A Black Trans Man Is Running For The Nevada State Assembly!

The breakthrough victories of Councilmembers Phillipe Cunningham and Andrea Jenkins in Minneapolis last year have given hope to other Black trans people who have contemplated running for public office they can also successfully run for office and win.

Now comes word that LaDon Henry is seeking to become the first trans masculine person elected to the state legislature in Nevada. 

We have already had a trans feminine person in Nevada attempt to run and win a legislative seat in that state.  Lauren Scott made three runs at a Reno area Nevada legislative seat as a Republican. and became in 2014 the first trans candidate in Nevada to win a party primary.   She was defeated in her last two attempts in the 2014 and 2016 general election cycles to win the District 30 seat.

The 41 year old Army veteran, husband of Shalonda, small business owner and radio host was like many trans people running for office.   Henry was motivated by Trump getting elected president and his well founded fears of what 45 would do to roll back TBLGQ legislative protections.

The first time candidate is running for the District 42 seat in the Las Vegas metro area being vacated by Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante Adams (D), who decided not to seek reelection to a fourth term .

The Clark County district has a 2-1 Democratic registration advantage, and Henry has two challengers in his District 42 Democratic primary in Alexander Aseefa and Kathleen Lauckner

Henry, true to his 'No Voice Left Unheard' campaign slogan,  has stated if he wins, he'll focus on improving Nevada's education system, diversifying the economy, and fighting for underrepresented communities like ex-prisoners, at risk youth and immigrants.

"It wasn't just me being transgender that made me want to run.  There are so many different marginalized communities right now that don't feel like citizens,"said Henry.

Because no Republican filed to run in District 42, the winner of the June 12 primary will become the successor to the retiring Assemblywoman Adams

Henry would also be if he is successful, not only the first out trans person elected to the Nevada state legislature, he would be the first Black trans masculine state legislator.

As of right now Henry hasn't been endorsed by the Nevada Democratic Party or any other political groups, but that may change as we get closer to the June 12 Nevada Primary

Here's hoping that Henry makes history and becomes another Black trans elected official!
 

Michelle Wolf's 2018 WHCD Speech

The Conservative Noise Machine and elements of the media are outraged about Michelle Wolf's White House Correspondents Dinner remarks.

Where was the lie in anything she said Saturday night?  It's hilarious to me that people up to and including Dolt 45 are demanding she 'apologize' for her remarks.

Example 1: “You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you used to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric, but he has helped you. He’s helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him. And if you’re gonna profit off of Trump, you should at least give him some money because he doesn’t have any.”

Hey, your job as part of the Fourth Estate is to tell the truth, seek it out and speak it to power. 
The truth is media, you failed us in 2016 and still are by not pushing back hard enough against this misadministration or the crap that Republicans are doing to this country.

If a mere GLAAD Media Award winning blogger can see this, why can't you?

Michelle Wolf basically said what a lot of thinking Americans have been saying to each other, and the media, because they have been disconnected from what many people have been saying, is going apoplectic about being called out on their crap by Wolf at the so called  'Nerd Prom'.

She is a patriot who needs to be congratulated, not reviled

Well, you can judge for yourself whether Michelle Wolf's routine was 'controversial' .

BTAC Forever!

I'm now back on my end of I-45 after spending the past empowering week in Dallas at the 7th annual National Black Trans Advocacy Conference.

And it seems like the fact of BTAC's unapologetically Black trans self existing bothers some of you  white trans peeps.  Too bad. 

BTAC is a FUBU production in which everyone is welcome to attend, but you must bear in mind if you aren't Black, when you step into our trans Wakanda it is one of the few conferences in Trans and GNC World that is grounded in unapologetic Blackness. 

I'm hearing some bull feces laden chatter from assorted bitter white trans peeps that BTAC is 'racist'.

Um no boo boo kitty, let Moni school you are something.  Racism equals bigotry and prejudice plus systemic power and majority population numbers used by a majority group to retard, roll back or eviscerate the human rights progress of a minority group.

And don't even step to me with that weak azz Webster's Dictionary definition of racism or you will get your wig snacthed.

Back to talking about BTAC. 

Black trans and GNC peeps being at a conference in they meet others like them and unapologetically celebrates our heritage them isn't 'racist'.   You need to stop sniffing that vanillacentric privilege and talking out the side of your neck about an event you probably haven't been to.

And for those of you who doubt what I'm saying, you can come see for yourself when we gather in Dallas again April 22-28 for BTAC 2019. 

BTAC wouldn't have been a needed and necessary response to the ongoing marginalization of Black trans and gender non conforming people inside and outside the TBLGQ world if a long list of white led trans and SGL 'equality' organizations like GenderPac, NCTE, HRC, TENT, and Equality Texas had been doing their job of properly advocating for Black trans people.

More importantly, when they advocate for Black trans people, they hire us to do the advocacy work for and in our community  Since you equality orgs are belatedly coming to the realization that Black trans people exist and aren't going away, BTAC will.

This BTAC event was founded and built by Black trans men, who get even less credit for the yeoman's work they have done to build our trans movement, and that crap needs to stop

For seven years BTAC has handled its business and been a healing place for the Black trans and GNC community. It also been a place where we network, learn and do so in an unapologetic Afrocentric environment that welcomes all who wish to come.

It is needed, life saving and necessary in a world hostile to Black trans and GNC bodies.  Even more galling to us, that anti-Black trans hostility also comes from white trans peeps as well

BTAC is also a place where we can meet others who look like us, their supportive spouses and accomplices who unequivocally support Black trans people in Texas and beyond

It is also a place when we can sit down, interact with and listen to the wisdom of our trans elders. 

For a week we get to live in a Black Trans Wakanda in which we talk about community issues and come up with solutions to those problems.  It is a place where we get to build friendships, are affirmed, loved on and in many cases get to heal from the micro and microaggressive crap that is hurled at us the rest of the year by an increasingly hostile to trans folks outside world until it is time for us to head to our various locales to live our lives.

This year BTAC 2018 had three seminar tracks for trans women, trans men and our anchors, AKA the spouses and allies.   We're planning to add tracks for gender non conforming peeps since we had some show up this year in numbers and they expressed their desire for that t happen. 

We're  planning to have tracks for our trans and GNC elders above age 55 that we call the Golden Flames because we value their wisdom, respect and love them, and realize they have much to teach us in terms of their lived experiences and our history.

We hope that one day as this BTAC conference continues to grow we will have enough parents of Black trans kids and Black trans kids in attendance so that we can programming for them as well   . 
 

At BTAC we get to hear our names called for awards named for distinguished leaders in our community and celebrated at a Friday gala, not a TDOR that was hosted by Dezjorn Gauthier and Jessica Zyrie . 

We show off our talents at Trans Manifest Live early in the conference week.   Our pageant peeps get to compete for the Mr. and MIss Black Trans International titles in which they know before even stepping on that stage that when they win that title, they will expected to be advocates during their reign for our community

And we cap it all off with the Family Day, Black Diamond Ball, and the closing interfaith ceremony led by our elders on Sunday.

BTAC is needed and necessary, and it needs to be supported.   It would be nice if we got to see our Black legacy civil rights orgs like the NAACP step up as sponsors for our conference or the gala. 

It would be wonderful for our BTAC attendees to see our Black trans superstars in the house someday.

But until then, this Dallas, Texas based conference will continue to chug along and serve our community.   If you wanna hate on that, that's on you.

I and the rest of my BTAC fam here and increasingly around the world will smile, mark off our calendars to the last full week of April and return here to Black Trans Wakanda. 

BTAC Forever! 

Photo credits: Rebecca Jackson 

BTAC 2018- Day 6

This day arrived way too soon and it always carries for me a mix of sadness and disappointment.

Sadness and disappointment that comes with the realization that BTAC 2018 is over and we all have to go our separate ways.   Some of us had to leave and board at the crack of dawn flights back home before the closing ceremony starts.

I've got a four hour Megabus ride back to Houston with Dee Dee Watters. 

But it is also a day in which we revel in the new friends we've made, gotten to hug and hold tight old ones, and look forward to the future recharged and energized to take on the world. 

Already know the dates.   It'll be April 22-28 once again in Dallas, and we'll announce the hotel and reservation details once the staff recovers from putting this year's event on.

At 11 PM the closing interfaith service led by when we now call our Golden Flames, our elders from age 55 and up will be conducted.  Once it's over, the countdown starts for BTAC 2019.

And I can hardly wait fir it to get here.

BTAC 2018 - Day 5

The Awards Gala was amazing last night.   Everybody was looking fly last night including our emcees for our gala Dezjorn Gauthier and Jessica Zyrie

It was priceless to also see the surprised looks on both their faces when they also received awards .

Speaking of awards, congrats to Kayla Gore who is the 2018 recipient of the BTAC Monica Roberts Advocacy Award, our BTMI Man of the Year Trenton Johnson and BTWI Woman of the Year Jade Lenore.  Congrats as well to our 2018 award recipients in our Rising Star and other categories..

Y'all have time to think about who will be next year's award recipients when the nominations ballot goes up on the website.

In the interim, today is Family Day.   We're headed out to the Circle R Ranch in the Dallas suburb Flour Mound, TX where we get to chow down on barbecue, chill out, and play games. 

It's also the time I get to dispense more domino beatdowns as the defending BTAC domino champion Syria is back this year to reclaim her crown from Jade as the queen of the spades players 

Once we get back from our trip to the Circle R Ranch, we get ready for the Black Diamond Ball with the theme this year of Wakandan Realness.

We'll see who came close to that theme later tonight in that and other categories and who got chopped for not doing so.

Shut Up Fool Awards- The 2018 NFL Draft Edition

I'm up here for BTAC at the same time the NFL Draft is happening in Dallas.  While we're handling our Black trans community business through Sunday, the NFL will be handling theirs through Sunday at AT&T Stadium and The Star Complex.

Wonder who the Texans drafted? 

Well, y'all know it's Friday, so it's time to select his week's Shut Up Fool Award winner,. 

The nominations spanned the globe from Kellyanne Conway, Dolt 45, Canadian conservafool Tanya Granic Allen, Kanye West, Paul Ryan and Chance The Rapper

But this week's Shut Up Fool winner is Bill Cosby's publicist Ebonee Benson,.

Cosby was convicted yesterday on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault and is facing 30 years in prison.

Benson went on Good Morning America and tried to compare the case to the savage murder of Emmett Till in addition to insinuating that all 60 women who accused Cosby of sexual assault of lying.

Naw Ebonne, how dare you try to compare this case to what Emmett Till suffered.   Cosby wasn't being lynched, he was being tried and convicted in the court system for what he was accused and convicted of doing. .

This is about sexual assault and rape, not race, and the vast majority of his victims are other Black women.

Ebonee Benson, Shut Up Fool!
  .

BTAC 2018- Day 4

The new BTIPS king and queen have been crowned in Malaysia Black as our 2018 queen and Sybastian Smith as our 2018 king as another spectacular pageant hosted by Taliyah Cassadine took place.

Major props to 2017 BTIPS king and queen Trenton Johnson and Tiffany Starr who raised the BTIPS advocacy bar once again during their reign as BTIPS royalty.

Earlier in the day we heard inspiring keynote speeches from Diamond Stylz and Jonathan Thunderword at our 2018 keynote luncheon

We awaken in a few hours at out Wyndham Dallas Suites  host hotel to handle our last day of seminars, part three of our Black Trans Summit conversation, and conclude this day with our awards gala hosted by Dezjorn Gauthier and Jessica Zyrie.

Tonight I get to find out who won the BTAC Monica Roberts Advocacy Award

Still not too late for you to join us for BTAC 2018 and meet your trans and Gender non conforming fam from around the nation.

Isiah Factor - Two Sides Of The HISD School Board Controversy

You may have seen the WTF level moment in which two people were arrested at a contentious HISD meeting.

HISF School Board President Rhonda Skillern Jones and Kandice Webber along with Ashton Woods discuss what happened from their perspectives

Skillern Jones has offered an apology to Webber and the other woman arrested in the debacle. Charges were dropped after consultation with Harris County DA Kim Ogg, but Weeber has some definite opinions concerning what should happen next.

Both appeared on FOX26's The Isiah Factor Uncensored to discuss what happened Monday and what needs to happen next.

BTAC 2018 - Day 3

The big event today is the 2018 Mr and Miss Black Trans International Pageant later tonight

Mr.Black Trans International 2017 Trenton Johnson and Miss Black Trans International Tiffany Starr will crown their successors from the group of contestants vying for their crowns.

While those contestants are undergoing another step to hopefully snatching the BTIPS crowds with their interviews, the seminar tracks continue.

As those of you who got to see the live feeds witnessed, the Trans Manifest Live was off the chain.  It gets better and better every year, and next year I'm coming with some original poetry

At noon we also have another highly anticipated event with the BTAC 2018 Empowerment Keynote Luncheon

The Black Transmen, Inc Keynote speaker this year will be Jonathan Thunderword, and the Black Transwomen, Inc .Keynote speaker is Diamond Stylz.

At 2:00 PM we pick up with Part 2 of the Black Trans Community Summit in which we will have a chance to talk with the Dallas PD's LGBTQ Liasion Amber Roman as past of the discussion on Dating, Love and anti-Trans Violence.

If will be followed by the pageant at 8 PM to crown the new Mr. and Miss Black Trans 2018.

And oh yeah, Happy Birthday Tiffany Starr!

BTAC 2018-Day 2

The first full day of seminars is on tap for BTAC 2018 starting at 10 AM.  Registration for the Mr. and Miss Black Trans International pageant is also happening today as well.

The seminars this year are organized into three tracks.   One track for trans masculine attendees, the second for trans feminine attendees, and one for significant others and spouses of trans people.

Each will have their own dedicated meeting room and breakout group.   The Akanni for the trans men, the Ayombi for the trans women, and the Anchors group for spouses and significant others.

From 2-4 PM the first of the Black Trans Community Summit conversations will happen in which we discuss the data and results from the 2015 US Trans Survey that Black Trans Advocacy was in partnership with NBJC and NCTE to conduct 

The data for Black trans people has now been released, and  there were also enough participants to break down the US Trans Survey date by state, with Texas being one of those states.

The conversation will focus on the national data, and talk about employment, housing and healthcare.

The big event to close out Wednesday is the always popular Trans Manifest Live hosted this year by the reigning BTIPS king and queen Trenton Johnson and Tiffany Starr that starts at 8 PM.   

Black Community Anger Explodes At HISD Board Meeting

Not surprised about hearing that the almost two decade long pissivity that Houston's Black community has with the HISD school board finally boiled over last night.

Since 2000, many of the school campuses that HISD has been closing or selling off to charter school outfits have been in Black and Latinx neighborhoods. 

There has also been over the last two decades in HISD  the stripping of or killing of successful magnet programs housed in  Black and Latinx schools, like my high school alma mater Jesse H. Jones which used to host until 2002 the district's Vanguard gifted and talented magnet high school.

Black and Latinx HISD have also chafted as they see HISD schools in predominantly white neighborhoods not only stay open, but get funded, new magnet programs and new school buildings built as Houston Black and brown neighborhoods increasingly get charter schools or see longtime neighborhood schools close..

That pissivity with an HISD school board that ironically is primarily nonwhite and female led boiled over as a proposal to let a charter school outfit, Energized for STEM came up for a vote.

Energized for STEM has some controversial leadership in NAACP Houston President James Douglas and former HISD board member Paula Harris, in whose former HISD trustee district many Black schools were closed

That plus a Black community fed up with our school being the ones repeatedly put on the chopping block led to HISD school board president Rhonda Skillern Jones ordering HISD and HPD officers to clear the packed auditorium at the Hattie Mae White Education Center.   One woman was dragged out of the room while Houston Rising';s Kandice Webber was arrested for as observers claimed merely clapping her approval at what another person said.

Haven't heard as of this writing if she has been released, and after the board went into a closed door session, the decided not to vote on the controversial proposal to hand over 10 low performing predominately Black schools to the charter outfit.

Stay tumed because this saga isn't quite over yet.

BTAC 2018- Day 1

We've been eagerly waiting since the last BTAC Conference closed out for the 2018 edition of the Black Trans Advocacy Conference.

This year its at a new hotel with a new theme in 2018 as we gather from across Texas, the US and increasingly the world with attendees last year from Brazil and Jamaica .

The conference officially opens with an interfaith service with an Afrocentric flavor that will take place starting at 7 PM,  For those of you who couldn't make it this year, we will be tweeting at the hashtag #BTAC2018

We will still have the Trans Manifest, the keynotes from Diamond Stylz and Jonathan Thunderword, the Mr and Miss Black Trans Pageant, the Awards Gala and the Family Day still ahead of us.

And yes, Moni is still lurking in the shadows of the hospitality suite waiting to to dish out dominoes beatdowns to all who dare step to her when I'm not handling media issues.

Welcome to Dallas, and welcome to BTAC 2018



 

Janet Mock Named To The 2018 ESSENCE #Woke100

You know that I have much love for the all around awesomeness of Janet Mock as a New York Times best selling author, motivational speaker, thought leader and trailblazing advocate.

Her current book is Surpassing Certainty, and I'm planning on getting a copy of it soon and taking some of my next scheduled down time to read it.

And because she is so awesome, I'm not surprised when I hear that Janet has broken new ground or been included on some list.

ESSENCE magazine has released their second annual #Woke100 list of Black women who are doing wonderful things for our community as proven change agents here and around the world

There was one trans feminine person included on the list this year, and it wasn't moi., it was Ms. Mock. 

Congratulations Janet for blazing another trail and repping #BlackTGirlMagic  and #BlackTrans Excellence in everything you do. 

SNL Black Jeopardy- T'Challa

One of the humorous skits on Saturday Night Live is the Black Jeopardy on in which contestants have yo give correct answers to categories that come straight from the hood.

I missed this one when it originally aired and has Chadwick Boseman reprising his T'Challa role from Black Panther as a contestant on Black Jeopardy with hilarious results.

But see for your selves.

Moni's In The MIddle Of BTAC 2018!

After a Megabus ride, that was delayed almost an hour in the Houston exurbs due to a chemical spill cleanup in Montgomery County, I'm on the other end of I-45 for my annual trip to hang out with my Black trans fam and attend the 7th annual Black Trans Advocacy Conference.

And yeah, it also serves as the kickoff to my upcoming Cuatro de Mayo birthday 

This year's BTAC Conference theme is Journeying Together: Living In Greater Truth and Healing.  In a time when trans people are under attack from a hostile federal government and depending on where we live, Republican state governments adding to the macroaggressive hostility, now more than ever Black trans people need to be pulling together, living our truth, and saying in a loud collective voice that our humanity and human rights are not up for debate or discussion.

It's also one of the few trans conferences that is centered on our heritage

We also have a new host hotel for this event in the Wyndham Dallas Suites Park Central, so once again we'll have to learn a new Dallas neighborhood and what off hotel property eating establishments and attractions are in the surrounding area. 

One the Cali crew is already salivating about is the nearby In and Out Burger just across the parking lot .  Nah, I'll stick to Whataburger

We're also going to be there as the NFL conducts its 2018 Draft at Jerry World (AKA AT&T Stadium) and The Star Complex in the nearby exurb of Frisco, TX.

And yeah, Moni will be looking to defend her domino championship at the upcoming picnic on Saturday.   But for those of you headed to BTAC, if y'all want a domino beatdown before that day, I will happily oblige you.

And naw, I did not stutter when I said that.  #BTACDominoChamp

Looking forward to a week of seeing the lovely Demetria Obilor doing the traffic reports on WFAA-TV along with Dale Hansen's on point commentary and my friends in the DFW area like Rachel Adams Gonzales, Rafael McDonnell, Councilman Omar Narvaez and countless others.

I'm also looking forward to the Dallas BTAC week of learning, fun and bonding at this Black trans family reunion that in seven years has become one of my favorite conferences to attend.   

Racism Is NOT Going To Die Off

The latest racist incident involving white younglings on a college campus is more evidence pointing to the fallacy of thought that racism will end when the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers die off.

Umm no.   To me, the chatter to 'wait until the old racists die' is an excuse for people to do nothing to aggressively attack and eradicate the problem of racism in our society. 

And once again for the people in the back, everybody can't be racist.   Everybody can be bigoted and prejudiced

What that statement fails to take into account is that racist parents will attempt to pass on their racist commentary and belief systems to their kids.  Racist relatives will do the same thing.

Some of those kids targeted will reject it, while others will embrace it and pass it on to their kids, nieces and nephews.  If they are successful in doing so, that keeps it going for another generation or two. 

And please spare me the kissing cousin to this flawed thinking that if 'you people didn't talk about racism, it would go away' comment.  Me and other non-white people talking about the negative ways in which racism affects our lives is not 'perpetuating racism', it's diagnosing the problem.

You can't eradicate a problem until you discuss the scope of it and what you need to do to successfully fix it.   That's why we non-white peeps talk about it on a regular basis to remind you peeps who o through your lives without being affected by it that it exists, the problems, micro and macroaggressions we deal with are real, and that racism is simply not going to magically end by ignoring it or doing nothing about it.

If you want to erase racism in this society, it is going to take some heavy lifting to do, with the vast majority of the work needing to happen to make racism a thing of the past occurring with our white siblings.

Racism is not going to die off.  The only way it will be eliminated in our society by sustained ongoing anti-racist action.

Kennedy Davenport- I'm Moving Up

As you TransGriot readers know, I'm not a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race, but during its run it has had some of its winners and folks who didn't snatch the crown make a name elsewhere besides the drag and pageant world.

One of those peeps is Kennedy Davenport.    Davenport is based up I-45 from me and in addition to competing on Drag Race, also competed on America's Got Talent in 2013 and won several pageant crowns. 

Davenport also attended the BFA Dance program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and it shows in her ance moves. 

 A TransGriot reader pointed me to this video of hers, and I was definitely feeling it.   It's definitely something that you need to play peeps when you're feeling down.

Enough jibber jabber.   Let me allow you readers to check out her video for her song  I'm Moving Up.  If you like it, download it.