TransGriot NFL Picks- Week 3

 I've been doing NFL picks for over two decades and on this blog since 2010.   I have never had a perfect week.   But that almost happened for me in this young 2020 NFL season.  I went into the Week 2 Monday night game between the New Orleans Saints and the Las Vegas Raiders a Saints win away from going 16-0.

But alas, they didn't.   129 accepted penalty yards against the Saints sealed their fate in the first NFL regular season game played in Nevada as the Raiders beat their in their new playpen 34-24  

A 15-1 week is still nothing to be upset about, but yeah, I am after coming that close to perfection.

Well, let's see if I can get it this week..  As usual, my picks in bold print with the home team in CAPS.
Mike's Week 3 picks are here. 

Week 2  Results                                 2020 NFL Season Record
TransGriot  15-1                                TransGriot      25-7
Mike           14-2                                Mike               25-7

Thursday Night Game 
JAGUARS over Dolphins (L)

Sunday Early Games 
STEELERS over Texans 
EAGLES over Bengals (T)
49ers over GIANTS
Raiders over PATRIOTS (L)
Titans over VIKINGS
BROWNS over Washington
BILLS over Rams 
Bears over FALCONS

Sunday Afternoon Games 
CHARGERS over Panthers  (L)
COLTS over Jets 
SEAHAWKS over Cowboys 
Buccaneers over BRONCOS
CARDINALS over Lions  (L)

Sunday Night 
Packers over SAINTS

Monday Night 
Chiefs over RAVENS



 

TransGriot 2020 NFL Picks- Week 2

The first week of the season is the hardest one to get right because of all the changes to personnel, coaching, et cetera.   It was also tricky not having any preseason games to look at as a guide to how these team's might play in the regular season 

Despite that, I did go 10-6 in the opening week. Could have done better if I hadn't changed my  Cardinals- 49ers pick.  Hopkins going off in that game combined with the Texans Thursday night loss to the Chiefs revived again the criticism that I and a lot of people in H-town leveled at Bill O'Brien for trading D-Hop in the first place without getting at least a first round pick for him.   The Texans brutal opening schedule isn't going to help quiet the critics..

Oh well, lesson learned.  Next time I follow my intuition and stick with it. 

So let's get to this week's picks.   Mike's will be here at this link.   My picks will be in bold print with the home team in CAPS.

Week 1 Results                                                                 2020 Season Record 
TransGriot  10-6                                                               TransGriot  10-6
Mike           11-5                                                                Mike          11-5 

.    

Thursday Night
BROWNS over Bengals

Sunday Early
TITANS over Jaguars 
BUCCANEERS over Panthers 
STEELERS over Broncos
Rams over EAGLES 
49ers over JETS 
Bills over DOLPHINS
COLTS over Vikings
PACKERS over Lions 
COWBOYS over Falcons 
BEARS over Giants

Sunday Afternoon 
Ravens over TEXANS 
CARDINALS over Washington 
Chiefs over CHARGERS

Sunday Night 
SEAHAWKS over Patriots 

Monday Night 
Saints over RAIDERS (L)

Good Luck Sarah!

"At the end of the day, I'm not running to be a transgender state senator, I'm running to be a senator who serves her community, I'm running to be a senator who fights for affordable health care, I'm running to be a senator who works to expand access to paid leave and reform our broken criminal justice system.  "Those will be my priorities."-Sarah McBride,  WDFL radio interview 

 It's primary election day in Delaware, and hopefully by the end of it we will be part of the way to seeing some trans political history being made.

When the polls open Democratic primary voters will have to choose who will be their standard bearer in the race to replace longtime state senator Harris McDowell (D-Wilmington), who retired last year after holding that heavily blue Wilmington area senate seat since 1976.

I'm hoping that when the votes are finished being counted later this evening, it will be Sarah McBride taking a giant political leap for transkind and winning this primary over Joseph McCole . 

The winner of this primary will take on the Republican nominee Steve Washington in the general election    Washington ran as an independent in the last cycle in this district in which 58.6% of the registered voters are Democrats to just 19% Republicans

No surprise he's already started deploying the down low transphobia with the 'family values' rhetoric.

Should McBride win tonight, she would not only move on for a shot at becoming the first out trans state senator, she'd also become the first out trans person to win a state senate legislative primary election. 

You know Sarah already has my TransGriot endorsement in this race along with the endorsement of the Victory Fund and several other organizations.

But it's now up to the voters of state senate District 1 to decide if that happens.


TransGriot Update: McBride won her primary with 93% of the votes cast.   She becomes the first out trans person to win a party primary for a state senate seat.  

The 2020 Miss Trans Global Is.....

As many of you TransGriot readers know, I was one of the judges for the inaugural Miss Trans Global virtual pageant.

After two months of interviews and videos, paring down the initial 18 contestants from around the world down to a Top 15 and then down to ten semifinalists, we finally know who was crowned Miss Trans Global.

Congratulations to our new queen. Mela Franco Habijan from the Philippines!



And yes, as you probably guessed, Mela and her family were quite excited and pleased with her win.

The Miss Trans Global Top 5 was tight.point wise.  One point separated the queen from the Duchess Global (1st runner up) Rebeckah Lovejoy of Australia.

It was not an easy job for me and my fellow judges to sort out who would win this inaugural title.  There were nights I had to review video multiple times for several hours before casting my ballots.
The quality of the women vying for this inaugural Miss Trans Global title was just that outstanding, and they brought their pageant A games.

Rounding out the Top 5 in addition to Duchess Global (1st runner up) Rebeckah Lovejoy of Australia. is  Baroness Global, Danielly Drugge of Sweden (4th runner up) ,Countess Global (3rd runner up) Semakaleng Mothapo of South Africa,  and Marchioness Global (2nd runner up) Veso Golden of Ghana.

Congratulations once again to Mela and the inaugural court of Miss Trans Global 2020!

It was an honor and sincere privilege to be part of the judging panel for this inaugural Miss Trans Global pageant.    I enjoyed being part of the judging panel for this event and getting to know my sister judges and the contestants as this event unfolded.

I'm looking forward to not only working with our queen as her reign unfolds, but with all the 2020 contestants as opportunities present themselves for advancing the human rights of our international trans family.

It was also nice to be part of the judging team for a pageant system in which intelligence was prized, and the scoring system reflected it. .   Congrats to Miss Sahhara and her Miss Trans Global production team for making her vision of a virtual international pageant happen.

Here's hoping that Miss Trans Global 2021 is bigger and better than this year's edition turned out to be.

Mia Mason Making Historic Maryland Congressional Run!

It's been a while since we've had a trans person elected to their national legislature.   In fact there have been only six trans people on the entire planet,  Georgina Beyer (New Zealand), Vladimir Luxuria (Italy), Anna Grodzka (Poland), Michelle Suarez Bertora (Uruguay), Tamara Adrian (Venezuela), and Geraldine Roman (Philippines) who have accomplished the herculean task of being elected to their national legislatures.

Adrian and Roman are the only ones still serving in their national legislatures.

Of the trans people elected to serve in their national legislatures, none of those have occurred in North American nations, despite various attempts in various North American countries to break through that political glass reinforced by concrete ceiling in the US, Canada, Mexico, and several Central American nations..

Mia Mason is the latest person to step up and attempt the daunting challenge of running for Congress while trans.   She won the June 2  Democratic primary in Maryland's 1st District to earn her shot at making trans political history.

Maryland's 1st District covers the entire Eastern Shore of Maryland, and parts of Baltimore, Harford and Carroll counties.    It is currently represented by Republican Andy Harris, who has represented the district since 2010 and is considered the third most anti-LGBTQ legislator in the US Congress,

He gotta go, and it would deliciously be nice if the first out trans congressmember replaced him. 

Mia is a veteran who served 20 years in the Navy, Army and DC National Guard, and since her retirement from the military has worked for various advocacy groups.   She was also a speaker at the 2018 Women's March.

Now she's trying to knock off an incumbent congressmember and make history as she does so.  But she's going to need money to make that happen.   Here's the link to her campaign website in order to make beating Andy Harris a reality and making the conservafools cry on November 3 as they lose another House seat. 

Good luck Mia, and hope I have some good news to report about your race on November 3.

Update In The Luna Younger Case!

Trans Texans, our Mama and Papa Bears and allies have been anxiously watching a North Texas court case involving a young trans girl that unfortunately got politicized by the Texas Republican Party, the conservafool media and Texas evilgelicals.

The saga started when Luna's mother, Dr Anne Georgulas, an American Academy of Pediatrics board certified pediatrician, filed for an annulment of their marriage from Luna's father Jeffrey Younger and sought full custody of their AMAB twins that was granted in 2016. 

Luna had been exhibiting signs of gender dysphoria and has identified as a girl since age 3.  Luna's clearly expressed female gender identity and gender dysphoria diagnosis was confirmed by a therapist who specializes in gender issues.   Luna was allowed by Georgoulas starting at age 5 to express her femme gender identity full time.

Jeffrey Younger was opposed to this decision, and decided to get the Texas conservafools involved in their family business by claiming he objected to the transition on ;religious grounds'. 

He set up the now defunct website SaveJames.com to raise fund for his case and started talking to conservative media outlets like the virulently transphobic LifeSite News, claiming that he was fighting to 'protect' his children.  The SaveJames.com website raised $43,930 of its $75,000 goal before it was shut down. 

The Texas Republican Party, eager for a distraction from a major scandal involving Texas House speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton) and never missing a chance to demonize Texas trans people in the process for their nefarious political gain, stuck their reprehensible noses in this family business.   

They not only outed Luna, but also Dr. Georgulas.   That outing of Dr Georgulas caused major drama in her life and led to vandalization of her property and attacks on her medical practice

As the Right Wing Noise Machine saddled up to attack and smear Dr. Georgulas, Gov Greg Abbott (R), Sen Ted Cruz (R) and Rep Dan Crenshaw (R) tweeted their support of Younger at the #SaveJamesYounger Twitter hashtag. 

Our indicted TX AG Ken Paxton (R) along with Gov Abbott, quickly announced an investigation of the case was being launched by Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

That investigation found that Luna identifies as a girl, and did so consistently in three interviews without both parents present.   Luna also expressed during those interviews fear of her father because he refused to allow her to express herself as the girl she identifies as.

The Texas Freedom Caucus also stuck their reprehensible noses in this case.  Rep Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) pledged to author a bill that would declare  transitioning of a minor child as 'child abuse', and Rep Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth) wants to introduce a bill banning the use of puberty blockers in children.

With the faux right wing outrage mounting, in October 2019 Judge Kim Cooks (D) of the Dallas based 255th District Court caved, reversed the previous court ruling in favor of Georgulas, and awarded partial custody of Luna to Younger. 

That led to Georgulas filing a motion in November 2019 to have Cooks removed from the case after problematic posts about it popped up on Cooks' Facebook page and called into question her impartiality.  (Cooks is up for reelection in 2022). 

While the FB post was removed, the motion removing Cooks from the case was granted,by Judge Tena Callahan of the 302nd District Court in December 2019.

Judge Mary Brown (D) of the 301st District Court was assigned to the case with a hearing slated for September 25.  The evilgelical devils are already busy spreading their special brand of hate in advance of this court date.   The evilgelicals are also desperately trying to rev up the Right Wing Noise Machine and faux outrage in order to generate donations for the case.     

According to my sources, the evilgelicals have resorted to picketing outside Judge Brown's house with bullhorns in order to loudly express their hateful selves and their brand of not so 'christian' love. 

As for what Jeffrey Younger will do, the Texas trans community, our Mama and Papa Bears,  our allies and the organizations who support us will be watching to see what happens with this trans youngling and her mother and act accordingly. 

We are also only nine seats away from flipping control of the Texas House blue for the first time since 2002, so the upcoming November election will be an even higher stakes one for the Texas trans community. 

Once we're past Election Day, the Texas trans community will also be watching and ready to fight any bill proposed by the TXGOP in the 2021 session that seeks to criminalize or end life saving early transition for trans kids.

We will also be watching for any unjust bills that seek to criminalize doctors for providing such treatment or that attack parents of trans kids.  

And oh yeah, something else I need to say to the Texas Republican Party:  Don't mess with Texas trans kids or their parents.   It won't go well for you.

TransGriot 2020 NFL Picks- Week 1

Considering that COVID 19 screwed up the NFL off season, still surprised that the season has started on schedule.    One thing I'm very happy about is that Deshaun Watson will continue to be the QB for my Texans through the 2024 season.  The thing I'm not happy about is the boneheaded Bill O'Brien decision to trade Deandre Hopkins to Arizona. 

Well, we're about to find out if that was a wise decision because the Texans and their retooled receiver corp faces the team that ended their 2019 season in the NFL champion Kansas City Chiefs.

As usual, we have a lot of old faces in new places like Tom Brady and Gronk in Tampa Bay, Cam Newton in New England.  Of great concern to me because these teams are the Texans divisional rivals, former Texan number one draft choice Jadaveon Clowney will now be playing for the (yuck) Tennessee Traitors and Philip Rivers will be the starting QB for the Indianapolis Colts.

The Raiders will now be playing their home games in Las Vegas and the Washington NFL Team finally dropped their racist nickname. 

The Rams and Chargers will also be playing their home games at their new playpen, SoFi Stadium.
Those NFL home games will at least for the first few weeks, be played without fans in the stands.

As y'all know.  Mike Watts and I conduct this contest under the following rules.

We pick all the winners of that weeks games with no spread.   Picks need to be in no later than 10 minutes before kickoff of the first game of that week's schedule.

You forget to pick one (as I did last year and it cost me the 2019 title) it's an automatic loss.  Games that end in a tie will be recorded as a tie for prognostication record purposes. 

Person with the best record at the end of the regular season will be crowned the TransGriot NFL prognostication champion.

Mike's pick can be viewed at this link. 

So let's get this first week of the season started.   Teams I'm picking will be in bold print with the home team in CAPS

Thursday Night 
CHIEFS over Texans

Sunday Early
Eagles over WASHINGTON (L)
PATRIOTS over Dolphins
Packers over VIKINGS
Colts over JAGUARS (L)
LIONS over Bears
PANTHERS over Raiders (L)
BILLS over Jets
RAVENS over Browns
Seahawks over FALCONS

Sunday Afternoon 
Chargers over BENGALS
49ERS over Cardinals (L)
SAINTS over Buccaneers

Sunday Night 
COWBOYS over Rams (L)

Monday Night 
Steelers over GIANTS
Titans over BRONCOS

2020 NFL Prognostication Contest Is Happening!

The 2020 NFL season starts Thursday with the game between my Texans and the defending NFL champion Kansas City Chiefs,  and yes, Mike Watts and I will be doing battle for 2020 NFL season prognostication supremacy.

The 2019 season came down to the last game and literally the last play between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers.   Had the Seahawks scored on that play, I would have won. 

But they didn't.

This upcoming 2020 season will be dedicated to the memory of one of our NFL prognostication colleagues in Eli Blake, who passed away July 10 after a valiant battle with cancer.

The question still remains if this entire NFL season will be played with COVID still raging in this country.   They are kicking off on Thursday, and as long as they're playing, we're picking games.

Besides, I'm beyond tired of these close losses the last three years..   And it's time to snatch back the crown

That journey starts on Thursday

Getting Another Award From The Houston GLBT Caucus!

Yesterday afternoon I was having a particularly crappy day until I got a phone call from the new Houston GLBT Political Caucus president Jovon Tyler that had me singing Ice Cube's 'Today Was A Good Day' when it was over.

Jovon called to inform me that I was being honored with the 2020 Don Hrachovy Lifetime Achievement Award!

Who is Don Hrachovy?   He was the second president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus and Texas A&M Aggie alum who not only was a ten year member of the organization, but spent thousands of hours putting together that formidable 100,000 name database that has made the Houston GLBT Caucus one of the Big Four must get endorsements in Houston area liberal progressive politics.

That database Hrachovy created has paid dividends in helping endorsed Caucus candidates get elected and making the Caucus a formidable political force.  He was also one of the founders of Resurrection MCC and the second person to receive this award named for him in 1987. 

Before he died at age 37 from complications from AIDS on June 4, 1988, Hrachovy requested that the AIDS Quilt panel being designed for him be made to look like a voter registration card.   He served as the Caucus chair of membership and voter registration.

This is not the first time I've been honored by the Caucus.   Back in 2016 I received the John Paul Barnich Award from them at that year's Equality Brunch in recognition for the work I'd done to that point. 

But this one is huge.   The Hrachovy Life Achievement Award was last given out in 1995, and the list of people who have previously won it reads as a Who's Who list of iconic Houston TBLGQ leaders.

The award was first given out in 1986, with Cicely Wynne receiving the inaugural award.  Hrachovy received it in 1987   The other iconic Houston leaders who have received this award are Joe Thornton (1988)  Jack Valinski (1989), David Fowler (1990) , Pat Hall (1991)  Ray Hill (1992) Annise Parker (1993), Eugene Harrington (1994) and Jim Owens (1995) 

For some reason they stopped giving out the Hrachovy after 1995 at the Equality Brunch until Tyler and the Awards Committee revived it for this year. 

As you probably guessed, when I do receive it, I'll be making history once again.  I will become the  first Black and first Houston trans person of any ethnicity to win it .   The Caucus wasn't open to trans folks when it was founded, and it sadly took until 1999 to change that.policy.

A meeting my neophyte activist self  was sitting in the room for when the Caucus board voted to change it.

That's why despite us having some formidable trans leaders in the 713 like Toni Mayes, Phyllis Frye, Sarah DePalma, Dee McKellar, Vanessa Edwards Foster and Brenda Thomas who have done the work and whose shoulders I stand on, it's ironic and humbling that I will be the first trans person to receive this lifetime achievement award.

While I'm always focused on my goal of doing what I can to make, Houston, Texas, and the nation better than when I encountered it and haven't been concerned about getting awards for the work I do, it is nice and deeply appreciated when that work is recognized by your community.

I'll have to wait until the Equality Brunch happens on October 4 to receive it, but already clearing some space on my increasingly crowded awards shelf for it.