Nightmare on Hillcrest Ave

Happy Halloween, peeps!

GLBT people aren't the only folks that like to celebrate what we jokingly call in the community the 'Gay National Holiday'

One fast growing tradition here in Da Ville is checking out a group of Crescent Hill homes by the reservoir on Hillcrest Ave. It's a must walk through destination for pint sized ghouls, goblins and costumed candy seekers of all ages.

For twenty years those homeowners in that stretch have done lavish decoration jobs for Halloween. It has grown so popular that they draw crowds of up to 20,000 people from all over the Louisville metro area to see them. Some of the owners bought their homes specifically so that they could participate in this annual neighborhood frightfest.

My favorite in that four block stretch of homes between Frankfort Ave and Brownsboro Rd is 'Dante's Disco Inferno'.

The owner of this house puts down an authentic flashing lights disco floor, has mirrored disco balls, has tombstones with death dates for disco and Tony Manero (John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever) and plays disco hits all night long. Usually people walking along that stretch will hear a song they like, stop and shake their booty's.

Themes range from the Peanuts gang Linus welcoming the Great Pumpkin to ghostly cemeteries. Freddie, Leatherface and various Hollywood horror monsters pop out from behind trees at inopportune times to scare you.

They spend tons of cash on candy, and sometimes to one up each other. One memorable Halloween Dawn and I stopped by this house that rented a 16 piece orchestra. They played Halloween and Christmas music as they served hot chocolate and passed out candy on a clear but cool night.

Others will show screenings of classic and current horror movies. The Peanuts themed one runs the classic 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' cartoon all night long.

Many of the homeowners say that the annual project has helped them get to know their neighbors and built a close knit community in the process. Neither they, the civic association or any group gives out an official prize for the best decorated home, but it's obvious there's a little bit of a competitive streak going when it comes to putting together these themed decorations.

And it's deeply appreciated by all of us looking for interesting stuff to do on Halloween night.

Last Sprint To The Finish

This marathon of a historic presidential race is racing to a climax. The candidates are crisscrossing the country hitting the battleground states, unleashing their last minute ads, doing rallies, unleashing their ground games to get their voters to the polls, making the GOTV calls.

In the GOP's case its 'suppress the African-American vote', unleash the dirty tricks and the right-wing slime machine. They know as Dr. King famously predicted:

"I can forsee the Negro vote becoming the decisive one in national elections."

For those of you that may not be frequent voters like moi, and want to know where you polling place is, you can check out the Obama website VoteForChange.com

The League of Women Voters also has a great non partisan website called vote411.org

Need directions to your polling place? Hit this Google website to get them. I tested it with my own address and my polling place popped up marked on an easy to read map.

And for those folks who still need convincing that Obama is the real deal and will be an outstanding president, send them the link to the Blueprint For Change.

Feel like making a financial donation to the Obama campaign? Here's the site.

People, I'm beyond ready for the long national nightmare to be over. On November 5 I want to wake up hearing the words 'President-elect Obama' broadcast on all the networks.

Let's make Robert Kennedy's May 1961 remarks come true.

"There's no question that in the next thirty or forty years a Negro can also achieve the same position that my brother has as president of the United States, certainly within that period of time."

It'll be especially delicious to see Faux News correspondents have to say the words 'President Obama' for the next four to eight years.

My Halloween Nightmare

What am I scared of this Halloween? It's not Jason, Chucky, Leatherface, Hannibal Lechter or the Klan.

It's hearing the words President-elect McCain or President Palin.



Talk about scary. This would be worse than any horror movie I've ever paid money to watch. This is a news report I don't want to come home to on November 5

Friends don't let friends vote Republican. Not when our nation's future is at stake.

Gene Linked To Transsexualism?

TransGriot Note: The Human Genome Project is the gift that keeps on giving. I always suspected as a reality based real-science person that there was a biological cause to transsexuality. Now an Australian study may have found the first evidence of a genetic link to the biological nature of transsexuality.

Deal with that right-wing Know Nothings.


by Melanie Macfarlane
Cosmos Online

SYDNEY: The first genetic link to male-to-female transsexualism provides new evidence of its biological nature, say Australian researchers.

"There is a social stigma that transsexualism is simply a lifestyle choice, however our findings support a biological basis of how gender identity develops," said Vincent Harley a geneticist from Prince Henry's Institute in Melbourne and co-author of a new study detailing the find.

Gender identity

Gender identity, an inner feeling of being male or female, is usually identified at an early age. Transsexuals, however, identify with the sex that is opposite to their biological sex.

Early theories as to the cause of transsexuality suggested that it could stem from childhood trauma, but more recent research has pointed to family history and a possible genetic aspect. A study released earlier this year by researchers at the University of Vienna, Austria, hinted at a gene that may be involved in female-to-male transsexualism.

The new study, published today in the journal Biological Psychiatry, builds on previous research that highlighted some similarities in the brain structures of women and male-to-female transsexuals.

For the study, Harley and his team took DNA from 112 male-to-female transsexuals and 258 non-transsexual men. They looked at the sequence of three genes known to be involved in the action of sex hormones, and found that some male-to-female transsexuals carry a different form of a gene, called an androgen receptor, which modifies the body’s response to testosterone.

Androgen receptor

The researchers found that, on average, the form of the gene found in the transsexual group had a larger number of repeats of a short, repetitive sequence of DNA - making the gene significantly longer than the form found in the control group of non-transsexual men.

Though the researchers admit that the average difference in the length of the gene between the two groups was small, they said that the size of the study population was limited by the rarity of transsexualism. Nevertheless, "we think that these genetic differences might reduce testosterone action and under-masculinise the brain during foetal development," said co-author Lauren Hare, a geneticist from Monash University in Melbourne.

“This research suggests that extra-long copies of the androgen receptor (AR) gene potentially affect testosterone function in the brains of male-to-female transsexuals," said Andrew Sinclair, a geneticist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne who was not involved with the study.

Sinclair, who agreed with the authors as to the possible mode of action of the gene variant, said that, "these defective copies of the AR gene could severely reduce normal testosterone levels, resulting in a more female-like brain."

"This [study] supports the notion that transsexualism has a biological basis rather than being due to psychosocial factors in early childhood,” he added.

Limitations of study

Other experts, however, argued that the small study population limited the conclusions that could be drawn from the results.

"The investigators themselves point out that numbers in association studies are important and while the numbers in their study are modest, they are still potentially quite low," said Ron Trent, a geneticist at University of Sydney. "While statistically significant, [the results are] only just so and this is a weakness."

“This is still a small sample and the effects of the difference in androgen receptor are not black and white, so obviously there is much more to be done," agreed Jennifer Graves, head of the Comparative Genomics Research Group at the Australian National University in Canberra.

"However, I am perfectly sure it will turn out that there are important genes involved in sexuality," she said.

Call to replicate findings

Juliet Richters, a professor in sexual health at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, said that while the study does not identify the gene as a cause of transsexualism it might provide some comfort for those with the condition.

“It may be a matter of relief for transsexuals to have their condition identified as genetic, rather being blamed for making an awkward lifestyle choice,” she commented.

Despite the debate, the findings provide a good clue to go hunting for the many factors likely to be involved in transsexualism, said Harley, who now invites other research teams to attempt to replicate his findings.

I'm The Sidekick John McCain

TransGriot Note: Been a while since I've done one of my song rewrites. Got the idea for this one when I heard the latest attack on Obama concerning his Harvard education. This from someone mind you who graduated 894th out of 898 in his Naval Academy class.

Here's my latest rewrite, so enjoy.


I'm the Sidekick John McCain
(sung to the tune of 'If I Only Had A Brain)

I survived prison cell trauma
Not eloquent as Obama
And crashed too many planes
My scholastic record's spotty
And my attitude is snotty
'Cause I'm the sidekick John McCain

I stepped out on my first honey
For Cindy's Budweiser money
For that I have no shame
I'm conservative as can be
Supported the Bush policies
'Cause I'm the sidekick John McCain

My campaign is grossly failing
'Cause I selected Sarah Palin
For my VP running mate
I don't know economics
And my temper is atomic
'Cause I'm the sidekick John McCain

In this critical election
I expect massive rejection
'Cause Bush and I are the same
The working class gets slammed
And I want to bomb Iran
'Cause I'm the sidekick John McCain



Crossposted from the Bilerico Project

NGLTF Transgender Discrimination Survey

TransGriot Note; Babs Casbar sent me this survey because the NGLTF wants more POC input in it.

I'll refrain from saying what first popped into my mind because the survey is too important. I'll comment about what crossed my mind later.

Seriously though, to all my transgender readers who happen to be peeps of color, please consider taking the time out of your busy schedules to take this survey.

https://online.survey.psu.edu/endtransdiscrim/

Seven More Days

One week to go. Seven days. I'm climbing the walls waiting to cast my ballot in this historic election. And I'm wishing I could cast my ballot right now.

If you are in a state that allows early voting, please do so.

Be alert for the GOP trickery that will be deployed on Election Day.

Interesting Chi-Town Day

Hey TransGriot readers,
As you know I hit the road Saturday morning with Dawn to watch her fence in this year's edition of the Remenyik Open along with our other roomie Karen.

We bounced out of Da Ville a little after 6 AM EDT local time even though Dawn's check in for this event wasn't until 3 PM CDT. We decided we were going to partake in some of Chicago's cultural attractions and kill a few hours in the Field Museum.

As usual Dawn and I made excellent time while Karen slept in the backseat. As we approached Greenwood, IN (the southern 'burbs of Indianapolis) we discovered the gas price was only $2.30 a gallon. Since we had 3/4 of a tank we pressed onward under the assumption it would be at the same price or cheaper on the other side of Indy.

Wrong.

We painfully discovered that the closer we got to Chicagoland the higher the gas price got. In fact we ended up refueling in Merrillville where we paid $2.60 and I picked up my bag of Jay's Potato Chips. It wasn't $2.30 a gallon but it was cheaper than what we were paying in Da Ville, and I correctly guessed they were still paying over $3.00 a gallon in Chicago.

A few minutes later we crossed the Illinois-Indiana line and saw the first evidence of the extent of the search for Jennifer Hudson's young nephew Julian King. We passed an electronic highway sign with the description of the white SUV and plate number as we sped toward the Dan Ryan exit off I-80/94

We pulled into the parking garage underneath Soldier Field a little after 12 noon CDT and sauntered toward the world famous Field Museum. We were planning to kill about two hours there before heading off to Northwestern University.

After spending an enjoyable two hours checking out the various exhibits we headed back toward the car and shoved off up Lake Shore Drive in the direction of Evanston.

For those of you who haven't guessed by now, I'm blessed with a formidable memory. When it comes to road trips, some of my family members and friends have remarked that I'm better than a GPS unit. All it takes me is one time to travel somewhere and I never forget how to get there or need a map from that point.

I have relatives and friends in the Chicagoland area and have been there numerous times, so I know my way around the city. Dawn does as well since she was born there.

Since I was along for the ride last year, I knew where the SPAC was and called off the necessary turns from Lake Shore Drive onto N. Sheridan Rd and the NU campus. A few minutes later we were gliding into the parking lot in front of the SPAC in plenty of time for Dawn to check in for the tournament.

From what Dawn told me earlier in the week and on the trip up I-65 the competition in the women's saber division was going to be formidable. She's a C ranked fencer, and this tournament had two A ranked fencers, several B's and several C's.

This tournament also had in it a sistah competitor she has a friendly rivalry with from the Detroit area by the name of Ashlee McLemore. We last saw her in Columbus at the Great Lakes Regional Tournament with her sistah training partner Roberta Sims.

Dawn went 3-3 in her pool matches, but got bounced out of her DE 15-9. She wasn't too upset about it since this was her first serious fencing action since she finished third at the summer nationals in San Jose.

We had to get Karen back to Louisville since she had to work Sunday afternoon, but we weren't going to leave Chicago without hitting Giordano's and chowing down on one of their world famous deep dish pizzas. There was one in Rogers Park on N. Sheridan, so after we found a parking space two blocks from the restaurant we eagerly headed in to partake of it before hitting the road.

We caught up on the latest Chicagoland news and ended up taking four slices with us since we were stuffed. We usually order a partially baked one to take home, but forgot to do that when we arrived (we won't make that mistake again).

We discovered on the return trip that the gas station we passed that morning in Greenwood had dropped its price to $2.29 but didn't bother doing anything except switching off drivers. I'd taken us from Merrillville to that point and the lack of sleep was kicking my behind. We eventually ended up in Da Ville at 1 AM after a long but interesting day.

We'll be back next year for the Remenyik since it's one of Dawn's fave tournaments. I also hope that I'll FINALLY get to do a Chicago trip and spend some quality time with Jackie and Monica as well.

Rolling Towards The Remenyik Open

Dag, has it been a year already since the last Remenyik Open?

Hitting the road in a few hours. I'm heading back to Chicago with Dawn once again to watch her compete in this year's edition of the Remenyik Open Fencing tournament on the Northwestern University campus.

Of course, I'll tell y'all about my latest road trip when I get back.

McCain Campaign Worker Attack Story Busted

It must be hard to be a McCain supporter these days. Your candidate is losing badly to horror of horrors, an educated biracial Black man.

Your so called $150,000 designer clothed 'hockey mom' VP candidate has been relentlessly lampooned on Saturday Night Live and is considered seriously unqualified by a majority of the American people, including members of your own party and the previous Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

To top it off your usual slimy race baiting attacks aren't working.

Well, in a shades of Susan Smith moment, a young McCain supporter, College Republican and volunteer named Ashley Todd from Aggieland (AKA College Station, TX) claims that around 9 PM EDT she was beat up and robbed at a Pittsburgh ATM by a large Black man and had a backwards 'B' carved into her face because she was a McPalin supporter.

Predictably Faux News, Matt Drudge, the right wing blogosphere, and right wing talk radio jumped on this as 'evidence' of left wing 'hatred'. It neatly plays into the well worn conservative race baiting theme of white women being attacked by Black criminals. It even prompted statements from the McPalin and Obama campaigns.

Hold up, flag on the play.

Like Susan Smith's over a decade ago, the story started falling apart. I was suspicious when it was noted she was from College Station. Texas A&M is home to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. Translation, she's conservative.

The College Republicans chiming in only cemented the impression for me that this story smelled worse than a sewage treatment plant.

Details of this story also didn't pass the smell test. The 'B' on her face was carved backwards and was too neat. If she was struggling against a larger, stronger attacker the 'B' carving to her face would have been more uneven. In addition, an angry attacker would have left far more bruises and serious injuries than what she is shown in her picture to have suffered.

Since she was attacked at an ATM, the surveillance tape video would have showed this attacker, right? Wrong. When the Citizens' Bank ATM security tape was checked at the time she claimed the alleged assault happened, no large Black man in the tape.

Her bank card info also shows no account activity at that time or the location where she claimed she was robbed.

Surprise, surprise.

The Pittsburgh police noted the inconsistencies as well, She amended her story to add a sexual assault and claiming she'd been hit and blacked out. They gave her a lie detector test which she failed.

She later confessed to faking the story and will be charged with filing a false report

But once again, the McPalin forces and the GOP will do anything to win. The only thing they have left is race baiting. It's getting dangerously close to inciting violence for real.

Conscientious Stupidity

'Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.' Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

As I've mentioned ad nauseum on this blog, I despise stupidity. Whether it's the willful ignorance of the creation science peeps, the sheeple who swallow political lies in the face of overwhelming logical evidence debunking it or the peeps who brag about being uninformed, as a TK stupidity irks me to no end.

And this political season has been chock full of it.

One of the things I've been most concerned about over the last twenty years has been this anti-intellectual strain as the conservative movement rose to power.

It concerns me because the republic our Founding Fathers set up thrives when reasoned debate takes place and we rationally and thoughtfully discuss issues of importance to Americans.

But with poisonous partisanship injected into the public discourse, it has so contaminated the body politic that we have political gridlock as a result. Political discourse resembles a WWE wrestling match or playing the dozens back in the hood. And one of the things that really irks me is the lack of intelligence in some of our political leaders.

When I'm pondering who I'm going to cast a ballot for, I'm not looking at how well a person speaks (although that's a major plus after the last 8 years of an inarticulate dumbass in the White House) how cute they look in their $150,000 wardrobe, whether they can fly a jet or not or I can have a beer with them. The quality that's most important to me is do you have the intelligence to handle the complex job of being in that position?

But unfortunately we have so many people fixated on superficial crap that they overlook the fact that when it comes to being the president, intelligence counts.

Vietnamese Transgender Journey

TransGriot Note: As I and others continue to point out, being transgender cuts across all economic, class, and ethnic lines. We can also be found all over the globe and represented on almost every continent. Here's the story of Vietnam's most famous transgender person, Cindy Thai Tai

Transgender Journey

From Thanh Niem News.com

After years of living in shame and torment, Cindy Thai Tai underwent sex reassignment surgery and says she’s never felt happier.

Cindy Thai Tai is ecstatic with her new life, she says. After undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2005, Tai became one of just a few Vietnamese to speak publicly about her transsexuality.

“I make no secret about my gender transformation as I want people to accept me and others like me as we are,” says Tai. “There are those who are not brave enough to make their sexual orientation known in order not to be treated as social outcasts. I don’t want to be like them.”

Tai, whose full name is Nguyen Thai Tai, always felt different, even as a little boy.

He preferred girls’ clothes and games and felt he simply wasn’t meant to be a male.

As he grew up, Tai increasingly yearned to be a woman but was tortured by thoughts of becoming a social outcast if he were to reveal his true feelings.

Unlike countries such as Thailand, where transsexuality is more widely accepted, Vietnam remains conservative and transgendered individuals are commonly stigmatized. Yet the ' harder Tai struggled to engage in “normal” life, the more mental torment he suffered.

His family had wanted him to become a tailor, but Tai secretly had his heart set on becoming a dancer or make-up artist.

Eventually, Tai came out and told his friends and family he was considering sex reassignment surgery.

Over the next two years, Tai underwent four major operations costing more than US$30,000 at the Yanhee Hospital in Thailand – famous for specializing in gender reassignment surgery.

Tai says she is very pleased with the results and would rather have 20 years taken from her life than live unhappily as a man.

“The operation was a miraculous rebirth for me and I’m very happy to be the person I’ve long aspired to be. I regret not doing this earlier,” she says.

“Many think I underwent this major transformation to draw attention to myself or to please the men I love, but I did this totally for my own sake,” she adds.

“I know I’ll never cease to be an object of ridicule among gossip lovers… but I’m used to others’ inquisitive looks and malicious remarks and are no longer hurt by them.”

Tai is now a well-known make-up artist and has even taken up singing.

She captivates audiences with her mellifluous voice and contemplative songs, drawing inspiration from her painful past and journey to inner freedom.

“People probably come to my performances out of curiosity first, but they’re soon mesmerized by my songs,” she says. Tai released her debut album, Noi long co don (Loneliness) in late 2006, which won lavish praise from audiences.

In 2007, she released her second album, Tinh yeu da mat (The Lost Love), a selection of famous Vietnamese oldies mixed with dance, hip-hop and house – also a commercial success.

Tai is set to make another album featuring songs written by famed local composers. She has also acted in films including Saigon tinh ca (Saigon Love Story) and Trai nhay (Bar men) in which she was cast as a transsexual singer.

Earlier this year, Tai was involved in a sex blog scandal when a pornographic entry appeared on her blog.

She said the blog was opened and run by her former manager, and maintains she had nothing to do with the entry.

Tai is currently in a relationship with a German businessman who says she is more attractive and feminine than any woman he has ever dated.

The singer also plans to publish her biography, revealing her life’s journey and detailing the suffering and anguish she has endured.

“I don’t want to improve my image through my biography as many think. I simply hope that through my book people will understand more about transsexuals, empathize with us, and accept us as we really are,” says Tai.

Reported by Nhu Lich

There They Go Again...GOP Vote Suppression

As someone who has experienced firsthand GOP vote suppression tactics, I'm concerned about the bull that I'm hearing over alleged 'voter fraud' that's been peddled over the last week.






I'm even more concerned over the reports of people's tires being slashed at a North Carolina Obama rally and the weeks long nekulturny behavior being expressed at McPalin hate rallies.

The GOP is once again taking pages out of their reprehensible vote suppression playbook and if there's anyone who needs to be investigated for voter fraud, it's the Republican Party.

But to me that's a sign that once again, the GOP is scared and know deep down they're losing.

They know that masses of Americans have rejected their message and all they have left is firing up their bigot base. It exposes the bankruptcy of conservatism in terms of the fact they can't win a straight up debate on the merits of their arguments.

It shows the nation and the world their morals and the lie of their 'country first' slogan when they resort to brownshirt tactics, race baiting and obfuscation to win elections.

It shows that they know that Dr. King predicted that the Black vote would be decisive in national elections and the Robert Kennedy forecast that a Black president would be elected within 40 years.

But this time, your reprehensible BS ain't gonna work. People are tired of your narrow exclusionary vision for America and want something better.

And this time you're gonna be dragged kicking and screaming along for the ride.

Love You Rachel Maddow

One of the joys I got out of the start up of Air America was discovering a then little known progressive talk show host named Rachel Maddow thanks to Polar.

She's smart, intelligent, with an easy going sometimes humorous style that got to the meat of political issues. I began to listen to her more than Randi Rhodes, and I was happy when MSNBC and Keith Olbermann started having her appear on his show as a frequent guest commentator.

Now she has parlayed those guest appearances into her own show, and I'm loving it.

It is so much fun watching these intellectually challenged conservatives walk onto her show, think they can get away with their usual spin and lies, and she subtly uses her PhD in political science to dismantle them.

It's also a breath of fresh air to see another political commentary show besides Countdown that is entertaining and informative.





It seems that a lot of Americans agree with me as well because not only has she quickly garnered a sizable viewing audience, she's getting national politicians on her show as well.



I can guarantee you that it's one show Sarah Louise Palin will not be appearing on between now and November 4, if ever.

City Dwellers and People of Color Are 'Pro-American' Too

"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe, we believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, pro-America areas of this great nation.

This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans: those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us, those who are protecting us in uniform, those who are protecting the virtues of freedom.”

Sarah Palin, remarks to a Greensboro, NC Republican fundraiser, October 16, 2008

The more I hear Sarah Louise Heath Palin flap her gums, the more I loathe her intellectually vacuous Dubya in drag behind.



And like you, Sen Biden, I'm tired.

I'm sick and tired of being told by white Republicans that because I was born and raised on the south side of Houston, I'm intelligent, I vote Democratic, I enthusiastically support public schools, support real science, believe that civil rights should be expanded and provided to all GLBT people, think the wall of separation between church and state is a good idea, and oppose the misguidedly wrongheaded and selfish GOP soak the poor economic policies that I'm 'unpatriotic and un-American.'

Frack you and every beer-swilling illiterate racist and latte-drinking Republican operative who defines being an American and patriotism that way.

We African-Americans love this country so much we've fought in every war since its inception to defend it despite the bulk of us not acquiring our own freedom until 1865. Even with that, we still had to fight 'pro-American' peeps another 100 plus years tooth and nail just to have our humanity and civil rights recognized.

We had to battle 'small-town' Americans whose values told them it was okay to hang people who shared my ethnic heritage from trees, twist Biblical scripture to justify those regressive attitudes and use violence against anyone who dared to protest that injustice.

The bottom line is that dissent is patriotic. I want my country to be better than when I found it for the next generation. That used to be a guiding bipartisan political principle that has gone by the wayside thanks to GOP conservatives and their sellouts pimping racial hatred for their own personal and political gain.

November 4 can't get here fast enough for me so that we can bury the 'Southern Strategy' once and for all and begin to repair the damage done to our country.

Obama IS Cool

When I was on the other side of the gender fence, there were many discussions conducted with Da Fellas in which the concept of being cool was discussed. You got just as many arguments amongst Black men as to who was cool and who wasn't.

Deborah Gregory in this BlackAmerica.web story touched upon it earlier in the campaign. EBONY magazine, one of our publishing icons put together their list of the 25 coolest brothers of all time that is still being debated within the African-American community.

Whatever you call it, having flava, being cool, it's obvious Sen. Obama has it. In addition to being probably the most eloquent substantive brother since Dr. King, Sen. Obama is agonizingly close to accomplishing a long cherished historic milestone in our tumultuous 400 year history as African descended people in North America.

While I wish that Sen. Obama had the type of America that George W. Bush walked into in 2001, to me the fracked up one he'll get on January 20, 2009 is more of a test of his abilities. If he can clean up this mess, it will ensure that the pool of potential presidents in future election cycles won't be just white males.

The nation (and the world) are about to get an 'ejumacation' in how grossly off the mark their perceptions of African descended people are and what we're capable of doing.

Best of all, he is an educated brother. He is a source of pride to young Black boys growing up and young Black men trying to do the right thing and get their education. In him they have visual proof of the rewards of getting advanced degrees.

They also see him standing tall, nattily dressed, calmly laying out his programs, speaking eloquently at rallies in which hundreds of thousands of people attend, thoughtfully answering questions, verbally laying the smackdown on people and looking coolly presidential all the way while doing it.

The other thing that is so cool about him is that he has a beautiful educated sistah standing proudly by his side as his wife that it's obvious he's still in love with with two adorable kids.

But it's that cool factor that enhances his thoughtful intelligence. There's a lot of things we have said about George W. Bush in the last eight years and cool is not one of them.

Coolness under pressure is one quality that is sorely needed when you deal with the tough job of being president.

For a nation desperately hungry for a leader that we can be proud of, Barack Obama is proving to be for those of us in the reality based world, 'That One'.

I'm John McKKKain And I Approved This Message

Dude, you really are losing it aren't you? Inquiring minds wanna know are you running for president or grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan?

Colin Powell Endorses Sen. Obama

In a possibly game changing announcement, former secretary of state Gen. Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president on NBC's 'Meet The Press' this morning.









This endorsement is huge, no matter what spin is coming from the GOP. This is what secretary Powell had to say in June of this year:



He said it best. This mess is going to require a generational change in leadership in Washington. The election of Obama would "electrify the world."

He's not kidding based on the comments placed here from residents of other nations on this blog and reading the poll results. This election would be a landslide if that were the case. But on November 4 only American citizens can cast their ballots in this pivotal election.

And the world is praying we get it right.

Show Me State Shows Up For Obama

100,000 people at a St Louis Obama rally held today at the foot of the Gateway Arch.



And how many peeps are the McPalin folks getting when they're not wearing their white hoods on the weekends?

My Local Races

The old political axiom is 'all politics is local'. I'm happy to hear that an Obama team armed with truckloads of cash is searching for more opportunities to put McPalin on the defensive.

I'm overjoyed to hear that Kentucky may get more love and attention and possible visits over the next two weeks as this historic presidential race comes to a contentious, nail biting close.

We're already seeing more Obama ads on the tube here in Da Ville since our local TV stations broadcast into southern Indiana. Indiana is rapidly turning into a meeting engagement in the overall fight for the magic 270 electoral votes.

We're also seeing ads for the latest fight between Rep. Baron Hill and Mike Sodrel for the Indiana 9th congressional district seat.

We have some hot races here in Bluegrass country as well. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader is in a fierce battle just to hang on to his senate seat with Bruce Lunsford.

It's also highlighted by the fact that Mitch refuses to debate Lunsford, which isn't sitting well with me and many Kentuckians anxious to hear what he has to say about his 24 years in the senate and the current financial mess that he and other Republicans deregulated us into.




Speaking of legislative reruns, Anne Northup is trying to regain the seat she controlled for ten years before she lost it in 2006 to Rep. John Yarmuth.

Yarmuth's not only beating her as of this writing, he's been a vast improvement over little GOP Annie and her vote in lockstep with Bush 90% of the time record.

He also has a 'A' from the NAACP on his congressional report card compared to Annie's 'F' grade. Yarmuth also supported Sen. Obama in the Democratic primary and if the current polling trends continue, Rep. Yarmuth will have a very happy birthday on November 4.

I've had the pleasure of meeting him and discussing issues with him at the numerous community events he makes time for. Since he's also a man of means, he donates his $150,000 congressional salary to various local charities as well.

We also have several Metro council races, judicial races, school board and state legislative ones to weigh in on as November 4th approaches.

As a proud TK, the school board ones definitely have my undivided attention. Two members who voted for the JCPS GLB employment policy, Stephen Imhoff and Larry Hujo are being opposed by Simonite candidates. Imhoff is my rep on the JCPS board so I'll have a say in that race while Hujo is Polar's rep.

Hujo's opponent has school age children in private schools and has openly stated the reason he's running is because he hated the policy that passed on a contentious 4-3 vote last year. I question why somebody who has kids in private school would run for the JCPS board anyway. It's like putting an anti-government zealot in charge of a government agency.

With the presidential election is the Super Bowl in terms of this election cycle, w also need to ensure that Sen. Obama has help in the House and Senate to turn his proposals into law.

We also need progressives at the state, county and local levels as well.

All politics may be local, but in order to begin to think and act globally and see the type of progressive change we desperately need after years of conservative regression, we have to empower people locally who have broad progressive policy visions as well.

Win, Place And Show Me The Money

I mentioned I spent a few hours in Lexington yesterday at Keeneland along with Polar.

We were doing our annual traditional trip to Keeneland to help Dawn celebrate her October 12 birthday but I was the one having a very good day.

I've been living here for seven years and yesterday was only my third trip to a racetrack despite living in Louisville and having Churchill Downs not far from me.

The only track I've been to is Keeneland, and to be honest it's actually prettier than the Downs. It's a beautiful facility on a large plot of land near the airport with ample parking and a parklike setting. It's especially beautiful in the fall with all the trees starting to turn.

My first visit occurred only two weeks after I moved here in 2001. Dawn and Polar knew I was still severely homesick and took me there just to get me out of my funk and being down about my situation. I had a memorably entertaining one in 2004 involving a humorous race call with a horse named Scripture.

When Scripture stumbled and fell out of the starting gate, the track announcer without skipping a beat replied, "Scripture kneels to pray at the starting gate."

Unfortunately Scripture's stumble was more serious than it looked because when the race was over the horse ambulance came out and whisked him off to the vet. I discovered later he'd broken one of his legs and had to be euthanized.

While nothing that serious happened on this trip, I did have something happen for the first time since I started coming to the track. I actually won money.

Usually when I go I make my win, place and show bets on a few horses and don't win anything, Polar's hit and miss while it seems like everything Dawn bets she cashes winning tickets on.

We happened to go on one of the themed racing days, so almost everyone in honor of Big Blue Day was wearing either UK colors or their own collegiate gear. We arrived there just after the second race concluded and in time to bet the third race. I'm still learning what to look for as a horse racing neophyte in terms of picking winners, and my luck held true to form in the third race.

But the fourth race was different. There was a horse named Galloping Home in this one, and I just liked the name. When I saw his workout times I liked him even better and bet him. I did have an anxious moment when he balked at being loaded into the starting gate. But once the race started he did his thing and lived up to his name by galloping home down the stretch in first place.

After doing the happy dance I cashed the ticket out and used some of my proceeds to bet on a horse called Dookie Duck in the fifth race. He finished in second.

Feeling adventurous, I decided to bet two horses since I couldn't decide which one I liked better in the sixth race between Sweet Ransom and Impressionism.

Impressionism just beat out Sweet Ransom for third place while everybody else chased a 61-1 longshot called Cure For Sale to the pole. If I'd bet that one it would have payed $128 on a $2 bet, but alas I didn't. I had to be happy with the $2.80 I won for Impressionism's not so picture perfect third place finish.

But that made the third straight race I'd won something on, and we decided to bet one more before we called it a day.

In the seventh race I once again bet two horses, Santana Strings and Natural Speed. Natural Speed showed it late, but just finished out of the money behind Santana Strings, keeping my money winning streak alive.

It's the best day I'd ever had on our horse racing jaunts, and we topped it off with the Nighthawk special at the downtown Lexington Columbia Steakhouse location.

While the day belonged to Dawn since we were celebrating her birthday, as Polar's car headed westbound on I-64 back toward Da Ville I began humming Ice Cube's Today Was A Good Day while pondering the wonderful one I'd had as well.

Notable African-American Transgender People

TransGriot Note:-This will be an ongoing project of the TransGriot Blog. Our transkids and our people need to know (along with the GLBT community in general) that there are African-American transpeople that are doing thangs.

And yeah, I have to humbly toot my own horn and add myself to this list as well. If you are aware of African-American transpeeps who are doing things that I may not have heard of, please do not hesitate to forward that info to me.

Justina Williams
Dr. Marisa Richmond
Dawn Wilson
Valerie Spencer
Miss Major

Jordana LeSesne
DJ Miss Honey Dijon
Sharon Davis
Tracy Jada O'Brien
Earline Budd

Lorrainne Sade Baskerville
Kylar Broadus
Rev. Joshua Holiday
Laverne Cox
Zion Johnson

The Lady Chablis
Tommie Ross
Sharyn Grayson
Stasha Sanchez
Domanique Shappelle

Octavia St. Laurent
Dionne Stallworth
Louis Mitchell
Cydne Kimbrough
Tona Brown

Isis King
Imani Henry


Our Continental African Transpeeps

Juliet Victor Mukasa
Mia Nikasomo
Barbara Diop
Nick Mwaluko


Our Deceased Transbrothers and Transsisters

Marcelle Cook-Daniels
James 'Sweet Evening Breeze' Herndon
Tyra Hunter
Alexander John Goodrum
Roberta Angela Dee

Cookie LaCook
Cathay Williams
Amanda Milan
Stephanie Thomas
Ukea Davis

Chareka Keys
Chanelle Pickett
Gabrielle Pickett
Rita Hester

A Day At The Races

As part of Dawn's birthday celebration (it was Sunday) I'm getting dressed and ready to roll with her and Polar to Lexington.

It's one of our traditions, and since the fall racing season has commenced at her favorite track, we're going to give Dawn the chance to go home, hang out with her friends and release her inner elitist by spending a few hours hobnobbing at Keeneland.

Tell y'all about it later.

Smith and Carlos- 40 years Later

Forty years ago today John Carlos and Tommie Smith stood on the Olympic medal platform to collect their gold and bronze medals for the 200 meter dash.

During that medal ceremony they both raised black gloved fists that turned an Olympic medal ceremony into an unforgettable moment of protest.

McAttacks, Obama Coolly Wins Debate

For its August 2008 issue Ebony Magazine put together a list of the 25 coolest brothers of all time. To no ones surprise, Sen Barack Obama made that list.

That cool served him well in this third presidential debate at Hofstra University. McCain had promised his supporters he was going to 'whip his you know what' and came out swinging.



But in the face of unrelenting attacks on him from John McCain in this debate, Obama was so cool that ice probably would have frozen to his forehead while smoothly countering the angry McAttacks. McCain either needed a overwhelming victory or a major gaffe from Obama and got neither.

Take that James T. Harris.

With 19 days to go it isn't looking good for Team McPalin. They are getting outgunned in the money raising game. They're being forced to defend traditional reliable GOP turf or fight tooth and nail for it. Obama's also blanketing the radio and TV airwaves in these various battleground states with ads and has plenty of cash to buy more.

Obama also has as an ace in the hole in terms of the 30 minutes of TV time he bought on CBS and NBC on October 29. If that date rings a bell, it's the anniversary of the 1929 stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression.

But 19 days is an eternity in politics. Anything can happen, but with the debates out of the way and Obama winning all three, it's looking better and better that he may have a new address after January 20.

Conservative Negroes, Please!

As Americans, whatever political philosophy you choose to espouse, that's on you. I don't have problems with people who consider themselves to be conservative, even if they are routinely on the wrong side of history. I have some as friends despite the fact we are in opposite political universes.

What I DO have a problem with is Negro conservatives.

They don't deserve to be called Black or African-American. I'm talking about the peeps like the Clarence Thomases and Ward Connerly's of the world who sell out their own people for personal gain.

Last week I got to witness the disgusting spectacle of seeing James T. Harris begging a man who has consistently graded 'F's' on the NAACP Civil Rights Report Card, who voted against the Martin Luther King holiday in 1986, do a 'Stepin Fetchit' imploring him to attack an biracial African-American poised to possibly win the presidency.

And for what? What the hell was going through his mind when he showed up at this Wisconsin town hall? Increasing the audience for his conservative radio talk show in Milwaukee and becoming the new Ken Hamblin?



Maybe it's the same thing probably going through Clarence Thomas' mind (if he has one) every time his self-hating azz votes on a Supreme Court case in lockstep with Antonin Scalia. Maybe it's the same strain of selfishness going through Ward Connerly's mind when he fights to shut down affirmative action programs after he benefited from them.

Maybe it's trying so hard to prove that you're a conservative you forget to look in the fracking mirror and consider the fact that you are supporting the failed policies of a political ideology that bamboozles poor and middle class white people to vote against their own economic interests by using fear of African descended people to promote acceptance of it.

Maybe it's trying so hard to be a conservative that you strain all pretense of being capable of rational intelligent thought when you write a column as Thomas Sowell did trying to compare Sen. Barack Obama to Hitler.

Maybe it's as Tara Wall and Amy Holmes used to make their living doing, being spokeswomen for a party that has hated on us, suppressed our votes and race baited us for 40 years.

One of the reasons I loathe Black conservatives is because they continue to demonstrate time and time again that they don't care about uplifting all African-Americans.

All they care about is expanding their bank accounts.

The Final Debate

Tomorrow night at Hofstra University is the last debate before we go to the polls on November 4.

The stakes couldn't be higher for John McCain.

He's trailing in critical battleground states, he's changed his message once again and he was forced to turn off the race-baiting part of the GOP 'Southern Strategy' when he started losing even more ground as a result of it.

McCain promised his supporters that he'd 'kick Sen Obama's derriere' in this last debate, but he hasn't done so in the previous two and we;ll definitely be watching to see if he can back up his trash talk or is just selling woof tickets again.

With 20 days to go, Sen. Obama is in an enviable position. He's starting to get newspaper editorial endorsements, he's forcing McCain to burn up money defending GOP turf and is raking in the cash.

His task in this final debate is to not make any mistakes. He must continue to look, act and sound presidential and be the cool brother we know he is. Since this debate is focusing on his strong suit, domestic issues, he gets to showcase that formidable intellect he has laying out his agenda for tackling our nation's economic problems.

It should be fun to watch.

Moni's Busy Weekend

If you've ever seen the voter's guides or voter cards that various organizations put together for election day and wondered how they came up with their endorsement lists, well I'm about to tell ya.

I'm on the board of a local GLBT org, and I've had a pretty hectic low sleep weekend. Over the last four days I've been helping get the interviews done so that C-FAIR can get its endorsements out in time for the upcoming 2008 election.

C-FAIR only deals with local and state races when we put together these recommendations. Louisville's power grid being down cost us a week in getting this done according to our original timeline.

But get it done we did. I ended up participating in four candidate interviews over two of my days off, with the first one happening just four hours after I got off from a 12 hour shift early Thursday morning. I was on call in case I was needed Saturday and attended a two hour meeting to mull over the endorsements yesterday.

While waiting for the interviews I'd agreed to participate in, I pored over the candidate questionnaires we received, their own campaign literature, their websites and whatever other information I could find out for these meetings so I could come up with cogent questions to ask. Some of the meetings are also opportunities to gather political intel that help us make future informed strategic policy decisions.

If you're from Da Ville, you'll have to check out the C-FAIR website and see who we endorse for the local races since due to confidentiality agreements I'm bound to can't tell you what we discussed.

What I can tell you is that the process was followed to the letter and on some of the races we had to debate and thoughtfully think about which candidate to endorse.

I and my fellow board members also wanted to make the point to candidates seeking our endorsement that even though we are a GLBT org, we aren't just focused on GLBT rights issues.

We are also a cross section of concerned citizens of this community who have interests encompassing a broad range of issues that go beyond GLBT concerns.

Was it worth it? If it helps one voter feel more comfortable, at ease, and empowered enough to head into the voting booth feeling they've cast an informed ballot, then giving up some of my time to help put these endorsements together is worth it.

2008 Canadian Party Leaders Debates

This is how they roll debate wise in the True North.

Palin Booed At Philly Hockey Game? You Betcha

The one thing about Philadelphia sports fans is that they have never been shy about letting their feelings be known.

Ask Santa Claus, Mike Schmidt, the Dallas Cowboys, Terrell Owens and the long list of people who've been booed by Philly sports fans.

Despite the best efforts of Faux News and the MSM to downplay it, Palin was resoundingly booed at the Philadelphia Flyers-New York Rangers season opener when the 'hockey mom' showed up with her daughters Willow and Piper to drop a ceremonial puck to open the game. Her youngest daughter Piper was clad in a black Flyers jersey.

Ironically, the player representing the New York Rangers was Alaska native Scott Gomez, one of the few Latino players in the NHL.

To a loud chorus of resounding boos and shouts of 'Obama' conveniently edited out of the MSM version of the story, their photo op turned into a nightmare for the McPalin team. Ed Snider, the Philadelphia Flyers owner has donated to the McPalin campaign and visited a Philadelphia bar last month with Caribou Barbie.



The booing was so loud that they cranked the music up to ear-splitting levels just to drown it out.

The NHL said it did not view the Flyers’ invitation to be politically motivated.

“Governor Palin is a supporter of the sport, which she has proclaimed publicly,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “As a public figure who has a very public connection with hockey, her recent associations with the Flyers and other NHL franchises is not surprising and, in our view, not inappropriate.”

Yeah, right. One of your owners donates cash to a political campaign, has a team in the largest city in a critical swing state and it's not political?

Sell those woof tickets to somebody that doesn't know better.

If The White Sheet Fits, John And Sarah....

The Repugnicans have their panties all in knots because civil rights icon and legend Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) called them out about their racist sliming of Sen Obama.

"George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who only desired to exercise their constitutional right."

He said McCain and Palin are "playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all."

McPalin responded by, get this, calling Rep Lewis' comments a character attack on him and demanded that Sen Obama repudiate the remarks.

Yeah right. But Johnny boy, when Rick Warren asked you who are the three wisest men you would rely on in an administation at August's Saddleback Forum, you said this:

"I think John Lewis. John Lewis was at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, had his skull fractured, continued to serve, continues to have the most optimistic outlook about America. He can teach us all a lot about the meaning of courage and commitment to causes greater than our self-interest."

So now that he's called you on your racism, he ceases to be a wise man?

Typical Republican BS. Like the political bullies they are, they like throwing shade and innuendo, especially since they have nothing to talk about, but can't take it.

So if the white sheet fits, wear it.

The GOP Natives Are Restless

As Barack's lead widens, and the news becomes more bleak for GOP candidates everywhere, the pent up anger is starting to manifest itself at GOP rallies for McPalin.

The racist rhetoric is beginning to fly, the old lies are resurfacing as John Sidney McCain III has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has no clue about the number one issue on the votes minds, the economy.

So the GOP is dipping into their favorite tactic when they're losing, slime your opponent, lie, and 'scurr' the white working class voters into voting against their own economic interests.



How long are they gonna get away with bamboozling and hoodwinking people?

The GOP's Bad Week

Sarah Louise Palin abused her power as Alaska governor when she had Walt Monegan fired as Alaska's Public Safety commissioner because he refused to terminate her trooper ex-brother in law.

Shoot, anyone with an IQ above 100 and a progressive blog could have told you that.

So the Troopergate report actually confirmed yesterday what we already know and suspected about Caribou Barbie. The mask is off and she has been revealed as just another hypocritical Bible thumping GOP idiot with delusions of national grandeur.

That giant sucking sound you hear is the McPalin campaign nosediving into defeat. That's on top of the news that the Dems may pick up the 60 Senate seats they need for a veto-proof majority in addition to possibly expanding their majority in the House.

The full figured opera singer is about to start singing arias.

While I'm ready to do the holy dance over this news, any urge to prematurely pop a champagne cork in celebration is tempered by the fact we have one more debate left to go on the 15th and twenty plus days until the election.

While I predicted months ago the McPalin peeps would race bait if they found themselves trailing in October, even I'm shocked and alarmed at the desperate level it's reached over the last week thanks to Sarah, McCain, Faux News and Elisabeth Hasselbeck stirring caca up.



I've heard other African-Americans distressed about the rising vitriol and the reports of African-Americans media people being verbally abused at McPalin rallies privately say the 'R' word if Obama is harmed (or God forbid killed) as a result of this dangerous political game you've been playing.



The point is GOPers, you're losing because the eight years of neo-Reaganomics has come back to bite you in the rear. You have played the race baiting card one time too many and your propensity to not deal with facts you don't like has brought you on the verge of political flat lining.

Conservatism is a political philosophy equivalent to communism. Any political philosophy that benefits only a narrow segment of adherents while screwing the vast majority of people is doomed to failure. You have had a mean spirited twenty plus year run of jacking up this country. It's time for it to end and it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of people.

The best part is the bankruptcy (pardon the pun) of conservatism is being exposed for the world to see.

You know, President-elect Barack Hussein Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama has a nice ring to it.

2008 Canadian National Elections

While channel surfing earlier tonight I stumbled across a CBC program called 'The Nation' being broadcast on C-SPAN. It was coming from a town library straddling the US-Canadian border in Quebec and compared and contrasted our two elections.

That's how I discovered we aren't the only peeps on the North American continent having elections this year. While much of the world's and our attention have been focused on our upcoming November 4 election, our northern neighbors are having their own pivotal election as well on October 14.

This Canadian election was necessary because of the dissolution of parliament on September 7, thus forcing new elections to be held.

As a child of historians, I've been fascinated by Canada ever since I noted that the African descended peoples of both nations share some interesting connections and parallels in our cultures despite being separated by the world's longest undefended border. It was also heightened by my fascination with a Afro-Canadian junior high classmate who was born in Calgary and lived there until he was eight.

For you Canadian politically challenged Americans, here's a quick primer on Canadian politics (Veronique, Renee and my other Canadian commenters please chime in on this where necessary)

Canada has a federal parliamentary system on the British model. It's a constitutional monarchy, composed of the Queen of Canada, who is officially represented by the Governor General (or by a lieutenant-governor at the provincial and territorial levels), and Parliament. The House of Commons has 308 seats directly elected by the people in national or by-elections at the provincial level. There is an upper chamber, the 105 member Canadian Senate.

The Constitution Acts of 1867 and 1982 set the maximum time between federal general elections at five years, except in time of real or apprehended war, invasion or insurrection. An election can also be called earlier than the five year period if the Prime Minister so chooses or if the Government is defeated on a motion of confidence in the House of Commons.

The Canadian Parliament just recently passed a bill implementing fixed election dates every four years on the third Monday in October starting in 2009, subject to an earlier dissolution of Parliament.

MP's represent a riding, which is akin to our congressional districts.

There are 15 registered political parties in Canada, but the three major political parties are considered to be the Conservatives, The Liberals and the New Democratic Party or NDP. There are other parties who are players in the Canadian Parliament such as the Bloc Quebecois, who are the heirs to the Quebec separatist movement and the Greens.

The Conservatives and PM Stephen Harper are currently running thangs in Canada pending the results of the October 14 election. Liberal leader Stephane Dion and NDP leader Jack Layton are vying in this election to deny the Conservatives (or Tories) the 155 seats they need for a clear majority of the parliament and replace him as prime minister.

BTW, if you're interested and seeing a different style of political debate, the Canadian leaders debates will be broadcast on C-SPAN.

So this political junkie, while she awaits her chance to weigh in our on national elections, will be keeping an eye on what's happening with our northern neighbors as well.

Reading

Hey peeps. I'm spending the day catching up on my reading. I have a ton of material I have to review in preparation for these C-FAIR candidate interviews I'm participating in.

There are also a few books I've checked out from the library that I want to take some time to read before I have to turn them in.

Will tell y'all all about it later

'Rednecks for Obama' Want To Bridge Culture Gap

'Rednecks for Obama' want to bridge yawning culture gap

by Michael Mathes Thu Oct 9, 9:50 AM ET

SAINT LOUIS, Missouri (AFP) - When Barack Obama's campaign bus made a swing through Missouri in July, the unlikeliest of supporters were waiting for him -- or rather two of them, holding the banner: "Rednecks for Obama."

In backing the first African-American nominee of a major party for the US presidency, the pair are on a grassroots mission to bridge a cultural gap in the United States and help usher their preferred candidate into the White House.

Tony Viessman, 74, and Les Spencer, 60, got politically active last year when it occurred to them there must be other lower income, rural, beer-drinking, gun-loving, NASCAR race enthusiasts fed up with business as usual in Washington.

Viessman had a red, white and blue "Rednecks for Obama" banner made, and began causing a stir in Missouri, which has emerged as a key battleground in the run-up to the November 4 presidential election.

"I didn't expect it would get as much steam and attention as it's gotten," Spencer told AFP on the campus of Washington University in Saint Louis, the state's biggest city and site of last week's vice-presidential debate.

"We believe in him. He's the best person for the job," Viessman, a former state trooper from Rolla, said of Obama, who met the pair briefly on that July day in Union, Missouri.

The candidate bounded off his bus and jogged back towards a roadside crowd to shake hands with the men holding the banner.

"He said 'This is incredible'," Spencer recalled.

It's been an unexpectedly gratifying run, Viessman said.

Rednecks4obama.com claims more than 800,000 online visits. In Denver, Colorado, Viessman and Spencer drew crowds at the Democratic convention, and at Washington University last Thursday they were two of the most popular senior citizens on campus.

"I'm shocked, actually, but excited" that such a demographic would be organizing support for Obama, said student Naia Ferguson, 18, said after hamming it up for pictures behind the banner.

"When most people think 'redneck,' they think conservatives, anti-change, even anti-integration," she said. "But America's changing, breaking stereotypes."

A southern comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, defines the stereotype as a "glorious lack of sophistication".

Philistines or not, he said, most rural southerners are no longer proponents of the Old South's most abhorrent ideology -- racism -- and that workaday issues such as the economy are dominating this year's election.

"We need to build the economy from the bottom up, none of this trickle down business," Spencer said. "Just because you're white and southern don't mean you have to vote Republican."

To an important degree, however, race is still the elephant in the polling booth, experts say, and according to a recent Stanford University poll, Obama could lose six points on election day due to his color.

Racism "has softened up some, but it's still there," Viessman acknowledged from Belmont University, site of Tuesday's McCain-Obama debate in Nashville, Tennessee.

Despite representing the heartland state of Illinois, and having a more working-class upbringing than his Republican rival John McCain, Obama has struggled to shoot down the impression that he is an arugula-eating elitist.

Surely he alienated many rural voters earlier this year when the Harvard-educated senator told a fundraiser that some blue-collar voters "cling to guns or religion".

But Viessman, who says he owns a dozen guns, said Obama "ain't gonna take your guns away."

The South traditionally votes Republican -- victories for southerners Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were exceptions -- but with less than a month to election day, four states in or bordering the South are considered toss-ups: Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia.

Viessman says he'd like to think his grassroots movement could sway enough people in small-town America to make a difference.

"There's lots of other rednecks for Obama too," he said. "And the ones that's not, we're trying our best to convince them."

Stop Hatin' On Tyra

Y'all know how much I love Tyra Banks. She was one of my role models when I was trying to sort out what type of sistah I wanted to project to the world. Watching her proudly strut the runways in trailblazing fashion back during the 90's also helped me get over my height hangup when I first began my transition.

Lately I've been seeing a lot of haters on The Net posting their snide comments toward my girl. I also noted that one of the main cheerleaders of the 'Hate on Tyra' crowd is none other than Janice Dickinson's silicone enhanced behind.

While you peeps keep swigging Hateraid from 55 gallon drums, peep the SECOND Emmy award she just picked up for The Tyra Banks Show in the 'Best Talk Show' category.



She's made it clear that she is a supporter of the transgender community, she's a proud African-American woman and outside of my mother, sister and various other women in my family she's an excellent person to emulate.

I also love the fact that the more people keep sleeping on this sistah, dissing her, underestimating her intelligence and drive, the higher she rises.

So y'all keep on hatin'. The Inglewood girl is surviving, thriving and well on her way to becoming the 21st century Oprah Winfrey.

2008 Amazing Philippine Beauties Press Launch

This is a transgender beauty pageant that hasn't been around as long as the more widely known Miss Tiffany Universe in Thailand or Chicago's Miss Continental, but has rapidly gained popularity in the pageant crazy Philippines and garnered worldwide media attention as well.

The press conference launching this year's edition of the pageant was held yesterday for the 6th annual Amazing Philippines Beauty Pageant. There will be 25 ladies competing to see who will succeed 2007 winner Rianne Barrameda, possibly represent the Philippines at the upcoming Miss International Queen pageant in Thailand and the slots in the Amazing Philippines Theatre Show that go with it.



The Amazing Philippines Theatre is modeled on the transgender cabaret shows of Thailand, but features homegrown Filipino and Filipina talent. The winner gets in addition to a cash prize a contract to perform in the show.





Like the Miss Tiffany's pageant has discovered over the course of its existence, the contestants have not only been beautiful, but increasingly have been drawing college educated contestants with talent as well.





The pageant will take place on October 24, and at that time the Philippines and the rest of the world will discover who the new Miss Amazing Philippines Beauty will be.

Lynda Carter To Caribou Barbie: You're No Wonder Woman

TransGriot Note:Philadelphia magazine recently interviewed Lynda Carter about her three week show at an Atlantic City casino. The interviewer asked a question about the comparisons that Repugnicans are making to Palin and the Wonder Woman character she played back in the 70's.

Needless to say Ms. Carter has very definite opinions about that.


PHILADELPHIA: Okay, last question. I'm sure you've seen all the comparisons in the media and among Republicans of Sarah Palin to Wonder Woman. How do you feel about that?

CARTER: Don’t get me started. She’s the anti-Wonder Woman. She’s judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they’ve got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness … that’s just not what Wonder Woman is about. Hillary Clinton is a lot more like Wonder Woman than Mrs. Palin. She did it all, didn’t she?

No one has the right to dictate, particularly in this country, to force your own personal views upon the populace — religious views. I think that is suppressive, oppressive, and anti-American. We are the loyal opposition. That’s the whole point of this country: freedom of speech, personal rights, personal freedom. Nor would Wonder Woman be the person to tell people how to live their lives. Worry about your own life! Worry about your own family! Don’t be telling me what I want to do with mine.

I like John McCain. But this woman — it’s anathema to me what she stands for. I think America should be very afraid. Very afraid. Separation of church and state is the one thing the creators of the Constitution did agree on — that it wasn’t to be a religious government. People should feel free to speak their minds about religion but not dictate it or put it into law.

What I don’t understand, honestly, is how anyone can even begin to say they know the mind of God. Who do they think they are? I think that’s ridiculous. I know what God is in my life. Now I am sure that she’s not all just that. But it’s enough to me. It’s enough for me to have a visceral reaction. And it makes me mad.

People need to speak up. Doesn’t mean that I’m godless. Doesn’t mean that I am a murderer. What I hate is this demonization of everybody but one position. You’re un-American because you’re against the war. It’s such bullshit. Fear. It’s really such a finite way of thinking about God to think that your measley little mind can know the mind of God. It’s a very little God that way. I think that God’s bigger. I don’t presume to know his mind. Or her mind.

Debates-Round Two

In a few hours Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama will conduct their second round of debates from the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, TN. While it's a town hall format and McCain's favorite debate format, the stakes couldn't be higher on the heels of a week in which the Dow dropped below 10,000 for the first time in four years and Sen. Obama starting to build an eight point overall national lead.

Most ominous to the McPalin campaign in addition to the lead that Obama's built up in the critical battleground states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania is that some of the GOP 'Solid South' is starting to slip. Virginia and North Carolina are beginning to lean to Obama in addition to Florida.

Other states that Bush took in 2004 such as Missouri, New Mexico, Colorado, Indiana and Nevada are either leaning Obama's way or are uncomfortably close



McCain's campaign is reeling thanks to his party's mismanagement of the economy, his attempt to rebrand himself and his intellectually challenged running mate as 'mavericks' has failed, and hot on the heels of his pullout in Michigan he's now resorting to a 'ramp up the negative attacks' strategy.

And every time the worst president in US history goes on TV, it helps Democrats everywhere.



While the trends are looking good for Team Obama, we still have four agonizing weeks to go. They also realize that another solid performance in this debate and the next one at Hofstra University on October 15 could set the stage for a Democratic landslide.

While I'll be stuck at work for this one, I will get an opportunity to watch the replay later.

Michelle Bruce Unanimously Wins Lawsuit

TransGriot Note: I had the pleasure of meeting Michelle at the 2004 SCC, and I was disappointed when she didn't get reelected to her Riverdale, GA city council seat. Michelle has the distinction of being the first open transgender person ever elected to public office.


Georgia Supreme Court rules in favor of transgender politician Michelle Bruce

Transgender Ga. official wins legal battle

Ga. transgender politician wins lawsuit that said she misled voters by running as a woman

GREG BLUESTEIN
AP News
Oct 06, 2008 12:47 EST

Georgia's top court ruled in favor of a transgender politician who was slapped with a lawsuit by two political opponents who claimed she misled voters by running as a woman.

The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous ruling on Monday found that the two political opponents who filed the lawsuit failed to produce evidence of fraud, misconduct or illegal action after claiming that Michelle Bruce bamboozled voters by identifying herself as female.

"This is a great victory for me and anyone who believes in equality," Bruce said in a statement. "It gives me hope that the Georgia Supreme Court did what was right and did not buy into hate-based politics."

Bruce, who was believed to be the state's first transgender politician, landed one of four council seats in Riverdale, Ga. in 2003. Running unopposed, she pledged to attract more jobs and residents to the struggling town 12 miles south of Atlanta.

Last year, however, three people signed up to run against her, and she failed to capture enough votes to avoid a runoff against second-place finisher Wayne Hall.

The third-place finisher, Georgia Fuller, and a candidate in another race, Stan Harris, filed a lawsuit after the primary that identified Bruce as "Michael" and sought a new election.

It's unclear whether most voters knew of Bruce's transgender status before the lawsuit was filed. She has declined to say whether she has had surgery but said she has always identified herself as transgender.

"I'm Michelle," she said when the suit was filed. "I'm the same Michelle they elected four years ago."

Hall won the runoff, and Bruce blamed the lawsuit for her defeat.

Meanwhile, the complaint made its way through Georgia's legal system. In its decision Monday, the court ruled for Bruce and concluded that "none of these alleged irregularities is specific enough to cast doubts" on the election.

Gay rights groups said the lawsuit appears to be a first in the country.

"I am not aware of any other case involving the issue of whether a transgender candidate is defrauding the citizens," said Cole Thaler, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a gay rights group.

Bruce's attorneys said they felt vindicated by the ruling.

Michael King, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said he was disappointed and surprised by the decision.

"We think there were significant irregularities and misconduct to reverse the election," he said.

Bruce, meanwhile, said she is now taking courses at an online law school and hopes to again serve the public as an elected official.

"I still have a dream to serve my community," she said. "And I'm not giving up."

___

On the Net:

Georgia Supreme Court: http://www.gasupreme.us

Republicans ARE Racists

If you Republicans are wondering why you had only 38 African-Americans out of 2080 delegates to your recent convention in St. Paul, while the Democrats had an all time high of 1500 at their convention in Denver (including the first African-American transgender delegate), just look in the mirror when you take your pointed hoods off.

While I know there are some good Republicans who are appalled and ashamed about this sorry state of affairs, you need to own your failure to stop the negative behaviors that were going on in your party apparatus.

If there was any question that the Republican Party stands for racism and bigotry and has for decades, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland's (R-GA) recent 'uppity' statement should have removed all doubt.

Party of Lincoln? More like the party of Jefferson Davis.

Now that the McPalin campaign is showing signs of going down in flames, their party's economic mismanagement chickens are coming home to roost sooner than they planned. Since their 'Guns, God and Gays' attacks aren't resonating with the public any more, and people are more 'scurred' of the economy than McPalin bellowing 'terrorist' at every speech, the only thing left in the GOP electoral dirty trick bag short of suppressing votes is hatin' on black people.

So why would any rational, proud, free thinking African-American (or any other person) consider joining this party?

I said rational, proud, free thinking African-Americans, not sellouts.

While I agree that African-Americans aren't monolithic in our thinking and need to be engaged in both parties, the historic agenda of lifting up all African-Americans come first, not selling out your people for your own personal gain.

And no, Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Alan Keyes and Thomas Sowell don't count as African-Americans. They can shuffle on back to the conservative plantation and serve their massas like they have for the last decade or so.

But back to the post.

Ever since Richard Nixon and the GOP concocted the 'Southern Strategy', GOP pols keep showing us their inner Klansman and keep making racist statements on a seemingly monthly basis.

That GOP racism keeps them in a perpetual state of barely disguised hostility that has them consciously and subconsciously acting in negative ways toward minority communities. Their arrogant, non-compassionate governance style generates policies, procedures and campaign tactics that are insensitive and harmful to minorities as well.

Even non-whites within the party, in their zeal to be 'more conservative than thou' are infected by the racism of the predominate ethnic group in the GOP. New Mexico's Bernalillo County GOP chair Fernando C. de Baca had to resign after making the now infamous 'Hispanics consider themselves above Blacks and won't vote for Obama' statement.



So no, you Republicans can't hide or spin this. Racism became part of your party's DNA when you clutched the Dixiecrats to your bosoms after the 1964 elections. If you'd been paying attention to my party's history with the Dixiecrats, you would have been leery of being associated with them. You wanted to win one for the conservative movement so badly you threw away your moral compass to do so.

Until the good Republicans get control of your party and turn it back to the principles that made it the 'Party of Lincoln', you will continue to see the numbers of African-Americans in your party ranks precipitously dwindle.

So if the white sheets fit GOP boys and girls, wear them.

You're Welcome, Sis

I was excited and happy to see as I checked my e-mail this morning one from Isis.

She thanked everyone for their support as she worked her butt off to win Cycle 11 of America's Next Top Model.

She mentioned that she'd had someone forward the open letter I wrote to her, had just read it and thanked me for writing it.

Well, sis. You're welcome. You are an inspiration to not only me, but the entire community. While we were disappointed in the outcome, it also taught us a bigger lesson.

We need to be proud of who we are and push to make our dreams come true. The more we just live our lives, the more that we'll roll back the negativity and ignorance that characterizes our relationships with the world.

We especially needed our fellow African-American people to see you and Laverne Cox. It lets people know that the stereotypes that are bandied about concerning African-American transwomen are predominately based on inaccurate and ignorant assumptions.

We African-American transwomen are beautiful, intelligent, proud of our heritage and wish to do our part to not only live quality lives but uplift our people as well.

Thanks to you and Laverne, that message may finally be getting through.


TransGriot Note: For those of you who are interested, here's the link to Isis' MySpace page.

Last Day To Register to Vote

Today is the last day you can register to vote in this historic and critically important election. If you're not registered to vote, please do so.

If you are, double check your registration, especially if you are in a state or jurisdiction with GOP registrars or secretaries of state to insure you haven't been involuntarily purged from the voter rolls.

And if you're lucky enough to be in an early voting state and have made up your mind about this election, vote.

Stuck On Stupid

One of the things that I have been frustrated as hell to watch over the last two decades is the GOP attack on intelligence for political reasons.

As someone who is a proud TK (teacher's kid), graduated from a gifted and talented high school and went on to college, I'm cognizant of and place high importance on education and my leaders being intelligent enough to handle the challenges of governing our country at the federal, state and local levels.

But one thing that has irritated me is this anti-intellectual strain that has been a cornerstone of the GOP rise to power over the last 20 years.

The Right Wing Noise Machine has convinced some Americans in their typical Orwellian way that being smart is bad and that being stupid qualifies you to occupy the highest office in the land. If anything, the last eight years have proven the folly of that pretzel logic.

George W. Bush brags about being a thank you lawdy C student at Yale. Sen. John McCain, who wishes to succeed him, graduated 894 out of 898 people in his 1958 Naval Academy class. Sarah Palin went to five colleges before getting her degree. Not only did she admit not knowing what the vice president does, she doesn't know much about geography, is ignorant about Supreme Court decisions, believes that dinosaurs walked the earth with humans and blames the 'liberal media' for making her look bad in her interviews.

And y'all want to know why our country and our economy is so jacked up?

That's why I'm ecstatic about having Barack Obama, a grad of Columbia, a summa cum laude graduate from Harvard Law and a constitutional law professor running for president.

I'm looking forward to seeing an Obama administration chock full of the best and brightest people our country has produced working to solve our nation's problems that have been allowed to fester and have gotten worse under GOP misleadership.

I'm looking forward to having a reality based foreign policy, reality-based information and reality based scientific research coming out of government agencies not dominated by neo-Luddites or GOP Know-Nothings.

If the last eight years have proven anything, it's that the 'there's no difference between the two parties' red herring has been thoroughly debunked. It has proven the value of having people in governmental positions based on knowledge and merit, not loyalty.

As the old saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. As a superpower, we should have been focusing more attention when it comes to electing a president about how smart they are, not whether we can drink a beer with them.

Frankly, instead of trashing people who run for public office, we need to go back to the old school way of defining it as the highest, most honorable calling for public service. Perhaps if we started paying more attention to peeps records instead of how telegenic they look, who ran the most negative campaign commercials or other superficial BS, then we'll get more intelligent folks to consider running for office

It's past time that we started encouraging our best and brightest people to get involved in government service. We need the 'A' students to start running thangs in the United States once again instead of people like the McPalin's of the world who are stuck on stupid.

A Day At The St. James Art Show

One of the things that I missed about home was the Westheimer Colony Art Festival which took place in the spring and fall in Montrose.

Back in 2001, I'd only been in Louisville for two weeks, was severely homesick, job hunting and depressed about my situation. Just to get me out of the house and change my routine, since it was the first weekend in October, Dawn and AC took me to Louisville's version of it, the St. James Court Art Show.

I got to wander around the several blocks of art, crafts and food vendors ensconced in this Old Louisville neighborhood and for a few hours forgot about my problems and how much I missed home.

When I attended the 2002 St. James I discovered another element of it. Since upwards of 200,000 people are walking around the area and it happens four weeks before election day, if you're running for political office, it's a must attend event. For several hours you get to press the flesh, meet the constituents, and have your staffers pass around stickers and sign up volunteers. You also get to chat with a wide demographic of peeps from Louisville and the surrounding area.

So since it was a gorgeous, sunny, cloud free 80 degree fall day, I decided to get out of the house and attend the 52nd annual edition of the show since I didn't go last year. I got out of bed, threw on my Obama shirt and jeans and rolled to Old Louisville to check out this year's edition of the St. James Art Show.

It's a prestigious, judged event that over 750 artists travel to Da Ville to participate in and sell their crafts. I didn't have any cash budgeted to buy stuff this year, but did for snacks. I ran into more than a few friends wandering around and the armies of volunteers working on behalf of the local, state and national politicians running for office.

As I ambled through the art show I noted I was getting either positive comments or thumbs up from a wide ethnic cross section of people about my Obama shirt. I also noted that the majority of people supporting the McPalin ticket and wearing Anne Throwup stickers were predominately white.

Anne Northup is trying to get back the congressional seat she held for ten years before she got her butt kicked by John Yarmuth in 2006. We've gotten light-years better representation in Congress since we got her Bush anus kissing butt out of there.

Dawn left the house at noon to attend the St. James and told me after I got back home that both were there in full effect.

I'd missed them by the time I arrived around 2 PM, but I killed two hours taking a leisurely walk around the hundreds of booths,sampling much of the wide variety of food available before I finally had enough and headed back to my Crescent Hill hood.

I am looking forward to next year's edition of the show and hope the weather is just as beautiful as it was today.

Happy 16th Wedding Anniversary Barack and Michelle!

On October 3, 1992 Barack and Michelle got married. 16 years and two adorable kids later Sen. Obama suspended his campaign for a day so that he could take his wife out to dinner in Chicago Saturday night to celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary.








Happy anniversary Sen. and Mrs. Obama! May you be celebrating your 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th wedding anniversaries at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

October 2008 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

It's a new month and that means it's time to head over to Electronic Villager, sit under the virtual baobab tree and wait for the Villager's October BBR's to come out.

As you regular TransGriot readers are aware, I've set the goals of cracking 150 on my Technorati ranking and being a BBR Top 50 ranked blog by January 1 (the 3rd anniversary of the TransGriot blog).

Then it's on to my 2009 goal of cracking the BBR Top 25 Blogs.

Speaking of the Top 25, Congrats to Renee, one of my regular commenters here and her Womanist Musings blog. She's on the verge of cracking the BBR Top 25 with this month's BBR ranking of 26.

So how did I do this month?

At the time the September BBR's were compiled, TransGriot was at Number 67 with a 133 Technorati ranking.

This month, out of the 1440 blogs that were part of the October BBR rankings, as of October 1, 2008 when these rankings were compiled, TransGriot is at number 70 with a 136 Technorati ranking.

Pam's House Blend is still the number one ranked Black blog.

I knew it was a matter of time before my meteoric progress toward the BBR Top 50 would slow down. I lost three spots BBR ranking wise, but did gain 3 points on the Technorati rankings. Being without Internet access for a few days didn't help either.

So instead of interpreting this situation as a negative, I'm looking at this as a glass half full scenario.

I'm only 20 spots away from cracking the BBR Top 50 and 14 points from reaching my goal of a 150 Technorati ranking.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I have a historic presidential race coming down to the wire to comment on. I'm going to be headed to Denver next month to be the keynote speaker at a gender conference on the CU campus in Boulder, and who knows what other exciting stuff is going to pop up in my life I can comment on.

And I still have twelve weeks to hit my goals.

Trans For Obama Effort

It's been past time for us to take the next steps in securing our rights. Lobbying legislators is only one part of that. You also have to reward your friends and defeat your enemies.

Since Sen. Barack Obama has stated over and over again his support for an inclusive ENDA, we need to donate cash to him so that he can successfully finish this last leg of the journey to the White House.

I've already started doing so by purchasing Obama gear directly from the campaign. No disrespect to you peeps trying to make a living with the cool street Obama shirts, but I want whatever dollars I spend on Obama gear to go straight to whipping McPalin behinds.

A campaign kicked off Monday organized by Helen Boyd and the Stonewall Democrats in which we transgender peeps and our allies have been donating funds to this ActBlue page for the Obama campaign. As of this writing it has garnered 283 donors and $13,145 dollars.

But we could always use more.

When the Purple One says 'we haven't been educating Congress', what he means in Washingtonspeak is that the transgender community hasn't been handing them checks for their reelection campaigns.

Yo Barney, when you quit cutting my people out of ENDA you might see some of this 13K on the regular that's going to Obama. We reward friends, not 'frenemies'.


So if you could just give up $5 or whatever you can spare, it would go a long way toward ensuring your civil rights and send the message that we're not only here, we support our friends as well. For our allies, you send the vitally important message that you believe that civil rights for your fellow transgender citizens is important as well.

One Month To Go

We are 30 days away from the most important presidential election in my lifetime. This election will basically set the tone for how things will go in the Unites States for the next four years.

The choices haven't been this stark since 1980. We can either elect Barack Obama and begin to reverse the horrible Bush policies of the last eight years and restore our tarnished reputation in the world, or we elect John McCain and continue the path to also ran status as a nation.

Fortunately the reality based part of the American electorate is leaning toward Obama. Even hard core Republicans are repulsed at just how badly this country has fared under Bush and are now feeling it in their wallets thanks to the economy tanking.

It has laid bare the failures of conservatism and Republican laissez faire policies for all to see.

Early voting has begun for people in several states, and I hope to see lines on election day as long as the ones South Africans stood in for their 1994 elections that catapulted Nelson Mandela to the presidency.

I also hope and pray that Nelson Mandela is blessed to see we Americans elect an eminently qualified man of African descent to become our leader as well.

But we still have a month to go and two debates left. The GOP isn't going to go down without a mudslinging, vote suppressing, dirty tricks laden fight. This next five weeks is going to be the hardest and most nerve racking part of this historic journey.

What keeps me motivated is visualizing November 4 and imagining what will happen when the announcement is finally made on Election Night when he has passed the magic 270 electoral vote mark and there is a sea of blue on a map of the USA indicating he's won.

Shoot, I already know what will happen. We'll be partying like it's 1992.

Where Africa?

From African Path - Minneapolis, MN,USA
October 02, 2008 08:23 AM

By Mia Nikasimo

Africa, my Africa! Where are the people of the LGBTIQ of African origin be that Africans in Africa or those in the Diaspora? Wherever you are, this clarion call is what has led me to create the trans-group known as, "Transafro," which can be found on Facebook.

Although the continent of Africa seems caught up in a "conditioned consumerist mindset" there is more to the continent than this narrow extrapolation of the rich and diverse continent. One of the daily attacks on African transpeople is the regular attempts by our own kin to erase our experience out of hand. Instead of trying to understand us as part of the diversity of African life, they wantonly exclude us.

Why? If some comments I received off the back of Trans-homosexuality are anything to go by, then I'd say because lots of Africans do not know much about human sexuality beyond their own experience which is often hetero-normative in form. What about us? I remember telling an acquaintance that I am a translesbian once and she mouthed the insult, man! I still find this laughable even today. If you think that a
transperson that has transitioned from being male to female is a man any more than one that transitions from being female to male is still a woman? You will be appallingly wrong. The correct specifications are: Mtf=woman and Ftm=man; it is time to rethink the delusion of conditioned usages of language. Although this is not an academic thesis it is helpful to contemplate the impact of this kind of language from the simple standpoint of existential expression/narrativ e and how we are all affected by its use.

I have to say that I have not been in Africa for over two decades or so now. Although, I feel connected to my trans brothers and sisters both in Africa and those, like me, caught in the Diaspora for a plethora of reasons one of which is our actual trans-status and or our sexual orientations (gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same thing, contrary to what so many people assume!) Our status makes it difficult for us to return to the old continent if we value our own wellbeing or even our lives in most cases.

I transitioned first verbally as early as four years old albeit without knowing what gender identity was about because the gender-script we were given had such rigidity enshrined in it. However transition did not end there. At the age of nine I came out to my brothers whose shock minded me of the dangers of talking freely about my gender identity in Africa. I took solace in silence… This does not mean I gave up on my conviction nor did it have anything to do with how I dressed or how I expressed myself.

The next time I broached the subject, I was thirty five but I soon found even Europeans were not fully aware of gender identity as oppose to fixed gender roles. My psychosexual therapist prejudiced in her conditioned stupor forgot the integrity of her profession and said, "go back to those friends you moved away from, get a girl pregnant and get on with it!" to my consternation.

It took me another eight years to talk to anyone about my intentions. During that time, I did a Masters of Art degree in Creative Writing and gradually found the courage to speaking again albeit through the medium of writing. "I'm going to change my sex," I said to a girlfriend of mine back then -an Asian Muslim woman secretly scared of an impending arranged marriage that awaited her. I felt for her but had to respect her need for life somewhat complicated by the cultural demands. Could I do otherwise, she was respecting of my needs without knowing the first thing about transsexuality not to mention how we fit and embrace our evolving sexualities. At the time, I was still unaware of the trans-lingo but I remained adamant that I was going to transition physically. She thought I was courageous to tell a person I
hardly knew that I intended going through with such a life changing procedure but I had to tell someone. A year later, I spoke to my GP about my intension and he made an appointment for me to see a counsellor.

Eventually, I ended up at the York clinic with a simple question: "what is the demographic uptake of transitioning? " The response I got was insulting. The consultant merely fobbed me off by the suggestion that an African psychiatrist would be made available to me. What's new there, I thought?

However, the response to my question has not dampened my interest in finding an answer to it. Rather it has helped me hone my interest in African transitionees. The question I ought to have asked was this: "Are there any transpeople of African descent? What support measures are there? If there are any African transpeople, how can I best make contact with them?" I know the answer to these questions now. I do not think we need to wait for the advice of the psychosexual elite to tell us how we must love, dress and socialise. I'm hoping with time TRANSAFRO will aid us in our efforts to change attitudes.

Four or five years later, with a healthy cocktail of oestrogen and real life experience which involved wearing what are traditionally assumed to be women's clothing in which I felt comfortable I found my own gender expression. Africans might call it "unisexed" but I call it androgynous. On the 24th of June, 2005, I went under the surgeon's scalpel. When I woke up from the heavy sedation I had returned home.

There was nothing to hide any more. I was a woman from that moment on.
I kept my hair short as always and on my final day on the now defunct ward eight, I decided to wear some make up and dress femininely for a change. Some of the people that had distanced themselves from me as I recovered saw the woman I was and warmed to me. Was I seeking that sort of approval? Not quite, let it suffice to say I knew what they wanted to see, and their responses only went to confirm my suspicions.
However, in the end, I have to be the person I am, giving into bullies has never done it for me.

Watch this space…

Copyright © 2008 African Path. All rights reserved.

KK Logan Case Moves Forward

Remember transgender Gary, IN high school student K.K. Logan, who was barred from the senior prom by the principal for wearing a dress after wearing female attire during her entire junior and senior year at West Side High School?

On December 12, 2007 K.K. filed a lawsuit with the help of Lambda Legal. The case will now go to trial after defense motions to dismiss the case were denied in federal court.


GARY, IN — Late last week the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana denied Gary high school’s motion to dismiss a case brought by transgender former student K.K. Logan, a feminine male who was barred from prom because he wore a dress.

“We are thrilled that K.K. Logan will have a day in court, and that the school’s discriminatory policies can be challenged,” said Jim Madigan, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office in Chicago.

The court held that Logan may challenge the dress code policy as a violation of the First Amendment rights of all Gary students.

In December 2007, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of K.K. Logan challenging a Gary School Corporation policy barring clothing that advertises sexual orientation or indicates that a student’s gender is different from the student’s sex. Logan argues that the policy violates students’ First Amendment freedom of expression. Logan also claims that his exclusion from prom constitutes discrimination on the basis of gender. West Side High School filed a motion to dismiss the case in February 2008 leading to today’s ruling.

Students and teachers knew that K.K. Logan was gay for years. During his senior year, Logan attended West Side High expressing a deeply rooted femininity in his appearance and demeanor. At school, Logan wore makeup, accessories and clothing typically associated with girls his age.

However, on May 19, 2006, Principal Diane Rouse stretched her arms across the door of the senior prom, blocking Logan’s entrance because Logan was wearing a dress. Classmates and friends rallied to Logan’s defense to no avail—even though a female student was allowed to attend dressed in a tuxedo.

Principal Rouse enforced a Gary School Corporation policy that forbids any clothing or accessories that “advertise sexual orientation” or “portray the wearer as a person of the opposite gender.”

The case will proceed to trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

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

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

VP Debate Blowout?

Tonight we get to watch the only vice presidential debate from the campus of St. Louis' Washington University. And if expectations hold to form, it will be Sen. Joe Biden taking Gov. Sarah Palin to school on the big leagues of national politics.

The Rethuglicans are already trying to lower the bar for their not ready for prime time political Barbie doll. They're trying to whine that Gwen Ifill, tonight's moderator for the debate is biased. They're trying to paint the picture that mean ole Joe Biden and the 'liberal media' is gonna ambush and beat up on poor little Sarah.

Spare me that bull feces, okay?

The bottom line is that the conservative darling and paragon of 'small town values' is George W. Bush in drag. She's a politician who left her high heel pump prints all over her Alaskan GOP rivals and I don't underestimate her. She needs to be smacked down and shown to be the unprepared, unfit for national office fundamentalist idiot she is.

Palin may be a representative for conservative white women, but I would submit that there are sizable segments of the American population that look at her and are appalled by what they see.

Sen. Biden on the other hand has to be careful not to come off as condescending or arrogant while he rips her butt to shreds with a smile on his face every time she makes a gaffe.

But as a sports junkie I'm aware that predictions don't necessarily play out when you play the game. Ask the New England Patriots about that.

Whatever happens, people will be watching. 52 million tuned in for the first presidential debate between Sen. Obama and Sen McCain. This one has the potential to become the most watched vice presidential political debate since 57 million people watched the faceoff between George H.W. Bush and Geraldine Ferraro back in 1984.

So I'm popping the popcorn, have the pop chilling in the refrigerator and will have the TV tuned in to watch the debate that starts at 9 PM EDT.

What Obama Running For President Means To Me

TransGriot Note: The post I wrote for 'Trans For Obama' Blog week.


We are less than 33 days from Election Day and I'm cautiously optimistic that I will see a historic event take place on November 4.

But this journey for me has been (and still is) a mind blowing, emotional roller coaster ride as a proud, politically aware transgender African-American. I'm saddened that my grandmother Tama isn't here to witness it, but I'm savoring every delicious historical moment as it unfolds.

Almost 400 years after the first Africans arrived here in North America, a man who is the son of a continental African may be on the verge of becoming the first United States president of African descent. And as Dr. King foresaw it, the African-American vote will play an important, if not decisive role in that happening.

For the first time in my life I have seen someone of my ethnic heritage run and have a legitimate shot at taking the oath of office on January 20.

Yes, Rep. Shirley Chisholm, Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. have run and paved the way for this moment in time, but this presidential run with Sen. Barack Obama is fundamentally different.

It's one time I will happily say (and will write the post on November 5 if it plays out) I was wrong about an issue. I've always told friends that I believed the United States was too obstinately racist to ever put in my lifetime an African-American man in the Oval Office. I've always believed for that reason the first African-American president would be a woman rather than an African-American man.

Enter a first term senator from Illinois with a funny name who began this race with far more support from white Americans that he had from African-Americans. I myself only made my decision to support him in the Democratic primary on January 1, only a few days before the Iowa caucuses.

I watched Sen. Obama's 2004 Democratic convention speech in Boston and began to do research about him at that time. The more I read and heard about him, the more I liked him. As someone who grew up being represented by great orators with substance like Rep. Barbara Jordan and Gov. Ann Richards, I was hungry for that type of visionary, morally principled leadership once again. I also longed to have a leader that I could unconditionally be proud of. I wanted a leader that represented me in which I didn't have to cringe every time he or she opened their mouths or expressed pride at being anti-intellectual.

Basically, I support Barack Obama not because he shares my ethnic heritage, it's because I was hungry for and wanted someone smarter than me in the Oval Office to handle the serious problems and challenges this country faces. Hell, intelligence is a primary criteria in ANY politician I elect to office.

This race, if it continues to a successful conclusion on November 4, will also fundamentally alter the way that African-Americans look at ourselves and our long tortured relationship with this country. It has already had a positive effect on some African-American men in that they're standing a little taller these days. Black women and girls see in Michelle Obama, the potential First Lady, someone like themselves.

If he pulls this off with the help of the reality-based thinking electorate tired of the last eight years of Bushit, no longer will an African-American kid have to wrestle with the contradiction of being told that you can be anything you want to be in this country, then be told in the same breath you can't be president.

Political junkie that I am, I get excited about but don't get too emotionally invested in many political campaigns. But when I saw this race unfold and realized that this man actually had a legitimate shot at win the Democratic nomination, win this election and move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I got jazzed and excited about a candidate in a way I haven't since Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential run and Lee Brown's 1997 run for Houston mayor.

I cried tears of joy the night I watched Sen. Obama's nomination acceptance speech in Denver and if the positive trends continue, my tear ducts are in for an additional workout between now and January 20.

This race has already helped foster frank cross cultural discussion that we have long needed to have in the States about various issues including race.

It has helped begin to tear down some of the centuries old stereotypes that are being disproven every time Barack stands there at a podium giving a stump speech, is thoughtfully giving an interview or holding his own in a debate. It's also cool that he has by his side in Michelle a strong, proud, educated, statuesque African-American woman from Chicago's south side with two adorable kids. That's blowing away stereotypes about Black women and the Black family as well

I believe that Barack Obama has that rare combination of skills, abilities and life experiences that give him a chance to be an outstanding president at a time when our nation sorely needs one. This is a man who not only graduated from Columbia and cum laude from Harvard Law, he taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. His time as a community organizer and growing up with a single mother gives him an insight and sensitivity to the issues that ordinary working class Americans face. Being biracial also gives him insights into both sides of the racial divide in this country as well.

As a trailblazer who was the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review, and now the first African-American to win a major party presidential nomination, he understands the unique pressures and attention that being a 'First Black' can bestow upon you and the magnified expectations they bring.

And most importantly to me as a transgender African-American, he wants an ENDA that is fully inclusive. It was the decisive factor in why I chose to support him over Sen. Hillary Clinton.

It's also been quite a while since we've had an American leader who has captivated and caught the world's attention. It makes me exceedingly proud when I read the accounts from all over the globe that various world leaders like him and that citizens of other countries (and our own) are hoping and praying this man, one who shares my ethnic heritage, becomes the 44th president of the United States.

It's not only African descendants here in the States who are standing a little taller these days, but our pride in how well he's doing also extends across the African diaspora to Kenya and across the African continent

A presidential campaign is a marathon, and to borrow a metaphor from the Boston Marathon, we're now approaching Heartbreak Hill. We have two more presidential debates and the vice presidential one left to go along with 30 plus days of hard fought campaigning. While I'm nervous about how the rest of this month will unfold, I'm cautiously optimistic as well. I'm beginning to have the audacity of hope that he will be standing on the Capitol steps on January 20 taking the oath of office as president.

It's been a long time in the African-American community since we've produced this type of leader. I and other African-Americans are hoping and praying that we'll happily get to share President Obama with America and the rest of the world for the next four years and beyond.

Happy Birthday NASA!

Today is NASA's 50th birthday. A Cold War baby spurred by the October 4, 1957 launch of the Russian Sputnik satellites and their progressively heavier siblings, it spurred congressional hearings and the rapid consolidation of a coalition of scientific, military, and political leaders for the establishment of an agency to coordinate space activities in the United States.

On October 1, 1958 the agency opened for business after the passage of the National Aeronautics and Space Act by Congress and it being signed into law by President Eisenhower on July 29, 1958.

Section 102 of the Space Act laid out the goals for the nascent organization:

1. The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space;

2. The improvement of the usefulness, performance, speed, safety, and efficiency of aeronautical and space vehicles;

3. The development and operation of vehicles capable of carrying instruments, equipment, supplies, and living organisms through space;

4. The establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to be gained from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved in the utilization of aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes;

5. The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical and space science and technology and in the application thereof to the conduct of peaceful activities within and outside the atmosphere;

6. The making available to agencies directly concerned with national defense of discoveries that have military value or significance, and the furnishing by such agencies, to the civilian agency established to direct and control nonmilitary aeronautical and space activities, of information as to discoveries which have value or significance to that agency;

7. Cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to this Act and in the peaceful application of the results thereof;

8. The most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States, with close cooperation among all interested agencies of the United States in order to avoid

NASA has not only fulfilled those objectives, it has done so in sometimes spectacular fashion. Only 11 years after NASA's birth Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were walking on the Moon.

If there's one consistent thread in my life, it's NASA. Being born in Houston, I'm a rabid space junkie because the space program has always been a presence in my life on one level or another.

Alan Shepard's May 5, 1961 suborbital flight happened 364 days before I was born. The Mercury and Gemini missions happened during my infant and toddler years. Thanks to the Apollo program I was an excited soon to be third grader watching on July 20, 1969 with the rest of the planet Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the Moon and had a few Saturday morning cartoon watching sessions interrupted by subsequent moon missions. I can't count how many field trips I took or times we took out of town relatives with regularity to the Johnson Space Center down in Clear Lake.

Skylab was the thrust of the program during my teen years and after writing and being one of my junior high school's winners of a NASA sponsored essay contest, I had the pleasure of meeting the first group of African-American shuttle astronauts.

I've watched the ups and downs of the shuttle program during my college and young adult years from the tragedy of two shuttles being lost in 1986 and 2003 to the launch of various space probes, the Hubble Space Telescope and the building and expansion of the International Space Station.

It's interesting that as NASA turns 50, we have another Communist nation aggressively pushing to establish itself in space. The Chinese launched their first manned mission in 2003 and have a goal of building a space station by 2012 and putting a man on the moon by 2020. They just recently completed a three man mission that featured a taikonaut emerging from their space capsule to do their first spacewalk.

In the meantime, the Space Shuttle will be retired in 2010 and its successor won't even be flight tested until 2015. NASA is considering building a moon base, but the question is will the anti-science Luddites in the GOP even allow funding for it?

Maybe competition from the Chinese will be just the tonic NASA and elements of the American public need to remind us that we didn't become the preeminent scientific power by being timid about space exploration, and that much of the technology, improved satellites, scientific knowledge and medical advances that we enjoy now came out of NASA research and the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs.

Competition is always healthy, and if it gets NASA off the sidelines and back in the game of manned spaceflight pushing for manned mission to Mars and beyond, then that's all good too.

For the human race to survive and thrive, we will have to start exploring and establishing habitats on other worlds, and the sooner we do it, the better.