Turns out when I attended last night's event at the MSociety building in Houston's Monstrose gayborhood I had Monique, one of the Houston Transgender Unity Committee board members and Cristan Williams there when I arrived.
The event the MCenter planned was one in which they screened the Logo documentary Beautiful Daughters, had a discussion about it, and then concluded with a candlelight ceremony.
What I wasn't expecting last night was the fireworks after it concluded
There was a very contentious clear the air conversation between myself and Monique moderated by Cristan in Hillary Clinton mode in the parking lot of the MCenter over what happened at UH Saturday.
Houston Transgender Unity Committee plans this TDOR event and also organizes the Unity Banquet as well. They recognize that Houston is a multiethnic city, are concerned about the lack of trans POC participation and tried to do their part to reflect that in this year's TDOR. I just pointed out in that conversation where they fell short, offered some suggestions in terms of how to improve that in 2013 and beyond and suggest that one way to ensure a diverse event is to make sure the HTUC board has diverse representation on it. I also made the point last night that when you're trying to draw non-whites into your coalition group, your actions matter even more than your words along with the unspoken messages that go out.
As of 10 PM CST last night the drama that started Saturday is squashed. We'll see what happens at TDOR 2013, since I don't doubt we'll be gathering in Houston and around the world for another event on November 20. We'll also see if going forward from this date if improvements happen for Houston POC transpeople in terms of being visible, active participants in this community who feel they have a participatory stake in it.
But I'm not kidding about the rising frustration and anger in terms of POC transpeople not feeling the love in Houston, and I hope they take it seriously the warning I delivered last night
And speaking of warnings, while this post is centered on Houston, this is not just a Houston issue in terms of POC transpeople being frustrated about the lack of representation in the organizations that claim to represent the entire diverse trans rainbow. Don't sit smugly at your computer screens and think the same underlying tension isn't happening in your own trans locales because it is. It needs to be addressed before some spark, misunderstanding, or miscommunication sets it off. .
You TransGriot readers already know that if the H-town situation doesn't improve, I'm still living inside the Houston city limits observing what's going on and will not be shy about commenting on it in these electronic pages.
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