Love The New Trans Latina Coalition Logo

Y'all know I have much love for the Trans Latina Coalition, and have gotten to know many of their officers and members over the last two years since their founding by Bamby Salcedo.

They are the voice for trans Latina immigrants in the US, and they not only have been fierce advocates for their own community, but have done advocacy for the entire trans community by engaging in in our face protests that fearlessly speak truth to power.

I got a chance to look at their new logo, and I like it.

May the Trans Latina Coalition continue to provide fearless leadership for trans feminine people inside and outside of our community, and looking forward to the next  opportunity to spend some quality time with you.

Deadline Approaching For The WH Trans Petition

When the Fran Watson created petition asking for the federal government to investigate the causes of the violence leading to the murders of tans women of color went up on August 10, it was with hopeful optimism after it was posted and I signed it that we would hit that 100K signature target in a very short time.

I saw this as an easy way to show support for the trans communities of color in the wake of us having a murderous month of July, and I remembered how fast the Leelah Alcorn one hit its target in mere days..  

We are now six days from the September 10 deadline to get those signatures, and we're not even over 10,000 signatures yet,  

Guess not all trans lives matter as much.  

We have six days to get over 95,000 signatures to get a White House response to this petition.  If you have already signed it like I have, I thank you on behalf of my community and the trans women we have lost this year.   If you haven't, here's the link to it.

Here's hoping that more people sign it, share it and we at least get to 10,000 signatures for it.

Texas Trans Latinas Own Their Power

Back in January, a group of Houston Latina trans women were out enjoying each others company when they ran into the ugly face of transphobic discrimination. They were disrespected, denied access to a restroom, and told they were not women.

This was the breaking point moment for these trans Latinas, and it was that negative experience encountering anti-trans discrimination that drove Houston based trans activist Ana Andrea Molina to found the Organizacion Latina de Trans en Texas (OLTT).

The group was founded to support, protect and advocate for the trans Latina community in Houston and the state of Texas, and OLTT is a group that was sorely needed in our Houston progressive activist ranks.

"We are a vulnerable community," Molina said in an OutSmart interview.  "Living in the state of Texas, we are dealing not only with transphobia, but with racism. The macho culture and social stigma of our countries of origin also impacts our members.  It doesn't just affect homosexual men, but us trans women as well,"

  
It was also a group that was quickly and eagerly embraced by the local trans Latina community. When the group held their inaugural meeting two months later at Resurrection MCC in the Heights, they were astounded and pleased to have 50 trans women attend the initial meeting from all over the Houston metro area.  Some came from as far away as Bryan, College Station, Cleveland, Conroe, Galveston, Katy, Pearland, Galena Park, and Channelview to participate.

In addition to having buffet style meals and guest speakers at their monthly meetings, they offer conversational English language classes and help on other issues like finding culturally competent healthcare, HIV prevention, getting name changes on documents, and help with immigration issues.

The OLTT also marched in this year's Pride parade, and have been visible at other Houston area TBLG community events since their founding.

I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with Ana and other OLTT members on various projects this year, and it has been wonderful to also see them stand up for their human rights as she and several OLTT members went to City Hall last month to speak in favor of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO).

They are not only seeking to ally themselves with trans Latina nationally and internationally, but also get 501(c)(3) status. They are also seeking to raise funds to acquire a permanent meeting place for the OLTT group.

As their trans sister and an ally, I'm pleased and proud to see them own their power. 

 

Trans Woman Number 16 Has Been Murdered- RIP Tamara

Once again I'm waking up to hear about another trans woman of color being killed.  This time it was in Kansas City, MO and the trans woman in question is a Latina.

36 year old Tamara Dominguez is the latest name we will be lighting a candle for at this November`s TDOR memorial services.   She was mugged,. then run over multiple times in a church parking lot by what is described as a man driving a black Chevy Avalanche SUV at 3:00 AM on Saturday.  

Dominguez was rushed to a hospital, but died on Monday.

Kansas City PD suspects it is a hate crime, but are reluctant to call it that because this is still an active investigation and  are looking for that SUV and its driver.

Dominguez is now the 16th trans person and the third Latina killed in what is shaping up to be a bloody year of trans feminine murders.

And the same question I asked of the Black cis community is also applicable to the Latino cis community as well.  When will the lives of your trans Latina sisters matter enough for you to speak up and condemn the murders being aimed at them?

#TransLatinaLivesMatter

How about demonstrating your support of your Latina trans sisters by signing this We The People White House petition calling for a federal investigation into the unacceptable levels of anti-trans violence aimed at trans women of color?   It needs 100K signatures by September 10 to trigger a formal WH response to it and we have at the time I am writing this 2,448 signatures.

The family is also trying to raise $3.500 for the funeral and to send Tamara's body back to Mexico for burial, so if you have some cash burning a hole in your purse or wallet, please consider donating to help her

As usual, stay tuned to this TransGriot channel for any updated news I get concerning this latest hate crime aimed at our community..

Don't Even Dare Part Your Lips To Say 'All Trans Lives Matter'...

When it is my young trans people who are being slaughtered along with trans Latinas in 2015.

Please do not part your lips to say that vanillacentric privilege laden 'All Trans Lives Matter' crap.  Not in the mood to hear that from some white trans people, especially after a week in which the deaths of FOUR Black trans women in different parts of the country were announced, one of them was in Texas, and the four trans people in question were all under 35.

As my Texas trans elder Sharyn Grayson said to me earlier in the week when we were talking about it, "Our babies are being killed."

Yes ma'am they are, and some of the people doing it share my ethnic heritage.   It's why I have zero tolerance for that 'All Trans Lives Matter line.  It's insulting and problematic to say for the same damned reasons as that jacked up marinating in white supremacy 'All Lives Matter' response to ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬.

Let Moni school you on something right now.  There are because of whiteness and white supremacy, some trans lives that matter more than others.  The narrative about trans femininity has been focused on white trans women ever since Christine Jorgenson stepped off the plane in 1953, and now in the 2K15 attention and focus is finally being paid to trans women of color for something besides our murders, and some of y'all are still hatin' about that..

I repeat,  we have had FOUR Black trans women's deaths announced in this week alone and five in this month of August that still isn't over yet.  This is a crisis situation that deserves immediate attention and action to solve it.
‪
#‎BlackTransLivesMatter‬

Some of you may not care about Black trans peoples lives, but I, my trans elders and our Black cis trans allies damned sure do. Those kids are my next generation of trans people, and it deeply concerns me, my trans elders and cis Black allies they are being eviscerated before they have even had a chance to live their lives and make whatever contributions to society they would have possibly made.  

If you're saying 'so what?' to that point or the problematic life expectancy average of a Black trans woman being age 35, better rethink that.   If my 34 year old self hadn't kept a cool head and gotten myself out of a potentially dangerous situation in 1996, I wouldn't be here to talk about it, much less make the contributions to trans kind that I have made since then. 

This blog wouldn't exist either.

We Black trans peeps have talents that we can contribute to this community.  We may also be the ones destined to do some great things for humankind in general.  But we can't do that or make those contributions to society while buried in a grave.

I'll bet if the script was flipped and we had young white trans women under 30 dying at the same rate as Black and Latina ones have been in 2015, we would already have the 100,000 signatures on that White House We The People petition calling for the federal investigation of anti-trans violence and then some. 

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton would be saying it from the Democratic campaign trail, and Hollywood's trans supportive allies would already be talking about 'stopping the orgy of violence aimed at young  trans people.'

So no, don't even dare part your lips to let that infuriating and insulting 'All Trans Lives Matter' comment pass through your lips when some of these trans kids have yet to be buried..

It's fairly obvious some trans lives matter more than others, and we need to keep it real on that point.