2012 Olympic Women's and Men's Basketball Tournament Draw Held

We're getting closer to the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on July 27 and the USA women's and men's basketball squads already know who will be in their respective groups when the basketball competition starts

For the four time defending gold medalist USA women, who are seeking their fifth consecutive gold medal in these games they will be in Group A that consists of Angola, China  and three of the qualifiers from the FIBA women's tournament that will be conducted in Turkey June 25-July 1.   


Group B on the women's side is shaping up to be the 'Group of Death' with Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Russia, and the two remaining FIBA Olympic tournament qualifiers.

The Canadians are still alive for an Olympic women's berth.but will have to play in the Qlympic qualifying tournament in Ankara to get it.  They are in Group D with France and Mali and will either have to finish first or second in the group to advance to a matchup with whoever comes out of Group C between Croatia, Korea and Mozambique. 

For the FIBA world champion USA men, they will be seeking back to back Olympic gold in this tournament but will be missing Derrick Rose who just tore his ACL in the NBA playoffs and Dwight Howard who had back surgery and is out.    They are in Group A and will face Manu Ginobili and the Argentines, Tony Parker and France, Tunisia playing in their first ever Olympics, and two qualifiers from the FIBA Men's Olympic qualifying tournament to be conducted in Venezuela 

Group B on the men's side will consist of Australia, Brazil, China, the host Great Britain, Spain an the third FIBA qualifier 

The Men's Olympic qualifying tournament will be conducted in Caracas, Venezuela July 2-8.   In addition to the host Venezuelans will have perennial African champs Angola, who were shockingly upset in the Afrobasket tournament final by Tunisia.  

Nigeria, Russia, Lithuania, Greece, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Macedonia, Jordan, New Zealand and Korea round out the list of nations battling for the last three London Olympic basketball tournament spots

In both the women's and men's Olympic tourneys, top four teams in each group advance, then the four remaining teams play knockout games with the Group A winner facing off against the fourth place team in Group B, the Group A Runner up playing the third place team in Group B and the Group A third and fourth place teams squaring off in knockout games against the Group B winner and runner up. 

Winners keep playing until they get to the gold and bronze medal matches. 

The Olympic basketball competition will last until August 12, and I'm so looking forward to it.

CeCe McDonald's Trial Starts Today

CeCe McDonald's trial starts today in Minneapolis and is expected to last two weeks.   

Her case has been getting increased publicity in the last few weeks but not enough to stave off this trial from happening or getting District Attorney Michael Freeman to drop the charges.. 

Now that it's happening, for those of you in the Minneapolis St Paul metro area, it might be a wonderful idea to pack the courtroom in support of CeCe

All we can do now is watch it, pray and hope that justice prevails.

Trial of Victoria Carmen White's Alleged Killer Starts Today

Today would have been Victoria Carmen White's 30th birthday, but unfortunately she's not around to celebrate it because of the actions of Alrashim Chambers, the man who is alleged to have killed her in September 2010 

Chambers trial will start today in Newark and he facing murder, weapons and bias intimidation charges as this trial gets underway.  If he is convicted he faces life in prison.

White was shot by Chambers multiple times in her Maplewood, NJ home after meeting the model at a club in Irvington and discovering she was a transwoman.   The reason you didn't hear much about the Victoria Carmen White case is because it was blown off the news pages by the subsequent suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi and the massive news coverage that followed it.

One of the star prosecution witnesses besides the two women that were in White's home in different rooms and heard the shots and the transphobic comments aimed at White is Marquise Foster.   He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for his testimony in this trial.

Will be keeping an eye on this case along with Victoria Carmen White's friends and family.   Might be a wonderful gesture for you transpeeps in the Newark and NYC area to show up at the Essex County courthouse and pack the courtroom in solidarity with her family.

Rachel Drops Knowledge On 'Meet The Press' Conservafools

Ever since David Gregory took over for the late Tim Russert on NBC's Meet The Press I have refused to watch the show because he leans too much in the conservafool column for my tastes, much less sucks as a moderator.

Rachel Maddow was on yesterday morning's edition of Meet The Press along with Hilary Rosen to confront Alex Casrtellanos and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) who the Republifools have been ttrotting out to spin their abysmal War on Women policies by going into denial about them.

But the best way to beat a conservafool spinning is drop megatons of facts on them.    They tried the tactic of cutting her off while speaking.   Rachel also calls Castellanos out for his misogny

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

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2012 White House Correspondents Dinner

While I was attending our local Unity Dinner, in 'Hollywood For Ugly People' AKA Washington DC  the annual White house Correspondents Dinner was taking place.    I got to see it after I came home, but for those of you who missed it, here's the POTUS poking fun at himself and various people inside the bltway and the media who cover them.

The 20th Anniversary Of The LA Riots

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the LA Riots that broke out for several days across the city in reaction to the acquittal of four LA police officers accused of beating Rodney King during a March 1991 videotaped traffic stop

The epicenter was the then predominately Black South Central LA neighborhood (now called South LA) where the anger and frustration at the LA po-po's policing tactics was at the highest along with anger over the acquittal.

The riots that lasted until May 4 resulted in 53 deaths, with 10 of those deaths being people shot and killed by the LAPD.and caused and estimated billion dollars in property damage.

Once order was restored, it led to major changes and reforms in the Los Angeles Police Department..

But the 'a riot is the language of the unheard' Dr. King quote from his March 1968 The Other America speech  is echoing through my mind as I think about what happened in LA twenty years ago.   

Twenty years later the structural inequalities and negativity aimed at African-Americans still hasn't been addressed, is continuing to be ignored, and we still have to deal with a 'just-us' system that negatively impacts us.   Combine that with a Republican Party so bankrupt of ideas their only play is to exacerbate racial tensions to win an election against an African-American president, increasing tension over the Trayvon Martin case and sadly, we may see another manifestation of the 'language of the unheard'  breaking out in some American city in the near future. . 

The 20th Annual Houston Transgender Unity Banquet

Was happy to get the opportunity to attend my first Houston Transgender Unity Banquet since 2001 last night and a lot of things have changed since I last attended it eleven years ago..

I got to hang out with Vanity Wilde and the gang and as I sat at the table with her and her friends I contemplated all the changes that had occurred since the last time I attended it. 

It's at a different hotel and it's a project of the Houston Transgender Unity Committee that serves as a fundraiser event for the Peggy Rudd Scholarship.   The number of sponsors has exponentially grown.  We were also blessed to have for a moment Mayor Annise Parker stop by and say a few words before she bounced to the other three dinners that were on her schedule for the night.   

She may be the mayor now, but she still cut her teeth as an activist in out community and we'll always see her as part of our family.

This 20th annual edition was a well organized event ably emceed by Jenifer Rene Pool, and when I wasn't taking a moment to meet and greet most of the Houston rainbow community they were finding me at my table or in various sports in the ballroom.   Got to see Nikki Araguz, Ray Hill, Judge Frye and the gang for her firm, Maria Gonzales, Vivica Perry, Jo Tittsworth, LaKeia Spady, Lorraine Schroeder from the UH LGBT Center, Katy Stewart from TENT, Lou Weaver and Cristan Williams.   That's just the short list of people I got to see, meet, take photos with and converse with at various times during the night.

There were door prizes available in addition to the black gift bag we were given that included a black coffee mug with the Unity Committee logo on it..

The Unity Banquet is not only our community's signature event, it's also the night the Houston Transgender community awards are passed out.    In case you're wondering TransGriot readers, been nominated once and as of yet nothing

The Champion Award, which goes to an ally, individual or group that stands up as a staunch supporter for our community went to the UH LGBT Center in the Group category and Annette Lott of HCC in the individual one.

The People's Choice Award, which is decided by a community vote to the outstanding person in the transgender community in the past year went to Koomah.

The Dee McKellar Award  (which I was nominated for in 2001) went to Jenifer Rene Pool

The Brenda Thomas Award (formerly the Apogee Award) which is given to the individual that has accomplished or achieved the one thing or culmination of things that was the high point of that previous year, went to Daniel Williams for rallying the community to fight and defeat the anti trans SB 723.   

Yep, killing that unjust bill that was a Big Fracking Deal, especially since some of y'all pessimists outside of Texas didn't think we could do it. 

The Horizon Award went to Bethany Townsend.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to the late Rene Fenner who passed away last July.   It was accepted on her behalf by another iconic figure in our local trans community, Jackie Thorne. 

Once the awards were passed out, we got to hear keynote speeches by the Rev Megan Rohrer and Marty Ebel from the EEOC while we were getting a tasty meal served to us.

After that came some dancing for those who wished to do that and more socializing before I bounced to go home, write this post and watch the replay of the White House Correspondents Dinner.

We already know the date and location of the 2013 Unity Banquet.   It will be on Saturday April 20, 2013 at the Sheraton Brookhollow and the keynote speaker is scheduled to be Dr. Susan Stryker

So you've been notified of the date, and the ticket price will be $65 next year.,   You have a year to join us and if you wish to have information about table sponsorships or serving on the Houston Transgender Unity Committee you can e-mail the Unity Committee at htuc2012@gmail.com or the website at www.htuc.org.

See y'all next year.

Thanks Angelica!

Wanted to take a moment to thank Angelica Ross for inviting me to participate in her inaugural 'Miss Ross Live' podcast that happened in the 4-6 PM CDT timeslot yesterday afternoon . 

That two hours seemed like it just flew by, and it was also cool to have Isis King, Janet Mock and Kyle on the show as well as we talked about not only the CeCe McDonald and Paige Clay cases, but touched upon a number of issues affecting the African-American trans community

It's also nice to know that y'all think as highly of me that I do of all of you, and as I've said more than a few times, our community is going to be in great hands with up and coming leaders like you

Listen to internet radio with AngelicaRoss on Blog Talk Radio

Looking forward to the next time my schedule allows me to participate on your show.

Upcoming Houston Splash 2012

If you're wondering whether H-town has a Black pride event, yes we do and it's one that as big as the state and the city we live in.  It's called Houston Splash in honor of the annual weekend Galveston beach party that it is built around.   It's several days of Houston based events that will run this year from May 3-7

Houston Splash is an official International Federation of Black Prides event, and has grown immensely since that first weekend Black rainbow community event.   Because we have two HBCU's in the Houston area in Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M and other major colleges and universities such as UH with significant Black enrollment the average age of Houston Splash attendees is 29.  

The events for Houston Splash also range in cost from free to $25 but an All Access VIP pass is available.  

But the signature event is when everyone rolls down I-45 south to Galveston for the highly anticipated closing beach party.    One thing that is sorely missed is the late Cookie LaCook's presence in terms of being the MC of many of the Houston Splash events.

So if you're looking to attend a IFBP Black Pride event, you may wish to check out the South's longest running TBLG beach party in Houston Splash.

CeCe's Case Going To Trial

Unfortunately it looks like the CeCe McDonald case is going to trail starting on April 30l.    District Attorney Michael Freeman has been reluctant to drop the charges in this case as he has done with other white cis people in the same situation for some reason..

Is it because it's an election year in Minnesota and he wants to look 'tough on crime' at CeCe's expense?  My inquiring mind wants to know. 

For those of you in the Minneapolis-St Paul area or in driving distance of it you may wish to consider helping the local activists there pack to courtroom and show support for her and her family as this potential two week proceeding gets underway.

Here's the Support CeCe website for news about the case, links to the petition and other information to keep you apprised of how things are playing out in this situation.




As I find out here at TransGriot, I'll post it as well and for those of you that are spiritually inclined to do so, you may also wish to say some prayers for her as well.

Shut Up Fool Awards-NFL Draft Weekend Edition

The 2012 NFL Draft kicked off yesterday and the first round was conducted in primetime with as expected Houstonian Andrew Luck becoming the number one overall pick of the Indianapolis Colts.   My fave NFL team with it's first round pick selected Illinois DL Whitney Mercilous.     

Rounds 2-3 happen later tonight and 4-7 on Saturday    

But let's move on from the football jibber jabber because it's Friday and you longtime TransGriot readers know what what means.   It's time for me to select this week's fool, fool or group of fools and expose their ignorance and stupidity to the world.

As always I had too many fools being nominated by my readers this week    In addition to the group nominations for the Republican Party, Fox News, and The Boy Scouts for continued bigotry aimed at the GLBT community, the individual ones were for Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI), Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Karl Rove, Gretchen Carlson, Eric Boehlert, Reince Priebus, Gov Scott Walker (R-WI), Rep Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and Ann Romney     

Honorable mention goes to Marine Sgt  Gary Stein, who didn't read the part of the Constitution that states the POTUS is commander in chief of our armed forces and finds himself  discharged from the military.   Dude, it's not a smart play to let your WMP and teabagger politics overload your azz and  say that you will refuse to obey any orders that your African-American commander in chief POTUS issues.

This week's winner is Rep Virginia Foxx (R-NC)   Even though I recently retired her from weekly consideration for Shut Up Fool Awards, since I'm a child of a retired teacher and abhor ignorance on such massive a scale, I had to temporarily bring her out of it to call her butt out.

“I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there’s no reason for that. We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ You don’t have it dumped in your lap.”

And this is from the woman who chairs the House Subcommittee on Higher Education.   Is November 6 here yet?  

Rep Virginia Foxx, shut the HELL up fool.

Argentina Gender Identity Law Advancing In Senate

I've been keeping up with the Argentine legislature's attempt to pass the groundbreaking Gender Identity Law that would make it easier for its trans citizens to change names and gender codes on their identity documents without surgical intervention.

Here's the great updated news about how that is progressing for our Argentine trans cousins.   According to Blabbeando the Gender Identity Law is now in the Argentine senate.  

It passed a Senate committee with the identical language from the one passed in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies by a lopsided 167-17 margin.   It is scheduled to hit the Argentine Senate floor for debate on May 9 and if it passes, President Kirchner has indicated she will sign it into law when it hits her desk.

Wow.  More groundbreaking trans positive bills from a Latin American national legislature on the verge of becoming law. 

It leads me to ask the question when am I going to see the same trans positive law coming from my own national legislature?

Check Out The 'Miss Ross Live' Show

The cool thing about the Net is the different ways that marginalized people can get their voices and thoughts out there.   I had a blogtalkradio podcast show with Renee of Womanist Musings for a little while that went on hiatus because of my move to Houston.   

I've discussed singer-songwriter and entrepreneur Angelica Love Ross a few times on the blog, and she's now starting a podcast called 'Miss Ross Live.   

Her debut show in the 4-6 PM CDT timeslot later today will talk about the Paige Clay murder and CeCe McDonald's legal case along with other issues affect the trans community. 

Talking about CeCe is a nice segue into this petition that has over 15,000 signatures of the 25,000 they are trying to gather asking Hennepin County district Attorney Michael Freeman to drop the charges.

Your favorite blogger has been asked to call in and join the discussion along with another of my fave people in our community Isis King, which I'm looking forward to doing.   As always, you know I'll have something to say about these issues and countless others.

Congratulations and may you have much success with this podcast.   Looking forward to it and hope I can do my part to make it an enjoyable and informative show.

Pat Robertson Has Another TBLG Broken Clock Moment

I posted the transcript of the October 5, 1999 700 Club show on TransGriot in which Rev. Pat Robertson has a broken clock moment and acknowledges that being a transsexual is not a sin.
Too bad the rest of the Christobigots weren't paying attention and they've deleted the video of it, but the worlds remained on the Internet and I whackk the faith based haters with them every chance I get.    

Here's the video of another one of Pat's broken clock moments in which he states that Christians bullying TBLG kids is wrong    

Knowing them, once this becomes public knowledge that Pat said something humane about rainbow community people they'll probably delete this video too once they realize it's out there.

So I'd advise you liberal progressive peeps to get busy copying it before they delete it along with the transcript of his remarks from the 700 Club website.

Direct Action Protests Alone Don't Get You Human Rights Coverage

One of the things that I consistently see far too often in the liberal progressive ranks especially amongst the younglings is this overhyped belief that direct action protest alone will bring change and human rights advances to marginalized people. 

They cite the activism and protests of the 60's in terms of the African-American civil rights movement and the anti Vietnam War movement and believe if they replicate that, the causes they espouse will be successful as well. 

What you peeps fail to realize is this is a new century that requires tweaking of those tactics because the Forces of Intolerance who lost those battles in the 60's and early 70's have a playbook based on their failures for containing or breaking up your protests so that they thwart what you're trying to accomplish.  

You are also failing to realize in terms of the African-American civil rights movement is that there was a coherent long term strategy behind those direct action marches and protests.  In addition to lawsuits, the power of the African-American vote was part of that strategy and acquiring it for the people that didn't have the ability to vote was one of its goals.  In addition there were behind the scenes negotiations going on in the local areas targeted by those direct action protests with just the threat of a protest in some cases being enough to get change happening.  

To give you an example of that, my hometown was able to desegregate lunch counters without the violence that happened in the rest of the old Confederate states.  Houston was in the running not only to get one of the two National League baseball expansion teams that became the Astros and the Mets, but was one of the finalists to be the home for NASA's Mission Control.  

When Texas Southern University students began to plan sit-in's at downtown lunch counters, the nervous civic leaders 'scurred' that it would ruin Houston's chances of getting NASA's Mission Control and major league baseball here approached a group of Black ministers led by Rev. William Lawson to see what it would take to get the TSU students to dissuade them from doing so. 

Their price to call it off was not only desegregation of Houston lunch counters but a guarantee of a certain percentage of Black contractors and construction workers to be hired to do the construction work on the Astrodome. 


That strategic thinking employed here in Houston was evident on the national level as well with lobbying by the Big Five civil rights leaders of the African-American civil rights movement on Capitol Hill with congressional and executive branch leaders to pass the legislative relief that African-Americans needed.

So for all you peeps screaming that direct action protest is enough and you don't want to participate in the political process, that's been your biggest failure and why I and many others cognizant of this history are lukewarm toward the Occupy movement.

The ballot is the most critical part of it.  If you think I'm kidding, why is ALEC and the Republican Party spending millions to suppress voting rights for non-whites and college students?    You also haven't come up with a long term political strategy to enact the things you protested for and the fact that you discount the power of the ballot shows me you were asleep in you political science classes.  

Note that the Tea Klux Klan folks not only conducted those protest rallies during the 2010 election cycle but backed it up in November by bumrushing the polls and successfully (to my disgust) running candidates for office that espoused their jacked up political philosophies.. 

So no younglings, protests alone will not get you the progressive social change you seek.  You need a stick to threaten recalcitrant politicians with and the specter of pissed off voters trooping en masse to the ballot box is it.   Also continuing to vote in massive numbers over your lifetime will also accomplish the human right progress you seek much faster than just huge direct action events such as marches with no coherent follow up plan
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Dear Stupid Knee-Grows Considering Sitting Out The 2012 Election

Have you lost your fracking minds?  

And no you don't deserve to be called Black of African-American if you're considering something so disrespectful to the memory of our ancestors who fought, marched, organized, bled and died for you to have the ability to cast a ballot.  

You may want to reconsider that asinine plan and make sure your ass is standing in line on November 6 or during the early  voting period in your state ready, willing and able to do your patriotic duty for your people and your country. .

Mitt Romney belongs to a faith which has had such a contentious history with our people the LDS church was frequently protested about its racist doctrine until it was changed in 1978.

His silence when fellow Republicans Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail were gleefully diving into the dog whistle racism aimed at African Americans have led to this comment from a satirical website being circulated in the Afrosphere as something Willard actually said.

"I understand how difficult it can be for an African-American in today's society. In fact, I can relate to black people very well indeed. My ancestors once owned slaves, and it is in my lineage to work closely with the black community. However, just because they were freed over a century ago doesn't mean they can now be freeloaders. They need to be told to work hard, and the incentives  just aren't there for them anymore. When I'm president I plan to work closely with the black community to bring a sense of pride and work ethic back into view for them".
Mitt Romney.

But then again the self-deportation thing before it became part of Mitt's 'severely conservative' primary campaign  was once part of a satirical post aimed at former California governor Pete Wilson (R) for his anti-Latino stances.  

But back to focusing on Mitt.   There are other ways to call his behind out without dogging the LDS Church.   The fact that he's straight up lying to get the presidency and has no core principles other than he'll do and say anything to get elected is a major pet peeve.

If you allow Mitt and his clueless wife to on January 20, 2013 move into that nice house our ancestors built at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave with their unpaid labor because your asses were too lazy to go to the polls, you deserve everything the Republicans are going to throw at you policy wise and I don't want to hear your sorry mouths utter one word in complaint when it happens.

But the country, our children and our people don't deserve to suffer for your stupidity either, so I'm going to try to make an appeal to you based on our shared community history.

The point is the Department of Justice, the NAACP and countless other organizations are working tirelessly to ensure you have the ability and opportunity to cast a ballot in this upcoming election despite the best efforts of ALEC, the Republican Party and the millions of dollars they invested to suppress our votes. 

You saying some stupid ish like that makes them smile. 

Are you mad because the change he promised in 2008 didn't happen fast enough for you?   Were you paying attention in 2009 when Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the goal of the Republican Party was to make him a one term president?  Were you paying attention to all the 'massive resistance' that the POTUS has faced from the congressional Republicans since then?

And I do believe the 2008 slogan he campaigned on was 'Yes WE can', not 'Yes I can'.   He is the POTUS, not King Barack I.  He needs help from Congress to get his agenda passed and he hasn't had that since some of y'all stupidly sat out the 2010 midterm elections in protest and allowed the Tea Klux Klan to get control of the US House..             

Sitting out the 2012 election is a vote for Mitt Romney and the Republican Party and if you haven't figured it out by now, the Republicans only care about wealthy white people like Mitt, not you..  

And yeah, I and a lot of other people in this community like having a POTUS and FLOTUS that shares our ethnic background and want to see them continuing to represent our nation until January 20, 2017. 

But what we want even more is these Tea Klux Klan sellouts like Allen West gone along with his racist buds and return the adults back to the halls of Congress to help solve the country's problems .  

So you can be Boo Boo the Fool if you wanna be, but if you wish to have a government that works for you and your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews....you get the drift, then you better run, not walk to the nearest polling place in this election and every one that happens from now on and ensure that you're putting not only President Obama back in the White House, but give him a Democratic congress to work with to continue cleaning up the GOP mess that GW Bush left him.   

And while you're at it, you need to be kicking everything with an (R) beside his or her name at the state, local and federal level and in the judicial branches out of office too and keep them out.

Until they expunge that Tea Klux Klan element out of their party, the only good GOP politician is an out of office one.

You have time to get registered to vote in your locales, get ready to do your duty on November 6, and vote as if your life depended on it.

Because frankly, it does.

Ted Nugent Barred From Fort Knox Concert

Ted Nugent now is getting a first hand lesson in the fact that free speech has consequences.

After his unhinged rant at the NRA convention in St Louis in which he alluded to violent action against President Obama, the Army announced that Nugent would not be allowed to participate in a scheduled 70's rock concert in June featuring REO Speedwagon and Styx at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

"After learning of opening act Ted Nugent's recent public comments about the president of the United States, Fort Knox leadership decided to cancel his performance on the installation,"


Of course, cue the faux outrage from quarters of the conservafool movement that Ted is being 'punished' for exercising his First Amendment rights in 5...4...3...2...1.

But I seem to recall a different reaction from you conservahypocrites when Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks exercised their First Amendment rights to say during a 2003 London concert days before the Iraq invasion jumped off they were ashamed to be from Texas because of Dummya.

Oops, now Ted is getting a reminder that the POTUS is the Commander in chief of the armed forces.   But then again that chickenhawk dodged his chance to be in the military and fight for our country in Vietnam.

Milestone Birthday Musing

As y'all know Cuatro De Mayo, AKA Moni's birthday is rapidly (with an emphasis on the rapid part) approaching.   The annual birthday introspection I do in the month leading up to it has become more acute since 2012 happens to be a milestone one.

Been thinking a lot about my life lately and some of the things I'm happy about, some of the areas I need to improve upon, and about my ongoing mission in trying to be the best person I can be.

And yes, as a person of faith, I've also been taking stock of my many blessings.  In addition to relatively good health, I've had some old friends reenter my life in the past year and made some new ones.  I've thought about some of my past milestone birthdays.  Some were good, some not so good but the thing I can be most thankful about was I still reached them.  

I've also taken some time to think about the people that were in my life who are no longer around either because they passed on or various circumstances have removed them from contact with me on a regular basis.   They were just as instrumental in their own ways to shaping the person I am today and had lessons to teach me good, bad and indifferent.   Some I'd love to see and talk to again even if it's just for a few hours in one phone conversation, while others are in the good luck and good riddance variety.  

And yes, I've pondered my pre-transition life and wondered what it would have been like if I'd taken the opposite fork in the road if I had a chance to revisit that point in my life.   However, nothing I can do about that now because I had to make that snap decision at that time and time travel isn't possible at this point so i can get a do-over.  

As the saying goes, you only get one shot in life and this ain't no practice run so Moni 2012 has to suck it up, pull up the big girl panties and work with the ramifications of those long ago decisions to the best of her ability.

I've also thought about the ladies who at various times liked my 'twin' enough to consider me marriage material and what they're up to now.  While I know the fates of four of them, there are others I haven't been in contact with for a while.  I wonder if they finally found someone worthy of them who appreciated the beautiful women they were inside and out, hopefully were smart enough to realize it and give then what I couldn't.

Nice segue into the trans part of my life.   There were some special women cis and trans who popped into my life in the early phases of my transition and taught me more than a few things about what I call quality Black womanhood.    I also have some cis women in my life now who are building on those early lessons and helping me gain a deeper understanding about what it is to be a Black woman in the 2k10's

Thank you all for being there for me and I am blessed to have a sistahcircle around me that helps me to evolve, thrive and keep me intellectually stimulated.  You taught me the valuable lesson that not all cis women are a trans woman's mortal enemies and gave me the tools to know the difference.   

When I was a kid I spent some time pondering what my life would be like at this stage twelve years into the 21st century and boy was I way off the mark.   I knew that I needed to transition at some point, but I didn't in my wildest dreams imagine that I'd be considered a major thought leader in this community and have the respect I do here and internationally.   It's also humbling that people consider me a role model as well 

Transition has been an exhilarating emotional roller coaster ride at times but one I haven't regretted getting the party started on.  I'm enjoying the ride and my post transition life with the only regret I have about it being I didn't start it sooner.   But before I start going down that road, I also have to consider that being a trans teen in the 70's and one in the 2K10's are light years different in terms of societal understanding and acceptance of trans issues.

So yeah, only nine more days to go.

CeCe McDonald Pretrial Hearing Today

CeCe McDonald's pretrial hearing is taking place in a Hennepin County courtroom in Minneapolis, MN as I type this.   It was scheduled to start at 9 AM CDT and here's hoping that District Attorney Michael Freeman will drop the charges.

If he doesn't the trial will start on April 30.

Keep CeCe in your thoughts, your prayers and your activism.   She was 'standing her ground' in an attack against a transphobic white supremacist and he ended up dead.

But she's the one that ended up with second degree murder charges.

Whitness and white supremacy strikes again.   Even a dead white supremacist is considered to have more value in this society than a live Black transwomen.   What kind of fracked up message is that to send to society?

Here's hoping that sanity and justice prevails, but somehow I doubt we'll hear the news we hope to hear about this case today.

Groundbreaking Trans Positive EEOC Ruling

An employer who discriminates against an employee or applicant on the basis of the person's gender identity is violating the prohibition on sex discrimination contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

That is according to an April 20 opinion issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that could be a game changer in terms of positively altering the legal landscape for trans workers in the United States.

The ruling occurred in the case of Mia Macy, who was denied employment with the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) as a ballistics technician after the agency leaned about her transition.

She contacted the Transgender Law Center, who took up Ms Macy's case

The EEOC decision was issued without objection by the five-member bipartisan commission and applies to all EEOC enforcement and litigation activities at the commission and in its 53 field offices throughout the country. It also will be binding on all federal agencies and departments.

This is fantastic news and continues a trend of trans positive employment legal rulings.

CeCe McDonald Hearing Tomorrow

The struggle to free CeCe McDonald, who 'stood her ground' after she and her group of Black gay and trans friends were subjected to racist, transphobic and homophobic slurs and then attacked by white supremacists while walking past a bar in Minneapolis will play out in a court pretrial hearing tomorrow at 9 AM CDT.

The pressure is mounting on Hennepin County attorneys to drop the charges as this case gets additional international scrutiny and attention.   There is also a Support CeCe McDonald online group that has sprung up with the goal of getting CeCe released as well..

If that doesn't happen during the pre-trial hearing tomorrow, the trial will start on April 30 and will probably last for up to two weeks.   If you live in the Twin Cities area and can come to the Hennepin County Government Center to support CeCe, please wear purple to demonstrate to the judges and supporters that the community has Cece's back.

Upcoming Justice For Paige Rally

The effort to find and bring to justice Paige Clay's killer has yet to generate any solid leads for the Chicago Police Department detectives that will help it crack this case.  

The local rainbow community is thanks to the Taskforce is coalescing behind an effort to get that vitally needed information that may be the key to solving Clay’s murder.

A  “Justice for Paige” rally  is being planned and set for May 1 that will take place from 6:30-9 PM CDT at the Taskforce headquarters, 9 N. Cicero Ave.    Any interested parties friends and allies are welcomed to attend this event and discover what you can do to bring this killer to justice.  .  .

In addition to the rally, a  Justice For Paige Facebook page has also be set up with the same goals in mind.

A promised, if I discover any more details about Paige's murder or memorial service, I will pass them on for you TransGriot readers.

The POTUS Has Still Got This...But

The election is November 6, it's going to be a close one.   The only shot Willard the Robot has of getting in the White House is lying through his teeth and stirring up hatred of the POTUS with the Tea Klux Klan and Dixiecrat wings of the RepubliKKKan party

And yeah gay community, y'all need to back up off a POTUS that is not only the best ever when it comes to trans issues but is the best gay-friendly one as well.   I'm a little concerned about the hell raising and drama that's being ginned up in White GL World over an executive order that is not going to cover everyone and would be subject to be erased by the next GOP president.

I seem to recall the same screaming from predominately white GL peeps (many who have been either squishy about the POTUS or outright hostile to him even before he got elected) badgering  him about doing an executive order to end discrimination against GL people in the military when he (the constitutional scholar) said it was going to take congressional legislative action to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Turns out he was right then and y'all weren't.  Executive orders aren't magic wands that end discrimination instantaneously 'at the stroke of a pen'.  

I and many Black LGBT people in general have been just as tired of white GL peeps who are quick to unfairly jump on this president and hold him to standards on GLBT issues you didn't hold Clinton to while refusing to give him any credit for the stuff he has quietly done to help this community already.

Why?  Because some of y'all 'all marriage all the time' peeps are upset about his position on same gender marriage.  

It's time for a reality check.  Same gender marriage is not the end all be all issue for rainbow community organizing and activism.  

I and a lot of POC peeps cis, trans and gay are more nervous about this looming presidential election despite the favorable poll numbers so far. 

We see on one hand squishy white liberals we barely trust on one side and outright attempts by the GOP to enact voter suppression laws (that I have yet to see many GL persons, much less GetEqual complain or protest about) that could have have deleterious effects on the rainbow community's abilities to even cast ballots on November 6.

In addition, the GOP is playing the only KKKard they can in whipping up racist hatred of the POTUS to help Willard the Robot get elected.

So with a liberal Supreme Court majority in the balance, and to me that is THE issue period in this election cycle, and the GOP going Tea Klux Fascist you damned skippy I'm looking at the big political picture.

Te POTUS has still got this, but I won't relax about this election until November 7.