I'm Going To Denver!

To be precise, I'm going to Boulder, CO and the University of Colorado campus.

This has been an interesting year for me so far, and this morning I received an early birthday present. (BTW, TransGriot readers, my birthday is Sunday)

I received word from the wonderful folks who put on the TRANSforming Gender conference on the CU Boulder campus that yours truly has not only been invited to participate in the 2008 edition of this conference, I'll be the keynote speaker!

The speakers at the two previous conferences CU's GLBT Resource Center and other campus organizations host have included people such as my 2006 Trinity classmate Gordene MacKenzie, Pauline Park, Andrea James, Calpernia Addams, Thea Hillman, Jamison Green, Dean Spade, Anderson Toone, Diane Tor, Avy Skolnick, Helen Boyd, Julia Serano, Matt Kailey and Dylan Scholinski.

The third annual edition of this event will be taking place October 17-19, and as I get more details about it I'll be passing that info on to you. It'll give you peeps who live in the Denver metro area who wish to attend an opportunity to meet the TransGriot. It's been twenty years since I spent July 1988 in the Denver area taking a training class when I worked for CAL, and now it looks like thanks to the Project and CU I'll be back twice in the span of a few weeks.

I'm really excited to be participating in this conference and I'm looking forward to seeing some of you on the CU Boulder campus in October.

Don't Be Shy...Ask Me Questions

This morning I had the pleasure of corresponding with a young college student about a transgender related relationship issue. I hope that I was successful in resolving to her satisfaction and clearing up some questions in her mind. She was a little nervous at first, but as one of my college professors and my parents once told me, the only dumb question is the one that's never asked.

I presume that like the person I'm talking about in the previous paragraph, some of you may have stumbled upon TransGriot while web surfing, Googling a question or for myriad other reasons.

One of the reasons I blog is to kick knowledge out about transgender issues, with an emphasis on African-Americans and what we deal with when we transition. Some issues are similar to my transsisters ad transbrothers in general, while others are unique to the African-American experience.

So if you have some burning questions on something I may not have touched on in the 700 plus posts I have here, feel free to leave a comment in this thread or hit me at transgriot@yahoo.com. If it doesn't get too personal, I'll answer it.

It doesn't even have to be transgender related. ;)

If y'all hit me with some good ones, they may even show up in a future TransGriot post.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright Defending Himself, But Is He Hurting Barack Obama in the Process?

Monday, April 28, 2008
By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s recent schedule of public appearances, including a prime-time television interview with Bill Moyers Friday, either threaten to pose a major problem for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign or is absolutely meaningless in the grand scheme of things, depending on to whom you talk.

“I don’t think it’s helpful for Obama at all,” said radio host, columnist and CNN contributor Roland Martin. “The story was dying down. Now, all of a sudden, with two critical primaries two weeks away, that could have an impact.”

Wright, former pastor at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama's church home, said that publicizing sound bites of sermons from several years ago in which he condemned U.S. policies was “unfair” and “devious,” and done by people who know nothing about his ministry, he told "Bill Moyers’ Journal" in a PBS interview.

As an activist, he is accustomed to being “at odds with the establishment,” but the response to the sermons has been “very, very unsettling,” Wright said.

In a major address on race on March 18 in Philadelphia, Obama described the history of injustice that fueled Wright's comments, acknowledged white resentment of being portrayed as privileged and/or bigoted and denounced his former pastor's remarks.

The interview broadcast Friday was the first Wright has given since video featuring brief, fiery excerpts of his preaching hit the national scene last month and forced Obama to defend his own spiritual and political views. Wright is scheduled to speak Monday at the National Press Club in Washington.

Sunday night, Wright told an audience of 10,000 at an NAACP dinner that despite what his critics say, he is descriptive, not divisive, when he speaks about racial injustices.

"I describe the conditions in this country," Wright said during the 53rd annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner held by the Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"I'm not here for political reasons," Wright said. "I'm not a politician. I know that fact will surprise many of you because many in the corporate-owned media made it seem like I am running for the Oval Office. I am not running for the Oval Office. I've been running for Jesus a long, long time, and I'm not tired yet."

By speaking at the event, Wright was following in the footsteps of Obama and the senator's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as former President Bill Clinton. It's a $150-a-plate fundraiser billed as America's largest sit-down dinner.

"I am not one of the most divisive" black spiritual leaders, he said. "I'm one of the most descriptive."

Wright received a long, loud standing ovation.

“Rev. Wright has already been framed. Some people may get a greater understanding of him from what he has to say,” but a lot of people have already made up their minds about him, Martin told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“Politically, you take the hit; you learn from it and move on,” Martin said, but for Obama, that has become more difficult because the issue, which took up most of March, has come back in April and threatens to roll into May.

Martin said the Obama campaign, however, has decided not to further engage the issue.

“They’re not going to comment on it because they don’t have to; (Obama has) already addressed it,” Martin said.

But Rev. Wright, lapel pins, “bitter” working-class white folks all mean bumpkiss to the average voter, said David Bositis, senior analyst for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black think tank.

Bositis told BlackAmericaWeb.com he didn’t believe that Wright’s interview with Moyers really won’t have much of an impact.

“By and large, no, I don’t because there are real problems” that Americans are contending with, he said.

From Bositis' research, casual conversations and even listening to a recent radio talk show, he said, it is apparent voters “are tired of hearing about lapel pins and Rev. Wright," he said, "and what they are talking about is rice and Costco, how much gasoline costs, how much health care costs, the recession the country is in, people losing their homes and being in neighborhoods where lots of other people are losing their homes, increasing the risk of crime when you have abandoned homes. All this other stuff is a useless distraction to what other people are worried about.”

And while the issue may be framed in terms of how Obama may fare against McCain in November, it is nothing more than a smokescreen to suggest that these issues could cost Obama the Democratic nomination, Bositis said.

“Obama has more delegates, and when everything is done, he’s going to have more delegates, who are going to decide whether to seat Michigan and Florida, and it’s their decision. It’s not the party’s decision; it’s up to the delegation at the Democratic convention. And as long as Obama is in control of the delegation to the convention, he will tell the delegates how to vote, and this is one of the things that Clinton has been sick over,” Bositis said.

The argument that pledged delegates don’t have to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged is technically true, but virtually impossible to have happen, he said.

“It’s typical of Clinton that she wants to break the rules. Those delegates are not picked at random. They pick the most loyal people to be delegates, and it’s Obama loyalists” who are chosen, Bositis said. “She can make up all the fantasies she wants.”

Bositis said although Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary last Tuesday, she cut Obama’s lead by just three delegates. Superdelegates, he said, are still migrating to Obama’s side.

“She hasn’t gained any ground,” said Bositis.

Bositis and Martin also took political pundits and journalists to task for lazy reporting that has only served to confuse and misinform voters.

Martin, who said he viewed Wright’s sermon in its entirety and pointed out in several interviews that excerpts of Wright’s comments were taken out of context, said few in the media have sought to correct the record, but several commentators have accused him of being an apologist for the minister or a partisan player for Obama.

“I represent fact, I don’t represent factions,” Martin said. “So when somebody says that Wright called for God to damn America, I’ve got to correct them immediately, whether it’s on my radio show or on CNN. Nearly every one of these people coming on the air, none of them has heard the sermon in question. The question is have you heard it? Have you heard it? Have you heard it? And when they say no, you have to say ‘How can you speak with authority on the sermon that you have not heard? You can’t extrapolate.’”

Bositis said he has stopped watching television political pundits because their information is not reliable.

“I can get data on the Web without listening to a bunch of fools. If I want news, I get news from printed sources -- although there are plenty of print sources that are bull -- or on the Web,” he said. “It’s not even informed speculation. Those people are selling themselves. They’re playing roles. They haven’t been hired for analysis. Like local newscasters, (stations) always look for people who are attractive, who come across as trustworthy, who people like. Well, these people are hired to rant and rave.”

---

Associated Press contributed to this story.

'Tipping' Affects More Than Just Housing Markets

When I talk about 'tipping', I'm not talking about trying to figure out how much cash you give your server after you chow down at your local restaurant.

In the real estate world, 'tipping' refers to the point of no return in which 'white flight' is triggered from a neighborhood because of the perception that it's 'too Black' or 'too ethnic'

What is that point? According to some studies, white flight from some neighborhoods can be triggered if just 8% of the homes are bought by Black owners. Translation, in a 100 home subdivision, if just eight African-American families move in, the mass exodus begins. Other studies say if the percentage of white residents dips below 50%, 'white flight' begins.

I believe it's the 8% figure, and I remember a vivid example of it.

My friend Leighton Lindsey and his family moved from my neighborhood to their Hiram Clarke area neighborhood in 1976. That area and their block was majority white at the time and their new home was just two blocks up the street from Madison High School in southwest Houston.

Two months later when they got settled into their new home, my brother and I were invited to spend the weekend with him and his brother Todd. I noted when we got dropped off at his house that not only did the next door neighbors have a 'For Sale' sign on their home, but four other houses on that same block had them as well.

I'm bringing up this childhood memory in the wake of the comments of a Projector on Bilerico where I'm a contributing writer. This person complained that Bilerico was becoming 'too black', a comment in which I and Bil Browning went off on.

I'm also seeing and hearing the same whispers on other GLBT oriented lists that I peruse that Bilerico is 'too Black' or 'too transgender'. Is that your code word or whatever the frack excuse you're using for not only not wanting to read the posts of people that don't look like you, but don't want to engage in the frank discussions we have on various issues on the Project?

If that's your opinion, you're entitled to it. But basing those comments on a small portion of the generated comment of the Project being authored by African-American GLBT people is bigoted and asinine.

As I have repeatedly stated, I see things through an African-American prism. The way I look at and analyze issues does not always neatly line up with a predominately white GLBT community's views. There are some issues I will agree with you with on that put me at odds with the African-American community. There are others that I'll have a radically different point of view on that will have me standing in solidarity with my people.

When I'm commenting on issues, it's primarily based on what's right and wrong along with the moral and ethical implications. I'm also blunt about tellin' it like it T-I-S is as the late Jack 'The Rapper' Gibson would say.

So if you can't handle what I have to say and try to dismiss it as a 'transgender conspiracy theory' or 'rubbing my blackness in your face', you do so at your own intellectual peril.

HRC's Overdrawn At The Bank Of Trust

by Vanessa Edwards Foster
http://www.transpolitical.blogspot.com/


"You say it's fine -- keep your place in line
Keep biding your time but you talk in a vacuum.
Because you've been bought
I don't know what I want
But I know I don't want to be anything like you." — Interference, Cop Shoot Cop

While I watch the returns coming in from Pennsylvania’s primary, I’m going to keep things short. It appears Hillary’s found a way to keep her campaign alive and a lot of it is dependent upon keeping the gay and lesbian vote in tact and activated.

Regardless of how little I care for her candidacy, sending Chelsea out was a good strategy and well-played: use your strength to cover the one area you might be weakest in to neutralize your opponent’s strength – in this case, Obama’s dominance of the urban centers. A little master-stroke for Harold Ickes. However, I still plan on making his and his candidate’s life hell for their taking for granted our community. Just the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) repudiation factor in Trans America alone will play well with our base and those who still support full equality rather than the watered-down imitation.

While on the subject of HRC, a rumor came a few weeks back from a prominent activist in the community with ties to HRC that another of our community leaders was meeting with Joe Solmonese. I just took it with a grain of salt to see if another shoe dropped.

Well, the other shoe did drop. This time it came from a surprise return of one of my old contacts on the Hill who noted HRC’s reporting to him of a lunch meeting between Joe himself and the “transgender community’s leader” to smooth things out. Initially he thought that was me! He’s been off the hill since about 2002 and I assured him it was no one from NTAC (barely able to contain my laugh). I can also say it was not Donna Rose either, something I confirmed.

For now we’ll just narrow it down and leave it at that point. Until then, it’s “Mystery Trans” ….

But it does beg one question from either party: what the hell are they thinking?!?

No matter how stupid HRC presumes trans folks are how do they calculate that we haven’t figured out their notably consistent behavior patterns yet? Even dumb animals pick up on patterns after so many replays. Speaking for myself, I’m no worse than a dumb animal and I’ll wager that the trans community isn’t either. (For the record, I was onto them in the late 90’s). Yeah, most all have figured out the cheap trick.

We in the transgender community have never been afforded credibility in gay and lesbian America even when we were fully honest. After HRC’s record of trust betrayal, and further the manipulation afterwards for political cover, how do they feel they’ll warrant any trust? As the saying goes “there’s no fool like an old fool.” Well, we’re done with this. Stick a fork in it. They’re inexpiable.

As for this “transgender community leader,” if you think you’re being seen as doing anything beyond self-serving motivations by playing into HRC’s hands and helping fracture our already-fractured community even further, dream on! Waking up to reality will be exceedingly tough.

Truly we’re a cash-poor community. HRC’s ability to flash a little green and put stars in peoples’ eyes and attract the occasional myopically self-ambitious tranny to help them sink us from inside is well established. But if HRC is thinking they’re going to have us following these Manchurian trannies now or in the future, they’re out of their overconfident minds. It’s this combination of temerity and arrogance that’s going to smash them and their historical legacy, along with any Transidict Arnold they get to cling to their back like a baby possum while mama possum crosses the ten-lane midtown interstate during rush hour.

Their history is etched in stone, never to be revised away. Forgiveness is easy – forgetting is not. They already know that. They’ve never forgotten us and what umbrage they took from us – and we’ve never taken money from or opportunized upon their issues nor urged gay-exclusive legislation. Yet they’re still vindictive. All things considered, what do they realistically expect from us?

As in banking, trust is doled out on their history. Debts can be forgiven, but future loans are only given again once they’ve demonstrated enough to make those they’ve burned previously sufficiently overlook those old burn scars. In the bank and trust of queer equality, HRC is the most severely and consistently overdrawn.

If HRC really thinks solutions are as simple as finding or creating their new tranny shill to assist in the obfuscation and deceit, they’ll learn in short order that we’re no longer playing those games. And it will be yet one more brick in the wall between us.

“I don't need no walls around me.
And I don't need no drugs to calm me.
I have seen the writing on the wall.
Don't think I need any thing at all.
All in all it was all just the bricks in the wall.” — Another Brick In The Wall - Part III, Pink Floyd

“You're a total blank and you're as funny as a bank.” — Interference, Cop Shoot Cop

New England Trans Pride March Announces Rally Lineup, Seeks Support

The organizers of the first New England Transgender Pride March and Rally have announced the following lineup of speakers and performers for the event, scheduled for June 7, 2008 in Northampton, MA.

11:00 a.m. Assemble at Lampron Park

Noon March steps off

12:30 – 12:45 p.m. Marchers arrive at Armory Street Lot (behind Thornes Marketplace)

12:45 – 12:50 p.m. Welcome by MC Louis Mitchell and Proclamation by Mayor Clare Higgins

12:50 – 1:00 p.m Political official TBD

1:00 – 1:10 p.m. Miss Major (Grand Marshal; Transgender, Gender Variant, Intersex Justice Project)

1:10 – 1:20 p.m. Gunner Scott (Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition)

1:20 – 1:30 p.m. Jerimarie Liesegang (CT TransAdvocacy Coalition)

1:30 – 1:40 p.m. Jill Berlin (TransForming Families)

1:40 – 1:45 p.m. Elliot Halloway (Trans youth)

1:45 – 2:00 p.m. Ellen Wittlinger (Author reading from Parrotfish)

2:00 – 2:05 p.m. Alex Pangborn (Generation Q)

2:05 – 2:15 p.m. Lee Elder (FTM folksinger)

2:15 – 2:30 p.m. Joe Stevens (singer/songwriter of Coyote Grace)

2:30 – 2:40 p.m. Announcements / Intermission

2:40 – 2:50 p.m. Monica Roberts (Trans Griot blog, founding member of National Transgender Advocacy Coalition)

2:50 – 3:10 p.m. New England Transgender Pride Steering Committee members:

Bet Power, Marie Ali, Dru Levasseur, and Jacklyn Matts

3:10 – 3:25 p.m. Statement from Leslie Feinberg (Trans author and activist)

3:25 – 3:35 p.m. Moonhawk River Stone (Trans psychotherapist and activist)

3:35 – 3:40 p.m. Vickie Boisseau (Intersex activist)

3:40 – 3:50 p.m. Imani Henry (Trans activist and performance artist)

3:50 – 4:00 p.m. Dr. Enoch Page (Associate Professor of Anthropology, UMass Amherst)

4:00 – 4:10 p.m. Cathy Worthley (MTF folksinger)

4:10 – 4:20 p.m. Ethan St. Pierre (TransFM Radio)

4:20 – 4:30 p.m. Donna Rose (TransEducate, resigned from HRC board over ENDA)

4:30 – 4:45 p.m. Kate Bornstein (Trans author, playwright, and performance artist)

4:45 – 5:00 p.m. All The Kings Men: Boston’s Drag Troupe

“Presenting our foremost transgender authors, along with 1969 Stonewall Rebellion veteran Miss Major, and several prominent trans activists and musicians on one stage may be unprecedented,” said Bet Power, a Trans Pride steering committee member. “It will certainly be an historic event, a pivotal day that the national, regional, and local transgender community is very much looking forward to. Trans people and our allies will be traveling from both coasts and locations in-between to march for our civil rights and celebrate our pride in who we are.”

Trans ally and steering committee member Alicia Jay stated, “It has been a powerful experience organizing with the trans community, and I feel very honored to be part of this event. It is crucial for trans allies to get involved in the growing trans civil rights movement, and support the right of all communities to stand up and be heard.”

New England Transgender Pride is seeking sponsors, donations from organizations and individuals, and volunteers to help on the day of the march. For more information or to participate, visit www.transpridemarch.org.

#######

Note: Speaker and performer bios and photos are available upon request.


TransGriot Note: As many of you probably noted, I'm one of the speakers for this event. The logo in this post is designed by artist Yohah Ralph and is on the t-shirts available for purchase for this historic event.

Black Feminism and Transwomen-What's the 411?

From time to time I like stimulating my mind by engaging in hard, solid thinking as Dr. King eloquently called it.

One of the questions that's recently popped into my head since I read those jacked up comments on a Questioning Transphobia post about Black transwomen and Black women in general, is where do my African-American biosisters who consider themselves feminists stand when it comes to transgender issues?

There is a long-standing historical beef between transpeople and the radical feminist community thanks to the poisonous attitudes that Janice Raymond and Germaine Greer injected into the movement back in the 70's and 80's. Mention the Michigan Womyn's Music Fest to some of the transwomen of and before my generation and you'll see a level of bile and vitriol that's usually reserved for HRC. Don't even get me started on Janice Raymond's infamous book The Transsexual Empire. I'm also aware that many African-American and other women of color have major beefs with the feminist movement as well.

My question to those African-American women who call themselves feminists (or womanists) is what are your thoughts and beliefs in regards to your transgender sisters? Do you share the same negativity toward us as some white radical feminists do, or do you lean more toward the historical philosophy that we are all Black first, everything else second?

From what I've been able to read from some Black feminist writings, at first glance we share some similarities. Transsistahs share the experience of evolving, becoming and being Black women in a society that denigrates women of African descent. We also share as Black people the history and legacy of struggle that causes us to view issues through an African-American lens. We transwomen also share like you do the frustrations of being marginalized in a larger, white-dominated movement that doesn't speak to or is indifferent about our issues and historic agenda as African descended people in America.

In addition to that, Black transwomen are all too aware that the second we transition, we become moving targets for sexual assault and violence. You only need to look at the Remembering our Dead list and note that 70% of the people memorialized on that list are people of color to see that common thread.

But I also noted that transgender issues and their place in feminist thought are contentious issues in both camps. One of the things I find abhorrent is the recent trend by some white post-operative transwomen to appropriate radical feminist language (the WBT's) and then fashion it into a rhetorical club to beat down other transpeople who don't share their narrow, classist, borderline racist, misguided, genitalia-centered and non-reality based agenda.


We have also grown up observing our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters and female friends being raised to not only have pride in themselves, but be socialized as independent, self-reliant and resourceful people.

We have grown up in homes in which parents shared responsibilities or if it was a single parent one, mom raising children and sacrificing her needs for her kids. We have seen African-American women as leaders from the neighborhood associations to the halls of Congress. That is the model of womanhood that many African-American transwomen grew up with. It is the template some of us use for our own evolution into the Black women we were born to be.

This inquiring mind wants to know and is curious to hear what Black feminists have to say regarding their transsistahs.

Power of US Conference 2008

I'm a little bummed that I couldn't go to this event that's concluding in Baltimore today. I had the pleasure of being introduced to National Black Justice Coalition CEO H. Alexander Robinson at an event in Louisville a few years ago by Mandy Carter.

The Power of US conference in Baltimore combined their Black Church Summit event (the previous two were held in Atlanta and Philadelphia), a Health and Wellness Summit, and a leadership Development & Mobilization Summit.

I definitely wanted to be there for the leadership part of the conference. In addition to the folks I would have been met there through various networking opportunities, it's always nice to learn some new strategies, skills and tactics for passing progressive legislation. The bonus on this one is I would have gotten to meet fellow GLBT African-Americans from all over the country as well.

It would have also been nice to witness the Black Church Summit as well and see which sellout megachurch ministers (if any) showed up. Bishop Harry Jackson attended the Philly event, but less than 24 hours after he left Jackson was on conservative websites blasting it.

It also would have been interesting to check out the Health and Wellness part of it to see if they addressed health issues of concern to transgender peeps. Unlike a certain organization on Rhode Island Ave, the NJBC is part of United ENDA and is definitely worth donating some cash to if you feel inclined to do so.

Unfortunately my work schedule wouldn't allow me to attend this conference and I sincerely hope the NJBC is planning another one for next year.

Note To World- Black Transpeople Exist

"I never considered it to be a disadvantage to be a Black woman. I never wanted to be anything else. We have brains. We are beautiful. We can be anything we set our minds to." Diana Ross, ESSENCE magazine, October 1989

One of the reasons I don't like many radical feminists, and I'm saying it in the spirit of Kingian love and understanding, is because of the anti-transgender sentiments that were injected into the movement back in the 70's and early 80's by Janice Raymond, Germaine Greer and their acolytes.

In addition to that, most feminist theorizing doesn't take into account the way and the conditions that Black women and other women of color interact with the parent society.

So I wasn't surprised nor shocked when some feminist made the devoid of logic assumptions about Black transwomen or presumed that all we did was sex work for a living. Anybody who's read TransGriot or just opens their eyes can tell you otherwise. Even my transbrothers are beginning to get their well-deserved face time as well in print and film.



News flash: transpeople don't just come in vanilla only. They also come in chocolate, caramel and other flavors as well. And if you didn't notice, this blog is a FUBU production of an out and proud phenomenal African-American transwoman.


While we discuss and hear far more frequently about transpeople in Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, it's illogical to ignore the reality that transpeople inhabit the second largest continent on this planet or aren't represented in the African Diaspora. In many parts of the African continent, unless they live in South Africa, transpeople struggle mightily just to have their basic human rights respected before they can even get to the point where they can deal with their gender identity issues.

Yes, Punk and 'errbody' else that doesn't get the point by now, Black transpeople do exist. You don't see us because for the most part we don't get the media face time that our white counterparts do. When we do get it, most of the time it beats to death the tired story of transwomen of color and prostitution.

Most of my transsisters are not only gainfully employed, but if fundamentalists weren't pushing their jacked up 'hate the trannies' agenda, in my opinion even more of us would be out and proud. Because of the negativity that we get even in our own community, and increasingly some of that negativity is coming from Black megachurches that have been infected with white fundamentalist 'christian' doctrine, many of my sisters and brothers are stealth.

For those of us who do come out and try to change the situation by speaking out, writing about the issues we face, working within the political system and the GLBT movement to pass laws so that it's easier for my transsistahs and transbrothers to live authentic lives and make legit paper, our efforts are belittled, our intelligence is denigrated and our voices ignored. If we express ideas or opinions that don't neatly line up with 'mainstream' thought, we are derided as 'racist'.

But to be honest, I can't be too mad at people like Punk. Some of this perception gap is our fault as well. Many Black transpeople look at the situation I described in the previous paragraph and say, 'why bother getting involved?'.

That attitude is even more prevalent among my peeps that have 'good jobs'. For my brothers and sisters who are working jobs paying close to minimum wage, you have to work far more hours at it just to pay the bills. It doesn't leave much time for non-reality based BS, activism, or doing as Dr. King called it, 'hard, solid thinking' about our situations.

But by opting out and going stealth, it leads to a perception vacuum that too easily lends itself to our opponents and ignorance defining us.

If we don't speak up for ourselves, tell the world that we Black transpeople not only exist, but are beautiful, intelligent, creative, talented, proud, successful, have a history, and give the world a wide palette of images and people to judge us by, then who will?



TransGriot Note: the transsistah in the photo is Valerie Spencer. She's speaking at the Los Angeles Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony. The YouTube clip is of a film called Still Black-A Portrait of Black Transmen

Izza Lopez Case Settled

I wrote about the Izza Lopez case back home in which a transwoman had a 2005 job offer rescinded by River Oaks Imaging after they discovered she was a transwoman.

Lopez claimed the job was pulled when the employer found out she is transgender, something that she didn't hide during the application process. River Oaks Imaging said the offer was withdrawn because she presented herself as a woman and that was a lie because she really was a man.

After going through court-ordered mediation, a settlement was reached on Wednesday.

"I can tell you the case has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parties," said Lambda Legal spokesman Jason Howe. Lambda Legal (a GLBT organization that HRC could learn from) represented Lopez.

River Oaks Imaging lawyer Howard Dulmage said Thursday that he cannot discuss the settlement but that the parties agreed to mutually resolve their differences.

This case is a prime example of the fact that my hometown needs to step up to the plate and amend city ordinances to protect transgender Houstonians. It's an embarrassment to me as a native Houstonian that H-town doesn't protect transgender peeps rights except for city of Houston employment only, and Dallas and Austin are part of the even expanding list of 90 cities and municipalities that do.

Hopefully Mayor White and the Houston City Council will do the right thing and take steps to rectify this situation.

Danger Zone

I'm a huge fan of the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show and listen to it every day. Its combination of news, interviews, humor and insightful commentary from such peeps as Tavis Smiley, Michael Eric Dyson, and 'the Revs' routinely draws an audience of 11 million predominately African-American listeners.

IIf there's anyone who has their finger on the pulse of Black America, it's Tom Joyner.

During yesterday's show he conducted a For Real For Real poll that has me extremely nervous about the 2008 election should Hillary somehow get the nomination.

According to this poll, 54 percent said they'd vote for Clinton if Barack is not the candidate. But a whopping 35 percent said they won't vote at all if Obama isn't in the race.

There are a few things you Hillary fans aren't seeing. Sen. Obama's campaign is bringing in large numbers of people who are either new voters or people haven't been engaged in the political process for a long time. It is also tapping into a shared dream that African-Americans have held since emancipation, seeing one of our own taking the oath of office as president.

It took a while for us to get emotionally invested since we've been down this road twice with Jesse Jackson, Sr. in 1984 and 1988. But this time we have a candidate who may actually make this dream a reality. We're beginning to have the audacity of hope that we may see him on January 20, 2009 standing on the capitol steps taking the oath of office while his lovely wife Michelle holds the Bible.

Now that we can conceive the dream and are tantalizingly close to seeing him secure the nomination, the continued negative race-baiting attacks by the Clinton camp is only suceeding in pissing off a constituency without which no Democratic candidate can win in November.

For me and many African-Americans sitting out the election or voting for John McCain is not an option. Hillary Clinton can't overtake Obama delegate wise even if she swept the remaining contests. That ain't happening because North Carolina is one of those remaining primary states with a significant African-American population that hasn't weighed in yet (By the way Hillary fans, Barack has a nine point lead in North Carolina) and because of proportional allocation rules, he'll continue to accumulate delegates..

But that 35% number scares me. I hope those peeps will take the time to think about the big picture and realize that we and the country cannot afford a McCain presidency.

But the point I'm making is that Democrats cannot afford to piss off your most loyal constituency and expect to win. Barack leads in the delegate count, has won double the amount of states, and him being on the ballot in the fall will continue to bring record numbers of new voters into the mix.

If Hillary pulls this out by using the superdelegates, and that's the only way she can remotely get the nomination at this point, it will be perceived in Black American circles as 'she stole the nomination' and the sitzkrieg will commence. Hillary will not get the historic turnout of African-American voters that Barack Obama's presence on the November ballot would generate. She would also have a frosty reception in terms of getting many of us motivated to come to the polls and support her.

So yeah, while I'm happy I get a chance to vote on May 20 for my candidate, I'm still going to be anxious until Barack finally closes out this nomination.


Crossposted to The Bilerico Project

Apologize, Shellie

It's taken her a few months, but I finally got a response from Ms. Shellie-Ann Anderson of May Pen, Jamaica a few days ago. Seems like Miss Thang wants me to take her picture off the post I wrote slamming her for her anti-GLBT comments she left on my blog. That post also renews my call for GLBT people and our allies to forgo tourism to Jamaica and boycott all Jamaican products until they mend their GLBT bashing ways.




Just to refresh 'errbodys' memory banks, here's what home girl posted to my blog in the comments section of the 'I'm Boycotting Jamaica' post

batty bwoy fi get buss ass fi true.
unnu too raasclaat nasty and friggin fool.

if unnu nuh waan nobody lick unnu dung unnu keep unnu homo self to unnu self and mek peace remain as much as possible.

The sad thing is that she has a great essay featured in an article in the Jamaica Gleaner entitled Internet Use Opportunities and Risks but at the same time chose to post that trifling anti-GLBT crap on my blog.

Now she wants me to pull her picture off my blog.

Not until I get an apology posted for your insulting comment.

I don't know if you thought posting that comment was funny or whatever was going through your teenage mind at the time, but my fellow GLBT peeps being beaten and killed in your country ain't no laughing matter. When your political leadership in Jamaica and various people interviewed about it are unrepentant, dismissive or defensive about it, all it does is piss people off who see the injustice even more.



So you're not liking your picture being plastered on this site and connected with your homophobic comments. How do you think your fellow GLBT Jamaicans feel who are living in exile in the UK, Canada, the US and various other countries and can't come home? Some of you Jamaicans may not see it that way, but for every GLBT person that leaves the island for other nations, we get the benefits of their talents.



Just because people disapprove of their same-gender love or they're transgender doesn't give them the right to verbally abuse, beat or kill somebody.

So roll your eyes, suck your teeth, cuss me out in Patois, whatever. The pictures don't come off this site until I get a sincere apology in the comments section of this post.

We're Trying To Make HRC Better, Not Tear It Down

HRC and its defenders has been on a furious spin offensive in the last several weeks.

They've been trying to paint its numerous critics like myself as 'transgender conspiracy theorists' and other nastier epithets in other corners of the GLBT blogosphere I won't waste bandwith repeating.

For the white transgender community, the dwindling ranks of HRC supporters have been trotting out the new jack spin line of that tired 'horizontal hostility' crap they used to peddle that states we HRC critics are trying to 'tear down HRC'.

Au contraire my HRC Kool-aid drinking friends.

As an African-American who is considered a major transgender leader and has the Trinity to prove it, I see this contentious debate as healthy and normal. I also subscribe to the African-American definition of leadership as set forth by Dr Ron Walters.

The task of Black leadership is to provide the vision, resources, tactics, and strategies that facilitate the achievement of the objectives of Black people.

These objectives have been variously described as freedom, integration, equality, liberation, or defined in the terms of specific public policies. It is a role that often requires disturbing the peace. And we constantly carry on a dialogue about the fitness of various leaders and the qualities they bring to the table to fulfill this mission.

The bottom line is that I not only subscribe to this definition of leadership and try to practice it, it is also one of the litmus tests I use to judge whether an organization is doing what it's supposed to do.

The flack that HRC is catching from me and other transgender leaders is because HRC for a decade has not lived up to their claim as being the leaders of the GLBT community. Their actions have been deceptive, dismissive and disrespectful of my community. They have continued to act in a manner devoid of moral authority and made decisions that are harmful to the transgender community. Their relentless pursuit of money over passing inclusive legislation that benefits all of us has caused major chasms in the GLBT community. What's even more infuriating about it, they are arrogantly unrepentant and alarmingly clueless about it.

Their arrogance in repeating the Republican strategy in regards to African-Americans of trying to create 'acceptable to HRC' transgender leaders, demanding that we only have one organization to negotiate with them, and ignoring the leaders that we have chose is also galling as well.

As an African-American, I have multiple organizations that speak on my behalf. So does the gay and lesbian community. Why would you egotistically demand of the transgender community something that you don't follow yourselves?

You have left us and our supporters no choice but to picket your dinners until some attitudes change at 1640 Rhode Island Ave, NW. We're human beings beyond sick and tired of being treated like bargaining chips in some game of congressional poker. We need legislative protection like yesterday, and if you are the 'leading civil rights organization' that your relentless PR claims it is, show some leadership by passing am inclusive ENDA that's a win-win situation for the entire community, not just wealthy straight-acting Caucasian gay men and women.

Nelson Mandela eloquently stated, 'no true alliance can be built on the shifting sands of evasion. illusions and opportunism.'

That quote describes the decades long history between HRC and the transgender community and the drama that goes back to Stonewall between the GLB and transgender communities. The choice is yours. It's either building a working partnership based on respect that treats us as equals, bust your asses to pass an inclusive ENDA in 2009 while beginning an honest dialogue with your harshest critics, or continue to face a long, hot no justice, no peace spring, summer and fall of protest at every event that has an equal sign attached to it.

Crossposted to the Bilerico project

Rev. Paul Turner Declines HRC ATL Dinner Invite

TransGriot Note: I've had the pleasure of meeting the Rev. Paul Turner at a 2004 SCC. His congregation at Gentle Spirit Christian Church in the ATL is GLBT inclusive, and Whosoever, a ministry he's an integral part of exists to provides a safe and sacred space for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians to reclaim, rekindle and grow their relationship with God. Needless to say Pastor Paul is not happy with HRC's dissing of transgender people in l'affaire ENDA. Here is his open letter declining an invite to Atlanta's upcoming May 3 HRC dinner.



First, the e-mail inviting him to the dinner:

Jason Lowery & Ebonee Bradford Cordially invites you to attend the 21st Annual Human Rights Campaign Dinner. Keynote speaker Kathy Nahjimy, Entertainment the incomprable crystal waters! tickets are still available for may 3, 2008

Awardees: Rev dennis meredith, Tabernacle Baptist Atl.-Dan Bradley Humunitarian Award/ Frank Bragg Metrotainment cafe/leon allen & Winston Johnson Community leadership award. www.boxofficetickets.com or www.atlantahrcdinner.org



Pastor Paul's response:

Thank you for the invitation...However, I will not participate with anything involving HRC until the Transgender Community is really part of the LGBTQI they so often say they represent.

There are those in our community who think I am being "childish" and "foolish" about this, however, I cannot nor will I stand with an organization which uses a part of our community as a political chess piece.

I cannot nor will I stand silently by while our sisters and brothers in the Transgender community are told they must wait for protection, or "they must understand we are not there yet". Every year I stand at the State Capital to hear more names read of our sisters and brothers who have been slaughtered. Yet, HRC does not see the need to take a stand on their behalf? The HRC really thinks it is OK to have just LGB?

I will once again say:

There is no going forward if everyone is not with us.

This is not Animal Farm where "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal then others"!

HRC has made and continues to make a horrible and tragic miscalculation...a poll of 500 people does not speak for the entire LGBTQ community.

HRC sold it's sisters and brothers down the river for a bill they knew was not going to pass or have a chance in hell of becoming law. So what better time then to take a moral and courageous stand?

Does HRC not understand the Transgender community is in real and serious danger? When a house is on fire you don't stand outside and decide whom you are going to rescue, the attempt is made for all.

Of course what HRC has forgotten is it was these folks who started the whole “gay rights” movement we know today when they stood toe to high heal with the New York City police department at Stonewall.

HRC confidently forgets the Trans community has been with us every step of this bloody fight for our rights, our self worth and our very souls.

HRC forgets or ignores that each day when a trans person gets out of bed and steps into the world it may in fact be their last day.

If the hypocrites in congress don't want transgender people in a bill of protection for LGBTQI folks, then there should be no bill for consideration...not have HRC bargaining and agreeing that a part of our community is expendable and could simply wait for another day.

By not including Transgender people in any bill sent to the floor of congress y'all send a clear message to everyone concerned that the transgender community is somehow not on equal footing with the rest of the community.

This is wrong and HRC knows it. Pastorally speaking HRC has chosen to be the Esther who didn't bother to go before the King (Esther 4 New International Version).

Shame on you. I wonder how many Transgender people will die because even HRC does not think they are worthy of protection? This was and is a time for leadership, guts and courage.

It has been said a bill couldn't get through with Trans as apart of it, that it would be defeated...well my friends you may have won the battle with the US Congress but HRC has made themselves hypocrites in the truest sense of the word.

"The Human Rights Campaign is the nations largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality" Just where does the needs of the transgender community meet HRC's definition of civil rights if not within ENDA?

I know this doesn't mean a hell of lot to you, as I am not one of the high profile pastor's for which HRC has fooled into believing they care about the total community. Yet, how does one deal with a statement from your Executive Director which as it turns out was a flat out lie?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_GhTiBO8Cw

This statement was made in front of a room full of Transgender folks. So did your Executive Director mis-speak? Although I thought his statement was pretty clear. Are we to pretend this statement of support was just to say something nice to the trans community?

I cannot express how sad and disappointed I am in this organization. HRC should know that God's people are not expendable at any price!

The recent attempts to "explain" to "sooth", to "justify". to "spin" this despicable act on the part of HRC is arrogant, shameful and not worthy of a people who want our money so they can "fight for our rights"

I am no longer a supporter of HRC, I will not honor their name or pass on their e-mails with their weekly calls for money.

They will not again receive one dime of my money or the church's and I will certainly encourage folks to find other organizations to support with their hard earned money other then HRC. I do believe there are organizations out there that still understand the meaning of community and that without all the hard work of the Trans community we would be nothing.

There is talk of a calling for a boycott of the HRC dinner in Atlanta as well as any other HRC events in this city that seek our hard earned money. I am inclined to agree with boycotting the dinner and HRC in general. It is an appropriate way to send a message from Atlanta, the cradle of the civil rights movement that if we are not all protected by the law then none of us has protection.

No, I will not be going to this dinner and I would encourage anyone who has a basic sense of fairness, compassion and a sense of community to not go either.

I would encourage Rev. Dennis Meredith not to attend and accept an award from a group of people who are not willing to stand by all who are apart of the community.

Reverend Paul M. Turner
Sr. Pastor
http://www.gentlespirit.org

Without a Doubt, President Obama Will Take This Nation to School on the ‘Flava’ Factor

Monday, April 21, 2008
Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com

If, after having weathered the drama and combat of a long, contentious primary season and what could be a nasty general election campaign, Barack Obama wins the presidency, non-black Americans are in for an extra adventure.

Many have proven their proclivity for shock and awe already, having suffered whiplash from the revelation that black churches provide ventilation for as well as feeding of the soul; that we can practice patriotism even if we don’t have a suit of clothes, let alone a lapel on which to place a flag pin; and that black folks can live with, hang with, love and sympathize with other black folks who are angry, conspiratorial and militant and be cheerful and hopeful at the same time.

The habit of misreading black people is as old as the hills. Some of the stereotypes that survive today were logged by Thomas Jefferson in his “Notes on the State of Virginia,” two and a quarter centuries ago. As in Jefferson’s day, rank ignorance and indifference about our experiences -- especially the sour and tragic ones -- continue to provoke a jump to conclusions, based on often very different, if not opposite, experience.

Back then, Jefferson was confounded by black people, whom he said, showed a childlike delight in simple pleasures and a stoicism in the face of tragedy. You would have thought a man of his learning and curiosity might have made the connection between the glee and the fact that there was so little to be happy about; and the stone faces in the wake of redundant sorrows, pain, indignities and injustice.

But, as the old folks say, book sense ain’t common sense.

For sure, it’s hard to turn a tide. Consider the young black defendant, in shirt and tie, standing before judge and jury to learn his punishment, an inscrutable look on his face. We may know the expressionless face to be hiding fear and remorse. Those who don’t get it read it as cocky and unrepentant.

Or take the case of my son and his friends many years ago on a school bus ride home. The young boys, about nine or 10 years old, were “jonin’” on each other, having a good time. The white driver made a U-turn for the school and tore into the principal’s office to tattle that the little black boys were about to engage in gang warfare. It took a batch of us parents to educate the educators about the tradition of playing the dozens and spare our kids a turn in detention.

Feature writers are bound to have a field day with a President Obama, breathlessly reporting his GQ flair, his dance steps and his friendships with the generals of hip-hop.

But they will need new fact-checkers and interpreters to get an accurate reading on things like his cool stroll, those self-assured winks; his game on the basketball court; his mellow moves with his wife; and, last week, the Jay-Z brush-off the day after the ABC News boys pelted him with inanities.

May he take the country to school on a little thing we call “flava.”

An LFC Party At EKU

Once again I found myself behind the wheel driving at warp speed in the direction of Richmond, KY and the EKU campus for the USFA's Kentucky Division Derby Open Sectional tournament

It was being hosted by the Bluegrass Fencers Club once again, but most of the folks taking home medals were from Da Ville and the Louisville Fencing Center. Bluegrass grabbed their share of them as well.

This was a qualifying tournament for the Summer Nationals being held in San Jose, CA July 1-10. Dawn already qualified for that one, so she was competing in this tournament as part of her Summer Nationals training runup. In addition, we were also on the road early because as a dibision officer, she was going to help set up the Weaver Gym for the tournament.

I'd dropped her off at work that morning so I could get the fluids checked out in Wildcat, my nickname for her blue Volvo. After I spent a few hours that morning accomplishing that task, I crawled into bed to get some sleep for the hour run to Richmond, which is just south of Lexington on I-75.

After battling evening rush hour traffic on Shelbyville Rd and Hurstbourne Pkwy to go pick her up, we got rolling around 6:30 PM EDT. I made our obligatory cheap gas shop in Waddy, KY ($3.45) 50 miles east of Da Ville. I was mildly pissed when I arrived in Richmond an hour later and noted it was selling there for $3.39 a gallon.

We arrive at the gym at 8 PM to discover that it was locked, lights dimmed and the fencing strips had already been set up. We werr hungry, so we headed to the hotel on the other side of I-75 near the campus, checked into our rooms and went foraging for food.

In addition to being a nationally ranked Veteran's Division fencer, she's the board secretary for the KY division. There was a division board meeeting scheduled to start after the tournnament was over, so I knew Saturday was going to be a long day. After watching the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica while she got in contact with fellow board members to talk business, I crashed.

The next morning we're there at Weaver Gym bright and early. She was helping check in contestants for the epee competition since sabre wasn't starting until 11 AM. I grabbed a notepad and started jotting down some notes and ideas for future posts and reviewed my speech once again for the upcoming Trans Pride march while I waited for her competition to start. Her training partner Johann Gorr arrived a few minutes before the check in deadline for the sabre competiton.

As I've mentioned before, Dawn is no joke in the fencing community. She's ranked tenth in the nation and has been a a hot streak lately. She just finished winning the Knight of Swords club championship tourney, and after going through her pool boots at the Derby Open ended up seeded number two and with a first round bye because she lost to Johann in pools.

They did meet again in the champiuonship match, but only after Dawn survived a stiff challenge from a brother fencer and med student fencing for UK. Frederick had beaten her in a previous tournament and gave her all she wanted in this match. She eventually pulled out 15-13 after switching tactics on him and getting three straight touches to close it out.

Dawn and Johann's match looked like a Johann blowout at first. He was up 8-3 at the break and eventually galloped out to an 11-5 lead before Dawn started a finishing spurt that almost garnered her the victory. She closed to 12-10 before Johann regained his composure and won 15-10. She did finish first in Women's sabre and second overall in the Derby Open sabre competition.

The LFC fencers cleaned up at this tournament along with their hosts from Bluegrass Fencers Club. Some of the UK fencers also qualified for Summer Nationals as well. We also saw the emergence of another Kiefer family fencer, Alexandra and Lee's little brother. He's already a medal winning terror and he's just 13.

She's has another tournament she's competing in at LFC this coming weekend, and I'll probably be there for that one as well.

Gone Fencing

I'm not, but Dawn is.

Dawn's fencing in a sectional tournament that starts tomorrow in Richmond, KY on the Eastern Kentucky University campus. She wants me to tag along, it's time for another road trip, so I'll tell y'all how she did when I get back.

Mariah's New CD E=MC2

I've always loved Mariah Carey's five octave voice and music ever since her self-titled debut CD dropped in 1990, and many of them grace my CD collection.

No, I don't own an iPod. I'm still old school about my music and I still DJ, and as of yet DJ equipment hasn't been created that you simply plug an iPod into.

But back to the post. Even though it seems like she's been through more drama than Erica Kane on All My Children, she's survived it and now is thriving career wise again.

Her eleventh CD titled E=MC2 is out and is starting to get rave reviews. Unlike Albert Einstein's famous physics equation, the E=MC2 in this case stands for Emancipation=Mariah Carey to the second power. The lead single 'Touch My Body'is a slamming track with a sexy video to boot.

It's so cool to see someone who has had drama overcome it and reclaim the lofty heights thy were once at in the business. Mariah's setting records in the music business now that have her approaching Elvis and Beatles territory in terms of sales. 'Touch My Body' is now Mariah's 18th Billboard Hot 100 single, tying her with Elvis and putting her just two behind the Beatles with 21.

Judging by that lead track, I'll be rushing to the store next payday to get it.

How We See Each Other

by Jerry Large
Seattle Times staff columnist
Monday, April 14, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
from the Seattle Times

Seems like everyone belongs to a group with a cause.

And whether they recognize it or not, many causes share a common desire to be accepted.If they'd start by accepting each other, we might get somewhere.

I thought about that Thursday, when I had the chance to hear three people talk about life from a transgender perspective. The three transgender, black people were on a panel put on by the Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas.

What they had to say was more interesting than their physical details.

The panel was the forum's second discussion of gender identity in the African-American community.

One of the panelists, Dean Jackson, a Seattle native who does organizing work on gender issues in communities of color, said he once thought changing genders was something only white people did.

He learned otherwise, and has made his own transition from woman to man. Along the way, he discovered that "it wasn't so much that my body didn't fit." It was more that he didn't fit into a binary system of gender classification.

Why should people have to choose blue or red, when they might feel purple or violet?

Another panelist, Vanessa Grandberry, said the physical change dominated her early experience.

At the end of the day, "I was so tired from posing, making sure my hands were held the right way. ... "

She wouldn't go out without proper makeup and a wig, but that changed.

Now, "if someone says 'sir,' I go with that." she said. "However you see me has nothing to do with how I see myself."

But it's how others see transgender people that can hurt. Grandberry's own mother rejected her when she came out.

The quest for transgender acceptance transcends individual encounters. And it's about more than gender. It's about whether we all can recognize that there is more than one way of being an OK person. That gender, race, class, weight, etc., shouldn't be all we see of anyone.

The third panelist, Imani Henry, an activist from New York, said, "I identify as a social-justice activist who happens to be a trans person."

Progressive movements are full of people who are gay, lesbian or transgender, he said. His message: Working toward a more just society should trump anyone's particular identity.

That's not always easy.

Grandberry said that if she goes to a mostly white support group in Seattle, "It's all right for me to talk about my trans issues, but don't bring up race."

There are challenges with other black people, who sometimes practice the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Americans are hooked on either-or's: black or white, right or wrong. But approaching each person as an individual requires more thinking than most people want to do.

Of course, none of us wants to be the one being pigeonholed.

Seems like a good reason to argue less and cooperate more.

We'd all benefit from nurturing a culture in which we put more latitude — and less judgment — into how we see each other.

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

Has National HRC Become The Community's BULLY? The B-HRC?

TransGriot Note: The Phyllabuster I received on Sunday

After a night's sleep and looking at the photos that I sent you (separately and in two packages so as not to overload some of your older model computers), and after reading many responses from some of you, I need to put forth this question:

Has National HRC become the BULLY of the previously united LGBT community?

Is National HRC now to be called the B-HRC?

Consider: Why did National HRC call the Houston Police about a political protest from GLBT "family" folks?

Now, National HRC will tell you it is their standard policy to notify police in the event of a protest threat.

Yes, I can understand that some so-called religious groups and social bigots have been problematic in the past. Right on, if dealing with skinheads or the Klan or a Neo-nazi group. Absolutely! Good policy in those situations

But we are "family."

Or at least we were "family."

We were a united GLBT community family until National HRC divided us last fall over an ENDA bill that would never be signed by Bush and that would protect only those GLBs who expressed gender in a socially accepted manner. Who don't break the sex-stereotype mold.

What did National HRC expect?

Violence?

Anything other than possibly some political high-jinx that hotel security could have easily handled?

WE WERE NO PHYSICAL THREAT AND NATIONAL HRC KNEW IT!

In the history of protesting National HRC fundraisers that began in 1995 over transgenders then being deliberately omitted from the ENDA of that decade (and as we learned, that omission was at the direction and insistence of the National HRC), has there been even one instance of a GLBT "family" protester pushing or shoving or otherwise harming an HRC fundraiser guest or forcing literature or a lapel sticker onto a HRC fundraiser guest who made it plain they did not want any?

Rack my brain (someone may know of an instance), I know of no such instance in our 12 year struggle with National HRC over the full inclusion of "sexual orientation or gender identity or expression" in the ENDA bill.

We were there last night in Houston, to let HRC attendees know that transgenders and gender variant GLBs had been abandoned by National HRC and that we wanted to speak with and educate HRC attendees as to the issues.

We were there TO EDUCATE with lapel stickers to give to supporters of a Unified ENDA who were in attendance and to generate discussion.

The community's Bully -- National HRC -- sicced the cops on us.

Why?

Not because we were a physical threat, but to intimidate our allies and to diminish our protesting ranks.

I hope the Houston Police Department sends National HRC a bill since National HRC clearly set of a false alarm.

An alarm no less false than if they had deliberately set off a fire alarm which would have brought trained fire personnel and expensive fire equipment to fight a non-existent blaze.
____________________

And so my friends in New Orleans and in Phoenix and in other cities who are about to deal with the National Bully HRC -- or should we all begin to write, the B-HRC -- be of good cheer.

The B-HRC will alert the police in your city of your "family" protest.

But the B-HRC will not tell the police that it will be peaceful and of their own making.

The police will show up in riot gear with barricades and horse mounted officers.

If your city's police are professional, you should have no problem.

During our entire outside protesting event last night alongside the Houston Police, only twice did HPD officers get a bit verbally testy. In both cases when I reported those HPD officers to their OIC (Officer In Charge), the HPD OIC quickly jerked those errant police officers back into compliance with the law. No one was injured. No one was arrested.

It is all a B-HRC contrived intimidation gambit at taxpayer expense to keep the B-HRC cash-cow alive.

So protest.

Carry your signs.

Be festive.

Ask to enter and distribute literature or lapel stickers.

Take pictures and video record things.

Write it up and tell the story of what B-HRC did in your town.

Submit a Freedom of Information Request to your city controller or auditor or treasurer to get the official taxpayer price tag for the B-HRC false alarm and send that information out as well.

Finally -- Please pass this on.

Transgender Conspiracy Theory? Yeah, Right

In the wake of the Houston HRC dinner protest HRC has been furiously trying to spin (translation: lie) its way out of a problem that they caused.

Their latest spin line is that this was a 'conspiracy theory'

Yeah, right. I'm supposed to disbelieve ten years of evidence, history and personal experience that tell me the Homosexual Rights Campaign is a bunch of morally bankrupt liars, but transgender people are 'conspiracy theorists' according to the words of an unnamed HRC staffer?

Personally, I don't believe in conspiracy theories and don't peddle them. I'm a 'just the facts' girl who is blessed with an encyclopedic knowledge of history.

Being a minority also gives me some insight on some things as well. That combination of experiences, history and knowledge of previous Forces of Oppression hijinks tells me not to cavalierly dismiss someone who expresses concerns that may seem outlandish at first, but upon further review are later proven right.

When Rep. Maxine Waters was vilified by the Right for saying that the Feds were facilitating the flooding of Los Angeles and other large urban cities with crack cocaine and using the profits to fund the Nicaraguan contras, she was derisively called 'Mad Maxine' until a scandal called Iran-Contra broke out and Pulitzer prize winning investigative reporter Gary Webb verified the story.

When Marti Abernathey, NTAC, I and others revealed what we discovered during our May 2007 lobby day that we weren't covered in ENDA, we were called 'crazy' and liars' until October.

So when I post that a Houston dinner protest is coming, read my Phyllabuster and see that she has a meeting with HPD, I have to ask the questions why were the Po-Po's called in the first place, what did national HRC say during that initial phone call to make HPD call Phyllis Frye and resulted in the massive show of police force (and waste of Houston taxpayer dollars) Saturday for a protest that turned out 11 transgender people?


I also know that the HRC modus operandi over the last decade has been to find more pliant transgender leaders, subvert organizations that don't have a master-slave subservient view of our now severely strained relationship or acquiesce to the gays first-trannies someday 'incremental progress' strategy they espouse concerning LGBT civil rights.


The transgender community resumed picketing these dinners in October 2007 and I wouldn't be surprised if more creative anti-HRC demonstrations are in the planning stages. Transpeople are that angry over the betrayal. We are beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired about being tossed aside like an empty beer can, disrespectfully being told to 'wait our turn' or being used as legislative bargaining chips.

This time, the efforts of HRC apologists and Vichy transgender organizations will not stop this campaign. The only thing that will end it is HRC making a public apology for lying to us at our signature convention about our inclusion in ENDA, and busting their asses in 2009 and beyond in conjunction with United ENDA to make it happen.

When future historians finally tackle the subject of the GLBT rights movement, it will note the appalling actions of a so-called civil rights organization directed at an allied group which needed the civil rights protections worse than they did. They will probably comment that HRC was more concerned with their own selfish interests than passing broad legislation that covered the entire GLBT community.

The Houston HRC Protest

TransGriot Note: Aww is big, bad HRC 'scurred' of the ittle bitty transgender protest of their dinner? Yes. This is Phyllis Frye's 'Phyllabuster' report about yesterday's protest.


Phyllabuster: HRC goes petty: directs security to escort educators out

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) just got more petty and immature in responding to protests of its actions last fall that clearly divided a once united GLBT community.

As we arrived at the site for the Houston protest of the HRC fundraiser this Saturday, April 12th afternoon (reposts below for those new to this saga), we were told by hotel security that HRC had changed its mind about our attempts to educate.

We would be allowed to enter (without signs or banners, which we had never planned to bring inside). If we went directly to the event located on the second floor, we could hand out our lapel stickers that read, "GLBT & ENDA: United, Not Divided: I Support FULL Transgender Inclusion." And we could engage in conversation and educate those people who wanted to listen and learn.

So we walked around, outside the hotel for over an hour, carrying signs and visiting with each other. It was very festive.

The Houston Police gave us NO trouble. There were two very minor incidents where officers got a bit testy, but when I called their OIC, those officers were told they were wrong and to stop being testy with us. The rest of the force were very polite to us.

We joked amongst ourselves that we hardly warranted the riot barricades or the eight, horse-mounted officers or the other preparations and personnel. But the police felt it was better to be prepared than not.

The hotel had a guard at each door and along several parts of the sidewalk. They had placed traffic cones everywhere.

It was surreal -- all that effort for just little ole, inoffensive us.

After we had watched a lot of folks enter for the HRC event and it approached the planned 6 PM beginning, three of us entered the hotel, prepared to chat and educate for the hour before the 7 PM dinner, using our stack of 3 x 2 lapel stickers to initiate conversation.

We were met at the top of the escalator by an HRC official wearing a cream colored business skirt and coat. I asked if this was the HRC event area, and she said yes. So I offered someone a lapel sticker. I was immediately corrected, "No, not here, but here (she was indicating a place 18 inches away on the other side of a rope). Hotel security was poised nearby.

So we walked along the rope to an opening and around to the other side of the rope. I then offered another lapel sticker. An HRC man with a pink tie, a pink vest and dyed blonde hair (clearly who would be discriminated against on the basis of "gender expression") said, "No, not hear, but here (pointing us back to the initial place that we had just left).

I pulled out my cell phone. Immediately, the HRC guy told the hotel security to escort us out of the hotel. An event photographer took a photo as the hotel security closed and asked us to leave. There was no hustle. The security was polite. But we had to leave at HRC's direction and insistence!

So we did our gig outside until 7 PM. The weather was beautiful. During this part of our gig when we had planned to be inside educating, some friends drove up and lowering their window, asked how it was going. I told them about being escorted out at the direction of HRC when I began to offer lapel stickers. Our friends took a stack of lapel stickers and said, "They won't ask us to leave!"

As our group was packed up and leaving, I got a phone call that HRC had finally agreed to allow us to come in now -- after 7 PM, when all the cocktail chatty and education time was finished and folks would be sitting down to eat and hear a program. Or we could come back at 10 PM to offer folks our stickers as they left the event.

After being jerked around by HRC for the past hour, we were not about to submit ourselves to another trick or lie. We left to refresh and reflect at the nearby eatery.

NOTE: Protests against HRC are being planned for New Orleans and Phoenix. I will send info when I get it

Thunder Over Louisville

Later on tonight I get to pull up a chair and watch Thunder Over Louisville.

Thunder is the kickoff event for the Kentucky Derby Festival here in Da Ville. For the next two and a half weeks we'll have a blizzard of derby parties fancy and not-so-fancy, pageants, 10-K runs, special events and parades all leading up to the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 2. Even the local GLBT community gets into the spirit by aving several events including a party of Derby day.

Thunder itself is a massive choreographed fireworks show that's so huge from a distance, the fireworks going off sound like distant thunder, hence the name. The Clark Memorial Bridge has been shut down to set up for it.

Since I moved here I haven't yet braved the weather or the crowds to see it live. The cloudy and cold weather today is guaranteeing that I ave no desire to break that tradition this year either. I made sure that any errands I had to run involving travel through the downtown area were done this morning.

I live about two miles from the general aviation airport ere called Bowman Field. I'm hearing the noise off and on of all the military jets revving engines and ta0king off for the airshow that's going on as well along the riverfront. Speaking of the airshow, that's a contentious part of Thunder every year with the local peace activists.

On that note, let me go grab some wings and get ready to check out the show.

Back-To-Back!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaa!

Okay, now that I've let my inner Texan out, congratulations to Miss USA 2008 and my Houston area homegirl Crystle Stewart.



She not only becomes the fifth African-American to wear the Miss USA crown, she's the ninth Texan to do so as well. Miss USA history was also made because this was the first time that African-American women have won back-to-back Miss USA titles.

She'll get the trip to Vietnam in July and attempt to become the first Miss USA since Hawaii's Brook Lee accomplished the feat in 1997 to win Miss Universe.

HRC Calls Police To Stop Dinner Protest

As I noted in a TransGriot blog post, it's my Houston homeboys' and homegirls' turn to protest an HRC dinner.

The HRC Dinner is being held at the convention center hotel across the street from the George R. Brown Convention Center on April 12. The protest is being coordinated by the distinguished stateswoman of the Houston transgender community Phyllis Frye and veteran leaders Vanessa Edwards Foster and Josephine Tittsworth.

But it seems as though HRC has a problem with the Houston transgender community exercising their First Amendment rights. The National HRC office called the Houston Police Department in an attempt to shut down the protest.

Phyllis just concluded a meeting with the HPD, and this is a just released statement courtesy of Phyllis' Phyllabuster e-mail newsletter:

It seems that in response to my national Phyllabuster about our protest, ...... GET THIS ...... the National HRC called the Houston Police.

HPD and I had a very nice meeting. I do not foresee any problems. HPD was so courteous that I was given a "Demonstration Guide" that they published in 2003 to assist citizens in expressing their 1st Amendment rights will not violating any laws. I told HPD that I would scan it and attach to my list. It is attached herein as good general information.

During the chat with HPD, I was also informed that HRC has also instructed the hotel security to ask us to leave if we attempt to pass out any written information or ask folks to wear our stickers.

I always thought that HRC was big on education and discussion.

Well, we will be there (read reposting below).
and we will be peaceful,
and we will be within the law,
and we will be protected by HPD,
and we will attempt to hand out our lapel stickers.

Yeah, the Homosexual Rights Corporation is a friend of the transgender community. If you still believe that fairy tale, I have some waterfront property along I-10 in the Atchafalaya Swamp between Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge I'd like to sell you.

The series of HRC dinner protests initiated by the transgender community not long after our ENDA betrayal in October 2007 has been conservatively estimated to have cost HRC $1 million dollars in lost donation revenue.

So I understand why they wanted to sic HPD on the trannies. That rent is expensive on that headquarters building in DC, isn't it?

So if you're in or are reasonably close to the Houston area and want to make your voice heard, the H-town transgender community would love to have you there. The fun will start at around 4:30 CDT. Just head to the corner of Polk Street and Avenida de las Americas. You'll see Phyllis', Vanessa's and Josephine's smiling faces there.

Give 'em hell H-town!

Crossposted from The Bilerico Project

Obama Talks All Things LGBT with The Advocate

In an exclusive Chicago sit-down with The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld, Democratic front-runner Barack Obama discusses "don't ask, don't tell," Rev. Wright, and what he would do for LGBT Americans if he becomes president.

By Kerry Eleveld

Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama has been weathering a small storm lately in the LGBT community for being too tight-lipped with gay and lesbian news media.

Unlike his rival Hillary Clinton, who's given interviews to Logo and several local papers since appearing on the cover of The Advocate last fall, the Illinois senator has only talked once, to address the Donnie McClurkin controversy. But last week, his campaign offered our magazine an exclusive sit-down in Chicago with the man who may well become the next President of the United States.

To some extent, it symbolizes the brilliance of a protracted primary contest where candidates continually pivot and adjust in order to engage ever more voters. Had the race stopped cold in the snows of New Hampshire, gays and lesbians would have been left with one interview of record for each Democratic candidate in total.

But in a wide-ranging interview this Monday, Sen. Obama discussed "don't ask, don't tell," Rev. Wright, and why LGBT folks should lead on marriage equality, not politicians. Some may call the chat a shrewd political move made by the Obama camp ahead of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. We call it access.

The Advocate: Let's start with what's hot, why the silence on gay issues? You've only done one other interview with the LGBT press. I know people wish they were hearing more from you.

Sen. Obama: I don't think it's fair to say silence on gay issues. The gay press may feel like I'm not giving them enough love. But basically, all press feels that way at all times. Obviously, when you've got limited amount of time, you've got so many outlets. We tend not to do a whole bunch of specialized press. We try to do general press for a general readership.

But I haven't been silent on gay issues. What's happened is, I speak oftentimes to gay issues to a public general audience. When I spoke at Ebenezer Church for King Day, I talked about the need to get over the homophobia in the African-American community, when I deliver my stump speeches routinely I talk about the way that antigay sentiment is used to divide the country and distract us from issues that we need to be working on, and I include gay constituencies as people that should be treated with full honor and respect as part of the American family.

So I actually have been much more vocal on gay issues to general audiences than any other presidential candidate probably in history. What I probably haven't done as much as the press would like is to put out as many specialized interviews. But that has more to do with our focus on general press than it does on … I promise you the African-American press says the same thing.

And Spanish-language?

And Spanish-language [outlets] had the same gripe. Just generally, we have generally tried to speak to broader audiences. That's all that is.

I think the underlying fear of the gay community is that if you get into office, will LGBT folks be last on the priority list?

I guess my point would be that the fact that I'm raising issues accordant to the LGBT community in a general audience rather than just treating you like a special interest that is sort of off in its own little box – that, I think, is more indicative of my commitment. Because ultimately what that shows is that I'm not afraid to advocate on your behalf outside of church, so to speak. It's easy to preach to the choir; what I think is harder is to speak to a broader audience about why these issues are important to all Americans.

If you were elected, what do you plan to do for the LGBT community -- what can you reasonably get done?

I reasonably can see "don't ask, don't tell" eliminated. I think that I can help usher through an Employment Non-Discrimination Act and sign it into law.

You think it's transgender-inclusive?

I think that's going to be tough, and I've said this before. I have been clear about my interest in including gender identity in legislation, but I've also been honest with the groups that I've met with that it is a heavy lift through Congress. We've got some Democrats who are willing to vote for a non-inclusive bill but we lose them on an inclusive bill, and we just may not be able to generate the votes. I don't know. And obviously, my goal would be to get the strongest possible bill -- that's what I'll be working for.

The third thing I believe I can get done is in dealing with federal employees, making sure that their benefits, that their ability to transfer health or pension benefits the same way that opposite-sex couples do, is something that I'm interested in making happen and I think can be done with some opposition, some turbulence, but I think we can get that done.

And finally, an area that I'm very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union. I think as more states sign civil union bills into law the federal government should be helping to usher in a time when there's full equality in terms of what that means for federal benefits.

I assume you're talking about the Defense of Marriage Act.

Absolutely, and I for a very long time have been interested in repeal of DOMA.

Do you think it's possible to get full repeal of DOMA? As you know, Senator Clinton is only looking at repealing the plank of DOMA that prohibits the federal government from recognizing state-sanctioned unions.

I don't know. But my commitment is to try to make sure that we are moving in the direction of full equality, and I think the federal government historically has led on civil rights -- I'd like to see us lead here too.

Back to "don't ask, don't tell" real quick -- you've said before you don't think that's a heavy lift. Of course, it would be if you had Joint Chiefs who were against repeal. Is that something you'll look at?

I would never make this a litmus test for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Obviously, there are so many issues that a member of the Joint Chiefs has to deal with, and my paramount obligation is to get the best possible people to keep America safe. But I think there's increasing recognition within the Armed Forces that this is a counterproductive strategy -- ya know, we're spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialties like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need. That doesn't make us more safe, and what I want are members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who are making decisions based on what strengthens our military and what is going to make us safer, not ideology.

Both you and your wife speak eloquently about being told to wait your turn and how if you had done that, you might not have gone to law school or run for Senate or even president. To some extent, isn't that what you're asking same-sex couples to do by favoring civil unions over marriage, is to wait their turn?

I don't ask them that. Anybody who's been at an LGBT event with me can testify that my message is very explicit -- I don't think that the gay and lesbian community, the LGBT community, should take its cues from me or some political leader in terms of what they think is right for them. It's not my place to tell the LGBT community, wait your turn. I'm very mindful of Dr. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" where he says to the white clergy, don't tell me to wait for my freedom.

So I strongly respect the right of same-sex couples to insist that even if we got complete equality in benefits, it still wouldn't be equal because there's a stigma associated with not having the same word, marriage, assigned to it. I understand that, but my perspective is also shaped by the broader political and historical context in which I'm operating. And I've said this before -- I'm the product of a mixed marriage that would have been illegal in 12 states when I was born. That doesn't mean that had I been an adviser to Dr. King back then, I would have told him to lead with repealing an anti-miscegenation law, because it just might not have been the best strategy in terms of moving broader equality forward.

That's a decision that the LGBT community has to make. That's not a decision for me to make.

Is it fair for the LGBT community to ask for leadership? In 1963, President Kennedy made civil rights a moral issue for the country.

But he didn't overturn anti-miscegenation. Right?

True enough.

As I said, I think the LGBT community has every right to push for what it thinks is right. And I think that it's absolutely fair to ask me for leadership, and my argument would be that I'm ahead of the curve on these issues compared to 99% of most elected officials around the country on this issue. So I think I've shown leadership.

What event or person has most affected your perceptions of or relationship to the LGBT community?

Well, it starts with my mom, who just always instilled in me a belief that everybody's of equal worth and a strong sense of empathy -- that you try to see people through their eyes, stand in their shoes. So I think that applies to how I see all people.

Somebody else who influenced me, I actually had a professor at Occidental -- now, this is embarrassing because I might screw up his last name -- Lawrence Golden, I think it was. He was a wonderful guy. He was the first openly gay professor that I had ever come in contact with, or openly gay person of authority that I had come in contact with. And he was just a terrific guy. He wasn't proselytizing all the time, but just his comfort in his own skin and the friendship we developed helped to educate me on a number of these issues.

Did you have a chance to ask him about being gay?

I'm sure we did, but as I said, he was really comfortable in his own skin, and the relationship was a strong friendship and I never felt as if I had to get over any mental hurdles to be close to him or to learn from him. He's probably somebody who had a strong influence.

How old were you then?

Eighteen … 19. It does remind me, though, I remember in my first two years of college that was when I first saw students who were self-identified gay and lesbian come out and start organizing around gay issues, so that would have been in 1979 and '80. I think what's encouraging is just to see how much progress has been made in such a relatively short period of time.

Just draw that thought out a little bit in terms of comparing it to the African-American civil rights movement.

You always want to be careful comparing groups that have been discriminated against because each group's experiences are different. I think that the transition toward fuller acceptance of the LGBT community has happened without some of the tumult and violence that accompanied the civil rights movement. But we still have a long ways to go, and I think that it also obviously varies geographically. I think in urban communities, you can't say there's full equality, but in terms of the LGBT community daily round they're not as likely to experience certainly the discrimination that they experienced 25 years ago.

Whereas, in the African-American community, you can still see some fairly overt racism. On the other hand, in rural communities, I think attitudes are slower to change.

There's plenty of homophobia to go around, but you have a unique perspective into the African-American community. Is there a..…

I don't think it's worse than in the white community. I think that the difference has to do with the fact that the African-American community is more churched and most African-American churches are still fairly traditional in their interpretations of Scripture. And so from the pulpit or in sermons you still hear homophobic attitudes expressed. And since African-American ministers are often the most prominent figures in the African-American community those attitudes get magnified or amplified a little bit more than in other communities.

Do you think there's a specific prescriptive, which is not to say that there's more homophobia in the African-American community. But is there a different answer to…

Well, I think what's important is to have some of that church leadership speak up and change its attitudes, because I think a lot of its members are taking cues from that leadership.

Do you have any regrets about the South Carolina tour? People there are still sort of mystified that you gave Donnie McClurkin the chance to get up on stage and do this, and he did go on sort of an antigay rant there.

I tell you what, my campaign is premised on trying to reach as many constituencies as possible, and to go into as many places as possible and sometimes that creates discomfort or turbulence. This goes back to your first question. If you're segmenting your base into neat categories and constituency groups and you never try to bring them together and you just speak to them individually -- so I keep the African-Americans neatly over here and the church folks neatly over there and the LGBT community neatly over there -- then these kinds of issues don't arise.

The flip side of it is, you never create the opportunity for people to have a conversation and to lift some of these issues up and to talk about them and to struggle with them and our campaign is built around the idea that we should all be talking. And that creates some discomfort because people discover, gosh, within the Democratic Party or within Barack Obama's campaign or within whatever sets of constituencies there are going to be some different points of view that might even be offensive to some folks. That's not unique to this issue. I mean, ironically, my biggest … the biggest political news surrounding me over the last three weeks has been Reverend Wright, who offended a whole huge constituency with some of his statements but has been very good on gay and lesbian issues. I mean he's one of the leaders in the African-American community of embracing, speaking out against homophobia, and talking about the importance of AIDS.

And so nobody is going to be perfectly aligned with my views. So what I hope is that people take me for who I am, for what I've said and for what I've displayed in terms of my commitment to these issues, but understanding that there's going to be a range of constituencies that I'm reaching out to and working on issues that we have in common, even though I may differ with them on other issues. And that's true, also, by the way … well, I think that's going to be true so long as I'm reaching out beyond the traditional Democratic base.

Izza Lopez Wins A Round In Discrimination Case

Plaintiff wins round in transgender case

By MARY FLOOD
mary.flood@chron. com
April 8, 2008, 10:20PM
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

She says she didn't get the job because she was born male.

The company says it wasn't that, claiming she misrepresented herself.

In a letter rescinding the job, the employer complained she presented herself as a woman at her interview, but the background check revealed she was a man.

And the judge said that despite requests to end the case now, this closely watched lawsuit will go forward to mediation and, if necessary, to a jury.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas, in a 31-page opinion, refused to dismiss the case of 27-year-old Izza Lopez. Born Raul Jr., Lopez claims the Houston radiology chain River Oaks Imaging and Diagnostic wrongfully pulled its 2005 offer to employ her as an appointment scheduler.

River Oaks Imaging said in legal papers that it is just following its policy of refusing to hire people whose background checks reveal they misrepresented themselves to get hired.

A law professor who specializes in these issues and a lawyer for Lambda Legal, a national gay and lesbian civil rights group, both say the case is unusual and could set at least a local precedent and possibly be cited elsewhere.

"Lopez has stated a legally viable claim of discrimination as a male who failed to conform with traditional male stereotypes, " Atlas wrote. Lopez's suit said she'd identified as female for years and she has been accepted as female by friends and family for some time.

Motivation an issue

The judge said if a jury gets the case, it will have to decide whether the company was just following policy on interview misrepresentations and made a decision without regard to Lopez's sex or whether Lopez's gender nonconformance actually motivated the company.

Atlas noted that Lopez put both her male given name and female adopted name on her River Oaks Imaging employment application papers and her background check papers. The judge also said a River Oaks Imaging employee knew Lopez was a transgender female.

Sara Benson, a visiting professor at the University of Illinois College of Law who writes on sexual orientation legal issues, said it is a victory for Lopez that she got the case to proceed to trial.

"This opinion creates something people can cite. It can be used to persuade," she said, even though a Houston trial court does not rule other federal courts.

She said it's relatively rare in an employment discrimination case for a judge to find there might be direct evidence of discrimination, as with the letter in this case.

Benson said the letter rescinding the job offer might be seen by a jury as a reflection of a "neutral policy" against hiring individuals whose background checks conflict with their applications or as a "cover-up for sex discrimination. "

Happy with decision
Lopez, who works with medical records, said this week that she's grateful the judge is letting the case go forward.

"I'm happy the judge's order recognizes the strength of my claim," she said.

She said she doesn't see herself as someone who wants to be in a public fight, but she felt the injustice was too much to let pass.

"I never wanted any of this. Somehow it found me," she said.

"I hope that everything I'm doing eventually is advantageous for some other transgender person. I hope I am not doing it in vain," said Lopez, who has legally changed her first name from Raul to Izabella.

Not a protected status

Lopez is not specifically claiming she was discriminated against because she is a transgender woman.

Being transgender is not a legally protected status. Rather, her legal point is that she was discriminated against because she did not meet the gender stereotypes of her would-be employer, a matter the U.S. Supreme Court has said can be protected.

In that case, a female associate at an accounting firm was passed over for promotion because she did not meet sexual stereotypes regarding behavior and appearance.

Lopez, who after being told she was hired by River Oaks Imaging quit her old job and couldn't get it back, is seeking damages for lost pay and benefits, and for emotional distress, pain and suffering.

'Not part of what we do'

River Oaks Imaging CEO Jim King said he cannot discuss the Lopez case.

"We are an equal opportunity employer and we have a diverse group of employees," he said. With 12 offices, River Oaks Imaging has about 400 employees, he said.

"We are very proud of our record of promoting employees," King said.
"Discrimination is not part of what we do."

He said the company does not believe it did anything wrong.

Mediation may not help

Howard Dulmage, the Houston lawyer for River Oaks Imaging, said the firm had a transgender employee when Lopez applied and has many gay and lesbian employees as well.

He said this case may have started with a misunderstanding, "but a lot of gas got thrown on the fire because of issues that are bigger than just this case."

Dulmage said he does not expect mediation will work because his client and Lopez are so far apart and his client had no ill intent in this matter.

Lambda Legal lawyer Cole Thaler of Atlanta, who handles transgender cases for the group and is working on Lopez's, said the judge's opinion "affirms that transgender people are not being deceptive by being themselves."

Thaler said this appears to be the first time in this federal circuit that such a case has been allowed to proceed.



http://www.chron. com/disp/ story.mpl/ headline/ biz/5685559. html

Detroit and Kansas City Pass Transgender Protections

It continues to be a major source of irritation to me when city after city and state after state passes transgender protections and the Feds still obstinately don't get it. (or don't want to get it in Barney's case)

You can now add Kansas City, MO and Detroit to the ever lengthening list of 90 municipalities, 12 states, and Washington, D.C., in providing such protection

Yesterday the Detroit City Council voted 8-1 to amend the City's nondiscrimination ordinance to included transgender people.

"The Detroit City Council believes that it is a necessity for every Detroit citizen to be protected from all forms of discrimination, injustice, and harm, " said Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., Detroit City Council President. It is for this reason that the Detroit City Council affirms the addition of gender identity as a protected class within its Human Rights Ordinance. The practices and policies of the City of Detroit should promote a public confidence in the fairness and equal treatment of any and all human beings. Detroit is a welcoming city, and all of our policies must reflect this openness and commitment to social justice. The Detroit City Council expresses the desire for justice for everyone."

On April 2 the City Council of Kansas City unanimously voted to add gender identity and expression as protected categories in the city’s nondiscrimination policies.

Councilmember Beth Gottstein, who sponsored the measure, said, “If our city code doesn’t protect everyone, it protects no one. I am proud that we have taken this action to make clear that no one in Kansas City should have to face discrimination.”

Mayor Mark Funkhouser said, “Perhaps it was an oversight that gender identity was not included in the original legislation. If so, it was a mistake that we must now right.”

So Ted and Barney, what's holding y'all back?

2008 March Madness Post Mortem

Congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks and the Tennessee Lady Vols, your NCAA hoops champs for 2008.

As you'll notice, on my men's bracket I not only picked the championship game, but picked Kansas to win.

If Memphis had hit their free throws down the stretch it would have been an incorrect pick and their fans would still be partying on Beale Street. But I'd watched them earn their bricklayer's union cards all through the season and I felt that one day their lack of shooting prowess at the line would cost them.

They laid enough bricks down the stretch to let Kansas back in the game. Once Chalmers hit the three to tie it that will never be forgotten by Jayhawk Nation, it was over. You don't give Kansas (or at least this particular Kansas team) five extra minutes to beat you.


For the women's bracket I picked three of the Final Four teams, but had UConn winning it all. But I didn't foresee Candice Wiggins dropping 40 points in two tournament games, making a serious run at Sheryl Swoopes 15 year old record for total points in a tournament (177), and powering Stanford to the championship game.

As for the Candice vs. Candace II battle, I had a feeling that this game wasn't going to be as close as the December 22 one in which Stanford upset the Lady Vols in Cali.

My intuition proved correct as Tennessee beat down the Cardinal 64-48 to become the first school to win back to back NCAA women's titles since Uconn threepeated in 2002-2003-2004

Well, this college season's entered into the history books. Only seven more months until the 2008-09 season tips off.

HBCUs Have A Responsibility To LGBT Students

HBCUs Have A Responsibility To LGBT Students
Campus Silence Is Read As Lack Of Support

By Eric Pritchard
May 17, 2007, 09:00 AM
From diverseeducation.com

The article, “At Conservative Black Colleges, Gays Struggle to Find Their
Voice,” that recently ran on DiverseEducation.com hit home for me like no other news story in recent memory. In 2002, I graduated from a historically Black college. A first-generation college student, I was a celebrated student-leader who was well-respected by the administration, faculty and my peers on campus. Still, being Black, gay, proud, but fearfully silent, my college experience was not all that different from the experiences of the lesbian and gay students referenced in the story.

It was never said but implicitly understood that being gay was not going to win me any allies or let me keep any. There weren’t any student support services made explicitly available to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students on campus. And, I imagine that even if I could convince other LGBT students to create a student organization with me, I might have been met with the same resistance experienced by the students quoted in the article.

The Black community’s contentious relationship with gender and sexuality is not a new phenomenon, yet I believe there is a depth to the situation that should be further explored. For example, to evaluate the relevance of an LGBT student organization the same way one might a drill team or fashion club is outrageous. The LGBT identity of these students is not a hobby, but represents a part of their lives and directly impacts their ability to succeed academically. What I think is truly problematic is the fact that students are being forced to develop their own means of support in the first place. The development and sustainment of an affirming and safe space for LGBT students is an institution’s responsibility. It is absurd for HBCUs to demand that a student demonstrate academic excellence when administrators are unwilling to create a space where academic success and development are even possible. Simply letting LGBT students organize their own groups seems like a toothless solution to the emotional and physical terrorism of homophobia and transphobia that they may endure on any given day.

I am not so naïve as to believe that my appeals to the humanity of others to react humanely toward students will be seen as anything more than idealistic. To that end, I want to appeal to the dollars and sense of administrators, for if they don’t care about people, they must certainly care about their own pocketbooks. Every time they have a situation where they do not take a stand against hatred and bigotry, they create a silent declaration that hate and bigotry are tolerable. In the case of the HBCUs, silence is read as a publicly adamant lack of support for the LGBT students on their campuses. This contributes to a culture of hate that will ultimately result in someone being hurt or killed. Many HBCUs are already under-resourced and struggling financially. Therefore, it would be prudent to avoid lawsuits by taking the necessary steps to change the culture of the campuses toward LGBT students.

One could try to excuse some of the lack of support by pointing to the minimal financial resources HBCUs have in comparison with their predominately White counterparts. However, that argument cannot hold when the Human Rights Campaign’s HBCU outreach program is not taken full advantage of by those institutions. While I applaud the efforts and successes of HRC’s program, I would encourage anyone invested in the success of LGBT students of color to be equally mindful of their experiences at traditionally White institutions. There, these students often experience race- and class-based oppression in their LGBT support services and campus centers.

LGBT students at HBCUs give me hope as an HBCU alumnus. The growth in visible LGBT communities on these campuses, when coupled with the organized agitation of the trustees, administration, alumni and fellow students, could help change the tide in some way. Also, I encourage all HBCU alumni, administration and faculty who identify as LGBT persons or allies to promote courageous conversations about gender and sexuality at their institutions, for this is necessary to facilitate change. As Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde reminds us, we are not separated by our differences, but by our silence.

Eric Pritchard is a doctoral candidate in the English, Composition and Rhetoric Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Colleges Recruit GLBT Students At UC San Diego

If you're a college bound GLBT student or ally on the West Coast looking for a GLBT friendly campus, you may want to make that hop down to San Diego on Friday, April 11 for the Campus Pride College Admission Fair.

It's free for any LGBT or Ally youth and their families. No registration is necessary for this event. It will be taking place at the Price Center Ballroom on the University of California-San Diego campus from 11 AM to 2 PM PDT and is being hosted by the UC San Diego LGBT Resource Center.

In addition to grand prize drawings featuring iPods, books, and CD's throughout the day, there will be seminars during the event as well on these topics:

“Finding Your LGBT-Friendly Campus”
by Shane L. Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride
11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

“Pros and Cons of Selecting a United States Service Academy:
The LGBT Experience”
by USNAOut.org -- Alumni Group
11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

“Navigating the College Admissions Process”
by the UC San Diego Office for Admissions and Relations with Schools
12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.

"Point Foundation Scholarships”
Financial support, mentoring and hope to meritorious students who are marginalized due to sexual orientation or gender identity
12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.

“Financing Your Education”
by the UC San Diego Department of Financial Aid
1:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.

As of April 3, 2008 this was the list of colleges and organizations that were slated to participate in this event:

Bard College at Simon's Rock
Bennington College
Boise State University
California Lutheran University
California State University, San Marcos
Columbia College Chicago
Eckerd College
Eugene Lang College
Emory University
Georgetown University
GLSEN (Local/Regional Chapters)
Green Mountain College
Humboldt State University
Illinois Institute of Technology
Ithaca College
Kalamazoo Collegee
Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (LIM College)
Lewis & Clark College
Mills College
Northeastern University
Pennsylvania State University
Pitzer College
Point Foundation
Princeton University
Roosevelt University
Stanford University
Sonoma State University
University of Arizona
University at Buffalo
University of California, Riverside
University of California, San Diego
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Denver
University of Illinois at Springfield
University of Maryland
University of the Pacific
University of Pennsylvania
University of Puget Sound
USNAOUT.org -- Alumni Organization
University of San Francisco
University of Southern California
University of Utah
University of Washington
Whitman College
Whittier College
Yale University

If you need further details about this event, you can visit www.campusclimateindex.org/events contact Campus Pride at (704) 277-6710, visit their website at http://www.campuspride.org/ or e-mail them at info@campuspride.org.

Candice vs. Candace II

The 2008 NCAA women's basketball championship game will come down to a second battle between the two best players in women's collegiate basketball and probable number one and number two overall picks in the upcoming 2008 WNBA draft. It'll be Stanford's Candice Wiggins versus Tennessee's Candace Parker.

During a regular season game played in Stanford, CA back in December, the then Number 5 ranked Cardinal shocked then unbeaten and Number 1 ranked Tennessee by beating them 73-69 in overtime. Wiggins dropped 22 points in that first game including one of two free throws with 28.6 seconds left to seal the win and snap an 11-game series losing streak to the Lady Vols.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer remarked after the victory, "I just want to say one thing. Tonight Candice is spelled with an 'i."

Well, it's Round 2 of the Candice vs. Candace battle in Tampa, but this time the NCAA national championship is at stake. Which way will we spell the name tonight?

Will it be Ms. Wiggins, Tara VanDerveer and the Cardinal cutting down the nets and celebrating their second straight victory over the Lady Vols or will it be Ms. Parker, Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols avenging their earlier defeat?

At any rate, it'll be a fun game to watch.

ID Issues In Thailand

TransGriot Note: One of the things that's a major irritant to those of us who transition is the refusal of some nations to allow transgender people to change our identity documents to reflect the person we are now, not at birth. This September 20, 2007 article touches on some of the issues that mismatched ID can cause a transitioned transperson and how those identity document issues can lead to other issues that impact our quality of life.

Please call me "Miss," Transgendered Thais Say
September 20, 2007
Copyright © 2008 AFP

BANGKOK (AFP) — Yonlada Krerkkong Suanyot says she's every bit a woman, except for on her identity card which identifies her as a man.

Yonlada was born male but completed her sex change operation five years ago and has lived as woman for even longer.

Although Thailand has a worldwide reputation as a paradise for transsexuals, with gender reassignment surgery widely available and relatively cheap, the kingdom does not allow people to officially change their gender for legal purposes.

Activists are now trying to change that, proposing a new law that would allow transvestites and transsexuals to legally change their gender and adopt the title "Miss".

It's a minor legal change with profound legal implications.

The difference between Yonlada's appearance and the gender on official documents such as her national identity card and passport has caused her countless problems, including rejection for bank loans and refusal of jobs.

"I have lost a lot of opportunities to work for good companies or even government agencies," she said.

When she tried to get a bank loan to start her own business, the loan was refused because the bank thought she was using a stolen ID.

"I know the bank thought I didn't look reliable," she said.

Some transsexuals also have problems travelling overseas, because they are listed as men on their passports but appear as women at the immigration counter.

Natee Teerarojjaongs, chairman of the Gay Political Group, said he had proposed the legal change to Thailand's parliament specifically to end such discrimination.

"This would clear obstacles for them working and travelling," he said.

Natee is also pushing for the law to cover people who dress as the opposite sex or have undergone some surgery, as well as those who have completed their gender reassignment surgery.

Thailand is believed to have one of the largest transsexual populations in the world.

Transsexuals, known locally as kathoey, have long had a place in Thai culture, with roles reserved for them in traditional festivals, in folk theatre, and even as geisha-style "companions."

Kathoey are also among Thailand's most visible cultural exports, with Vegas-style transsexual cabarets performing to audiences of thousands and popular movies about their lives playing the global film festival circuit.

That history of acceptance, combined with easy access to Thailand's top-rate hospitals, has made it relatively easy for people to undergo a sex change.

Academics estimate at least 10,000 live in Thailand, though other guesses are more than 10 times higher. Even the conservative number would mean that per capita, Thailand has many more transsexuals than most developed countries.

"We estimate that only three percent of transvestites complete their sex change because the medical bills are so expensive, but we want to make sure everyone is equal and can be covered by the law," he said.

There would be conditions to legally change genders, including a mandatory psychiatric evaluation and a background check, he said.

Natee found a sympathetic ear in member of parliament Kanjana Silpa-archa, who heads the subcommittee on women's affairs.

"I believe people should have equal rights. Transgendered people should have the same rights as any other sex," she said. "For a person who is not happy with his sex and who lives as the opposite sex, he deserves the chance to receive what he wants."

Kanjana's committee has taken up Natee's proposal, but the measure still needs approval from the higher-ranking committee on women, youth and the elderly before going to the entire parliament.

The current parliament was appointed by the military after last year's coup, so Natee and Kanjana acknowledge that there's not much time to give the bill a hearing before legislative elections on December 23.

Yonlada said the current system just encourages transgendered people to break the law by getting fake IDs. She admits to bribing a Bangkok city worker to get a fake card with the title "Miss," but said that didn't help in the long run as potential employers found her out anyway.

"If we could really have the title 'Miss,' it would help us live our lives more easily," she said.

Miss USA 2008

The Miss USA 2008 pageant will be held in Las Vegas this weekend, and that means that sistah Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith will be crowning her successor.

I'll still be glued to the set watching this year's pageant because for the first time, the Lone Star State will be represented by a sistah.

Crystle Stewart became the first African-American winner of the Miss Texas USA pageant on July 1, 2007. Some people consider 1995 winner Chelsi Smith as the first African-American winner, but in a press conference not long after her crowning she pointed out she was biracial. She later went on to become Miss USA and Miss Universe.



Winning the Miss Texas USA pageant is tougher than winning Miss USA or Miss Universe. The Miss Texas pageant sometimes has more than 100 women competing, and many of those winners had to battle their way through local pageants in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and other locales around the state just to get to the state pageant. Thanks to us pageant-happy peeps in Texas it's also one of the few state pageants in the Miss USA system that is televised live.

Miss Texas USA winners have a prolific history of capturing the Miss USA title. The Lone Star State representative has won Miss USA eight times, with a notable streak during the 80's in which a Miss Texas delegate captured the title five straight years. 1986 Miss Texas USA winner Christy Fitchner beat future Oscar winning actress Halle Berry for that year's Miss USA title and was first runner up for Miss Universe. However, with all that success, a Miss Texas has only won Miss Universe once.

The last Miss Texas to win the title was in 2001, and my fellow Cougar Crystle will be trying to end that title drought. I'll be rooting for her to do just that this Friday night and hopefully go on to capture Miss Universe.

Whatever Happened To My Old Friend....

When I had my monthly newspaper column in THE LETTER, I wrote one commentary that was published in April 2006 about my philosophy on friendships and how I treat them like marriages. As far as I'm concerned they are till death do you part, they are valuable, and they take just as much work, effort and open communication to sustain them and have them continue to flourish.

Most of the time I do a good job of staying in contact with old friends, but for others its been a challenge.

Mes Deux Cents has a recent post on her blog which talked about an old friend of hers from first grade that moved away and from time to time she thinks about her and wonders how her life turned out.

That got me thinking about some the peeps I was friends with BT (before transition) and AT (after transition) that were close at one point, and they either moved away, I did or we drifted apart.

While I was living in H-town I did find myself running into my classmates that stayed in Houston to either attend college or still lived there. Some, like my fifth grade classmate Clyde Drexler (yes, that Clyde Drexler) it was impossible not to know what they were up to and how their life turned out. Others it hasn't been as easy to get that information.

Some of the people I knew in earlier grades I got reunited with in high school or college. Others I would see in a news story, like my old junior high school classmate Vonda Higgins who became a HPD undercover officer and was shot and left paralyzed after a 1998 drug bust went horribly wrong for her and her partner. Other I heard about when they ran for public office, or were featured in news articles good and bad.

Mes Deux's post had me reminisicing about a girl named Stephanie King who was in my fifth grade class as well. I frequently found myself during my airline days being reunited with my classmates from grade school, junior high, high school and college. There was one time I was reunited with a girl I had a crush on in elementary school during my uncle's wedding in 1990. She was the wedding coordinator, and I discovered she worked at the airport for US Customs when I went to work a few days later. There were others I ran into at various clubs during the 80's and early 90's. My junior high classmate Kimberli I used to run into when I was accompanying my mother on one of her shoe shopping forays at Wholesale Shoe Warehouse. Some of those reunions became even more interesting after I transitioned.

When Stephanie's father's job transferred him to San Antonio, she ended up moving there just before our Christmas break. One day in 1989 between flights we'd been having one of those 'I wonder what my old classmate is doing' conversations in the breakroom and I excused myself to start working a San Antonio flight.

During a little down time in the flight I found myself wondering what happened to her when this beautiful tall, sister walked up to check in. She mentioned she was visiting relatives and old school friends in Houston. When I asked her what school, thinking she'd moved in high school, she mentioned she moved in fifth grade.

I remarked to her as I checked her in for the flight that I had a classmate who'd moved to San Antonio in fifth grade when I was at Frost Elementary. She raised an eyebrow for a moment, then called me by name. I glanced at the name of the passenger record on the computer screen in front of me. It was Stephanie. I didn't recognize her at first because she used to wear glasses in elementary school and the stylishly dressed sistah standing in front of me wasn't.

She and I exchanged phone numbers and we talked off and on for about two years before I lost track of her because I lost her phone number when I moved to my new apartment.

There are others I haven't seen since high school and in some cases junior high school. There are others I met during the early stages of my transition that I find myself thinking about as well. I find myself wondering how their lives turned out, and hope they are happy and healthy. I even find myself wondering about some of my old teachers as well at times. It's a major reason I don't miss a high school reunion and the big 30 year one for my class is coming up in 2010.

Well, if any of my old classmates, co-workers or friends happen to be surfing the Net and stumble across this post, hollar at me. As you can see by this blog and the number of posts I have on it, I have much to tell you.

It's Houston's Turn To Protest An HRC Dinner

The Houston HRC dinner will be held on Saturday, April 12 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, and like other HRC dinners elsewhere in the country they will have company.

The transgender community continues its series of protests of HRC dinners that night. According to some sources attendance has taken major hits at the HRC dinners previously held in other locales. The protests are estimated to have cost HRC $1 million in donation income.

The Houston protest is being coordinated by Phyllis Frye, Josephine Tittsworth and Vanessa Edwards-Foster and they plan to be there for several hours.

If you wish to participate meet these ladies at the corner of Polk Street and Avenue de las Americas sometime around 4:30 CDT. They'll put you in the best position to stand up for your rights.

Give 'em hell, H-town!

Donna Rose

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.


I have much love, respect and admiration for Donna Rose. But she probably didn't feel the love when our paths first crossed back at the 2004 Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta.

I was there to facilitate a Transsistahs-Transbrothers event we held during the 2004 SCC and Donna was conducting a seminar. It had just been recently announced that she was joining the HRC board and Monica Helms and Angela Brightfeather caught me after the TSTB event concluded. They asked me to tag along with them to check out the seminar she was conducting.

I remember one of the things I said to her that day was, "Donna, we are proud of you and the fact that one of our own is finally getting on that board. But what I and others who have been burned by HRC want to know is WHEN they screw us again, will you stand with them or with your people?"

Our paths crossed again at the 2006 IFGE Conference in Philadelphia, but that was the year I won my Trinity and after that speech I gave, I had half the convention either congratulating me or wanting to talk to me about various subjects. I also bounced away from the hotel not long after the awards luncheon concluded to hang out with my homegirls Dionne Stallworth and Jordana LeSesne to not only tour the city, but meet with local GLBT leaders in Philly. We didn't actually see each other again until Dawn, AC and I were checking out of the hotel on Sunday morning before we hit the road for the drive back to Louisville and I was engrossed in a conversation with Alison Laing.

Donna's answered the question I asked in 2004 and then some. She's been a sterling example of the ethically moral leadership that Dawn and I have talked about that our community needs. She's a Trinity Award winner like myself, blogger and eloquent spokesperson for our community. While she was on the HRC board she pushed transgender employment issues along with Jamison Green and tried to get them to see that adding transgender people to ENDA helped them as well to no avail. She even took time out of her busy schedule to compete in the 2006 Gay Games held in Chicago and win a gold medal in wrestling.

She's continuing to speak and be a postive role model for all of us and I'm looking forward to the New England Trans Pride March in Northampton, MA this June and having a chance to finally sit down with her, have a substinative chat and extend an invitation for her to hang out with us in the Bluegrass state.

Transgender Grognard

A grognard is a wargaming enthusiast, and one of the things post transtition that I still like to do from time to time is play wargames.

What's a wargame? Well, the oldest one is chess. Wargaming is basically playing chess, but instead of moving knights, pawns, bishops and rooks around a square board, you're moving armored and ground units across a mapboard.

While the games I play these days are predominately computer ones, I originally got into playing wargames back in my teens as an outgrowth of my love of history.

I started playing World War II games, and since the Cold War was still raging then I gradually shifted my interests into playing more modern era games. I eventually bought Avalon Hill's The Arab-Israeli Wars and started gravitating to SPI games to accomodate my expanding desires in playing out the modern history and all its what-if's in those games.

Back in the 70's wargaming was a fast growing and booming hobby and business, and one of the populat publishers of the games besides Avalon Hill was the James Dunnigan founded Simulations Publications Inc. or SPI for short.

SPI's titles were mainly modern warfare games, and one of my SPI favorites I bought was a game called The Next War.

The Next War simulated the clash between the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact vs NATO. The game was released in 1977, which was a period in which the Warsaw Pact not only had the numbers, but a rough parity with NATO as well.

I bought my copy in the mid 80's, and since I would frequently get stuck playing as the Warsaw Pact, I bought a book called Russian Military Power. I also started buying a US government publication being put out called Soviet Miltary Power in 1985 to better understand Soviet military doctrine, organize my units and think tactically like a Warsaw Pact general when playing with those units. I eventually purchased the 1983 and 1984 issues from the local US Government bookstore and kept up with each subsequent release of it until 1990.

It paid off in spectacular fashion one day. I was playing a guy who I surprised by committing 2/3 of my air units and launching massive air attacks against the central German SAM belts and key SAM sites, various frontline NATO units and key air bases. We were playing a scenario in which the attack was timed to coincide with the annual Warsaw Pact spring maneuvers, which meant I had double the forces available at the start. As a concession to him I agreed to play without using nukes and chemical weapons otherwise my initial assault would have been even more devastating.

In addition to taking minimal losses in the airstrikes, I got lucky and got the dice roll that kept him from getting REFORGER reinforcement units from the US, dropped Soviet paratroop divisions into Denmark, Austria and Holland and got the rolls that took those countries out of the fight.

Then after launching the ground assault across Northern and Central West Germany I piled eight Soviet and two East German divisions in the Fulda Gap area, moved the artillery units in place and blew a hole through his combined US/West German force that allowed me to take the Frankfurt-am-Main area and capture the REFORGER bases as well while my Soviet blitzkrieg was rolling into Holland, Denmark and Belgium. I was also rolling a Warsaw Pact force made up of Czech, Hungarian, and Russian units through Austria to link up with the paratroopers, move into southern Bavaria and prep for an attack on northern Italy.

Eight turns later I was the master of Western Europe and my opponent was pissed. It was the first time he'd played against an African-American opponent and I believe the reason for his pissivity was that he realized he'd made the mistake of underestimating my skill level in addition to the overwhelming nature of the victory I achieved.

The next time we played I wasn't so lucky. He corrected his deployment mistakes I'd taken advantage of the previous time we played, I got the adverse dice rolls that took some of my Warsaw Pact satellite nations out of the game and he ended up reunifying Germany and eastern Europe on his terms.

I got into some modern naval wargames that Victory Games put out as well entitled 2nd Fleet, 3rd Fleet, 5th Fleet and 7th Fleet, the titles of these game coincided with the names of the US Navy Fleets tasked for coverage in various areas of the globe and which the combat took place. 2nd Fleet covered the North Atlantic, Third Fleet the Aleutiian Islands/North Pacific, Fifth Fleet the Middle East/Indian Ocean, and Seventh Fleet the Far East. They also put out one called Sixth Fleet, but I could never find it in the shop I bought my games from.

I enjoyed playing them, but as my airline career advanced, I started traveling and then dealt with my gender transition I began having less time available in my life to play those games. Wargames have hundreds of units to tediously set up even before you make your first combat moves on the board and take up space and time.

The home computer explosion eliminated that time and space problem. You could play and save the game until you had time in your schedule to pick up where you left off playing it.

One of my fave computer wargames I own is called People's General, which simulates a postulated future war between US and Chinese forces in which China has conquered Asia and the US/UN force has to take it back. You can also play as the Chinese and conquer Asia, or a third scenario in which Vietnam decides to conquer the Asian landmass as well.


My favorite computer wargame I own is Star Wars Rebellion. I'm a Star Wars fanatic and when the game came out in the late 90's I jumped at the chance to play it. It's set in the time period after the destruction of the first Death Star at the battle of Yavin and before the events of the Empire Strikes Back movie.

In it you play as either the Rebel Alliance or the Empire. You have to build infrastructure to support your war machine, recruit characters and initiate R&D efforts to get better weapons while simultaneously conquering the entire 100 planet Star Wars galaxy through a combination of diplomacy and military muscle. You also have to find the hidden Rebel headquarters and destroy it in addition to capturing Mon Mothma and Luke Skywalker to win the game if you're the Empire.

If you're the Rebels, your task in addition to conquering the galaxy is to seize the Imperial capital planet of Coruscant and capture Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

I frequently find myself playing as the Empire and name all my Imperial Star destroyers after right-wing pundits, Republican presidents, vice presidents and Republican congressmembers. ;)

The interesting wrinkle in Star Wars Rebellion is that unlike most wargames, it's not a turn based one in which you move, then your opponent moves. The clock is ticking and things are happening as you're making all these grand strategic moves

One unexpected benefit I received from playing wargames was learning how to think in broad strategic terms, rapidly come up with solutions to problems when the initial strategy failed, quickly reacting to and successfully resolving problems and learning how and when to make decisive moves at the proper time.

It's also a lot of fun as well.

The ACLU-Fairness Dinner

One of the neat things about being an activist and getting in the trenches to fight the good fight is that one of the benefits is getting invites to various events and parties. So earlier tonight I pulled out the formal clothes and my heels, got into diva mode and rolled over to the Ali Center with Dawn for the ACLU Kentucky-Fairness Dinner.

It was a fundraiser for both organizations and many of the liberal-progressive community peeps in Louisville and some from Lexington were in attendance. We also had several state and local politicians, judges, several U of L professors and a US senate candidate in attendance as well. Various people in the room were wearing either Clinton or Obama buttons since the primary election in Kentucky is May 20.

I got a chance to chat with Dr. Story again and had people thanking me for my role in fighting for the JCPS employment protections battle a few months ago, which I didn't expect. I had a few people complimenting me on my blog as well ad had another pleasant conversation with U of L law professor Sam Marcossin. I met him two weeks ago when I took part in a panel discussion the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression sponsored on impeachment. I discovered during the conversation that he knew my mentor Phyllis Frye.

Small world moment, indeed. I had another one of those moments when during my conversation with Bob Cunningham I discovered he knew a friend of my uncle's back in Houston.

I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the stimulating, thought provoking conversations I had with the various people in the room and with my tablemates. I also enjoyed the view of the river and the city from the sixth floor dining room.

While the Muhammad Ali Center has been open almost two years, it was the first time I'd actually had a chance to visit the place, and from what I saw I'm going back on a future day off. I also had a great time tonight doing my small part in representing the transgender community as well.

I Didn't Stop Being Black When I Transitioned

One of the things that irritates the frack out of me is when I run into folks that seem to have the misguided belief that I'm not only no longer Black, but don't have any right to claim my heritage since I transitioned over ten years ago.

The only thing that changed about me is the outer shell. It now matches the way I always felt, wanted to project to the world and who I am, a strong, proud woman who happens to be unabashedly African-American. The people who are still in my life that knew 'The Twin' back in the day way back when can tell you that they felt like I was on the wrong team as well. I had one of my longtime friends who remarked to me after I pulled the trigger and finally transitioned, "What took you so long?"

I'm sick and tired of you folks who don't even read the Bible on a regular basis or who are C&E Christians spouting Bible verses out of context or quoting Paul to justify your ignorant and devoid of scientific knowledge views.

Since you peeps are so adept at kicking out Bible verses to denigrate transgender peeps like me, here's one for you to chew on: Matthew 19;12

'For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.'

BTW, Eunuchs are considered by Biblical scholars what would be in our time as transgender people.

Jesus called us to love without limits our fellow human being. That includes transgender people as well, who are also created in God's image.

Jesus also calls us to show love for others as well as for ourselves. So if some of y'all have a problem showing unconditional love to transgender peeps, it can only be because you have limited love for yourselves or have some gender issues of your own you haven't resolved.

But that's another post for another time. Moni's going to school you right now on being Black and transgender. I still have chocolate brown skin covering my now curvaceous body, except it now smoother and softer. Just because I transitioned, it doesn't shield me from being whacked with all the daily slings and arrows that being Black in America presents you with. I still get called 'nigger'. As a matter of fact I've had that epithet thrown at me more so by people in the GLBT community since I transitioned than folks outside it. I also get the displeasure of having the b-word spat at me as well.

Let me also hip you to the fact that Black transgender peeps history is intertwined with the African-American community in what Dr. King called an inescapable network of mutuality. The African-American transgender community didn't just morph out of thin air, we've always been here and a part of it.

We were part of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's as the late Coretta Scott King pointed out, and the Dewey's Lunch Counter protest is evidence of. We helped start the GLBT rights movement at Stonewall in 1969. We have been doing our part to help uplift the race. We are your neighbors, doctors, teachers, lawyers, mothers and fathers raising kids, and someday may even be representing you at various governmental levels. One of my dear friends will be headed to Denver as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Some of my brothers and sisters are not as open about who they are because of the ignorance I'm calling some of you out on.

If anyone should know the pain of faith-based ignorance and the damage it causes, it should be us. Why some people would want to hurl that same level of ignorance at fellow African-Americans for superficial reasons is stupid and divisive to our unity as a people.

Just because I and my transgender brothers and sisters transitioned doesn't exclude us from claiming our history. I'm Black and proud of it, and I refuse to let anyone try to assert, whether it's from a pulpit or a street corner in the 'hood that I'm not Black because I transitioned.

'Mom, I Need To Be A Girl' Rereleased

I had the pleasure of meeting 'Just Evelyn' during a 1999 Creating Change conference in Oakland. Evelyn is a determined, single mom of 3 and pioneer of the work that she now does as a TransYouth Family Allies board member and I had a blast talking to this fascinating woman.

She wrote about about her then teenage daughter Danielle in a book entitled, 'Mom, I Need To Be A Girl and how she facilitated Danielle's transition more than ten years ago.

I read her book and for parents and care providers dealing with these issues, or people who simply wish to better educate themselves on these issues, it's a must read tome. Evelyn's common-sense filled book is recommended by TYFA as a must read for parents and young transitioners alike age 9 and up. TYFA also recommends it for the libraries of every care provider who works with children and adolescents with gender identity issues.

I'm happy to note that 'Mom, I Need To Be A Girl' is not only being rereleased, Evelyn will be donating all proceeds for the sale of the book which is available on Amazon.com to TYFA.

If you want to preview it, the book is also on Lynn Conway's website as well in several languages.

'It's Me In A Different Way'

By Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News
Photos by Matt McClain, Rocky Mountain News
kassj@RockyMountainNews.com
Originally published 12:30 a.m., March 1, 2008
Updated 03:13 a.m., March 1, 2008

On the first day of eighth grade, Melaina Marquez wore a polo shirt, wedge shoes and denim skirt with ruffles.

The year before, that outfit would have been out of the question. At that point, Melaina was a boy known as Manuel.

Melaina, now 15, is considered to be transgender: a person who does not identify with the sex based on his or her genitalia. She decided to tell her story after news reports last month about a 7-year-old Douglas County girl who attended school last year as a boy.

At age 2, Melaina recalls playing with Barbies and her favorite toy, a kitchenette. When she played house in pre-school, "I would always want to be the mom."

Melaina says she never struggled with her identity. But her mother, Michelle Benzor-Marquez, cannot say the same.

When Melaina was around 8 years old, she was allowed to wear light-colored lip gloss and a little blush, but only at home. Melaina's hair grew longer, little by little, but her mom had the stylist chop it off one day in sixth grade. Melaina cried the whole 20 miles to her grandmother's home.

Benzor-Marquez hoped Melaina was gay because she figured the world could better handle that than transgender.

"I know people think it's wrong to be transgender," said Melaina, who on a recent day was dressed in black jeans and a black and gold striped blouse with decorative bow. "But God made everyone different in his own way, and you can't change that. It's not a choice."

As many as 3 million

Statistics on transgender people are generally unreliable, according to advocates. Many people are scared or embarrassed to come forward and may not know about the term transgender, which came into common usage only about a decade ago.

The National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, D.C., says it can only estimate from information that has been "cobbled together" that there may be from 1 million to 3 million people in the United States who take steps to live as the opposite sex.


Some advocates believe more transgender people are coming out. TransYouth Family Allies, which has counseled the Douglas County family, says it worked with roughly 15 families nationally last year. So far this year, the number is already more than 30, it reports.

It is not unusual for a youngster to deal with issues of sexual identity, according to experts. Trinidad (CO) sex change surgeon Marci Bowers said about 95 percent of those she has operated on told her they remember identifying with the opposite sex as young as 4 or 5 years old.

"They (the kids) are hard-wired that way," Bowers said. "Don't get caught up on the genitalia. It's the child's internal concept of their self-identity. They know who they are."

From Manuel to Melaina

In fall 2006, the Bill Reed Middle School psychologist had a meeting with Benzor-Marquez. Melaina, known then as Manuel, was being teased and harassed.

"I had to come out and say, 'My daughter is transgender,' " Benzor-Marquez recalled.

This was the first time she ever said the word - and the first step toward fully acknowledging her daughter's situation.

She then told the principal that Melaina would be living as a girl "in the future."

"His eyes got really big. He was scared. It was unknown to him," she recalled.

But he was supportive, and asked, "What can we do about this?"

Benzor-Marquez didn't know herself.

"I'll keep you posted," she said.

Melaina had about 10 sessions with a therapist, who is an expert in transgender issues. By the spring of 2007, the therapist agreed that Melaina was transgender - and psychologically balanced.

Melaina wanted to display her new identity immediately. But mom wanted to go slow. They had to check school policy and prepare answers for those who had questions.

That summer, Benzor-Marquez did her transgender homework, while Melaina grew her hair out, worked on her makeup, and prepared her wardrobe.

There was also the question of a name. Mom wanted to keep the first initial the same. She also wanted something ethnic to reflect their Mexican heritage. Benzor-Marquez's mom mentioned a Greek name, Melaina.

That worked for Benzor-Marquez.

"I named you the first time you were born," she said. "I'm picking it the second time."

Support at school

Before Melaina started eighth grade as a girl in 2007, her mom met with school employees, from secretaries on up, about Melaina's situation. During the first week of classes, someone on staff kept an eye out for her. "We wanted her to be safe and have fun and be a kid," Benzor- Marquez added.

The first day back went fine, Melaina said. Soon after, "the question" arose: "Did you have a sex change?"

If it is the most obvious question for transgender people, it is also the most bothersome.

"Nobody else has to answer that question," said Trans-Youth Family Allies executive director Kim Pearson.

Plus, U.S. standards of medical care generally have called for sex change operations only for people at least 18 years old, according to some advocates.

Now in ninth grade at Mountain View High School in Loveland, Melaina knows a lot of people and has a small circle of close friends. She is also on the girls track team.

Like the Douglas County girl, Melaina uses unisex bathrooms on campus, although she would prefer the girls' restroom. Melaina's counselor is there for her five days a week.

Benzor-Marquez said Melaina's friends have been supportive, encouraging her to ask boys out.

But Melaina also has been harassed and hurt, sometimes accidentally, sometimes not.

One classmate - she says he didn't mean for her to hear - said, "She's an it." Then there was another guy at the bus stop. He was a bit more vocal.

"She's still a guy!" he declared.

She recently had a date with boy to see the movie Beowulf. Her stepfather chaperoned. The date was teased when classmates found out he went with her, Melaina said.

Yet she counts her transition as "100 percent successful."

Mom doesn't go that far. Benzor-Marquez feels that Melaina may have become accustomed to the small but steady stream of comments and questions directed at her, and view them as normal.

But Benzor-Marquez said that parental support, working closely with school officials and being honest with classmates are among the keys to a smooth transition.

That honesty is apparent in how Melaina approaches a guy she likes.

"Have you ever heard the term transgender?" she will say. "I used to be a boy before, but now I'm female."

The response, typically, is hardly what she wants to hear.

"They'll be freaked out for a week or so, then say, 'Can we just be friends?' " Melaina said.

She has not given up. But she also reflects that she may not have a boyfriend throughout high school.

"It hurts to a point," she added. "But you either like me, or you don't."

At one point, Melaina's mother pulls a passport-sized picture out of her wallet. It could be any dark-haired boy at 21/2-years- old, dressed in khakis and a striped dress shirt.

"It's still me," Melaina said. "I don't find it gross or wrong. It's me in a different way."

Battlestar Galactica-Season 4

Like all Battlestar Galactica fans I was glued to the television starting at 10 PM EDT for an hour last night watching the season premiere.

Technically, Razor was the season premier back in November, but it was cool to see the cast for what is going to be 'sniff-sniff' the last season of BSG.

And to think I was once one of the OBSG (original Battlestar Galactica) fans who ranted about how I wasn't gonna in my words, "watch this travesty."

It's been a fun filled roller coaster ride and the writing in this long awaited season premiere didn't disappoint. I died laughing during one scene in which Admiral Adama said upon Kara's seemingly miraculous return from the dead, "Do you believe in miracles?' and Tigh answered "No" alluding to Al Michaels famous call of the final moments of the US-Soviet Union Olympic hockey game in 1980.

I have to get the Season 3 DVDs and catch up since I didn't see much of that season due to them moving it to Sunday nights ands I was working Sundays at the time.

If last nights show is indicative of what were going to see form the last season of Battlestar, then its gonna go out with all guns blazing.

Obama's Remarks On The King Assassination Anniversary

Today represents a tragic anniversary for our country. Through his faith, courage, and wisdom, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. moved an entire nation. He preached the gospel of brotherhood; of equality and justice. That's the cause for which he lived – and for which he died forty years ago today. And so before we begin, I ask you to join me in a moment of silence in memory of this extraordinary American.

There's been a lot of discussion this week about how Dr. King's life and legacy speak to us today. It's taking place in our schools and churches, on television and around the dinner table. And I suspect that much of what folks are talking about centers on issues of racial justice – on the Montgomery bus boycott and the March on Washington, on the freedom rides and the stand at Selma.

And that's as it should be – because those were times when ordinary men and women, straight-backed and clear-eyed, challenged what they knew was wrong and helped perfect our union. And they did so in large part because Dr. King pointed the way.

But I also think it's worth reflecting on what Dr. King was doing in Memphis, when he stepped onto that motel balcony on his way out for dinner.

And what he was doing was standing up for struggling sanitation workers. For years, these workers had served their city without complaint, picking up other people's trash for little pay and even less respect. Passers-by would call them "walking buzzards," and in the segregated South, most were forced to use separate drinking fountains and bathrooms.

But in 1968, these workers decided they'd had enough, and over 1,000 went on strike. Their demands were modest – better wages, better benefits, and recognition of their union. But the opposition was fierce. Their vigils were met with handcuffs. Their protests turned back with mace. And at the end of one march, a 16-year old boy lay dead.

This is the struggle that brought Dr. King to Memphis. It was a struggle for economic justice, for the opportunity that should be available to people of all races and all walks of life. Because Dr. King understood that the struggle for economic justice and the struggle for racial justice were really one – that each was part of a larger struggle "for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity." So long as Americans were trapped in poverty, so long as they were being denied the wages, benefits, and fair treatment they deserved – so long as opportunity was being opened to some but not all – the dream that he spoke of would remain out of reach.

And on the eve of his death, Dr. King gave a sermon in Memphis about what the movement there meant to him and to America. And in tones that would prove eerily prophetic, Dr. King said that despite the threats he'd received, he didn't fear any man, because he had been there when Birmingham aroused the conscience of this nation. And he'd been there to see the students stand up for freedom by sitting in at lunch counters. And he'd been there in Memphis when it was dark enough to see the stars, to see the community coming together around a common purpose. So Dr. King had been to the mountaintop. He had seen the Promised Land. And while he knew somewhere deep in his bones that he would not get there with us, he knew that we would get there.

He knew it because he had seen that Americans have "the capacity," as he said that night, "to project the 'I' into the 'thou.'" To recognize that no matter what the color of our skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have – no matter whether we are sanitation workers or United States Senators – we all have a stake in one another, we are our brother's keeper, we are our sister's keeper, and "either we go up together, or we go down together."

And when he was killed the following day, it left a wound on the soul of our nation that has yet to fully heal. And in few places was the pain more pronounced than in Indianapolis, where Robert Kennedy happened to be campaigning. And it fell to him to inform a crowded park that Dr. King had been killed. And as the shock turned toward anger, Kennedy reminded them of Dr. King's compassion, and his love. And on a night when cities across the nation were alight with violence, all was quiet in Indianapolis.

In the dark days after Dr. King's death, Coretta Scott King pointed out the stars. She took up her husband's cause and led a march in Memphis. But while those sanitation workers eventually got their union contract, the struggle for economic justice remains an unfinished part of the King legacy. Because the dream is still out of reach for too many Americans. Just this morning, it was announced that more Americans are unemployed now than at any time in years. And all across this country, families are facing rising costs, stagnant wages, and the terrible burden of losing a home.

Part of the problem is that for a long time, we've had a politics that's been too small for the scale of the challenges we face. This is something I spoke about a few weeks ago in a speech I gave in Philadelphia. And what I said was that instead of having a politics that lives up to Dr. King's call for unity, we've had a politics that's used race to drive us apart, when all this does is feed the forces of division and distraction, and stop us from solving our problems.

That is why the great need of this hour is much the same as it was when Dr. King delivered his sermon in Memphis. We have to recognize that while we each have a different past, we all share the same hopes for the future – that we'll be able to find a job that pays a decent wage, that there will be affordable health care when we get sick, that we'll be able to send our kids to college, and that after a lifetime of hard work, we'll be able to retire with security. They're common hopes, modest dreams. And they're at the heart of the struggle for freedom, dignity, and humanity that Dr. King began, and that it is our task to complete.

You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but that it bends toward justice. But what he also knew was that it doesn't bend on its own. It bends because each of us puts our hands on that arc and bends it in the direction of justice.

So on this day – of all days – let's each do our part to bend that arc.

Let's bend that arc toward justice.

Let's bend that arc toward opportunity.

Let's bend that arc toward prosperity for all.

And if we can do that and march together – as one nation, and one people – then we won't just be keeping faith with what Dr. King lived and died for, we'll be making real the words of Amos that he invoked so often, and "let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Reflections About A King

When I flipped the calendar page from March to April, I stared at the 4 that appeared in the first Friday of the month and realized we were approaching another sad anniversary of his assassination.

It's been 40 years since whoever fired that bullet, whether it was James Earl Ray or some person whose name will remain unknown to us cut short Dr. King's brilliant life at age 39. I was a first grader at the time one month away from celebrating my sixth birthday when he was killed in Memphis.

Usually in the run up to this anniversary date, like I do on his January 15 birthday and the federal holiday, I not only take time to reflect on the remarkable life of who Tavis Smiley calls 'the greatest American we ever produced', I take stock in my own personal life and ask myself some hard questions about what I'm doing to not only help my people make 'The Dream' a reality, but what I'm doing in service to others as well.

This 40th anniversary of his assassination is also arriving at another pivotal moment in our history. It's ironic that just like 40 years ago, we are embroiled in another controversial war, environmental issues are on the minds of votes, we have an unpopular president occupying the White House, race relations have become testy, the economy is stagnant, and Americans are pessimistic about the future.

But at the same time, Robert Kennedy's run for the presidency 40 years ago was generating the same kind of optimism and hope among a cross section of Americans as Sen. Barack Obama's historic presidential run is today.

But make no mistake about it, we are in another dust up over race because we have failed to aggressively pursue the remedies and policies that would make 'The Dream' a reality. It's interesting to note that no one has brought up the Kerner Commission report, which was released 40 years ago on February 29, 1968 and warned 'our nation is moving toward two societies, one Black, One White—Separate and Unequal' in the context of these discussion.

Over the last few days, I've been rereading my copy of A Testament of Hope, which is a James Washington edited compilation of writings, interviews and speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Every time I read it I gain new insights about this remarkable man. The other striking thing is how applicable his words are to our time period, especially when he talks about his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Dr. King was a rare combination of intelligence, superior oratorical skill, political savviness, scientific curiosity, top notch writing skills, spirituality, and telegenic looks in one impressive package.

There are not many movement leaders in our time who have half of those qualities, much less the stature that Dr. King commanded during his lifetime. I remember a commentary I wrote in response to a post on a transgender list that said we needed a transgender Martin Luther King. It also created a leadership yardstick that few people can live up to but if they tried, we'd be much better off.

America and the world suffered a great loss when he was taken away from us and we are a poorer nation for it.


Crossposted to The Bilerico Project.

King and Kerner: An Unfinished Agenda

By Edward W. Brooke
Thursday, April 3, 2008
from the Washington Post

America has had much to reflect upon during the approach of the interrelated 40th anniversaries of the final report of the Kerner Commission, the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the round of riots that followed in Washington, Baltimore, Chicago and well over 100 other cities across the nation. We have heard Sen. Barack Obama's insightful speech on race and the reactions it provoked. Today, unfortunately, Dr. King's dream remains deferred.

Former senator Fred R. Harris and I are the two surviving members of President Lyndon Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the formal name of the commission chaired by then-Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner). Our commission concluded that black frustration grew out of underrepresentation in the political system, the police, the media and all other aspects of American life. We urged new investments in jobs, schools and housing. We declared that poverty, inequality and segregation in the racial ghetto had created a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans. We avowed that white America had created and maintained the ghetto and that white society condoned it. These were strong words, but we believed that the truth needed telling.

I thought (and believe others did as well) that President Johnson would applaud our painstaking analysis and support our recommendations. But the president who had done so much for civil rights distanced himself from our findings. He did not invite us to the White House for the report's release, as was customary, nor did he embrace its recommendations.

In retrospect, I can see that our report was too strong for him to take. It suggested that all of his great achievements -- his civil rights legislation, his anti-poverty program, Head Start, housing legislation and all the rest of the Great Society -- had been only a beginning. We asked him, in an election year, to endorse the idea that white America bore much of the responsibility for black rioting and rebellion. However true that might have been, the message was politically too hot to handle.

Members of our commission could scarcely have envisioned the strides African Americans have made since the report's release or conceived of the growing numbers, progress and influence of Hispanic Americans.

With the ascendancy of an African American contender for the presidency, dispassionate observers might gasp at how far we have come in two generations. The achievements in business, entertainment, sports and politics that black and Hispanic Americans have made are notable, but not for their exception.

Yet, despite the visibility of accomplished African Americans and Hispanics and the progress in race relations that has been made in this country, for America's poor -- those who do not know what health care is because for them it doesn't exist, those for whom prison is a more likely prospect than college, those who have been abandoned to the worst of decaying, crime-ridden urban centers because of the flight of middle-class blacks, whites and Hispanics -- the future may be as bleak as it was for their counterparts in the 1960s.

The core conditions that the Kerner Commission identified as key contributors to civil unrest are as prevalent, if not as virulent, today as they were 40 years ago. The lack of affordable, safe housing and the absence of jobs or hope for the future have confined even more of our citizens to an eerily familiar world that not so long ago gave rise to cities in flames.

Until we root out and eradicate the conditions that cultivate generations in deprivation and despair, we are bound to harvest a bitter crop.

Fulfilling Dr. King's dream will require economic and health security, worker empowerment, job training and retraining, job creation, and high-quality education for the minority poor as well as neglected blue-collar workers and the anxious middle class.

The Eisenhower Foundation -- of which I was a trustee for many years -- recently released a strategy to this end. A new movement for a Fair Economic Deal based on a coalition of these citizens could become the basis for creating what the Kerner Commission called "new will."

If political will can be changed over the long run, perhaps we can begin to address even more difficult issues -- such as how to return to racial integration, how to take on corporate and lobbyist control of the political process, how to enact real campaign finance reform, and how to reverse media consolidation.

We have come far, but we still have so far to go. Let us not wait until another anniversary, whether a decade or even another year, to get there.

Edward W. Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts, was the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.

Happy 80th Birthday Sister Maya!

In addition to the sad anniversary we'll be commemorating in terms of the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assasination, we do have a happy event to celebrate.

Today is Dr. Maya Angelou's 80th birthday.

She's one of my favorite poets, writers and motivational speakers. One of my early posts on TransGriot was taking one of her poems, Phenomenal Woman and rewriting it with a transgender spin.

It has become my mantra and one of the motivating tools I use to inspire me to reach higher and be the best person I can be. It's ironic and kind of neat that a poem I wrote to motivate myself is also becoming an inspiration to some of my transsistahs as well. I'm honored that my homegirl Tona Brown loves this poem and will be using her considerable musical talents to set that piece to music. I'm looking forward to hearing her perform it one day.

But back to Sister Maya. She's not only an inspiration to me, but also Oprah and many women across ethnic backgrounds. Happy 80th birthday to one phenomenal woman!

The Transgender Summit

A few months ago a group of transwomen and a transman got together to tell their stories. It was moderated by Alexis Arquette and televised on Entertainment Tonight.

here's the clip from that show.

Transgender Friendly Tucson Hosts IFGE 2008

Tucson, Arizona, has a reputation as one of the most transgender-friendly cities in the country, both in policy and mindset, and this week the city plays host to the International Foundation for Gender Education’s 22nd annual conference, March 31 to April 5. Workshops given throughout the conference will highlight the unique qualities and programs in southern Arizona make Tucson a friendly place those who do not conform to society’s gender norms. The focus on Tucson will conclude on Saturday, April 5, with a public open house featuring a distinguished panel of civic and community leaders.




Hosted by the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, the IFGE 2008 conference is the first national transgender conference in Tucson and attendance is expected to exceed 400 — from Arizona, the southwest, the rest of the United States, and beyond. The conference is held at the Doubletree Hotel at Reid Park, 445 S. Alvernon Way.

Social activities and excursions to Tucson tourist destinations kick off the week starting on Monday, March 31, and the conference programming begins on Thursday, April 3, with a welcome by Tucson mayor Bob Walkup and a plenary session by activist Jamison Green, author of the prize-winning book “Becoming a Visible Man.”

Wingspan, southern Arizona’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center, will offer an open house and facility tour on Thursday, April 3, starting at 2 p.m. Wingspan is one of the nation’s ten largest LGBT centers. The Southern Arizona Gender Alliance is a program of Wingspan and provides support, reference, and education on transgender issues in the Tucson area.

Tucson has had an ordinance in place since February 1977 that prevents discrimination on basis of sexual orientation; in 1999, gender identity was added to this ordinance, which is a model for other communities. Fifth-generation Tucsonan Liana Perez, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs for the city of Tucson, will present a workshop on “Our Shared Diversity: Meeting the Challenge to Create Success” on Thursday, April 3.

Sarah Jones, Raquel Mrozowski, and Karen Orr will also present “Safe Shelter - Creating a Safe Domestic Violence Shelter” on Thursday, discussing the process that led to the Tucson Centers for Women and Children designating a transgender room in the shelter.

On Friday, April 4, Cathy Jacobus, consumer health librarian at Pima County Public Library, and Karyn Prechtel, managing librarian at PCPL, will co-present a workshop on “Transgender Health and the Public Library.”

Transgender youth between the ages of 13 and 23 in Tucson have the support of the Prism Project and the Eon Youth Center. On Friday, Carly Thomsen, T.C. Tolbert and Wendy Sampson will co-present “The Prism Project - Building a Dynamic Support Program for Transgender Youth.”

Transgender health and social service needs were examined in a twelve-month period in 2006, and primary investigator Kendall Roark, doctoral candidate at Temple University, will present the results in Saturday’s workshop “Transgender and Gender Diverse Community Needs Assessment in Southern Arizona.”

The public is invited to a town hall meeting on Saturday, April 5, at 10 a.m. that will answer the question, “How did Tucson get to be such an accepting community?” Panelists will include Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson; former mayor George Miller; Peter Likens, former president of the University of Arizona; city council member Nina Trasoff; Amelia Craig Cramer, chief deputy Pima County Attorney; John-Peter Wilhite, Commission on GLBT issues; Stephen Russell of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona; Kevin Maxey, co-founder of the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance; and Amanda Simpson, 2004 candidate for Arizona House of Representatives, district 26. The town hall meeting will be held at Reid Park Doubletree Hotel and is sponsored by Raytheon, southern Arizona’s largest private employer.

~~
The International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) is a non-profit advocacy organization founded in 1987. IFGE’s purpose is overcoming the intolerance of transgenderism brought about by widespread ignorance and outreach through education for the emancipation of all people from restrictive gender norms.

The IFGE 2008 conference is open to all — transgender, crossdresser, transsexual, transvestite, female to male, male to female, significant other, friend, helping professional, student, educator, or others. For more information on the conference, see http://ifge.sagatucson.org/.

The Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (SAGA) is a program of Wingspan, Tucson’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center. SAGA provides educational, support, outreach, and other programs for transgender, transsexual, and gender-variant people, as well as families, allies, service providers, employers, and others. For more information on SAGA, see http://www.sagatucson.org/.

IFGE 2008

Yesterday IFGE Conference 2008 kicked off in Tucson. Normally it's one of the two transgender conferences I try to attend (the other is Southern Comfort) but my work schedule killed my ability to attend this one which will run until April 5.

As a Trinity winner I'm usually interested in finding out who received those awards and the Virginia Prince. They also have some great seminars on a wide range of community issues as well so if you're looking to attend a conference and get a great 'ejumacation' on transgender issues, this one and SCC are the must attend ones for you.

If you live in the Tucson area and would like to attend, they'd love to have you. They are doing on site registration as we speak.

Planning is already underway for IFGE 2009 and they have already issued a call for presenters.

See y'all in Alexandria, VA in 2009

Et Tu Lou?

Well, well, well. Seems like the conservatives don't like their favorite token anymore now that she remembered she was born in Birmingham, AL., made favorable comments about Sen. Obama's speech and added some insightful commentary of her own in the Washington Times no less. The Freepers have gone off the deep end as Pam has documented on her blog.

Lou Dobbs fake populist behind shows his true conservative colors. He's been a Bush apologist for years and now he's trying to reinvent himself as an 'independent'.
I ain't buying it.



Let's focus people. Some of you, especailly of the conservative persuasion are in deep denial about just how bad the race problem is and has gotten under Republican misrule. May I suggest reading some US history, John Hope Franklin, Andrew Hacker, Dr. Cornel West, Tim Wise and Randall Robinson and talking to Tavis Smiley or Roland Martin for starters before you try to to lecture me or any other African-American about how this country is the 'greatest' for African-descended Americans.

I'm Number #107!

The Villager's Top Ten Black Blog rankings for April just came out and TransGriot finally made the list. Out of the 1045 blogs ranked this month mine is #107.

If you're a blogger of African descent and want to see where yours ranked head on over to the Electronic Village and see your ranking.

The Villager started ranking Black blogs after this list of influential blogs was chosen which was devoid of melanin. That pissed off the Villager to the point where he started this FUBU production.

Speaking of FUBU productions, the Blogging While Brown conference for bloggers of color will be taking place in the ATL from July 25-27. I'm definitely leaning toward being there for it

I'm Sellin' Out

TransGriot readers, I have an announcement to make.

Today I'm changing my voter registration to Republican and joining the ever expanding ranks of freethinkng Black people rushing to get off the Democrat plantation.

We African-Americans have always been conservative, and I'm tired of fighting for people that won't take responsibility for their own lives, including you whiny butt transgender people, and not getting paid for it.

I've been in negotiations with News Corporation and I'm pleased to announce that I will become a contributor to various Fox News programs as their expert on the Homosexual Agenda. I will also be leaving Bilerico and starting my new syndicated conservative column on Monday. I'm on the verge of finalizing a book deal with Regnery Publishing to write an expose on the transgender rights movement.

So I'll have to give up my Black Like Me card. Big deal. Clarence Thomas, Ken Blackwell and Condoleezza Rice are doing wonderfully well for themselves. What did the black communty, much less the transgender community, ever do for me except give me grief?

That reminds me, I need to return those calls from Project 21 and the High Impact Leadership Coalition. They've been asking me for information about the transgender community and I'm being paid a nice consulting fee for it.

I'm ready to start rocking designer suits, have Prada purses filled with cash and wear Ferragamo pumps. Oh yeah, that reminds me, my mentor Condi and I are going shoe shopping in New York next week.

I'm leaving my open and affirming church to attend a real Bible believing one that won't tolerate your liberal America-hating family destroying agenda. With the advance check I just got from News Corporation, I have enough cash to not only get that Beemer I had my eye on last week and move back to Texas, I'm gonna do some surgical tune-ups on my body before I make my first television appearance on The O'Reilly Factor.

I've also had discussions with the Log Cabin Republicans about becoming the first African-American transgender Republican delegate. They're already clearing a spot for me in the Kentucky Republican Party delegation if i want it, and they've hinted that they may give me a prime time speaking slot at the convention in Minneapolis.

So farewell, TransGriot readers. This freethinking sistah is going back home to the Party of Lincoln.

RuPaul Hospitalized After Being 'Drop Squaded'

RuPaul was admittted to a New York psychiatric hospital after being found on a Manhattan street corner repeatedly singing James Brown's "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)", wearing an Afro wig, black leather with a black beret and claiming he'd been 'drop squaded.'

'Drop squaded' refers to a 1994 Spike Lee movie in which sellout African-Americans are kidnapped, taken to a secret location and through various methods are reminded of their ethnicity, history and coached to have pride in themselves.

They were only thought to be a fictional group, but with the recent comments of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the rumors of the real time existence of the Drop Squad have only gone stronger.

A videotaped message left at a New York television station confirmed the group exists and claimed responsibility for the RuPaul and Condoleezza Rice 'reprogrammings'. They also warned other 'sellout' African-Americans that they would face the same fate.

RuPaul has earned the ire of GLBT African-Americans over the years with his lonely and unwavering support for Chuck Knipp. Knipp's Shirley Q. Liquor character is considered insulting by many GLBT people of color and RuPaul has lost credibility in the African-American community for supporting him. Knipp released a statement on his website that expressed his hopes for a speedy recovery for RuPaul.

The security was increased around Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas in response to the Drop Squad's threat and copies of the tape were forwarded to the FBI and Homeland Security.

This post also on the Bilerico Project

No Joke...Condi Remembers She's Black

The interesting thing about Negro conservatives is that every now and then, when an issue comes up that Black America is commenting on that is strongly at variance with prevailing conservative opinion or spin, every now and then they shock us by being down with the rest of us. They'll occasionally make comments that leave us wondering if they took a look in the mirror that morning.

Such a moment happened last Thursday when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has never been a favorite of mine (I have more respect and love for her cousin Constance Rice) was asked about the Rev. Wright controversy during a wide ranging March 28 Washington Times interview.

Believe it or not Condi had this to say to the editors of the conservative Washington Times:

"The United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding."

"Black Americans were a founding population. Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."

"As a result, descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that."

"That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today."

Rice continued on to say that "America doesn't have an easy time dealing with race, and added that members of her family have "endured terrible humiliations."

"What I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn't love and have faith in them —and that's our legacy," she said.
Well, well, well. Did she finally remember that she was born in Bomingham, oops Birmingham, AL and lost a classmate in the Klan orchestrated 16th Street Baptist Church bombing?

Whatever prompted her to make these comments, for once I'll have to give her some credit for honestly saying what's so freaking obvious: Rev. Wright spoke the truth about America's race problems.

It's interesting to note, however that the hysterical foaming mouth high-tech witch hunt that has continued to dog Rev. Wright has not darkened Condi's door (pardon the pun) except in Freeperland. The Freepers are in full throated racist rant mode and have turned on her like rabid dogs. I also note that the media has been strangely silent about this save for CNN discussing these comments on Friday's The Situation Room.

As I have said ad nauseum over the years, the color line predates the founding of this country and infects everything and every aspect of our society. Until we forcefully deal with it, America's original sin of slavery and racims will continue to rear its ugly head.


This post also can be found at the Bilerico Project