Dutch YouTube Makeup Guru Comes Out As Trans

Nikkie de Jager would have rather kept this part of her life her business, and make the announcement she made at a time and place of her choosing.  Unfortunately someone took the ability to do that away from her. 

As NikkieTutorials, the YouTube makeup guru and 11 year video blogger has over 13 million subscribers, and a fiance who loves her named Dylan.

But as I and your trans elders know all too well from our trans history, when you are a non disclosed trans person, trying to keep it that way and living your best life, unscrupulous haters will try to use your desire to keep the knowledge that you're part of Team Trans against you. 

Nikkie revealed in a video blog that she was being hounded by blackmailers who found out about her trans history, and threatened to reveal she was trans feminine to the media.

She decided to make the announcement she was trans in order to regain some of her personal power back.




Welcome to our international trans family Nikkie!  Yes, I wish that she could have done so at a time and place of her choosing, but I;m glad she did.

So will all the trans younglings who just found out they have another trans possibility model to look up to and emulate.

Trans Girl Gets Callback For Miss Puerto Rico Universe Pageant!

A few weeks ago my sis Joanna Cifredo and I were on the phone catching up with each other about the events that had transpired in our lives since our last conversation.   She recently moved back to Puerto Rico  to start a youth centered organization there, and after finding out how that was going, our conversation turned to beauty pageants.

It happened in the wake of Angela Ponce's historic week in Bangkok as the first out trans contestant at Miss Universe, and we talked about the Miss Puerto Rico Universe pageant opening their doors to trans participation. 

We wondered aloud about the odds that the next girl like us to be a Miss Universe trans contestant could possibly come from Puerto Rico. 

We knew Denise Quinones,  the 2001 Miss Universe winner and new national director of Miss Universe Puerto Rico, has been vocally supportive of trans women competing in the Miss Universe pageant system

But we wondered if she was serious about taking the next step and actually making space for Puerto Rican trans girls to compete for this title.

Apparently, Quinones wasn't kidding, and our conversation put some positive vibes in the air for it to happen. .

University of Puerto Rico journalism student Daniela Victoria Arroyo announced on her Instagram page that she'd received a  call back for the second round of the Miss Puerto Rico Universe pageant contestant search.

What's the significance of that callback?   Puerto Rico is considered one of the Miss Universe pageant superpowers in  the long history of this contest. . 

A Miss Puerto Rico has won the Miss Universe title five times  (1970, 1985, 2001, 2003, 2006) ,but its last win came in 2006 when Zulekya Rivera captured the crown. 

Rivera is also supportive of trans women being able to compete for the Miss Universe crown.

Quinones wants to change that, and she wants another Puerto Rican Miss Universe titleholder as soon as possible under her watch as the pageant national director.

Arroyo has already made Puerto Rican history.  She was part of the group of trans feminine plaintiffs that successfully sued the Puerto Rican government in 2017 for the right to change their names on their birth certificates.   

In addition to her university studies, she has also been a fierce advocate for the rights of Puerto Rican trans people. 

The question we're all asking is will Daniela Arroyo get that opportunity to compete for Miss Puerto Rico?   If she does, can she win the crown on May 26 and make it to the 2019 Miss Universe stage as Puerto Rico's representative?

Congratulations Daniela!   Hope you get a shot at making more history.

Angelica Ross Featured In Sophisticates Black Hair Magazine

When I stated life as my true self 25 years ago, one of the things I started doing was picking up copies of Sophisticates Black Hair from my local Walgreen s and CVS magazine shelves

Sophisticates Black Hair Magazine, or SBH for short , has for over 30 years featured  hair styling and makeup tips geared toward Black women , but features our Black female celebrities looking fab at various events and on our fave television shows and movies..

It also has an issue dedicated to the Ten Best Styled Women of the Year

So it was a big deal when Angelica Ross announced that she has an article in the latest issue of SBH with our forever FLOTUS on the cover

Congrats Angelica!  Looking forward to the day when you are on the cover of Sophisticates Black hair magazine.

Rain Valdez Cast In The TV Land 'Lopez' Show

After the weekend we've had, we needed some good news this week in terms of another trans actress has landed a role in a TV series. .

Rain Valdez has been cast for a recurring role in Season Two of the TV Land Series Lopez, that will start airing on the network March 29.

She will play Coco, a pretty and enigmatic actress contracted to a network whose executives don't know how to cast her or even talk to her.   George basically talks to her like any other actress, and eventually offers her a role in his series.

Congrats Rain!   Hope this recurring role turns into something more substantial for you !

Laila Ireland Nominated For Military Spouse Of The Year

Was happy to find out thanks to her proud hubby Logan that my sis Laila Ireland has been nominated for Military Spouse of the Year!

From the nomination page:

Laila Ireland is a transgender advocate stationed with her husband at Peterson AFB. She medically retired from the Army in December of 2015. Earlier that year, she publicly came out as transgender to the world while being in the military when the New York Times released a short documentary called “Transgender, at War and in Love”. The documentary featured her and her husband Logan, which highlighted the struggles as a dual military transgender couple to help push for open transgender service in the military.

Her advocacy work now involves speaking to schools and businesses to help carve out safe spaces for trans youth and adults, getting accessible healthcare for trans people, and training staff and students in both work places and in schools. She currently serves as the Membership Director to SPART*A Trans - an organization established and operated by transgender military members which provides transgender military personnel with guidance to navigate the new policy and its implementation. She is also a board member for Point of Pride, a non-profit organization which works to benefit trans people all over the world in need through gender-confirming support programs that empower them to live more authentically. In May 2016, she was award the Military Spouse Leadership award by the American Military Partner Association. -- Ashley Broadway-Mack, Military-Spouse


The voting for it has now started and will end on February 9, with the winners announced on February 13.  You can support our sis by clicking on this link and clicking on the VOTE Now tab.

Good luck Laila!

Still Evolving To Be That Quality Black Woman

When I say 'quality Black woman', I wanted to be the type of woman that even if you knew or discovered after meeting me I was a transwoman, you wouldn't care, you'd see me as an asset and not a liability on the balance sheet of femininity and you'd want me in your life as a friend. 

TransGriot, January 8, 2009   'Becoming A Quality Black Woman'

During that December 18 Christmas party I attended with my high school classmates, I had several of my cis feminine classmates pull me aside and tell me they were proud of me.   It made me tear up for a moment because one of the persons I talked to that night has known me since junior high school.

It's not just my classmates.  I've had messages during the Christmas holidays from cis and trans women wishing me Happy Holidays with heartfelt variations of the same theme..

It got me thinking about that 2009 post and the subsequent one in 2013 I wrote about the subject as New Year's Day draws closer and I take stock of my evolutionary growth in 2016.

Evolution is definitely the operative word here  April 4 will mark 23 years that I began to live my truth, and it has been an amazing journey at times with the occasional pothole here and there.

When I started my journey in 1994, there weren't many nationally or internationally know out Black trans women.   I knew part of what was required of me was to be a possibility model.  I knew that wherever I went, be it IAH's Terminal C, a conference or a college campus, the race and my chocolate segment of the trans community would enter with me.  

With the assortment of talents I have, I eventually became a leader in this community.  

But while recognizing I was going to become whether I wanted it or not a role model, I never lost sight of of that personal goal of being a quality Black woman.  I knew that it was mandatory that I must excel in whatever I chose to do because I had additional scrutiny on me.  

Neither did I forget the promise I made to myself, many of my cis feminine CAL co-workers, and other cis Black women I had conversations with in that period that this transition was not a game or joke to me.  

I don't think about myself that way, but it amuses me at times when I'm called a trans pioneer or trans elder.  But when you transition in 1994, and have been involved in  activism on behalf of a community since 1998, that happens.

I'm proud to note there are many different versions of beautiful Black trans women out there around the country and increasingly the world.   I'm proud to call many of them my friends.  I'm even more proud of the fact that my Black trans feminine elders tell me they are just as proud of me that I am of them who transitioned in much tougher circumstances than I did.

And I never forget the far too many Black trans women we have lost during my over two decades in this community.  They unfortunately will never have the opportunity to know what it's like to be my age because they were violently taken away from us.

Many of my Black trans sisters are as my fellow writer Denny Upkins would say are #BlackFolksBeingAwesome.  

We are New York Times best selling authors, athletes, entrepreneurs, college professors, award winning actors, teachers, students and award winning community leaders.

We strut fashion runways around the world.  We are your wives, lovers, sisters, aunts, and mothers raising kids   And yes, increasingly some of my future quality Black women are trans kids or trans teens like Trinity Neal  who are being raised by some amazing parents .

We are simply not only being the best people we can be, but also doing our part to uplift our community despite being reviled and hated on by ignorant sectors of the Black community..

I'm glad to have done, and will continue to do to the best of my ability my part to not only point out the fact that Black trans women exist, but we have a proud legacy of leadership and solid contributions to the communities we intersect and inhabit.

At the same time, I'm still continuing that evolutionary journey to be that quality Black woman who loves seeing the person staring back at her in the mirror when she wakes up in the morning.

It that inspires some of you, be you cis or trans women to do the same, then that's all good as well.

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Every now and then I find myself doing some hard solid thinking about the fact that the pioneering #girlslikeus I admired as a teen when I was struggling with my gender issues I actually get a chance to chat with as a trans human rights advocate from time to time.

And I realize at that point how fascinating my life really is at times.

I've had (and still have) some interesting and amazing conversations from time to time with one of our pioneering models who is more than 'just another girl' as she likes to describe herself.   She recently launched the Just Another Girl website that not only tells her story for a new generation, but is kid friendly and chock full of information about trans issues. .

We're only a few years apart age wise, and Lauren Foster is still all that and ten bags of chips as she celebrates another birthday today. I also find it interesting that she and Tyra Banks share the same birthday.

But this post is all about giving Ms. Foster the TransGriot birthday shout out she deserves.

Happy birthday Lauren!   May you have a celebration of the day you arrived on this planet that is as cool as you are!  Looking forward to the next time we get to chat, and may you be blessed to celebrate many more birthdays to come!  .

Alysia Yeoh Gets Married!

Many of you comic book fans are aware that the rebooted DC Comics Batgirl series has a reality based trans character in the person of Alysia Yeoh, the bi community activist and onetime roommate of Barbara Gordon.  

She revealed to Barbara in issue #19 she was a girl like us at the same moment Barbara told her much of her personal background including the fact she was Batgirl to her roommate from Singapore.

She has been a recurring character since then

The marriage story arc for Alysia started with issue #42 in the rebooted series in which she announced to Barbara that she was engaged to Jo, who she started dating last year and Barbara would be her maid of honor.

We're now up to issue #45 in this story arc which is available at your fave comic book retailer, and another milestone as Alysia finally walks down the aisle with Jo as Barbara efficiently executes her duties as maid of honor.

This is just another example of our media being ahead of and driving the social acceptance curve.  It's also important because popular culture can drive acceptance of marginalized groups.

It will be interesting to see what happens going forward not only for the happy couple, but for their maid of honor Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl,

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Congratulations Landon!

I and your trans elders are proud of you members of the Trans Class of 2016, and know that over time, you will do amazing things that will continue to justify our faith in investing in your success.   
-TransGriot, August 22, 2015

Well, it didn't take long for a member of the Trans Class of 2016 to make some trans history.

Meet Landon Patterson.  The Oak Park High School senior found out during halftime of her school's September 12 homecoming game with William Chrisman High School that her classmates had chosen her as their school's homecoming queen.

"Just knowing that I did this and broke some barriers, I can't put it into words how I feel right now," Patterson Said in am interview. "I'm just excited and hope it's going to help others put there." .

Landon has dreamed about this moment of riding in the homecoming parade as the homecoming queen since her freshman year, but she doubted that her classmates would see her as female.

She transitioned during her junior year, was an active member of her school's show choir and Oak Park's cheerleading squad, and her classmates made it clear how they viewed Landon by voting her as their homecoming queen.

Her mom Debbie Hall;proudly rode next to her in the homecoming parade as she stated to local media she saw no other option but to support her child.

That's my child. You have to back your children. The haters out there, I just want to say, 'What would you say if it was your child?'" Hall said.

Congrats Landon!    Hope the rest of your senior year goes as wonderfully as your day being named your school's homecoming queen did. 

Trans Models, Have A Wonderful Fashion Week!

I've talked about it a few times, and one of the things we girls like us can be proud of is that we do have a long and stylish history of walking the fashion runways of the world.

Now we can add trailblazing leaders to that description for our trans feminine modeling sisters as well.

New York Fashion Week started Thursday and will run until September 17.  It's when the major international fashion houses show off their collections to buyers. the media and the general public, and the New York fashion week is considered one of the Big 4 Shows along with the ones in Paris, London and Milan.

That means there will be hundreds of models also in town working those shows, and some of them will be our trans sisters like Geena Rocero, Andreja Pejic, Arisce Wanzer, Lea T, Isis King, Carmen Carrera,.and Ines Rau just to name a few of them.

There may be a few trans models who hopefully get an opportunity to strut their stuff during a few shows and become household names during this week.

If you are walking the NYC catwalks during Fashion Week, just wanted to send some love your way.

Congrats ladies, and hope you have a wonderful and successful time walking the runways during this busy and amazing weeks in which fashion takes center stage in the Big Apple..



TransGriot Note: Photos are of Geena Rocero, Ines Rau and Isis King.

Janet and Laverne Make The 2015 Root 100 List!

They both made the list last year, but it's a year later and the 2015 edition of  The Root 100 List has been released with Janet Mock and Laverne Cox's names on it.

The Root 100 List celebrates those peeps 25-45 who are forging a new direction in social justice, politics, entertainment, business the arts, science and sports.  While this list has many well known names on it, The Root 100 List also seeks to recognize people whose accomplishments have yet to be recognized on a national level.

Janet is at number 31 this year and Laverne occupies the number 43 spot,  but once again it is a huge accomplishment for Black girls like us to be acknowledged for their work to not only advocate for our human rights as trans people, but uplift the Black community at the same time.  
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They are also concrete examples of what I'm talking about when I say in my posts imploring the Black cis community to stop hating on Black trans people that we too are part of the kente cloth fabric of Black America.

And when the nomination process for 2016 starts, I'd like to see some of our trans brothers in that 25-45 range get nominated and hopefully make the list along with other trans sisters in that 25-45 age group

That's next year's project trans fam, but until then, congratulations Janet and Laverne for making this years The Root 100 list.

Jordana LeSesne Named As One Of 20 Women Who Shaped Dance Music

Y'all know how much I love my little sis by another mother Jordana LeSesne, my amazing music producing sis with the mad DJ skills to pay her bills.  She's also responsible for pushing and gently prodding yours truly into making TransGriot a reality 10 years ago.

Will tell that story about how it happened as we get closer to my TransGriot 10th anniversary on January 1, but this post is about an amazing honor she has received.

Jordana was recently named by MixMag, the Bible of the dance music industry as one of 20 Women Who Shaped the History Of Dance Music

Just in case you don't know who Jordana LeSesne is, quick trans history moment.   In 1998 Jordana not only transitioned, but subsequently blew up as a African-American dance music producer and DJ to the point where her music was featured on VH1  She survived a 2000 transphobic hate attack and has become an advocate and possibility model for many people inside and outside of the dance music world.

Of course,  Jordana was excited about this honor that was bestowed upon her. 

"I feel SO HONORED right now to be mentioned along legends like Missy Elliot, Kemistry; Storm, Miss DJAX and Heather Heart! All of whom I was either influenced by or looked up to!"  Jordana wrote on her Facebook page.  "Just goes to show that if we believe in ourselves, ‪#‎girlslikeus‬ can do anything!"

Yes ma'am we can!  And to echo what you said Sis, if we are given the chance to do what we love, we girls like us will handle our business and excel at it. She's currently working on a few music projects to be announced soon.

Congrats Jordana on being named one of 20 Women Who Shaped Dance Music.   It is a well deserved honor.

Maybe If...

Guest Post by Vanessa Victoria.   This was originally on her Facebook page, and it needed to be shared and signal boosted.

Maybe if…

Maybe if every man who has ever hired a trans escort, if every boy who has ever beat off to trans porn, if the millions who fetishize our bodies, who press us against hotel windows, who lay with us in our beds, if the men who adore me and my sisters, but only behind closed doors, would STAND THE FUCK UP AND SPEAK OUT…maybe 17 Transgender Women, wouldn't have gotten murdered in 2015.

Maybe if all of you who read this, our allies and friends and colleagues and family, would call out when others make jokes at our expense, even when we’re not around, if you’d tell advertisers and producers and journalists and writers and comics that you’re not okay with them making trans women nothing but the punchline of jokes or tragic tossaways, that you know us, that we’re not disposable….maybe groups of people would stop feeling so free to harass me and my sisters, maybe crowds wouldn’t just laugh when a man spits at me, or just watch when two young men chase me down the street yelling “shemale”…maybe if you ALL stood up and said enough, maybe a young woman just being herself wouldn’t be beat to death in the streets of the supposedly best place on earth to just be yourself.

Maybe if all the gay men who act as if equality means marriage, if all the white feminists who only serve those that look like them, if all the queers who drop “TWOC” like a shibboleth but don’t know or talk to or walk beside any actual trans women of color…maybe if all of you saw what was happening here and how your actions allow it, how every moment of silence, of waiting for people of color to start the conversation about race …maybe these women could have enjoyed a few more years of being beautiful among us.

It happened because our men won’t admit they love us, because our friends aren’t speaking out against the thousand little dehumanizing actions of others, because our own “LGBT” community isn’t comfortable talking about race and class.

This has to change. Now!
Vanessa Victoria
‪#‎TransisBeautiful‬ ‪#‎StoptheShade‬ ‪#‎TransLivesMatter‬ ‪#‎GirlsLikeUs‬

Janet's Guest Hosting On MHP This Weekend!

It wasn't too long ago I was jumping up and down excited because Janet Mock was making an appearance on the Melissa Harris -Perry Show on MSNBC.   Now she gets to be the guest host of #Nerdland for this weekend!

Congrats Janet and so bursting at the seams proud of you!   I will definitely be tuned in to watch as you handle your broadcasting business.  I also hope that this weekend's guest stint leads to something bigger and better for you. 

If you wish to check her out or set your DVR's for watching it later, the shows will air this Saturday and Sunday starting at 9 AM CDT.

Girl Scouts Return Transphobe`s Donation, Get Paid

`If a girl is recognized by her family, school and community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a setting that is both emotionally and physically safe.`
-Girl Scouts statement welcoming transgender girls

Over the last few years, the Girl Scouts of America have been standup allies for the trans community, and opened their doors so that trans girls can participate.

That support of trans feminine girls created a problem for the Western Washington Girl Scout council and its CEO Megan Ferland recently.

They received a $100K donation during their fundraising drive which was a quarter of their fundraising goal.  However, it came with a transphobic string attached.

In a letter she received five weeks later, the donor requested that none of the donated money be used to assist transgender girls, and if they couldn't guarantee that, the donor wanted their money returned.

Ferland knew because the parents chose to share that information, there are trans girls participating in some Western Washington area troops.  Even though that monetary gift would have allowed 200 fiscally challenged girls to attend summer camp, Ferland quickly returned the money and on June 29 launched a `Girl Scouts is #ForEVERYGirl  Indiegogo campaign with a YouTube video to accompany it in order to replace the funds they lost.

They recouped the money they lost in 24 hours and tripled it, raising $300K, and benefit all girls in the Western Washington area that will need some financial assistance in order to attend camp.

People also supported the campaign on social media, using the #ForEVERYGirl hashtag.

My congratulations to the Western Washington Girl Scouts, who demonstrated principled leadership,  returned a transphobic donation and were rewarded for it.

I sure would like to know who that transphobe is so they can receive the proper level of scorn they deserve..

But I;m definitely tripling my Girl Scout cookie order next year.

Hello Caitlyn!

The Jenner Vanity Fair July cover and photo shoot will be in the issue hitting newsstands on June 6,  and like the Diane Sawyer interview, it's generating media coverage and generating conversation inside and out side the trans community.

And we have finally learned Jenner's femme name.   I presume we'll find out later how Jenner came to choose that name, but interestingly enough she didn't spell it with a 'K'.  

No matter what your opinion is on how this Caitlyn Jenner femme rollout has transpired, the bottom line is that it is generating a much needed discussion on trans issues across the media, and especially in Trans World.  

I believe that any positive discussion that happens about trans people in the USA and educates the moveable middle is good for the entire trans community. 

Caitlyn will also be getting the ESPY's Arthur Ashe Courage Award that has been given to the late Stuart Scott and Robin Roberts just to name two recipients of it.

Personally I think Fallon Fox should have gotten that award, but nevertheless that's another Jenner accomplishment that should be celebrated and cheered by our community. 

The attention Caitlyn is getting also gives the rest of us in Trans World an opening with our local media outlets to spring off of that attention and shape a trans discussion that touches upon the issues that we deem important in our local communities..

Yes, there will be some haters and jealous folks in our trans ranks upset because they aren't getting that kind of media attention that rates a photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz.  

Some of transkind will be pissed because they don't have access to the finances, surgeons, laser epilation and trans specific medical care that is going to speedily upgrade Caitlyn's body from one of a former Olympic champion to the babe that has been inside her for 65 years and is now being introduced to her family and the world.

Hell, I'm envious of that at times even with cis women with hourglass shapes, but unfortunately, that's life.   Sometimes we get DNA blessings that others don't.   There will be women cis and trans who are smarter, prettier and sexier.   Hormones can also be  much more generous to some trans women than others.  Some have the finances to get the trans specific procedures they need when they want them while others will have to wait decades or never be able to get them.. 

All I or any trans woman can do is work with the hand that we're dealt and evolve to become the best women we can be.

But instead of hating, let's celebrate the fact a trans woman made the cover of Vanity Fair.   Let's celebrate the fact we have a positive discussion happening about trans issues right now that will potentially speed up the timetable for trans human rights achievement.    Let's celebrate the fact this may be another huge step toward the attainment of our ultimate goal of acceptance of trans people's humanity in all facets of our society.

And let's celebrate the fact that Caitlyn is finally coming out of a cocoon she's been in for 65 years and is coming out to the world as her true self.

Louisiana Girl Scout Council Bans Trans Feminine Kids

One of the reasons I love the Girl Scouts USA is that they not only have an amazing organization that for over a century has excelled in developing the leadership skills of girls and young women, they have continued to do so while under continued conservafool assault.

The conservafools have hated on the Girl Scouts because unlike the Boy Scouts, they failed in their attempt to take them over.  Ever since them different conservative pundits and politicians have attacked them for their progressive stances.

They have even taken their off the charts hatred of the Girl Scouts to the extreme level of attacking the Girl Scouts annual cookie drives (which is why I buy mass quantities of them every year) to forming their own conservative alternative to Girl Scouts USA called the American Heritage Girls. 

Now that the conservative movement is shifting their energy and attention to attacking transgender people, the American Fascist Family Association on May 13 created a transphobic petition that gained the signatures of 38,000 people demanding the Girl Scouts USA rescind the policy allowing trans feminine participation in Girl Scouts.

The next day Girl Scouts USA put out a statement authored by Andrea Bastiani Archibald that reiterated their support for the trans inclusive policy.

"If a girl is recognized by her family, school and community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a setting that is both emotionally and physically safe.\ Inclusion of transgender girls is handled at a council level on a case by case basis, with the welfare and best interests of all members as a top priority."

That local case by case basis part of the statement leaves a problematic loophole big enough to drive a Mack truck through it.   And as any marginalized group is keenly aware of, if you give transphobes an inch, they'll go the transphobic mile.

While I have yet to hear what the local Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council (Houston area) stance is on transgender scouts, I'm aware of the Girl Scouts of Colorado supported a trans kid that wished to join one of their troops, and know the Kentuckiana Council just reaffirmed their support of the national policy, that wasn't the case of the Girl Scouts Louisiana East Council that covers Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the eastern parishes of the state.

The Girl Scouts Louisiana East Council since November 2011 has proudly had a policy in place barring trans feminine kids.

“We recognize that girls benefit most from a program designed specifically for them and delivered in an all-girl setting. We affirm that our council’s programming is for girls only, and has not been designed to meet the specific needs of boys or transgendered youth.”

They doubled down on it in the wake of the AFA attack on the National GSA with a transphobic dog whistle included in their May 20 memo claiming "the health and safety of our girls is our number one priority."
As Baton Rouge parent of a Brownie Mary Ellen Slayter told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, "I don't feel like the presence of a transgender child poses any threat to my daughter. We are talking about children here. If they're questioning their gender identity, I would want the Girl Scouts to be a safe place for them to explore that and be in the company of adults who could help them through that... These kids are far more likely to be harmed by other people than to cause harm."

Louisiana East Council, you may wish to join Ms. Slayter and the rest of us in the 21st century, and stop the problematic pimping of the lie that trans kids are a threat to cisgender girls.

H/T Lexie Cannes

Andrea Jenkins Gets Added To The Congressional Record!

You know I have much love and respect for my sis Andrea Jenkins, who I met and roomed with during the TransFaith in Color Conference in Charlotte back in 2012 and is a trailblazing girl like us and advocate in her own right up in Minneapolis.

Jenkins recently received two honors that need and deserve to be signal boosted.   She was named as the Grand Marshal for the upcoming Twin Cities Pride Parade.  She is the second trans person to receive that honor.(Debbie Davis in 2000) third African-American after Minnesota Lynx guard Seimone Augustus and her fiance LaTaya Varner in 2012 and first ever African-American trans person to do so.

Andrea on May 20 had her name added to the Congressional Record for the 114th Congress by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), whose 5th Congressional District covers that area.

So what's the Congressional Record you ask?  It is the official record of proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, and from time to time congressmembers will take a moment to use some of their time to do floor speech that recognizes people and organizations in their home districts.

Those speeches, because they happen on the House floor, get recorded, published and at the end of the 114th Congress in 2017 will be placed in bound volumes enshrined permanently in the Library of Congress and online via THOMAS.

Translation, this is a Big Fracking Deal, and so proud of Andrea for getting this well deserved recognition for the work she's done in the Twin Cities.  

She was a longtime policy aide for 12 years on the Minneapolis City Council for Minneapolis City Council Member Elizabeth Glidden where she initiated and helped develop the the Minneapolis Transgender Issues Work Group and produced the first Transgender Summit in the city.

Jenkins also a published poet, serves on numerous boards and is now with the University of Minnesota as the curator for their Transgender Oral History Project

I hear Andrea plays a mean game of tennis, so I'll have to remember to bring my racquet when I get the opportunity to visit her and the rest of the Twin Cities trans fam.

Congratulations Andrea for a well deserved honor!

Updates In Two 2015 California Trans Murder Cases.

Have some updated information concerning the trans murder cases of Taja DeJesus and Michelle Yazmin Payne, who were murdered in northern and southern California within days of each other.
I'm happy to report there is good news in both of theses California cases in terms of bringing their killers to justice.

In the Michelle Payne case, 25 year Ezekiel Dear, who has been IDed as the boyfriend of Ms. Payne, turned himself into the LAPD 7th Division headquarters at 3:30 PM PST on February 1 accompanied by a pastor and confessed to killing her.

He was arraigned the next day at the Van Nuys courthouse on one felony count each of murder, with a knife-use allegation, and arson of an inhabited structure or property.

Will continue to keep you posted on this case.

Meanwhile, up I-5 in the Bay Area, the Taja DeJesus case has had a interesting twist.in the suspected perpetrator of the murder of our fallen sister being found dead himself.

49 year old James Hayes was found dead on February 2 hanging by the neck from a fence in the 4000 block of Third Street.  

The location was behind a warehouse a half mile from the crime scene where DeJesus was found stabbed to death, and Hayes was still wearing the clothing he wore when he allegedly stabbed Ms. DeJesus.

A die-in was held in front of San Francisco City Hall to protest the DeJesus killing and the murders of other trans women since June in California and elsewhere across the country.

After an operatic rendition of 'Amazing Grace' by Breanna Sinclaire, trans leaders in the San Francisco area called for an end to transphobia fueling these murders.

"We're still being murdered, harassed, and cast aside. We have to show that our lives matter," said Danielle Castro.

Yes they do, Danielle/   #TransLivesMatter.  #BlackTransLivesMatter   #LatinaTransLivesMatter  And let's hope that the people who have committed these heinous crimes aimed at us  are captured, tried and convicted for killing us.

Another Day, Another Groundbreaking Moment For Laverne Cox

Was delighted to hear that my sis Laverne Cox will be gracing our network TV screen this fall and making more history in the process.

Our fave Emmy nominated actress has been cast in an upcoming CBS legal drama that will air this fall called Doubt

In it she will play an Ivy League educated openly  transgender attorney who is described as competitive as she is compassionate.

And because she's trans and has experienced discrimination and injustice, she fights even harder for her clients.  

Interestingly enough, this role was always envisioned at the outset by the show creators as a trans feminine character, and loving the fact she'll be playing that trans attorney.

And yep, know a couple of kick butt trans attorneys if you need to do some research in preparation to play this as of yet unnamed character.

Congratulations for getting this groundbreaking role in a dramatic series, and break a leg.