Tired Of The Black Cis Community Denying Our Humanity

"To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity."
Nelson Mandela

One of the things I'm really getting sick of is people who share my ethnic heritage reciting right wing anti-trans talking points.

The latest example of that comes from the head of the Houston Black Area Democrats (HBAD), Edward Pollard, who is catching heat for their endorsement of HERO hatin' Council Member Michael Kubosh.

Edward Pollard

I woke up this morning thinking about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) and was wondering if gender identity is protected as a class, why isn't age identity or race identity protected as well. If a person was was 50 but identified themself as 21 and put that on her job app, shouldn't she be protected too from discrimination? Or what about a college kid who got a scholarship to a public school for being Asian but was really Hispanic, shouldn't he be protected too? What are your thoughts on age and race identity? ‪#‎mondaymorningthoughts‬

WTF?  Let me spell this out for you.  HERO protects from discrimination in 15 categories that include , race , sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, and pregnancy.

In the cased of discrimination reported to the City of Houston from May 28. 2014 until January 15, 2015, 54% of the complaints were based on race.  17% were gender, 15% age, 4% for disability and national origin,, and 2% veteran's status.  

Where did sexual orientation and gender ID complaints rank?   4% of the complaints the OIG's office received cited that as a factor.

But let's get back to what I really wanted to gripe about in terms of elements of the so call Black community leadership denying the humanity of Black trans Houstonians

But first, need to do a little Trans 101 and explain the concept of gender identity to you, The short version is it's a person's inner sense of being male or female and how they project and express that to the world.   If your gender identity happens to line up neatly with the body you are walking Planet Earth on, and that makes you cisgender.   Mine didn't, and that makes me transgender.  

Gender identity is not, Edward, that jacked up convoluted crap you regurgitated on Monday.

I'm beyond sick and tired along with Black trans Houstonians of Black cis people reciting a long ago debunked right wing talking point.  If you want to know what it's like to walk in my pumps or my Black trans brother's shoes, then ASK us.

Bottom line is for you to stop lying about our lives, and stop denying our humanity.   You can't spell Black lives matter without the 'T', and I and Black trans people around the country are not going to let you forget it.