Congrats Janet Mock For Making TheGrio 100 List!

Had to take a moment to give a TransGriot shoutout and congratulate my sis Janet Mock for making TheGrio's 2012 list of 100 people making history today in the Media category .  

Here's the full list in case you wish to peruse it.

It's nice that people get to read her story and realize that African American transpeople exist in our community who are successful and are proud of being who we are.

Much love and respect for you making this list of community movers and shakers. 

Keep on being a positive role model for your generation of trans women, mine, and future generations to come.

Happy Birthday Kerry Washington!

I love actress Kerry Washington, and had fun watching her thoughtfully eviscerate conservafools in various debates in the runup to that historic 2008 election as a Obama supporter.

My respect level for her went up to stratospheric levels when in an interview she gave while promoting the movie Life Is Hot In Cracktown in which she played transwoman Marybeth she made this thought provoking point.

Because, really, what a trans woman is, is somebody who is a woman but whose biology has betrayed them in someway. For me, I take for granted my identity as a woman. I take for granted my anatomy and physiology. I don't really think about those things. What if actually I was born with my body betraying me in some way? I would think about it differently. I go to the gym four times a week to get rid of my ass but what if instead I was paying thousands of dollars on the black market in hormone therapy to have an ass? [Laughs] I might walk differently, stand differently, dress differently -- I might think about celebrating my identity as a woman in a different way.

I also discovered that in the process of filming that movie, to more authentically play Marybeth, she hired Valerie Spencer as an advisor.   Valerie and I talked about that experience she had with Kerry when I finally had the pleasure of meeting her during the 2011 Out on the Hill Conference.

Well, today is Kerry's birthday and I wasn't letting it pass without giving her a TransGriot shout out

Naw, It Ain't 'The New DADT'

A new OutServe article talks about an issue we loudly were trying to point out to you GLB peeps back in December 2010 when the DADT repeal was being blitzed through that lame duck session of Congress that trans military personnel couldn't openly serve either. .

While DADT didn't specifically mention trans people, it was still being used to out trans military personnel and kick us out of the US armed forces. We pointed out the DADT repeal bill needed language in it to cover trans military personnel and wouldn't do squat for us if it didn't , but you deliberately ignored that point.

Then when you loudly crowed about the DADT repeal being signed by President Obama and celebrated your win when it took effect September 20, 2011 about GLB peeps finally getting to serve openly and proudly after a 17 year fight, elements of you accused the trans community of 'sour grapes' for not being happy about being thrown under the bus by y'all once again as you stuffed yourselves at the human rights table and left us behind because you wanted a win after that 2009 Maine marriage referenda defeat. 

We are painfully aware that as long as one house of Congress is controlled by the Republifools, nothing is going to happen to fix this problem.   We are going to need the reelection of President Obama, the retaking of the House by the Democrats and the Democrats holding the Senate in the upcoming 2012 election before w get any congressional action to rectify this.

So where do the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and our 'fierce advocates' in the GLB community stand on the issue of pushing for their trans brothers and sisters to serve openly as GLB people do?  While SLDN includes this trans service page on their website, you'll have to go to a drop down menu to find it..

While SLDN talks about the need for trans people to openly serve, they haven't walked the walk.  They are more preoccupied with marriage and partner related issues than doing things to help speed up the day that trans people can openly serve their country.

So naw it ain't 'the New DADT' as this OutServe article mistakenly called it.   It's the same BS that transpeople in the United Sates who want to openly serve in our nation's military have had to contend with for years that could have been rectified in 2010 but wasn't.

Canadian Air Travel Regulation Changes Concern Trans People On Both Sides Of The Border

Air travel is a stressful enough situation for trans people to endure, especially when we have combinations of identity documents that may or may not match our current gender presentations for various reasons.  

Mercedes Allen has a post up at her Dented Blue Mercedes blog which comments about a Canadian regulatory change in the Aeronautics Act pushed through by Harper government ministerial fiat that may affect the trans communities on both sides of our shared border.  

The air travel regulation change  happened July 29.  It has trans Canadians concerned and has the potential to cause problems for transpeople of other nations either flying to, from or transiting Canada if they possess documents that don't reflect their gender presentation.

Sec 5.2(1)(c) of the ID screening regs of Aeronautics Act "An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents."



Hmm.  That's problematic to say the least.   What if you're from a province that will not allow you to change gender markers on your ID without surgery?   The Canadian government also will not allow you to change the gender marker on your passport without proof of surgical reassignment or a letter guaranteeing you will undergo SRS within a year..

So in a nutshell, our Canadian transpeeps in that mismatched gender marker situation are effectively banned from flying on airplanes inside or out of their nation.

There are also a few US states that will not allow you to change the gender marker on ID without proof of SRS either, but that is mitigated somewhat by the State Department regulations allowing us to obtain United States passports with the correct gender marker without surgical intervention.  

The regulation's unintended (?) discriminatory consequences needs to be pointed out to Transport Canada.

Another Obama Administration 'Crumb'- HUD Housing Nondiscrimination Rule To Be Enacted

The rainbow fixated on gay marriage only detractors of President Obama or busy selling out to the GOP were loud about hollering 'crumbs' every time the administration made regulatory or policy changes that positively impacted this community.

Well, here's another 'crumb' they can gripe and mumble incoherently to themselves about.   

The Federal Housing Administration announced today in a press release they have released the final text of HUD's new nondiscrimination rule that will prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in several HUD programs including Title VIII based public housing and FHA backed loans.

It was also announced during the just concluded Creating Change conference in Baltimore by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

According to HUD the new nondiscrimination rule will:

• Requires owners and operators of HUD-assisted housing, or housing whose financing is insured by HUD, to make housing available without regard to the sexual orientation or gender identity of an applicant for, or occupant of, the dwelling, whether renter- or owner-occupied.  HUD will institute this policy in its rental assistance and homeownership programs, which include the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance programs, community development programs, and public and assisted housing programs.
  
• Prohibits lenders from using sexual orientation or gender identity as a basis to determine a borrower’s eligibility for FHA-insured mortgage financing.  FHA’s current regulations provide that a mortgage lender’s determination of the adequacy of a borrower’s income “shall be made in a uniform manner without regard to” specified prohibited grounds.  The rule will add actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity to the prohibited grounds to ensure FHA-approved lenders do not deny or otherwise alter the terms of mortgages on the basis of irrelevant criteria.
  
• Clarifies that all otherwise eligible families, regardless of marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity, will have the opportunity to participate in HUD programs. In the majority of HUD’s rental and homeownership programs the term “family” already has a broad scope, and includes a single person and families with or without children.  HUD’s rule clarifies that otherwise eligible families may not be excluded because one or more members of the family may be an LGBT individual, have an LGBT relationship, or be perceived to be such an individual or in such relationship.
   
• Prohibits owners and operators of HUD-assisted housing or housing insured by HUD from asking about an applicant or occupant’s sexual orientation and gender identity for the purpose of determining eligibility or otherwise making housing available. In response to comments on the proposed rule, HUD has clarified this final rule to state that this provision does not prohibit voluntary and anonymous reporting of sexual orientation or gender identity pursuant to state, local, or federal data collection requirements.

The rule will be published in the Federal Register and will take effect 30 days after its publication.

 

The Muppets Strike Back At Fox Noise

Remember the ridiculous assertion that Faux Business news commentator Eric Bolling made that the Muppets were 'communist', 'anti Big Oil' and 'brainwashing kids against capitalism' last month?  

Well, the Muppets have struck back.




And naw, it isn't brainwashing kids to let them know that the almighty business sector at times will stoop to cheating, theft, crony capitalism and unethical behavior in the name of making profits.

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- Clean Sheet To Title

The highly anticipated showdown between the USA and Canada for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament championship last night had a disappointing result for much of the record pro-Canadian sellout crowd of 25,427 at BC Place Stadium.

It was another dominating day at the office for Team USA, another USA win on Canadian soil and their third straight CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament title with the 4-0 win.

It didn't take Team USA long to get on the scoreboard as Alex Morgan scored her first goal of the evening only four minutes into the first half.  Abby Wambach followed it up with a pair of goals in the 24th and 28th minutes to propel the FIFA number one ranked squad to a comfortable 3-0 halftime lead.  Morgan contributed another goal in the 56th minute as the USA kept up the pressure on their northern neighbors all night.    

The win allowed the USA to complete this CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament without giving up a goal while blistering opposing nets 38 times in five matches.  It also increased their record to 5-0-1 in matches played against Canada on their side of the border.

Shoot, save some of that firepower for London.  

Can't wait until the chase for the Olympic threepeat starts in July..

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- USA vs Canada Final

The only thing that was settled on Friday night were which two teams were going to represent CONCACAF in the upcoming Olympic women's soccer tournament.   There's still a little matter of determining who will win this 2012 Olympic Qualifying tournament

As the experts and fans predicted before it started, the final will be contested between the FIFA world number one ranked USA squad and the FIFA world number seven ranked homegirls from Canada.

They faced each other in the 2008 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying finals and it took a penalty kick shootout to decide it.   They also faced each other in the Beijing Olympic quarterfinals with the USDA emerging victorious in that instance and know that they will probably see each other again in London.

It's probably going to be just as tight in this one.   Team USA scored 34 goals in this tournament while Canada only gave up two while scoring 16.   Nine of them were courtesy of the tournament's leading scorer in Christine Sinclair.



Who said they didn't have anything to play for?  Team USA has never lost a match on Canadian soil, has played Canada five times north of the border and is 4-0-1.  

The fun will be televised on NBC Sports Network starting at 7 PM CST and looking forward to an exciting a closely contested game. 

GOProud Stuck On Self-Hating Stupid

Saw this from Wonder Man and had to shake my head at the delusionally colossal stupidity that oozes out of this press release from GOProud, the organization of gay conservafools that used to have Andrew Breitbart on its board of directors.

The press release has this line in it amongst others that had me doubling over in laughter

“After last night’s Republican debate one thing is clear: any one of the four remaining GOP Presidential candidates would be a dramatic improvement over the failed Presidency of Barack Obama. All Americans, gay and straight, are living in the disastrous Obama economy.

Oh really, GOProud?  President Obama and his policies are the reason this country isn't in a second Great Depression that the disastrous fiscal and tax policies of the previous Republican occupant of the Oval Office set in motion
.
Failed presidency?  I don't think so.  You have him confused with your boy George Walker Bush..

You sellouts are trying to say with a straight (pun intended) face that Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, who all have anti-gay platforms would be better for the rainbow community than the POTUS who has delivered and then some for this community while facing vehement opposition from your conservafriends?

President Obama damned sure has been the best president ever on trans issues and is undeniably the most gay friendly one that has ever sat in the Oval Office.

GOProud, keep thinking your wallets are more important than your human rights and kissing up to the people who oppress and disrespect you.   

It's what your organization does best and you're too stuck on self-hating stupid to see it..