Get Real

TransGriot Note: In honor of Black Music Month, it's time for another song rewrite.

This one's dedicated to the WWBT's, our community's haters. So fire up those iPod's and sing along with the fresh new lyrics



Get Real
(sung to the tune of 'I'm Real' by James Brown.

All you copy cats out there
Get offa my chip
'Cause I'm Moni R with the full, full force
Ain't takin' your lip

Hi, good God
Moni R, Moni R

Peeps in the blogosphere, check out what I say
The WWBT's think they're bad
They're delusional that way

I'm the cool transsistah
Who started TransGriot and I'm glad
I'm the award winning, original
I know I'm bad

All you assorted haters, bitin' me so hard
Posting clueless racist nonsense on your so called blogs
I don't care about you, or your ludicrous goal
This transwoman's Brown and Moni's got soul

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
And there's no WWBT good enough
Or has the juice I have

Get real
I'm the real super bad
And there's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Que pasa, que que pasa
Que pasa, people, que pasa, hit me

The WWBT haters think that they got pull
I take your links off my blog posts
Cause you're full of bull

You peeps denigrate me
In your cyberhomes
And falsely claim I'm racist
Yo bitches, now it's on

Can't do what I do
You latte sippin' girls
Peeps know I'm nice, I'm so real
You wanna be me, boo

All you copy cats out there
Get offa my chip
'Cause I'm Moni R with the full, full force
Ain't takin' your lip

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Get real
I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Peeps, can I take you to the bridge
Can I take you to the bridge?
Can I take you to the bridge?
Can I take you to the bridge?
Good God

There it is, WWBT's
Someday you might be good as me
You tramps ain't smart enough to rhyme
What's your Technorati? Minus three?
Admit it, I'm your mama, baby

Get real
Come on y'all, do the camel walk
And get the hop out your back, hit me

Get busy, yeah, make it funky
Hit me, get on the good foot
Hit me, get up
Cool time, papa got a brand new bag

Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There'a no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
No WWBT out there
No WWBT out there

No WWBT out there
No WWBT out there

Get real, Get real
I'm the real super bad, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT out there
That has the skillz I have

No Joke, It's FINALLY Senator Franken!

Almost eight months and two recounts after the 2008 election, the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out Norm Coleman's last ditch legal Hail Mary to overturn the electoral will of the people.

The Minnesota Supreme Court earlier today ordered that Democrat Al Franken be certified as the winner of the state's long-running Senate race.

Franken won the razor thin race by 318 votes, and he graciously embraced his hard fought victory at a press conference.

It means that Franken will become the junior senator for the state of Minnesota Minnesota. It also means the Dems have the magic 60 votes they need to shut down filibusters.

And not a moment too soon.

With critical votes coming up on health care, energy policy, ENDA and hate crimes, and the upcoming Sotomayor confirmation hearings, Sen. Franken will definitely be welcomed with open arms by his Democratic colleagues.

President Obama said in a statement, "I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity by lowering health care costs and investing in the kind of clean energy jobs and industries that will help America lead in the 21st century."

Congratulations Sen. Franken. Today Paul Wellstone and Hubert Humphrey are smiling. May you serve the people of Minnesota and our country ably and well.

It's About the Team USA 'Menz'

Still thinking about that heartbreaking loss the Team USA men suffered Sunday at the hands of Brazil after being up 2-0 at halftime.

It would have been fun to see Team USA shock the world again, but hey, we're talking about five time World Cup champion Brazil here.

We're playing a nation where soccer is life and they gripe about poor international soccer performances and losses like we did when either the Team USA men or women screw up in international basketball competition.

The Team USA men have nothing to be ashamed of. They played hard for 90 minutes and gave it their all. It just wasn't enough. The Brazilians have much game.

It was also another step on the long road in the Team USA men's quest to become consistent contenders in world football competition.

It was a remarkable run as well as being a learning experience for our international footballers. I also like the fact they were pissed they lost. One of the signs that they are improving is they want to win and feel they can compete with the elite level programs.

Hopefully the next time they're in a set piece situation like that, they'll remember what happened in Johannesburg that night, have the confidence in themselves and their teammates to know they can withstand the pressure, and every player will mark their man close enough to smell his cologne.

The Tell It WOC Speak Blog Carnivals

I decided I wanted to talk about for a moment the Tell It WOC Speak Blog Carnivals.

I participated because it's a great way to get new people exposed to my writing that may not have ever heard of TransGriot, nor may ever pass by this blog otherwise. I've gotten some dedicated readers from it as a result of my involvement in this carnival.

It was also an honor to me personally that I was invited to do so, and one of my posts was the featured one for the February edition.

It did bother me though that there wasn't enough participation from WOC bloggers for whatever reason, but I looked at it as their loss because they didn't seize the opportunity to promote their work to a wider audience.

But at the same time, by not participating, those peeps who declined to do so were silencing their own voices in addition to denying themselves access to the rest of the Netizens.

So if you wish to check out the previous carnivals, here's the link to the website that hosts it.

Happy Birthday, Lena Horne!

You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way.

Today is Lena Horne's 92nd birthday. This iconic beauty was born in New York on this date in 1917.

Her civil rights chops were nurtured by her activist grandmother, who took young Lena with her to the NAACP, the Urban League and the Ethical Culture Society meetings.

Lena began working at Harlem's Cotton Club when she was 16. She was a dancer first, then she became part of the chorus and later a solo singer.

She branched out and began singing with orchestras, and was discovered while singing with white orchestra leader Charlie Barnet. Lena then began playing clubs in Greenwich Village and performed at Carnegie Hall.

Beginning in 1942 Lena Horne appeared in films, broadening her career to include movies, Broadway and recordings.



My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.







Lena Horne was the favorite pinup girl for Black GI's serving during World War II. She is not only an iconic beauty to our people, she was a passionate civil rights warrior. She has been honored with dozens of awards for her lifetime of success and service to her people.



When I grow up, I want to be just like her. Aging gracefully and regally while still speaking truth to power.

Happy birthday, Lena!

A Note To The World-We DO Play Football In The States!

TransGriot Note:My latest piece for Global Comment

To the average American sports fan, football is played with two eleven member teams of massive men struggling to score with an oblong ball on a striped 100 by 53 yard field with U-shaped goalposts at either end.

The Canadian version is played with twelve men and an oblong ball on a longer and wider field. The Aussies play their eighteen man version of what they call 'footy' on a field with an oblong ball as well with four goalposts on either end.

To the rest of the planet, football (or soccer as we call it here in the States, Canada and Australia) is played with two eleven player teams of either men and women battling to kick a round ball into a netted goal on a variable 100–110m by 64-75m pitch.

Oh yeah, national pride and sporting prestige is on the line as well.

No pressure!

Every four years the pressure and fan frenzy gets ratcheted up another level when international football supremacy is up for grabs in the FIFA World Cup.

The Olympics, World Cup qualifiers, or major FIFA international tournaments such as the Confederation and Gold Cups also grab the attention of die hard football fans, yet most sports fans in the USA are rather ho-hum about it.

But as a US sports fan, I have to give kudos to the first men's USA football team to ever qualify for a FIFA tournament final.

That's the extent of the good news for American football fans. The bad news is they were playing the mighty Brazilians, who knocked off the host South Africans 1-0 in the other semifinal match.

Team USA took a surprising 2-0 lead into halftime before the Brazilians woke up and scored three second half goals to capture the 2009 Confederations Cup tournament title in South Africa.

The Confederations Cup is held every four years and includes the winners of various continental tournaments plus the host nation of the upcoming World Cup. Team USA qualified because they won the CONCACAF region championship in 2007.

Many world football fans are still shocked that Team USA knocked off FIFA number one ranked Spain 2-0 June 24 to reach the finals of this tournament in South Africa.

But if world football fans had been paying attention, it really shouldn't have been. Team USA is currently in second place in the CONCACAF region and in a great position to qualify for next year's World Cup competition in South Africa.

However, they have a critical August 12 qualifying match with the Tricolores in Mexico City, where they are 0-11-1 all time.

As evidenced by their performance in this tournament, Team USA over the last few years has been making groundbreaking strides in recent international competitions.

But the Team USA men aren't playing just for the respect of the football world or moral victories any more, they want to win.

Team USA's Landon Donovan stated as much in an ESPN interview conducted moments after their disappointing 3-2 loss to Brazil.

But the interesting thing to me as a US sports fan is that the usual sporting script is flipped. It's the FIFA world number one ranked Team USA's women footballers who get the media attention and love, not the men.

The Team USA women rock.

They are the two time Women's World Cup champions (1991, 1996) and were runners up in the 2000 final. They are three time Olympic gold medalists in 1996, 2004 and 2008. They are one of the teams favored to take home the championship in the Women's World Cup tournament being hosted by Germany in 2011.

The USA men are trying to step up to that level. Their FIFA world ranking has climbed to number 14 from their FIFA 28th world rankings a year ago. After failing to do so in 1998, Team USA qualified for the 2002 and 2006 World Cup competitions. They made a remarkable run in the 2002 tournament but fell to Germany 1-0 in the 2002 quarterfinals.

They qualified for the 2008 Beijing Games after failing to do so in 2004 and finishing fourth in 2000.

Read the rest here.

Meeting Sylvia Rivera

When I took a vacation trip to New York back in 2000, little did I realize that I would get a chance to meet a historic figure at the same time.

It was back during my NTAC days and the same weekend as the Millennium March. I had no intention of going to DC because the trans community was dissed and ignored in the planning for the march, then had Riki Wilchins and Jamison Green as late additions to the list of speakers when other transpeeps griped about HRC's 'bidness' as usual ignore the trannies approach to community event planning.

That's a story for a later post

Since I was in the Big Apple I was invited by the denizens of Transy House to meet some of the peeps living there.

One of those peeps as I discovered two hours into the visit was Sylvia Rivera.

Thanks to my dad's job and my then airline one I was used to meeting historical figures, celebrities, public/political figures and icons. It really didn't faze me that I was meeting the Mother of the Transgender Rights movement.

After I received a big hug from her and she had a chance to eat something, we started talking. Sylvia carried herself with a regal elegance, and she was ever the activist. We discussed in a long conversation the state of the trans movement, especially after she discovered I wasn't bamboozled by HRC either and couldn't stand Jim Fouratt's transphobic behind.

We had a long conversation about her Gay Liberation Front days, STAR (the first political organization for transgender rights in the world), the chopping of transpeople from New York City's gay rights bill in 1971 that failed to pass, some of the drama and hateraid that was directed her way when the gay community ejected her, Marsha P. Johnson and our transsisters out of the GLF in order to appear more 'mainstream', and her adamant belief that we needed to do more as transpeople to fight for our rights and ensure we weren't erased from GLBT history.

When Sylvia discovered I was a proud Texan, she started criticizing President Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War.

I politely pointed out that as an African-American transperson from the Lone Star State I have a much higher opinion of LBJ. I also pointed out that an Austin high school and NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston are named for him, an Austin radio station bears his initials in addition to his presidential library (which I've visited) being ensconced on the University of Texas campus.

We agreed to disagree on that subject.

It was a little past midnight before we wrapped up the conversation. I ended up staying overnight at Transy House because I was staying in Yonkers with a friend and would have had a long crosstown subway and commuter rail ride there from Brooklyn through Manhattan in the wee hours of the morning. Once I arrived at the Yonkers train station, it would be a 30 minute walk to my friend's condo from the station unless their was a cab parked there. I also wasn't sure if the commuter rail trains were still running all the way to Yonkers that late either.

I was planning to return to expand on our conversations, but my life took a different direction several months later. Sylvia died way too soon in 2002 from lung cancer at age 50. I smiled when I heard that even on her deathbed, she was giving the powers that be hell.

One thing I've regretted over the years is that I didn't have a tape recorder or a notepad with me to record for posterity everything we talked about or didn't get to see her again. But then again I wasn't expecting to meet a legend either.

I think about the things we discussed when we approach the Stonewall anniversary or when I'm looking at some situation that crops up between the transgender and gay communities that illustrates perfectly the points Sylvia warned me about almost a decade earlier.

I'm also a firm believer in listening to the wisdom of my elders. Some of what Sylvia divulged to me has served me well over the years. I'm also aware of the fact that I'm walking in Sylvia's pumps.

The conversation at times felt like she was passing a torch to me that night. It's my job as I see it, to hold that torch aloft and keep the transgender rights flame lit until it's time for me to pass it on to the next generation.

Jena 6 Free!

After more than two years of protesting, writing phone calls and thousands of people descending on Jena, LA to protest this outrageous retro Jim Crow case, the Jena 6, Jesse Ray Beard, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis and Mychal Bell are all free to move ahead with their lives.

The five remaining Jena 6 cases were brought to a conclusion Friday when Beard, Jones, Bailey, Shaw, and Purvis pleaded 'no contest' to misdemeanor simple battery charges.

They will spend no time in jail, serve seven unsupervised days on probation, and fined $500 and court fees.

It's a remarkable outcome considering the Jena Six were originally and outrageously charged with attempted murder in this small Louisiana town with a racist past for what basically was a schoolyard fight.

Thanks to the efforts of Black bloggers, the Jena Six got the attention of Tom Joyner, the African-American community, our civil rights orgs and later the rest of the MSM. They began to get attention about their plight, funding and high profile legal representation.

It culminated in 50,000 people coming from all over the United States to peacefully descend on Jena in a televised September 20, 2007 protest.

Because people stood up, these six young men are not rotting in a Louisiana jail for basically BS charges. While Judge JP Mauffray was removed from the case because of the appearance of bias, unfortunately the person largely responsible for the drama in the first place, LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, still has his job.

Nevertheless, justice prevailed. It's now up to the Jena 6 to ensure that they take advantage of the opportunity the African-American community and our allies collectively fought to give them and ensure they never do.

Sierra Broussard Trans Discrimination Case Going To Trial

I've posted about 28 year old biracial transwoman Sierra Broussard and the discrimination she faced while trying to enter the Park Central nightclub in Appleton, WI.

Sierra filed a civil lawsuit against the nightclub a few months ago. The latest news out of Appleton, WI is that Outagamie County Judge Mitch Metropulos has finally set the trial dates.

Broussard's suit alleges the Park Central nightclub denied entrance based on race and her transgender status.

The civil complaint says one employee told Broussard that using either bathroom "would cause confusion for the other patrons."

Broussard is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, but does not indicate an amount in the lawsuit.

The club owner, Concepts Unlimited, denies that Broussard was denied admission based on race or trans-gender.

Judge Metropulos has scheduled the trial for November 17-18.

Well, we'll find out what transpired a few months from now. What is undeniable is the transphobia that ran rampant in the local paper's comment sections accompanying the story.

Stonewall 40th Anniversary

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that jumped off the modern GLBT rights movement.

It is a day we celebrate and take stock in where the movement is now, visualize the type of America we would wish to live in, then do whatever is necessary to make it happen.

It's also the day to remember the people who got tired of being jacked with by the po-po's enough to where they did get pissed off enough to do something, like Sylvia Rivera.

Yes, we transpeeps are the heirs of Sylvia's legacy. It has been a rocky road for us filled with challenges and opportunities. We've had spectacular successes over the last 40 years and some spirit crushing defeats, but to paraphrase Maya Angelou, 'and still we rise'.

As a transperson of color I have mixed emotions about this day. Yes, I'm proud of the major role transpeople of color like Sylvia and Miss Major played played in helping jump start the Stonewall Riots.

But at the same time I'm concerned about the fact we have been shut out of the GLBT movement leadership ranks and systematically erased from its history.

As Stonewall veteran Raymond Castro reminds us, "It wasn't just gays. It wasn't just white gays. You had straight people sympathetic to gays. People of the arts. You had people who had had enough (of the police). You had Latinos, you had blacks, you had whites, Chinese, you had everything. It was a melting pot. Young, old. Fems, butches."

While its been amazing to see the progress that the GLBT community not only nationally but here in Kentucky and other locales has made over the last 40 years, we still have a long road yet to travel.

But I'm cautiously optimistic about where we'll be when we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stonewall in 2019.

Blogtalk Radio Show-Remembering Michael Jackson

We're doing a special Womanist Musings show tonight at 9 PM EDT in honor of the legendary Michael Jackson.

You can check out our show page at Blogtalkradio, or if you miss it, check out and download the podcast once it uploads. If you wish to join in the live conversation, the call in number is (347) 326-9452

We'll be back with another show next week on July 4. Since we'll be celebrating Canada Day on Renee's side of the border (July 1) and Independence day on mine, our topic we'll be discussing is why are people of color in Canada and the United States considered less patriotic than white citizens of both countries.

It should be a fascinating conversation.

Nothing Fracking Funny Or Respectful About Tranny Alert

I checked my e-mail to see an alert from GLAAD and a post by Lisa Harney of Questioning Transphobia about a blog called Tranny Alert.

This disclaimer is on the homepage of the blog

This site is in no way meant to disparage or belittle any member of the LGBT community. We here at Tranny Alert are simply admirers of the bravery and uniqueness of the entire trans-community. While there is a comedic element to our site, under no circumstance do we condone any mistreatment of any member of the LGBT community and support full and equal rights for all.

And if you are thinking of using this site to try to locate and harm any perceived transgender individual, just remember, the girls WILL come for you. Just ask Mimi Plastique

And this is supposed to be humorous?

Yeah right, that’s about as funny as Chuck Knipp’s new jack minstrel show.

Mimi Plastique posts her videos on YouTube and is unapologetically open about her life and who she is. The problem is that much of the trans community contains people who for various reasons may not be as open as I, Mimi or other transgender people, bloggers/v-bloggers about their status.

The trans community has major concerns (for damned good reasons) about the possibility that your site could potentially open the door for our haters, armed with pictures from your site, to attack people.

So do you, otherwise you wouldn't have posted that disclaimer.

It could put a transperson who is in a relationship and has not yet told the person she's involved with her status in a position where she could be murdered.

It could potentially put people at risk of losing employment if they are NOT out at work, are employed by people or companies who are NOT trans friendly, or live in ares not covered by anti-transgender discrimination laws.

There are also cisgender women who have combinations of physical features that would be considered by the knuckle-dragging gender illiterate as putting them in the trans category.

There have already been cases of ciswomen falsely accused of being trans facing discrimination or physical violence because of people ASSUMING they were.

I find it disingenuous that you have a blog set up to out transpeople and you won't post or put up your own personal information on your site.

So if you won't put your own personal info on the Net, much less a picture of yourself on your site, what makes you think you can do so to transgender people?

If you respected our community as much as you claim you do, you wouldn't cavalierly dismiss our concerns, much less send huffy tweets on Twitter when people call you out on it.

Wow people really need to get a f*cking sense of humor.

Wow, spoken like someone who is cluelessly wallowing in cisgender privilege

I don't find it fracking humorous that trans people of color disproportionately make up 70% of the Remembering Our Dead list. Angie Zapata's killer was just recently convicted and sent to jail in Greeley, CO for killing her, with Lateisha Green's killer going on trial starting July 13.

I don't find it fracking humorous that a blog that ludicrously claims admiration for us and our struggle for first class citizenship in reality dehumanizes us and makes us even more vulnerable to assault or worse from our haters.

In addition, the 'tranny' term is a problematic one that is considered disrespectful to many people in this community. I'm sure GLAAD pointed you to the problematic and defamatory terminology section of their online Media Guide.

If you haven't read it, I'll make it easy for you and other peeps who don't get what descriptive language is and isn't respectful to my transgender community to get 'ejumacated' on the topic.

TRANSGENDER TERMINOLOGY TO AVOID

PROBLEMATIC TERMINOLOGY

PROBLEMATIC: "transgenders," "a transgender"
PREFERRED: "transgender people," "a transgender person"
Transgender should be used as an adjective, not as a noun. Do not say, "Tony is a transgender," or "The parade included many transgenders." Instead say, "Tony is a transgender person," or "The parade included many transgender people."

PROBLEMATIC: "transgendered"
PREFERRED: "transgender"
The word transgender never needs the extraneous "ed" at the end of the word. In fact, such a construction is grammatically incorrect. Only verbs can be transformed into participles by adding "-ed" to the end of the word, and transgender is an adjective, not a verb.

PROBLEMATIC: "sex change," "pre-operative," "post-operative"
PREFERRED: "transition"
Referring to a sex change operation, or using terms such as pre- or post-operative, inaccurately suggests that one must have surgery in order to truly change one's sex.

PROBLEMATIC: "hermaphrodite"
PREFERRED: "intersex person"
The word "hermaphrodite" is an outdated, stigmatizing and misleading word, usually used to sensationalize intersex people.

DEFAMATORY TERMINOLOGY

Defamatory: "deceptive," "fooling," "pretending," "posing," or "masquerading"
Gender identity is an integral part of a person's identity. Please do not characterize transgender people as "deceptive," as "fooling" other people, or as "pretending" to be, "posing" or "masquerading" as a man or a woman. Such descriptions are extremely insulting.

Defamatory: "she-male," "he-she," "it," "trannie," "tranny," "gender-bender"
These words only serve to dehumanize transgender people and should not be used

If someone is harmed or God forbid, killed because of being outed by your blog, the blood of those transpeople will not only be on your hands, you will have opened the door to legal complications for yourself as well.

As the people living trans lives, you can get pissed all you want, but we're the ones with the intimate knowledge of what the risks are for outed transpeople.

You not only don't have that right as a cisperson to unilaterally out a transperson against their will, you don't have the right to arrogantly tell my community what we can or can't find insulting.

As trans people, we deeply appreciate our allies, but we draw the line at being disrespected by people who claim that status, then cop an attitude when we call them out on their problematic behavior.

I Love The 70's Music

While I'm a huge fan of current R&B artists such as Alicia Keys, John Legend, Chrisette Michele, Beyonce, Jill Scott and others, my real musical passion lies with the music and artists of the 70's.

I am a Funkateer who possesses a Doctorate in Funkology, and love all things musically about the 70's.

Yes, that includes disco, and no disco didn't suck.

If you get the opportunity to peruse my massive CD collection (no I haven't broken down and bought an iPod yet and I still DJ from time to time) you'd find all things Parliament-Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band in it.

You'd also discover Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, Minnie Riperton, The Brothers Johnson, The Isley Brothers, The Bar-Kays, Cameo, Patrice Rushen, Prince, Donna Summer, Chic, Earth, Wind & Fire, War, Graham Central Station, Sly and The Family Stone, Natalie Cole, The O'Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Angela Bofill, Phyllis Hyman...

Shall I continue?



Let's put it this way, If I were DJing a 70's themed party, I would have enough music on hand to go four hours without repeating a song.

To me, the 70's were just an unparalleled explosion of quality music. It was packed with cutting edge innovative musicians, powerhouse bands, legendary male and female singers, and unabashed musical creativity which those of us who were fortunate enough to witness it lament we'll probably never see again in our lifetimes.

And some of those artists, like Patrice Rushen and the late Michael Jackson went on to make more groundbreaking musical history or branch out to do movies, television and Broadway shows like the late Phyllis Hyman did.

I hope that some young musical prodigy somewhere proves me wrong, but the current state of the music industry combined with lack of music education in public schools doesn't leave me much hope that I'll be seeing the next Stevie Wonder or Minnie Riperton in my lifetime.

But a girl can dream can't she?

In the interim, time to pull out some of that great music I own and get busy with my next post. Time to play 'Aqua Boogie' and see if I remember how to spell psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop correctly.

We Want The Same Things You Do

"The ideals and ambitions which the Negro entertains for himself are precisely those which the white man entertains for himself. And this the white man foolishly resents."

NAACP founder Archibald Grimke spoke these words ninety years ago, and they still ring true for African descended people be they gay, straight, bi, cisgender or transgender.

All I or any African descended person wants in life is to have a decent job at a livable wage, a nice place to call our own and lay our heads, affordable health care, a quality primary and secondary education, love and marry the person we choose, raise happy, healthy, morally upright children, and live our lives free of unnecessary bull feces.

In other words, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Is that too much to ask?

Alas, for some people it is. Our 400 years in the Americas and across the Diaspora has been a long sorrowful tale filled with having to deal with unnecessary caca, violence and racist negativity in between the fleeting moments of spectacular forward progress as a people.

The negativity toward African descended people has been directed at us by whites either wallowing in privilege or who foolishly refuse not only see our common humanity, but resent and resist any progress made toward first class citizenship.

Heaven help you if you are a member of the TBLG community. Your humanity is further diminished in their eyes.

As I will continue to repeat until I'm buried six feet under my native Texas soil, I didn't give up my Black Like Me card, my American citizenship, or my humanity when I transitioned, and you are sadly mistaken if you believe that.

The 'We the people' in the United States Constitution applies to me and my TBLG/SGL brothers and sisters as well.

President John F. Kennedy stated in a televised June 11, 1963 speech on civil rights that, "When you give rights to others, you expand them for yourself."



I want rights expanded not only for transpeople like myself, but you cisgender ones as well.

No delays, no bull feces, no excuses.

The beautiful thing about passing the just introduced ENDA and hate crimes legislation is as President Kennedy wisely pointed out, extending rights to the TBLG community expands them to the cisgender community at the same time.

So who in their right mind would have a problem with that?

The usual suspects on the wrong side of the arc of the moral universe.

Even if the laws are passed, it's signed into law by President Obama and the moral arc finally begins bending in the direction of justice for TLBG/SGL people, it will still take time for the heartless to get with the program and realize that it's no longer open season on the lives of TBLG people.

The sooner the haters realize that, the sooner we can all get to work building a better America we can be proud to pass on to our future descendants.

And for the first time in a long time, I'm hopeful of seeing that occur in my lifetime.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-End Of June Edition

Well peeps, this year is moving fast isn't it? Wimbledon is in full swing, summer started on Sunday in conjunction with Father's Day his year, and the Iranians are continuing their brave struggle for freedom.

As always, fools are everywhere, and it's time to call out our Fool of the Week.


This week's fool in a landslide is Missouri state rep Cynthia Davis. Give you one guess what party she represents after you read this commentary from her.

Who’s buying dinner? Who is getting paid to serve the meal? Churches and other non-profits can do this at no cost to the taxpayer if it is warranted. [...] Bigger governmental programs take away our connectedness to the human family, our brotherhood and our need for one another. [...] Anyone under 18 can be eligible? Can’t they get a job during the summer by the time they are 16? Hunger can be a positive motivator. What is wrong with the idea of getting a job so you can get better meals? Tip: If you work for McDonald’s, they will feed you for free during your break. [...] It really is all about increasing government spending, which means an increase in taxes for us to buy more free lunches and breakfasts.

Did you say Republicans? Thought you could.

This comment came from the person who chairs the Missouri House Special Standing Committee on Children and Families. There are also one in five children in her state that suffer from hunger.

Missouri Rep. Cynthia Davis, shut up fool!

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

They say deaths come in threes, and that is especially true of celebrity ones. Farrah Fawcett died this morning, Ed McMahon a day ago, and it was in the back of my mind who would be the third.

As of the time I'm writing this, the LA Times is confirming that Michael Jackson has died.

This is a sad on for me because I have a personal connection to it.

Michael Jackson's death is striking me a little harder than the average celeb death on many levels.

I and my brother got to tag along with my Dad when the station had a 'Meet The Jackson Five contest back in the day. We picked up the winner, and zipped off to the Sam Houston Coliseum for the concert. The show was the bomb until the crowd bumrushed the stage and put a quick end to it. I was backstage and barely avoided being trampled as the frenzied crowd chased the J5 to their waiting limos to the street.

At the rendezvous at the Galleria Oaks Hotel, I got to meet him along with the contest winner and my friend Ernest Carswell. Ernest and I used to win a lot of money off those photos in junior high school from peeps who assumed we were lying about doing so.

I still have the autographed pics at my parents house.

I like a lot of peeps of my generation and those like my sisters who grew up in the 80's was a big fan, and it was amplified by the fact I had met him.

It was also a sense of immense pride to many African-Americans that an R&B artist blew up to become a household name around the world, thanks to Quincy Jones' composing genius and his immense talent.

You were a once in a generation performer, and you will be missed.

RIP Michael.

I Cheated In Argentina

TransGriot Note: Y'all knew I couldn't resist whacking Republican hypocrite Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) with a song rewrite. This situation just practically begs for me to do it, so here goes. Enjoy it while Donna Summer sings the original lyrics.

I Cheated In Argentina
(Sung to the tune of 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina'



It won't be easy, you know it's strange
When I explain to South Carolina how I feel
That what I did was massively dumb

You won't believe me
Because I lied to you
You thought I went missing
But I went to be with my boo

I let it happen, I needed a change
This session wasn't particularly fun
I had to take the stimulus money and I'm bummed

So I needed a break
Running around on the Appalachian Trail
But was headed to the airport for fun
Didn't mean to scare everybody and never expected it to

(Chorus)
I cheated in Argentina
The truth is I up and left you
Flew to Buenos Aires
Straight to my mistress
Didn't keep my promise
Wife keeps her distance

And as for fortune, and as for love
I never invited them in
Though it's apparent to the world I want her skin

My affair was confusing
It's not the solution it promised to be
While my family was here all the time
I love you and hope you still love me

I cheated in Argentina
The truth is I up and left you
Flew to Buenos Aires
Straight to my mistress
Didn't keep my promise
Wife keeps her distance

Have I said too much?
There's nothing more I can think of to say to you.
But all you have to do is look at me to know
That every word is true

I cheated in Argentina
The truth is I up and left you
Flew to Buenos Aires
Straight to my mistress
Didn't keep my promise
Wife keeps her distance

I cheated in Argentina
The truth is I up and left you
Flew to Buenos Aires
Straight to my mistress
Didn't keep my promise
Wife keeps her distance

I cheated in Argentina

Trans Inclusive ENDA Introduced

“Today marks a critical milestone for our community and our country. Introduction of this important legislation signals the beginning of the end of a long-fought battle. For decades, a majority of people in this country have supported protecting their friends, family and neighbors from discrimination. Congress must act, at long last, this year." Rea Carey Executive Director, The Task Force

The day the transgender community has anxiously been awaiting this session has finally arrived. A trans inclusive ENDA was introduced in the House today by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) with bipartisan support.

The lead sponsors of the measure are Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jared Polis (D-CO), Michael Castle (R-DE), George Miller (D-CA), Mark Kirk (R-IL), John Conyers (D-MI), Todd Platts (R-PA), Rob Andrews (D-NJ), and Leonard Lance (R-NJ).

I'm waiting for the text of the bill to appear on THOMAS, but what ENDA will do if passed and signed into law is would prohibit and protect TBLG peeps against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity

The introduction of the bill is the easy part. We will now have to fight the lies of the Religious Reich, the GOP, Faux News, the conservative movement, and their negro sellouts in the Lo Impact Misleadership Coalition (the negro sellout version of the Traditional Values Coalition), their sheeple, and apathetic people in our own ranks.

You can do your part to pass this important legislation. Call, write or visit with your legislators in Washington DC if possible or back home during the August recess.

We need as Dr. Jillian T. Weiss calls it, a T-storm on this.

While there are rumors of shaky CBC support, I visited various offices of Congressional Black Caucus members and I was told by chiefs of staff and two congressmembers themselves they don't want a repeat of the 2007 ENDA fiasco.

I find those rumors specious and questionable, given that only one member voted against ENDA in '07, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) and also voted against this year's hate crimes bill. Hope the Black GLBT peeps in Alabama remember that when his azz is running in the Dem primary for governor next year.

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) and Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) voted against it in '07 because it wasn't trans inclusive.

The CBC is also chaired by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), who has been a consistent supporter of trans inclusion and the GLBT community.

Just in case the rumors are true that CBC is squishy, those of you who live in the districts of CBC congressmembers definitely need to call them ASAP, especially if that member has a large homophobic predominately Black megachurch in it. The Hi Impact ministers like Bishop Hater (oops Harry) Jackson have already received their marching orders from Massa Lou Sheldon to kill it.

So people, open those e-mail programs, and get those telephone dialing fingers ready to roll. We have work to do and a bill to pass.

Obama Press Conference On Health Care

"A government-run health insurance option is needed "to discipline insurance companies, If they can't compete, it's probably their fault. Many private insurers spend too much time thinking about profits instead of helping people."

President Barack Obama June 23, 2009

The Civil War WAS About Slavery

If I hear another Southern based (or non-Southern based) history revisionist claim that the American Civil War wasn't about slavery, I'm gonna scream.

I've been thinking about it in the wake of the recent news that the Senate passed a resolution apologizing to African Americans for slavery and Jim Crow segregation, but of course made sure that reparations wasn't part of the deal.

So let's take a trip on the way back machine to Savannah, GA. The date is March 21, 1861 and we're at the Athenaeum listening to Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens' infamous 'Cornerstone Speech'.

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition. [Applause.] This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

There's been this constant drone from Confederate apologists pimping the 'it wasn't about slavery' meme. It salves their realizations (or ignoring) of the facts:

* their ancestors fought a war to perpetuate the brutal oppression of my ancestors through slavery.
*they were fighting against their own economic interests in favor of the economic interests of the planter class.

Perusing the Declarations of the Causes of Secession for each of the Southern states that seceded from the Union to form the Confederacy makes a mockery of that meme.

Mississippi

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery - the greatest material interest of the world.

Its labor supplies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.

Georgia


The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery.




Texas

Texas abandoned her separate national existence and consented to become one of the Confederated Union to promote her welfare, insure domestic tranquility and secure more substantially the blessings of peace and liberty to her people. She was received into the confederacy with her own constitution, under the guarantee of the federal constitution and the compact of annexation, that she should enjoy these blessings.

She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery-- the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits-- a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. Her institutions and geographical position established the strongest ties between her and other slave-holding States of the confederacy. Those ties have been strengthened by association. But what has been the course of the government of the United States, and of the people and authorities of the non-slave-holding States, since our connection with them?

The controlling majority of the Federal Government, under various pretences and disguises, has so administered the same as to exclude the citizens of the Southern States, unless under odious and unconstitutional restrictions, from all the immense territory owned in common by all the States on the Pacific Ocean, for the avowed purpose of acquiring sufficient power in the common government to use it as a means of destroying the institutions of Texas and her sister slaveholding States.


it's crystal clear that in perusing these declarations the issue that triggered the secession of Southern states from the Union and jumped off the Civil War was slavery.

So no, it wasn't the 'War of Northern Aggression' as you try to spin it, it was the 'War To Perpetuate Slavery'.

I thank God the South lost. It's past time the apologists get over it and the racist attitudes it still engenders almost 150 years later.

The Gay Marriage Push Is Negatively Affecting Legal Transgender Marriages

One of the Prime Directives of being trans is to live our lives just like any cisgender person does. But one complication that has cropped up is when transpeople get married.

In 1960, Jacqueline-Charlotte Dufresnoy married her first husband at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral. If she were attempting that today, because of the Roman Catholic Church's faith based hateraid of trans people, she probably wouldn't even be able to book Notre Dame Cathedral, much less get a Catholic priest to marry her.

Some areas of the world and faiths are more enlightened about transgender people getting married than others. But in the United States, marriage has been a major Culture War issue.

There has always been tension when it comes to the legal interests of transpeople vis-a-vis the interests of the gay community. On some subjects such as hate crimes and employment discrimination law, the GLBT community for the most part tends to be in agreement that the laws need to be passed as soon as possible.

The contentious arguments in the GLBT community on this issue have centered on how inclusive these laws need to be.

But when it comes to marriage, transpeople already possessed those rights. Transphobia, homophobia and ignorance have combined with adverse legal cases and conservative blowback over the 2003 Massachusetts court case legalizing gay marriage to mess with or restrict those rights.

And one of the motivations for invalidating transgender marriages centered on denying the transwomen monetary settlements or in Michael Kantaras' case, custody of his children.

One early case which set a disastrous legal precedent for the British trans community until the 2004 passage of the Gender Recognition Act was Corbett v Corbett. It also had negative legal implications for transpeople in the rest of the world whose national legal systems are descended from English common law.

Arthur Corbett had his marriage to transwoman April Ashley annulled in 1971. Corbett argued that his marriage was illegal because April was born male, she should be treated as such in perpetuity despite her gender surgery.

It also didn't help that at the time medical opinions on transsexuality hadn't evolved to the current point, and no consensus was reached on whether Ms. Ashley should be legally seen as male or female.

Lord Justice Ormrod, the judge in the case who was himself a medical man created a medical 'test' and definition to determine the legal status of April Ashley.

The result of this test defined Ms. Ashley as male despite a career as a successful model. It was unfortunately used in the UK to define the gender of transsexual people for many purposes until the passage of the Gender Recognition Act in 2004.

The Gender Recognition Act ultimately defined the sex of transsexual people as whatever is on their birth certificate.

The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act was enacted to keep same gender couples from marrying, but the unintended effects of it have been on the marriages of transgender people.

We witnessed the double whammy of Corbett being cited and DOMA being used retroactively to invalidate Christie Lee Littleton's seven year marriage.

Why? So an insurance company could deny her a multimillion dollar wrongful death lawsuit she filed on behalf of her late husband Mark Littleton.

The conservative push to ban gay marriage has resulted as of November 2008 30 states passing constitutional amendments by lopsided margins. In some cases several of the same gender marriage bans go a step further and ban domestic partnerships as well.

Those amendments have had a deleterious effect on transgender marriages. Although our marriages are not specifically mentioned in them, foes and 'friends' have ignorantly asserted that trans marriages are 'same-sex' ones, and subject to these odious amendments. The gay community is guilty of doing so in order to push its marriage agenda.

The clash between the divergent issues of the trans and gay communities on marriage issues was illustrated in the recent case of Kimah Nelson and Jason Stenson's May 26 marriage being invalidated at the hands of New York City Clerk office.

The point is gay community, no matter what the genital configuration, it's a simple concept to grasp. If a transwoman marries a cisgender man, or a transman marries a cisgender woman, it is a opposite sex marriage, not a same gender one.

If you have a transman and a cisman trying to get married or a transwoman and a ciswoman getting married, it is a same gender one. Genitalia combinations and situations will determine whether it's a legal one or not based on jurisdiction.

But it bears repeating that in the zeal of the gay community to get married, it's the transgender community that once again, disproportionately gets the negative fallout from it.

HR 676- The Single Payer Solution

Found this on YouTube. It's about an event held in Washington discussing HR 676, the bill which will establish if passed into law a single payer universal health care system in the US.

Welcome To 'Williams'-don 2009

It's late June, and that means to a tennis fan it's time to break out the strawberries and cream. The 2009 Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club have started.

Despite another frustrating trip to Paris last month for Venus and Serena, the Williams sisters are favorites to take another Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish back to the States.

Wimbledon has been their personal playground over the last decade. Venus has won five Wimbledon titles since 2000, including the 2007 and 2008 ones.

The sisters have played each other in two previous Wimbledon finals besides the 2008 one. Little Sis won the two previous title matchups in 2002 and 2003.

The Williams sisters are on opposite sides of the ladies singles draw (hallelujah) and could potentially meet in the finals. They are the defending ladies doubles champions and will be heavily favored to repeat.

The tradition drenched All England Club will be the venue for the 2012 Olympics tennis competition. That's a fact which probably hasn't escaped the defending doubles gold medallists from the Beijing Games attention.

Centre Court will also be sporting a brand new retractable roof, so bye bye rain delays.

The Championships begin play June 22 and run through July 5. Do my favorite tennis playing sisters have enough game to make it back to Centre Court for the ladies singles and doubles championship matches?

Well find out over the next two weeks.

National Healthcare Debate During Nixon Administration

Ever since President Harry S. Truman proposed in 1945 setting up a universal health care system in the United States, the GOP and its constituent conservative groups have fought it tooth and nail.



Here's some news footage from the early 70's discussing Richard Nixon's proposed healthcare reform plan.

What Was My First Concert?

June marks the 30th anniversary observance of Black Music Month, and I haven't had much discussion about it thanks to various higher profile breaking news stories.

I planned at the beginning of the month to talk about some of my fave groups, concerts I've attended and and why the American music scene owes a major creative debt to its African descended people.

So I'm going to make up for lost time and dedicate some posts until the end of the month to doing just that.

Y'all know my teen years were spent in the 70's. Thanks to Dad I got to attend a long list of great concerts and see some slammin' groups and artists back in the day.

My first concert experience happened during the summer of 1976. The Summit (later Compaq Center) had only been open a year and was several decades from becoming Lakewood Church's new sanctuary.

The group that my dad was taking me and my brother to see? WAR

The best part about this show was I got to see it from the comfort of the sky boxes with the staff of the radio station.

I got my grub on, had a bottomless soda cup and had the option of either watching the concert from nice comfortable seats or watch the closed circuit TV feed of the show.



The first one I attended without the parental units tagging along was one headlined by Bootsy's Rubber Band in 1976. I had floor seats 20 rows from the stage for this one. I also saw Bootsy in 1978 during his Player Of The Year Tour.



When I showed up for school that Monday wearing my Bootsy concert t-shirt, I opened my big mouth and accidentally let it slip I had a extra ticket that ended up going to waste.

Half the girls at JJ (and some of my homies as well) were pissed at me for a week.

In my defense, I did get those tickets last minute, and several peeps I called weren't home. Most of the time I didn't get those comp tickets until several hours before the show or I'd come home and the tickets were lying on my bed.



It seemed like during that era in the 70's and 80's, every time I turned around there were great shows to attend. Don't even get me started on the Budweiser Superfests and Kool Jazz Festivals stadium tours devoid of jazz artists, but full of great R&B ones.

But it's the first ones you attend that are the most memorable.

Unless something crazy happens.

Happy Father's Day

In addition to it being the first day of summer, Happy Father's Day to all my loyal TransGriot readers who are dads out there or a father figure in someone's life.

Probably means even more to transman Thomas Beattie and his wife and family, who now are blessed with two healthy kids.

May Daddy's Day be a special one.

How Do I Feel About The Gay Community, And How Does the Gay Community Feel About Me?

We are rapidly approaching the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion that kicked off in New York June 28, 1969.

It was the impetus for the increased activism of the modern TBLG rights movement, but I'm ambivalent about it as an African descended transperson.

My attitude toward it reflects the Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. line in the HBO movie The Tuskegee Airmen. In this particular scene he was testifying in front of a Senate committee at the behest of a racist senator whether to shut down the Tuskegee Airmen.

I'll paraphrase it here.

'How do I feel about the gay community? And how does the gay community feel about me? Are we to only be considered part of the gay community when the mood suits you or at your whim? All we want is a fair chance for the same respect and equality that you'd expect, no, demand for yourselves.'

The paraphrasing of this line speaks to a conundrum that I and many Black GLBT/SGL peeps talk about within the family and our Black cisgender allies about the white-dominated gay community.

Our perception is that we are not only a political pinata being bashed by both groups, but that sometimes we don't belong to either.

We're either 'too Black' for the gay community, or 'too gay' for the Black community.

We also face the maddening drama of both sides not considering us a part of 'their' group while being thrust into the no-win position of being told we have to choose one or the other.

A lot of my personal mood has been shaped by past and present events. While both sides are guilty of repeatedly crapping on and disrespecting Black SGL and trans people, it's particularly hurtful and galling to be ignored and disrespected time and again by your alleged allies.

Combine that with the GL leadership ranks lack of diversity, the repeated slights, appropriation and disrespect of out culture and history, and witnessing the racism that exploded from white gays after the Prop 8 loss.

Pouring gasoline on this simmering anger is what I and many Black GLBT peeps perceive as overly hostile criticism hurled at President Obama at the hands of white gay peeps who supported his Dem opponent.

It's leaving me and many Black TBLG/SGL peeps feeling like the only reason we're wanted is to provide melanin for photo ops.

Happy Pride? Yeah, right.

So how do I feel about the gay community? And how does the gay community feel about me?

That's a good damned question.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Juneteenth Edition

Happy Juneteenth everybody!

While I'm a little bummed because I'm not at home for the Juneteenth parade in downtown Houston, I did my best to have a traditional Juneteenth celebration despite being 1000 miles from home.

As I scarf up the rest of my strawberry soda and lick the barbecue sauce off my fingers, it's time to ascertain which fool was 1000 miles from reality this week.

As our Shut Up Fool! Awards mascot reminds us, fools are everywhere.


This week's fool is another contender for the Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Award, Sarah Palin.

In this faux dustup over Letterman's lousy joke about Bristol, she drags her own daughter Willow into it when it's clear Dave's talking about her older sister.

Then after Letterman apologizes twice, she comes up with this phony acceptance of it that reads like consrvative talking points rather than from a mother who feels her anger over her daughter being dissed.

Sarah Palin, shut up fool!

Happy Juneteenth, Peeps!

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.

This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.

The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

Union Major General Gordon Granger, Galveston TX, June 19, 1865

With the reading of General Order No. 3 from the balcony of Ashton Villa, a holiday and tradition amongst Black Texans was born.

Juneteenth became for Black Texans our Fourth of July celebration. In addition to the fireworks and parades, the early Juneteenth celebrations included prayer services, speakers with inspirational messages, readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, stories from former slaves, food, red soda water, games, rodeos and dances.

Black Texans pooled their money to buy emancipation grounds to celebrate Juneteenth.

Led by the Rev. Jack Yates, the first pastor of Houston's historic Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Emancipation Park was purchased in 1872. Other freedmen purchased plots of land to host celebrations in other parts of the state that became Booker T. Washington Park in Mexia, TX and Emancipation Park in Austin.

As Black Texas traveled and moved to other parts of the United States and the world they took Juneteenth and its traditions with them.

Juneteenth was celebrated every year by Black Texans from 1866 until the mid 20th century. Increased focus on expanded civil rights protections and World War II occupied Black Texans thoughts and interest in Juneteenth waned until it was revived at the 1950 State Fair in Dallas.

As we rediscovered pride in our heritage in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, the dormant Juneteenth celebrations and traditions were revived across the state in the 1970's.

Thanks to efforts by Texas state representative Al Edwards, in 1979 House Bill No. 1016 passed in the 66th Legislature, Regular Session. It declared June 19 as "Emancipation Day in Texas" and made Juneteenth an official state holiday effective January 1, 1980.

So on that note, Happy Juneteenth! I have some barbecue and cold strawberry soda waiting for me as I reread the inspiring words of the Emancipation Proclamation.

It's Past Time For Women To Start Loving Sports

"No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid."

Ever since President Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law on June 23, 1972 it has had a far reaching effect on the numbers of women earning postgraduate degrees.

Before Title IX, many schools refused to admit women or enforced strict quotas in postgraduate programs. That was reflected in the fact that in 1972, the year Title IX became law, women only received 9% of the medical degrees awarded, 7% of law degrees and 25% of the US citizens receiving doctorates being women.

By 1994, those numbers increased to 38% of medical degrees, 43% of law degrees and 44% of all doctoral degrees awarded to US citizens were women.

One of the prominent effects of Title IX besides the increase in the percentages of women receiving postgraduate degrees is in the world of sports.

Athletics has also created the most controversy regarding Title IX, but its gains have also been noteworthy.

It's not unusual on any given day to turn on the television and see women's intercollegiate sports on TV. There's infinitely more attention focused on women athletes during the Olympics and on high school level girls sports compared to when I was growing up in the late 70's.

But one thing that bothers me as a sports loving person is the dismissive attitude some women have toward all things athletic. It gets to the point when in some cases, women who love or participate in sports are greeted with less than complimentary verbal epithets or have their femininity questioned.

Last year Seventeen magazine in conjunction with the WNBA partnered for a comprehensive survey that was published in the magazine's September 2008 issue.

WNBA President Donna Orender stated, "We are pleased to partner with Seventeen magazine on this important survey as we know first hand how the role of sports can develop young girls into leaders.

"The women of the WNBA are strong, passionate and determined individuals who exhibit these traits both on and off the court. As a result, we are true believers in the significance of participation in sports for all girls and women."

The Seventeen/WNBA survey revealed that 83% of teen girls play sports with basketball ranked as the number one participatory sport.

Girls play sports for a variety of reasons, but the top reason found in this survey is to exercise (68.4%). Other top reasons included forming friendships, competing and representing their schools.

Challenges that young female sports enthusiasts endure include insecurities; 33% of girls who don't play sports say it's because they're worried that they wouldn't be good at it.

In addition, 35% of girls also say their teams don't get as much equipment or field time as the boys' teams and 35% of girls have heard their peers make homophobic remarks about female athletes.

The Seventeen/WNBA survey also revealed that 66% of teen girls believe that cheerleading is a sport, not some sideline event, and 71% think female cheerleaders should cheer at girls' sports events.

Despite these factors keeping some girls from playing sports, teens today are able to look to inspiring women professional athletes and Olympians such as Lisa Leslie, Mia Hamm, Diana Taurasi, Serena and Venus Williams, Candace Parker and Florence Griffith-Joyner.

As young teens hone their athletic skills, they look upon these women as they endeavor to take women's sports to a whole new level and dismiss outdated stereotypes about the women who play them.

You also have young women such as Brittney Griner who are following in their role models footsteps and preparing to exceed even their lofty performance standards.

But despite the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of sports participation for girls and women, you still have mind-numbing fluff coming from women's magazines such as Cosmo that spout erroneous, outdated stereotypes.

In addition, women athletes in addition to having to battle feminine gender policing also have to contend with the sexist attitudes of male sports fans.

Led by the male dominated sports journalism world, the dismissive attitudes of sports talk radio and sports journalists about the level of play filter down to the potential male fan base and male athletes.

We should insist upon and demand consistent, professional coverage of women's sports from the male dominated sorts journalism culture.

Why am I so adamant about it? Sports teaches important life lessons that non athletes often miss out on. You learn that even if you practice hard and execute your game plan flawlessly, sometimes you come up short. You learn how to work well with others as part of a team. You learn how to lose with grace and win with class.

It's a pride builder when you come from a zero skills base to a higher skills level in your chosen sport and you see it translated into better performance on the field.

It's also a major self esteem boost when you kick the winning goal, get the key hit that wins the game for your team or you dig deep, pull yourself out of a love-40 hole in a critical game in a tennis match and come back to win, or run your personal best time to win a medal.

These are lessons that the male population has had ample opportunities to absorb (and some peeps need to reabsorb) and enjoyed through sports competition. The Women's Sports Foundation seconds my thoughts on the matter as well.

We should not only enthusiastically support the young girls and women in our lives who participate in sports, we should also take it upon ourselves to support women's club, high school, intercollegiate and professional sports as well.

I was a proud Houston Comets season ticket holder back home for several years during their championship run and it was the best money I've ever spent.

I saw the money I spent on my season tickets it as my investment toward keeping the WNBA viable and alive for future generations of sports loving girls. Those young girls who marveled at the play of WNBA pioneers such as Cynthia Cooper are now grown up and getting their opportunity to play in the league.

Even though I'm still pissed about the WNBA leadership not doing enough to give a local group enough time to organize and keep my hometown franchise alive, I still support the league.

Far from being something that women should ignore, sports and participation in them by their daughters should be embraced and encouraged.

10 Busted Myths About The Canadian Healthcare System

TransGriot Note: You know the conservaliars, the HMO's, the pharmaceutical companies, the AMA and their lobbyists are gearing up to kill President Obama's health care reform.

They also hate Rep. John Conyers' HR 676, which would expand Medicare to cover all Americans by converting it into a single payer system.

The conservaliars save special hateraid for the Canadian Health Care System and don't want to see it replicated on this side of the border.

Thy are already slinging the 'socialized medicine' shade at any system that doesn't perpetuate the status quo where they make obscene amounts of money.

It all adds up to the average American's health care plan being, 'Don't Get Sick.'



Any moment now I expect them to go dig up or clone Ronald Reagan so they can trot him out to reprise his anti-Medicaid commercials from 1961.

Well, as an American, I'm sick of this crappy system we have now. If little ole embargoed Cuba, Costa Rica and the world major industrialized nations can have universal healthcare for their citizens, what's wrong with the nation that put a man on the moon 40 years ago not being able to do so?


Thanks to Physicians For A National Health Program here's a February 5, 2008 article by Sara Robinson of TomPaine.com busting the conservamyths about the Canadian healthcare system.

Robinson is an American citizen who is a Canadian resident, so she is in an excellent position to compare and contrast the two.

I'll just hit the highlights. The full article is here on the PNHP website.

Here's Renee's Global Comment post as a beneficiary of that system tellin' it like it T-I-S is about her experiences with the Canadian system as well.

***

1. Canada’s health care system is “socialized medicine.”
False. In socialized medical systems, the doctors work directly for the state. In Canada (and many other countries with universal care), doctors run their own private practices, just like they do in the US. The only difference is that every doctor deals with one insurer, instead of 150. And that insurer is the provincial government, which is accountable to the legislature and the voters if the quality of coverage is allowed to slide.

The proper term for this is “single-payer insurance.” In talking to Americans about it, the better phrase is “Medicare for all.”

2. Doctors are hurt financially by single-payer health care.
True and False. Doctors in Canada do make less than their US counterparts. But they also have lower overhead, and usually much better working conditions. A few reasons for this:

First, as noted, they don’t have to charge higher fees to cover the salary of a full-time staffer to deal with over a hundred different insurers, all of whom are bent on denying care whenever possible.

In fact, most Canadian doctors get by quite nicely with just one assistant, who cheerfully handles the phones, mail, scheduling, patient reception, stocking, filing, and billing all by herself in the course of a standard workday.

Second, they don’t have to spend several hours every day on the phone cajoling insurance company bean counters into doing the right thing by their patients. My doctor in California worked a 70-hour week: 35 hours seeing patients, and another 35 hours on the phone arguing with insurance companies. My Canadian doctor, on the other hand, works a 35-hour week, period. She files her invoices online, and the vast majority are simply paid — quietly, quickly, and without hassle. There is no runaround. There are no fights. Appointments aren’t interrupted by vexing phone calls. Care is seldom denied (because everybody knows the rules). She gets her checks on time, sees her patients on schedule, takes Thursdays off, and gets home in time for dinner.

One unsurprising side effect of all this is that the doctors I see here are, to a person, more focused, more relaxed, more generous with their time, more up-to-date in their specialties, and overall much less distracted from the real work of doctoring. You don’t realize how much stress the American doctor-insurer fights put on the day-to-day quality of care until you see doctors who don’t operate under that stress, because they never have to fight those battles at all. Amazingly: they seem to enjoy their jobs.

Third: The average American medical student graduates $140,000 in hock. The average Canadian doctor’s debt is roughly half that.

Finally, Canadian doctors pay lower malpractice insurance fees. When paying for health care constitutes a one of a family’s major expenses, expectations tend to run very high. A doctor’s mistake not only damages the body; it may very well throw a middle-class family permanently into the ranks of the working poor, and render the victim uninsurable for life. With so much at stake, it’s no wonder people are quick to rush to court for redress.

Canadians are far less likely to sue in the first place, since they’re not having to absorb devastating financial losses in addition to any physical losses when something goes awry. The cost of the damaging treatment will be covered. So will the cost of fixing it. And, no matter what happens, the victim will remain insured for life. When lawsuits do occur, the awards don’t have to include coverage for future medical costs, which reduces the insurance company’s liability.

3. Wait times in Canada are horrendous.
True and False again — it depends on which province you live in, and what’s wrong with you. Canada’s health care system runs on federal guidelines that ensure uniform standards of care, but each territory and province administers its own program. Some provinces don’t plan their facilities well enough; in those, you can have waits. Some do better. As a general rule, the farther north you live, the harder it is to get to care, simply because the doctors and hospitals are concentrated in the south. But that’s just as true in any rural county in the U.S.

You can hear the bitching about it no matter where you live, though. The percentage of Canadians who’d consider giving up their beloved system consistently languishes in the single digits. A few years ago, a TV show asked Canadians to name the Greatest Canadian in history; and in a broad national consensus, they gave the honor to Tommy Douglas, the Saskatchewan premier who is considered the father of the country’s health care system. (And no, it had nothing to do with the fact that he was also Kiefer Sutherland’s grandfather.). In spite of that, though, grousing about health care is still unofficially Canada’s third national sport after curling and hockey.

And for the country’s newspapers, it’s a prime watchdogging opportunity. Any little thing goes sideways at the local hospital, and it’s on the front pages the next day. Those kinds of stories sell papers, because everyone is invested in that system and has a personal stake in how well it functions. The American system might benefit from this kind of constant scrutiny, because it’s certainly one of the things that keeps the quality high. But it also makes people think it’s far worse than it is.

Critics should be reminded that the American system is not exactly instant-on, either. When I lived in California, I had excellent insurance, and got my care through one of the best university-based systems in the nation. Yet I routinely had to wait anywhere from six to twelve weeks to get in to see a specialist. Non-emergency surgical waits could be anywhere from four weeks to four months. After two years in the BC system, I’m finding the experience to be pretty much comparable, and often better. The notable exception is MRIs, which were easy in California, but can take many months to get here. (It’s the number one thing people go over the border for.) Other than that, urban Canadians get care about as fast as urban Americans do.

4. You have to wait forever to get a family doctor.
False for the vast majority of Canadians, but True for a few. Again, it all depends on where you live. I live in suburban Vancouver, and there are any number of first-rate GPs in my neighborhood who are taking new patients. If you don’t have a working relationship with one, but need to see a doctor now, there are 24-hour urgent care clinics in most neighborhoods that will usually get you in and out on the minor stuff in under an hour.

It is, absolutely, harder to get to a doctor if you live out in a small town, or up in the territories. But that’s just as true in the U.S. — and in America, the government won’t cover the airfare for rural folk to come down to the city for needed treatment, which all the provincial plans do.

5. You don’t get to choose your own doctor.
Scurrilously False. Somebody, somewhere, is getting paid a lot of money to make this kind of stuff up. The cons love to scare the kids with stories about the government picking your doctor for you, and you don’t get a choice. Be afraid! Be very afraid!

For the record: Canadians pick their own doctors, just like Americans do. And not only that: since it all pays the same, poor Canadians have exactly the same access to the country’s top specialists that rich ones do.

6. Canada’s care plan only covers the basics. You’re still on your own for any extras, including prescription drugs. And you still have to pay for it.
True — but not as big an issue as you might think. The province does charge a small monthly premium (ours is $108/month for a family of four) for the basic coverage. However, most people never even have to write that check: almost all employers pick up the tab for their employees’ premiums as part of the standard benefits package; and the province covers it for people on public assistance or disability.

“The basics” covered by this plan include 100% of all doctor’s fees, ambulance fares, tests, and everything that happens in a hospital — in other words, the really big-ticket items that routinely drive American families into bankruptcy. In BC, it doesn’t include “extras” like medical equipment, prescriptions, physical therapy or chiropractic care, dental, vision, and so on; and if you want a private or semi-private room with TV and phone, that costs extra (about what you’d pay for a room in a middling hotel). That other stuff does add up; but it’s far easier to afford if you’re not having to cover the big expenses, too. Furthermore: you can deduct any out-of-pocket health expenses you do have to pay off your income taxes. And, as every American knows by now, drugs aren’t nearly as expensive here, either.

Filling the gap between the basics and the extras is the job of the country’s remaining private health insurers. Since they’re off the hook for the ruinously expensive big-ticket items that can put their own profits at risk, the insurance companies make a tidy business out of offering inexpensive policies that cover all those smaller, more predictable expenses. Top-quality add-on policies typically run in the ballpark of $75 per person in a family per month — about $300 for a family of four — if you’re stuck buying an individual plan. Group plans are cheap enough that even small employers can afford to offer them as a routine benefit. An average working Canadian with employer-paid basic care and supplemental insurance gets free coverage equal to the best policies now only offered at a few of America’s largest corporations. And that employer is probably only paying a couple hundred dollars a month to provide that benefit.

7. Canadian drugs are not the same.
More preposterous bogosity. They are exactly the same drugs, made by the same pharmaceutical companies, often in the same factories.

The Canadian drug distribution system, however, has much tighter oversight; and pharmacies and pharmacists are more closely regulated. If there is a difference in Canadian drugs at all, they’re actually likely to be safer.

Also: pharmacists here dispense what the doctors tell them to dispense, the first time, without moralizing. I know. It’s amazing.

8. Publicly-funded programs will inevitably lead to rationed health care, particularly for the elderly.
False. And bogglingly so. The papers would have a field day if there was the barest hint that this might be true.

One of the things that constantly amazes me here is how well-cared-for the elderly and disabled you see on the streets here are. No, these people are not being thrown out on the curb. In fact, they live longer, healthier, and more productive lives because they’re getting a constant level of care that ensures small things get treated before they become big problems.

The health care system also makes it easier on their caregiving adult children, who have more time to look in on Mom and take her on outings because they aren’t working 60-hour weeks trying to hold onto a job that gives them insurance.

9. People won’t be responsible for their own health if they’re not being forced to pay for the consequences.
False. The philosophical basis of America’s privatized health care system might best be characterized as medical Calvinism. It’s fascinating to watch well-educated secularists who recoil at the Protestant obsession with personal virtue, prosperity as a cardinal sign of election by God, and total responsibility for one’s own salvation turn into fire-eyed, moralizing True Believers when it comes to the subject of Taking Responsibility For One’s Own Health.

They’ll insist that health, like salvation, is entirely in our own hands. If you just have the character and self-discipline to stick to an abstemious regime of careful diet, clean living, and frequent sweat offerings to the Great Treadmill God, you’ll never get sick. (Like all good theologies, there’s even an unspoken promise of immortality: f you do it really really right, they imply, you might even live forever.) The virtuous Elect can be discerned by their svelte figures and low cholesterol numbers. From here, it’s a short leap to the conviction that those who suffer from chronic conditions are victims of their own weaknesses, and simply getting what they deserve. Part of their punishment is being forced to pay for the expensive, heavily marketed pharmaceuticals needed to alleviate these avoidable illnesses. They can’t complain. It was their own damned fault; and it’s not our responsibility to pay for their sins. In fact, it’s recently been suggested that they be shunned, lest they lead the virtuous into sin.

Of course, this is bad theology whether you’re applying it to the state of one’s soul or one’s arteries. The fact is that bad genes, bad luck, and the ravages of age eventually take their toll on all of us — even the most careful of us. The economics of the Canadian system reflect this very different philosophy: it’s built on the belief that maintaining health is not an individual responsibility, but a collective one. Since none of us controls fate, the least we can do is be there for each other as our numbers come up.

This difference is expressed in a few different ways. First: Canadians tend to think of tending to one’s health as one of your duties as a citizen. You do what’s right because you don’t want to take up space in the system, or put that burden on your fellow taxpayers. Second, “taking care of yourself” has a slightly expanded definition here, which includes a greater emphasis on public health. Canadians are serious about not coming to work if you’re contagious, and seeing a doctor ASAP if you need to. Staying healthy includes not only diet and exercise; but also taking care to keep your germs to yourself, avoiding stress, and getting things treated while they’re still small and cheap to fix.

Third, there’s a somewhat larger awareness that stress leads to big-ticket illnesses — and a somewhat lower cultural tolerance for employers who put people in high-stress situations. Nobody wants to pick up the tab for their greed. And finally, there’s a generally greater acceptance on the part of both the elderly and their families that end-of-life heroics may be drawing resources away from people who might put them to better use. You can have them if you want them; but reasonable and compassionate people should be able to take the larger view.

The bottom line: When it comes to getting people to make healthy choices, appealing to their sense of the common good seems to work at least as well as Calvinist moralizing.

10. This all sounds great — but the taxes to cover it are just unaffordable. And besides, isn’t the system in bad financial shape?
False. On one hand, our annual Canadian tax bite runs about 10% higher than our U.S. taxes did. On the other, we’re not paying out the equivalent of two new car payments every month to keep the family insured here.

When you balance out the difference, we’re actually money ahead. When you factor in the greatly increased social stability that follows when everybody’s getting their necessary health care, the impact on our quality of life becomes even more significant.

And True — but only because this is a universal truth that we need to make our peace with. Yes, the provincial plans are always struggling. So is every single publicly-funded health care system in the world, including the VA and Medicare. There’s always tension between what the users of the system want, and what the taxpayers are willing to pay. The balance of power ebbs and flows between them; but no matter where it lies at any given moment, at least one of the pair is always going to be at least somewhat unhappy.

But, as many of us know all too well, there’s also constant tension between what patients want and what private insurers are willing to pay. At least when it’s in government hands, we can demand some accountability. And my experience in Canada has convinced me that this accountability is what makes all the difference between the two systems.

It is true that Canada’s system is not the same as the U.S. system. It’s designed to deliver a somewhat different product, to a population that has somewhat different expectations. But the end result is that the vast majority of Canadians get the vast majority of what they need the vast majority of the time. It’ll be a good day when Americans can hold their heads high and proudly make that same declaration.

Definition Of Racism By The Vanilla Flavored Privileged

When you get into a discussion online about race, you can count on the people who wallow in vanilla flavored privilege for fun and profit letting the word 'racism' flow freely from their lips.

Sociology 101 defines racism as prejudice plus power, be it economic, social, police, military or political, used by the majority group or members of it to retard the progress of a minority group.

But those peeps who are the beneficiaries of WP try to flip the script and project their BS onto the people they oppress.

They attempt to deliberately confuse prejudice and racism by arguing that racism is an INDIVIDUAL failing.

The vanilla flavored privileged refuse to acknowledge or as they angrily hiss at minority groups, refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

Prejudice is individual. Racism is taking your individual prejudices, combining them with political, economic or military/police power to use to oppress a minority group and retard their sociopolitical progress.

As I see it, in their minds, the privileged person's definition of racism is any comments, opinions, statements of facts or analysis of historical situations by people of color or progressive whites that criticizes or calls the continued hegemony of white males into question.

So when the conservative movement and the predominately monoracial GOP went 'nucular' over an out of context cherry picked comment by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, that definition of 'racism' was ensconced in their right-wing hive minds.

In a 2001 University of California-Berkeley speech, she stated, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

The vanilla flavored privileged see it as racism, I see it as stating the obvious.

How many times throughout United States history have privileged while male judges ruled in favor of corporations, the wealthy, the police, conservative governments making power grabs, against civil rights for minorities, the poor, unions, et cetera?

The cumulative weight of evidence of atrocious rulings such as Plessy v. Ferguson, The Dred Scott Decision, Korematsu v. US have been more often than not on the wrong side of the moral arc of the universe than they have on the justice bending side.

So yes, a Latina justice on the Supreme Court, in a case involving a Latino/a or on any other issues, would probably depending on the facts of the case look at it in a different way than a privileged white male justice would before applying the applicable legal statutes in rendering their decision.

So would a Black male or female justice who isn't a right wing sellout, as the late Justice Thurgood Marshall proved time and time again.

And that's all good in the Supreme Court hood to me.

There has only been one ethnic group that has had the power in world history to retard the progress of others, and they don't hesitate to use it.

I have to laugh at the proposition that the 'rule of law' is sacred to the vanilla flavored privileged since they have selective memory about the numerous times they blatantly broke it or ignored it when it suited their purposes.

So spare me the faux conservaoutrage anytime that a person of color calls out prejudicial and racist behavior.

Advocate's (And The Gayosphere's) Jacked Up Reporting On Black Transwoman's Marriage

I spend a lot of time at TransGriot criticizing and correcting piss poor reporting from the MSM on transgender issues. Here's an example of it coming from the Advocate.

Yes, the Advocate.

Just because they are GLBT news and info outlets and are our 'alleged' allies doesn't mean they aren't capable of writing horribly transphobic crap. Ask anyone in the Boston transgender community who remembers the shoddy and disrespectful 1998 Bay Windows reporting about Rita Hester.

In this case, it's a story about African American couple Kimah Nelson and Jason Stenson. They were married May 26 at the New York City Clerk's Office ten days after receiving their marriage license. But unfortunately, their marriage license was revoked after the news broke because Kimah is a transwoman.

The New York Post is a typical Rupert Murdoch owned and run rag that's insensitive to everybody that isn't a white male. I expect that kind of crappy reporting from them and MSM sites like WINS-AM.

But there's no excuse for you, several gayosphere blogs, websites and other GLBT media outlets to repeat the glaring transphobia of the Post by cutting and pasting verbatim in some cases the jacked up Post article.

High five to Rod 2.0 Beta for noting a transwoman and her boyfriend got married.

Let's try this again, shall we Advocate and gayosphere?

The AP Stylebook rules for coverage of transgender people states:

transgender: Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If there preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

And here's what the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association has to say about covering transgender people as well.

transgender (adj.): An umbrella term that refers to people whose biological and gender identity or expression may not be the same. This can include preoperative, postoperative or nonoperative transsexuals, female and male cross-dressers, drag queens or kings, female or male impersonators, and intersex individuals. If an individual prefers to be called transsexual, etc., use that term. When writing about a transgender person, use the name and personal pronouns that are consistent with the way the individual lives publicly.

And just to make sure you got the fracking point, here's the GLAAD Media Reference Guide's transgender Terminology and definitions.

Transgender
An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The term may include but is not limited to: transsexuals, cross-dressers, and other gender-variant people. Transgender people may identify as female-to-male (FTM) or male-to-female (MTF). Use the descriptive term (transgender, transsexual, cross-dresser, FTM or MTF) preferred by the individual. Transgender people may or may not choose to alter their bodies hormonally and/or surgically.

Transsexual (also Transexual)
An older term which originated in the medical and psychological communities. Many transgender people prefer the term "transgender" to "transsexual." Some transsexual people still prefer to use the term to describe themselves. However, unlike transgender, transsexual is not an umbrella term, and many transgender people do not identify as transsexual. It is best to ask which term an individual prefers.

Okay, first order of 'bidness' is that Kimah is living her life as female. She had begun the process of transition, and was living full time. That means not all of your ID is going to perfectly match.

Many of us still have ID's with mismatched name and gender code info or are in states that despite us having legal name changes, refuse to change gender codes until the person undergoes GRS.

Jason saw Kimah as and married a woman. That means that this is a HETEROSEXUAL marriage, not a same gender one.

This is also a concrete example of the GL same gender marriage push having a deleterious effect on legal transgender marriages. The ignorant are mischaracterizing a transperson's legal opposite gender marriages as same gender ones. We're getting the unintended consequences and backlash from society's faith-based frustration over same gender marriage in which our marriages are being annulled.

SRS is not the end all and be all to determining gender identity or when a person transitions to the other gender.

As far as I'm concerned, the second you swallow you first hormone or take your first shot of testosterone, begin living in the opposite gender and make moves to harmonize your body with that gender role that may or may not include surgical options, you ARE that gender

Many transpeople who would like to have it either aren't able to afford genital surgery or have health issues that prevent it. There are many transpeople successfully living in our new gender roles despite possessing neoclits in our panties.

To break this point down for you: gender is between your ears, not your legs.

I also believe that the reporting would have been much different if you flip the race of the couple involved. No references to homeless shelters, no disrespecting Kimah's transgender status.

I realize NY gays are righteously angry at the NY state senate's inaction on the marriage equality bill despite Governor Paterson's willingness to sign the legislation if it hits his desk. But don't take it out on the Black couple who managed to get married despite the obstacles.

And congratulations Kimah and Jason. A bureaucrat may claim you're not married, but you and the Higher Power know differently. It's not the first time in our people's 400 year history in the Americas that the powers that be tried to place obstacles in front of the varied expressions of Black love.

If the lack of a piece of paper didn't stop our ancestors, don't let it stop you.

And note to the Advocate and the gayosphere, if you claim you're our allies, respecting us is Job One. Get it right on the pronouns and just reporting on our lives, period.

What Are The Yogyakarta Principles?

If you peruse international blogs that cover gender identity and sexual orientation issues, from time to time you'll see a reference to the Yogyakarta Principles.

What are they, you ask? Well, peeps, school is now in session.

In response to well-documented patterns of abuse of GLBT people, from November 6-9, 2006 a distinguished group of international human rights experts met on the campus of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to outline a set of international principles relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The result of that meeting was the Yogyakarta Principles: a universal guide to human rights which affirm binding international legal standards with which all nations must comply.

The basic premise is that TBLGI people are all human beings and are equally entitled to human rights. The development of international human rights law has largely ignored them - as racial minorities were once ignored - as women were once ignored - as the disabled were once ignored.

So the people gathered in Yogyakarta logically applied established international human rights principles and made suggestions as to how these 29 principles apply to the situation of LGBTI people around the world.

While the principles acknowledge the primary obligation of various nations to implement human rights, each principle in the official PDF format is accompanied by detailed recommendations to nations and their lawmakers.

The Principles also emphasize that everyone has responsibilities to promote and protect human rights.

There are additional recommendations addressed to the UN human rights system, national human rights institutions, the media, non-governmental organizations, and other interested parties and citizens.

The Yogyakarta Principles are:

Principle 1: The right to the universal enjoyment of human rights

Principle 2. The rights to equality and non discrimination

Principle 3: The right to recognition before the law

Principle 4: The right to life

Principle 5: The right to security of the person

Principle 6: The right to privacy

Principle 7: The right to freedom from arbitrary deprivation of liberty

Principle 8: The right to a fair trial

Principle 9: The right to treatment with humanity while in detention

Principle 10: The right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment

Principle 11: The right to protection from all forms of exploitation, sale and trafficking of human beings

Principle 12: The right to work

Principle 13: The right to social security and to other social protection measures

Principle 14: The right to an adequate standard of living

Principle 15: The right to adequate housing

Principle 16: The right to education

Principle 17: The right to the highest attainable standard of health

Principle 18: Protection from medical abuses

Principle 19: The right to freedom of opinion and expression

Principle 20: The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association

Principle 21: The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion

Principle 22: The right to freedom of movement

Principle 23: The right to seek asylum

Principle 24: The right to found a family

Principle 25; The right to participate in public life

Principle 26: The right to participate in cultural life

Principle 27: The right to promote human rights

Principle 28: The right to effective remedies and redress

Principle 29: Accountability

A&PI Wellness Center Co-Hosts Dance For SF Pride Celebration

TransGriot Note: For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area looking for something to do for Pride June 27-28, you may wish to check out this event. For further info about it you can contact Stephanie Goss at 415-292-3420 ext. 330 or David Stupplebeen at 415-292-3420 ext. 361

ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER WELLNESS CENTER CO-HOSTS A&PI DANCE ARENA AT SAN FRANCISCO'S 39TH LGBT PRIDE

Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center will host the Asian & Pacific Islander (A&PI) Contingent, Pavilion and Dance Arena at the 39th San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Parade and Celebration on Sunday June 28, 2009, featuring Grand Marshals Lieutenant Dan Choi and Helen Zia and special guest ONGINA.

In collaboration with Club Dragon and SHANGRI-LA, A&PI Wellness Center will present the very first A&PI Dance Arena from 12:00 - 6:30 pm PDT, featuring guest DJs and dance groups such as Downe FX and Twisted Illusion, hosted by an array of spectacular personalities led by community icon, Tita Aida.

A&PI Wellness Center will also offer free, confidential, and anonymous rapid oral HIV testing and Hep B screening for at-risk A&PIs from 10 am to 5 pm PDT at A&PI Wellness Center's booth in the A&PI Pavilion on Polk Street and Golden Gate Avenue. Including HIV prevention education in the Pride celebration is more important now, than ever, particularly in the face of the drastic California state budget cuts proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger (which includes a reduction of $80.1 million from HIV funding alone).

The threat of HIV/AIDS continues to grow in the U.S., particularly in communities of color who collectively represent 70% of the national epidemic. The impact of the disease among A&PIs is alarming, though less-publicized than that of Blacks and Latinos.

In A&PI communities, the HIV/AIDS rate rose 34% from 1999 to 2003 and another 10% since then. Moreover, the number of HIV diagnoses among young A&PI gay men more than doubled between 2001 and 2006. Despite this, over two thirds of the A&PI community has never been tested for HIV. Coinfection with HIV and HBV is common, with about 70-90% of HIV-infected individuals having evidence of past or active infection with HBV. Approximately half of persons with chronic hepatitis B are Asian Americans.

Join A&PI Wellness Center in celebrating A&PI LGBT Pride! The official A&PI Pride Kick-Off Party will be held on Thursday, June 25, 2009 from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm at A&PI Wellness Center, located at 730 Polk Street, Fourth Floor. Light refreshments, hors d'oeuvres, and entertainment will be provided. For more information, please contact alex@apiwellness.org.

About Lieutenant Dan Choi
Lieutenant Dan Choi graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 2003 and served as an infantry officer in an extended combat tour in Iraq (2006-7).

As a founder of "Knights Out," the West Point LGBT Alumni, he fights for the repeal of the discriminatory "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy and reminds all soldiers that they are not alone and should never be ashamed of being honest with themselves and others. He declared his sexual orientation publicly on national television, resulting in his recent notification of discharge despite his desire to continue serving.

About Helen Zia
Helen Zia is an award-winning journalist and scholar who has covered Asian American communities and social and political movements for decades. She is the author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, a finalist for the prestigious Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize.

Zia is also the former executive editor of Ms. Magazine and her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, books, and anthologies. She was named one of the most influential Asian Americans of the decade by A. Magazine. A second-generation Chinese American, Zia has been outspoken on issues ranging from civil rights and peace, to women's rights and countering hate violence and homophobia.

About ONGINA
ONGINA is most recognized for her recent appearance on LOGO's reality show "RuPaul's DRAG RACE." She delighted audiences across United States, bringing a strong, bold, beautiful and entertaining character that honors and respects the artistry of drag-wig or no wig!

ONGINA didn't finish as the final winner of the show, but she finished first in our hearts for her courage in revealing that she is HIV positive. ONGINA is now recognized as a poster girl for many A&PI LGBTs who are living with HIV or AIDS, and will be making an appearance at the festival parade.

***

About Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center
A&PI Wellness Center's mission is to educate, support, empower and advocate for Asian & Pacific Islander communities, particularly A&PIs living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS.

With three sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and a staff fluent in 20 languages, A&PI Wellness Center delivers programs regionally, statewide, and nationally, and collaborates with community-based organizations throughout the Asia Pacific Region. For press materials or more information please visit www.apiwellness.org.

Our postal address is
730 Polk St. 4th floor
San Francisco, California 94109
United States

Is She Or Isn't She Linda?

For those of you who are fans of The Matrix trilogy, you are well aware of the fact that it was written, directed and produced by the Wachowski siblings.

You may be saying to yourself, don't you mean the famed movie making, writing and producing team the Wachowski Brothers?

Umm, that's a good question.

Larry, the elder Wachowski sibling, in 2003 began making public appearances en femme. The rumors quickly started flying that a gender change was beginning and Lana Wachowski was beginning to emerge.

The break up of Wachowski's nine year marriage to childhood sweetheart Thea Broom only added more fuel to the rumors swirling around Hollywood and beyond.

A May 30, 2003 column by David Poland said, "Every indication I have says that Larry Wachowski is now in the process of changing his sex. Dressing in public like a woman, taking female hormones and yes, having a sex change operation."

The story only got more interesting after the movie V For Vendetta was released and the writing credit went to the Wachowski brothers. The same was true for Speed Racer as well.

While producing, directing and filming the live screed adaptation of Speed Racer in 2007 there were denials that gender reassignment surgery had occurred.

But then pops up this April 17 photo of Linda leaving LAX. I say Linda because once again, another rumor surfaced that she's officially changed her name.

Hmm, does this person look like a dude to you? Yeah, right.

Due to the reclusive nature of the Wachowski siblings, we don't have a definitive answer to that question yet. The only way we'll get it is when Linda Wachowski calls that press conference or releases a statement through a publicist.

Only then will we have concrete proof confirming what has been widely speculated through much anecdotal and photographic evidence to have occurred.

And even Neo and Morpheus can see that.

Congrats Laverne!

My sis Laverne Cox had a wonderful trip to San Francisco recently. During the May 27 GLAAD Media Awards her appearance in the I Want To Work For Diddy reality show tied with Calpernia Addams' Transamerican Love Story for the Outstanding Reality Series Award.

Here's Laverne's speech from that evening, followed by Calpernia's.



Congratulations to both of you ladies for representing us with class, glamor and dignity. As you said in your speech, Laverne, it was an amazing year for transgender representation on television. Hope it only gets better.



Deepest thanks and appreciation to you Laverne for ensuring that for the first time, we had a media portrayal of a Black transwoman that wasn't rooted in stereotypes.

Dag Gay Peeps-Stop Tripping II

There's increased frustration and sniping coming from the gayosphere about their perception that President Obama is 'ignoring' them.

May I remind you gay peeps once again that President Obama is more than a little busy cleaning up the political and economic mess left him by the previous misadministration that many GLBT peeps got bamboozled by?

I'm getting more than a little annoyed with GLBT peeps whining less than six months into Obama's presidency that 'he isn't moving fast enough on our issues', especially when many of y'all:

A-supported Hillary
B-gave the Bush administration more time to do absolutely nothing for us.

I'm not saying President Obama isn't above criticism. But my lack of patience with it is tempered by the fact that I recall many white GLBT peeps calling him the worst president ever on GLBT issues and he hadn't even taken the oath of office yet.

So yeah, I'm giving him more time to let his deeds live up to his words.

The point is that there are more important things on the national plate than your ability to get married, DOMA and DADT repeal. I want ENDA and hate crimes passed like yesterday, and like many African-Americans we have issues on the table that we've waited years to get dealt with, too.

But the difference between the African-American community and the gay community is that we're looking at the big political picture. The GLBT community is politically immature and impatient at times, muddles its political messages, fails at times to look at the big picture and doesn't grasp the importance of unspoken communication and symbolism.

The flag issue is an example of that, and don't even get me started on its monoracial leadership.

Well, the way to build political power is to be a good ally first. If you help them pass their pet issues or support them with more than lip service, then they'll be on board with helping you with yours.

That means the next time the labor movement needs a helping hand with a protest, Latino/a's request your support on the Sotomayor nomination or African-Americans request some help trying to get congressional representation for DC, that y'all need to show up and push just as hard for those issues as you would your own.

The 2012 election cycle will be here soon. Obama has to worry about the 53% of the population and the 69,492,376 peeps that put him in the Oval Office, not just 13% (African-American US population) or 10% (the GLBT US population).

Contrary to the vanilla flavored bullshit many GLBT peeps are spouting, y'all didn't put Obama in the White House by yourselves. We Americans wishing for a progressive direction for the country did.

That means Democrats, Republicans, independents, liberals, moderates, conservatives, African-Americans, Latino/a's, Asians, Whites, Native Americans, gay, straight, bi, intersex, transgender, cisgender...Well, you get the picture.

That means gay boys and girls, to paraphrase Spock's line from Star Trek, the needs of the progressive many outweigh the needs of the progressive few.

It may have escaped those of you GLBT peeps who live in The Castro, inside the Capital Beltway or in Manhattan south of Christopher Street, but the progressive GLBT agenda for those of us in 'flyover country' doesn't begin and end with same gender marriage, DADT and DOMA repeal

You don't think GLBT peeps need universal health care? That GLBT peeps don't want or need good jobs at good wages? That there are GLBT service members not ensnared in DADT issues who want the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to end and come home?

That there are GLBT peeps who understand the importance of having a Democratic president in office for the next seven years not only selecting diverse progressive federal and Supreme Court judges, but pushing progressive change?

Whether you believe it or not, politicians noticed the gay community's decades long penchant for selling out its transgender allies and couching it in 'incremental progress' weasel words to selfishly get their own rights passed.

They also noted the lack of intersectionality work by gay community peeps who loudly dismissed it with the words 'it isn't a gay issue'.

The way the political peeps look at it, if you gay peeps repeatedly sell your own allies down the river, what are they going to do with us?

If they have to face angry constituents back home, the political peeps factor that into their cost-benefit electability analysis.

Besides, the president can't sign progressive legislation if Congress doesn't introduce or pass it. It's on us to hold Congressional feet to the fire and let them know that it's progressive change we want, not bills watered down by conservacrap.

So yeah, I believe much of the GLBT criticism being directed at President Obama is sour grapes.

I'm sick of it and y'all need to stop tripping.

I'm Sorry That My GOP Racism Offends You

The sheet wearing racists that inhabit the RepubliKKKan Party just can't resist their programming.

First it was a GOP official in South Carolina who compared the First Lady to a gorilla.

Now comes word of the latest outrage from Tennessee. Then again why should I be shocked. The Tennessee GOP had their hate on for the FLOTUS as well during last year's Tennessee primary and came up with the infamous 'Call Me' ad during the 2006 US senate race between John Corker and Harold Ford, Jr.

Tennessee is the home state of Chip Saltsman, who created the infamous “Barack the Magic Negro” CD and was one of the candidates for the chairmanship of the national Republican party.

Well, in the latest chapter of the GOP White Sheet Chronicles, a staffer in Tennessee state senator Diane Black's (R-Gallatin) office named Sherry Goforth e-mailed a composite picture of our country’s 44 presidents, but represents President Obama with only a set of eyes.

It gets more interesting because Sen. Diane Black happens to be the chair of the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus.

When confronted by Christian Grantham of the Nashville Is Talking blog about the e-mail, she confirmed she had sent it. Goforth also stated she had received a letter of reprimand from her superiors but will stay on the job.

When asked by Grantham if she understood the controversial nature of the photo, Goforth would only say she felt very bad about accidentally sending it to the wrong list.

Grantham gave her a second chance to address it and she repeated that she only felt bad about sending it to the wrong list of people.

Hmm, I wonder who's on the right wing, er right list?

“I went on the wrong email and I inadvertently hit the wrong button,” Goforth told NIT. “I’m very sick about it, and it’s one of those things I can’t change or take back.”

Rep. John DeBerry, the chairman of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, wasn't laughing at the so-called 'joke'. He said the incident reflects poorly on Tennessee and lawmakers.

“It’s unfortunate, and it’s another in a series of unfortunate incidents that have happened across this country with this president,” he said. “It sends the wrong message from the state of Tennessee, and it sends the wrong message from the House and Senate. I wish it hadn’t happened.”

But it's going to continue to happen. The GOP as the home of the Dixiecrats and the Southern Strategy, can't resist or are unwilling to resist and overcome their racist programming.

Well, it's a large part as to why the GOP only has 20% support. In the minds of many peeps GOP=Racism and they are doing little to dispel that impression.

These incidents happen with far too much regularity and speaks to the vanilla flavored privilege and ignorance that Republicans in the local, state and national level parties wallow in on a daily basis.

And note to Rusty DePass of South Carolina, hope you are aware of the fact that white gorrillas do exist.

The Transgender Archie Issue

I'm waiting for the latest chapter of the Archie saga to play out and hit my favorite comic store in August.

In case you hadn't heard, Archie proposed to Veronica as the beginning of a six episode comic run in which the gang has graduated from Riverdale High and are just beginning their post college lives.

So while I'm waiting for those issues to hit the stand, thought I'd talk about the Archie story with a transgender twist.

It appeared in Issue 516, and was called 'The Other Side Of The Fence'. Thanks to the peeps at TG Graphics and Fiction Archive, you can actually read it.

Just click on the images to enlarge them and enjoy.

Lessons from KRXQ-FM: Hate Speech Shouldn’t Go Unchallenged

TransGriot Note: This is my latest post for Global Comment.

In the wake of the KRXQ-FM controversy in which Sacramento, CA based shock-jocks Arnie States and Rob Williams attacked a transgender child during a May 28 on-air diatribe, the station’s defenders, most of whom just happened to be conservative, male and white, claimed that these radio hosts’ First Amendment rights were being trampled on.

Yeah, right. Peddle that bull feces somewhere else.

With free speech come consequences. For example, I express my opinions on my blog on a daily basis. Some agree with what I have to say, while there are others who don’t. If you express dissent in a respectful manner, I’ll listen to it and probably leave your comments on the thread.

In the United States, the First Amendment is used by conservatives and others as a shield to stifle criticism of their reprehensible commentary. Yes, the United States Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees your right to free speech. At the same time, it guarantees that others with views contrary to yours get their say too.

The problem comes when your so-called free speech is inciting or advocating violence against a minority group. Far too often in American history, white males wallowing in vanilla flavored privilege have repeatedly done just that.

Their hate speech has had terrible consequences for the minority groups targeted.

Do the Holocaust, the African Slave Trade, the wars against Native Americans, and the terrorism executed by the defenders of Jim Crow segregation ring a bell?

From where I sit, as an African-descended transperson who is cognizant of her history, hate speech leads to escalating violence which can ultimately lead to genocide.

Finish reading at Global Comment.

Happy 40th Birthday Ice Cube!

Time does fly doesn't it?

Today is definitely a good day for O'Shea Jackson, better known to his fans and the rest of the planet as Ice Cube.

He was born on this day 40 years ago in Los Angeles, CA and the MC, songwriter, actor, screenwriter, and film director is still doing his thang to this day.

While he isn't making much music these days because of the focus on acting, he is still regarded as one of rap musics greatest artists.

Happy Birthday Ice Cube!

GLBT Peeps, If You Want Your Rights, Fly This Flag

The gay community has gone through post mortem after post mortem in terms of dissecting why the Prop 8 fight in Cal-ee-forn-ia was lost last year. But I doubt anyone thought about one simple change that will help immeasurably in this struggle.

Flying the American flag.

Since today is Flag Day, starting like yesterday, the TBLG community should make sure Old Glory is front and center at every protest, every march, and the backdrop at every press conference that's held from now until the next electoral showdown in 2010 and beyond.

One factor as to why the GLBT community continues to lose is that it hasn't forcefully made the unassailable case that we are AMERICANS who deserve and are demanding our constitutional rights.

And how do we do that? The easiest way to prove that we are is by flying the flag.

By continuing to fly only the rainbow flag we make it ridiculously easy for the right-wing Christohaters to paint us as un-American.

Making sure that American flags are front and center and prominently displayed is a major lesson of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

The immigration movement made the same mistake early on, but after getting savaged by conservative haters about the lack of American flags quickly picked up on that error and swiftly corrected it.

An immigration protest now doesn't happen without American flags being prominently displayed and dispersed amongst the marchers and I fail to understand why the GLBT movement continues to make this fundamental mistake.

Yeah, I've heard the philosophical reasoning that some of you sent my way when I wrote about this topic last year. I know some of you have issues with the American flag. But if you want your rights, better get over those issues with the quickness and bury them

It's time to realize that only flying the rainbow flag not only isn't going to cut it, it's past time to try old school tactics for the new millennium.

Face the facts that no American civil rights movement agitating for the constitutional rights of a minority group has been successful or done so without consistently flying and prominently displaying the American flag at its myriad events.

And gay people aren't any different as far as the powers that be are concerned. We are seen as the 'other' unworthy of rights. Mike Huckabee's November 2008 comments on The View that 'the gay community hasn't suffered enough' for their rights should have clued y'all in to that jacked up line of conservathinking.

So it is incumbent upon the GLBT community to prove the haters wrong and establish we are red-blooded Americans.

What the Stars and Stripes represents at its fundamental level is our country. It is not a bought and paid for symbol of the Republican Party or the conservative movement, who by the way NEVER fail to fly it at their events.

Failing to fly it makes the rights case a non starter with persuadable people who do believe in mom, apple pie, fairness, the American Dream and tear up when they hear the Star Spangled Banner.

And if you won't do it for yourselves, do it for the TBLG veterans who served and the GLBT service members who died defending it on foreign soil so you can use it.


Crossposted to The Bilerico Project

Teish Trial Updates, Notes And Thoughts

Looks like there's been some positive developments in the wake of my post on the lack of coverage of the DeLee trial vis-a-vis the Zapata one.

Cara posted on Feministe, and hopefully we'll see other commentary elsewhere in the blogosphere. If Teish is going to receive justice, we have to relentlessly remind people now that transpeople are human beings, too.

The trial of Teish's alleged murderer has been pushed back to a Monday, July 13 start, assuming it doesn't get delayed again.

I'm hoping that Black transpeople actually get some media face time in terms of being spokespersons about this case.

Thanks to TransGriot regular reader Gina, a Facebook group has bee started as an info clearinghouse for the upcoming case.

The Syracuse media's terminology is still problematic, so GLAAD needs to be called in to work with them and make them aware of the AP Stylebook standards for covering trans people. GLAAD also has on their website a media press kit as well with downloadable PDF documents

Oh yeah, once again, here's what the AP Stylebook has to say about covering transgender people:

transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

So Syracuse media, no more using the old name in your newscasts and newspaper/print/Internet articles. Teish Cannon lived 24-7-365 as a woman, so the SHE pronoun is appropriate to use to respectfully discuss her and the case.

What's not cool is using the word 'lifestyle'. That's a right-wing tactic and problematic terminology which is seen by TBLG community as disrespectful.

Homo Harlem Film Retrospective

TransGriot Note: Received this interesting e-mail from the Maysles Institute in NYC about a TBLG film retrospective slated to kick off on Juneteenth (June 19) at the Maysles Cinema.

With arguments often eerily reminiscent of old rationales for black oppression, gays and lesbians remain openly, legally and even, 'righteously', discriminated against.

For LGBT people of all races, knowing ourselves, making our extraordinary history known to others, much as with blacks, becomes a key component to liberation. If LGBT heritage remains often obscured and belittled, achievements of African American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, are less well known still.

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the film festival, Homo-Harlem: A Film Retrospective, Friday, June 19th-Saturday, June 27th, cosponsored by the Maysles Cinema at 343 Malcolm X Boulevard with Men of All Colors Together, seeks to help to remedy this lack of recognition.

Through a series of coordinated screenings, critical discussions and walking tours, Homo-Harlem for the first time officially brings Stonewall observations uptown to focus on and honor, figures as diverse as poets Audre Lorde and Langston Hughes, social justice activist Bayard Rustin, composer Billy Strayhorn, photographer Marvin Smith and living legend Storme DeLarverie, whose courageous stand at the Stonewall Bar, 40 years ago, literally helped set in motion the entire Gay Pride Movement.

We LGBT people have always been busy making Harlem better, as one resident reported in 1928, "Never no wells of loneliness in Harlem..." Space is limited for this exhilarating experience, so be sure to make a reservation in advance and get ready to be enlightened, to be amazed and to party hard!

Homo-Harlem Curator and Author Michael Henry Adams

Please direct all press and requests for reservations to cinema@mayslesinstitute.org
Homo Harlem: A Film Retrospective

$10 Suggested Donation For All Screenings

Friday, June 19th
Opening Night at the Museum of the City of New York
(1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St, Enter at 104th St)

6:00pm Cocktail Reception

7:00pm Discussion: Kirk Shannon-Butts, Michael Henry Adams

7:30pm Screening
Blueprint (Short Preview)
Kirk Shannon-Butts, 2008
Harlem shot and set, Blueprint is the story of Keith and Nathan - two New York City college freshmen trying to make a connection.

Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life
Robert Levi,1999, 83 min.
Today, historians and scholars agree that Billy Strayhorn remains one of the most under-recognized American composers in history. Born in 1915, Strayhorn chose to live openly as a gay black man. It was perhaps this decision-and his lifelong devotion to Duke Ellington-which contributed to his near anonymity as a major American composer. While Ellington is arguably the most influential and celebrated jazz composer of the 20th century, Strayhorn is unrecognized. Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life poses answers to the question of who was Billy Strayhorn, and why is he still relatively unknown?

(Maysles Cinema, 343 Lenox Ave. between 127th & 128th Street, June 20th-27th)

Saturday, June 20th
2:00pm
The Edge of Each Other's Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde
Jennifer Abod, 2002, 59 min.
This powerful documentary is a moving tribute to legendary black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde (1934-1992). One of the most celebrated icons of feminism's second wave, Lorde inspired several generations of activists with her riveting poetry, serving as a catalyst for change and uniting the communities of which she was a part: black arts and black liberation, women's liberation and lesbian and gay liberation.

Litany For Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde
Ada Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, 1995, 60 min.
From Lorde's childhood roots in Harlem to her battle with breast cancer, this moving film explores a life and a body of work and makes connections between the civil rights movement, the women's movement and the struggle for lesbian and gay rights.

Greetings from Africa
Cheryl Dunye, 1994, 8 min.
In this highly entertaining short, Cheryl Dunye uses her dry wit to ruminate on lesbian dating '90s style. Cheryl (playing herself) is searching for someone to date. Unfortunately, most of her friends are still stuck in those long-term "relationships from the '80s". Just when she thinks all is lost, she meets L, a beautiful, mysterious and captivating woman. Cheryl gets caught up in the chase and L leads her in and out of hot water.

Sunday, June 21
2:00pm
Prepare for Saints: The Making of a Modern Opera
Steven Watson, 1999, 27 mins
A chronicle of the making of the Modernist 1934 Virgil Thomson/Gertrude Stein opera, Four Saints in Three Acts, (which included an all-black cast from Harlem church choirs and nightclubs.)
Q&A with Director Steve Watson

Portrait of Jason
Shirley Clarke, 1967, 105 min.
Interview with Jason Holliday aka Aaron Payne, house boy, would be cabaret performer, and self proclaimed hustler giving one man's gin-soaked pill-popped, view of what it was like to be black and gay in 1960's America.

Monday, June 22
7:00pm
Storme: Lady of the Jewel Box
Dir. Michelle Parkerson, 1987. 21 min.
"It ain't easy...being green" is the favorite expression of Storme DeLarverie, a woman whose life flouted prescriptions of gender and race. During the 1950's and 60's she toured the black theatre circuit as a mistress of ceremonies and the sole male impersonator of the legendary Jewel Box Revue, America's first integrated female impersonation show and forerunner of La Cage aux Folles. Storme herself emerges as a remarkable woman, who came up during hard times but always "kept a touch of class." Storme was also a witness to the Stonewall Rebellion 40 years ago and is a founding member of the Stonewall Veterans Association.

How Do I Look
Wolfgang Busch, 2007, 48 min.
How Do I Look captures the Harlem "Ball" traditions that originated in the 70s, which was historically an off shot from the Harlem "Drag" Balls from the 20s. Because of the loss of hundreds of members and leaders of the "Ball" community due to the HIV epidemic, this film recorded an important aspect of history while it was still available.

Panel TBA

Tuesday, June 23
7:00pm
Brother to Brother
Rodney Evans, 2004, 87 min.
Winner of numerous awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize and the Gordon Parks Screenwriting Award, Brother to Brother follows the emotional and psychological journey of a young black gay artist as he discovers the hidden legacies of the gay and lesbian subcultures within the Harlem Renaissance.
(with a short clip of an interview with Bruce Nugent on Gay life in the 20s.)

Q&A with Tom Wirth, Literary Executor for Bruce Nugent

Wednesday, June 24
7:00pm
Brother Outsider, The Life of Bayard Rustin
Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer, 2002, 83 min.
This meditation on the parallels between racism and homophobia illuminates the life and work of Bayard Rustin, a visionary activist and strategist who has been called the "unknown hero" of the civil rights movement. Daring to live as an openly gay man during the fiercely homophobic 1940s, 50s and 60s, Brother Outsider reveals the price that Rustin paid for his openness, chronicling both the triumphs and setback of his remarkable 60-year career.

Panel:
Dir. Bennett Singer
Walter Naegle, Rustin's partner until his passing in 1987 at 75
Ernest Green, The Little Rock Nine
Adam Green, Historian, Author of "Selling the Race: Culture, Community, and Black Chicago, 1940-1955"
Moderator: Michael Henry Adams

Thursday, June 25
5:30pm
Walking Tour*

7:30pm
Paris is Burning
Jennie Livingston, 1990, 78 min.
Many consider Paris Is Burning to be an invaluable document of the end of the "Golden Age" of New York City drag balls, as well as a thoughtful exploration of race, class, and gender in America.

9:30pm
Dinner & Afterparty at Billie's Black*

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and after party) cost is $50.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com
60 person limit on tickets so get them while you can!
Tickets for the screening only can be purchased at the Maysles Cinema the night of.

Friday, June 26
5:30pm
Walking Tour*

7:30pm
Looking for Langston
Isaac Julien, 1988, 45 min.
A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.

James Baldwin: Witness
Angie Corcetti, 2003, 60 min.
A minister's son from Harlem, James Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village and began writing essays for left-wing journals. With the success of his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and dozens of non-fiction works, Baldwin became an international voice on American Black life in the 1950s and 60s. A look at this Black American Gay icon's life.

9:30pm
Dinner at Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too*

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and dinner) cost is $50.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com

Saturday, June 27
11:30am Brunch at Chez Lucien*

1:00pm
Walking Tour*

3:00pm
M&M SMITH: For Posterity's Sake
Heather Lyons, 1996, 57 min
Morgan and Marvin Smith, twin brothers and prolific African American artists, boldly moved from Kentucky to New York in 1933 to pursue artistic careers. By 1937 they had opened a photo studio next door to Harlem's renowned Apollo Theatre. Thus began 50-year-long careers as still and motion picture photographers, painters and sound recordists. This story is richly visualized through the Smiths' photos, films and paintings and poignantly told by Morgan and Marvin Smith and friends such as Eartha Kitt.

Clip of Short Conversation with Marvin Smith
40 min.

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and brunch) cost is $45.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Lateisha Green Memorial Edition

Well, the trial of Lateisha Green's alleged killer Dwight DeLee is due to start July 13 in Syracuse, NY. You wouldn't know it based on the deafening silence that's coming from New York state. Even the news cycle ain't helping in terms of the multiple events going on.

Well, Teish, even if I'm the only one covering it or even mentioning your trial from now until the end, I'll proudly do so. Hopefully you and your family will receive justice despite the almost nonexistent news coverage.

We dedicate this week's edition of skewering fools to your memory.

Now let's move on from the trial to convicting and sentencing fools in the Court of Public Opinion.

There were many worthy fools who committed crimes against common sense and decency this week. But this week it goes to Neal Boortz, another right wing radio hater bucking to get banned in Britain as well.

He's had his hate on for New Orleans peeps in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastating 2005 landfall there. Instead of calling out the incompetence of the Bush administration, the beyond piss poor crisis management, and the seizure of this disaster to do some partisan political machinations of the recovery in order to turn Louisiana red, he attacks the residents of New Orleans instead.



Neal Boortz, shut up, fool!

What If There Was A Trans Trial And Nobody Cared?

The trial of the alleged killer of Lateisha Green, Dwight DeLee was supposed to start yesterday in Syracuse.

You wouldn't know that because if you Google it, check the local Syracuse media, the website of the Onondaga County DA's office, and even the websites of GLBT groups in the area, you won't find anything on the DeLee trial except old stories and link backs to TransGriot.

I guess if the victim is a Black transwoman, nobody gives a shit, especially if the trial is falling just before the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion that peeps who share Lateisha's ethnic heritage helped jump off.

I would love to be able to tell you what the prosecution's opening statement was, whether the defense is using the trans panic defense, or even what the Cannon family's reactions are.

But I'm not in Syracuse right now, so that makes it difficult if not impossible to do so because unlike the Zapata trial, there isn't a Crystal Ann Gray or an Autumn Sandeen on site to cover it. There's no legal analysis from Banfield and Ford being broadcast on cable TV for people to watch.

So as usual in American society. the unspoken message is being sent that a Black life, especially a Black transperson's life doesn't mean jack, even in the TBLG community.

And we Black transpeople are hearing that message loud and clear.


TransGriot Note: Cara from Feministe sent me a link to another story that states the trial has been moved to mid July.

The post has been modified to reflect the new info.

While that explains why I didn't see any news about it anywhere yesterday and spent several hours searching before I wrote the post, I'm still not happy about the lack of coverage, and the piss-poor reporting this story has received vis-a-vis the Zapata trial.

Introducing Transman Chaz Bono

Chaz Bono came out two decades ago and has been a visible spokesperson and activist for the LGBT community.

I'd been hearing rumors for several months that Chaz Bono was either about to transition or had done so, but could never find the evidence to either confirm or deny it.

Well, as many of you know by now, it's official. Chaz is beginning the transition process according to his spokesperson Howard Bragman.

"Yes, it's true -- Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity. He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved ones.

It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his 'coming out' did nearly 20 years ago. We ask that the media respect Chaz's privacy during this long process as he will not be doing any interviews at this time."

Chaz once worked for GLAAD as its Entertainment and Media Director, and GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano had this to say about the news.

“Chaz Bono's decision to live his life authentically represents an important step forward, both for him personally and for all who are committed to advancing discussions about fairness and equality for transgender people.

"Coming out as transgender is an extremely personal decision and one that is never made lightly. We look forward to hearing Chaz's story in his own words in the future."

“GLAAD encourages media outlets to cover this story accurately, and to avoid speculation about the details of Chaz’s story before he is ready to tell it in his own words.”

I look forward to hearing Chaz tell his story as well when he's ready to do so, along with the rest of his transgender brothers and sisters.

40 Trans Heroes? You're Kidding, Right?

One of the reasons I became a trans activist a decade ago was because of my pissivity over a relatively melanin free IFGE list of out and proud transpeople.

To pour gasoline on it, they not only neglected two future IFGE Trinity winners in Dr. Marisa Richmond and Dawn Wilson who were doing thangs at the time, the only two African descended people on it were RuPaul and Dennis Rodman, who have publicly stated they aren't and didn't want to be.

Well, history repeats itself.

The International Court System in conjunction with The Task Force put together a list of 40 Trans Heroes to in their words, 'highlight the importance of the transgender and gender-nonconforming community as an equal and important part of the broader LGBT community.'

The “40 Trans Heroes” were solicited and selected from hundreds of nominations by a special committee of the International Court Council.

And this is the final list they came up with.




Sylvia Rivera
Shannon Price Minter
Mara Keisling
Jose Julio Sarria
Ru Paul
Marsha Botzer
Nicole Murray-Ramirez
Norma Kristie
Masen Davis
Melissa Sklarz

Lady Bunny
Leslie Feinberg
Gunner Scott
Lynn Conway
Chi Chi LaRue
Marsha P. Johnson
Riki Wilchins
Barbra Casbar Siperstein
Yosenio Lewis
Robin Tyler

Coco LaChine
Valerie Spencer
Jim Flynn
Nancy Nangeroni
Lady Chablis
Rosalinda dela Luna
Cecilia Chung
Loren Cameron
Maria Roman
Theresa Sparks

Karina Samala
Grace Sterling Stowell
Donna Sachet
Shirley Bushnell
Cole Thaler
Darcell
Jamison Green
Sister Roma
Billy deFrank
Frank Marino

"This is by no means a complete list or a ‘best of’ or ‘top 10’ list. It is merely a beginning tribute to the thousands of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals that have made our modern-day movement possible," says Thom Hansen, president of the International Court Council.

“This momentous tribute to the transgender community is a long time coming. The International Court System is honored to partner with the Task Force. Together, we pay tribute to those whose lives and works have impacted each and every one of us."

“On the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, let's remember the legacy of those who started our struggle for equality and liberation," says Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"Recognizing 40 of the many transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals who have worked tirelessly and passionately in favor of full LGBT equality throughout these four decades is a reminder of the determination and persistence of the transgender community and of the human spirit. Let's continue to honor these important contributions toward a more just and equal society for all of us.”

The International Court System will present a commemorative plaque inscribed with the names of these outstanding individuals on June 25 to be placed at the Stonewall Inn.

If the joint Task Force-International Court compiled list was intended to honor transpeople, it is not having the desired effect.

Transgender historian, scholar and attorney Kat Rose minced no words after seeing the list.

"Did NGLTF actually have anything to do with this list? Or is it a counterfeit list made up by that Stampp Corbin guy to make his claim on Bilerico the other day (that HRC 'put the T in LGBT') seem believable?

"Darcell? No offense, but who or what is a Darcell? Chi Chi LaRue? I guess I should have gone to porn school instead of law school. And Robin Tyler? Based on her stance on ENDA in 2007, she should be on John Aravosis's top-40 list instead of this one.

On a personal level, I have no love lost for Phyllis (Frye) - but in objective terms, I would have to say she rates higher than most of these people, and significantly higher than some.

And Cole Thaler, eh? Easy to make it onto the list when you get to be in the position to be on the list because you're a young FTM and the organization you work for won't hire 40 year old MTFs.

Oh well - I'm off to read some more imaginary history books written by that imaginary transsexual woman, Susan Stryker.

2005 IFGE Trinity Award winner, NTAC founder and Trans Political blog author Vanessa Edwards Foster stated:

"RuPaul? As one of the 40 top trans people? And Robin Tyler (if it's the lesbian activist) has never to my knowledge voiced that she's trans (and used to have some less-than-inclusive thoughts on us to boot!) Well, being from the Imperial Court ... I can believe it. Way to endorse, NGLTF!

There's a bunch of folks on here I've never heard of ... and note the pro-NCTE slant of their choices! No NTAC folks (besides Yo), no Phyllis Frye, no Alyson Meiselman, no Kat, no Randi Barnabee, no Ethan or anyone from IFGE (or other competing orgs), no Jessi Xavier or Joanna Keatley, no Andre Wilson or Dawn Wilson, no Julie Johnson, no Calpernia (Addams) (strangely enough for them!) and on and on! Ca-LUE-less!

Then again, maybe they meant the 40 top Drag heroes!"

I'm channeling my inner Maya Wilkes and saying a hearty, "Oh, Hell No!" to this list.

First, the list doesn't have the 'Godmother of the Transgender Rights Movement' in Phyllis Frye. No Vanessa Edwards Foster, no Kat Rose, no Dr. Susan Stryker, no Monica Helms, a 2003 IFGE Trinity Award winner who co-founded with Angela Brightfeather the Transgender American Veterans Association.

It's predominately East and West Coast centric. It ignores the major contributions to the transgender movement of people who live in 'flyover country'.

And as usual, out of the four African-Americans on this list, two are entertainers. I like the Lady Chablis, own an autographed copy of her Hiding My Candy autobiography and have met her, but I haven't seen her lobbying on Capitol Hill.

Get this through your heads gay people. RuPaul has stated he isn't and doesn't want to be trans. I'm beyond sick and tired of vanilla flavored privileged people holding him up as an example of an African-American transperson.

How the hell did you forget (or conveniently did so) the only three African-American IFGE Trinity Award winners in Dawn Wilson, Dr. Marisa Richmond and some award winning blogger who happens to be one of the founding members of NTAC, helped create the first standalone African-American oriented transgender conventions in 2005-06 and oh by the way, won the 2006 IFGE Trinity Award in the process?

Dr. Richmond in addition to winning the 2002 Trinity Award, was the first African-American transgender delegate to a major political convention and runs the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition.

Dawn helped pass transgender rights bills in Louisville and Lexington, KY in 1998 and was the first African-American Trinity winner in 2000.

Hell, at least they did recognize Marsha P. Johnson and Valerie Spencer, but you left off Lorrainne Sade Baskerville, who happens to be a 2000 inductee of the Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame. Dionne Stallworth is not on this list, who is a founder of GenderPac, and neither is Cydne Kimbrough.

But Robin Tyler? Please, she's regarded by some peeps in the trans community with the same distaste I have for Ward Connerly, Michael Steele, Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice.

Don't even get me started ranting about the long list of trans leaders around the planet who aren't US based.

But this speaks once again to an issue that I constantly harp on, along with Kat and Dr, Stryker. Know your history, claim it, own it and zealously defend it from all attempts at whitewashing it.

Because if you don't, others will write it for you, and you may not like the resulting portrait they paint of you when they're finished.

Here We Go Again- Chill With The 'It's Black People's Fault Prop 8 Passed' Meme

Since the 6-1 California Supreme Court decision upholding Prop 8 went down, in the midst of the resurgence of gay community anger over the decision the tired 'Blacks are more homophobic' and 'Blacks are to blame for Prop 8 passage' memes have resurfaced in the discussion threads on some gay blogs.

It has also led to attacks on anyone, especially persons of color such as Yasmin Nair who advocates that TBLG community orgs renew their focus on passing ENDA and hate crimes legislation and fighting HIV/AIDS. Those three things alone will provide more bang for the civil rights buck and benefit all members of the GLBT rainbow besides the single minded focus of GLBT resources on marriage equality.

People For The American Way's Kathryn Kolbert had this to say in a November 7, 2008 memo debunking that tired meme.

Angrily blaming African Americans for the passage of Prop 8 is not going to help open doors for the kind of long-term conversations we need to have about homophobia and discrimination. It will, instead, further isolate and undermine courageous African American leaders who have taken a firm stand for equality.

Alice Huffman, president of the state (California) NAACP, has been an outspoken champion on equality and on Prop 8, and right-wing leaders are fomenting attacks on her from within the organization. People like Alice Huffman need our support and strategic thinking, not complaints or condemnation.

Broad-brush denunciation of African Americans by white gay leaders also fosters the incredibly damaging perception that the LGBT and African American communities are two separate, rather than overlapping entities, and undermines the work of African American LGBT leaders.

For many Black GLBT/SGL peeps, our ethnicity trumps our sexual orientation or gender identity because people see that first before they see anything else. The more you denigrate our people, the deeper the wedge you drive between African-Americans and the gay community.

We also get put in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between the GLBT community and our people. Nine times out of ten, if we're forced to do so, thanks to our shared history with our people and all the indignities heaped upon Black SGL peeps at the hands of white gays prior to and after the Prop 8 fight, you will lose in that exchange.

And that makes the Religious Right smile.

The point is that for too long you've ignored the warnings SGL peeps have sounded about the racism in the community. You have ignored our warnings and concerns about our megachurch ministers being courted or bought off by white fundies. Our complaints and concerns about the 'just like you' portrayal of the gay community as being white, wealthy and homogeneous were ignored, as was the lack of GLBT/SGL leaders in the large predominately white gay orgs.

Those rainbow chickens have now come home to roost. Now you come running after major losses to the realization despite loud, angry and sometimes racist protestations to the contrary that you didn't need the Black community's help to achieve your marriage equality goals.

Black people didn't organize the Yes on Prop 8 campaign or provide the armies of foot soldiers to get the petitions signed to put it on the ballot.

Black folks didn't orchestrate the failed opposition to Prop 8. Black organizations or churches didn't bankroll the campaign in seven figure amounts like the Mormon Church and Knights of Columbus did. And since we're only 9% of Ca-lee-for-nia's population, that means the majority peeps who voted for it predominately share your ethnic heritage.

So instead of throwing shade, you need to rethink your strategies for dealing with the situation you find yourself in. That means talking to your critics such as Jasmyne Cannick, not hatin' on them.

It would also behoove you to work with the organization the SGL community set up to help promote TBLG rights in the African-American community, the National Black Justice Coalition.

Lani Guinier once stated, 'No movement committed to long term transformation and justice can afford to become overly dependent on any single strategy.'

One critical component of crafting that winning strategy is coming up with a message that resonates in the African-American community. It's not smart politics to piss off the people that know the community better than you, but could help you turn the tide toward marriage equality in the process.

About Damned Time

TransGriot Note: Better late than never. The apology from the hate jocks at KRXQ-FM. Kudos and thanks to all of you who called, complained and raised holy hell.


TO OUR LOYAL ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN FOLLOWERS,

WE HAVE FAILED YOU. AS A SHOW, AS PEOPLE, AS BROADCASTERS, WE HAVE SIMPLY FAILED ON ALMOST EVERY LEVEL.

WE PRESENTED OUR OPINIONS ON A VERY SENSITIVE SUBJECT IN A HATEFUL, CHILDISH AND CRUDE FASHION; AND THEN, GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETRACT THOSE REMARKS, WE DEFENDED THEM.

SINCE THEN, YOU, OUR LOYAL LISTENERS, HAVE MADE IT CLEAR TO US THAT WE WENT TOO FAR. THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN OVERWHELMING. NONE OF YOU SAID THAT WE COULDN'T HAVE OPINIONS, YET SO MANY OF YOU SAID THAT THE WAY WE GAVE THEM CROSSED THE LINE. FURTHER, YOU SAID THAT OUR ATTEMPT TO MASK OUR COMMENTS AS "JOKES THAT WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY OUR AUDIENCE," WAS UNACCEPTABLE. I WOULD SAY NOW THAT IT WAS WORSE THAN THAT, IT WAS COWARDLY. YOU HAVE MADE THAT CLEAR.

WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO VARIOUS GROUPS AND ASKED FOR A CHANCE TO MAKE THIS RIGHT; TO RESPOND, WITH THEIR PARTICIPATION, TO THE EDUCATION THAT OUR AUDIENCE HAS PROVIDED US. THAT OPPORTUNITY HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY GRANTED THIS THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 11TH. AT 7:30 A.M.
THE WORD APOLOGY APPEARS NO WHERE IN THIS LETTER FOR A REASON. WE ALREADY HID FROM DOING THE RIGHT THING ONCE AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN. APOLOGIZING IN A WRITTEN, POSTED STATEMENT IS A FORM OF COWARDICE. WE WILL SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID THIS THURSDAY.

ON A FINAL, PERSONAL NOTE, AS THE LEADER AND OWNER OF THE SHOW, I HAVE MADE THE DECISION THAT WE NEED TO REFRAIN FROM BROADCASTING NEW EPISODES UNTIL WE CAN ADDRESS THIS ON THURSDAY . WE WILL RETURN TO THE AIR AT 7:30 A.M. JUNE 11TH.

ROB WILLIAMS
ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN

Villager's June 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The first day of summer is fast approaching and we are halfway through 2009. We're also approaching the 40th anniversary this month of the Stonewall Rebellion. It's also time for another edition of the Afrosphere's highly anticipated Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

This month the Villager and his team ranked 1704 blogs, an increase of 45 blogs from last month.

The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, which is approaching a year in the top spot. Congrats to my homegirl Renee's Womanist Musings for finally reaching the BBR Top 10!

For the other nine members of the BBR Top Ten you can check out the Villager's post.

Villager and I noted that the Technorati ranking scores of Black owned and operated blogs have been declining. Since the Technorati rankings count links on a rolling six month calendar, the drops in rankings are probably related to the increased traffic we garnered from the historic 2008 presidential election and reflect those links now dropping off the rolling calendar.

I think it's time that we tackle this problem by immediately beginning to cross promote other Black blogs.

While I'm proud that I have a diverse readership, I'm always looking for new readers who haven't perused TransGriot. I don't think we do a good enough job across the Afrosphere of promoting each other's blogs.

It would also be nice if I had my own people linking to this blog as well.

Just as Villager created the BBR's as a measuring metric to track our progress and a tool to aid us in goal setting, it's time to apply the same FUBU principles to promoting the Afrosphere and our blogs.

Since no one else is going to do it, we'll have to do it for ourselves.

Read Black Blogs, Promote Black Blogs!

On that note, time to get off the soapbox and find out what my TransGriot BBR ranking is this month?

In the May BBR rankings TransGriot had a BBR of 37 with a Technorati ranking of 159.

As of the June 8 compilation date, TransGriot is now number 34 on the BBR rankings with a 138 Technorati ranking. I lost 21 points on my Technorati ranking but gained three spots in the BBR rankings.

I'm also just nine tantalizing spots away from my goal of cracking the BBR Top 25.

I have much work to do if I'm going to reach my goals of the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day.

Cloudy Day

You loyal TransGriot readers probably noticed that I didn't post anything on Saturday and most of the day Sunday.

Ever since my grandmother Tama died in February 2002, her June 4 birthday is a tough day for me. Add to the fact that I had a friend who also shared my grandmother's birthday who passed away far too soon, it only adds to the depressed state of mind and the sorrow that I feel in terms of missing these two wonderful people.

The fact that we had a cloudy, depressingly rainy weather day in Da Ville didn't help my overall mood either, and my attempts to focus on something else to keep my mind off of it, including the blog, failed miserably.

So after wallowing in bed most of the day, I ended up doing what I do to get out of a depressed mood, and headed to my neighborhood Walgreen's to get my favorite taste of home.

I'm happily gorging myself on Blue Bell chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and rededicating myself to becoming even half the woman that my mom and my sister are, and that my grandmother and Dr. Monica Holloway-Barrett were.

But the moral of this post is that contrary to what the haters say, I'm human. I have my good days and bad, my highs and lows, my joys and sorrows and my triumphs and travails.

June 4, 2009 happened to be one of those days.

I'm still focused on becoming the best human being I can be with the time on Planet Earth I have left. I'm cognizant of my status as a role model for many transgender people and our allies, and aware that the fight for first class citizenship status for transgender people is not over by a long shot.

I'm also blessed with the God-given ability to articulate my thoughts on paper, be it wood-based or electronic.

Now if I could only get to a point where I get paid so I can write full time, I'd definitely be a happy camper.

Dear Haters II

Dear Haters,
If you were expecting your transphobic laced commentary on the Pink Sheep Of The Family post to be approved, you are part of the moronic sheeple who watch too much Fox News and are divorced from reality.

This is my cyberhome, and only rational commentary gets posted on the blog. The best part about it is I get to define rational.

Obviously you have personal insecurity and self-esteem issues about your gender identity on a deep level. Cisgender people who are secure in their gender identity and sexual orientation aren't bothered by the presence of transpeople on this planet.

If you pick up a science magazine every now and then, you'll soon discover that gender in the animal kingdom isn't as immutable as you haters think it is.

The only people who would actually sit down at their computer and leave a despicable comment like you did are people whose comfort in their personal sense of manhood or womanhood is shaky at best.

Maybe you didn't read the post, so I'll skip to the heart of it since you and your ilk seem to have the brain and penis size of an atom.

The bottom line is that transpeople exist. The moral arc of history in terms of transpeople gaining first class citizenship in our various countries is inexorably on our side. You and your ilk are on the same side of the legions of groups like the Ku Klux Klan and other proud conservatives throughout world history who opposed the march of humanity, social and societal progress, and common sense.

I suggest you peeps get some therapy to deal with those lingering self esteem issues that are keeping you from having regular dates and intimacy with anyone other than plastic dolls.

And as for your ludicrous assertion that no one will ever accept us as the women and men transpeople were born to be but unfortunately were stuck in the wrong bodies, you are about as off base as Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the people you get your tired talking points from.

Maybe no one who's a white male conservative 'christian' will accept me and my trans brothers and sisters, but Real Christians, real people of other faiths and a vast majority of compassionate thinking people do.

My own story and the stories of countless others blow your diatribe to smithereens.

For every person who doesn't accept me, I have ten who do. I have the respect of my employers. I have sistahfriends and friends across the spectrum who see me as nothing but the tall proud sistah I am and was born to be.

So get thee behind me cyber Satan. You've built a Berlin Wall around your heart and mind that renders you incapable of expressing compassion, love and human decency to another human being.

But just like the actual Berlin Wall fell, the one around your mind and heart will fall as well.

Pink Sheep Of The Family

One of the things that's a major concern for a transperson is their relationship with their family after you drop the bomb about your transition.

You are aware before you swallow your first hormone or inject yourself that the familial reaction can run the gamut from total acceptance to never being invited to a family reunion for the rest of your life.

It's a little more painful for an African-American transperson because we tend to place heightened cultural importance on familial relationships.

I talk to my mom and sister on a weekly basis and the relatives that do love and care about me from time to time. The reactions in my family to my transition ranged from relatives who don't want anything to do with me to outright acceptance by others.

While family ties are important, it was more important that I be my authentic self. In order to be the best person I could be and live an honest, happy and productive life it became imperative for me to transition.

I just reached a point in my life where I wasn't going to be stuck any longer in a gender role that didn't fit me and made me miserable just to make other peeps comfortable.

The way I see it, if your blood family is tripping, make your own. I'm also fond of saying that a transperson's family expands after transition, not contracts.

I'm blessed to have a diverse, international group of people I call my brothers and sisters and friends as well. If some peeps in my family see my being a transperson as a reason not to talk to me any more, or hide behind the Bible as an excuse to cut familial ties with me, then it's their loss.

So if that makes me the pink sheep in the family, then so be it.

Hate Crime Charges Upheld By Judge in Lateisha Green Case

With the Lateisha Green murder case scheduled to start in Syracuse, NY on June 11, an attempt made yesterday by Dwight DeLee defense attorney Clarence Johnson to wipe out the hate crimes charge against his client was struck down by Onondaga County Judge William Welsh.

Johnson had asked Walsh to find the hate crime law unconstitutionally vague and general. He also asserted that the law was unconstitutional in its specific application to DeLee.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Matthew Doran of course has the opposite opinion and defended the statute and the prosecution of DeLee in court.

After listening to the legal arguments, Judge Walsh sided with the prosecution and upheld the constitutionality of the state's hate crime law in the murder prosecution of Dwight DeLee.

The case will be allowed to go forward as a hate crime murder prosecution.

DeLee is charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in the November 14, 2008 shooting death of transwoman Lateisha 'Teish' Green, born with the last name of Cannon, who the prosecution contends the victim was targeted because of her gender identity.

TransGriot Note: The Syracuse area papers are STILL having problems with applying the AP Stylebook, so I cleaned up and rewrote the article my damned self as per TransGriot policy when I run across piss poor reporting on transgender issues.

Shut Up Fool! Award-Tianamen Square Edition

Yesterday was the 20th Anniversary of the brutal June 4 Chinese government crackdown on peaceful demonstrators in Tianamen Square. This award is in the memory of the folks who died there and who still labor to bring democracy there.

One of the cornerstone of democracy is free speech, so let's see who engaged in stupid jibber-jabber instead of reasoned discourse.

While several Republicans made strong bids (as usual) to win this week's Shut Up Fool! Award, it has to go to the duo of Rob Williams and Arnie States of KRXQ-FM in Sacramento, CA. First you go off the deep end attacking a trans child on air May 28, then issue a non-apology June 3 for it.



By the way, calling for child abuse and the beat down of a transchild is not a joke. It may be to white males wallowing in vanilla flavored cisgender privilege, but it's a life and death matter to the peeps you attacked with your words.

Oh yeah boys, don't try to hide behind the skirts of the First Amendment because you got called on your BS by GLAAD, me and others in the blogosphere and the people who are sending you e-mail at a prodigious rate as I compose this.

In addition, if you were so proud of your commentary, why did you hurry up and scrub the show you're so proud of off your site?

Rob Williams and Arnie States, shut up fools!

President Obama Cairo Speech

The prez kept another campaign promise earlier this morning US time by making a speech to the Muslim world from an Arab capital.

Here's the YouTube video of the full speech in case you missed it.

Update on KRXQ-FM Hate Jocks

The KRXQ-FM transhaters are feeling the heat from calls and e-mail coming from around the world. Major advertisers are yanking commercials from the show as well.

After a weak azz non-apology for their hateful transphobic comments, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Chipotle Mexican Restaurants and Sonic Corp. Inc have pulled their advertising from KRXQ-FM.

And note to KRXQ-FM fans of the show. You cannot hide behind the First Amendment and advocate violence against transpeople or ANY ethnic minority. As I can painfully tell you from my people's history, when you are part of a minority group, people who advocate violence against you cannot be brushed off with a 'I was making a joke'.

Words even up hurting and killing people. Hateful words unchecked can eventually lead to the genocide of a minority group by the tyrannical majority.

So keep up the pressure. The haters must know that attacking transkids is not going to be tolerated by this community, much less attacks on us.

If you wanna claim the vanilla-flavored cisprivileged right to say whatever you want about transpeople, don't get mad when we exercise the same rights to call your behinds out about it.

Canada MP Siksay Tables Motion Calling For Coverage Of SRS

New Democratic Party MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) not only talks the talk as an ally to Canada's trans community, he walks the walk.

Last month he introduced Bill C-389, a private member bill that would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression.

Siksay is the NDP critic for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues, and yesterday tabled a motion in the House of Commons which calls on the Canadian federal government to take action to ensure that sex reassignment surgery is covered by Canada’s health system.

The motion reads: “That, in the opinion of the House, the de-listing of medicare coverage for medically necessary sex reassignment surgery (SRS), and related therapies, violates the accessibility and comprehensiveness criteria of the Canada Health Act, and the government should take immediate steps to ensure appropriate health care is accessible across Canada to transsexual and transgender persons.”

Siksay stated in a press released dated June 3, “Sex Reassignment Surgery is a medically necessary procedure that must be available to members of the transgender and transsexual community. “SRS is not a frill nor is it an elective process but rather it’s a necessity for the health, happiness and well-being of some Canadians. As a medically necessary procedure, it and its related therapies must be fully covered under the provisions of the Canada Health Act.”

June 4, 1989

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Chinese government crushing the student led pro democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.

Student demonstrators calling for government reform and an end to corruption occupied Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing for five weeks in the spring of 1989.

Those demonstrations captured the world's attention, but unfortunately between the late evening of June 3 and the early morning hours of June 4, the plug was pulled on the foreign networks such as CNN broadcasting the event and soldiers backed by tanks opened fire on civilians in and around the square. Casualties were estimated between 200-1000 dead.

It also produced the iconic photo in this post of a lone citizen stopping an armored column. The fate of that brave citizen is unknown to this day.

The Chinese government can try to censor it all they want, but no one will forget what happened 20 years ago and the remarkable five weeks preceding it. Keep those that died on June 4, 1989 in your thoughts and prayers.

It's a reminder to those of us who live in democracies that as much as we gripe about the imperfect nature of the governments we live under, these freedoms are hard won and require eternal vigilance to keep.

It is also a reminder that there are people who put their lives on the line in other parts of the world to obtain the freedoms that too many of us take for granted.

3rd Annual Transgender Health Fair In NYC Today

Reminding you TransGriot readers in the New York City metro area that the 3rd annual Transgender Health Fair is kicking off today at 5:30 PM.

The Transgender Health Fair brings together hundreds of community members who are seeking health care information and connections with providers who are experienced in working with the transgender community.

There will be free health screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, mental health and more. Transgender-specific health information will be available, as will information on smoking cessation, nutrition, health insurance and more. We'll also be featuring Medicaid enrollment.

Transphobia in healthcare is unhealthy, and the Transgender Health Fair is the place to find the competent, sensitive health care information and services you've been looking for!

The health fair will be taking place at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York City and will run until 7:30 PM.

The Story of Carlett Brown

One of the cool benefits of the recent Johnson Publishing Company deal with Google that allows digitizing of the iconic African-American magazines JET and EBONY is that it not only provides a record of Black history as it happened, it also is a cultural time capsule as well.

One of the things I've always pondered is African American transgender people and our history. I know I and other African-American transpeeps didn't just pop up out of thin air. We have a long fascinating history that just begs to be told.

One of those fascinating stories starts unfolding across several JET issues during 1953. Coincidentally it starts around the time Christine Jorgensen had become a household name after the December 1, 1952 news story broke about her surgery and just before her February 12, 1953 return to the United States from Denmark.

It centers on a 26 year old professional female illusionist and shake dancer from Pittsburgh whose birth name was Charles Robert Brown but later changed it to Carlett Angianlee Brown.

Carlett was in a relationship with a 24 year old US Army sergeant stationed in Germany named Eugene Martin. She'd served in the Navy, and during her service time was checked out for an issue with recurring monthly bleeding through her rectal area.

The medical exam revealed that she was intersex and had some feminine plumbing. The surgeons wanted to remove it, but she declined to have that done and opted for SRS instead.

In the process of weighing her SRS options with three surgeons in various countries, she discovered that the laws of those countries at the time didn't allow foreign nationals to obtain SRS.

Dr. Christian Hamburger, the endocrinologist who supervised Christine Jorgensen's transition, advised Carlett that if she gave up her US citizenship she could have it done in Denmark. Germany's then justice minister advised Brown that if became a German resident and took the steps to become a German citizen, she could have it performed there as well.

So Carlett decided to do just that. She applied for her US passport and made arrangements to travel to Bonn, Germany in August 1953 and meet Dr. Hamburger there for her initial checkup before having SRS.

Carlett's game plan once she completed SRS was to get married to Sgt. Eugene Martin

"I just want to become a woman as quickly as possible, that's all. I'll become a citizen of any country that will allow me the treatment that I need and be operated on," she said at the time.

Fast forward to June 25 issue. Carlett has now traveled to Boston and signed papers at the Danish consulate renouncing her US citizenship. She's doing some bookings in the area to help pay for her looming August 2 overseas trip and even hit Filene's to shop for her wedding dress.

She now has her US passport with her new name of Carlett Angianlee on it and all systems are go to become the 'First Negro Sex Change'.

Then fate intervened. Crossdressing back in the 50's could earn you a trip to jail, and the Boston po-po's promptly arrested and jailed her overnight for doing so as the July 9 issue reported. Carlett was still undeterred and was still planning to leave for Denmark and her date with history.

She then postponed her departure in order to get a feminizing face lift in New York with Dr. George J.B. Weiss, as the August 6 issue reported. It even mentioned that Carlett's face lift was going to cost $500 dollars.


Then she was hit with the news that she was ordered not to leave the United States until $1200 in back taxes were paid. The October 15th issue reported that she ended up taking a $60 a week cook's job at Iowa State's Pi Kappa frat house that a friend helped her get in order to earn the money to pay off those back taxes.

At that point the trail through those back issues of JET in terms of Carlett's fascinating story starts turning cold. As of yet I haven't found out if she ever did earn the money to pay off the back taxes, make that trip to Europe, have SRS, get married or even how the rest of her life turned out. If Carlett is still alive she'd be well into her 70's.

But thanks to JET, mine and future generations will get to read it.

Another Transgender Shooting In Memphis

TransGriot Note: This news is courtesy of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, and it's less than 24 hours after several Shelby County Commissioners loudly said there was no need for an anti-discrimination ordinance in Memphis.



We were contacted by a reporter with Channel 3 (WREG-TV) who provided a copy of an affidavit of a shooting that occurred in South Memphis on Wednesday, May 27. The man arrested for the shooting, Terron Taylor, told police that he did it because the victim “misrepresented his gender.”

The victim, identified as Kelvin Denton, is in critical condition after being shot in the nose and throat.

At this point, we do not know any details about Denton’s life, but regardless, we abhor this sort of violence for any reason. Our thoughts and prayers of everyone in the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition go out to Kelvin, family and friends, for a speedy recovery.

We urge Shelby County authorities to prosecute Taylor aggressively and not permit the use of the trans-panic defense.

We also urge members of the Tennessee General Assembly to pass HB0335 by Rep. Jeanne Richardson (D-Memphis) and 21 others, and SB0253 by Sens. Beverly Marrero (D-Memphis) and Ophelia Ford (D-Memphis), as soon as they return in January. This bill would add “gender identity or expression” as a hate crimes sentencing enhancement factor to Tennessee Code Annotated 40-35-114. Passage of this bill will make it easier for state and local authorities to track and prosecute hate crimes against all LGBT Tennesseans.

If you do not know the names of your state legislators, go to http://www.capitol.tn.gov.

Federal Legislation:

In addition, we urge swift passage in the United States Senate of S.909, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The House of Representatives has already passed this legislation, which is supported by President Obama, by a vote of 249 to 175.

Please contact both of Tennessee’s Senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and tell them you want to them to support S.909.

We also ask everyone to continue talking to both Representatives and Senators about the importance of the fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. We anticipate that ENDA will be introduced in the coming weeks. It is time to end job discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. If LGBT people can find, and hold, decent paying jobs, then we are less likely to end up on the streets where we become vulnerable to hate crimes.

KRXQ-FM Jocks Hatin' On Omaha Trans Child

Ignorance abounds about transgender people and their lives, and it's a never ending struggle to get the correct information out there about our lives.

That struggle is only complicated by media people who spew disinformation and transphobic hatred on the public airwaves.

GLAAD contacted me about a problematic May 28 broadcast of the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning radio show. It's heard in Sacramento, California on KRXQ 98.5 FM and Reno, Nevada on KDOT 104.5 FM, and featured this transphobic tirade against transgender children by hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States.

They were discussing the recent story of Kate in Omaha, NE and her parents’ decision to support her transition. The two haters spent more than 30 minutes explicitly making cruel, dehumanizing and defamatory comments toward transgender children.

Among the comments made by the hosts:

ROB WILLIAMS [11:12]: This is a weird person who is demanding attention. And when it’s a child, all it takes is a hug, maybe some tough love or anything in between. When your little boy said, ‘Mommy, I want to walk around in a dress.’ You tell them no cause that’s not what boys do. But that’s not what we’re doing in this culture.

ARNIE STATES [13:27]: If my son, God forbid, if my son put on a pair of high heels, I would probably hit him with one of my shoes. I would throw a shoe at him. Because you know what? Boys don’t wear high heels. And in my house, they definitely don’t wear high heels.

ROB WILLIAMS [17:45]: Dawn, they are freaks. They are abnormal. Not because they’re girls trapped in boys bodies but because they have a mental disorder that needs to be somehow gotten out of them. That’s where therapy could help them.

ROB WILLIAMS [18:15]: Or because they were molested. You know a lot of times these transgenders were molested. And you need to work with them on that. The point is you don’t allow the behavior. You cure the cause!

ARNIE STATES [21:30]: You got a boy saying, ‘I wanna wear dresses.’ I’m going to look at him and go, ‘You know what? You’re a little idiot! You little dumbass! Look, you are a boy! Boys don’t wear dresses.’

ARNIE STATES [29:22]: You know, my favorite part about hearing these stories about the kids in high school, who the entire high school caters around, lets the boy wear the dress. I look forward to when they go out into society and society beats them down. And they end up in therapy.

Thanks to co-host Dawn Rossi who stood up to Williams and States during the segment despite her lack of familiarity with transgender issues.

She repeatedly defended transgender people and made an on-air apology for her colleagues’ defamatory remarks.

Okay people, y'all know what to do. Let the transbigots Rob and Arnie and their management know that attacking a trans child ain't cool and thank Dawn Rossi for standing up for us.

Please contact KRXQ management in Sacramento, CA where the show is produced and respectfully demand that radio show hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States publicly apologize.

Call on KRXQ to hold Williams and States accountable for their remarks and establish clear standards to ensure their media platform will not be used to condone or promote violence against any parts of the communities they serve.

And if that doesn't get their attention, for those of you in the Sacramento, CA metro area, you can lodge protests when their FCC broadcast license comes up for renewal.


John Geary
Vice President & General Manager
KRXQ-FM
(916) 339-4209
jgeary@entercom.com

Arnie States
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rad@robarnieanddawn.com

Rob Williams
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rwilliams@entercom.com

LGBT Pride Month Proclamation

TransGriot Note: Here's the text of the proclamation declaring June as LGBT Pride Month. The Hillaryites in the GLBT community are still hatin' on the prez because she lost in the Dem primary, they haven't gotten over it and in their eyes he ain't moving fast enough on their issues.

Um, hello, the man did have two wars and a jacked up fiscal mess left on his doorstep to deal with. I still haven't forgotten the fact that many white gay peeps were screaming before the President Obama even took office he'd be the worst president on GLBT issues ever, and I take their selfish whining with a grain of salt.

On that note, here's the proclamation.


THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

Shelby County Anti-Discrimination Resolution Passes On 9-4 Vote

TransGriot Note: The Shelby County Commissioners met last night in front of a packed house to determine the fate of a non-discrimination ordinance proposed by Commissioner Steve Mulroy.

The opposition, led by Christobigot Archie Bunker, oops Wyatt Bunker successfully got the full ordinance boiled down to a single page resolution that only applies to county employees instead of the original ordinance which would have covered everybody in Shelby County.

I don't see that as a victory since the resolution is weaker than the original ordinance and you can't use it in court, but the local community does.

Here's Alex Donaich's play by play blogging of what transpired last night from the Memphis Commercial Appeal.


A resolution approved by the Shelby County Commission today promotes “non-discrimination” within the ranks of the county’s 6,000 employees.

And though it is in some ways weaker than an original ordinance that would have protected gays, lesbians and transgender people from job discrimination, Commissioner Steve Mulroy, a former Civil Rights attorney and a law professor at the University of Memphis, called the new measure “a defining moment in Shelby County.”

“I’m happy with it,” he said of the compromise measure.

The resolution was approved 9-4 after nearly three hours of passionate debate and speeches from those for and against the ordinance. The proposed law would have explicitly protected gay and transgender employees from discrimination both by county government, its contractors and some businesses in unincorporated Shelby County.

But the ordinance touched a deep nerve among some commissioners, many of whom argued that one's particular lifestyle shouldn’t be supported by law over others.

Commissioner Sidney Chism proposed a substitute resolution as a compromise, establishing non-discrimination for all of the county’s employees. Less than a page in length, the resolution states: “That discrimination against any Shelby County Government employee on the basis of non-merit factors shall be prohibited.”

Even though the vote was seen as a victory for the county’s gay and transgendered community, the new legislation is, in many ways, weaker than the original proposal.

County Attorney Brian Kuhn said the ordinance only applies to employees of county government.

Also, as a resolution, it can’t be enforced in court, but will be used in civil service proceedings that resolve internal employee disputes. It could also be introduced as evidence in a court hearing to appeal a civil service decision.

For example, if an employee is charged or disciplined because of sexual preference, that employee could use the new legislation to prove their rights were violated.

“A resolution you cannot enforce in a court,” Kuhn said. “A resolution is taking a policy and indicates the intent of the county commission’s policy, but you cannot enforce it like a law.”

Kuhn added the resolution has a lot of the same language as county’s existing employee handbook, but goes further to explicitly state the county's policy.

Despite its limitations, the significance of the resolution – adopted after a series of passionate speeches for and against the proposed law – was not lost on Commissioner Wyatt Bunker.

The conservative legislator has been a fierce critic against the county recognizing rights for gay and transgendered people. Bunker called the resolution “the tip of the iceberg of the homosexual agenda,” and said he was just as displeased with the approved law, even though it reflected a “watered-down” version of the original.

“Under the surface, there’s a bigger movement,” he said. “There’s a homosexual agenda and they want more normalcy and they want acceptance in our society and it’s really an attack on the traditional family, as I see it.”

Substitute motion against discrimination passes

The Shelby County Commission approved the substitute motion against discrimination in a 9-4 vote.

The resolution, sponsored by Commissioner Sidney Chism as a substitute to the original ordinance, establishes “non-discrimination” for all employees.

The resolution, which only requires one vote of the Commission as opposed to the three votes required by an ordinance, has fewer teeth than the original ordinance. But it appeared to work as a compromise, winning over a contingent of commissioners who had previously opposed the original.

Voting in support of it were Commissioners Mike Ritz, J.W. Gibson, Henri Brooks, James Harvey, Sidney Chism, Joe Ford, Matt Kuhn, Steve Mulroy and Deidre Malone.

Voting against it were Republican Commissioners Joyce Avery, George Flinn, Mike Carpenter and Wyatt Bunker.

Speakers, differing views continue to be heard

Speakers have been voicing their views for more than hour. They continue to take the lectern:

Kevin Miller said, “This ordinance shouldn’t even be passed. No way shape or form should this be passed.”

And to the former speaker, the U.S. Marine who was discharged because he violated the military’s "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy, Miller said: “He shouldn’t have told the military he was gay!”

Another opponent, Pam Dallas, who said she is a born-again Christian, said God teaches that marriage should be between one woman and one man. She said she decided to speak out today to “honor God’s will,” adding that she doesn’t want the ordinance to “dictate my religion.”

Barbara Williams urged support of the ordinance, saying it’s a great opportunity to display the county’s dedication to equality.

Barbara Butler, who said she also is a born-again Christian, said her brother Michael died of AIDS in 1992. “He was a homosexual and it devastated my family,” she said.

“I loved my brother,” she said. “I loved him very much. He did become a born-again Christian.”

She added: "This lifestyle does lead to death. It leads to AIDS and death. It does kill people."

Butler said if her brother were here today, he would not be in support of this ordinance.

Susan McKenzie, a local attorney, said she frequently receives calls from gays and lesbians, who are fired here for their sexual orientation. And they’re not isolated. They have families, they own homes, and they pay taxes.

“When they’re fired, it affects our entire county,” she said.

She added: “Please support this resolution, although I would prefer it being an ordinance because I’m an attorney.”

Brad Watkins, who is black and an organizing coordinator of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, said African Americans should always be on the side of those who are oppressed. He said misusing religion, “our faith, or the Civil Rights Movement as a shield to hide bigotry means we have learned nothing, and it would be tragic.”

Parade of speakers now limited to a minute

More than three dozen speakers have taken the lectern so far, mostly for but also against the ordinance. Each speaker is now limited to one minute. The audience, on the whole, is fairly respectful during the mini-speeches:

Darlene Fike, a transgender woman, said being transgendered is a medical condition, not a choice.

Jamie Donelson, a 17-year-old with pink hair, said she came out on camera today, risking her family’s scorn.

“When this country was founded it was understood that church and state would be separated,” she said. “My sexuality shouldn’t control what job I get. I’m 17, it’s already hard enough to get a job.”

Terry Roland, a former political candidate who frequently speaks before the commission on issues, accused Commissioner Steve Mulroy, the ordinance’s sponsor, of using this hot potato to stir up support before the 2010 countywide elections.

Roland said he’s seen politicians do this before: “People will take an issue and tear our community apart,” he said, adding that commissioners should be focusing on important matters such as education.

Activist Jocelyn Wurzburg said being gay isn’t a choice. “This is not a choice, this is who you are. In the United States of America, we don’t discriminate against people for who they are.”

Timothy Smith, who is gay and a former member of the U.S. Marines, said he was discharged because of violating the U.S. military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. He said discriminating against the gay community could mean losing some of the most valued employees.

Richard Breakstone said he didn’t think the country is pulling together when it recognizes a group which "has a lifestyle that is not consistent with what the word of God says.”

The audience booed.

“I hear some people booing,” Breakstone said, before continuing to say that it is “factually incorrect” that God made anything other than male or female.

"Homosexual is a choice, it’s not a person,” he said. “They are a person who makes a choice, just like alcoholics make choices.”

He was met with more boos.

Most speakers so far in favor of ordinance

Support for the ordinance among those choosing to speak is overwhelming. Many of the speakers are members of religious communities who say discrimination is not God-like. In the dozen or so speakers so far, many have chosen to quote Bible passages supporting equality for all.

County resident Lisa Johnson is the first -- and so far only -- audience member to speak against the ordinance, saying there shouldn’t be any policy based on a person’s lifestyle choice.

Her comments were met with loud applause, proving the division in the crowd.

NAACP agrees with ordinance

Johnnie Turner, leader of the NAACP, said the NAACP was founded in 1909 to fight discrimination “in any fashion, in any form.”

“We want the record reflect that the NAACP supports any ordinance, any proposal that will make the life for our fellow citizens equal under the site of God. It doesn’t matter your religious beliefs, your sexual orientation, your agenda. What matters is that each one of us is a child of God and we’re entitled to the same rights and privileges as everyone else.”

Turner was followed by Rabbi Micah Greenstein of Temple Israel, who said everyone, non-gays and gays alike, must take a stand against discrimination and for basic human dignity.

Those for and against the issue are coming up to speak one after the other.

Benefits for partners unclear

County Commissioner Mike Ritz asks the county attorney about the impact of the Chism resolution on county benefits. Would this resolution allow the homosexual partners of county employees to receive health insurance or retirement benefits?

No clear answer comes out of the human resources director.

But it is clear the substitute resolution would not be as strong as the ordinance. The county attorney said a resolution might not hold up in court.

Commission Chairwoman Deidre Malone said she supports the substitute resolution, just as she supported the original ordinance.

The floor has been opened to audience comments and former commissioner Walter Bailey is the first to take the podium and speaks briefly in support of an anti-discrimination policy.

Commissioner Harvey says no issues in Tennessee

Commissioner James Harvey is riling up the crowd with a “study” that provides data on high occurrences of discrimination. California tops the list with the most complaints, he reads.

Harvey points out that Tennessee is nowhere listed.

“We don’t have an issue here,” he said, to a chorus of boos from the crowd.

“We have no data for Shelby County and we have no data for Tennessee that says this is such an alarming problem that we need to institute a certain type of governance,” Harvey said.

Harvey says he supports Commissioner Sidney Chism’s substitute resolution, which would call for an end of discrimination in county government.

Commissioners appear to be in favor of Chism’s substitution, but it's still early.

A substitute resolution

Commissioner Sidney Chism asks for support on a substitute resolution that would put an end to discrimination in county government, “under any circumstance.”

The substitute resolution would replace the ordinance sponsored by Commissioner Steve Mulroy.

“It includes everybody, I don’t want no special ordinance,” Chism said.

Mulroy said he could support it, because in the end it accomplishes the same thing.

The debate begins

Debate on the ordinance is about to start. Commissioners have been given 10 minutes each to speak. Audience members will be given three minutes. Commission chairwoman Deidre Malone has asked the crowd to give a thumbs up to show their approval, in lieu of clapping. Thumbs down will substitute for boos.

Commissioner Sidney Chism has asked to speak first and starts by criticizing The Commercial Appeal’s editorial board.

“They pretty well made my mind up,” Chism said, calling The Commercial Appeal “the most divisive element we’ve got in this town when it comes to politics and race relations. So they pretty well make my mind up when it comes to issues.”

Chism appears to be against the ordinance, saying although he has homosexual family members and that he opposes discrimination, he doesn’t believe a certain class of people should be afforded special privileges.

“I don’t want to impose a rule on a certain segment of our society and not do it for everybody,” he said.

Gender quip ruffles audience

People continue to stream in before commissioners open debate on the discrimination ordinance.

In light of the growing crowd, Commissioner Wyatt Bunker asked whether “those who identify themselves as men would give up their seats for those who identify themselves as women.”

Bunker is one of the ordinance's fiercest critics and the irony of his quip wasn’t missed by those in the audience, many of whom are wearing “fairness” stickers.

Bunker’s remarks were met with boos and hisses.

County commission meeting packed; discrimination ordinance not discussed yet

More than 200 people are packed in the Shelby County Commission chambers this afternoon to rally support for or against a controversial ordinance that would protect gays, lesbians and transgender people from job discrimination.

The ordinance, sponsored by Commissioner Steve Mulroy, has set off a firestorm of opposition in Memphis and touched on deep issues of race, religion and sexuality.

Supporters of the ordinance hope to increase protections and end possible employment discrimination against homosexuals and transgender people. But last week conservative Commissioner Wyatt Bunker and local pastors held a press conference to blast the ordinance, calling it a first step for gays to pursue a broader agenda.

At today’s meeting, commissioners are expected to vote on the proposed law in the first of three readings. Supporters have come out in full force, wearing “I support fairness” stickers handed out before the meeting by the Tennessee Equality Project, a gay rights group. One supporter is waving a “Sunday School Teacher for Equality” banner.

But commissioners have not yet reached the item on the agenda and the crowd is, for now, subdued. Commission chairwoman Deidre Malone kicked off today’s meeting by asking for respect from all sides.

Earlier today, telephones were ringing constantly at the commission offices at the county administration building, as people on both sides of the issue made last-minute lobbying calls. One staffer had taken about 160 phone calls in a three-hour period today, with 80 people speaking in favor of the ordinance and 70 speaking against it.

Staffers said they’d received hundreds of calls and e-mails on the topic in recent days and that the citizen interest is the highest they’ve seen on any topic in recent months.

3rd Annual Transgender Health Fair In NYC

For those of you TransGriot readers in the New York City metro area, the 3rd annual Transgender Health Fair is kicking off tomorrow from 5:30-7:30 PM.

The Transgender Health Fair brings together hundreds of community members who are seeking health care information and connections with providers who are experienced in working with the transgender community.

There will be free health screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, mental health and more. Transgender-specific health information will be available, as will information on smoking cessation, nutrition, health insurance and more. We'll also be featuring Medicaid enrollment.

View this year's program (cover, inside) for a list of participants.

Transphobia in healthcare is unhealthy, and the Transgender Health Fair is the place to find the competent, sensitive health care information and services you've been looking for!

The health fair will be taking place at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York City.

Black Music Month 2009

June is designated as Black Music Month in the States, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of the initial event.

Kenny Gamble of the hit making R&B songwriting-production duo of Gamble & Leon Huff encouraged former President Jimmy Carter in 1979 to officially designate June as a time to acknowledge the contributions Blacks musicians have made to the art form.

Ever since then every president has issued a proclamation to commemorate it.

As someone to whom Black music kept a roof over her head, food on the table, put clothes on her back and sent her to college, I have a deep appreciation for my peeps music and the history that is intertwined with it.

My tastes run across the spectrum of R&B from P-funk to jazz, but much of my music collection has a definite 70's-80's-90's slant.

Black music is constantly evolving. It's creative and unafraid to experiment and innovate. We have see it from jazz to gospel to Motown to hip-hop, but at the same time pays tremendous respect to the pioneers on whose giant shoulders it stands.

It is the expressions of a mighty people, and this month we pay homage to it.

Deal With It

It has been a lot of fun for me to read the online EBONY and JET magazines and be pleasantly surprised at just how well gender issues were covered by our iconic magazines back in the day.

While perusing the digital copy of the May 1983 issue of EBONY, I ran across an article written about pioneering African-American sex therapist Dr. June Dobbs Butts.

She had this to say about transgender people:

"It goes against the grain for a lot of Black people to think that there are Black men who want to undergo sex-change surgery. When they think of transsexuals, they usually think in terms of Christine Jorgensen and Renee Richards and other White persons who've been in the news.

"Many people don't know that the first such surgery that was done in the US was done at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and the patient was a Black man (Avon Wilson).

"I've had about 20 transsexuals come to me for counseling and I've had people ask me if I ever try to change their minds. When they come to me, they've already made their decision about that and are seeking help on how to adjust to their new life. They've gone too far to turn back. They've usually taken all the hormones, had the silicone implants, had electrolysis to remove facial and body hair, they've been cross dressing for years, they've been living as women, so there's very little possibility of changing their minds."

Did you check that out right-wing Christohaters, sell out negroes, and scientifically illiterate people? This is from a pioneering African-American sexologist.

It should be glaringly apparent to you by now that transition isn't just a 'white thang'. If you peruse the back issues of JET and EBONY stories about my transbrothers and transsisters and our intertwining interactions with our community are a recurring theme ever since JET began publishing in 1951. Both EBONY and JET routinely covered Chicago's Finnie's drag ball and similar events in New York and even wrote a story about in in the May 1952 Ebony issue.

The point is that transpeople of African descent aren't just a recent phenomenon. The sooner you haters get it through your thick skulls, the better life will be for African descended transpeople so that we can begin to concentrate on using our skills, intelligence and talents to uplift and build our community.

Say it loud, I'm Black, trans and I'm proud.

Deal with it.

Transwomen Who Got Married

June is traditionally the month for weddings, and over the last few years we've had the pleasure of seeing our transsisters around the world get the double blessing of not only transition, but find that special person who loved them enough to marry them.

So let's take a moment to check out these beautiful brides.





Best wishes to all brides getting married this month and the rest of the year, be they cisgender, lesbian or transgender women.