The Black GLB Community Needs To Do A Better Job Of Trans Inclusion

One of the things I have consistently complained about ever since I started this blog on New Year's Day 2006 is the GLBT community's glaring lack of inclusion when it comes to African descended transpeople.

My own people can be just as bad. Just as you're sick and tired of being ignored and dissed by the white led GLB community, me and my trans brothers and sisters are sick and tired of being sick and tired of being ignored and dissed by our own chocolate flavored GLB peeps.

As Womanist Musings editor in chief Renee wrote in a piece called 'My GLBT Brothers and Sisters Are My Family', you cannot claim to love Blackness or Black people, if you do not love openly all of its manifestations.

For too long you have ignored the 'T' part of the African descended GLBT community. News flash to the GL end of it: some of your trans brothers and sisters happen to be same gender loving people, too.

It's also past time to realize that we can contribute far more to the building and life of the African descended GLBT community than only calling the female illusionists when you want to do an HIV/AIDS benefit show.

Some of us are blessed with skill sets that allow us to be capable of organizing one as well.

Female illusionists, pageant divas or the femme queens of the ballroom community aren't the only part of the chocolate flavored 'T', nor are we defined by our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives to anti-trans violence

There are gainfully employed college educated trans men and women who make up a large chunk of it. We are engaged, politically aware and proud people who are more than willing to step up to leadership roles in this community if given the chance to do so.

I don't want to hear the BS excuse I heard last year when I slammed the trans free 33 Black GLBT leaders list that had no trans people on it that they don't know any trans activists.

Some of you who peddled that weak crap have been too busy partying to get to know ANY GLB activists, much less trans ones. We're out there and it's past time that we start working together to not only help our chocolate flavored GLBT community, but the African descended one as well.

Your trans brothers and sisters take enough crap from society at large and elements of the white run GLBT movement. We don't need it from the GLB people that share our ethnic heritage, too.

With us being three months into the start of a new decade, I hold out hope that my GL community will lead on this issue and finally give us chocolate trans people the recognition, affirmation, help and love that we need from our own people.