Why I Put The 'T' First In TBLGQ

It has come to my attention that I have a white gay male blogger who is letting his anti-Blackness and transphobic racism flow, and I felt the disturbance in the TBLGQ Force.

That's mighty white gay male of him.   Be mad and stay mad that I won this year's GLAAD Media Award for outstanding blog and I'm the first trans blogger to do so.

Saying it loud, Black, trans and proud. 

This person is also getting frothing at the mouth angry that I have basically done what the late Coretta Scott King used to do and intentionally changed the letters in the LGBTQ acronym around.

Questions for this hater who knows who he is.   Have you helped passed good legislation that expanded rights for everyone and killed bad bills like I have?   Participated in vigils for murdered trans people?

Are you repeatedly called on to participate in panels at colleges and conferences that discuss politics, current events, human rights,  reproductive justice or criminal justice? 

Do you have a regular column in a TBLGQ magazine?   Are you asked to write pieces for other TBLGQ news outlets?

Have you been interviewed on camera to talk about human rights issues?   Are you quoted in other journalists work?    Have you gotten awards from various organizations for your human rights work? 

I have receipts.  Do you?   

Have several seats now that I'm done responding to your transphobic nonsense posted in your two bit three block blog.

So why do I write the community acronym as TBLGQ in much of my writing?   I prefer to put the 'T' first to remind you gay and lesbian folks that it was trans folks who have repeatedly put their behinds on the line to advance the human rights of our community.

That history of trans people standing up for their human rights and everyone else's goes back to the 1959 Cooper's Donuts Riot in LA, the 1965 Dewey's Lunch Counter Sit In and Protest in Philadelphia, the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco, and of course, Stonewall in 1969.

It is also trans women of color like Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P Johnson, Lady Java taking on the LAPD's infamous Rule No. 9 and countless other trans people throughout the decades who have also fought tooth and nail not only for our human rights, but yours as well. 

And that tradition continues with our trans kids like Gavin Grimm, Jazz Jennings, and Nicole Maines just to name a few.

I put the T first to remind my trans younglings that I and their trans elders love them, we acknowledge they are our future leaders, and we have their backs.  I and their trans elders want them to stay in school, get that education, and live their best lives by being unapologetically proud of who they are.

I put the 'T' first in TBLGQ because we are being violently attacked, and it is my Black trans segment of the community taking the brunt of that anti-trans violence.

I put the 'T' first to remind our peeps that your best revenge against the anti-trans hate is to not end your life, but to survive, live and thrive.

I put the 'T' first because it is a reminder to the gay and lesbian segments of the community and society as a whole that trans people still need human rights coverage codified in legislation, and our human rights fight is not over.

I put the 'T" first because I want to remind the world that the humanity of trans people is not up for debate or discussion, especially by cis people who are hostile to our existence. 

That's why I put the 'T' first in TBLGQ.  Because it deserves to be there, and we have paid in blood, sweat and tears for it to be there.

And if you don't like the fact I'm doing it, too bad.