Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Brady!

Have to give a TransGriot shout out to one of my fave couples in Myles Brady and Precious Davis, who finally jumped the broom into the land of matrimony in front of their family and friends at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on the University of Chicago campus yesterday..

The Trans Obamas as we jokingly call them in the community were featured on the 2016 Windy City Times Wedding Guide in another indication of just how much attention their wedding got.

I last saw them both during #CC16, and have much love and admiration for both of them. Black love, and especially Black trans love is a beautiful and revolutionary thing to witness, and wish I could have been in Chicago for the wedding.

We also finally got to see what wedding dress Precious chose on that episode of Say Yes To The Dress she appeared in that was aired back in January.

Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Brady!   Glad your special day went as perfectly as you wished it to happen.  May you two have a long, healthy and happy marriage!

The Black Trans Visibility Conundrum

At this August 2015 date in Black trans history we are in the best of times and also the worst of times.  We have had unprecedented visibility in thanks to Janet Mock,  Laverne Cox and other veteran and emerging African American trans masculine and transfeminine leaders.  

There is Isis King and Arisce Wanzer following in the trailblazing footsteps of Tracy Africa Norman and repping us in the modeling world..Laverne Cox continues her Sophia Burset role on Orange Is The New Black while adding to an impressive list of magazine covers, getting attention and buzz about playing other roles and possible network show pilots and having groundbreaking things happen for her like becoming the first ever trans person to have a wax figure of themselves at Madame Tussaud's

Speaking of movies, we have documentary films in production profiling the lives of Miss major and Marsha P. Johnson.   Fallon Fox is in the women's MMA ranks kicking butt with a 5-1 record while also being featured in the Game Face documentary and a voice for trans inclusion inside and outside the sporting world as Black trans feminine trailblazers do their thing in other fields like Angelica Ross, Breanna Sinclaire and Tona Brown

The unprecedented visibility of Black trans women even extends in the entertainment world, with a groundbreaking Bold and the Beautiful soap opera storyline that features Maya Avant, a major character on the long running CBS soap played by cis actress Karla Mosley, being revealed as a trans woman in March.  .We have gotten to see since then the issues of that revelation not only affect Forrester Creations and her relationship with Rick, but for the first time see how this plays out in a Black family. 

Even our trans brothers are finally getting their long overdue time in the spotlight, with people like BTAC founder Carter Brown, Jevon Martin, Rev Lawrence T. Richardson, Kylar Broadus, Dr. Kai Greene, Dr. Van Bailey, and entrepreneurs like Dr Kortney Ziegler representing us in the tech world.

But the increased visibility has come with a price.   Last week we had an historically unprecedented situation in which five Black trans women across the country under age 35 lost their lives, three of them were announced on the same heartbreaking day.   Far too often and the people doing the killing are in many cases other cis African-Americans as our legacy organizations are cricket chirping silent about it..

And that needs to stop. Hey NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus and the Urban League,   #BlackTransLivesMatter, too.. 

We have ministers preaching anti-trans hate from their pulpits at the behest of white right wing fundamentalists and anti-LGBT activists that is deleteriously affecting us and translating into far too many of us drying so these sellouts can build conservative street cred.

That  sets up a conundrum for Black trans people and our cis allies to ponder.  While the increased visibility for Black trans people has been a mixed bag, it's also necessary to advance our trans human rights struggle.

We must have people willing to be visible and busting stereotypes while others continuously agitate for the systemic change we need.   We can't do that while hiding or suffering in silence.  Because the trans narrative has been framed from a vanillacentric perspective, we Black trans people need to be visible in order to break down the lies and stereotypes about us that have been spread in far too many quarters of the Black community.   Those lies and stereotypes have the deleterious effect of feeding the transphobia that leads to the anti-trans violence that kills us.

We've gone through tough times before, and we will get through them again.  We Black trans people have always been visionary leaders at the forefront of change for our people, and that pattern is no different in the second decade of the 21st century.  We have much to contribute to the Black community if just given the opportunity to do so.

The question is how soon will our people give us that chance to prove it/

The State of The Black Trans Union 2014

So what's the state of the Black Trans Union?   A mixed bag that's not even close to where we need it to be, but is improving enough to give me hope that when I write this post in 2014 it will be better. 

--TransGriot  February 30, 2013  'The State Of The Black Trans Union 2013'

It's a year later and the state of the Black Trans Union circa 2014 is still a mixed bag but improving.

2013 was a breakout year for Black trans visibility.  Janet Mock and Laverne Cox led the way as they made appearances across the media spectrum on behalf of #girlslikeus and kept it real about being Black and trans.

Janet's Redefining Realness book was released to rave reviews today.  The book is paving the way toward having that long needed dialogue and conversation between Black cis and Black trans women.   Laverne has a historically groundbreaking role on Orange Is The New Black   Even B. Scott finally came out as trans. 

Kylar Broadus was deservingly tapped in September to head the Task Force's Transgender Civil Rights Project.  Tiq Milan is now at GLAAD, and Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler is taking his Trans* H4CK concept of combining a hackathon with trans social justice to solve real world problems national after its wildly successful debut in Oakland.   

The Black Trans Advocacy Conference is rapidly approaching in Dallas April 30-May 4 and promises to be bigger than it was last March. 

And yeah, a founding editor of a blog 'nobody reads' continues to chronicle the stories of our community and get a GLAAD Media Award nomination for it..

While #blacktransexcellence was breaking out all over the place, the sobering reality is still hitting us that we are facing crushing 26% unemployment rates because of the lack of NDO's that ban discrimination based on gender identity.  Yes, ENDA passed the Senate, but the Republican controlled House is preventing its passage and signature into law by President Obama.  If they won't act to pass this much needed law, then we need to act on November 4 to kick their azzes to the congressional curb and send legislators to Washington DC who will.   

Our transsisters from coast to coast are being viciously killed from Islan Nettles in New York to Domonique Newburn in Southern California and everywhere in between.  While CeCe McDonald is finally free, there are still other trans people who are facing the hell of unjust incarceration.
 
While our sisters are being killed, when they do catch the perpetrators they are increasing starting to see lengthy prison sentences.   The Islan Nettles case is unfortunately one of those in which the perpetrators of the anti-trans hate violence fatally visited upon Islan have not only yet to be arrested but prosecuted for the crime.     

We are starting to see Black trans women form alliances with our trans POC sisters in the Latina and Asian-Pacific Islander community to work toward the common goals of trans human rights coverage for all of us.   We are continuing the work to strengthen the bonds between Black transmen and Black transwomen and role model what Black solidarity looks like to the rest of the African-American community. 

I'm seeing more trans brothers stand up and take leadership roles in our community as well and begin to get recognition for it.   The Black cis community is starting to recognize that Black trans issues are Black community issues because things like voter suppression laws, sexism, racism, and discrimination affect us too.

We Black transpeople have a proud history that we are not only reclaiming, but people who are making history in the 21st century. 

But we still have much work to do. Like our SGL brothers and sisters, we are not happy about the lack of diversity in Gay, Inc organizations.  But we also need to point out that when we set up FUBU organizations such as the National Black Justice Coalition or Center For Black Equity, when you have job openings you're looking to fill, talented trans people need to be hired as well.  .  

So this is why I'm saying the state of the Black Trans Union circa 2014 is a mixed bag.   While there has been tremndous progress made in our trans human rights journey, we still have a long way yet to travel and much work ahead of us before we reach our goals.

 

My Trans Images In Entertainment Expanded Commentary

Because of the global reach of my blog and I'm not 'scurred' to give my thoughts about many issues inside and outside of the trans community, I get my share of opportunities to comment on the issues of the day.  

Sometimes they even end up in print in places other than this blog.

Recently GLAAD and The Wrap asked me and 10 other personalities in the community that included Kye Allums, Isis King, Jamie Clayton, and Mia Ryan from Houston Beauty to comment on Trans Images in Entertainment. 

My comments for the article:

1. What transgender story or character has been particularly meaningful or impactful to you?

"The best trans characters so far have been Edie Stokes in a 1977 episode of  The Jeffersons and the Alexis Meade character on Ugly Betty."

2. What is a common stereotype or cliché in stories about transgender people that you never want to see again?

"Trans media representation has been a mixed bag. We still have media outlets that refuse to follow GLAAD and AP Stylebook standards. What I would like to see are trans actors and actresses actually playing trans people, trans writers writing those roles and stories."

***
Since I was limited in the amount of words I could say in this commentary, I wasn't able to expound on them as I would have liked or can do on these electronic pages. 

So let me get started with that process right now.

As for Question 1, as someone who was wrestling with gender identity issues at the time and wondering where the trans people were who looked like me, the Edith Stokes character was a revelation at the time.  I would see after that episode two years later the first of the JET stories about transpeople who shared my ethnic heritage.

The Alexis Meade character played by Rebecca Romijn, although it was in a dramedy, actually was groundbreaking in showing a glamorous trans woman in a professional work atmosphere and in a position of power and influence.  It also realistically at times touched upon the very real issues of discrimination, differing immediate family reactions to the transition and Alexis adjusting to life in her gender role.

To expand upon my answer in Question 2, one of the things that has bothered me when I ponder the issue of fictional trans media images, is that the Edith Stokes character has been one of the few African-American trans fictional characters that hasn't fit into a stereotype.

Ever since then it has been the loud drag queen, the street hooker, the escort or the over the top personality for comic relief especially when it involves a trans character of color.  Some don't even get to survive longer than the opening five to ten minutes in the program because they are a victim of a crime.  

Other times we don't get a trans woman to play a trans woman.  It's either a male actor in drag or a cis woman playing a trans woman.  Sometimes they even do so with the cis woman's voice electronically lowered as Pam Grier's was in the 1996 movie Escape From LA when she played the transfeminine character Hershe Las Palmas.

When we finally did get a trans woman to play a trans character on the ABC show Dirty Sexy Money, Carmelita Rainer, the trans girlfriend of Sen. Patrick Darling IV played by Candis Cayne was killed during the second season.  

When Kerry Washington played a trans woman in the 2009 movie Life Is Hot In Cracktown, she revealed during an interview that she almost didn't get the role of Marybeth because she was considered by the director 'too beautiful' to play a transwoman.

Excuse me?  And that's before we even start talking about trans men.  Fictional characters to represent them are pretty much non-existent for trans men of color. 

While that's starting to change a bit, we still have a long way to go in terms of getting some balance for the fictional media images of transpeople and especially non-white trans people

Bella Maddo was a film that featured an all-trans cast.  Jamie Clayton played trans woman Kyla for several episodes during the third season of the HBO show Hung and Laverne Cox currently has a groundbreaking role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix show Orange Is The New Black.

But one thing I would love to see is a fictional trans woman, and especially a transwoman of color play a professional character who happens to be a trans woman more often.  I'd like to see more trans men pop up in fiction  We do exist in the real world Hollywood, so get busy creating them. 

Or if you're too busy for the job, you hand me the cash and I'll be happy to come up with the script for one. 

We can only hope that happens sooner rather than later.     

Happy Anniversary Of Your 49th Birthday Miss Major!

Today is the birthday of one of our iconic history making trans women in Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.

When I had my most recent conversation with her last Monday she told me that she was feeling under the weather when I was in Oakland and apologized for not be able to see me while I was there.

Apologize?  I'm the one that needs to be apologizing to Miss Major for not carving out some quality time with her while I was in Oakland. 
 

I was disappointed I didn't get a chance to see her while I was out on the Left Coast for Trans* H4CK and had I known she was ill, I would have redoubled my efforts to do so. 

Anyway, our iconic trans woman and Stonewall Vet is celebrating another anniversary of her 49th birthday, and I couldn't be happier.she's still around to tell her story.

We also get the blessings of her passing down her wisdom to me and all of us fortunate enough to bask in her majestic presence.  I'm looking forward to seeing the MAJOR! documentary when it's finally done.

Happy birthday Miss Major!  And hopefully the next time I'm in the area I'll get to ride in that Lincoln of yours.

Countdown To BTAC 2014 Has Begun!

It's official people, the countdown to the BTAC 2014 event April 29-May 4 in Dallas has officially begun.

It's going to be bigger, badder and better than last year, and I;m not saying that because me and Kylar Broadus were the keynote speakers for it and  got awards named for us along with Minister Louis Mitchell and Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler.

BTAC 2014 is quickly becoming a must attend event in our community, and with the hotel reservations now opening up the block of rooms reserved for it will quickly sell out so get busy reserving them now at the Double Tree Campbell Center

BTAC will help facilitate Room Share again this year and as I've already mentioned in a previous post about it, the last day of it is my birthday.  .

Stay tuned for more details about BTAC 2014 as I receive them and hope to see you in Dallas this spring..  

Sue And Newark Star-Ledger Still Being Obstinate About Not Correcting Her Misgendering Article

Been over a week now and Sue Epstein, the reporter stenographer at the Newark Star-Ledger still hasn't corrected the misgendering story about Eyricka Morgan that has caused her to get called out by the local and national trans community, moi, Janet Mock , our allies and GLAAD for failing to do so

And no Newark Star-Ledger, posting a link to a subsequent story about Eyricka, while a step in the right direction because it has the correct pronouns, does not absolve you from doing what the trans community has asked you to do. 

We're still waiting on you to follow the AP Stylebook guidelines and correct the story we find and have already told you was disrespectful.

Looks like I'm going to have to show you peeps how you do it.

***

New Brunswick man charged with stabbing transgender woman to death in city boarding house.

A New Brunswick man is charged with fatally stabbing a transgender woman in the city boarding house where they both lived.

NEW BRUNSWICK — A New Brunswick man was arrested today and charged with fatally stabbing a transgender woman at the boarding house where they both lived.

Devonte Scott, 21, was charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose in the death Tuesday of Eyricka Morgan, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said.

Carey said the investigation began when police were called to the boarding home on Baldwin Street in New Brunswick at 8:17 p.m. Tuesday.

He said officers arrived to find the victim injured. Morgan was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in the city, where she was pronounced dead at 9 p.m.

Carey said an investigation by Detective Kenneth Abode of the New Brunswick Police Department and county Investigator Jose Rodriguez determined that Morgan was stabbed. The results of an autopsy by the county medical examiner’s office were not immediately available, he said.

Police arrested Scott at 9:45 a.m. today at an undisclosed location, the prosecutor said. He was taken to the Middlesex County jail, where he is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Carey said the investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Abode at (732)-745-5200 or Rodriguez at (732) 745-3300.

***

See how easy that was? 

I'll bet if this were a story that disrespected a deceased person in the Jewish or any other cis communities in the area it wouldn't be sitting on your website uncorrected for over a week.

But in your minds, that unprofessional journalistic behavior is okay for a dead Black transwoman.  

DR. KRZ Named To 2013 The Root 100 List!

As I said when I was congratulating him in a previous post for the award he's getting from the Transgender Law Center October 3, at the rate he's collecting accolades, awards and honors  he's probably going to need to build a trophy case.

The Root announced its list of 100 influencers and achievers, and in addition to people like Danielle Moodie-Mills, Jay Z, Serena Williams, Benjamin Jealous, and Corey Booker is our brother Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler.

This is a big deal to be named to the Root 100 list and I couldn't be happier and more proud of him as a fellow African descended trans person..

Congratulations again Kortney!

Use Our Black Trans History Posted Here To 'Ejumacate' Folks

"One of my favorite parts about TransGriot is when you showcase some of our trans history.  It opens my eyes to a world in the past that I can't imagine living in. From Lady Java to Lucy Hicks Anderson, I appreciate knowing that we didn't just pop up in the millennium. We have been here fighting. It shows me that I have been handed a torch and I need to continue running with the torch." --Diamond Stylz  October 26,.2011

One of the things I get a lot of love and appreciation for (and requests to do more of) are the posts scattered through the almost 7000 TransGriot posts here I've written about Black trans history makers, the events we've had a hand in shaping, compiling interviews of Black trans people and chronicling our accomplishments here and across the African Diaspora.

I even have a post at EBONY.com talking about it.

I recently added a trans history one about Wilmer 'Little Axe' Broadnax, a trans man who was a major gospel singer in the 40's, 50's and 60's and more are forthcoming.   The Broadnax story also drives home the point I repeatedly make on this blog, at my panel discussions, seminars and during my keynote speeches that Black transpeople are woven into the kente cloth fabric of African-American life and we aren't going away. .

The inspiration for this post is concerning something that happened two nights ago while I was burning the post midnight oil composing a few future TransGriot articles.  I had one browser window open on my Facebook page as usual and received a chat message from Diamond Stylz asking me what was the name of our trans sister who was a JET magazine beauty of the week. 

After I replied 'Ajita Wilson' and sent her the link to the post I wrote about her, she explained moments later why she asked. 

Diamond was approached online by a cis Black woman who wished to write a Buzzfeed post entitled '12 Reasons You'll Never Be A Jet Beauty Of The Week' that wanted to include the transphobic 'because you're a man'  line as one of them.  

Diamond not only schooled her on why that particular reason was not only problematic and insultingly transphobic, she used the link to my Ajita Wilson story to prove it was historically inaccurate and wrong.

Diamond then proceeded to use more of our trans history to point out the other things Black trans women have accomplished or are part of like being a state legislator (Althea Garrison), a major fashion model (Tracy Africa Norman), a writer, community leader and past editor of People.com (Janet Mock), helping jump off the Stonewall Riots and be a major early trans leaders (Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major), help found organizations like A Dionne Stallworth and Dee Dee Chamblee, sing before a sitting US president (Tona Brown), be the first patient to go through the Johns Hopkins Gender program (Avon Wilson), help take down the odious LAPD Rule Number 9 (Lady Java), groundbreaking actress (Laverne Cox), fashion designer (Isis King), college professor and two time DNC convention delegate (Dr. Marisa Richmond), novelist Pamela Hayes, musicians across a wide range of musical genres from Jordana LeSesne, Koko Jones, Katey Red to the late T. Desiree Hines, attorneys like the late Dana Turner, ministers (Rev. Carmarion Anderson), up and coming activists like KOKUMO, trans elders such as Tracie Jada O'Brien, Cheryl Courtney-Evans and Gloria Allen, our Diaspora sisters Audrey Mbugua, Mia Nikasimo, Sahhara and some award winning trans blogger whose posts y'all will occasionally read.      

And that's before I even start talking about all the stuff Black transmen have done and are still accomplishing across the African Diaspora that deserves its own post like Marcelle Cook-Daniels, Alexander 'Bear' Goodrum, Kylar Broadus, Rev. Louis Mitchell, Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Carter Brown, Victor Mukasa and Skipper Mogapi just to name a few.   

When Diamond was through with cis homegirl she was shifting gears and asking her about doing an interview for a feminine empowerment blog she writes.

That's the power our Black trans history has.  It not only can 'ejumacate' and inspire us to do wonderful things, it also educates our own people who aren't aware of the Black trans community's accomplishments and us standing up for our human rights.  

It also tells the fascinating stories of people like Georgia Black, Lucy Hicks Anderson, Wilmer Broadnax, James 'Sweet Evening Breeze' Herndon and Jim McHarris who boldly lived their lives in an era which predates transgender being used to describe them.

They were simply living the best way they knew how their lives as the men and women they were created to be and insisted they were regardless of the genitalia configurations between their legs.

Much of the reason I compile Black trans history stories on this blog is to ensure they are documented and don't get forgotten, gayjacked or whitewashed.  The attempts to do that with the predominately African-American 1965 Dewey's Lunch Counter Sit In Protest in Philadelphia story have been made.  

It's here on the blog and I'll be adding more Black trans history stories as expeditiously as possible.

So use it trans people, allies and supporters to dispel the lie that we Black transpeople haven't contributed anything to the advancement of trans human rights, our people's advancement, aren't part of the Black community or made some history in our own right.

Use the Black trans history posted here to 'ejumacate' folks about our ongoing contributions to society here and across the Diaspora.

Black Trans History-Philecia Barnes

Black transpeople aren't strangers in having to fight tooth and nail for our human rights.   We know from our history as African descendants in America we've had to rely on the courts at times to secure those human rights.   Some cases we've trans African-Americans have engaged in we've won, some we've lost.  But they have done their part to keep the momentum of trans human rights moving forward.

Here's another one of those cases from our history book, and this one takes place in Cincinnati, OH.   Philecia Barnes was a Cincinnati police officer for over two decades before beginning her gender transition and taking the sergeant's exam and passing it on July 13, 1998.    She placed 18th out of 105 candidates who took that examination.

You would think that having placed inside the Top 20 of people who took the exam she'd have a great chance at the promotion combined with her two decades of experience as a patrol officer.   But it was well known in the CPD that Barnes was transitioning and had notified CPD of her intention to do so well before taking that exam.   She was then subjected to a stressful three-month probationary period as a sergeant, during which time she was monitored on a daily basis, forced to wear a mike, and rated on a six-page form designed specifically for her. At the end, she failed because of what was termed a lack of 'command presence' and was demoted in June 1999 on the orders of then Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas Streicher.   

But Barnes also had warning signs that something shady was going on.   Col. Twitty told Barnes she did not appear to be “masculine,” and that she needed to stop wearing makeup and act more masculine prior to Barnes's promotion.  Col. Twitty stated the objective of such statements was to correct Barnes's “grooming deficiencies.”  Col. Twitty also claimed that the decision to fail Barnes from probation had nothing to do with Barnes's transsexual characteristics.  

However, Sergeant Ford warned Barnes that he heard rumors that Barnes was going to fail probation because Barnes had not been acting masculine enough.   It was also interesting to note that Barnes was the only officer to fail probation during the seven years from 1993 to 2000, according to court papers or be placed in a training program similar to what Barnes endured.   

So what happens when you feel you've been treated unjustly?   You sue, which Barnes did in October 2000.
     
At the heart of the Barnes case was the question of whether this country's main federal law against workplace discrimination, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protects transgender workers (and tangentially, gay workers) against sex discrimination.  Neither "transgender" nor "sexual orientation" appears in the text of Title VII, which bars job bias because of religion, race, sex and other factors.

But in 1989, the Supreme Court in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins ruled that an employer who punishes a worker because he or she does not match gender stereotypes is guilty of sex discrimination under Title VII.   This case was being cited by more courts deferring to the Hopkins precedent in favor of gay and transgender plaintiffs.  It was cited in the 2012 Mia Macy v Holder EEOC case that ruled transgender discrimination is sex discrimination.

Barnes challenged her demotion from sergeant under Title VII and the Equal Protection Clause in a case she filed with the US District Court for Southern District of Ohio in addition to taking legal aim at the odious Article XII of the Cincinnati City Charter.  

Article XII was passed by voters in 1993 as a homobigoted reaction to the city’s human rights ordinance including sexual orientation as a protected class against discrimination in 1992.   Barnes and her attorney Al Gerhartstein asserted that Article XII was a factor in this case because its existence encouraged supervisors to discriminate against his client and others based on sexual orientation.

Barnes also told the judge during the district court trial that as long as Article XII existed, she and others would continue to face discrimination.

The City of Cincinnati filed a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment, which were both denied by the district court.   The City argued that a legitimate reason, poor performance, justified the demotion in this case.   The claims were submitted to a district court jury, which returned a verdict in Barnes's favor.   The jury on February 23, 2003 awarded Barnes $150,000 in compensatory damages, $140,000 in front pay and $30,511 in back pay.   The City moved for judgment as a matter of law, which was also rejected by the district court.  The district court then awarded Barnes $527,888 in attorneys fees and $25,837 in costs on February 27, 2004.  

The city of Cincinnati promptly appealed the adverse district court rulings to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  It has the reputation of being the most conservative leaning federal judicial circuit in the nation, but Barnes' case was upheld on March 22, 2005.    The Sixth Circuit agreed that Barnes had a legitimate claim of sex discrimination under Title VII. It was the second such ruling out of the Sixth Circuit, where a transgender fire fighter won the right to sue under Title VII in the July 2004 Smith v. City of Salem case.

The City of Cincinnati then appealed the Barnes case to the US Supreme Court, but on November 7, 2005  they declined to review it, which meant the ruling in Barnes favor at the Sixth Circuit level stands.   

In March 2006, the City of Cincinnati repealed the discriminatory Article XII, then passed on an 8-1 vote an anti-discrimination ordinace that added sexual orientation and gender identity to it.

So you can thank Sgt Barnes on two levels.   You can thank her for standing up for her rights and as a result of her win establishing another trans employment friendly legal precedent that happened in a conservative federal circuit.   You can also thank her for striking the legal blow that took down Cincinnati's discriminatory Article XII.

Still Striving To Be A 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 meting 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'

Had a wonderful conversation Wednesday with my BFF Maxine that I met during my time in the airline biz and who had a birthday March 30.  (Happy belated birthday Max!)   She congratulated me for making the Trans 100 and told me she was very proud of moi.  

That made me smile because she knew 'The Twin' before I began my very public transition in the middle of Terminals C and D in 1994 and having to deal with all the issues of having to go from zero to femininity in a year that go along with it.

Maxine's reaction after she saw me during that first nerve racking week of transitioning on the job was to walk her elegant self over to my gate as she was coming off her flight, hug me, say, 'What took you so long?" and tell me we needed to chat before she bounced to her next flight.    

We did have that frank conversation in the lobby of my gate area a few days later.  I valued her opinion about whether I'd make the feminine cut because I knew she was a model who was the face of major ad campaigns in the 70's and 80's.  Because she'd done time in the modeling world she read me as a girl like us and called me on it. 

One of the things I told her after she expressed her concerns is not only had I done a lot of hard solid thinking about the subject, done everything possible to try and play with the uniform I was issued (and still wasn't happy), I let her know one of my guiding transition principles (and still is) was wanting to be a compliment to Black womanhood, not a detriment to it.  

Maxine was one of the cadre of cis and trans women who stayed on my butt to make sure I never lost sight of that goal.  They also reminded me (amongst other things) there is a proud legacy and history of struggle attached to being a Black woman.  I had to reconcile that with being a Black trans leader and figuring out as part of my ongoing evolution into Black womanhood what type of Black woman I wanted to project to the world. 

And as Audre Lorde said, 'If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.'

As I approach the 20 year anniversary next year of me taking the transition plunge,  I'm confident enough to say I'm continuing to strive towards becoming that quality Black woman even if some of you think I'm already there.

There is however, always room for improvement.

BTMI 2013-The End And The Beginning Of Something Special

When I stepped into the Doubletree Campbell Centre Wednesday afternoon, I had a deja vu flashback to the 2005 Transsistahs-Transbrothas event that a group of us put together at the Galt House in Louisville, KY.

It was part of a vision I'd had of being able to have national level FUBU conventions and conferences in which we could learn, build family bonds and working relationships with each other and allies while throwing some fun into this equation as well.  

While TSTB wasn't as successful as I would have liked it to be, the idea was never far from my mind, and I knew it was something the African-American trans community needed.

Carter and Esperanza Brown have taken that trans conference idea to the next level and given it the fierce urgency of a movement.   The Black Transmen, Inc Conference and Retreat started last year in Dallas, was wildly successful and this year moved to a larger hotel where the conference can grow and evolve.

When I walked in, I had the feeling of a family reunion.  There were my old friends in the transmasculine community like Louis Mitchell and Kylar Broadus.   There were some I'd met at previous events like Kye Allums.  There were others that I've known for years online like Kortney Ryan Ziegler and Carter Brown that I was getting a chance to meet for the first time and people who I would meet at this event like Sean Coleman, Jevon Martin, Rev. Lawrence Richardson and a long, growing list of transbrothers I'd need a separate post to properly acknowledge.

I even got a chance to see my trans homegirls Carmarion Anderson, Arianna Inurritegui Lint and Diamond Stylz.  Still a trip that I get to only spend quality time with Diamond at a conference and we live 8 miles from each other.

It was also a pleasure to meet and talk to allies, spouses and SO's of our transguys in attendance and take part in some thought provoking seminars and discussions.

Lakewood Church down here in Houston in the commercials it used to promote themselves back in the day used the tagline the 'Oasis of Love'.

That's what I genuinely felt the moment I stepped off the Megabus in Dallas, was picked up by Espy and whisked to our convention hotel to the moment I departed for H-town with the BTMI Advocacy Award packed in my suitcase.   

There have been times as recently as the last TDOR in Houston in which I despite being one of four Texans to hold an IFGE Trinity award, I felt less than appreciated, invisible and sometimes disrespected here in Houston and the state for the activist work I do on behalf of the trans community  

But that wasn't the case at this BTMI conference.

I felt like was around family and enveloped in an oasis of unconditional love for the entire run of the conference.  I was repeatedly told and shown how much I was loved, appreciated and respected in spite of the fact this was the BTMI show and predominately transmasculine space.

My role as I saw it before I arrived was to respect this transmasculine convention space, deliver my keynote, participate in the Saturday community summit, support the various seminars I did attend by dropping a comment here and there, and listen to the voices of the people attending.  

And oh yeah, have a little fun while I was in the BTMI house.

But in the process of doing that, I kept getting the feeling that something truly amazing was going on.  This was a well organized, well run conference and the Friday health fair was a great idea.  I kept hearing about people driving in from as far away as Tampa, northern Virginia, Jackson MS and Minneapolis-St Paul or flying in from Seattle, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area, LA, Philly, the New York-New Jersey area and Madison, WI to be here in the BTMI 2013 house.   

In addition to talking to the brothers, I got to talk to their SO's, spouses and even their kids.  Many of the brothers told me how much help to them in their own journeys reading various TransGriot posts were and relayed how some of those posts touched them or even saved their lives.

BTMI is dedicated toward the goals of not only dispelling myths and lies about the Black trans masculine community, but building better Black men period.   I also left Dallas with a much better understanding of the challenges our trans brothers have to navigate and their issue concerns.

Some of those are similar to what Black trans women have to deal with in terms of accessing medical care while trans while others are unique to the trans masculine community.  I got to simply listen to the brothers talk about those issues and their concerns in the seminars and watch them over the past few days build a community. 

The brothers are stepping up their leadership game.  You will see some amazing things involving the Black trans masculine community happen over the next few years.  They are determined to live up to the BTMI motto of being the change you want to see in the world.   One thing they let me know they were concerned about is the off the charts violence we trans women are experiencing and they wanted to do a better job of standing up and raising their collective voices against it.      

I was honored to be in the house to witness this second BTMI conference, and was sad when the time came for me to head back to my life in Houston.  The closing faith service punctuated that four marvelous days had passed. 

I loved the ball, the pageant, and playing cards and dominoes during the Wednesday night meet and greet.  I even got the opportunity to read one of my poems I have posted on TransGriot during the Thursday night Transmanifest LIVE! event. 

BTMI 2013 has ended as all conferences must, but I hope and pray that the friendships made there last a lifetime.  There were working partnerships started with allied groups.  Issues were discussed in a tell it like it T-I-S is manner and possible solutions to those problems discussed.  

And yes, we disussed the fact that we need to support BTMI and thi conference with our t-bills.  Slide them a $5, $10 a $20 or whatever you can afford on a regular basis so that this organization can continue to put on this high quality conference and expand programming.

BTMI 2013 is over and headed to our history books.  For those who wanted to be here but couldn't for various reasons, when the save the date post goes out on this blog and other electronic venues, I hope you folks who couldn't be here for the second edition of this conference will make it your business to be with your brothers for the third edition in 2014. 

And you may see the TransGriot teaching a seminar or two there as well