Showing posts with label #girlslikeus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #girlslikeus. Show all posts

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Fallon Fox Going For The CFA Featherweight Title October 12

We now know the date that Fallon Fox will be back in MMA action and taking on Ashlee Evans-Smith for the Championship Fighting Alliance featherweight tournament title.

That championship bout for our fave MMA girl like us is scheduled to take place October 12 in Coral Gables, FL.  It'll be the first bout for the 3-0 Queen of Swords since she beat Allanah Jones by submission in a semifinal match back in May. 

The winner of this October 12 bout not only gets the title, but the $20,000 grand prize that comes with it. Of course you know who I'm rooting for to win that fight. 

Go Queen of Swords!

And yeah, I expect the transphobic haters to make their appearance as the fight date with the 1-0 Evans-Smith gets closer. 

Hopefully for Fallon's sake there won't be as much drama and distractions in WMMA World and elsewhere surrounding this fight as there were in the runup to the last one.  I know she's in the gym working hard, focusing on her training and trying to get as close to being razor sharp as possible for this CFA featherweight championship bout.

Best of luck, Fallon and hope you walk out of the ring a champion and with a nice check in hand!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Brandi's In The News Again!

Back in May I talked about a JET magazine story that was brought to my attention by ELIXHER magazine and Janet Mock featuring Washington DC girl like us Brandi Ahzionae.

It contained a quote from Brandi that dovetailed nicely with my sentiments about the piece that I hoped it was the beginning of more positive coverage of trans women and transpeople in general.

It's two months later and Brandi's in the news again thanks to a recent Washington Blade article featuring her and Washington DC anti-trans discrimination campaign poster girl Consuella Lopez.

In addition to being one of the people featured in the DC Office of Human Rights ad campaign Lopez is a licensed hairstylist. She owns a salon in the suburban DC metro area and has worked with celebrity clients such as Mila Kunis, Tracey Edmonds and Patricia Arquette.  

She met Ahzionae at the September 2012 kickoff event for that campaign and was producing a trans calendar for Casa Ruby at the time. She extended Ahzionae an invitation to model for it which she declined, but Ahzionae did accept Lopez's subsequent invitation to take her on as a hairdressing apprentice. 

Brandi also produces a newsletter called the DMV Trans Circulator that seeks to create what the site describes as a “trans community inside and outside the prison walls in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia” that is “free from imprisonment, police violence, racism and poverty.” and is taking classes at the Aesthetics Institute of Cosmetology in Gaithersburg, MD.

When her apprenticeship ends in May 2015 she can receive her own stylists license once she passes the test.

This article is a concrete example of what I've talked about that needs to happen more often in our community in which transpeople support each other, reach back and lift someone else up so they can be in a position to lift up others behind them.

But nice to read this story about Brandi and I hope we continue to see more positive ones similar to it about trans people in TBLG and other media. 

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Still Aiming Higher

'As we own our power, that positive attitude and desire to aim higher as African descended transwomen is taking hold in our ranks.  It demands that we not only represent ourselves to the best of our abilities, but step up to the challenge of being compliments to Black womanhood and not considered detriments to it.'   TransGriot 'Aiming Higher'  October 19, 2011.
Those sentiments I expressed in that October 2011 post are still getting rousing AMENs from many of my Black trans sisters who read those words and have thanked me for writing them.   You have brought it to my attention that I'm not alone in wanting a transition path for girls like us that taps into Black womanhood at its finest and encourages us to be the best women we can be and how we achieve it. 

Our cis sisters want that for us as well as we conceive in our collective minds what that transition path looks like when it's applied to our own lives.   We also have to consider how that fits in with the new  Black trans paradigm  that's developing in this decade.  

There are hard, solid thinking and
ongoing conversations going on in our ranks concerning the subject of Black trans womanhood and where we fit in the overall scheme of things.   While some of us get this point, some of our trans sisters have been slow to realize this and it needs to be stressed in Black trans world. 

One of the things we must burn into our brains before we swallow those first estrogen pills or take our first shots is that Black womanhood comes with a legacy of struggle, history and pride we must do our utmost to live up to.  

It's not about a silicone enhanced body, being estrogen based lifeforms, over the top hypersexualized people, legendary ballroom divas, elegant pageant queens or getting SRS, it's living our lives and interacting with the world as African-American women standing tall and having pride in that legacy. 

I want our cis African-American sisters to
know that as proud New Black Transwomen, we have our own ongoing history of struggle and a renewed interest in discovering, telling and sharing our own sense of who we are.  We recognize that legacy of struggle that cis Black women have endured and are working hard to be worthy of Black womanhood.

And as a Black trans community leader, I'm doing my part to role model what I'm preaching for mine and the next generation of trans women.

Each girl like us, just like her cis counterparts, has the option of choosing what type of woman she wishes to project to the world.   The problem is that many of us have only been exposed to the hypersexualized girls like us and not ones who have chosen a different path of projecting Black trans womanhood to the world. 

We Black girls like us as we attempt to project the type of woman we wish to be to the world have to grapple with and conquer shame, guilt and fear issues.   We have to overcome a predominately negative media image, a lack of visible positive Black trans roles models and four centuries of negativity aimed at cis African descended women that affects how our femininity is judged.
We also have to be cognizant of the fact Black girls like us have our choices in terms of the type of woman we wish to project to the world and they will get harshly scrutinized and judged by the worst that we produce, not the best among us.   

That choice of the type of women we project to the world comes with the pressure of knowing it can possibly can affect for good or ill whether our marginalized trans community gets human rights coverage. It's why I stress and repeatedly say like a mantra that Black trans women need to be compliments to Black womanhood and not considered detriments to it.
Some of the reservations of cis Black women concerning trans women aren't predominately faith based or harboring on jealousy, but hinge on in their minds their fear we transwomen aren't taking Black womanhood seriously enough.  I submit that the faster we African descended girls like us slay those concerns and we are considered compliments to Black womanhood, the sooner that the cis Black feminine community will embrace their trans sisters. 

Then again there will be always be a cadre of cis Black women that no matter what we do or become those finer specimens of womanhood that Sharon Davis asked us to become back in the late 80's, they're still gonna hate for whatever reason, so bump them.  

We Black girls like us need to aim higher not only for ourselves, but for the cis women who are and do consider us their sisters, friends and allies
.

And by doing so, it will result in us being better Black women of trans experience better able to navigate all the communities we intersect and interact with.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Happy 25th Birthday CeCe McDonald!

Today is CeCe McDonald's birthday and I wanted to make certain this day didn't pass without the TransGriot acknowledging it.

I and the entire trans community wish you weren't unjustly stuck inside those Minnesota prison walls for basically standing your ground and defending yourself/   Our fondest wish for you as a community would be that you were out and about being able to do what any girl hitting 25 could do on her special day and celebrating it with friends and family.

But the bottom lines for today are that you're alive and you still have your life to look forward to going forward from today.   

Happy 25th birthday CeCe!   May you have many more birthdays to come.. 

 

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Fallon Fox Wins Semifinal Bout Vs. Allanna Jones!


If Allanna Jones thought she was getting into Fallon Fox's head and playing to the crowd by entering the ring in Miami to Aerosmith's tired song 'Dude Looks Like A Lady' that is the transphobe's national anthem, she failed.   

It was Fox's first fight since coming out as trans and it took her a little more time in this bout to get the win because Jones fought a defensive fight. 

Jones kept trying to move and back away from her to avoid Fox's punches and wait for opportunities to counterattack.   But the Queen of Swords handled her business and is still an undefeated 3-0 after getting a submission win via a shin choke hold at 3:36 of the third round on now 2-2 Allanna Jones.

Of course, haters gonna hate.   There were boos in the BankUnited Center when the decision was announced but Fox still walked out of the arena victorious and having a shot at a $20,000 grand prize.  





Fox goes on to the final of the CFA11 tournament to take on Ashlee Evans-Smith who received a bye into the final when her opponent Anna Barone withdrew prior to the weigh in.

Date hasn't been set yet for that CFA11 tournament championship bout, but one thing that will probably be a given before it happens is that the haters will now switch to rooting for Ashlee Evans-Smith

Congrats Fallon!   Keep on kicking butt, taking names and winning despite the haters.     

Friday, May 24, 2013

Good Luck Fallon!

Fallon Fox puts her undefeated 2-0 record on the line when she steps into the Octagon later tonight for a nationally televised bout from Miami with 2-1 Allanna Jones on AXS-TV.

To her and Jones, it's just another ordinary bout in the 145 pound category.  The winner will advance to the final of the Championship Fighting Alliance 11 tournament and have a shot at earning a $20,000 grand prize.  But to the trans community, it's our first opportunity to support a girl like us in MMA world since she came out in March and by default became an ambassador for trans athletes.

So nope, it's not just an ordinary bout no matter how much both competitors wish to downplay it.   People are taking sides and have been ever since she came out.   There are folks in the trans community who want the Queen of Swords to win just as badly as the transphobic haters are rooting for Jones to do the same.

Personally, I have a major problem with the transphobic ignorance and vitriolic hatred that has been aimed at her.  But none of us are going to be in the cage slugging it out later tonight.  Fox and Jones are. 

Good luck tonight, Fallon!
  

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Fallon's Historic Friday MMA Fight

Fallon Fox will return to mixed martial arts action on Friday and make a little MMA history in the process when she does so. 

When the undefeated (2-0) Fox steps into the Octagon at the BankUnited Center on the University of Miami campus against Allana Jones she will be participating in the first nationally televised bout (AXS-TV) of the Championship Fighting Alliance Series.

It's the first bout she's participated in since the revelation in March the undefeated Fox is a girl like us and the transphobically ignorant reactions to the news it triggered in MMA world that included UFC women's champ Ronda Rousey.

CFA president Jorge de la Noval featured the 37 year old Fox on a card in March before finding out she was trans when he got a call from the commission.  He stands by his decision to feature her on Friday night’s card and supports her 100 percent.

“I’ve been discriminated many times because I’m Hispanic,” de la Noval said to the Miami Herald. “People have been discriminated through the years because of color, sexual preference, and that’s something I’m completely against. As long as she’s got her license, and doctors approved her to fight as a female, I was fine with it. I’ve gotten a lot of calls, mostly negative, but I stick with my decision no matter what the outcome is.

I’m just glad she’s fighting for the CFA this Friday.”

So are we in the trans community, Jorge.

Best of luck Fallon on Friday night.  Your best revenge for all the drama you've been through since March is to just keep winning.   You have an ever growing legion of fans inside and outside the trans community that wish you nothing but success.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/21/3409426/transgender-mma-fighter-fallon.html#storylink=cpy

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Ce Ce Acoff Case Links

Ce Ce Acoff's funeral was yesterday, and as you know I've been on this story since I first got the word about our fallen transsister and how she has been grossly disrespected by the Cleveland media. 

I'm going to make it easy for you to follow the TransGriot coverage of this ongoing story by putting the links to the posts I've already written here.

Another Black Transwoman Dies And Is Dissed In The Local Media

Three More April African-American Transwoman Deaths

Acoff Murder Updates

CeCe Acoff Rally Today At 3 PM

Rally For CeCe Acoff

Y'all Must Think We're Stupid Cleveland Plain Dealer

Arrest Made In Acoff Case

Why The Negative Plain Dealer Coverage May Result In Cemia NOT Getting Justice

Friday, May 03, 2013

Help Eden Lane Get On 'The View'


One of the people I'm so looking forward to meeting one day is trailblazing Denver based journalist and girl like us Eden Lane.

She's the first trans on-air broadcast journalist with a major network and since 2009 has been the host of the KBDI-TV shows In Focus with Eden Lane, Colorado’s popular local arts and culture news magazine, and OUTSpoken, a prime time special series devoted to the LGBT community that has been on the air for 20 years.

She was also a reporter covering the historic 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver for PBS.

There is a campaign complete with a change.org petition that seeks to have ABC's popular daytime gabfest The View invite Eden Lane on the show.  It's a good time to do so seeing that Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck are leaving soon.  

ABC, why not give Eden a shot and help make a little broadcast history in the process as well? 

And yes, I enthusiastically signed the petition. This is what I added in the optional comment section when I signed it.

Eden's qualified and deserves the opportunity to do so.  It's past time to have transpeople appear on talk shows and be able to show America we can talk about a wide variety of subjects just like anyone else


Actually, she's more than qualified for it, and I hope it happens for her.  She not only deserves it, I'm also looking at the big picture long range implications of Eden sitting at that table with Whoopi, Barbara and Sherri.  

It not only gives us another chance to make a positive impression on Mr and Ms. Middle America, it also opens doors once Eden knocks that appearance out of the park. (as I have every confidence in her she would)   It gives other trans women a chance to be considered as guest hosts for The View and other television shows similar to it as well.  

Thursday, May 02, 2013

On Set With Arisce


Arisce Wanzer is a girl like us working as a fashion model in New York City.   She's part of the long, proud and stylish line of trans fashion models.  I'm even happier to find out in light of the trying month that can't recede in the 2013 rear view mirror fast enough that she's African-American.

Buzzfeed followed her to find out what a day on the job is like for her.  It also has a nice interview in which she talks about her life and her work.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Three More April African-American Transwomen Deaths

April 2013 calendar
I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the near genocidal levels of anti-trans violence that are taking away far too many under 30 transwomen of color before they've had a chance to live their lives.  We are not only losing them, but their potential contributions and talents toward building all the communities we intersect and interact with.   TransGriot  April 5, 2013

29 year old Kelly Young, 30 year old Ashley Sinclair and 20 year old Ce Ce Acoff until this month were living their trans lives.  Now they are all dead because they were fighting the just battle for self determination of their own identities.

Translation from Jordana's eloquent quote: they died because somebody hated the fact they were trans and arrogantly presumed they had the power to erase them from this plane of existence. 

Kelly died on April 3 in Baltimore, MD.  48 hours later Ashley was killed in Orlando, FL and now we discover that Ce Ce Acoff's body was found with multiple stab wounds on April 17.

Right now I'm angry, and it's not just because of the jacked up Cleveland Plain Dealer article in Ms. Acoff's case. I'm pissed off because this is the third African-American transwoman we have lost this month

What's making me even more upset right now is the latest girl like us to die was only 20 years old. 

I hear the news about this latest April 2013 death on the very night in Oakland they are having a memorial candlelight vigil for Brandy Martell who was killed one year ago today.

The three deja vu trans deaths of April 2013 eerily replicates the deadly trifecta of African American trans murders that happened just 12 months ago last April.  So you can understand why I went nuclear over that transphobic Acoff article and mad that history repeated itself . 

The painful reality we're dealing with is that three more African-American transwomen will never reach their 40th birthdays.   In Ce Ce Acoff's case,she like Chicago's Paige Clay will never see her 30th, much less her 25th birthday.  It's three more names we will have to read through blurry, tear soaked eyes on November 20 on a Transgender Day of Remembrance list that will probably be adding more names to it before the cutoff date for the 2013 TDOR memorials take place all over the world.

A TDOR names list that once again will be overflowing with the names of Black and Latina transwomen.    

Once again I'll be headed to another birthday thinking about the transwomen that won't get the opportunity to grow a year older and celebrate it like I'll hopefully be doing on Saturday.  

TransGriot Update:  Thanks to tips from readers Lilith and Jahaira discovered Ms Acoff's femme name is Cemia Dove.  Her friends called her Ce Ce.
.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Being Trans Affects Everything

Photo: www.facebook.com/ImTransAndProud
It's not a lifestyle (and I hate that conservaterm).  When you swallow those hormones or take those first shots of testosterone or estrogen, it causes seismic shifts in your life that mere cis people can't begin to comprehend.

But if we're going to gain trans human rights coverage and make transphobia as unpalatable as racism, homophobia or sexism are, we're going to have to do our best to make them understand.

The day I swallowed my first hormone I no longer had access to male privilege contrary to the ignorant lie the white privileged TERF's try to pimp.  Once my body morphed into the feminine form I will have for the rest of my life, I not only had to get used to navigating the world in it, I had to get used to becoming a moving target for sexual assault, sexism, and all the other not so fun crap aimed at women in our society. 

And I also had to get used to doing so as a Black woman, which has its own set of challenges in addition to the girl like us issues.

As Jamison Green's quote states, being trans affects everything.  It affects the paper trails in our lives.  It affects familial relationships. It affect romantic relationships.  It has a ripple effect on your friendships that you established prior to transition.  It affects your health and wellness and how you approach it.  It affects how you look at your body.  It even affects your politics and the trajectory of your own life depending on when you transition.  

While being trans hasn't been good for my bank account and purse at times, in terms of the quality of my life it has vastly improved.

There's no way in Hades I'd go back to being 'The Twin' as I call the old me.  

I have an exciting life in which I get to do public speaking, panel discussions at various conferences and colleges across the nation, radio and podcast interviews and hope to one day do international trans conferences.

I'm looked at as a respected role model and leader for this community.  I was honored with inclusion on the inaugural Trans 100 list.  I have an award winning blog that is read internationally, is considered an authoritative source of info I'm working hard to keep that way and has attracted over 4.8 million hits.

I'm way happier and more comfortable in my skin being Moni and the folks who knew me prior to 1994 can tell you the same thing. The only thing I'd change about my life is starting transition earlier. 

Being trans does affect everything, and there is more upside to that change than there is a negative downside.  And I like being a constantly evolving girl like me.

Brandy Martell Candlelight Vigil Tonight

A reminder for those of you in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area of the candlelight vigil being held tonight to commemorate the one year anniversary of Brandy Martell's April 29 death.  

It will take place at the Franklin and 13th St. corner in Downtown Oakland where she was fatally shot from 7-8:30 PM PDT.   If you need further information about it you can e-mail her at twoods@tri-city health.org or call her at 510-456-3521

Hope there is a large turnout for this memorial vigil.  I also hope that the waste of DNA who killed her will soon be brought to justice to pay for his crime.


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Rest In Peace, Shakira

Received the shocking news that one of my trans sisters, writer Shakira Daneshia Gordon Garr passed away today due to complications from childhood heart issues that started asserting themselves on April 7. 

I met her in 2011 through an online Facebook group I'm a part of and we'd gotten to know each other over the last year and a half.  The Jackson, MS native lived in the Los Angeles area and was the author of two books, 'The Downfall Of An Arrogant DL Brother' and "Roderick-The Emancipation of a Young Black Serial Killer' and was working on more.  

During one of our conversations she confided in me tht it was her fondest wish to have one of them turned into a screenplay.   We also had another long conversation in which we talked about trans human rights and the media images of trans people of color needing to change. 

She was spiritual, thoughtful, positive, had a big heart, was supportive and had kind words for everyone that got to know her.  She was one of the first people in the community who called me when my father passed away last month. 



It's just a huge shock for me and everyone else who loved her to hear that she's singing with the angels now.  It is a reminder to all of us still here on this space rock to tell the people who are important to you in your lives how much you love and appreciate them.   Once they are gone from this plane of existence it's too late. 

Rest in peace, Shakira.   Will definitely be rereading the novel you sent me in your memory.
     

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Pregnant Turkish Woman With Uterine Transplant Draws Interest In Trans Community

The World's First Successful Uterus TransplantJazz in a recent interview expressed the hope and desire to become a mother.   If medical events in Turkey continue to be positive, she and other girls like us might get the chance to have her own child with a transplanted womb.

Back in August 2011 doctors successfully transplanted a donor uterus from a deceased woman into now 22 year old Derya Cert, a Turkish woman born without one but who had functioning ovaries.   Being born without a uterus affects one in every 5000 women and until this procedure came along meant that the woman in question would be childless. 

A uterus transplant has been attempted once before by a medical team in Saudi Arabia back in 2000.  The womb came from a live donor but failed after 99 days due to heavy blood clotting and was removed from the patient receiving it.    Medical centers in Sweden and the United States are also working on perfecting uterine transplant medical technology and the medical procedures and drugs necessary to prevent the body from rejecting the transplanted organ.

Cert became the first woman in the world to have a successful transplant from a deceased woman, which raises the hopes of women that are in a similar situation to hers that they could one day undergo the procedure once the techniques are refined and give birth to their own biological children.

On April 1 Cert had an embryo implanted into her developed from one of her own eggs.  It has been confirmed that she is now pregnant    The embryo should it countinue to develop will be delevered by Ceasarean section.

Where the interest comes from in the trans feminine community is on multiple levels.  We know that Lili Elbe's death was caused by a uterine transplant done on her back in 1931 because she wanted to be able to have children. 

There are trans teens like Jazz who would love to someday become mothers, and if this technology is perfected by the time they reach adulthood, we'd have one of those situations we brainstormed about and we saw once upon a time as an impossible dream now becoming a possibility due to modern microsurgical techniques. 

We've long wistfully expressed the sentiment in transworld if only trans men and trans women could swap body parts.  It's becoming increasingly possible that a trans man when having the hysterectomy could designate it be donated to a trans woman for implantation.

But if they did so, this is a situation in which cis privilege would aggressively assert itself.  If that trans man donated their uterus, it would probably get prioritized toward being given to a cis woman without one.   Trans women would be extremely far down the transplant list despite the desires of some of us to be fruitful an multiply.    

That research is also geared at this time toward helping infertile couples, not giving trans women the ability to give birth to biological children of their own

But that shouldn't stop us from doing hard solid thinking about reproductive rights issues, procreation and the potentially game altering way that uterine transplant medical technology that hones its procedures and becomes as common as heart and other organ transplants could one day be applied to trans women. .

The trans community definitely needs to be having these conversations about where we fit in this equation and think about what happens if they perfect uterine transplants.  Could testicular ones be on the horizon next? 

In the interim, cis and trans world will definitely be watching developments in Turkey as Derya Cert's historic pregnancy comes to a hopefully successful conclusion.


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Chrysalis Lingerie Looking For Trans Women Models

jasmine
Chrysalis Lingerie, the FUBU lingerie line for girls like us that launches its e-commerce site on May 2, is now looking for trans women for its upcoming ad campaign that will run with the launch of the site:.

***ATTENTION**CASTING CALL**ATTENTION***

We are casting new models for our new Ad Campaign to coincide with our e-commerce launch. If you are in the NYC or tri-state area and are available to shoot within the next 2-3 weeks, we would love to hear from you!

We are looking for TRANS WOMEN who embodies the Chrysalis Brand. A woman who is strong willed, intelligent, and is UNAPOLOGETIC about her FEMININITY.

We are also looking for a MAN...Very good looking, rugged dark features, a bad boy, and mysterious a PLUS!

(acting experience would be great but not necessary for both roles)

Please email us at info@ChrysalisLingerie.com
with head shots, portfolio, acting reels, etc.

Please put "model casting" in subject line.

Feel free to share this with anyone and everyone who may be interested. Please and Thank you! ♥ Chrysalis
bras2I hope the man they are looking for in the casting call search also includes any trans man that fits that description.  

But I definitely want to see Chrysalis Lingerie survive, thrive and grow strong enough as a brand to where it will be able to employ more of our people in the NYC metro area and beyond.

This is an opportunity as a community to build our economic power, which is why this is my second post writing about this company I'm only invested emotionally in   We as a trans community need to support trans entrepreneurs like Cy and start using our t-bills with trans owned companies so that those companies when they grow and are looking to expand can employ other trans people.  Building economic power is just as important in our trans human rights struggle as building the political power component of it.

So for all you trans women in the New York City and tri-state area who believe you have what it takes to be a lingerie model, here's your opportunity. 

Friday, April 12, 2013

Autostraddle Salutes The Trans 100 List Women


AutostraddleLogo.jpg
The Trans 100 List is already getting the desired results of changing the conversation around trans people inside and outside our community.   They were introduced to 100 talented people who are not only doing things in their own ways to uplift the trans community, but in the process are making the communities they live in better places as well.


Check out this Autostraddle article in which they focused attention on the 51 people on the list that identify as girls like us and what they had to say about it.    

Buzzfeed offered some brief bios of each honoree, but other news outlets have mostly just published a list of names. We here at Autostraddle wanted to feature a bit more in-depth information and some actual words from the many inspirational humans on this list — more specifically, from the ladies. To that end, we've erred carefully to include only those who clearly identify as women, but there are heaps of genderqueer folks, trans men and non-binary-identified people on the list that you should check out, though, so GET ON IT!!!

This is the quote from me that appears on the Autostraddle post and it's from a TransGriot post I wrote for National Coming Out Day on October 11, 2012 .

"But as I’ve discovered ever since I began my own transition in 1993, my life not only began when I did so and got comfortable in my own skin, my family expanded. We have a proud history that is still unfolding every day. I have out and proud trans brothers and sisters all over the world now. I have trans elders who are eager to pass down their hard won knowledge to me so I can do the same for you. I love the fascinating journey of discovery I’ve been on."

Speaking of journeys of discovery, get to know the 51 diverse girls like us profiled in this post.

ELIXHER Showing Their Trans Sisters Some Love


The Trans 100 List is definitely doing its job of facilitating positive conversations inside and outside the trans community in terms of our accomplishments, who we are as people and in the case of non-white trans folks, that we exist and are major contributors to the advancement of trans human rights.

We're also starting to see breakout stories like this one as a result of the publishing of the initial list. 

ELIXHER wrote this post focused on the 11 African-American girls like us who were named to the initial Trans 100 List.   Thanks ELIXHER for the love you've shown your trans sisters since your inception and may those bonds of sisterhood continue to strengthen and grow.

To BET, The Root, The Grio and any onther African-American outlet that publishes a chococentric TBLG list from now on, you have no excuse anymore NOT to include Black trans people and defend your trans-free list by making the weak excuse that you don't lknow of any Black trans transpeople. 

You do now.   


And oh yeah ELIXHER, congratulations on reaching your fundraising goal!

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Janet's Back On The Melissa Harris-Perry Show!



Melissa Harris-Perry wasn't kidding when she tweeted that she needed to make Janet a #nerdland regular after making a stellar March 23 appearance.

And nope, Janet wasn't there to talk trans rights issues or LGBT politics.  She was back on the MHP show in a segment talking about our favorite hit show Scandal.  

Scandal by the way is the first show helmed by an African-American female lead actress (Kerry Washington) since I spent some of my teen years watching my Houston homegirl Teresa Graves on ABC's Get Christie Love.

And yeah, if you try to call me between 9-10 PM CDT on Thursdays, it's why you're not getting an answer because I'm watching the latest exploits of Olivia Carolyn Pope and her 'Gladiators In Suits'.  

For those of you who missed the #nerdland conversation about Scandal this morning, you can check out the video with one of our fave #girlslike us in it.


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Friday, April 05, 2013

Will My Transsisters Have The Pleasure Of Growing Old?


I hit the Big 5-0 last year and I'm four weeks from hopefully reaching another Cuatro De Mayo celebration and turning 51.  

But that knowledge that I'm cruising toward another May 4 birthday has been jolted by two murders of African-American transwomen in the span of 48 hours in Baltimore and Orlando.

29 year old Kelly Young and 30 year old Ashley Sinclair will not only never celebrate another birthday, they will never get to know what I felt when I hit age 40, much less age 50. I'm also thinking about the fact that had I not made the correct decisions one night back in 1996, I may not have made it to my 40th or 50th birthdays either and this post much less this blog wouldn't be here for you to enjoy..

The details of the Young and Sinclair murders are still being sorted out by the police departments in the cities they resided in, but we can presume that both of them being girls like us is probably a contributing factor to them being killed.   Their deaths have ripple effects not only for their families and friends, but all the people whose lives they touched.

I recall a conversation Janet Mock, Kimberley McLeod and I had during OUT on the Hill last year in which we talked about me hitting that milestone.  I was ambivalent about it until Janet reminded me it was a blessing for me to be this age and as an African descended trans woman I'd beaten the odds stacked against me to celebrate my 40th and 50th birthdays. (And if I continue to be blessed with good health, I hope to be around for my 60th.)

That was a sobering though that shook me out of my ambivalence toward hitting 50.  All of a sudden realizing as I did before that OUT on the Hill trans woman town hall that I was now an elder stateswoman that the girls like us of Janet's generation and younger were counting on for leadership, to pass down their history to them, be a mentor and most of all be role models as to how a trans woman can age gracefully and still be a fierce warrior for trans human rights.


As I write this post I'm thinking about Miss Major, Sharyn Grayson, Cheryl Courtney-Evans, and Tracie Jada O'Brien,  They are the trans elders I look up to, admire and I have the benefit of calling them when I have questions, concerns or simply wish to bask in their wisdom.  I would be thrilled to have the opportunity to do the same with Gloria Allen in Chicago.  

Speaking of opportunities, I'm angry that I'm not going to get the opportunity to meet or talk to Kelly or Ashley someday.  I'm disappointed I won't be able to do for them what the trans elders in my sistahcircle have done for me.  It's why I take time out of my life to converse with my trans younglings when they hit me up on my Facebook page to chat about whatever they wish to talk about or call me on the phone to do so..  

The trans younglings get a big kick out of talking to the legendary award winning TransGriot, but I get just as much enjoyment and knowledge out of these conversations as they do.

I wish I'd had that ability when I was their age to have approachable trans feminine role models to just ask questions of and soak up the knowledge about how to navigate the world in a Black trans feminine body and avoid the pitfalls, traps and snares that can sidetrack you to achieving that quality life you deserve.

I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the near genocidal levels of anti-trans violence that are taking away far too many under 30 transwomen of color before they've had a chance to live their lives.  We are not only losing them, but their potential contributions and talents toward building all the communities we intersect and interact with.  Our young transkids who are in elementary, middle and high schools now are also losing the people who could have one day potentially become their mentors.

But frankly, the one thing I want most for my trans younglings besides having trans human rights laws on the books and being able to live their lives relatively free of anti-trans hatred and bias is deceptively simple. 

I want to see them be able to grow up to reach my age and beyond.

Will my trans sisters be able to have the pleasure of growing old?  I sincerely hope so.