All Hail History Making King Niko!

See, Dinnah Escanilla.  If you had let Andy Moreno run you wouldn't have had all that unnecessary drama at North Dallas HS and your name wouldn't be carved in transphobic infamy as the moral equivalent of George Wallace.

Focus, Moni...

Here's a story  about a transperson running for homecoming king (or queen) that unlike Oak's and Andy's  school administration resisted runs to become homecoming royalty had a more positive ending.

Niko Walker just began his transition as he started his senior year at Culver City High.   When friends suggested the vice president of the school's Gender-Sexuality Alliance run for the homecoming court, he scoffed at the idea.  But they eventually talked him into running by pointing out it would be helpful and inspirational to others in the community.

“If I ran and I won, it would be a big thing,” he said.  “For someone who is struggling with their identity, if they can see a transgender win homecoming, they would be more comfortable with themselves.”

And on November 6 he was crowned homecoming king at Culver City High School.

Walker’s win makes him the first-ever transmale student in the United States to be elected homecoming king at his school and keep the title.  Oakleigh Reed of Muskegon, MI. won at his school, but was denied the crown by school officials.   .

“At first I was like: ‘Did they just say my name? I was so confused!” he said moments after the win. "After it set in, I felt really accomplished,” he said.  “I set out to prove a point and I proved it.”

Yep Niko, you proved that if we're allowed to do something, transpeople can usually accomplish anything we set our minds to do.  

Congratulations and all hail King Niko!.

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TRANSFORMATION: A Community Writing Salon At Mills College

When: Friday September 24th, October 22nd, and November 12th, 2010  3:00-5:00 p.m. PDT
Where: The Bender Room #200

As part of my work with the "Belonging Initiative at Mills College", I am inviting you to build community across boundaries at Mills College. The Belonging Initiative at Mills College mission is "to connect unlikely allies across differences, in order to build strong integrated communities where all students can feel a sense of belonging, particularly on College campuses".

TRANSFORMATION:A Community Writing Salon with Ms. Terrilynn Cantlon and Mr. Fresh! White. Fresh! is a professional Whole-Life Coach, Community Activist, Facilitator and experienced LBGT Diversity Speaker covering gender diversity and inclusion.

We will be co-presenting information from the Gender Diversity Project this Friday at 3:00-5:00 p.m. in the Bender Room. Come and be a part of building a stronger inclusive campus at Mills College. There is no charge, and snacks will be served for free. We will be holding a no cost raffle for some cool prizes! Open to interested faculty, students and staff. Note: This salon is open to the public. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Funded by a civic engagement grant through the Mills College Institute for Civic Leadership. Advised and mentored through the Mills College English Department. Dr. Ruth Saxton, Dr. Diane Cady and Dr. Rebekah Edwards faculty mentors and advisors. In association with the Mills College Division of Student Life “Belonging Initiative”.


For further information contact:
Terrilynn Cantlon
tcantlon@mills.edu

Well, At Least They Kept The Colors

As some of you TransGriot readers know, I spent 14 years in the airline industry working for Continental Airlines at IAH.

So when the announcement was made yesterday that United Airlines and Continental had reached agreement on a merger deal, even though I was hearing the chatter about the deal last weekend.there was a little bit of sadness in it for me.

My late grandfather worked for CAL for 35 years, and I was a second generation employee that came in during the 1987 merger with CAL, Texas International, People's Express and Frontier under Frank Lorenzo.

I was there when the airline literally went from worst to award winning first, dealing with a bankruptcy along the way and other soap opera-novel worthy drama.

But we always had (and still do) have some great people at IAH and other places around the CAL system who loved the 'Proud Bird With The Golden Tail' and busted their butts to provide quality service regardless of the circumstances.

Some have retired, some have left us, some have transferred to other places, but I've been getting reconnected lately with many of my CAL coworkers through Facebook.

So now that the deal is done and pending regulatory approval would create the worlds largest airline, what's next short of the Continental name will disappear like Pan Am, TWA, Ozark and all the other airlines formed during the air travel golden age?

The merged company will have CAL's Jeff Smisek as its CEO, but the corporate HQ of the merged carrier will be in Chicago.

That means some of my friends at the downtown HQ may be moving to Chitown. IAH will have hub status, but where Cleveland will fit is going to be the interesting question.

CAL has a predominately Boeing fleet, while UA has an Airbus dominated one.

We'll see how this plays out over the rest of the year, but after 76 years, the Continental Airlines name will no longer grace the side of an airplane.

California LGBT Prisoner Safety Bill Passes Crucial Assembly Committee

I talked about a bill last year designed to help protect GLBT prisoners that passed in the California Assembly and the California Senate, but was vetoed by the Governator.

I was advised by Jay Davis of Equality California that the bill, AB 633 was recently reintroduced for this session and on January 12 passed by a unanimous 6-0 vote in the California State Assembly Committee on Public Safety.

AB 633 is sponsored by Equality California (EQCA) and was introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco). The bill is designed to prevent violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the state prison system. The bill was vetoed by the Governor last year but was recently reintroduced.

“We must put an end to the brutal assaults LGBT prisoners so often face,” EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors said. “Passing this bill would be an important step toward preventing violence against LGBT prisoners and ensuring they have access to the same safeguards under the law as other inmates. We have already started discussions with the Governor's office about why this bill is needed and why the current procedures are not working. We are hopeful he will reconsider his position and sign the bill if it passes this year.”

According to a study by UC Irvine commissioned by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 69 percent of transgender inmates report sexual victimization while incarcerated.

It's not just a California problem. Abuse of transgender prisoners happens across the country and around the world to the point where trans prisoners have to be segregated for their own protection. In Italy a transgender only prison was just opened in the town of Pozzale.

By amending the Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Act (SADEA) of 2005 to include self-reported safety concerns related to sexual orientation and gender identity on the list of factors for consideration when classifying and housing prisoners, the legislation promotes safety for and prevents assaults against LGBT people in the prison system. The list of factors currently includes age, type of offense and prior time served.

"All people deserve basic protections — including those serving time in our state prisons," Assemblymember Ammiano said. "No prisoner should fear for his or her life or be the target of abuse because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity."

The bill originally developed following a Senate Public Safety Committee meeting held in San Francisco in December 2008 and is chaired by Senator and former Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles). The meeting, which was sponsored by EQCA along with Just Detention International, the Transgender Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project, exposed the dire issues facing LGBT people in California prisons in order to produce concrete solutions. The LGBT Prisoner Safety Act is an important step toward ensuring the safety of this highly vulnerable population.

Let's hope the bill fares better in this California legislative session than it did last year and actually becomes law.