2020 Election Early Voting Dates.

Thanks to Maya Contreras for this chart that breaks down all of the early voting dates for the most important and consequential election in American  history.

If you aren't registered to vote, bust a move to do so because the deadlines to do so are rapidly approaching in many states.

 If you are registered and have a GOP Secretary of State, you may wish to frequently double check your registration  to make sure you haven't been purged from the voter rolls.

VT Day  (Victory over Trump Day) is November 3.   But avoid the long lines and handle your electoral business early .

I know I will.   In Texas early voting starts on October 13 and runs until Halloween (October 31)
And I can't wait.


Handle your business

Kamala Harris VP Acceptance Speech

History was made on Wednesday night as Kamala Harris became the first woman of color and only the third in US history to be nominated as vice president.

It was a night in which the ancestors and many peeps across America were beaming with pride as they saw her stand behind that podium in Wilmington, DE to deliver the acceptance speech.

For those of you who missed it, here's the video for it.

Not Feeling The (White) Trans Community Hatred Of Kamala Harris

I was overjoyed to hear Kamala Harris' name called Tuesday when Joe Biden announced his running mate for the critically important November 3 election. 

Sen. Harris was my first choice for president.  She has been on my political radar ever since I saw her speak on a criminal justice panel during one of Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Union conversations in 2006. 

I've paid attention as she has successfully made trailblazing runs for (and won) San Francisco DA, California attorney general, and now as only the second Black female US senator in American history.

Her selection by Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate shows that he knows the importance of winning this election and recognizes Black women are the base of the Democratic Party.  Biden also recognizes the fact that without Black voters across the country getting in formation for him, he wouldn't be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden also recognizes he needs Black voters to come out in massive numbers to oust Trump from the White House.

But what has pissed me off is the massive ignorance I'm seeing so far occurring in Trans World about Sen. Harris.   There are trans peeps, especially in the sections of it who are still mad (and can stay mad) about Bernie losing, who are exhibiting an off the charts level of hatred aimed at Sen. Harris.

Joining them in the hatefest are the peeps who were mad that Elizabeth Warren didn't get chosen to be Vice POTUS.

Calling Harris a TERF?   Really fools?  That is a smear that not only is easily debunked, but is so off the charts idiotic that it makes me question the mental acuity of the people who parrot it.

I'm also not going to waste time and space in this post debating that ridiculous birther BS either.

And naw trans boo boo kitties, your dislike of Sen. Harris isn't about policy.  I see your pink and white trans flag pointed hoods showing.  For some of y'all it's about your racism you're trying to cloak in a BS policy argument but failing mightily to do so. 

So let's get to the reality of where Kamala Harris stands when it comes to trans specific issues.

Let's start with the July 2006 two day conference she organized to come up with ways to push back against and defeat the trans panic defense.   That conference was attended by over 200 prosecutors and law enforcement officials from across the nation.

In 2014, as the California DA, she supported AB 2501, a bill authored by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla that banned the use of the trans and gay panic defense in California.

She has also as a senator filed the federal bill (S.1721) to ban the use of the trans and gay panic defense.  She has repeatedly called out anti-trams violence aimed at Black trans women, and expressed her vehement opposition to Trump's anti-trans military service ban.

As California AG, she also joined with other AG's in several states in submitting the 2016 amicus brief in opposition of North Carolina's transphobic HB 2.  She also did the same in the Gavin Grimm case and joined 11 other states in doing so. 

Attorney General Harris also joined 11 states in filing an amicus brief in State of Texas v. United States, in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, to support federal guidance that discrimination based on gender identity constitutes unlawful discrimination based on sex and that schools risk losing Title IX-linked funding unless they permit students to use facilities consistent with their gender identity.

And yes, let's also address the persistent lie that Harris 'opposed surgery for trans inmates'.

The California AG office is the designated attorney for all California state agencies.   That means when they have to go to court on an issue, the AG's office represents them.

The California AG office is the largest state attorney's office in the nation, with five divisions and over 1000 attorneys working for it.    Harris was as AG in an executive position several layers of management above the attorneys who would try those cases.

So when a trans inmate filed a case to force the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation to allow her to have GCS while incarcerated, they were obligated to defend it.

When Harris discovered this case was happening, she worked behind the scenes to not only settle the case in favor of the trans inmates, but force the California Dept of Corrections & Rehabilitation to change the policy.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention she participated as a speaker at the 2005 SF Trans March.

I'm also tired of hearing the 'Kamala hates sex workers' BS as well.   She went after the pimps and sex traffickers, not the sex workers caught up un the system. 

When Angelica Ross and Shea Diamond both questioned her about those cases, she apologized, and took responsibility for those cases.  Ross and Diamond were satisfied with her answers, and if they were good with it, so am I.

Warning you now.   KHive is not playing with you peeps (and neither am I) when we say that ANY disrespect of Senator Kamala Harris from now until Election Day and beyond will be met with massive pushback and CVS level receipts debunking lies and fake talking points.

You wanna try us, go right ahead, but it will end badly for you.

So no, I'm not feeling the hatred that trans fauxgressives are aiming at Harris, and it needs to stop.
 

25th Anniversary Of Tyra Hunter's Death

Tyra Hunter should be with us right now eagerly anticipating the celebration of her 50th birthday.
But instead, her life tragically ended way too soon because of two transphobes. 

One of the transphobes was a  Washington DC fire department EMT.   The other was the emergency room doctor at the hospital where she died.

On the morning of August 7, 1995  the 24 year old Hunter was a passenger in a car headed to the salon in which she worked as a hairdresser.   Her mother Margie Hunter was a nurse, and Tyra had transitioned at age 17.   She was popular in the SE Washington DC neighborhood where their family lived.

The car she was a passenger in was involved in an accident at the corner of 50th and C Streets SE.  She and the driver Tedessa Rankin were pulled from the smoking ruins of the Hyundai Excel car Rankin was driving to await treatment by the DC Fire Department EMTs headed their way..   

As the gathering neighborhood onlookers watched an EMT later identified as Adrian Williams began treating a semi conscious Hunter for her injuries.  He stopped and backed away after he cut open her pants legs to reveal her genitalia, saying "This b***h ain't no girl.  It's a n****r, he got a dick..

Williams then began joking with other DCFD personnel on the scene as the neighborhood onlookers witnessing his  and his coworkers transphobic behavior pleaded with him to resume working on Hunter to save her life.

Hunter's treatment was stopped for 5-7 critical minutes as the DCFD personnel on the scene kept cracking transphobic jokes.  An EMS supervisor eventually arrived on the scene and resumed treating Hunter for her injuries. 

She was eventually rushed to the now closed DC General Hospital where .she arrived at 4:10 PM EDT only to receive the same transphobic treatment from the DC General Hospital emergency room staff.

One doctor refused to treat her,    Another assumed because she was a Black trans woman she had HIV and was more concerned about that instead of treating her for the blunt force trauma injuries she sustained in the traffic accident.    Hunter died in the DC General Hospital emergency room at 5:23 PM EDT.

The case sent shockwaves through and angered the DC and national trans community.   Over 2000 people attended her August 12 funeral.    Her mother Margie Gunter later won a $2.9 million judgment in a subsequent wrongful death lawsuit.

It is a case that still resonates with me and every Black trans person around at that mid 90's time as a concrete example of the medical transphobia that can be deadly for us.

25 years later we have a federal government that is trying to return us back to those days when EMT's like Adrian Williams and doctors could refuse to treat us.


Rest in power Tyra.   Your Black trans life mattered to me and ever trans person of your generation.  We will fight to ensure that no one suffers like you did on that August 7 day 25 years ago.

Fundraiser For Our Black Trans Masculine Elders

Our Black trans masculine elders have done much to advance the human rights of our trans community, but unfortunately don't get the props and praise they deserve for it.

Dr Kortney Ziegler is raising $100K to split between three amazing trans masculine leaders in Ethan Thomas Young,  Rev Louis Mitchell and Kylar Broadus.

While I'm not familiar with Ethan or his work (and that's the impetus for me to get familiar with it)  , I am however quite aware of Louis and Kylar,   I have known both for over a decade, and I am proud to call them friends and colleagues in the struggle.

I have witnessed both Louis and Kylar contribute their time, talents and sweat equity into building out community and organizations like the Trans Persons Of Color Coalition that Kylar founded in 2010.   Louis has been involved in faith leadership in our community and being a mentor to our trans masculine community. 

All three of our elders deserve your support, and if you can contribute something, please do so. .

Here's the link to donate to the fundraiser.    You can also hit Kortney up on Cash App if you wish to do so that way at $fakerapper

Thanks to Kortney for organizing it, and please show our trans masculine elders some love and help Kortney reach that $100K goal .

Happy Birthday To Barack and Meghan!

We like to say in the Black community that we are descended from kings and queens, but did you know that August 4 is the day a president and a member of the British royal family were born? 

Barack Obama and Meghan Markle were born twenty years and 2558 miles apart in Honolulu, HI and Los Angeles, CA.

The other thing they both have in common is that conservatives in the United States and Great Britain have irrational levels of hatred for both of them.

Y'all are already aware of the awesomeness that is POTUS 44, but did you know that Meghan was born four days after her hubby Prince Harry's parents were married?




Happy birthday to President Obama and the Duchess of Sussex!