Dear Black GLB Community

Dear Black GLB Community,
As one of your award winning trans sisters, I have had the opportunity since 1980 to observe the peaks and valleys of this community.

I have watched our community get ravaged by HIV/AIDS. At the same time, I have had the pleasure of watching it like the mythical phoenix, arise from the fire, stand up, grow, and begin to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors by doing things for ourselves.

We have managed to hold on to our faith and spirituality while demanding that we be accepted for who we are as African descended TBLG people both inside and outside our chocolate flavored community.

We are also beginning to see the emergence on the Mother Continent and across the Diaspora of TBLG people speaking loudly for fairness and equality sometimes even at great risk to themselves.

But sometimes I've observed behavior that is distressing to me as an African descended person. There have been times that you chocolate flavored GLB peeps have either been too silent in terms of condemning the violence, discrimination and outright faith-based distorted lies aimed at your African descended trans brothers and sisters, or have been willing accomplices in the denigration and demonization of the trans element of the community.

Black GLB community, your trans brothers and sisters are counting on you to do a better job of integrating the 'T' into our subset of the larger GLBT community than the piss poor job over the last 40 years by your Euro descended GLBT counterparts.

African-American cispeople have begun stepping up to the plate to do so. We need you Black GLB peeps to be shining examples to your fellow GLB peeps and our fellow African-Americans in terms of showing by example how to be exceptional allies to your chocolate transbrothers and transsisters.

While there are organizations such as the International Federation of Black Prides and others in various communities across the country that do a wonderful job in making sure we can participate in and have a voice shaping the destiny of the African American GLBT/SGL community, there are some that clearly need to not only step up their game, but do Trans 101 before they embark on that journey.

Black transpeople are ready, willing and capable to do the work on our end as well, but you've got to meet us halfway. By doing so it will be a mutually beneficial situation for all concerned as a stronger African descended subset of the GLBT community..

Black GLB community, because we share a common history of struggle and success as a people, what we need from you more than anything else is love and acceptance.

And I hope and pray that those steps to build a African flavored GLBT community with a thoroughly integrated trans element in it happen sooner rather than later.

Sincerely Yours,
Monica
The TransGriot