Happy 10th Blogiversary Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters!

Eight months after I founded TransGriot on January 1, on September 6, 2006 South Carolina based blogger Alvin McEwen was founding his now decade old award winning blog entitled Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters.

The blog was initially started by McEwen as an effort to support a book of the same name that Alvin was trying to get published that discussed the anti-gay industry, but turned out to be far more successful than the book was according to Alvin.

I finally got to meet him and Pam Spaulding at Netroots Nation 2012 in Providence, and had a blast getting to know him and discussing with him and Pam some of the issues impacting our community at the time.   I also have the pleasure from time to time of chatting with my fellow Southern blogging colleague on a somewhat regular basis.

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters has done such a great job of calling out the tactics of the anti-gay right, he has become after Joe Jervis of Joe My God, the other LGBTQ blogger they love to hate  

McEwen's blog has also been nominated twice (2014-2015) for GLAAD Media  Awards, and there are times I link to him for his take on the issues of the faux Christians and their ongoing facts free attacks on our LGBTQ community and other subjects.

Happy blogiversary Alvin and congrats on 10 years of publishing success for your blog. It is needed and even more necessary now than it was when it started.

May you have continued success in exposing the facts free hypocrisy and outright blasphemous lies of the anti-LGBTQ industry.

Congratulations On Making History Again, Fran!

It's been a history making 2016 already for attorney and human rights advocate Fran Watson, who is the current president of the Houston LGBT Political Caucus among the other things she's a part of in H-town.

Fran not only became the first African-American woman to hold the position back in January, the native Houstonian was also honored this year with a proclamation by Mayor Sylvester Turner declaring January 27 as Fran Watson Day!

Last night Fran made some more local LGBT history by becoming the first African-American woman in 23 years elected to be a Houston Pride Parade Female Grand Marshal and only the second ever..

The Rev. Carolyn Mobley was the first African-American female Houston Pride Grand Marshal, and she accomplished that feat back in 1993.

In the 2016 Female Grand Marshal race there were two additional outstanding candidates in Lynette Ross and Melissa Vivanco, so it was a tough choice for peeps voting this year..  

That was also the case in the Male Grand Marshal race in which Lou Weaver was vying to become the first ever trans masculine Grand Marshal, and Brad Pritchett and Paul Guillory were also running for it.  .

We've had two trans feminine ones in Phyllis Frye and Jenifer Rene Pool.

Brad Odom was elected 2016 Grand Marshal Male and in another tough choice race for 2016 Grand Marshal Ally, Dena Gray was elected over another deserving nominee in former HISD school board trustee Juliet. Stipeche.

Houston Pride Week will be June 19-26, with the Pride Festival and parade for the second consecutive year in Downtown Houston.


TransGriot Note:  photo of Fran by Eric Edward Schell

'The New Black' Debuts On PBS Sunday

Ironically as we were fighting to pass the HERO, across the street from City Hall at the Houston Public Library downtown branch the Houston premiere of Yoruba Richen's film The New Black was being shown. 

The HERO fun didn't end until 8 PM, way after the film ended, and I was bummed about missing it

I'll finally get a chance to see it thanks to my local PBS station.    The New Black will make its debut on PBS's Independent Lens show this Sunday June 15 at 10 PM ET / 9 PM CDT.

It focuses on the marriage battle in Maryland the Black community conversation around it. and features a few people I know. 

I'm definitely going to be tuned in for it, and hope you'll watch as well.   

2014 NBJC Emerging Leaders To Watch Campaign

Needed to post this NBJC news for those of you who are interested in applying for it or you know some young Black TBLG leaders in the 18-30 range that you believe need to be recognized for their work.

Over the ten years that the National Black Justice Coalition has been in operation, one of the things they have been laser focused on besides being unapologetically Black advocates for our BTLG community and the issues that affect us from our perspective is youth leadership development.

The NBJC Emerging Leaders Campaign seeks to identify rising Black LGBT leaders ages 18-30 n the Black LGBT movement.   NBJC also seeks to provide a platform and space for these standout leaders to use their voice, build networks, and take action in their communities.

It is important because not only is the youth perspective a necessary and critical one in shaping policies in our community, it is critical they become actively involved in order to hone their leadership skills, gain experience working with our season leaders and community elders.  It's also important for us as a Black LGBT community to have them in the leadership pipeline so that our LGBT movement can continue to grow, prosper, remain vibrant and relevant into the foreseeable future.

Nominations are now open for NBJC's 100 Black Emerging Leaders to Watch Campaign that is part of NBJC's commitment to developing our future LGBT leaders.

The compiled NBJC emerging Leaders to Watch List represents a consortium of standout leaders that are ripe with potential and who deserve a greater exposure.

You can nominate someone for consideration to be included on this list that will be revealed at the 2014 OUT on the Hill conference September 24-27 
   
All applicants must submit the following:
1. Completed Online Application (below)
2. Current Resume (send by e-mail or mail)
3. (1) Letter of Recommendation (send by e-mail or mail)

Applicants should e-mail submission materials to 100toWatch@nbjc.org. Please make sure to include your name in the subject line. Your letter of recommendation MUST BE signed. A scanned copy of the signed letter is permitted. If e-mail is not possible, applicants may send submission materials to:

National Black Justice Coalition
ATTN: 100toWatch
Post Office Box 71395
Washington, DC 20024

Applications are due May 30, 2014. Applications and materials submitted after the deadline will not be processed. If mailing submission components, please be sure that materials arrive to the address on or before the deadline. Packages postmarked on May 30, but received after the due date, will not be processed.

We encourage anyone interested in applying to become familiar with the National Black Justice Coalition and the Emerging Leaders Initiative. For further questions, comments or concerns, please contact Je-Shawna Wholley, NBJC's Program Manager for the Emerging Leaders Initiative and Special Projects, via email at jwholley@nbjc.org or (202) 319-1552 ext. 102.

Truth.Be.Told. Take Two IndieGoGo Campaign In Homestretch

Learned recently about an IndieGoGo campaign which is focused on funding a pilot for a documentary TV series called Truth. Be.Told. that focuses on Black :GBTQIA-SGL-TS visionaries to tell their stories.

Over 50 people have committed to tell their stories in Seasons 1 and 2 including Staceyann Chin (Jamaican-born, Tony Award-winning playwright); Emil Wilbekin (Editor at Large for Essence magazine), Patrik-Ian Polk (Creator of Logo TV's "Noah's Arc" series); Mia McKenzie (Creator of the Black Girl Dangerous blog) Linda Villarosa (a former Editor for the New York Times); Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Co-Creator of the Mobile Homecoming Project); Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler (Filmmaker/Transgender Rights Activist); and Justin Robinson (Grammy Award-winning musician, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops).

The Truth. Be.Told. Executive Producers are Carol Ann Shine (who produced Noah's Arc for Logo TV, plus all of Patrik-Ian Polk's films), and Jennifer MacArthur,  Public Media Engagement Consultant for Independent Television Service (ITVS) and former Director of Television + Digital Media Engagement at the National Center for Media Engagement. Katina Parker is the Creator/Director for Truth. Be. Told.

From the IndieGoGo page, here's the explanation of the basic premise of the proposed documentary series.

The basic premise of Truth. Be. Told.: is in order to become all of whom we were sent to be, as Queer Black people, we have been pushed to question everything about our multiple layers of identity - race, gender, sexuality, class, vocation - and then reconcile who we know ourselves to be with the identities our families and society-at-large have constructed for us. Some of us face rejection from our parents, children, spouses, and other family; some of us experience job loss, religious persecution, personal attacks and violence; some of us are more afraid of who we might become than our loved ones who have been waiting for us to speak our own truth. By virtue of being Queer, we do this work in spite of the risks, in order to live more fully.

Truth. Be. Told. is a success that we build together. If you fund it, I will make it. And what I make will do us proud. Together, we will create the most comprehensive exploration of Queer Black identity, to date.  

To make that season happen, they are trying to raise $4000 to produce a pilot episode for Truth. Be. Told  to augment the $4000 already raised from their first campaign.  The deadline for this campaign is June 17 at 11:59 PM PDT

So if you can, consider dropping $5, $10 or if you're feeling generous more to help reach this fundraising goal and bring this much needed documentary series to life.