Another little known fact about Houston's rich debate tradition is that Lyndon B. Johnson, before he became Texas' US senator in 1948 and a future president was briefly a teacher and an award-winning debate coach at San Jacinto High School.

I'm looking forward to checking out this movie this weekend and seeing another piece of my people's history portrayed by a great actor.

That's One Large Step For Women

Jodi Grace is riding a trend: Feet are getting bigger. Her store, Big Foot, 5610 Fourth St. N, specializes in women's shoes size 10 and up.
photo-James Borchuck

A New Specialty Shop Offers Large Shoes For Large Feet.

By PAUL SWIDER, Times Staff Writer
Published December 26, 2007
From the St. Petersburg Times

ST. PETERSBURG

Jodi Grace is not a big woman, only 5 feet 2 with a proportionate size 7 shoe. But like the market she is addressing, she knows people with big feet.

"When a woman has big feet, all her friends and family know it," said Grace, who in October opened Big Foot, a store that caters to women needing large shoes.

"I've had a lot of people come in and say, 'My father saw this store and told me about it.' How many fathers know their daughter's shoe size? Fathers of big-footed women do."

Grace's best friend is a size 12 so she has heard the stories for years about how impossible it is to find stylish shoes for big female feet.

One day, while Grace was telling her friend about career woes, her friend was again complaining about shoe shortages. And the idea was born. While a simple concept, big-shoe sales have their complexities.

"I thought, they're shoes, it's not rocket science," said Grace, 45, who has spent most of her career as a sales rep for others. "But I've learned a lot."

Those who don't know women with big feet think the store is a failure waiting to happen, Grace said; those with big-footed friends think it's a gold mine. Solving this latter group's pain is something like a public service, she said.

"It's not exactly social work, but people thank me all the time for starting this store," she said.

Grace did her homework before opening the store, but while business is good and growing, it's not in the areas she expected.

"I'm amazed at what's selling," she said. "The frumpy ones are doing 10 times better than I thought they would."

Grace had heard from her friend and others that it's hard for big-footed women to find style, so she deliberately downplayed the "old-lady" shoes. She also didn't think tall women would want heels, but they do. She's also waiting for the colorful sandals to start selling because her research told her big-footed women were tired of buying dull men's sandals and slippers.

Grace is playing on a trend: Feet are getting bigger. Humans generally are getting taller, but women's shoes seem to be growing more rapidly. Shoe stocks are changing, too, she said, perhaps because women now feel freer to buy their correct size instead of squeezing into the mainstream product that is on most shelves.

A hundred years ago, the average American woman wore a 3.5 or a 4, Grace said. The Professional Shoe Fitting Manual says that 60 years later, it was a 5.5 or a 6, then 8 or 8.5 during the 1980s. Now, the average women's size is somewhere in the 9s.

"I'm convinced it's the hormones in the food," Grace said. She also said that women are often attracted to taller men, which could create a kind of natural selection for tall genes that correlate with big feet.

The culture certainly has its examples of big-footed women. According to the Web site feetbytheinch.com, tall women celebrities like Geena Davis, Nicole Kidman, Tyra Banks and Uma Thurman all wear size 11s or bigger. But even Meg Ryan or Paris Hilton at 5-8 clock in with 11s, as does 5-6 Kate Winslet.

But Grace is not aiming at the celebrity market. Her average price point is about $70.

She goes after the athletic market. She has already sent letters to every high school women's basketball coach in Florida. Soon, she'll go for volleyball. With the 2008 Women's Final Four slated for the St. Pete Times Forum, Grace is working on that audience, too. She already has her foot in the door of the coaches' conference right before.

But Grace also wants more of the cross-dressing/transgender market. She expected it and researched to prepare for it but hasn't seen as many customers as she hoped.

She suspects it's because that community is disorganized, so word hasn't gotten out yet. It will soon, though, she said, because she's already getting referrals from some men she has helped.

"They live in secret," Grace said. "They tell me it's psychologically helpful for them just to come and talk to me."

She sometimes stands in front of the store as a lookout while a man tries on shoes. She is planning invitation-only sales events where she'll cover the windows for privacy.

The window has been a telltale for the store, too. Grace still works as a sales rep for a carpet company, so the store is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. She said that on Wednesdays, when she comes in, she can see nose and hand prints from where the curious eagerly tried to see exactly what was inside.

While the business has been a learning experience, one thing she got right was the name. Colleagues told her women might find it too blunt and offensive, but she said customers appreciate the directness.

"They're adults," she said. "They know they have big feet."

Paul Swider can be reached at pswider@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2271.

Fast facts

Big Foot
5610 Fourth St. N
St. Petersburg, FL
(727) 525-3300
e-mail j_c_grace@yahoo.com

Help Wanted: Sellout Tranny

This is part of a brilliant post on Vanessa Edwards Foster's Trans Political blog called Want Ads: Looking For Mr. or Ms. Goodbar

Help Wanted: Transgender Political Insider, No Experience Necessary - Will Train!

Need individual with a smiling face and a Can-Do Attitude! Personal Ambition a serious plus! Must take directions well. Must be able to learn public relations marketing from a gay and lesbian perspective (Marketing experience a huge plus)

Must like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Gay and Lesbian Equality. Must possess ability and willingness to both raise funds or to be able to attract leads for fundraising for HRC. Can easily substitute a great personal story (author of an autobiography or esp. high-profile job loss, lawsuit or hate crime victim) for fundraising skills.

To be filled: Immediately.

Very competitive salary commensurate with other transgender activist salaries, plus perks! We are an EEOC employer. Only transgendered applicants, preferably white, docile and above-average income need apply.

***

Yes, the above is a satirical take on what's actually happening right now. HRC is in desperate need of superficially plastering over the era of discontent in Transgender, and subsequently adjacent portions of the GLB community. They can't be without a throw-down tranny to upkeep the façade of plausible deniability.

Merry Christmas, Y'all

To my family, friends and loyal TransGriot readers, Merry Christmas!



Enjoy one of my fave Christmas songs by Alexander O'Neal, Remember Why (It's Christmas)


May your dinner come out perfectly, you get most of what you want under the tree, don't forget the reason for the season and have a happy, healthy, mostly stress-free and prosperous New Year.



Oh yeah, only 314 more days to Election Day!

Media Exposure...Or Lack Thereof

Media exposure is something we African-Americans know about all too well. We've been hit with the negative end of it far too often during our 400 years on American shores or deafening silence when it comes to our positive attributes.

That's true of the transgender community as well. It's one of the reasons I was a co-host on an FM radio show back in my hometown from 1999-2001, started my blog two years ago and up until September wrote a monthly column for almost 4 years in a local GLBT newspaper.

While there are more than a few transgender podcasts and Internet radio shows, the only radio shows I've gotten to do on a regular basis is Ethan St Pierre's and Becky Juro's once. Kat Rose and I have been trying to synchronize our schedules so that I can appear on hers as well.

After I did Becky's show back in May (and the topic was on racism, BTW), I read the comments on her blog about it later. I had one detractor who flat out wrote they couldn't stand me because in their words, 'I acted like I spoke for the entire African-American transgender community.'

Hello?

One of the reasons it seems as though I 'speak for the African-American transgender community' is because representatives of the African-American transgender community don't appear on these shows often enough.

I'm one of the peeps (along with Dawn Wilson) who's a proud African-American transperson not only willing to be on the air speaking for the community, but has the media background, the education and the experience to not only articulately represent my African-American community but the transgender one as a whole.

But one of the problems is that when these media opportunities come up, rarely are African-Americans chosen to be the spokespeople for the community at large. We saw that over and over again this year with Larry King and other mainstream talk shows. Only Tyra Banks featured African-American transpeople on her transgender-oriented shows this year.



So when we do get that rare media op, we have it in the back of our minds that we have ground to make up. We make sure that we are on point with our facts, are knowledgeable, get some points in about our experiences as African-American transpeople, and cover as much ground as possible in the time we have slotted for us on the various transgender oriented shows. We also want to make sure we don't have a Sherri Shepherd moment on these shows as well.

The point is whether you want to admit it or not, there are TWO Americas. Black and White Americans look at the same issues through different prisms. The same is true of Black and White Transgender America as well.

But since some white transpeeps disagree mightily with what I have to say, I have to wonder sometimes if there is a conscious effort afloat to keep me (and Dawn) at arms length from those media opportunities until they can find a more pliable Condoleezza Rice clone to give 'the African-American transgender viewpoint' in a more palatable version to white ears.

My views are not the ONLY African-American transgender ones. If you spent time on my TSTB list you'd discover I have people calling me out on a list I founded. I'm not the first or only African-American transperson that's been interviewed by a newspaper reporter or had a mic or TV camera stuck in their face. I've just been more willing to speak on the record when the camera starts taping or the tape recorder starts rolling.

My point is that the transgender community is NOT a monolithic one. Transgender people come in a variety of flavors and shades as well. If you are serious about getting transpeople included in any civil rights bill in 2009, that message has to be relentlessly hammered home in 2008 by a rainbow of transgender people.

The only faces that Mr. and Ms. America see of transpeople can no longer be just white ones.

STRAP To Philippine Supreme Court: We Understand

TransGriot Note: This is the official statement of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) in regards to a recent adverse Philippine Supreme Court decision in regards to name and document changes. It also drives home the point I make (and will continue to make) that transgender rights and recognition of our human right to live our lives are a worldwide struggle.

Official statement of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines regarding the decision of the Supreme Court of the Philippines

Filipina transsexual group to Supreme Court: We understand

The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) understands why the Supreme Court of the Philippines denied the petition for a change of first name and sex of Ms. Mely Silverio, a landmark decision penned by Associate Justice Renato Corona, promulgated on the 22nd of October 2007.

In one way or another, we are all ignorant. Since omniscience is not a human quality, the decisions and choices that we make in life, no matter how we claim to be rational and intelligent, are always limited by the information that we have, the quality of the information, and by our capacity to process and interpret them. Moreover, our biases, prejudices, and emotional commitment to our long-cherished beliefs affect the manner we reach our conclusion. This is unavoidable for basking in the bliss of perpetual ignorance is very comfortable. Just like any decision, this one, without doubt, suffers from it. We understand for STRAP is also ignorant.

STRAP is ignorant of how the justice system in the Philippines really works or whether it is working at all.

STRAP is ignorant of whether or not the freedom of expression enshrined in our constitution includes gender expression.

STRAP is ignorant of the wisdom behind this decision that leaves us with the unnecessary suffering and inconvenience brought by the “M” on our birth certificates until Philippine Congress finally decide that we deserve to live a dignified, joyful, and self-fulfilling existence, just like every human being.

STRAP is ignorant of why our Supreme Court cannot be like the Supreme Court of South Korea, which decided in 2006 to allow transsexual people to change their sex on their birth certificates. Justice Kim, commenting on their decision, said that their decision “is the best choice to alleviate the suffering of transsexual people at a time when any tangible legislative measures to protect their rights is most likely a long time coming.”

But we are not comfortable in our ignorance for we know that there are a lot of countries whose legal systems allow our legal identity to reflect, even without sex reassignment surgery, the gender we actually live rather than the gender declared by the doctors upon our birth. Of course, these countries have access to the latest information regarding the reality behind the category of sex. Information that, undoubtedly, the Supreme Court of the Philippines failed to take into consideration. Perhaps the Supreme Court simply has no access to them. We understand.

However, access to information does not always guarantee wisdom. Without compassion, understanding, and the humility to accept that you are ignorant, wisdom is impossible. Perhaps our country’s institutions have not yet reached the same stage and level of compassion and understanding that other countries have towards people like us. We understand.

We are among the daughters and citizens of this country. We are humbly reclaiming the right to define our gender identity. Our male name is not the name that we use every day. The male on our birth certificates is not the life we live every day. The legal identity that we carry is a lie because that is not who we really are. We want the gender that we actually live, present and declare every day be the one reflected on our birth certificates and not what the doctors declared upon our birth.

We are not asking for the stars, just our real life to be reflected on our legal papers. When will we be understood? We hope that Philippine Congress is listening, compassionately.

In loving kindness,
The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines

E : strapmanila@gmail.com
W: www.tsphilippines.com

Leona Lo Seeks Education Meeting With Club

Transsexual Author Seeks To Educate Club That Asked Her To Leave
By Sylvia Tan
November 13, 2007
From fridae.com

A well known Singaporean transsexual author and speaker, who was asked to leave a club early Saturday morning, hopes to turn the incident into an opportunity to educate the club’s bouncers and management about gender diversity.

Leona Lo, the author of the first transsexual autobiography to be published in Singapore, was asked to leave a bar known as The Pump Room after being told that it did not welcome “lady boys.”

Leona Lo, author of From Leonard to Leona, the first transsexual autobiography to be published in Singapore. The author of From Leonard to Leona said she was approached by a bouncer while she was dancing at the Clarke Quay nightspot with her friends early Saturday morning.

In an email to the media over the weekend, Lo said that despite trying to explain that she is a transsexual author raising awareness of transsexual issues in Singapore, the supervisor whom the bouncer summoned reiterated that the club did not welcome "lady boys."

Feeling "enraged at being called a lady boy and being discriminated against," she had refused to show the bouncer her ID although it states female as her gender.

“Sorry, this not my policy, this the bar's policy. Our clients don't like. You not happy please leave.” Lo quoted the supervisor as saying.

When contacted by Fridae, Bill Graham, a director of The Pump Room, said in an email that the club is still “trying to patch together a picture of exactly what happened that night” as their security staff are largely part-timers especially on weekends.

He added that the club has “no policy excluding any groups whatsoever excepting those who are below our recommended age limit, are in breach of our very reasonable dress code, or people who are behaving inappropriately or have done so in the past.”

The British-educated 32-year-old, who runs her own public relations consultancy, told Fridae that she is not "looking for an apology - but the opportunity to conduct an hour-long lecture on gender diversity for the bouncers and their management.”

“In the States, when there are acts of discrimination, people are sometimes sentenced to community service. In this instance, I will undertake the 'community service' myself.”

When asked why she had alerted the media to her experience, she explained: “If this could happen to me, it's probably happening to lots of transsexuals on a regular basis. In the past, transsexuals used to live under the sword of fear, and no one stood up for them.”

“I feel it's my duty to stand up to the bullies - and that's what they are, bullies. Bullies try to strike fear in the hearts of the more socially vulnerable. But in so doing, they also reveal themselves to be cowards.”

“I hope to promote understanding and compassion among Singaporeans for those they perceive to be ‘different.’ I believe in promoting awareness through peaceful methods. Awareness has already been raised in Today and Shin Min (a Chinese-language daily), so I'm happy with this."

Both Lo and the management of the Pump Room have said that they will be in touch to seek a resolution to the matter.

Since 1996, Singapore has recognised the right of transsexuals to marry in their reassigned sex.

The Christmas Assembly

Every time I hear the song Angels We Have Heard On High during the holidays, I start chuckling to myself and my mind drifts back to a Christmas assembly during my junior year of high school.

It was a JJ tradition to have the band and choir perform a Christmas concert just before we departed the school for winter break. The Mattel electronic football games were the ultra hot toy at the time and some of my friends already had them. Although I didn't know it at the time, I'd be getting one of my own in a few days. Mine was wrapped under the tree along with the Mattel electronic basketball for my brother. (We failed to find the hiding place in the house for our Christmas gifts that year)

My high school served breakfast in the morning, so we congregated inside the cafeteria before school started, especially during the winter months. (yes, Houston has winter weather)

That morning I'd been playing a game with James McCulloch. He was beating me badly before the opening school bell put a premature end to the electronic butt whipping he was administering.

That assembly happened after we got out of homeroom around second period, so as we were filing into the school auditorium we bumped into each other and grabbed seats together in the back.

The concert was turning out to be a long one, so James whips out his game and challenges me to play. He thought he was going to repeat the butt kicking he administered earlier that morning, but I had a new trick for him and decided to play ball control instead of the aggressive pass-happy style I normally employed.


The game makes loud noises when you score either a touchdown or a field goal and a double beep noise at the end of the half or the game. So in order to not be detected and have the game confiscated we used the cover of the concert to play.

We start playing, this is a tight game and so far so good. We're being careful to make sure that much of our game playing coincides with either the choir or band performances. The band is playing loud enough during their segments where no one more than five rows away from us suspects what we're up to. We're also benefitting from the fact that the auditorium is dark except for the stage lights and the couple sitting next to us is more concerned about kissing each other (no mistletoe required) rather than being annoyed about our titanic electronic football battle.

It's in the fourth quarter of the game and we're tied. I decide to try to eat up the entire quarter while scoring the touchdown that would win the game for me. So as I'm concentrating on the game the choir starts singing Angels We Have Heard On High.

I'm so focused on killing the clock and timing my drive so that I score with no time left that I'm not noticing that Mr. Addison (the then choir director) is directing the choir to sing the song softly at a low volume. Just as the choir gets to the 'Gloria' part of the song, I score and the double beep sound reverberates over the entire auditorium.

I look up and see our principal Mr. Pace and the assistant principals Mr. Henry and Ms. Broussard craning their necks from the front row along with several teachers trying to ascertain where the noise came from. They'd confiscated a bunch of them over the last two months and knew exactly what that sound was. They also knew at that moment some electronic shenanigans were going on somewhere in the auditorium. I see to my horror Mr. Henry get up from his seat with a not too pleasant expression on his face to begin his search and confiscate mission.

Fortunately for us when I scored the game was over. I quickly handed James his game with a satisfied smirk on my face as he put it away in his jacket pocket before Mr. Henry reached our section of the auditorium a few moments later. We were also fortunate we weren't ratted out by our fellow Falcons, otherwise we would have been spending a few minutes in the Principal's office.

But hey, I beat him. And James, if you're reading this, if you still have that game I hereby challenge you to a rematch at our reunion in 2010.

Sfiso Returns Home

Zulu Boy Returns As Drag-Queen Diva

from the SA Times
Johannesburg, South Africa
by Biénne Huisman
Published: Dec 22, 2007

Talented Sfiso is back in SA, all sass and style.

Sfiso was a starry- eyed Zulu boy from a humble township home when he left for London seven years ago.

This week he returned to South Africa as a glamorous drag queen — adorned in lipstick and long lashes.

The youngster has been recording tracks with British producers including Kwame Kwaten, who has worked with international stars like Jay Z and Mick Jagger.

Sfiso, whose name means “wish” in Zulu, has come a long way since being raised in a traditional family in the sugar-producing town of Mtubatuba, in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The once bashful lad has met Madonna, now addresses people as “honey” and prefers to be referred to as a “she”.

Sfiso performed in front of thousands of revellers at British gay and lesbian events in London and Manchester earlier this year.



She also took to the stage at the Mother City Queer Project (MCQP) bash in Cape Town last night and is determined to captivate local audiences with her single Diva and a cover version of Dontcha by the Pussycat Dolls.

The Sunday Times met the doe-eyed diva at a guesthouse in Cape Town.

She spoke of mingling with the rich and famous in London, but said she regularly visited her home in South Africa.

“I was so shocked to meet Madonna! I couldn’t say much more than: ‘Hello, how do you do? Your work is great,’” she recalled. “But it was really special to meet Janet Jackson, I mean I grew up listening to her music. She liked my jacket and asked if she could have it, and I said: ‘No, not really.’”

Sfiso cared for elderly people and worked as a boutique stylist to help foot her bills abroad while working her way up in the industry.

The willowy beauty sat bolt upright during the interview, occasionally sweeping long strands of hair from her forehead with a pink-tipped finger.

“The message in Diva is to be proud of yourself. To make the most of your life, no matter what colour, race or gender you are,” she said.

“I don’t like to be categorised and think of myself as genderless. I haven’t had an operation or anything; basically I view myself as a drag artist.

“I’ve had some encounters but never a steady boyfriend... I’m open to meeting someone.”


Even as a young boy, Sfiso was flamboyant and scoffed at the unfashionable clothes sold in Mtubatuba’s stores. The youngster’s biggest wish was to bask in the glitz and glamour he associated with Europe. After matriculating at Empangeni High School in 1999, his wish came true when his mother helped him to buy a plane ticket to London.

Two days after arriving in the city he befriended Kwame and obtained a ticket to the premiere of Madonna’s film The Next Big Thing.

Kwame recalled Sfiso as a bashful youngster.

“Sfiso was different then; he was a very slight man and very unsure of who he was. But he was very kind, as she is today,” he said .

“I watched him transform into this magical person over the years in England. I then watched English audiences go crazy for her... a true success story.”

MCQP events manager, Rick Mahne, described the songbird as a “sexy, sexy little queen who sings beautifully”.

Sfiso spoke about being gay to her family for the first time while visiting last year.

“It was really tough, I cried and cried,” she recalled. “My mother was understanding, she was like: be who you are. But it was harder with my father. I left it to my mother to speak to him.”

Sfiso describes her family as grounded and loving.

But she was hesitant to elaborate on her parents and two siblings. “I would prefer to keep my family private. Please respect that. This is all new, and perhaps even a shock to them.”

She will spend Christmas at home in Mtubatuba before promoting her two singles around the country.

A Tale of Two Classmates

I've thought about running for public office from time to time. That was true when I lived back home and I entertain thoughts of running for office here from time to time as well.

One of my dreams that I put on hold to transition was possibly serving on Houston's City Council. That's on indefinite hold unless I move back home and reestablish my residency in the next few years or I run for an open seat up here in Da Ville.

In the meantime, life moves on and I got a reminder as I perused Chronicle.com and checked the election results that happened December 8. My mom also triggered this post as we talked about the latest happenings in H-town during a recent phone conversation and discussed her soror who now sits on the HISD school board.

The runoff elections saw two of my former classmates in races for Houston city council seats. It's not the first time I've seen my classmates run for office. My high school class president Tom Zakes ran in the mid 80's for a an at-large city council seat but lost.

In the 2007 election cycle (Houston council terms are for two year terms and you are limited to six years total per the city charter) my UH classmate and attorney Jolanda Jones was in an at large runoff seat race with Joe Trevino. I didn't have the pleasure of knowing her personally but we happened to be on campus at the same time. She was a star track athlete while I was there.

My fellow Falcon classmate Lawrence Allen Jr. was in a runoff battle with Wanda Adams for the District D seat. It's my home city council district and the one I wanted to sit in someday. It's also the one I'd been contemplating running for along with the District F one in southwest Houston I resided in. His mother is TX state Rep. Alma Allen, who represents my old Texas House district since she took out 16 year incumbent Ron Wilson in 2005. (another seat I had contemplated running for as well)


While Jolanda won her Position 5 seat by a two to one margin, 15,564 votes to 7,941 Lawrence wasn't so lucky. Wanda Adams got 58 percent of the vote to win District D, which covers not only my old south side Crestmont Plaza neighborhood, but Third Ward and the Montrose areas as well. So we're still waiting for a Falcon to end up on city council.

It was one of the things I was thinking about when I was a little down last week. My relocation rearranged a lot of long-range plans I had for my life and I'm struggling to deal with it. I'm also angry that it was triggered by GOP peeps who hated me as an out and proud transperson so much they jacked with my job.

The bottom line is that the deed's been done, it's over and there's not much I can do about it now. I have to move on, make lemonade out of this lemon situation, and get over the bitterness I have about it.

Even if it's taking me a little longer to readjust and make real the dreams I had for myself back home, I get my satisfaction on those who perpetrated the injustice on me by motivating myself to be as successful as I can with the remainder of the time I'm being granted by God to live my life. If that calls for the Phenomenal Transwoman to serve as a elected official, pass legislation by lobbying them, organize the transgender community, mentor young transwomen to make those moves in their lives to be successful regardless of the odds or speak truth to power, then that's all good too.

Whatever plans God has in store for me, I just have to be ready and prepared to do my part to successfully execute them.

Oh yeah, back to your regularly scheduled post. Better luck next time, Lawrence and congratulations Jolanda. Hope you have a sucessful run as a councilmember. Maybe we'll have the pleasure of seeing you as the first sistah mayor of Houston.

Houston Christmas Scenes

TransGriot Note: Thanks to my hometown paper and its photographers, I can go home for a minute and experience Christmas Houston style. Just because we don't get snow but once ever ten years and a white Christmas (last one in 2004) happens about as frequently as a brilliant George W. Bush speech doesn't mean the Christmas spirit is lacking.

A Houston Christmas tradition benefitting the Downtown YMCA, the Jingle Bell Run. Participants dress in holiday costumes for it.





Various Christmas light scenes around town.

Rep. Julia Carson Passes Away

I was saddened to learn about the death of US Rep. Julia Carson (D-IN) to lung cancer on December 15 at age 69. There was a lively memorial service for her in the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda Friday night and Rep. Carson's funeral was yesterday.




When I moved to Da Ville in 2001, because the congressional rep for this city at the time was the odious Anne Northup (R-KY) and I'd never been without Congressional Black Caucus representation in my life since the group's founding in 1971, I considered Julia Carson my congresswoman even though her district was up I-65 from me in Indianapolis. I shared that tidbit with the staffers in her office when I visited it during the lobby days I participated in back in May.

While I'm happy that John Yarmuth (D-KY) now ably represents the KY 3rd District and I've talked to him on a few occasions about various issues, I still considered Julia my rep as well. I found out later during my visit that she was actually born in Louisville, but grew up in Indy.



She was a remarkable and trailblazing woman that touched many people's lives. As I mentioned, she was born in Louisville in 1938 to an unwed teenage mother, but rose from those circumstances to get elected in 1972 to the Indiana state house. She ran in two dozen local, state and congressional races without ever suffering a defeat.

She became the first Black and first woman to represent Indianapolis and Indiana's 7th District in Congress when she won the first of her seven congressional terms in 1994. She'd announced that she wouldn't run again after she revealed that she had cancer.

"Not only did she make it, but she reached back to help other people to achieve and other people to make it, too," said Jeffrey Johnson, pastor of Eastern Star Church, where her four-hour long funeral service was held and attended by 2000 people. "She was for the poor, she was for the seniors, she was for our soldiers, she was for our country and she was for the community that she came out of."




The funeral and state house remembrance attendees came from all over the country and included some of her CBC colleagues, Rev. Jesse Jackson. Sr.,Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Former Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN), former Indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson and longtime friend and former Gary, IN mayor Richard Hatcher.

The people of Indianapolis, the state of Indiana and the nation lost a giant woman on December 15. Whoever succeeds her in that seat will have a giant pair of shoes to fill. This country would be a much better place if we had more public servants and members of Congress like her. She will definitely be missed.

Another Giant Leap For GLBT Rights In Nepal

AFP - France
December 21, 2007
[12/21/07]

Nepal Supreme Court Orders Government To Guarantee Gay Rights

KATHMANDU (AFP) -- Nepal's Supreme Court Friday ordered the government to enact laws to guarantee the rights of gays and lesbians, who have long complained of discrimination in the highly conservative Himalayan nation.

"The government of Nepal should formulate new laws and amend existing laws in order to safeguard the rights of these people," the judges said in their ruling.

"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex are natural persons irrespective of their masculine and feminine gender and they have the right to exercise their rights and live an independent life in society," the judges said in the ruling, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

The court also ordered the government to form a committee to study existing laws and provisions of foreign countries on same-sex marriage and prepare laws to give it legal recognition in Nepal.

Rights activists hailed the ruling as a landmark decision.

"It's a very encouraging and progressive decision. We all feel we are liberated today," Sunil Babu Pant, president of the Blue Diamond Society which works on behalf of sexual minorities in Nepal, told AFP.

The society along with three other groups had filed a joint petition at the Supreme Court seeking legal status and rights for sexual minorities in April 2007.

"There were no specific laws to protect the rights of sexual minorities but the Supreme Court's decision has opened the doors to enjoy our rights," said Pant.

There are no official figures on sexual minorities but rights group estimate that homosexuals and transgender people account for nearly 10 percent of Nepal's 27 million population.

Although homosexuality is not listed as a crime under Nepali law, "unnatural sex acts" can be punished by up to a year in prison.

"Now it's the government's responsibility to make new laws to guarantee our rights and we will put pressure on the government to act on the decision," Pant said.

His organisation was founded in 2001 to address the needs of sexual minorities, and has received financial support from singer Elton John and other celebrities.

What's A Turducken?

John Madden extolled the virtues of it during Thanksgiving Day NFL football telecasts when he worked for Fox. Despite the fact I've lived in southeast Texas for most of my life, last Christmas was the first time I finally got to taste one.

What I'm talking about is a turducken. It's a partially deboned turkey stuffed with a deboned duck which is stuffed with a small deboned chicken. Whatever hollow spaces are left are usually stuffed with either Cajun sausage, dirty rice, or Cajun style stuffing depending on who you get the bird from. The result is a multilayered piece of meat that you cook by either grilling, baking, roasting, or barbecuing it.

The turducken can't be Cajun deep fried because you need the hollow space inside for the bird to cook evenly

The turducken is thought to be Cajun in origin, but peeps in east Texas and northern Louisiana claim it originated there. A November 2005 National Geographic article gives credit for the idea to brothers Sammy and Junior Hebert, who invented them in 1985 at their family meat market in Maurice, LA and have been selling them commercially ever since.

The turducken tradition is growing and the Hebert stores (one in Maurice, three in Houston and one in Tulsa, Okla.) sell over 10,000 turduckens per year. Increasingly they are being sold not just for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners, but for Easter and other holidays as well.

Whoever came up with the idea, it's tasty eating and I'm looking forward to chowing down on it for our upcoming Christmas dinner.

UH Hires A Brotha Football Coach

It's already been a good couple of days for me as a UH alum. My Coogs are 10-1 in basketball after beating down UK 83-66 Tuesday night in front of a sellout crowd at Hofheinz Pavilion. The best news from last night besides me getting to tease Dawn about my boys beating the Mildcats was they finally retired Michael Young's number at that game. We'll be playing TCU in the upcoming Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium.

Speaking of football, I'll be paying even closer attention to my alma mater's football fortunes this fall. I was pleased to learn that Kevin Sumlin, who was an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma, will become the 11th head coach in University of Houston football history and its first Afrcan-American one. He'll be taking over for Art Briles, who took the Baylor job.

One of the things I've always liked about my alma mater is that they were the first major college in Texas to recruit African-American players. Bill Yeoman did it on the football side with Warren McVea in July 1964, and Guy Lewis on the basketball side with Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney.

Bill and Guy were also innovators. Yeoman created the veer offense which terrorized college football in the late 60 through the 70's. Guy Lewis not only persuaded mighty UCLA to play the 'Game of the Century' at the Dome in 1969 (and we beat them), he was instrumental in getting the 1971 Final Four played at the dome.was inst. You can thank Guy Lewis not only for Final Fours being played in domed stadiums, but televised college basketball games as well.

It's about time my alma mater finally made that groundbreaking head coach move with the football program and it's past time that other NCAA institutions start doing the same thing. I hope Kevin has a long and successful stay on Cullen Blvd.

Eat 'em up!

Batty Boys

TransGriot Note: This one is dedicated to all my Jamaican brothers and sisters who are fighting to survive murderous anti-GLBT hatred there

An MKR poem

Batty boys
Antimen
Kill 'em haff dead for their wages of sin

Batty boys
Antimen
Hate speech hurled at us from Jamaican citizens

Batty boys
Antimen
Where's the 'One Love' for my GLBT friends?

Batty boys
Antimen
Jamaican GLBT peeps risking life and limb

Batty Boys
Antimen
Killed 'cause who you love is different from them

Batty boys
Antimen
Transpeeps beat down for being too feminine

Batty boys
Antimen
Don't want us on your island? You can have it, then

Batty boys
Antimen
Not visiting 'till all Jamaicans are respected citizens

It's A Wonderful Trans Life

TransGriot Note: I was inspired to write this when I briefly flipped on the TV over the weekend and stumbled across one of my fave movies, It's A Wonderful Life. Hope you enjoy the little twist I gave it.


"Hello?"
"Hey Phyllis, it's The Boss."
"What's up?"
"I know you're rehearing at The Club for tonight's show, but I'm gonna need you to go back to Earth."
"What's going on?"
"You remember when you escorted Monica around Heaven during her out of body experience last year?"
"Yeah. She's a sweet kid."
"You did such a wonderful job during that time, we assigned you to be her permanent guardian angel."
"Thanks. So what's up, Boss?"
"She's feeling more than a little depressed about things lately. She's upset about a confluence of events in her life. While I know she's thinks too highly of herself to take her own life, I want to make sure she doesn't. I still have a lot of things I've prepared her to do on Earth that I need her to be around for to execute."
"So what do you need me to do?"
"Help her regain that sunny optimism of hers and her Christmas spirit for starters."
"When do you need me to leave?"
"How about in the next few minutes? I'll send you your briefing information about her current situation on the way down."
"Okay."

Monica sat at her computer desk and stared at the screen for a few hours, but the composition block for her TransGriot blog post was as empty as when she first sat down two hours before.
"This is useless. I might as well give it up for the night and see what movies Dawn rented," she said as she signed out of her blog and shut down her computer.

She exited her room and headed downstairs to the living room. She hooked a left into the kitchen to get herself some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. She pulled a large mug out of the kitchen cabinet, made a beeline for the freezer and removed the ice cream container. She filled her mug and put the container back in the freezer before heading to the living room and setting it down on the small table next to the recliner. She then moved to the big screen TV to check out the latest pile of rental DVD’s on top of it. “Hmm, some of her usual anime stuff but some Christmas ones as well,” Monica thought as she perused the stack of DVD’s. “You’re Under Arrest Christmas Edition, Noir, A Diva’s Christmas and It’s A Wonderful Life.”

“I think I’ll start with It’s A Wonderful Life first before I get my Natsumi and Miyuki fix.” she remarked as she powered up the home theater system, opened the protective DVD box and placed it in the already opened DVD player tray before pressing play.

As that Christmas classic movie filled the screen, Monica started thinking about her own problems as she devoured her ice cream.
“I definitely feel George Bailey in this movie”, she said softly to herself as she finished the last of her ice cream and yawned. “Sometimes I wish I’d just been born a genetic female, then I wouldn’t have had all this drama in my life.”


“Are you sure about that?”
Monica looked over toward the couch where Dawn was sleeping. “I know I must be hallucinating. I thought I heard somebody say something.”
“You did.”
Monica turned her head to the sound of the voice and noted Phyllis Hyman’s shapely statuesque presence in the living room.
“Now I know I’m tripping. I gotta stop eating Blue Bell this late at night.”
“Yes, you do if you want to drop those ten pounds you’re always complaining about.”

Phyllis noted the confusion etched on Monica’s face and said, “No, this isn’t a dream. I’m here in the flesh, so to speak.”
“So to what do I owe this visit?”
“First, your grandmother says hello and told me to remind you to check on your Dad.”
‘Okay, will do.”
“Tyra and the gang at The Beauty Shop said hello as well.”
“Give ‘em my love as well. But back to my original question.”
“I’m your official guardian angel now. The Boss is concerned about you.”
“”Because I’m depressed? I’ve been depressed before and He hasn’t sent my guardian angel to check on me in the flesh before.”
“Actually, He has. Those particular times you didn’t know it.”
“Oh, okay.”
‘Want some more ice cream before we get started?”
“Yeah, I’ll go get it,” Monica said as she prepared to get up from the recliner.
“Sit tight, Moni, I got this,” said Phyllis as she snapped her fingers. Monica’s empty mug was refilled while at the same time one appeared in Phyllis’ right hand complete with a spoon. She sampled the ice cream and said,” I see why you love this stuff.”
“It’s the bomb isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“I grew up on it. Reminds me of home when I eat it.”
Phyllis finished her ice cream and resumed her mission. “Look, I know you’ve been going through some rough times lately…”
“You got that right.”
“And Christmas doesn’t make that any easier. But you gotta snap out of it.”
“Pardon me for sounding like the Grinch doll that’s sitting on the mantel next to my Trinity, but bah humbug.”
“I know you’re disappointed over the ENDA and JCPS votes…”
“Disappointed is a mild way of putting it.”
“But you, I and The Boss know it’s gonna happen. You just gotta have faith it will.”
“Phyllis, I’m tired of somedays. I’m tired of being repeatedly cut out of the legislation we desperately need as a community. I’m sick of sellout idiots who don’t have half of my God-given intelligence calling me crazy, the n-word or worse when I try to tell the truth to the transgender community about the people they shill for or expose their part in screwing this community.”

She listened emphatically as Monica continued venting her frustration about the recent developments and some other drama in her life. ”I understand.”
“No Phyllis, you don’t. It’s crap. I try to do the right, moral and decent things in my life and they seem to go unappreciated and unrewarded. It’s not that I’m looking for glory in trying to pass these laws, it’s the right thing to do. When am I gonna catch a break? When are the bad guys in life gonna lose? When are my people gonna stop being killed, denigrated and disrespected? It’s enough to make me wish that I didn’t have the ‘transgender’ label in my life. Then I wouldn’t have all this drama.”
“You really think your life would be better if you‘d been born a genetic female?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
Phyllis paused for a few moments before she said, ““Want some more ice cream?”
“Yeah”
“This is your last one for the night,”
“Okay”
She snapped her fingers as both mugs refilled, then she said as she sat in the other recliner in the room, “Moni, were gonna watch a movie.”
“Which one?”
“Oh, I won’t need a DVD for this one,” she said as she sat down and pointed the remote at the TV

In an instant Monica was transfixed as she was suddenly transported back to a 60’s era Houston hospital watching a young African-American woman give birth. When the camera zoomed in on the wall calendar it read May 4 and she realized the woman was her mother. The gentleman standing next to her as the baby took its first breaths and she held it was her family doctor back in Houston.
“Congratulations, it’s a girl.”
She watched her mother’s face light up, exhausted but happy in the knowledge that she’d delivered a healthy baby girl.

Monica continued to watch the movie as events happened in her life, but on the flip side of the gender spectrum. She got to observe during the movie a conversation between three girls who hated and mercilessly teased her not only because of her intelligence and looks, but who her parents were. As her growth spurt kicked in and she towered over everyone in her 5th grade class it got worse.
“Now you get to feel my pain,“ said Phyllis.

Monica also got to watch a conversation between her parents as they discussed a junior high report card in which her math grades were lower than expected.
“You know she doesn’t like math.”
“I know that. But Monica has to learn that she can’t skate by on her good looks. She’s too smart for that,” said her mother.
“You’re right, but I think suspending her phone privileges for three weeks was too harsh.”
“Maybe, but you’ll thank me later when she graduates from college.


Speaking of college, the next scenes show Monica standing in front of the UC on the University of Houston campus wearing a green dress suit, black hose, green pumps and holding an ivy plant. As she’s being inspected by her big sisters two of her future sorors were discussing the line and Monica’s chances of going over.

“I think Too Tall will be an excellent addition to our chapter.”
“I can’t stand her.”
“Why? Because she has a 3.4 GPA?”
“No, because she’s a legacy. She thinks she’s all that because her daddy’s on the radio.”
“The people I talked to about Monica from her old high school love her. They say she’s always been a sweet kid without a pretentious bone in her body. She was a cheerleader, student council president, editor of the school newspaper and an all district volleyball player.”
“So? It still doesn’t change the fact that I can’t stand her.”

I watched as she made Monica’s life on line hell, but she went over. She got her heart broken in college for the first time thanks to a UH football player. She was nearly date raped in another disastrous encounter She channeled that into graduating on time, serving in the sorority leadership ranks and upping her GPA to a 3.65. She also graduated from school with a psychology degree with a history minor. She’d been motivated to go into it after taking a human sexuality class her sophomore year and finding the transgender film fascinating.

Phyllis fast-forwarded it to the part where Monica has an office in the Med Center but is still single. She let her eavesdrop on a phone call in which she's being prodded by her mom to hurry up, get married and have some children before the first client enters her office for the day.

She paused the film after Monica said,” All this is doing is proving my point.”
“Yes, your life is turning out better, but what about the people’s lives who look at you as a role model?”

She showed one example of a young transsistah who was searching for any Internet blog or website that didn’t depict Black transwomen in a negative light.
“This girl stumbled across your Transsistahs-Transbrothas group on line. But since you're not a transwoman anymore, the group doesn’t get founded. Your blog and newspaper columns don’t exist either, which hundreds of people per day around the world read.”
“Yeah, I know that….”
“But you don’t know how many people you positively affect just by being you.”
“Hmm, you’ve given me something to think about.”
“God made all of us, even transpeople. You’re the only people on the planet who know what it’s like to be on both sides of the gender fence. That’s one quality that makes you special.”
“Too bad we don’t get treated that way.”
“One day, with your help, you will.”
Phyllis got up from the recliner and gave Monica a hug. “I’ve gotta get back and finish rehearsing for an upcoming show at The Club.’
“Who’s performing with you?”
“Aaliyah and Selena.”
“Wow, y’all have some interesting entertainment up there.”
“That we do. Hang in there Monica. Everything will work out and I’ll have your back.”
“That’s good to know.”
“Bye, Monica,” Phyllis said as she departed.
"Merry Christmas, Phyllis."
***
“Monica, I’m trying to sleep… Can you take that movie to your room?”
“Huh?” she said in a dreamy state.
“Turn it off or take that movie to your room, please.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Monica hit the remote and turned off the downstairs TV before heading to her room. She decided to flip on the TV and do a little channel surfing for something interesting. She gasped and chuckled when she discovered what the Christmas movie being broadcast that night was:

It’s A Wonderful Life.

Bah, Humbug

Hey TransGriot readers!

Sorry I've been MIBA the last couple of days. Haven't felt much like writing. My mood has matched the crappy weather we've had around Da Ville lately. The sun's out today, but it's still colder than HRC's heart. One thing that did come out of it my self-imposed temporary exile was a short piece I'll be posting in the next few days.

Every now and then a writer hits the creative wall and you need to step back for a few days until the creative juices and your love for writing takes over again.

But what I've been experiencing the last few days was more than mere writer's block. It's that combined with the Christmas blues, lack of satisfying progress in the activist part of my life, a little non-activism related drama in my life, being out of hormones until next payday and homesickness. The weather didn't help either, as I mentioned in the opening paragraph. Saturday we had a half-inch of sleet and slush coating the roads in Da Ville, but fortunately the temperature didn't get below freezing and create a traffic nightmare.

I'd even cut off the TV and the computer off. It had me feeling like George Bailey in the classic Christmas movie It's A Wonderful Life.


No peeps, the only thing I'm gonna do on a bridge is drive my car to the other side of it and back. ;) I love myself too much to even comtemplate something like that, even if I am depressed from time to time.

It took me a few days, some prayer, talking to my homegirls, some chocolate chip muffins and two gallons of Blue Bell ice cream (chocolate chip cookie dough and homemade vanilla, of course) and some creative writing for me to work things out. but the creative writing juices are starting to flow, I'm back to almost being the Phenomenal Transwoman and Christmas is only a week away.

Now that I'm feeling better, you'll see me posting on the regular again. But if anybody wants to send me any Christmas gifts, a round trip airline ticket to Houston will work.

New Transgender Veterans Survey

Transgender American Veterans Association
Contact: Monica F. Helms, President
president@tavausa.org
www.tavausa.org

A new survey has been created to achieve a more accurate picture of the state of the transgender American veteran population. Many of the issues facing transgender veterans are no different than those facing the rest of the transgender community. However negotiating healthcare thru the Veterans Administration and dealing with the Department of Defense poses its own unique set of challenges. This survey is also for those transgender people who are still serving in the military and those veterans who identify and are diagnosed as intersex.

The detailed survey of 117 short questions only takes between ten and twenty minutes of your time and it is the first of its kind to be undertaken. Many of the questions have several choices to them, but just a few will take multiple answers. A large percentage of the questions are a simple “Yes/No.” Some require a written response. While transgender veterans who do not, or have not ever used the VA for their medical needs, can skip that entire section.

The survey can be accessed at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SpQUvMM5ZvidQ8hNGCcIQA_3d_3d

TAVA would appreciate as many transgender/intersex veterans and active duty service members to take this survey as possible. If anyone knows of a transgender veteran who does not have access to a computer, then please help them log on at a local library or community center so TAVA can obtain their responses as well. The answers to this survey will not only help veterans’ organizations in providing assistance to their transgender members, but it will benefit other organizations from the answers not having to do with the military. Since there are no questions about personal contact information, this survey is completely confidential. For additional inquiries about this survey, please contact the Transgender American Veterans Association at: info@tavausa.org, or go to our web site at www.tavausa.org.

***


Founded in 2003, the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) is a 501 (c) 3 organization that acts proactively with other concerned civil rights and human rights organizations to ensure that transgender veterans will receive appropriate care for their medical conditions in accordance with the Veterans Health Administration’s Customer Service Standards promise to “treat you with courtesy and dignity . . . as the first class citizen that you are.” Further, TAVA will help in educating the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) on issues regarding fair and equal treatment of transgender individuals. Also, TAVA will help the general transgender community when deemed appropriate and within the IRS guidelines.

Manifesto Calls for ANC Opposition To Homophobia

TransGriot Note: This is another example of South Africa leading the way on the African continent when it comes to GLBT rights issues.

Manifesto Calls For ANC Opposition to Homophobia

from the Mail & Guardian Online
Johannesburg, South Africa

13 December 2007 04:05

The African National Congress (ANC) must make the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people a "living reality" at its upcoming national conference.

In a statement on Thursday, the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project and the Triangle Project said an open manifesto demanding these rights will be sent to the ANC ahead of the conference, which starts on Sunday in Polokwane.

Phumi Mtetwa, director of the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, said South Africa faces a "social crisis", visible in the difference between the rights enshrined in the Constitution and what is happening in practice.

She said the ANC needs to "recommit" itself to upholding those rights, and its watershed national conference provides an opportunity to do so.

Mtetwa said sexism and homophobia that have emerged, particularly during ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma's rape trial, indicate a need for the party to make a renewed commitment to human rights.

The manifesto calls on the conference to "fully and publicly affirm the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people as full and equal citizens" -- and make those rights a living reality.

It also calls for access to medical rights for these groups, a commitment of state resources for their needs, the integration of sexual-orientation education in all schools and for "effective and consistent" action to be taken against hate crimes against these groups.

It wants the ANC to "take decisive disciplinary action and other sanctions against homophobes and others who violate the Constitution who are ANC members and leaders". -- Sapa

HRC The Fake Civil Rights Org

TransGriot Note: Once again, in the spirit of the Christmas season, another one of my infamous song rewrites. Grab some egg nog, Christmas cookies, sing along and celebrate the lump of coal that HRC and Barney put in your civil rights Christmas stocking. Merry Christmas!


HRC The Fake Civil Rights Org
(sung to the tune of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer)


HRC, the fake civil rights org
Plays inside the Beltway games
And if you ever saw them
You'd be appalled, shocked and ashamed

United ENDA and Tammy Baldwin
Pleaded with HRC in vain
To keep all of us poor transpeeps
Included in the ENDA game

Then one muggy DC eve
Barney came to say
"You transpeople don't desetve your rights"
"I'm cutting you out of ENDA tonight"

Aravosis and Chris Crain loved it
Rich white gays shouted out with glee
"Thanks HRC and Barney"
For keeping ENDA gay only

'The View' To Ignorance

When and where I enter, then and there the entire race enters with me.

It's too bad Sherri Shepherd hasn't read this quote from Anna Julia Cooper since it's not in the Bible. Come to think of it, based on her statements on The View, homegirl needs to expand her reading list.

I'm actually pining for the days when Star Jones was sitting at that table.



Sherri Shepherd is not only an embarrassment to herself, she's also an insult to every intelligent Black woman in this country, myself included.

Every time she says something ignorant and stupid, she not only provides fodder for our detractors, she gives them ammunition to validate every negative thing that our detractors have ever written, uttered or thought about African-Americans regarding our intelligence.



My displeasure with her predates the insultingly stupid 'I ain't having my son wear a dress' comment in reference to a discussion on transgender children. As a teacher's kid, I have a low tolerance for naked displays of ignorance. Seeing this from Ms. Shepherd on a narionally televised TV show and justifying it by hiding behind the Bible just works my last nerve. I'm a Christian, but I don't subscribe to the view (pardon the pun) that you must turn off your brain to express your faith.

For example, Dr. King was not only a great minister and orator, he had an intellectually keen mind as well. There are scientific references laced throughout many of his speeches. I used to enjoy talking to AC's late father in law because he was not only a distinguished geology professor, but a devout Catholic as well.

So I fail to understand why some Black Christians feel the need to buy into this white fundamentalist anti-intellectual hate on people definition of Christianity.



But back to Ms. Shepherd. I suggest you take a trip to a museum, preferably the Smithsonian in DC or the Field Museum in your hometown of Chicago, not the Flintstone's one in Northern Kentucky. A trip to the Adler Planetarium is a must as well. I would also suggest you balance your Bible reading time with books on history, geography, astronomy, human sexuality and Black history.

No check that, you need to read more books besides the Bible, period. For good measure you need to annually buy a copy of the World Almanac as well and read them from cover to cover like I do. An Internet connection wouldn't hurt you either.

Better yet, can we not only see more of Whoopi but bring back Jacqui Reid, Gayle King, or any intelligent sistah? If ABC and Barbara Walters are gonna keep this walking stereotype on the air, I want some intelligent sistahs on the show for balance.

KK Logan Strikes Back

(Gary, IN, December, 12, 2007) — In court papers filed today in the Northern District Court of Indiana, Lambda Legal says that West Side High School violated Kevin "K.K." Logan's First Amendment rights when it barred him from his prom for wearing a dress.

K.K. Logan attended West Side High during his junior and senior year and expressed a deeply rooted femininity in his appearance and demeanor. Both classmates and teachers at the school supported him in his daily attendance dressed in clothes typically associated with girls his age.

However, on May 19, 2006, Principal Diane Rouse stretched her arms across the door of the Senior Prom, blocking Logan's entrance. His classmates and friends rallied to his defense to no avail — even though a female student was allowed entrance dressed in a tuxedo.

Principal Rouse has stood by a school policy that deems inappropriate any "clothing/ accessories that advertise sexual orientation, sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, profanity, negative social or negative educational statements."

"The fact that sexual orientation is lumped in with drugs and profanity in the school's dress code is just plain offensive, but even more troublesome is that the whole policy is in violation of students' First Amendment rights," said James P. Madigan, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal's Midwest Regional Office in Chicago. "There are ways to write policies that both create rules for student behavior and also respect their rights — but this isn't one of them."

Lambda Legal argues that Logan's First Amendment rights were violated, including the freedoms of speech, symbolic action, and expressive conduct. The school district also engaged in unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex and gender.

"I dress this way because it's who I am and how I feel on the inside," says Logan. "Gay and trans students have rights, and they should be treated fairly."

The case is Logan vs. Gary Community School Corporation et al.

James Madigan, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal's Midwest Regional Office in Chicago and Cole Thaler, Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal's Transgender Rights Project are handling the case with co-counsel from the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP in Chicago.

Go Canada!

TransGriot Note: It's sad that once again we in the United States, the so-called 'leading democracy in the world' are about to be left in the dust on transgender rights issues. Our British cousins passed the Gender Recognition Act in 2004, now this positive news out of Orrawa.

SIKSAY INTRODUCES BILL TO ADD GENDER IDENTITY AND EXPRESSION TO HATE PROVISIONS OF THE CRIMINAL CODE

OTTAWA – NDP MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) introduced a Bill in the House of Commons today that would add gender identity and gender expression as distinguishing characteristics protected under the hate propaganda section of the Criminal Code. The Bill also adds gender identity and expression as aggravating factors to be considered at the time of sentencing an offender.

"Transgender and transsexual people are regularly victims of abuse, harassment and physical violence", said Siksay, "this Bill will ensure that transphobic violence against transgender and transsexual people is clearly identified as a hate crime."

Siksay's Bill addresses the lack of explicit protection for transsexual and transgender people under the current hate provisions of the Criminal Code. It will also allow judges to take into account whether crimes committed were motivated by hatred of transgender or transsexual people when they are determining the sentence of an offender.

"I believe the inclusion of gender identity and expression in the hate provisions and the sentencing provisions in the Criminal Code will send a strong signal that targeting people for their gender identity or expression will not be tolerated in Canada," said Siksay.

Siksay also has tabled another Private Member's Bill (C-326), which would add gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Siksay is the NDP spokesperson for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Transsexual Issues.

A Transgender TV Debut

Host of Southern India's 'Yours, Rose' Seeks to Challenge Stereotypes, Social Taboos

By Rama Lakshmi
(photo-Rama Lakshmi)
from the Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, December 9, 2007

CHENNAI, India -- In a congested neighborhood full of trash heaps, cows and auto-rickshaws lives a budding star named Rose.

Her photographs are splashed across newspaper pages and magazine centerfolds. She speaks at upscale women's clubs and poses for fashion shoots in her diva-like designer chiffon sari. She gets free makeovers at the mall from admiring cosmetics saleswomen.

In a few weeks, Rose will become India's first transgender host of a late-night TV chat show, to be broadcast to millions of homes in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

But her neighbors know none of this. They know Rose as Ramesh Venkatesan, just another young man living with his parents and trying to eke out a living.

Rose, who is 28 and uses only her first name, said that she has kept her identity secret from her neighbors for three years. She fears they would jeer at her parents if they knew.

She has reason to be concerned. The transgender community in this country has long been discriminated against, a people to be lampooned in movies. Transgender Indians are so oppressed that many earn a living only by making themselves a nuisance; they show up at weddings or shops, clapping their hands and demanding money from people who are all too eager to shoo them away.

Rose wants to change that. Her forthcoming show, called "Yours, Rose," will be a venue to debate all kinds of socially taboo topics. It will be aired by Star Vijay, a Tamil-language channel owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

"I want to break social stereotypes about transgender people through my TV show," said Rose, tall and bejeweled with blond streaks in her hair.

"People will be curious about me. I know curiosity is not acceptance, but it is a start," she said. She talks openly about the fact that she regularly gets hormone shots, and about the fact that she has not yet decided whether to undergo sex reassignment surgery.

A decade ago, such public discussion of sexual identity or sexual orientation would have been unthinkable. India's first major motion picture about lesbians, "Fire," was attacked by extremist groups. Movie posters were burned and theaters barred from screening the film. Gay men and lesbians paraded through the streets by the tens of thousands to assert their rights; it was a demonstration like none this country had ever seen.

Rose's show reflects shifts in a society that has learned to acknowledge the presence of sexual minorities. It's also a testament to the growing willingness of private television channels to address sensitive issues. In Muslim-majority Pakistan, Begum Nawazish Ali became the first transgender South Asian television host only two years ago.

"We were looking for a movie star to host our late-night chat show. And Rose just walked in and impressed us with her personality and education," said Pradeep Milroy Peter, head of programming for Star Vijay, which attracts more than 56 million viewers. "We said, let's profile you as the Oprah of this market."

On "Yours, Rose," guests, experts and a studio audience will discuss marriage, divorce, drugs and sexuality. During a recent brainstorming session, the Star Vijay team and Rose struggled to determine the show's tenuous limits. Rose wanted to express her radical views on marriage, faith and sexuality, but channel officials urged her to go slowly.

"We have to be cautious. We can push the envelope but cannot afford to bang the door down. We don't want angry demonstrators outside our office," Peter explained. "We will debate sexuality, but not in the first couple of weeks. At the end of the day, my father and my mother should be able to accept the show and its host."

The channel's communications director advised Rose not to be too candid about her personal life in interviews with journalists, because he was trying to give her a "classy image."

Rose said her journey has never been easy. She endured merciless taunting from classmates at school because she was different. She went to college at Louisiana Tech University, where she studied biomedical engineering, but said she found the United States to be "too homophobic and trans-phobic. "

Eventually, Rose said, she found herself teaching Indian call center employees to speak English the way Americans do. But when she came out three years ago, her contract was not renewed.

Her family threw her out in embarrassment, later taking her back grudgingly. Her mother tells her not to wear saris or makeup and not to be overtly feminine at home or in the neighborhood. As a result, Rose leaves home every day hiding her jewelry and makeup in her purse and carrying a change of women's clothes.

But living with her parents also wards off unwanted attention from drunk men at night. She says a social stereotype of transgender people as sex workers leads employers to deny them jobs and landlords to refuse them housing.

"A transgender or a gay person cannot walk anywhere without the usual catcalling, sniggering and name-calling, " said Sunil Menon, who works with sexual minorities and runs a support organization called Sahodaran. "Rose gives us hope because she demonstrates that you can overcome social stigma."

Menon said that the transgender community enjoyed social acceptance in the cultural traditions of Hinduism and Islam in India, but that British rule imposed "Victorian morality."

Rose and her friend Priya Babu, a transgender activist, are working on a book about the transgender community. They also regularly conduct awareness programs for police officers in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, Rose has begun educating upper-class women.

On a recent afternoon, she spent five hours having makeup applied and posing for a photo shoot for Society, an upscale magazine. She wore a designer sari with matching bracelets and chandelier earrings.

As the city's best-known fashion photographer clicked away, a popular 1980s song by Foreigner played in the background -- "I've been waiting for a girl like you."

C Copyright 1996-2007 The Washington Post Company

You're No Friend, Barney

'No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.'

That Alice Walker quote is at the heart of this post. I was stunned to learn from a friend of mine that somebody e-mailed him my little Christmas rewrite of Dr. Seuss. The Grinch that Stole Civil Rights for transpeople is allegedly not happy about it, and supposedly retorted that I was insulting the best friend we had in Congress.

Friend? I'm an intelligent girl, Mr. Chairman. I know the difference. You are NOT a friend, Barney.

We transpeople have numerous enemies gay and straight. You played right into their hands by failing to move forward on a transgender inclusive House version of ENDA. You played politics with mine and other transpeople's lives, caused a split in the GLBT community over a bill that Bush probably isn't going to sign and for what?



Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) are our friends, Chairman Frank. Unlike you, who berated the transgender community from the House floor and in the press, they have used that same floor speech time and their press opportunities to stand up for us on the Hill.

You have proven yourself by your recent actions in strong arming a non-transgender inclusive ENDA through the House NOT to be. As of now you are part of the cadre of people in this country that want to not only silence transpeople, but deny our right to grow.

I'll probably be on the Hill in the near future to lobby. I'm going to make it a point to stop by your office. I don't want to talk to aides, I want to talk to you.

Chairman Frank, I want you to personally tell me, an African-American transperson, WITHOUT inside the Beltway spin, how cutting us out of ENDA speeds up the granting of rights for transgender people. Better yet, why don't you come down to one or both of our community's major conferences, either IFGE in Tucson, AZ in April 2008 or Atlanta's Southern Comfort in September 2008 and explain yourself?

As we tried to tell you, symbolism matters. And the symbolic message you sent to us, the country and the world is that the United States ISN'T a leader on civil rights legislation any more, much less isn't a democratic country. A democratic country is judged on how it protects the least of its citizens, not the most powerful or the privileged. You sent the message courtesy of the House that it's okay to disrespect and cut transpeople out of legislation when the going gets tough.

And unfortunately it didn't take long for that message to resonate with lawmakers around the country. Here in Jefferson County, KY and other jurisdictions in the state we have not had a problem passing laws or policies with BOTH sexual orientation and gender identity until now.

The opponents of a GLBT inclusive bill in Scottsdale, AZ cited your ENDA stunt as justification to strip us out of the bill. Fortunately the council members there had more cojones than you showed on the Hill and rebuffed them. Even the peeps in Montgomery County, MD showed more courage than you did in the ENDA debate and unanimously passed their inclusive rights bill despite shrill opposition. Maybe you should take a ride up I-270, have a chat with Duchy Trachtenberg and find out how it's done.

You made an impassioned plea to your House colleagues to consider gay and lesbian kids during the ENDA debate. Too bad you didn't exhibit the same level of compassion when it comes to transgender kids.

Chairman Frank, if you're the friend of the transgender community you claim that you are, prove it to me, transgender people and the world. In addition to showing up at one of our signature conferences, ask your fellow Bay stater Sen. Ted Kennedy to introduce a Senate ENDA in 2008 that includes transgender people. If by some miracle it passes the Senate, amend yours in the House-Senate conference committee to include us.

But I won't hold my breath. That has as much chance of happening as the Miami Dolphins winning the Super Bowl this year.

The Galleria

I sometimes think of The Galleria as a metaphor for my life. Ever since the tri-level mall opened in 1970, some portion of my life has involved either hanging out there, shopping or browsing its 375 stores or entertaining myself inside its walls.

My high school prom was held at the Galleria Plaza hotel. My neighborhood chums at Ross Sterling were holding their prom the same night at the Galleria Oaks. I remember us walking back and forth between the two hotels going to each other's events while window shopping along the way.. I learned how to ice skate on its rink and spent more than a few days and nights blissfully skating (or falling) on its surface. One of my neighbors worked at Neiman Marcus and she used to take me and her son there on Saturdays. She'd drop us off at the ice rink to spend all day skating and pick us up when she got off.

Even one of my transition benchmark goals involved the Galleria. I tested my ability to pass by walking the entire length of the largest mall in Houston. When I stopped getting derisive looks, stares or giggles I knew I was evolving to the level of passability I desired.

Like I have, The Galleria and the area around it has grown, changed and evolved as time moved on. I have an ice rink less than half a mile from the house in Da Ville, but it's not the same as skating and looking up through that vaulted glass ceiling at a clear blue Texas sky or while its backlit against a dark Houston night. Darting around that three story Christmas tree that's plaxced in the center of the rink during the holidays brings back some fond memories as well.

Darn, getting homesick again.

Tagged, I'm It!

Mes Deux Cents has tagged me in this online blogger world version of tag, so here are the ground rules for it.

First I am to list 7 random and/or unusual facts about myself. Then I am to tag 7 other bloggers and let them know they have been tagged by telling them so in the comments of their blog.


Now for the first part of this mission.

7 Facts About Myself:

As a teenager, I once ice skated in front of 18,000 people as part of my dad's station's Ice Capades night.

I own 500 R&B and jazz CD's and 100 DVD movies and TV shows, either classic Black movies, movies wih predominately African-American casts in them, or Black TV shows.

At age 7 I did a promo commercial for my dad's radio show.

My time residing in Louisville is the first time in my life I have lived in a city that's NOT on I-10.

I have visited two presidential libraries (LBJ's in 1977, Clinton's in 2006).

My first job was working as an enumerator for the 1980 US Census.

I was a bridesmaid/DJ for a friend's wedding in 2004 and a groomsman for my uncle's 1989 wedding.

As far as the folks who are getting tagged...you'll find out soon enough ;)

Talking About My Peeps

Mes Deux Cents had a post on her blog that talked about her observation that some of our people have abandoned our core values.

As I said in a response on her blog, I believe and know for the most part we African-Americans still value hard work, education, faith, family and fairness. You not only wouldn't know that listening to right-wing talk radio, the definitions of those terms have been skewed to reflect a narrow political viewpoint.

To me, one problem I see is that I believe that our generation failed to pass on the lessons of our tortured history in America to our kids and we African-Americans are paying dearly for it.

In the 60's we achieved the easy goals of the end of Jim Crow desegregation. The powers that be could live with that.

The economic empowerment one is tougher. Those that have the power and the cash aren't gonna give it up without a fight. While we were happy that 'we'd overcome' and were 'moving on up' and out to the 'burbs, the Forces of Intolerance were plotting and planning to reverse those gains.

If our peeps had read the history of the post Civil War Reconstruction period we should have been even more forceful and vigilant about protecting our hard won gains during the 70's. Instead, our failure to learn from our history resulted in us eerily repeating in the 80's and 90's what happened during that First Reconstruction.

The rise of the conservative movement was a reaction to our civil rights successes. They also learned important lessons from their mistakes in the 60's in terms of having the churches on our side and the importance of control of the media messaging. The progressive side is belatedly waking up to that truth, albeit late in the game. Our side is just now getting the critical mass they need to counter it.

The Forces of Intolerance are also using the African-American community's historic tendency to gravitate to church-centered leadership as a cynical divide-and-conquer tactic. Its major goal is to split our community and alter the Black church's ongoing historic mission of speaking truth to power and advocating for the least of us.

We should know from our history that the more conservatives hate on a Black leader (or ANY progressive leader) the more we should pay attention to them. Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson are on the right track. While I don't agree with everything they say or do, I know they share my concerns about uplifting our entire community.

I can't say that about the megachurch ministers. They are out of step with the mainstream Black community. I get tired of people attacking 'the Revs' for actually doing what the Black megachurch minsters SHOULD be doing instead of building arena-sized churches and doing their Uncle Thomas impressions at conservative events.

Yeah, we have some problems we need to address as soon as possible. We have accomplished major things over the last century through our community unity and I submit that we African-Americans aren't as divided as some people pessimistically think we are. But we have major work to do in terms of cleaning up some in house problems and healing superficial rifts that are causing fissures in our community cohesiveness.

Historic Win For Louisville Central

Central High is the oldest predominately African-American school in Louisville. It's most famous for being the alma mater of three time world boxing champion Muhammad Ali.

They've won state titles in basketball and track, but the football one had not only eluded them, but they endured ten years of futility before Central began to get competitive on the football field.


Today at The Pizzeria (AKA Papa John's Cardinal Stadium) the Yellowjackets won their first KHSAA football title. Senior Darrell Taylor scored three touchdowns to help the seventh-ranked Yellowjackets (10-5) overcome five turnovers and topple previously unbeaten Belfry 27-17. With the victory Central Coach Ty Scoggins became the first African-American head coach to win a KHSAA football title. Harrodsburg's Alvis Johnson led teams to KHSAA state football final appearances in 1988, 1996 and 1997 but fell short.

Taylor rushed for 165 yards on touchdown runs of 48 and 45 yards. He cane up with a momentum-turning 76-yard interception return on the final play of the first half.

“That was a huge play in the game,” said Belfry coach Philip Haywood, whose team trailed 14-10 at intermission after the return. “They had some big plays, more than we wanted.”

Belfry (14-1) won back to back Class 2A titles in 2003-04 and was seeking their first Class 3A title. The Pirates came in averaging 43.6 points per game and until running into the determined Yellowjackets hadn’t trailed in a game all season. Belfry outgained Central on offense (282 yards to 238 yards) and held possession of the football nearly six minutes longer than the Yellowjackets.

Belfry's Dustin May rushed for 128 yards and two TD’s. May’s second TD narrowed the Central lead to 21-17 early in the fourth quarter. Belfry drove deep into Central territory, but on a third-and-5 from the Yellowjacket 14 yard line defensive linemen Terryl Wadlington forced and recovered a fumble by Pirate quarterback Andrew Elkins to end that scoring threat with 4:24 left in the game.


The seeds for today's championship game victory were sown last year when Central fell a game short of making the championship game in their semifinal loss to Bowling Green.

Their 2007 title run included a game winning 30 yard field goal from Sudanese-born kicker Rizik Lado in their 17-14 semifinal win against Paducah Tilgham. There's a sizable community of Sudanese people living here, and it was nice to hear about a member of that community in context with this historic championship.

Today's game was attended not only by current Central students, but their alumni as well. The celebration by ecstatic Yellowjacket fans and alums is probably still going on in the West End and elsewhere in Da Ville.

How I Survived Men's Prison As A Woman

TransGriot Note: Transpeople catch hell everywhere, even in the prison system. Kalani Key works as a coordinator of the Transforming Justice National Coalition.

By Kalani Key, New America Media
Posted on December 7, 2007, Printed on December 7, 2007
From alternet.org

Kalani Key, 42, grew up in a mixed Hawaiian-Chinese-Filipino family in Hawaii, where transgender people, or "mahu," were traditionally revered. Born a boy, Key always identified as a woman and starting taking hormones and living openly as female at the age of 15. After experiencing a number of tragedies at a young age -- including the death of her mother, two sisters, and the brutal murder of her boyfriend -- Key turned to the street life. She became addicted to heroin, and worked as a prostitute, drug dealer and thief. Between 1987 and 2005, Key was housed in various men's prisons in California. Today, she is an advocate for transgender women in prison, and works for the TGI Justice Project in San Francisco as a coordinator of the Transforming Justice National Coalition.

I've been to prison 14 times. The first time I went to prison was in 1987 at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. I was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, and I got three years.

There were 150 of us transgender girls there. Vacaville was designed for trans women -- we were not mixed with the regular men in the prison. We were all in Category "B," which was for "effeminate homosexual." We were housed together, had access to bras, hormones, and make-up; make-up companies would even come into the prison to test make-up on us, and usually we had female officers dealing with us. I finally felt that this was where I belonged, because I was surrounded by women like me -- and I didn't have that on the outside. I also fell in love with a man named Bruce, who ran with the (Mexican gang) Norteños, and I was actually quite happy.

There were still problems though. There were a lot of blind spots there. A lot of girls were taken into dark corners and raped, but a lot of consensual sex happened too. Most of us had relationships in there; the correctional staff really pushed the girls to have relationships so they weren't running around. And many of the relationships were abusive. There are some men that are very aggressive and very pushy. And if you don't have a way of protecting yourself -- fighting, or having people you can go to -- then you are just left out there alone.

But we were unified, and we would always come together and deal with whatever situation arose. We felt like we ran the prison.

In 1992 I went back to prison on a grand theft conviction. I thought I was going back to the same prison, but I got the shock of my life when I learned they'd gotten rid of the Category "B," and trans girls were dispersed all over the state.

They sent me to Jamestown, which is up in the mountains, near Yosemite. They had never had a girl in the yard. When I got off the bus, the lieutenant took one look at me and said, "Oh no. Get that thing back on the bus."

But in the end they had to take me. They wanted me to go into protective custody because I looked like a female and they didn't want me in the yard. But I knew the system. I refused to sign the paper putting me in "protective custody." That's where they put all the child molesters, and I didn't want to be with them.

So they stuck me in the general population area (no cells -- just one big open space) but they put my cot in front of the officer's desk, and told me I couldn't move more than four feet in any direction.

I met Nacho in there. He was a Norteño, a homeboy of my old boyfriend Bruce, and he took me under his protection. The Asian Pacific Islander "car" (clique) got mad because I stayed with the Norteños in their dorm, but that's that only place I felt safe. I knew I could trust Nacho.

Within two weeks, I had pulled nine people out of the closet. They had been trying to play it straight, but I would walk around the yard and say to them, "I know you want to switch. Join my car!" And it worked.

When I first got to Jamestown, I was scared, but I'd learned that you don't show fear in prison. Later I felt safer because Nacho and his friends were respectful. They would even put up a shower curtain for me, and when they would do strip searches in the yard, the boys would form a human block around me. I was really grateful.

In prison, most cars are determined by race or gang: the white car, the black car, the Norteño car, the (rival Mexican gang) Sureño car. But there was also a gay car -- including trans girls -- and a Christian car. People in the gay car would also change cars, depending on whom they hooked up with. Many would join their boyfriend's car.

In my gay car, there were two Sureño gay boys, so they went to talk it over with the Sureño car, and I talked to the Norteños, and it was decided that when we were together as a gay car, we would stay away from any of the gangs. So if we were walking around the yard together and Nacho called me, I would go talk to him alone -- the Sureño girls wouldn't come along with me. We did this to avoid conflict.

Nacho was the shot-caller for the Norteños in Jamestown, which meant he had a lot of power. When I returned to Jamestown again in 1996 (after a parole violation), the sergeant, lieutenant and watch commander tried to use me as a pawn in prison politics. They wanted me to become Nacho's girlfriend and then give them information.

I refused. I told them I didn't want to have a relationship with Nacho, or with anyone in the yard, because it would cause too many conflicts. (I avoided getting into a relationship when I was in Jamestown, because the Norteños put me under their wing, and I didn't want to disrespect them by going with a man from another car.)

So the staff tried to lock me up in the hole (solitary confinement). It didn't work because I filed a grievance against them. The Norteños had a legal expert in prison (a fellow prisoner), so when I told Nacho what happened, he talked to him, and he told me what to do.

In 2000, I was sent to Santa Rita County Jail in Alameda County (east of San Francisco), and saw that the situation for transgender women in prison had not improved since the 1990s.

When I got there, they strip-searched me, but they couldn't see anything. I've been on hormones ever since I was 15, and I had my testicles removed in 1986, so when they strip-searched me they were confused, and the nurses didn't want to do a physical themselves.

So they stuck me in the psychiatric unit for a month, where I was supposedly waiting for a doctor. The problem was that parole lost my paperwork, so they didn't have any information about me. The only reason I got out of the psychiatric unit was that I would bang on the door whenever someone came into the unit and yell, "Are you a psychiatrist?" Finally a doctor saw me, and I was moved into the protective custody unit.

I spent my last stint in prison in San Quentin State Prison. I was there for seven months in 2005 for a violation of parole. The trans girls there were placed in the reception center, not the main yard. There were four of us.

I have to say that I met some good people in prison. I found a transgender community back in 1987. And there were also caseworkers, even sergeants who were good to me. In fact, it was because of a lieutenant in Vacaville that I got off of heroin. He locked me up in the hole because he wanted me to detox. When I was still able to access drugs in the hole, he put me behind the gate so only staff could get to me. He stuck by my side. He even came to the hospital to check on me.

We don't have records of how many trans people are in prison because there is no Category "B" anymore. But we do know that one in three of us has been incarcerated at some point because there is a lot of policing and profiling in our communities. Police always come by and harass us. I've been arrested for being a public nuisance just for standing on the sidewalk. Because many trans people can't get jobs, they end up doing criminal activity in some form to survive. This means we end up in prison at a higher rate, and many of the girls now go through hell when they're there.



© 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

You're A Mean One, Barney Frank

sung to the tune of You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
by Dr. Seuss
Copyright © 1957, Dr. Seuss.

TransGriot Note: In the spirit of the season, dedicated to the Grinch Who Stole Civil Rights for transpeople.



You're a mean one, Barney Frank.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel.
Barney Frank

You're a bad Congressional banana
With a greasy black peel.

You're a monster, Barney Frank.
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain's got convoluted logic,
You've got transphobia in your soul.
Barney Frank.

I wouldn't touch you, with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.


You're a vile one, Barney Frank.
You have duplicity in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile.
Barney Frank.

Given the choice between the two of you
I'd take the seasick crocodile.

You're a foul one, Barney Frank
You're a nasty, cantankerous skunk.
You cut transpeople out of ENDA
Your soul is full of gunk.
Barney Frank

The three words that best describe you,
are, and I quote: "Stink. Stank. Stunk."

You're a liar, Barney Frank
You're the king of sinful snots.
Your Mattachinesque plot
Accelerates your moral rot,
Barney Frank

Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.


You nauseate me, Barney Frank.
We'll scream about it till were hoarse.
Your crooked legal jockeying
Triggered this negative discourse.
Barney Frank

You're a duplictous lying transhating scumbag.
That's par for the course

Houston Drag Queen National Anthem

I love Anita Baker and can listen to her music for hours (especially when she puts new stuff out, hint hint.)

But there's one song of hers I heard so much when I attended H-town talent nights or local preliminary pageants I got to the point where I started calling it the Houston Drag Queen National Anthem.


That song is No More Tears, and it's on one of Anita's early albums called The Songstress. It's a slammin' album, and of course I have it in my collection. But after I attended a Talent Night one evening at Rascals I was tempted to break the CD in half after I returned home.


For the uninitiated into the world of female illusion, talent nights are basically when the wannabe and future drag legends get to perform at a GLBT nightclub. Think small scale Showtime at the Apollo minus the Sandman or the raucous New York crowd. Just like its progenitor, the winner is determined by popular applause. In some cases the Talent Nights are a series of eliminations that lead to a Finals Night in which all the winners for that cycle compete for a paid one night booking in the main drag show with the club's regular cast.

Those Talent Nights do find future legends from time to time that eventually take the Illusionist or pageant worlds by storm. But you also have your GLBT versions of William Hung who are performing just for their five minutes in the spotlight until the next Talent Night.

This particular one had sixteen people performing in it. It's not unusual to have maybe two people do the same song during these competitions since no one knows until the night of the show who's going to do what song until they hand their music to the DJ. The order of performance is determined by either drawing names or the Show Director makes a list based on check in time. But this night we had SEVEN people performing that same song.

It was okay when the first two girls did the song. But after the third one did it eyebrows were raised. When the next three performers in a row also did No More Tears, that was a bit much. One club patron after the sixth girl walked off the stage yelled, "Do these girls own another CD besides Anita Baker?"


Cookie LaCook cracked a joke that got everyone laughing until the next contestant was introduced. The now overly familiar opening notes of this song were being played for the seventh time with an audible groan from the club patrons.

I caught up with Cookie later that night when it was over and joked, "Can y'all put in a rule for future Talent Nights that no more than two girls do the same song?"

Ever since that night, every time I hear No More Tears (and I like the song), I automatically refer to it as the Houston Drag Queen National Anthem. I also agree with that patron. Can some of y'all illusionists please diversify your music collections?

Transwoman Seeks To Succeed Lawmaker

Beyer could replace Maryland delegate who died

By JOSHUA LYNSEN | Dec 4, 2:44 PM
from the Washington Blade

A transgender woman is among the candidates seeking to succeed a Maryland state legislator who died last week.

Dana Beyer, who lost her bid last year to become a state delegate, could become the nation's first transgender state lawmaker if chosen Dec. 11 to fill the vacant Montgomery County seat.

"It's not how I wanted to become a delegate, but it is what it is and you make the best of what you have and you move forward," she said. "And that's how you honor the memory of those past."

Beyer is among the candidates vying to succeed Democratic Del. Jane Lawton, who died Nov. 29 after giving a presentation before a federal agency. Lawton, 63, joined the Maryland House of Delegates in 2005.

"I always wanted to serve with Jane," Beyer said. "I didn't want to replace her."

The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, which is collecting applications for the House position through Monday, will choose Lawton's successor during a Dec. 11 meeting. There is no public vote.

Simon Atlas, the Central Committee's treasurer, estimated that five to 10 candidates would seek to succeed Lawton. Among the applicants this week were Alfred Carr, a precinct vice chair, and Oscar Ramirez, a Central Committee member.

"I'd like to think the Central Committee will replace a strong woman with another strong woman," Beyer said. "I think that's what June would have wanted, but it's not my call."

Lawton was a staunch defender of gay civil rights. She scored perfectly on Equality Maryland's 2006 candidate questionnaire, pledging to oppose a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and support a bill to make marriage licenses gender neutral, among other stances.

"I believe that same-sex couples and all persons have a right to enjoy the same civil rights under the law and that sexual preferences should be respected and supported," she told the Blade earlier this year.

Dan Furmansky, executive director at Equality Maryland, said Lawton will be missed.

"She was a special, warm, caring person who very personally supported LGBT equality and never failed to show up for a big Equality Maryland benefit or event to lend her support," he said. "I'll miss her hugs. She gave great hugs."

But he said Beyer, an Equality Maryland board member, would bring an important voice to the legislature.

"Dana Beyer is without a doubt an exceptional candidate for the House of Delegates who would bring an advocacy background, county policy experience, and years of practice as a physician to her work in the General Assembly," he said. "She would be the first statewide transgender elected official in the nation and would completely alter the dialogue about who transgender people are and what they contribute to our communities. "

Beyer, who last year placed fifth among eight Democratic House candidates competing for three District 18 seats, also scored perfectly on Equality Maryland's questionnaire.

But her campaign was not limited to gay issues. A retired doctor, Beyer has called for universal, government-funded health care. She also has sought improved public education and advocated for workers to earn a living wage.

Beyer said this week that her 2006 campaign issues remain a priority to her.

"Those are still the issues that matter," she said. "I've been working down at the local level, and I think the state can truly make a difference."

Although her 2006 campaign web site remains active, Beyer said she would not heavily campaign for the vacant seat.

She also noted the expedited pace by which the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee is working to fill the seat likely would preclude others from campaigning.

"The reason this is happening so quickly is because this is the last regularly scheduled meeting of the committee before the regular [state legislative] session begins next month," she said. "Considering the tragedy that has led to this, that may be a good thing, because it doesn't allow for any campaigning or lobbying."

Beyer said she knows many of the Central Committee's 23 members from local party functions and would "be in contact" with them again before next week's vote, but had no plans to mount an official campaign.

"I don't think there's time to do anything," she said. "And I don't think it would be appropriate to do any more."

Beyer, who works for Montgomery County Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg and worked to help pass a local measure last month that bars discrimination against transgender workers and residents, said she might make passing reference to her distinction as a transgender woman at next week's meeting.

"It isn't an issue and it shouldn't be an issue," she said. "I'm just going to do what I've been doing. This is a very strange 'campaign' — campaign in quotes. It's nothing I ever planned on doing. I'm just going to represent myself as best I can.

"I just hope there are 12 people on Tuesday night who think I can be the best representative for the district."

Joshua Lynsen can be reached at jlynsen@washblade. com.

Scottsdale, AZ Passes LGBT Rights Ordinance

TransGriot Note: Another local jurisdiction passes GLBT protections. One of the things I feared as a result of Barney's ENDA BS cropped up during this debate. Opponents tried and fortunately failed to strip the gender protections out of the ordinance, citing the transgender-free ENDA. Their argument was that if the fedeal ENDA didn't have gender identity language, why should we have it locally?

Scottsdale Passes LGBT Rights Ordinance

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: December 5, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET

(Scottsdale, Arizona) In a 4-3 vote the Scottsdale City Council has enacted an ordinance that extends workplace protections to LGBT city employees.

The move amends the city's equal employment opportunity ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Mayor Mary Manross was among those voting for the the ordinance.

"Despite facing strong opposition, Scottsdale's elected officials demonstrated leadership by putting into policy the inclusive practices of this diverse city," said Equality Arizona Executive Director Barbara McCullough-Jones.

The vote came as the state legislature prepared to consider a similar measure to protect LGBT state workers.

In September Manross met with members of the gay community to address concerns over a series of attacks.

In August a 22-year old man was attacked ago outside a Scottsdale bar. He was beaten and nearly lost an eye. His attackers yelled homophobic epithets at him during the attack he said.

The man also said that while he was at the hospital being treated he was belittled because of his sexuality by Scottsdale police officers.

A month earlier a gay man had his jaw cracked when he was attacked leaving a gay bar with a friend. Nicholas Gearing, 27, said at the time he felt police were not taking the assault seriously enough.

Last year a gang of men who attacked a gay couple outside a Scottsdale restaurant. One of the men needed more than a dozen stitches to close wounds on his head and face.

In November a dispute between a transsexual woman and a local bar over the use of a washroom was resolved but only after a formal complaint was lodged with the Attorney General's Office.

Michele de LaFreniere, the chair Scottsdale's Human Relations Commission, was kicked out of the club for using the women's washroom.

LaFreniere said she was told at the time by Tom Anderson, owner of Anderson's Fifth Estate "I don't want your business or your kind here."

Anderson finally agreed to turn one of the bar's bathrooms into a unisex facility.

Equality Arizona said now will work to have the ordinance expanded to include protections for all of the city's LGBT community in housing and employment.

(c)365Gay.com 2007

GLBT In Newark Ain't Pretty

In A Progressive State, A City Where Gay Life Hangs By A Thread

By ANDREW JACOBS
photos by Richard Perry

Published December 2, 2007
from the New York Times

NEWARK, Nov. 30 — To live in Newark often means grappling with unrelenting poverty, the anesthetizing lure of drugs, murderous gangs, a lack of decent jobs.

But for gay men, lesbians and transgender people, there are additional obstacles that are seldom acknowledged: gay bashings, H.I.V., open hostility from many religious leaders and sometimes callous treatment by the police.

When venturing outside his Central Ward neighborhood, Tyrone Simpson, 19, stays on main thoroughfares and steers clear of the men in gang colors looking for easy quarry. Dynasty Mitchell, 21, an aspiring poet who works at a supermarket, has learned to blend in by stretching a do-rag over his head and adopting a thuggish gait in public.

“If you’re not prepared to fight, you’re not going to survive in Newark,” said Mr. Simpson, who is unabashedly gay.

New Jersey has become a national beacon for gay equality. It boasts some of the toughest anti-discrimination laws in the country, and recent legislation makes it one of only three states that recognize same-sex civil unions. Gay marriage, some say, is just around the corner. Across the state, same-sex couples and their children have become integrated into suburban life.

But here in the state’s largest city, gay men and lesbians might as well live on another planet.

“You wouldn’t know that Greenwich Village is 10 miles away,” said James Credle, 62, a Vietnam veteran who is working with about a dozen other activists to revive the Newark Pride Alliance, a group established three years ago after a 15-year-old lesbian, Sakia Gunn, was stabbed to death by a man who, the police said, was infuriated that she had rejected his advances. “People here feel like we don’t deserve to be alive.For us, it’s about survival,” Mr. Credle said, “and all this talk of gay marriage is just a luxury.”

The city has no gay community center, no gay pride parade, no established gay organizations; there are no bars devoted exclusively to gay or lesbian clientele. “Newark is like one big closet,” said Ron Saleh, a consultant to the John Edwards presidential campaign, who moved here two years ago. “And there’s nothing going on for gay people. It’s like a desert.”

There are, however, a few hints of change. In June, Mayor Cory A. Booker became the first public official to embrace the issue by hoisting a rainbow flag over City Hall in recognition of Gay Pride Month. Yesterday, Gov. Jon S. Corzine was expected to attend a World AIDS Day event here. Last year, voters elected Dana Rone to the Municipal Council; she became the city’s first openly lesbian official when a newspaper, after her inauguration, reported on her sexual orientation.

And while many gay men and lesbians complain that they have been ridiculed and intimidated by the police, Garry F. McCarthy, the city’s police director, has begun requiring sensitivity training for all members of the force as part of biannual sessions that focus on sexual harassment.

Even those steps have met with resistance. When he presided over the raising of the rainbow flag, Mayor Booker said, he was stunned by the flood of angry phone calls to his office. “There’s a lot of silent pain in the city of Newark, and perpetrators of this pain — those who promote the bigotry and the alienation — must be confronted,” he said.

For a handful of gay activists in the city, the schoolyard shooting of four young people in August was a measure of that pain, if not of bigotry. They have been pressing law enforcement officials to investigate the shootings as a possible bias crime.

Mr. Credle, an organizer of Newark Pride Alliance, said that one of the teenagers arrested after the killings attended the same high school as three of the victims and may have thought they were gay because they hung around an openly gay crowd.

The police have said the killings were carried out during a robbery, but the Essex County prosecutor, Paula T. Dow, said investigators were still working to establish a motive.

James Harvey, the father of Dashon Harvey, one of the three who died in the schoolyard shootings, dismissed the suggestions that antigay bias played a role. “That’s so baloney, I don’t even want to give it a thought,” he said. “I’m just trying to get over my son being buried and gone from me.”

In some ways, the lack of a vibrant, organized gay community mirrors many other aspects of civic life in Newark, a city stunted by poverty and lacking the kind of comfortable middle class found in cities of similar size.

“We are an underdeveloped community in every area, so it is no surprise” that homophobia persists, said Ms. Rone.

Many churches in the city remain openly hostile to homosexuality.

Gary Paul Wright, executive director of the African American Office of Gay Concerns, a group that provides education and counseling on H.I.V. and AIDS, said his five-year effort to dispense AIDS educational material at local churches had been universally thwarted.

“There’s a whole lot of preaching about homosexuality and sin,” said Mr. Wright. “It really hurts and it makes me mad, but it also reinforces the stigma associated with H.I.V. and AIDS, which makes our job that much harder.”

Such institutional antipathy drives many people into lives marked by secrecy. Some turn to the Internet for connections. One site that is popular among black and Hispanic men here, Adam4Adam.com, has more than 500 active members in Newark; on a recent night, nearly 200 of them were online.

Not everyone feels the need to stay in the closet. June Dowell-Burton, 38, a social work student at the Newark campus of Rutgers University, said her neighbors did not seem bothered that she and her partner shared an apartment, a car and grocery shopping forays. “We don’t hide anything, and no one seems to mind,” she said.

Sharrieff Baker and his partner, Edwin Rosario, who own a house in the North Ward, said they had a very different experience when one of their tenants found out they were a couple. Last month, they said, the tenant tore up a shared bathroom, called them “faggots” and threatened to blow up their house. When they called 911, they said, Vincent Cordi, the responding police officer, appeared unconcerned and agreed only reluctantly to take their complaint. Back at the station house, they said, Officer Cordi sniggered with co-workers as he typed up the paperwork, at one point blurting out, “How do you spell ‘faggot’ ?”

When they returned home that day, they were attacked by the tenant in the hallway, they said; Officer Cordi responded to their 911 call and arrested all three men. Mr. Baker, who lost a front tooth in the skirmish, was charged with aggravated assault, as was the tenant; they both spent the weekend in jail. Mr. Rosario was not charged. Neither Officer Cordi nor officials in the Police Department responded to requests for comment.

Mr. Baker, who has filed a complaint with the internal affairs department, said he was especially angered by the Police Department’s refusal to designate the incident antigay. Newark, unlike many cities its size, does not compile data on antigay violence.

The day after he filed the complaint, Mr. Baker said, his car was towed from in front of his home. He suggested it was an act of vengeance; the police said it was removed for street cleaning.

Mr. Baker, 32, a real estate broker who moved to Newark from Jersey City last year, said that because of the incident, he and Mr. Rosario, a schoolteacher, want to move away. “I came here because I wanted to be part of Newark’s renaissance, but now I’m afraid even in my own house,” he said.

The Booker administration’s efforts to help establish a gay community center have been largely hamstrung by what veteran gay activists acknowledge are internal disagreements.

Then there is the apathy. When Laquetta Nelson tried to start a Newark chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, she gave up after a few months. “In the end, no one came to the meetings,” she said.

For now, the only refuge for gay people is in a nondescript building on the outskirts of downtown. Project Wow, as it is called, is a no-frills drop-in center run by the North Jersey Community Research Initiative, an organization that devotes most of its resources to research on AIDS drugs and free medical care. Project Wow draws a few dozen young people each night who come for counseling and H.I.V. prevention advice but mostly for the camaraderie and shelter from the city’s unsympathetic streets.

Alex Williams, Project Wow’s director, asked that the center’s location not be printed, noting that 15 of the center’s employees and clients had been attacked on their way to or from the building in the last six months.

Sitting in the lounge at the center, Tariq Pickens, 23, recalled how he and a friend dressed in drag were ambushed on the street by a group of men and women three years ago. During a few hellish moments, he said, they were slashed, punched, robbed and doused with lighter fluid, although the fuel failed to ignite. “I’ve had so many friends killed, beaten, raped, I can’t even count,” he said.

Kira Henry, too, has felt fear. Ms. Henry, 20, who is transgender, is taking a cooking class. When she walks to school in the morning, she said, she tries to look straight ahead and meet the inevitable taunts and catcalls with a forced smile. But when the bottles and bricks fly, she said, she knows how to fight — or sprint in six-inch heels.

“If you beat me up or shoot me,” she said, “I’m still going to be me.”

Like many of Project Wow’s clients, Willie Harden, 20, is homeless and jobless. He is also effectively orphaned, although his mother, a drug addict, is reputed to be somewhere in Jersey City.

Since aging out of foster care two years ago, Mr. Harden has lived at a series of shelters, the latest being Covenant House. He said he tried to hide his sexuality from strangers. The last thing he needed, he said, was more ridicule, or an uninvited beating.

“It’s hard living a double life,” he said. “It sounds crazy, but one day I’d like to walk down the street holding my boyfriend’s hand with nobody saying one bad word.”

WHAS-AM Regresses

I was shocked to find out that WHAS-AM dismissed 4 employees and longtime talk show host Joe Elliott on Thursday night. For 14 years Elliott has ruled the 9 PM-midnight shift at the station with his moderate brand of talk. The dismissial of Elliott has generated an avalanche of negative calls and comments.

Elliot is one of those sweet success stories. He was told on two separate occasions by a college professor and a radio/television personality that he'd never make it in radio. The other interesting thing that many of us discovered only with his termination was that he is blind.

He replaced another Louisville legendary radio personality in Milton Metz, who pioneered the radio call in show format. Elliott started by filling in at the station in 1988, then getting a full time show later. There are times he pissed me off, there are times he pissed the other side off. But that's better than what Clear Channel (who owns the station) is going to replace him with: Michael Savage.

A reasoned, thoughtful moderate is going to be replaced by a gay-hating transphobic bigot. Gee, what an improvement. No wonder your ratings are headed to the toilet. But it's a sad commentary on the state of radio these days. Local shows are falling victim to corporate cost cutting. The sad part about it is that WHAS-AM's 50,000 watt signal covers 40 states and can be heard in much of Canada as well.

According to Doug Profitt's WHAS-TV blog, Elliott’s currently working on a severance package with Clear Channel. He also says that they've offered him part-time work to continue as host of the Sunday morning talk show, which he's still mulling over.

Milton Metz told WHAS-TV late Thursday night he was sad, saying the show he created served a purpose for people who wanted to express their opinions in a neutral field, on the air.

Thank God we have an award winning NPR station here in WFPL-FM and its excellent State of Affairs program. Buying an XM radio just gained a higher priority for me next year as well.

How's Rutgers Women's B-Ball Doing?

The 2007-08 NCAA women's basketball season has cranked up. As usual Tennessee and Connecticut are not only running 1-2 in the national rankings, they are both undefeated and are favored to win their respective conferences. The Lady Vols have seven players, including all-world junior Candace Parker back to help them defend their national championship.

But as we recall a few months ago, the Lady Vols winning that seventh NCAA title was overshadowed by Don Imus' derogatory comments about their opponents, the Rutgers women's team, that generated a firestorm of controversy and cost Imus his radio gig.

The class that the Rutgers women exhibited in responding to the idiotic comments was memorable. But now those returning players have an opportunity to play ball, go through a tough Big East schedule and try to get back to the Women's Final Four in Tampa, FL.

Coach C. Vivian Stringer's Scarlet Knights started the season picked to finish second in the Big East and ranked #3 in the AP and ESPN/USA Today college rankings. A heartbreaking 60-58 home loss to Stanford that was nationally televised on ESPN dropped them to #7.

They've won 4 straight ballgames since to climb back to the #5 ranking and play #3 Maryland on ESPN2 tomorrow night.

Considering all the drama these ladies went through last year, it would be poetic justice if they did get to not only make it to Tampa, but ended up cutting the nets down as national champions. But they have a lot of basketball to play to get to that point.

DJ Monica's In The House

House of worship that is.

Last night as part of my church's activities for Bardstown Road Aglow, I got to dust off my DJ skills and play Christmas music with flavor from 6-10 PM.

I also threw in some James Brown at my pastor's request and Michael Jackson's Thriller to commemorate the 25th anniversary of that album's release.

Bardstown Road Aglow is a now 22 year old tradition in Da Ville that takes place on the first Saturday in December. All the businesses and churches on the Baxter Ave-Bardstown Road corridor either open their doors or stay open until 10 PM and do various events to help usher in the Christmas season. Edenside Christian Church has been an enthusiastic supporter of the event and we've even done an art show around it in previous years.

In addition to DJ Monica being in the house, we had Jackie Pair singing Christmas songs in the sanctuary, the locally acclaimed Terpsichore Dance troupe perform and the Louisville Scottish Association Bagpipe band make their annual appearance at our event as well. My pastor Rev. Sally McClain is a member of the group.

We also had arts and crafts going on in the basement for the kids and served the peeps traipsing up and down Bardstown Road who ventured in hot coffee, wassail and cider. We also were blessed with temps in the 40's for Bardstown Aglow to give it a real Christmasesque feel as well.

Two trolleys filled with Santa’s elves rode up and down the Bardstown Road corridor. There were street vendors and Santas walking up and down Bardstown Road along with tons of peeps taking advantage of the shopping available that evening. To add to the flavor a Holiday Decorating Competition was being conducted as well.

It was a fun evening as it always is, and I enjoyed spinning Christmas music for several hours as well. But now I gotta get dressed and get ready to slide into Edenside.

The 12 Days Of Kwanzaa

TransGriot Note: For those of you who still cling to the fantasy that Shirley Q. Liquor is funny, more evidence that Chuck Knipp is a Klansman in blackface drag. It's sooo humorous that this is posted to white supremacist websites.



A Famous Traditional Song of duh Season By Shirely Q. Liquor

On the first day of Kwanza...
My childrens asked me, "mamm, what is Kwanzaa for, anyway?"

On the second day of Kwanzaa...
Some lady bothered me. I cursed her out and I say "no, I don't wan't no Olan Mills pictures and quit calling here!"

On the third day of Kwanzaa...
I went out to the store. I needed beer and cigarettes but they was closed, so I smashed out the windows, did a drive-by and cursed em all out.

On the fourth day of Kwanzaa...
I turned on the TV. Young and the Restless, All of My Children, One Life to Live, and then "Oprah" at 4 o'clock.

On the fifth day of Kwanzaa...
My check came in the mail. AFDC! "Thank you Lord" I said, "come on kids, let's go to the store for some collard greens, hamhocks and some cheese."

On the sixth day of Kwanzaa...
The police rang the bell. They served a warrant, I nearly passed out! But it was ok, some woman had said I stole her wigs, but I told em all I was gonna give em back anyway.

On the seventh day of Kwanzaa...
I poured myself a drink. I drank 40 ounces, got really full then lost my mind. I drove down the street cursing out everyone I saw. Then I bashed the Cadillac upside a Dairy Queen.

On the eighth day of Kwanzaa...
I bought a TV Guide... not much had happened. I was hung over from a bad headache from Schiltz Malt Liquor Bull. I tried to stay home and be quiet, take my nerve pills... you can just feel Kwanzaa in the air.

On the nineth day of Kwanzaa...
I painted all my nails. Two shades of purple, one shade of turquoise, throwed on some glitter, did em up real nice... I had looked good! Then I drove on down to Popeye's, bought me some chicken and I stayed home and looked at TV.

On the tenth day of Kwanzaa...
Shoplifting was the thing. 10 Now or Laters, 9 little candies, 8 cans of tuna fish, 7 little niknaks, 6 pack of Budweiser, 5 Lee Press-On Nails, 4 pieces of gum, 3 large fries, 2 days back in jail... it was Kwanzaa, so what the hell?

On the eleventh day of Kwanzaa...
I got out on parole. I rolled a big joint, went down to church and talked all out of my head. Got happy and shouted, passed out and hollered. They called 911 and the Lord set me free! Gave my testimony, stepped on home, didn't even remember where I stayed, I woke up real hungry and confused.

On the twelfth day of Kwanzaa...
My childrens gathered around me. Lincoln, Alow vera, Gyne-Lotrimin, LemonJello, OrangeJello, Tinactin, Tempasia, KMartina, Fallopia, Shi'Thead, Shameka-Vonquishia, Salmonella, Chlamydia Champagne, Democtorius, Saskatoon, Cheeto and Skuketia...
And it had really started to feel more like it was getting near Kwanzaa

Arkansas Republican Apologizes For Racist E-mail

TransGriot Note: This kind of bull is one of the reasons why I can't stand Repugnicans

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — An Arkansas legislator apologized Thursday for an e-mail in which he wrote that "we are being outpopulated by the blacks" and "we are being overrun" by illegal immigrants.

But state Sen. Denny Altes insisted the comments in the e-mail he sent earlier this month to former Fort Smith Mayor Bill Vines were not racist.

"I apologize and I am sorry if it hurt anyone's feelings. ... I'm sorry if it offended anyone, but I didn't consider it a racist remark," Altes told The Associated Press Thursday.

Altes, who is white, wrote in the e-mail that he was in favor of returning illegal immigrants to their countries, but "we know that is impossible."

"We are where we were with the black folks after the Revolutionary War," Altes wrote. "We can't send them back and the more we (anger them) the worse it will be in the future. ... Sure we are being overrun but we are being outpopulated by the blacks also."

Altes said he was responding to an inflammatory e-mail.

Arkansas GOP chairman Dennis Milligan criticized Altes, a Republican from Fort Smith, for the comments.

"They are disrespectful and denigrating to the practical concerns of how we truly address illegal immigration," Milligan said in a statement released by the party.

A spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe said the Democratic governor was glad Altes had apologized.

"Controversial topics require level-headed, civil discussion, not divisive and insensitive remarks, such as those made by Senator Altes," Beebe said in a statement released by his office.

The League of United Latin American Citizens called for Altes' resignation, but Altes said he doesn't plan to step down.

Addicted To Blogging? Moi?

70%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Well, seeing that I have 400 plus posts this year compared to the 125 I did in all of 2006, hmm. maybe I am. But I wouldn't call that an addiction.

I just simply like to write, have a lot to say about various things going on in the world around me and have a lot of fun doing it.

My Might Have Been New York Life

There are times in your life in which decisions you made or didn't make affect your future either negatively or positively. There are also times that decisions your parents make can affect your life as well.

Sometimes I reflect on one of those parental decisions that may have taken my life in another direction. A while back my dad told me about a job offer he'd gotten in the 70's from a New York radio station that he seriously thought about taking. For peeps in the radio world, while my dad's AM drive time show in H-town wasn't exactly bush league, working in a major market such as New York is a big deal.

It had gotten to the point in my parents decision making process that they were researching the cost of homes in Brooklyn and other areas of New York. Mom was making inquiries about what the New York State requirements were for continuing her teaching career there. Dad, like myself is a native Texan and native Houstonian, and he thought long and hard about the pros and cons of it before he said no.

There are times when I watch Paris Is Burning and play the 'what if' game. I start thinking about how different my life would have been if Dad had said yes to that job offer.

I probably would have been spending my teen years in Brooklyn or somewhere in the New York metro area. I could see myself hanging out on the Chelsea Piers in Greenwich Village, just like I hung out in Montrose after my high school graduation. I can see myself being drawn to and probably getting involved in the ballroom scene instead of reading about Carmen Xtravaganza in a mid 80's Village Voice article on a Houston bookstore.



Then again, just as I wonder from time to time what my life would have been like if I'd been born female, all this is doing is exercising my brain cells. A lot of what makes me the Phenomenal Transwoman I am was shaped by the fact I grew up in Texas. Taking me out of Texas in my teens alters some of the life experiences that form my worldview and how I look at the world.

Being in New York for the emergence of hip-hop and house may slightly alter my music tastes, but I don't get to experience the denial of my voting rights in 1984 that fuels my passion as an activist. I trade seeing Kirk Whalum live in Houston jazz clubs and trips to New Orleans for the pleasure of seeing Phyllis Hyman perform live in the Village. I don't get as much face time with my grandmothers and my godmother who are important to the development of my love for Black history, my spirituality and political views. But that negative development is offset by the Schomburg Institute being a subway train ride away for me.

When I was trying to decide in my senior year where to attend college, Howard was one of my final two schools but I opted to stay home and attend UH. I probably end up at Howard since I'm now a five hour drive down I-95 or an Amtrak train ride from that campus instead of halfway across the country. And probably because I'm in Washington on a premier HBCU campus I get more immersed in politics and have opportunities to work as a congressional aide.

So yeah, sometimes I think about those interesting permutations my life could have taken, but the end result is that I most likely would have still ended up being the TransGriot and blogging about my life experiences as a proud transwoman.

They just would have been from a New York perspective instead of a Texas one. ;)