VP Biden: Transgender Rights Are The Civil Rights Issue Of Our Times

I've always liked Vice President Joe Biden for a number of reasons, but I have even more reason to love him according to a HuffPo report.

He was visiting an Obama for America field office in Sarasota, FL yesterday when he struck up a conversation with a woman who was there at the office that according to the pool report has 'beautiful eyes'.

Their conversation was inaudible to the pool reporters, but Biden is reported to have said it 'is the civil rights issue of our times'.  The woman in question was identified Sarasota resident Linda Carragher Bourne. 

She said her daughter was Miss Trans New England and that she had asked Biden if he would help them.

"A lot of my friends are being killed, and they don't have the civil rights yet. These guys are gonna make it happen," Bourne told the reporter.

The commentary underscores the fact that when it comes to trans issues, the Obama Administration has been the best ever when it comes to trans human rights issues.  It's why many trans people supported him in 2008, and I'm proud as a trans African-American to see that a president who shares my ethnic background has been an ally to our community.

And as human rights warrior Julian Bond once said,  “The humanity of all Americans is diminished when any group is denied rights granted to others.”

Trans rights are a human rights issue, and anyone who thinks that we shouldn't have the same rights they do is making their own human rights less secure.

 

Happy Trans National Holiday 2012!

I call Halloween the 'Trans National Holiday' because its one of the times besides Mardi Gras when we could walk the streets as ourselves and not get hateraid directed at us.

While some people take the opportunity to dress up as their favorite horror movie character or whatever idea comes to their mind, many people in the trans community take the time to dress en femme or as drag kings.  

It's also the night that back in the day the elaborate drag balls would happen like the Finnies Ball on the South Side of Chicago, the events at Webster Hall and other venues in New York that had their roots in the Harlem Renaissance, and elsewhere in the country.   









Now the ballroom community ha picked up that torch, carried it into the 21st century and the legacy of those early balls lives on with them.

Scary Proposition For African-Americans

One of the things that sends shivers up my spine this Halloween is fast forwarding to November 6 and hearing the networks say, "We project Mitt Romney will be the next president of the United States." 

I also don't want to see the FOX noise gloating that will ensue.

It is why you've seen the long lines of African-Americans at the polls enduring waits in some cases of several hours to do so because to us the prospect of hearing those words and what they mean long term scares me and other African-Americans to death.

We fear a Romney presidency for starters because he will fill the Supreme Court and our federal judiciary with Robert Bork-Antonin Scalia clones.   His domestic policies as Rosie Perez stated, suck and that's before we even get to discussing his clueless foreign policy.

No, Mitt Romney scares the hell out of me and many African-American in this country, and we definitely want 4 more for POTUS 44.

A Tale Of Two Responses To Hurricane Sandy

If you needed any more evidence as to the vast chasm of difference between President Obama and Mitt Romney, all you needed to observe as prima facie evidence of it was their reactions and responses to Hurricane Sandy.

When the POTUS was asked how this would effect the election next week, President Obama responded with, “I am not worried at this point about the impact on the election, I am worried about the impact on families, I am worried about the impact on first responders, I am worried about the impact on our economy, and on transportation. The election will take care of itself next week.”




Mitt Romney on the other hand,  finished up his speech during an Ohio campaign stop by asking people to help their fellow Americans on the Atlantic coast. He said that not only are the people on the Atlantic coast counting on Ohio, but people in the entire nation are counting on Ohio. Because if Ohio votes me in as President, my guess is that I will be the next President of the United States.

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You guessed wrong Mittens.   Guess you forgot since you're suffering from Stage 3 Romnesia that you proposed during a GOP debate to kill FEMA or privatize it.

Republican Racism On Display

The debates are over, and now this long 2012 presidential campaign marathon has evolved into a sprint to the November 6 finish line in eight battleground states. 

Wisconsin, Colorado, Nevada, Florida, New Hampshire, Virginia and North Carolina are going to see a lot of visits by both campaigns from now until November 6.

Ohio and its must win 18 electoral votes are the big prize coveted by both campaigns.  Romney can't win without it, and while the POTUS has more paths to victory, he rather make life easier toward getting to a second term by capturing the Buckeye State.

Ohio's voters will have a major say in determining who will be standing in front of the Capitol taking the oath of office from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on January 21, 2013.

The stress inducing tightness of this race in the final days means that any unforced errors by either side are magnified, especially since early voting has already commenced in many of those battleground states. 

And the conservafool movement ain't handling that stress too well because in addition to allowing their misogny to run rampant with Senate candidates Rep. Todd Akin in Missouri, congressional deadbeat dad Rep. Joe Walsh in Illinois, and Richard Mourdock in Indiana leading the reprehensible way, their white sheets are showing too. 

They've been cutting loose with the overt and covert race baiting in their desperate attempt to try to stir up their bigot base as the clock ticks inexorably closer to November 6 and their defeat.

If it isn't media ho Donald Chump Trump one day with his yawn inducing bigoted 'October Non Surprise' demanding the POTUS release his college transcripts and passport records, it's John Sununu questioning his intelligence or hurling accusations that the only reason former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed the president for the second consecutive election cycle is 'because he's Black'.

Hey John, you and many of your Republifool voters are only voting for Mitt Romney because he's the incompetent white male in the race, so stop projecting.

Even Caribou Barbie crawled out from her Wasilla location to throw her race-baiting jab in at the POTUS.  Palin wrote a post on her FB page (she can write?) claiming he was 'shucking and jiving' about the Benghazi consulate attack in a desperate attempt to get back in Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes good graces and flagellate it into a scandal.

If you think I'm being harsh about calling the GOP racist, ain't nothin' I haven't said before on this blog.  Sadly I'll probably be writing another post about some foul racist elephant feces laden racism before the end of this month. 

Let me direct your attention to a current Republican and former aide to Secretary of State Powell in former Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson.

He's stating the white sheet wearing obvious and cosigning what every African-American voting for President Obama in this 2012 cycle has known since the 1970's 

 Lawrence Wilkerson: 'My Party Is Full Of Racists'

“My party, unfortunately, is the bastion of those people—not all of them, but most of them—who are still basing their positions on race.” said Wilkerson. “Let me just be candid: My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander in chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable.”

Hey, I have to admit the man knows y'all well.  So do we, which is a major reason why the POTUS has 93% support in the African-American community and 70% support in the Latino one.  

Latinos are also are waking up, smelling the cafe de leche and noting that the GOP doesn't like them either On behalf of the Democratic Party I say gracias for driving the fastest growing voter bloc in this country in our direction because of your lack of multicultural vision . 

And yeah, as my Latina sister Rosie Perez pointed out, your shape shifting candidate's policies suck too.
.

Keep it KKKlassy, conservafools.   Y'all continue to be the party of choice for the bigots of America while the rest of us more forward, not backward to the mid 20th century in terms of race relations and social policy.

POTUS Ain't Moving Until January 2017

So Ann and Mitt, don't even bother to start packing.  We already have a highly qualified and competent  POTUS that is doing the job.   

He's cleaning up the mess that the previous incompetent white POTUS left him, and needs four more years to finish what he started.   Your vulture capitalist services will frack up this country are not required, especially since you made it quite clear you don't care about 47% of the US population.

I'd rather go forward, and not backward to the 20th century anyway.  

Thinking About You Peeps In The Path Of Hurricane Sandy

Since I've spent the majority of my life living on the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana, dealing with hurricanes and being prepared for them is one of the prices we pay for living in this part of the world.

I've ridden out everything from small tropical storms to nerve jangling ones such as Hurricane Betsy when I was living in New Orleans and 1983's Hurricane Alicia.

I'm not sellin' you woof tickets when I say to all my friends in the Northeast corridor that I feel your anxiety as a 900 mile wide Category 2 Hurricane Sandy inexorably comes closer to making landfall in New Jersey.   That's the worst part of it.  

All you can do is make sure you have your windows taped or boarded up, you have your hurricane supplies, and you have an emergency evacuation plan if things get serious.   And yes, for my trans family members hope you don't run into any transphobic bigotry or anti-trans hatred if you have to evacuate and seek shelter. 

So thinking about all my friends and TransGriot readers who are in the path of this storm.  I'm saying a few words of prayer for your safety .  I hope that Hurricane Sandy blows through the area as quickly as possible and causes as little damage and disruption to your lives once it does.. 

   

Still Pissed About Roseanne Barr's Transphobic Tweets

The passage of this weekend not only didn't lessen my anger about Roseanne Barr's jacked up transphobic tweets I put her and Kola Boof on blast for Friday, it poured gasoline on the smoldering anger I felt about it when I discovered this wasn't an isolated incident of transphobic bigotry coming from her. 

From 'Roseannearchy: Dispatches from the Nut Farm'

“Then the Transgendered versus the Butch Dyke wars started—to see two of those folks fighting about being female was quite an eye-opener for me. You haven’t lived until you have seen a huge guy with boobs talking about female hormones and deciding to keep his penis, and how that was a feminist issue.” – Roseanne Barr

Umm hmm...guess you'll be telling jokes from The Land next year.  

I find it laughable that you and your whyte radfem womyn gone wyld allies are bloviating about angry tweets aimed at you from righteously angry trans women reacting to the negativity your vanillacentric privileged behind put out there. 

Keep crying those White Women's Tears.  It ain't working because you privileged white feminists started this War on Transwomen beck in the 1970's and we're beyond tired of it.

Thanks to the Net trans women and our cis feminine allies now have the ability to return your transphobic rhetorical fire just as quickly as y'all put it out there.  Some of my trans sisters don't really care at this point if it hurts your feelings and tweaks your delicate precious nerves.  You damned sure didn't care about our feelings when you let fly with those comments and we see you and your feminist buddies as worse than our right wing conservafool oppressors. 

News flash, Roseanne.  The bathroom predators you rail about are cisgender people attacking trans people.  Bottom line is that your pimping of that demonstrably false bathroom predator meme has deleterious and real word effects on trans people's lives.   It not only fuels anti-trans hatred, but in some cases results in anti-trans violence aimed at transwomen and the people who give a damn about us.

Roseanne's clueless pushing of the bathroom predator meme is not only pathetically sad, it's par for the white feminist course. 

As long as it's transwomen, and especially non-white transwomen who are getting assaulted and killed, you don't give a rats anus that it's happening, nor are you concerned about doing anything to eradicate it.

Well, I am concerned about it and I do care what's happening to my sisters because there but for the grace of God go I in that situation. 

Your ill considered tweeted words needlessly poured gasoline on this testy situation and will lead to hatred and potential assaults not only aimed at us, but cis women who don't fit the Femininity Police standards on what and how a woman should look like and present herself in public. .

The trans women and the masculine appearing cis women who will experience those assaults will have you Roseanne and your radical feminist buddies to thank for it.

 

Dyssonance: Cloud Atlas Is A Film For Us

You know I enjoy my Arizona homegirl Dyss' thought provoking posts because she has the same talent of not only fearlessly and intelligently saying what needs to be said, but at time occasionally pissing you off in the process. 

In this post she discusses the just released Wachowski sibling film Cloud Atlas and adds her observations about it. 

This won’t make much sense to a lot of people, but Cloud Atlas is Our Film. And there isn’t a trans person in the film. But truly, this is a movie that is as rich and complex and deeply moving as the lives of Trans people, and it carries forward with so many themes that it resonates soundly with transness in a way that it id challenging to describe.

It is a movie for those who love, and for those who are loved. It is a film for those who struggle, who wonder, who hope.
It is awesome, and if you haven’t started making plans to see it, then you really should start to do so now…

This post definitely deserves to be signal boosted, and you can read it here.

1000th Post For 2012!

It's not even Election Day yet and you're looking at the 1000th post I've written this year. 

And note, that's just on my blog.

That makes the third straight year since 2010 that I've written that many posts, and that was also an election year in which.I finished with 1260 when the clock hit 11:59 PM CST.  

In 2011 it was my all time high of 1563 by the time the clock ushered in the New Year.

I doubt I'll exceed that number of posts by the time we hit New Year's Eve 2012, but I still have eight weeks left in this year.  I was actually trying to at times back off from that frenetic writing pace I had last year. I wanted to actually leave some time for me to chill, live my life, hang out with my friends and strictly limiting myself to three blog posts per day was a way in my mind to do that. .

Who was I kidding?  

This was a presidential election year, and news events here and around the world sometimes demand that I write more than three per day.   My status as an IFGE Trinity winning activist and major blogger sometimes meant that I needed to add my Afrocentric comments on issues of importance to the trans community.

And yes, sometimes I'm in hard solid thinking mode about something and it inspires me to write a post I have to put down for posterity or something happens that pisses me the hell off and I need to vent.

One post you will see on New Year's Eve is my 2012 Shut Up Fool of the Year one, and I'll have it out in time for you to read it before you get your New Year's Eve party and drink on.

And before I end this one, thank all you TransGriot readers who have surfed by here over the years and spent your valuable time reading what I have to say about the world as I see it.  I deeply appreciate it. 



  

I've Voted, The POTUS and FLOTUS Have Voted, Have You?

Early voting is going on in many locales in the United States in advance of our critical November 6 presidential election.

President Obama went back to Chicago last week to early vote while First Lady Michelle Obama did so via absentee ballot. 

The POTUS and FLOTUS have already early voted.  Have you done so yet?  If you have, I thank you very much for exercising your civic duty as an American citizen and making you voice heard.  

If you haven't and are eligible to do so, here's my commentary on that via Maya Wilkes from the dearly departed but beloved show Girlfriends.

Why the hell have you not taken your soul to the poll yet?  This is a potentially American history altering election that demands you cast your ballot if not for you, for the people who can't vote. 

I handled my early voting electoral business last Monday on the first day we were able to do so in the Lone Star State.  

I wasn't kidding when I wrote I was pissed off and highly motivated to fire Republicans at the ballot box. 

Got up, got dressed and walked to my nearby early voting polling station on a beautiful Houston chamber of commerce weather day.   I arrived there at 8:30 AM CDT to happily discover there was a line around the corner and out the door of the room housing the eSlate machines that was rapidly growing.  

It took me 40 minutes, but my electoral business is handled. 

Glad I did because it has been a record breaking first week for early voting in Texas.   I was part of that record breaking first day in which I and 47,902 other Harris County residents cast our ballots.  

That was 20 percent higher than the previous record of 39,201 cast four years ago.   Speaking of Texas early voting, you have until Friday, November 2 to get your early voting business done. 

While we liberal-progressive peeps were successful at legally pimp slapping the racist Texas voter suppression law into oblivion, the Teapublicans unfortunately killed our 'souls to the polls' weekend before election day.

So handle your electoral business TransGriot readers.   Don't make me send Samuel L. Jackson after you.

Trans TV Alert: Barbara Walters 20/20 Trans Children Update

Back in 2007 ABC's 20/20 broadcast a Barbara Walters moderated show that focused on the lives of trans children entitled 'My Secret Self- A Story of Transgender Children".

This Friday Barbara will visit the trans kids and their families that were interview for that 2007 show and find out what is transpiring in their lives five years later.   One of those adorable trans kids was Jazz, and she'll be part of this broadcast. 

It's slated to be televised November 2 from 10-11 PM EDT on your local ABC station. It is sweeps month, so count on the trans themed programming to flood the airwaves for a few weeks.  

If you can't watch the broadcast, set those DVR's to do so and as soon as I have video of it I'll post it to the blog..

California GOP An Early Sign Of Nationwide GOP Collapse?

There an old axiom in American politics that states, 'As California goes, so goes the nation'..

There's an interesting article in the New York Times that discusses the current state of the California Republican Party.   The same party that produced presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and gave Sen.Dianne Feinstein the scare of her political life during the 1994 midterms is now a weakened shell of its former self.

They have shrunk to the point in which the state is a Democratic political bastion and despite the 2010 Teapublican wave, couldn't break through and lost high profile races for the governorship and the US senate.

Registered Republicans have fallen to just 30% of the electorate, and that's not enough to win a statewide race when 43% of the electorate in California is made up of registered Democrats and another 21% is made up of independent voters.

“The institution of the California Republican Party, I would argue, has effectively collapsed,” said current MSNBC commentator Steve Schmidt, who once worked as a senior adviser to former governor Arnold  Schwarzenegger (R).

“It doesn’t do any of the things that a political party should do. It doesn’t register voters. It doesn’t recruit candidates. It doesn’t raise money. The Republican Party in the state institutionally has become a small ideological club that is basically in the business of hunting out heretics.”

What caused the fall of the once mighty California Republican Party?    The self inflicted troubles go back to their political high point in the state in 1994 when Governor Pete Wilson (R) and California Republicans successfully pushed the anti-Latino Proposition 187 that was later found to be unconstitutional.  While it unified the GOP base, it pissed off Latinos just as their numbers were exploding as a critical voting bloc in the state and Republicans have paid for it in statewide races ever since.

The increasingly batturd crazy Southern based national GOP is also alienating California independent voters they need to win in those state, county and local races in addition to the Latino and African-American ones they already pissed off. 

Being on the wrong side of  gay rights, environmental issues, immigration, and abortion.also doesn't help them in this state either. 

Starting with this 2012 presidential election cycle, California is now worth 55 huge electoral votes through 2020.  The Democratic presidential candidate having that many electoral votes as a building block in their electoral vote calculations is a major political headache for the national GOP.

Today the Republicans in California are a shell of their former selves with no Republicans in statewide offices, and the California state legislature, both US senate seats a majority of the states US congressional delegation, and the governor's mansion in Sacramento firmly in Democratic hands. 

The deep bench of young, diverse political talent in California has the Democratic label, and the Republicans have become so focused on ideological purity that whatever moderate candidates they do have left in the party are leaving or running as independents.

While that's music to my ears as a Democrat living under the opposite political reality situation in Texas that demographics and a resurgent Texas Democratic Party are slowly climbing out of, democracy is served best when we have two healthy parties competing honestly and vigorously for everyone's votes.  .

The question I'm pondering is this.   Is what happened to the California GOP a tale that is about to replicate itself at the national GOP level and in other state Republican parties?

Or is this just a temporary situation they can come back from?   That's a question political scientists and political junkies will also be keenly interested in observing over the next few election cycles.
 

Jenna's Video On The WHO ICD-11 Change.org Petition

Jenna Talackova is on a mission along with transpeople around the world to get Gender Identity Disorder removed from the next edition World Health Organization's ICD manual. 

The International Classification of Diseases manual fight is important because insurance companies use ICD diagnostic codes when it comes time to bill for medical services performed.  The upcoming renaming of Gender Identity Disorder to the proposed 'Gender Dysphoria'  in the imminent publication of the DSM-V manual has also led to international trans activist efforts to get this done before the projected ICD-11 publishing date in 2015.

Here's Jenna's video and a link to her petition calling on the WHO to remove GID from the ICD-11 .. 

Upcoming Event: Creating Transgender Workplace Inclusion

For those of you in the Baltimore, MD area, if you have the time and the ability to do so, you may wish to check out this event that will be happening November 2.

Denise Norris, who is the Global Lead for Transgender Workplace Inclusion at Accenture will discuss how large corporations are approaching Inclusion and Diversity for Transgender, Gender Dysphoria and people with non-conforming gender expression and or identity.

It will take place from 7:30-9:30 PM EDT at the Sheraton Inner Harbor hotel.  Address is 300 South Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201

This will be a fascinating and informative discussion on the issue of trans workplace inclusion that you probably don't want to miss if you live the area.  

It would also be nice Baltimore area trans community if you show our sis Denise some support as well.  
 

Operation Lemonade Has Commenced In Florida

Florida Teapublicans went to a lot of trouble, effort and spent cash to suppress the Black vote in the state by employing shady methods to attempt to make it harder to execute that hard won constitutional right.  

Their goal was to shave enough votes like they did in 2000,  to swing the state in Mittens favor.

Since today was the first day of the Florida early voting period they tried to either eliminate or severely cut back, Black clergy and the Rev. Al Sharpton led National Action Network organized a massive GOTV effort in the Sunshine State they are calling Operation Lemonade.

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This was triggered by President Obama's historic 2008 election.   In Florida African-American voters swamped the early voting polls, prompting then-Gov. Charlie Crist (R) to issue an executive order to keep the stations open longer.   Early voting in Florida lasted a total of 120 hours over 14 days in 2008 and Obama carried Florida and subsequently won the presidency as a result of that victory.

The conservafools were determined not to have that happen in 2012, so the Republican controlled Florida Legislature responded by capping early voting hours to a maximum 96 hours over eight days. It also eliminated early voting the Sunday before Election Day, when African Americans would vote in droves as part of their “souls to the polls” turnout tradition that began with the advent of early voting in 2002.

What that blatant racist attack on our voting rights did was piss off and motivate us instead  

Florida Black people considered it an insultingly bitter lemon they were handed by their legislature, so as Rev. Victor T. Curry said, “They gave us a lemon by taking away the Sunday before the election, but we’ve decided to make lemonade.”

The Republican early vote limitations have black voters fired up — and ready to vote, Curry said.
"Last time it was about making history," Curry said. "This time it’s personal."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/15/3051419/operation-lemonade-started-by.html#storylink=cpy

Yes Florida voters, get mad, get angry, be offended by it, take it personally.   Then take that righteous anger and make it your mission to take your soul to the polls and a few other friends as well.

Make it your mission to fire every Republican legislator who voted for those restrictions and support Florida ones who stood up for our community.   

And when you're done voting Florida peeps, have a tall cold glass of lemonade after you do so to celebrate.

Former DC Cop Kenneth Furr Convicted In Trans Shooting Case

After a week long trial,  48 year old former Washington Metro police officer Kenneth D. Furr was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon yesterday after an ugly August 26, 2011 incident in which he jumped on the hood of a car and fired five shots at its occupants. 

He was also convicted of solicitation but acquitted of the most serious charge he faced, assault with intent to kill.  

Furr was also acquitted of the six other offenses relating to that fateful August 2011 night that began with a rejected proposition to a transwoman at a NW Washington CVS store...  

Furr has been suspended without pay from Washington Metro PD and faces up to 10 years in jail and another 90 days for the solicitation charge.  Had he been convicted of all the charges he was facing he was looking at a potential 30 years in jail..

Furr has been in jail since the incident, and Judge Russell F. Caran ordered his release to the objections of prosecutors.  The Prince Georges County resident has also been ordered to undergo drug and alcohol testing and stay out of the District unless it is to consult with attorneys.

Sentencing for Furr will take place in January 2013.

Lana Talks

Director Lana Wachowski has finally come out as a #girllikeus and we couldn't be happier about it.

She recently received an award from HRC on October 20 and in her acceptance speech talked about her painful adolescence and other issues germane to her transition.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Halloween's Approaching Edition

This is the last weekend of October.   In addition to the 2012 election being in the home stretch, we are fast approaching the Trans National Holiday, AKA Halloween.

That's going to take place on Wednesday, and now only will you see young ghouls and goblins armed with large bags to collect candy, there will be a lot of parties held in which adults will wear costumes as well. . 

Time to segue into our weekly TransGriot business of shining a bright spotlight on all those people or organizations exhibiting frightening levels of stupidity and ignorance

It's time for this week's edition of the Shut Up Fool Awards.

Being it's election season had plenty of fools to choose from but lets narrow it down to some honorable mentions and this week's winner.

Honorable Mention goes to Mitt Romney...Every time he opens his mouth a lie comes out of it or something stupid that solidifies his front running status for the 2012 Shut Up Fool of the Year Award .

Honorable Mention number two goes to media ho Donald Trump for his attempt to engage in more birtherism before Election Day.   I'll let the POTUS summarize my feelings about it.

Honorable Mention number three goes to Roseanne Barr for her transphobic tweets.    

The winner is Indiana Teapublican US senate candidate Richard Mourdock, who opened mouth and inserted his foot in it during a televised debate earlier this week when he stated that if a woman becomes pregnant during a rape, “that is something that God intended to happen.”

What God are you talking about?  Conservagod?   I damned sure don't want the scary type of world that is your and other male Republifools wet dream (pun intended) and unfortunately exists in Latin America imported here to the United States. 

Here's hoping the voters in the Hoosier State have the common sense on November 6 to kick his azz to the electoral curb.  

And oh yeah, Richard Mourdock, shut the hell up, fool! 

Cis Women, You Can't Support Trans Women And Push The Bathroom Predator Meme

I've had a neutral opinion about Roseanne Barr over the years but that may be about to change in a negative direction.   She let fly with a series of transphobic tweets that makes me wonder if she went to Michfest this year. The transphobic Twitter exchange was driven by guess what, the bathroom issue.

Kola Boof stuck her nose in the middle of this transphobic Twitter mess and unleashed a series of problematic tweets in support of Roseanne.  

Note to Kola and 'errbody' else: You cannot call yourself a supporter of trans women and pimp the demonstrably false bathroom predator meme at the same time.   By doing so you, Roseanne and anyone else who pushes this meme is interpreted by trans women as you really don't respect us and our femininity.

It also causes trans women to question just how much of an ally to our community you really are. 

Don't even go there on the security issue as an excuse to peddle the transphobic bathroom meme, especially in light of the fact that an average of two transwomen a month die somewhere around the world due to anti-trans violence and that average is alarmingly rising.  

Trans women are beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of elements of you cis women reciting that tired meme so you can create a bogus excuse for yourself to denigrate, disrespect and oppress us to make yourselves feel superior and empowered. 


I and other transwomen are also beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of repeating this point.  If God forbid a rapist is going to attack a woman in the restroom, he is not going to waste time getting in drag to do so.  The rapist will simply walk into said restroom and do the criminal deed.

Trans women are women period.  Whatever issues you have with the male gender, take it up with da fellas and stop projecting it on us, okay?   Contrary to the misguided opinions pushed by the Barr-Boof tag team, trans women once we transition are not considered by cis men as part of their team anymore.

Medical science also increasingly pointing out when it comes to the structure of trans women's brains, we're similar to cis women between the ears.  We just have to work a little harder and spend some money to morph the rest of our bodies to match the brain gender ID.

I would rather be taking time to comment on other issues of importance to this community and finding ways to work in conjunction with my cis sisters rather than having to put y'all on blast for ignorantly pimping this meme that is disrespectful to us.  

Not only are we tired of the War on Transwomen and whyte radfem womyn gone wild, we're tired of the false presumption that trans women still have 'residual male privilege' that lead to elements of cis women still pearl clutching to the bathroom predator meme disrespecting and denigrating trans women.

This meme must die and needs to die now, especially since conservafool legislators around the world and radical feminist transphobes who have no other excuse to oppose trans human rights are seizing on this to attempt to stop trans human rights legislation we need.

For you cis women who constantly ask me how to best support trans women, here's a suggestion.  In addition to being loyal friends and supporters to us, another way can be to educate yourself on our issues and help us permanently eradicate the bathroom predator meme.  


.

Allyson Robinson To Helm OutServe-SLDN

This weekend two organizations that have fought hard for the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the rights of LGBT servicemembers , the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and OutServe are finalizing a merger.  

The new combined 6000 member OutServe-SLDN that will emerge has pledged to continue to fight for the rights of rainbow community service personnel.

As I and many trans people have pointed out, the 2011 repeal of  DADT left trans servicemembers behind, puts us at risk of being tossed out of the military if our trans status is discovered and still does not allow any trans person to openly serve our nation as transpeople in six countries can now do.. 

The merged organization recently announced its new executive director and the person tapped to lead  OutServe-SLDN is someone I know and have run across a few times in my travels around the country in Allyson Robinson.

She's definitely qualified to become the new executive director of this merged organization.  She is a 1994 graduate of West Point, commanded Patriot missile units in Europe and the Middle East on multiple deployments, was recently the deputy director of HRC's Workplace Project and has a Texas connection.  

After Robinson resigned her commission in 1999 to pursue her ministerial calling and focus on social justice issues, she earned her Masters of Divinity in theology at Baylor University in 2007.

Robinson stated “I am honored to lead the new OutServe-SLDN into this next phase of advocacy and action on behalf of our brave LGBT service members, veterans, and their families. Until they are guaranteed equal opportunity, recognition, support, and benefits, our mission is incomplete. We cannot and will not leave them behind.”

In addition to becoming the first trans person to head a major TBLG organization, Robinson has promised to advocate for the gender nonconforming service members left behind by DADT repeal as well. 

“We cannot stop until we reach the day when all qualified Americans who wish to wear the uniform of our armed forces have the opportunity to do so with honor and integrity – and without fear of discrimination or harassment – whether they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.”

Congratulations Allyson on this historic appointment to head OS-SLDN.  May you have much success in executing your new human rights mission.

2012 TransGriot NFL Picks-Week 8

We're halfway through the 2012 NFL season and my fave NFL ballers finally get to their bye week in spectacular fashion. 

In addition to hanging a team record setting 43-13 spanking on the Ravens and beating them for the first time in franchise history, they also have the AFC's best record at 6-1

Speaking of records, after that 4-10 Week 6 disaster I reversed it with a nearly perfect Week 7.  I went 12-1 and only that last second Tennessee Titans Traitors TD to pull out that 35-34 win over the Buffalo Bills kept me from going unbeaten.      

But Mr. Watts also stepped up his prognostication game and went 12-1 as well, so the lead I have over him going into the midpoint of the 2012 NFL season is still three games.

We now move on to Week 8, and Mike's picks are here.   Mine are in bold underlined print.   I want to not only build on that wonderful Week 7, I want to see if I can get that elusive perfect week I came so agonizingly close to.

Week 7 records 
TransGriot 12-1
Mike Watts 12-1

2012 Season Records
TransGriot  63-41
Mike Watts 60-44

Week 8
Bye week
Ravens, Bills, Bengals, Texans


Thursday, October 25
Buccaneers at Vikings

Sunday, October 28
Jaguars at Packers
Dolphins at Jets
Chargers at Browns
Colts at Titans
Patriots at Rams
Falcons at Eagles
Panthers at Bears
Seahawks at Lions

Afternoon Games
Redskins at Steelers
Raiders at Chiefs
Giants at Cowboys

Sunday Night Game
Saints at Broncos

Monday, October 29
49ers at Cardinals

POTUS Makes Fun Of Trump

On his Tonight Show appearance last night, President Barack Obama basically let the world know what he thinks about Romney surrogate Donald Chump Trump and his latest attention seeking antics.

Barack Obama Laughs Off Feud With Donald Trump On 'The Tonight Show'

Colin Powell Endorses President Obama Again

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed President Obama moments ago during an appearance on CBS This Morning.

"I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012 and I'll be voting for he and Vice President Joe Biden next month." Powell said to Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell.



Despite this huge endorsement and now doing so in 2008 and 2012, he says he remains a Republican. 

"I think I'm a Republican of a more moderate mold," he said before adding, "That's something of a dying breed I'm sorry to say."



So are we, Secretary Powell, so are we.

Happy Birthday, Miss Major!

This is a post I'm so happy to write because at times she's had a challenging year.  

One of the highlights of my trip to Charlotte besides the honor of giving that keynote speech at this year's TransFaith In Color conference was having Miss Major sitting by my side before I got up from the table to deliver it and being able to spend some quality time with her.

Today is Miss Major's 70th birthday and I wanted to take some time to wish one of our iconic sheroes and trailblazers a very happy one.  

I and the transwomen of my generation and beyond thank you for being out there fighting for our human rights, being a tell it like it T-I-S is advocate for us and representing us with class and dignity all these years while doing so.  

Thank you for the quality time and wisdom you share with me every time we are blessed to get to spend some time together in the same locale, some of the community history that you enlightened me with during those times, and giving me the strength to be an out and proud as a African descended transwoman.   Hopefully I and others will continue to blessed with the opportunity to bask in your presence and wisdom as one of our trans elders and icons

May your birthday be full of love and blessings and you get to enlighten us with your wisdom for years to come.

Love you, and Happy Birthday Miss Major!     May you have many more to come.

Log Cabin Sellouts Endorse Romney-Why Am I Not Surprised?

There has been discussion about whether we, as members of Log Cabin Republicans, are LGBT first or Republican first. Ultimately, we believe the answer is neither. We are Americans first, and as such, must stand for what we believe is right for our country.

Our endorsement of Mitt Romney is not free. We commit, here and now, that we will work with the party as we are able, and challenge the party as it is necessary, to ensure that it lives up to its highest ideals of limited government and individual freedom. The Log Cabin Republicans motto is “inclusion wins.” If LGBT Americans are serious about winning equality for all, rather than merely playing politics, Republicans must be part of the team.

I am not surprised by how low the Log Cabin Sellouts will go to kiss the behinds of the Republican Party. They're Republicans and Rep Barney Frank had already told the truth about them, so I already had low expectations for them that they met with this endorsement of Mitt Romney. 

I had no illusions they would endorse President Obama, a man who has presided over the most LGBT friendly administration in history, deserves a second term in the Oval Office and is far more qualified for the job than the businessman who ships jobs to China to line his Cayman Islands bank accounts with cash and thinks corporations are people.. 

I'd hoped they would at least show a shred of integrity and loyalty to the rainbow community by not endorsing in this race at all if they couldn't be honest enough with themselves to endorse the person that repealed DADT, passed the Byrd Shepard Hate Crimes Bill, saved the US auto industry, passed the Affordable Care Act and got Osama bin Laden like he promised to do.  .

Far from the lofty rhetoric in their statement, they proved they were Republicans first, have zero loyalty to the LGBT community and will not challenge their party even when the guy they endorsed doubled down on positions diametrically opposite to the things the LGBT rights movement is striving to achieve.

What is right for this country if you really believe the claptrap you say about being Americans first is ensuring the current African-American occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. gets four more years.

You damned skippy as a member of the trans half of the LGBT community who also happens to be a proud African-American I'm concerned about the composition of the Supreme Court, the federal judiciary and voter suppression that you Log Cabin peeps have been cricket chirping silent on.  

As someone who is descended from people who have and continue to experience oppression at the hands of conservatism, I have a different view about the role of government, especially when it has been necessary at times for the government to step in and defend and expand my human rights against the tyranny of the vanillacentric majority. 
 
You have also by this endorsement reinforced the perception of me and other non-white LGBT people that the Log Cabin Republicans only care about recovering their lost white privilege and their cash flow and don't give a damn about looking out for the interests and the human rights of the entire LGBT community.

2012 Houston TDOR Coming Soon To UH Campus

We have a date, time and location for the 2012 Houston Transgender Day of Remembrance memorial service .  It will once again be on the University of Houston main campus on November 17 from 7-9:30 PM and it will be returning to the AD Bruce Religion Center.

I'm planning to be there to remember our fallen sisters and I hope you Houston area transpeople and our allies will join me and the rest of the Houston trans community in doing the same.

Will definitely be giving you Houston area TransGriot readers more details as we get closer to the event.