Black Houston, Cease And Desist With The Transphobia

One of the things I'm getting sick and tired of is elements of the Houston Black community being willfully transphobic.  I'm beyond tired of it along with my Houston Black trans fam and our families, friends, and allies.

What's driving me to write this is Dee Dee telling me about a event that happened on Tuesday at the Ensemble Theater that I almost went to but because I was catching up on my backlogged writing didn't attend.

Wish I had, and I'm about to tell you why.

It was supposed to be an open mic event in which people were encouraged to step to the mic and talk for one minute about whatever issues that were bothering them.

Dee Dee spoke, and was followed up three speakers later by a man named Vince Duncan who not only misgendered her, but bragged about in the card he handed out at the event of being one of the sellout fools who worked for the defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance last year.

Dee Dee was already upset about an incident that happened at a Black Lives Matter Houston event at City Hall that we both attended two months ago when a woman at that event misgendered her.  So you know she was not a happy camper when she returned home and told me she was done with attending cis Black events.

Their loss, and it's sad they have made her and many of us feel unwelcome in a community that should be our refuge from all the transphobic Hateraid we get from the rest of the world..

I love my people and my hometown, but damn folks, y'all have to show us Black trans Houstonians not only some love but respect for our humanity.  Neither I, Dee Dee or any Black trans Houstonian gave up our Black cards when we transitioned, and y'all need to recognize that fact.

Black trans women are women.  Black trans men are men.   How many times do I and countless other people inside and outside Trans World have to repeat that easy to grasp concept until you get it?  

Something else y'all need to recognize is that Black trans Houstonians aren't going back into the closet just because you wish to be willfully ignorant of the fact we exist   Neither are our trans lives and our humanity up for theological or political discussion.

Miss me with that crap.   And some of you repeating those anti-trans talking points are in the Black SGL community, and y'all need to chill with that as well.  The anti-trans comments and right wing bathroom predator lies are not only Grade A bull feces, but are hurtful and wrong,

The anti-trans rhetoric you are repeating makes Steven Hotze, the Texas GOP, Dave Wilson, Max Miller, FN Williams and other assorted Houston area transphobes smile.  It leads to anti-trans discrimination, harassment and violence.

It is getting Black trans kids thrown out of their homes.  Black trans teens make up 13% of the homeless trans teen population, and that needs to end ASAP.   It also led to many of you in Black Houston stupidly voting to repeal a HERO ordinance that I, Dee Dee and other Houstonians fought tooth and nail against GOP out of town oppressors to pass that protected your human rights in the city of Houston.

It was disgusting to me as a native Houstonian to see you fall for the 'men in dresses' okey doke lie parroted to you by suburban white Republicans, white fundie pastors egged on by sellout kneegrow pastors, and them gleefully laughing at your behinds for allowing them to hoodwink and bamboozle you into voting against your own human rights on Election Night 2015.

It's past time for the verbal abuse of trans people in our Black Houston ranks to cease and desist.  Black Trans Houstonians are part of the diverse mosaic of humanity in our beloved hometown, and all we want in addition to having our humanity and human rights respected and protected by law is to simply be able to live our lives to the best of our ability and contribute our talents to building our community and our city.

But the minimum requirement for that to happen is for you Black Houston, to cease and desist with the transphobia, and respect out humanity, because our Black Lives Matter, too.