400 Years of Africans In America

Today is the 400th anniversary of the arrival of captive Africans at Old Point Comfort in what would later become Fort Monroe in Hampton, VA.

They were part of an original group of 60 Africans captured in in the kingdom of Ndongo in present day Angola.   With the Transatlantic Slave Trade well underway in the Caribbean and Latin America, the captured Africans were placed on a Spanish ship named the San Juan Bautista to transport them on an unwanted boat ride to Mexico.

The San Juan Bautista was attacked by two pirate ships, the White Lion and the Treasurer, who forced the Spanish ship to surrender its cargo of captive Africans.   Those ships got split up during a storm, and the White Lion ended up at Old Point Comfort.

I also need to emphatically point out these early Africans weren't slaves.   Slavery was not legal in Virginia at that time and wouldn't become so until 1661, so those 20 plus Africans from Angola were traded for food and supplies and treated as indentured servants. 

At the time of the Africans arrival, the colony at Old Point Comfort was failing.   The colonists were resorting to cannibalism to survive, and now you had these Africans who arrived just in time with farming and artisan skills that were spread out amongst the nearby Virginia area homes and plantations

Those African farmers also had the skills to cultivate rice, sugar and cotton, crops that were perfect for this climate, but didn't have the seven year contracts like the white indentured servants from England.  That meant the Africans were at the mercy of their plantation owners

Many of those Africans worked 15-20 years before they were granted their freedom.   Once that freedom occurred, the freed Africans started their own homesteads, married other white and Native Americans, purchased the freedom of other family members, owned land, and enjoyed their freedom during that 40 year period before slavery stained what would later become the United States for the next 200 plus years



One of the other things that happened with those first African arrivals was the first African descended child born in North America.   Isabella and Antony were part of that group of 20 Africans that ended up living at Capt William Tucker's home, the commander of Point Comfort

His home was in present day Hampton. and Antony and Isabella eventually got married and had a son named William Tucker. The Tucker family was documented in the 1625 Virginia census, and William was baptized on January 4, 1624.  William is considered to be the first documented African descended child born in English North America.

The occasion of the arrival of Africans in America will be marked by a series of events in Hampton during the August 23-25 weekend. 

In light of the fact we have ignorant MAGAts shouting 'go back to Africa' to us, this 400th anniversary celebration of the arrival of Africans in America is a timely one.

It drives home the point that we have not only been here in North America for 400 years and predate the founding of the United States, but despite all the ongoing challenges of being Black in this country, we have managed to persevere, and thrive.

Munroe Bergdorf's 'A Qween's Speech' Discusses TBLGQ Issues In The UK

Every Christmas Queen Elizabeth II gives across The Pond what is called 'The Queen's Speech' on television that's similar to our State of the Union one that happens in January.

The more formal name for it is the Royal Christmas Message, and it started with King George V in 1932.   It is now broadcast on radio and television in Britain and across the Commonwealth.  In the US, you can see it on C-SPAN because they usually broadcast it or if you live in a US state along the Canadian border since the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) also televises it..

In the nearly 66 years that Queen Elizabeth II has sat on the British throne, she has not said one word or syllable concerning TBLGQ rights issues in the UK.

Trans advocate Munroe Bergdorf, frustrated by another speech in which the Queen failed to mention her British TBLGQ subjects, took to social media to give her own alternative one called 'A Qween's Speech'

She also made it clear she wasn't trying to deliberately pick a fight with the Queen.

“I’m not trying to cause beef with the Queen, but it’s very frustrating to see institutions of high influence glaze over the issues and sprinkle sugar on things when things aren’t going very well. Bergdorf said."  
"To not even mention racism, sexually transmitted diseases, gender-based discrimination, or the rise in hate crimes since Brexit invalidates the experiences of so many people," she added.

Bergdorf started by talking about education.  “Let’s start with education, please think of the children. Take a moment to think about the young ones who still don’t see any representation or relatable role models in history, on television, or in classrooms."

She also talked about some of the progress being made, and laid out ways in which Britain can improve when it comes to TBLGQ rights issues.
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Here's the video of Bergdorf's speech.

 

Afro Brazilian Trans Woman Gets Elected In Brazil!

There were over 50 trans candidates running in Brazil for various seats at all levels of the Brazilian government when their election took place on October 7. So far only one has broken through to make Brazilian electoral history.

She is Erica Malunguinho, an Afro-Brazilian community leader and activist who just became the first trans person to win elective office in a state congress in Sao Paulo.

She is the founder of Aparela Luzio, a space since its 2016 opening that has become important to Brazil's Black population.   Now this groundbreaking win.

Malunguinho was motivated to run after the March 13 assassination of queer Afro Brazilian politician Marielle Franco.    Franco was murdered a few days after she spoke out against police brutality   

Malunguinho was also part of the 'Seeds of Marielle' collective of 231 Black female candidates running for office in the country in memory of the slain advocate, and was deeply affected by Franco's murder.

“I cried a lot when I heard about Marielle’s murder,” she told Afropunk. “Her political project was just wiped out. It was a message to us that we should not be there fighting over our bodies and resisting genocide and racism. I had so much hate in me. At the same time, I knew I needed to take this hate and do something positive with it.”

That you did.   This is a groundbreaking win for Brazilian transkind and the Afro Brazilian community.   May you represent those communities well and to the best of your ability.        

Happy 100th Birthday Nelson Mandela!

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others' 
-Nelson Mandela 

Today would have been the 100th birthday of former South African president and human rights warrior Nelson Mandela, who died December 5, 2013 at age 95. 

You TransGriot readers are probably aware of his remarkable life story.   His fight against an unjust and racist apartheid system that led to him being imprisoned for 27 years of his life before being released in 1990.   He became the first Black president of South Africa in 1994 and served until 1999. 

And he was admired and respected around the world.  While he would humbly say "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances ", the rest of the world saw him as a global icon and a leader in the same territory as the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Mahatma Gandhi.

We sill have his words to peruse, do some hard solid thinking about, and most importantly live by, especially on this day.  .        

Laverne's Historic Cosmo Cover

Just in time for Black History Month, Laverne Cox continues to blaze trails and make me and other Black trans peeps proud of her.

Her latest history making endeavor is to become the first out trans woman of any ethnic background to be featured as a cover girl for Cosmopolitan magazine. 

Cosmo South Africa decided to focus their February issues on the TBLGIQ+ community and love, and tapped Laverne to be on the cover of it.

In her letter to the magazine, she also continued to speak about trans women  dating and finding love.

'Trans women need to be loved out in the open and in the light,' she said.    I agree with her.  I also believe that if their wasn't a stigma toward dating trans women and the people who love us could do spenly, it would go a long way toward cutting our murder rates and the domestic partner violence we see.

But that's another post.

This one is all about celebrating Laverne's historic Cosmo cover achievement.   

Hope she also gets some solo covers on ESSENCE (she's done two group covers) and EBONY magazines this year as well

Meet Ghanian Trans Woman Angela Coleman

One of the things that was also a catalyst towards me founding TransGriot 12 years ago was wondering where was the information and stories concerning trans people from the second largest continent on planet Earth?

I knew African trans people existed, but the information about international trans folks was largely focused on Europe, Asia and Latin America and not Africa.

That bothered me as a child of the African Diaspora,  and I made it a mission of this blog to seek those stories out and bring them to my readers.  #WeExist, especially on the African continent

It is a sincere joy for me during my travels and online surfing to not only encounter trans people from the Mother Continent, but hear about their journeys and stories.   

In many cases, like Audrey Mbugua of Kenya, her fight to be herself has established legal precedents in her nation.  Another African trans person in Victor Mukasa of Uganda sued and won a lawsuit against his nation for harassing him but unfortunately had to flee his homeland to eventually live in the United States 

African trans people have persevered in the quest to be eir authentic selves even in the face of severe societal disapproval, and those stories need to be heard by their African descended cousins on this side of the planet.

It also drives home the point that it is not 'unAfrican' to be transgender. 

Here's a video about 26 year old Angela Coleman, who is probably the first out trans person in the nation of Ghana

Nigerian Women Bobsledders Make Olympic History

The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea will start on February 9, and the sports junkie I am will definitely be tuned into the action from that date until they conclude on February 25.

Hopefully Kim Jong Fool Un will behave himself while the world's athletes are on the other side of the DMZ from North Korea  .

As has been proven in the United States, track athletes have been majorly successful in crossing over and reinvigorating the US bobsled program.   Vonetta Flowers earned a gold medal in the two woman bobsled competition in Salt Lake City in 2002,  and the 2014 Sochi bobsled team was composed of five Black women including Summer Olympic gold medalist Lauryn Williams and Lolo Jones 

Now in a shades of Cool Runnings Jamaican bobsled team story,  three US based Nigerian women track athletes have made history by being the first continental African team to qualify a sled in the Winter Olympics.

Driver and team captain Seun Adigun and brakewomen Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere are also the first Nigerians to ever qualify for the Winter Olympics, and did much of it on their own. 

Adigun competed as a sprinter for Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Games in London and got the idea to compete in the Winter Games while watching on television the success the 2014 USA women's bobsled team had in Sochi powered largely by US track athletes

She convinced fellow US based track athletes Omeoga and Onwumere to join her, and Adigun built a wooden sled for the trio to practice with they dubbed 'the Mayflower' until they could purchase a bobsled.   Adigun raised $75,000, including $50,000 from a single anonymous donor of a stated goal of $150,000/ 

That was enough to get attention and support from the Nigerian Olympic Committee, for a Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation to form and for the trio to get a chance to practice on ice. They have since that time obtained corporate sponsorships from Under Armour and Visa

To qualify, the trio had to drive their sled through five runs on three different bobsled tracks in Utah, and at Whistler and Calgary which they successfully completed in November by finishing fifth.

This is a huge milestone for sports in Nigeria," Adigun told ESPN. "Nothing makes me prouder than to know that I can play a small role in creating opportunities for winter sports to take place in Nigeria." 

"Our objective now is to be the best representation of Africa that the Winter Olympics has ever witnessed," said Adigun.

“I commend the personal dedication and commitment of these women,” Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation President Solomon Ogba told ESPN. “Their hard work was inspiring, and I hope Nigerians can appreciate what it took for them to achieve this — the work, the discipline and the personal sacrifices. They were amazing throughout this journey.” 

While continental African athletes have competed in the Winter Games, as of yet none has stood on a medal podium,

We'll see in a few weeks if this story has a happy ending and ends up at a multiplex near you.

New 'Black Panther' Movie Trailer

I already have February 16 circled on my calendar.

So what's transpiring on that day?   In addition to it being in the middle of Black History month, it's the day the long awaited and highly anticipated Black Panther movie hit your local multiplex. 

The new trailer has just been released with a nod to Gil Scott Heron's classic song'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' playing in the background.

But don't take my word on how awesome this movie trailer and the movie is going to be, see for yourselves.

 

Black and German

One of the little known things about me is I took German in high school, and I have a cousin who is German. 

Black people have lived in Germany for 400 years, and there are an estimated 1 million Afro Germans in the nation today.  I was aware of that history because of the late EBONY managing editor Hans Massaquoi and his book about growing up Black in Nazi Germany called Destined to Witness.

Massaquoi, while being a naturalized American citizen, still considered Germany home.

That's one reason why I was thrilled to discover the Deutsche Welle documentary by German journalist Jana Pareigis (who is yes, Black and German) discussing the Afro German community

Pareigis is also a history maker.   She is the first Afro German to be a commentator on German television for the German news network Deutsche Welle and now is a co host on ZDN's morning show


   

Third Annual Jamaica Pride Happening August 1-7

For the last two years we at BTAC have been exceedingly proud to note that our BTAC fam includes two people from Jamaica and Brazil, and we hope it continues to expand across the Diaspora at #BTAC2018.

Our award winning Jamaican BTAC brother Neish McLean is part of J-Flag, TransWave Jamaica and on the organizing committee for their pride event.

It would surprise many in the US to know that since 2015 Jamaica's TBLGQ community has held a pride celebration during the island nation's Emancipendence Week.   There's also another pride event that happens later in the year in Montego Bay.

Emancipendence Week celebrates the ending of slavery on the island in 1832 by the British and the nation's independence Day from Great Britain on August 6, 1962.  

Something else that will be celebrated during Emancipendence Week from August 1-7 will be the third annual Jamaica Pride week to celebrate LGBT life and culture in Jamaica, the Caribbean and the Diaspora.

The two previous J-Flag sponsored events have been incident free, and the organizers not only strive to keep it that way, this year they want people from across the Diaspora and the Caribbean to come to Kingston and witness #PrideJA2017 for themselves.

Big Freedia, the Queen of Bounce is heading there from NOLA to be there for the event.

The weeklong #PrideJA2017 schedule of events kicks off on Tuesday, August 1 with a Sports Day and Lyme   Lyme is Caribbean slang for hanging out and chilling with your friends.

Wednesday August 2 is Open Mic Night and the start of the two day inaugural Pride JA Conference that concludes on August 3.    Also happening on Thursday August 3 is the Pride JA Concert

If you're wanting to attend the Pride JA Conference and submit abstracts and panels for it, they are due on June 25.  Information on how to do so can be found here.

Friday August 4 is the Day of Service, in which beautification projects and the feeding program will take place along with the Movie Night and Bonfire.

Saturday August 5 is the Wellness Walk and Health Fair, followed by a Black Tie Event that evening.

Sunday August 6 is not only Jamaican Independence Day, but the day the Family Picnic happens

Pride JA 2017 concludes on Monday August 7 with a Breakfast Party-All Inclusive Event.

That's the current schedule, and as the date gets closer to it happening, I'll keep you TransGriot readers updated about this third annual pride event that continues to make and write TBLGQ history in Jamaica and across the Diaspora.

The J-Flag sponsors, partners and organizers also hope this event continues the ongoing process of opening hearts and minds on the island as they build pride in being Jamaicans who just happen to be LGBTQ people.  

Sit Yo' Azz Down Chimamanda And Talk To A Black Trans Woman...

Before you part your lips to say something this cluelessly ignorant about us ever again.

Some of my TransGriot readers have asked me what are my thoughts concerning the jacked up comments that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has made in a British Channel 4 interview in which she made some negative comments about trans women,



After seeing the video, it pissed me off to the point I needed 24 hours to craft a response to it.

It's obvious in this series of WTF level contradictory statements that Adichie has neither talked to or spent any time talking to trans women, and especially Black trans women.  

If she had, she wouldn't be facing the firestorm of criticism she's getting now and me writing this post telling her to have several seats.

Doesn't matter if trans women's parents attempted to raise them as males with the male privilege that comes attached with that.  The nanosecond we start taking hormones and our bodies morph to that female form, we lose whatever male privilege we have and get all the gender specific BS aimed at women on this planet.

There also crap that we get simply for being trans or seen as effeminate..

We in Trans Feminine World don't and never have denied the fact there are certain aspects of our lives that are intrinsically different from a cis woman.  But at the same time neither can you deny or dismiss the fact that there are also similarities in feminine life experiences with cis and trans women.

Neither can you deny unless you are being willfully ignorant and intellectually dishonest about it that trans women get sexually assaulted, murdered, discriminated against and disrespected simply for being and living as women on a plant hostile to femininity.

The fact that we have increasing numbers of trans women who have experienced life on this planet as female from childhood makes her comment problematically clueless.  It also makes Adichie guilty of doing to trans women what she cautions people about in terms of making blanket statements based on a single narrative.

Chimamanda, it's not like I and other Black trans women haven't been telling our stories.  Like your fellow feminists, you refuse to hear it.  We're tired of the facts free sliming that comes from feminists and TERF's. We're also tired as Black trans women of the racism that comes with those facts free lies about us we've heard since the disco era.

It's also comments like these to borrow the words of my homegirl Bryanna Jenkins, that make Black trans women as reluctant to trust and embrace Black cis women as Black women are to trust white women.

But with a hostile Republican administration in place in Washington DC and various US states, if we want to solve the problems that impact all women, both cis and trans Black women are going to need to have those hard ongoing conversations in order to build the sisterhood we'll need to make that collective  action happen.

The base level of understanding we need from Black cis women to get this started is that Black trans women are women.  We can go from there.    

So sit your azz down Chimamanda and talk to a variety of Black trans women before you ever again part your lips to say something as problematic about us in a public setting ever again.

Tschan Andrews' TedX Talk

Tschan Andrews is a former model, activist, writer and former model who in this TedX talk tells her story and experience as a Black trans woman, and how these two facets of her identity intersect.

She is also one of our international trans sisters based in London, and talks about the trans experience from a much needed Black international perspective.   She is willing to use any platform to campaign for the inclusivity,  awareness and human rights for not just that group of the population, but for all. 

This is her TedX talk at University College London that was posted on January 18 entitled 'Transploitation: The Reality of Being A Black Trans Woman'

Human Rights Activist Viola Desmond To Become First Canadian Woman On Canadian Currency

I've talked about on the blog beautician and businesswoman Viola Desmond, who nine years before Rosa Parks did so in the US, the then 32 year old was arrested for sitting in the 'White Only' section of a theater in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia while waiting for her car to be repaired.

Her action challenged anti-Black discrimination in Canada and ultimately resulted in 1954 of the repeal of segregation laws in the province of Nova Scotia.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada governor Steven Poloz announced during an event in Gatineau, Quebec on Wednesday  that out of the thousands of Canadian women nominated to be on the $10 bill in the wake of Prime Minister Trudeau's announcement on International Women's Day it would happen, the person selected would be Viola Desmond.

Starting in 2018, she will become the person that people will see on Canadian $10 banknotes besides Queen Elizabeth II.

"It's a big day for a woman to be on a banknote. It's a really big day to have my big sister on a banknote," said her 89 year old sister Wanda Robson about the honor.  
Desmond was previously honored with a Canadian postage stamp in 2012 and having a Halifax, NS harbor ferry boat named for her.

It was the culmination of a process in which 10,000 names were submitted across Canada for the honor,  

The criteria for the persons submitted to be on the $10 banknote were they had to be Canadians either by birth or by naturalization, the nominee. demonstrated outstanding leadership, achievement or distinction in any field benefitting the people of Canada in the service of Canada and had to be deceased for at least 25 years. Desmond passed away in 1965 at age 50

I'd say taking down Jim Crow style segregation in Nova Scotia qualifies.  You also have to think about the fact that she as a Black woman owned her own business during that late 1940's time period time

When I asked writer Renee Martin about it,  she stated that she hopes it leads to Canadians expanding the teaching about her life that only happens in limited amounts in Grade 10 and Atlantic Canada and coming clean about the fact that anti-Black racism exists in the Great White North

But it's still amazing for me as a child of the African diaspora to see an African descended woman becoming the first Canadian woman of any ethnic background to be featured on her nation's currency.

Bermuda Marriage Equality Referendum On Thursday

You might be surprised to know that I have a few Bermudians who not only are fans of this blog, but I am Facebook friends with.  I had the pleasure of meeting Zakiya Johnson-Lord while I was in Chicago for Creating Change a few months ago.

I noticed as I perused my Bermudian friends pages the #VoteYESYESBermuda hashtag and other similar ones started popping up on their posts.  When my curiosity kicked in to find out what those memes and hashtags were about, I discovered it was concerning an upcoming June 23 marriage equality referendum on the island.

The non binding referendum will ask Bermudians to ponder and vote YES or NO on two questions that concern TBLG Bermudians.

Are you in favour of same sex marriage in Bermuda?
Are you in favour of same sex civil unions in Bermuda?

Advance voting for those who can prove they will be off island on election day took place June 14-16 at the Bermuda College Student Centre, and it will be interesting to see how the June 23 voting takes place.




Our Bermudian cousins in favor of marriage equality not only posted the #VoteYESYESBermuda hashtags on their pages and Twitter feeds, the #VoteYESYES, #LoveWinsYESYES and  #LoveMustWin tags have also popped up.

I'm surprised that our US based radical 'christians; haven't openly meddled in Bermuda's electoral business, but then again let me not speak too soon since they may be on the down low funneling cash to the anti- marriage side.

Deadline to register was May 18, and hope my Bermudian friends are not only registered to handle their electoral business, but hope it goes their way on Thursday when voting starts at 8 AM Bermuda time and continues until 8 PM their time at these locations.

Best of luck and hope people not only vote YES YES, but that love wins on Bermuda,

What Happens With My African Diaspora Trans Peeps IS My Business

One of the things that has always bothered me is that I am more cognizant about trans people and the issues that affect them in Latin America, Europe, Australia, and the Asia-Pacific region than I am about the issues that affect the trans peeps that share my African bloodlines on the Mother Continent.

That desire and yearning to know more about what's happening with trans issues on the African continent is one of the reasons why TransGriot was founded ten years ago.

It's also part of my mission, and one of the reasons I eagerly feature posts about African trans activists like Kenya's Audrey Mbugua, talk about organizations like South Africa's Gender DynamiX,  and follow what happens when African trans activists organize regional conferences and gatherings..

I was cheering when Titica was busting out as an out trans music artist in Angola, and was keenly interested in hearing her story

It's also why I have the attitude that what happens to African descended trans people in the Caribbean, Latin America, Brazil, continental Africa or anywhere else on the planet where African descended trans people reside IS my business.

That desire to know more about what's going on with my continental African trans siblings is why I'm proud to have several African diaspora trans siblings as FB friends. I not only want to know what's happening in their lives, but git is a two way relationship that helps give me  insight and context as an African descended person living in the United States concerning some of the trans developments going on in continental African nations and across the African Diaspora from their vantage points. .

It's also interesting to note that there are not only gender variant peoples on the African continent, but one of the initial international destinations where trans women from around the world converged to get gender confirmation surgeries in the mid 1950's-1960's was Dr. Georges Burou's Clinique du Parc in Casablanca, Morocco. 

Dr. Burou not only was the innovative surgeon who performed the SRS surgeries for April Ashley, Marie-Pier Ysser, the late Jacqueline-Charlotte 'Coccinelle' Dufresnoy, and author Jan Morris he influenced his contemporaries in the SRS field like Dr Stanley Biber

Speaking of gender variant people on the African continent, there is also evidence of gender variant behavior across the African continent going back to ancient Egypt and persisting to the present day.  During the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate that was in power from the 1200's to the 1700's, assigned female at birth children who exhibited masculine behavior could be raised as men.

In Benin, during its Kingdom of Dahomey days, there were the Mino, assigned female at birth persons (AFAB)who were warriors, and considered masculine.  The Maale peoples in Ethiopia have peeps they call the Ashtime, assigned masculine at birth (AMAB) eunuchs who lives as women.  The Ashtime term evolved to become a term describing all types gender variant people who were assigned masculine at birth.

In Swahili speaking areas of the Kenyan coast including Mombasa, the Mashoga reign, and in the Democratic republic of the Congo, the Mbo people have the Mangaiko, and in Madagascar, the Sakalava people have the Sekrata, who are analogous to binary trans women.

And I agree, we need more media focus on continental Africans when we talk about transgender issues and the unique complexities and challenges it entails.

Trans people exist on the second largest continent on this planet, and their stories need to be heard and talked about.   As long as this blog exists, that's exactly what's going to transpire..

What happens with my African Diaspora trans peeps is not only my business, I have a responsibility to help get those stories out to my readers and the general public.. .  .

First Ever Africa Trans* Visibility Day

I keep pointing out the trans human rights movement is an international one, and we have increasing evidence of that global reach every day.  

On December 5 the first ever Africa Trans* Visibility Day event organized by Iranti-org took place at Johannesburg's Constitutional Hill.   Activists from six African nations gathered for an all day program of panel discussions covering trans rights, accessing health care, safety, security, legal recognition and employment in their various nations and on the African continent.

The event was also designed to create visibility for trans Africans and celebrate them taking ownership of their lives.  The afternoon program was filled with musical performances and gatherings to give the attendees a chance to connect and network with each other.  

Activists for this inaugural Africa Trans* Visibility Day event came from Lesotho, Kenya, Botswana, Namibia, Uganda and the host nation South Africa

The organizers not only wish to see this become an annual event that has ownership from all trans Africans, but the hosting duties be rotated amongst various nations.

Hope that happens for Africa Trans* Visibility Day as well

African Trans* Stories

A conference is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa today for Africa Trans* Visibility Day.

It continues to point out the increasing visibility of trans people on the African continent, and my African trans cousins continuing to come out of the shadows, owning their power, and demanding recognition of their humanity.  

Continental African trans people taking their rightful place in their various nations is a much needed and welcomed sight for those of us in other parts of the African Diaspora who would like to see more continental African trans leaders get the attention in international trans human rights circles they deserve.

Speaking of conferences, back on September 28-30 there was a previous conference organized in Johannesburg that brought together activists from 12 nations put together by Gender DynamiX, Iranti-org and Global Action For Trans* Equality (GATE)

In this video, continental African trans people are telling their stories and giving you a taste of what living their trans lives is like in their various nations