Pam's Ponderings- Judge Mathis And The Judgmental Natal Woman

TransGriot Note: Been a while since I've had the pleasure of a post from author Pamela Hayes on the blog and since some of you readers have been asking about her, her she is.. 

This morning, while receiving a dialysis treatment, I was sipping Perrier and watching Judge Mathis, which featured a trans woman litigant, who was also a hairdresser. She was irate because a customer in the salon snapped a photo of her while she slept and put it on the Internet, asking the question, “Is this a man or a woman?”

The trans woman was embarrassed, fuming and seeking justice. She said that one of her regular customers, a pastor or First Lady of a church told her (the trans woman) that she always admired her work, but she was religious, so she could not be connected with the trans woman. So she withdrew her business. Judge Mathis expressed outrage, saying something along the lines of how he believed this sanctimonious church woman still aligned herself with church people, who were probably telling lies and fornicating on a regular basis. Which led to a thunderous applause from the spectators.

The woman who took the picture said she didn’t believe that the trans woman had even had a sex change. “She still has her man parts,” the woman accused.

"Ma’am, what does that have to do with anything?” Judge Mathis snapped, becoming impatient with the defendant. “You took a picture of her without her permission and then you raised questions about her sexuality on the world wide web. That is the issue here.” He told her that what she had done was invasion of privacy.

Judge Mathis ruled in the trans woman’s favor. After the verdict was handed down, the two women took their verbal skirmish out into the lobby. The natal woman nastily told the trans woman--”You ain’t no real woman. You don’t menstruate. You can’t have no baby.”

Over the years, I’ve had angry women to shout such comments to me countless times. Natal women like that are extraordinarily insecure and they feel threatened by trans women. And if they see a man express an interest in a trans woman, they will try to shame him out of it by making jokes about his attraction to a trans woman. Sadly, oftentimes, it works.

Some trans women express glee, for lack of a better word, when genetic women display indignation and jealousy towards them. Numerous times, I've heard trans women say, “I love it when fish (trans slang for natal woman) are threatened by me.”

Well, this trans woman doesn't love it. I truly believe that some of those women are dangerous. The mere fact that she’d run around telling everybody that a trans woman is a man, referring to a trans woman as he, him and it shows that she has some loose screws.

And I’ve often wondered if by broadcasting a trans woman’s business hither and yon if she is hoping that someone even more unbalanced than she is will attack the trans woman.

When a trans woman encounters a bitch like that, I’d say ignore her and if she makes that impossible, just tell her that she is jealous and she needs to get a grip. Invariably that will put a stop to the inappropriate behavior. Most people don’t like to be told that they’re jealous because that suggests that they feel inadequate.

I thank Judge Mathis for his fair ruling.

Why It Is Important For Us To Support LGBT Pride Events

TransGriot Note:  Guest post by mezzo soprano Tona Brown who recently became the first African-American trans person to perform for a sitting US president.

I have been questioned by some as to why I feel that performing for LGBT Pride events are important to me.

Those of us affiliated with the transgender community have felt for quite sometime that lesbian gay and bisexual organizations and pride functions exclude our community. 

We are constantly disappointed when its time for organizations and legislators to support our community only for these organizations to show us time and time again that the transgender, transsexual and/or gender non-conforming community is not important and can be dropped from the discussion, out of legislation or not included at all.

Or worse,  programming that has nothing to do with trans issues and to see that a drag show is used to say that these organizations are open to the trans-community.

To answer to the question of why I feel that performing for the LGBT Pride functions and events are important to me:   Simply put I am a part of the LGBT community.  This is why I feel I should perform and or speak at these events whether they accept that or not.

It is my belief that not only does the transgender community need to regroup and build our own infrastructure and plan for change but that we make ourselves known whenever possible. No longer will and can these organizations use the excuse that there are "no transgender people available" for boards, discussions, television shows, panels etc.  The transgender community is showing its importance in monumental ways everyday. 

And although the media both mainstream and gay does not like to report our triumphs unless it's mixed with scandal; we must work harder to share our stories, to develop and learn more about our history and  showcase why we are an important community in today's society.

If the transgender community is going to complain about not being included in the discussion or being excluded from legislation then it's imperative that we do what we can do to be seen and heard. 

It's far more powerful to put a face to a community then just to have it mentioned as a letter. 

Do your part.  Support these events especially those that have programs and outreach for trans people and we are on their boards.  Make it known that you would like to be a part of such boards and follow all steps to do so.  I currently sit on the advisory board for the LGBT Academy of Recording Arts, the organization that organizes the Outmusic Awards.

Whenever invited to perform or speak for various events in the LGBT community I try my best to do what I can to be a part of them and perform for them.  My schedule is very busy but these events are very important if we are EVER to be included in this GLB (T) community.

When I walk into the room I know that I am representing not only myself but others like me in the best way possible!

So ladies and gents join me in Baltimore in October. Dream bigger and shoot for the stars!

I will be performing the Baltimore Black Pride events on October 8-9 and I look forward to seeing you there!

****

TransGriot Note: These are the Baltimore Black Pride events Tona will perform at.  Check them out if you can.


October 8   Baltimore Black Pride Cultural Affair and " ICON WE LOVE" Awards
                   Honoree(s)  Del. Mary L. Washington of the 43rd district
                   Archbishop Carl Bean of  The Unity Fellowship Church Movement
                   Featuring Artist : Mezzo Soprano Tona Brown
                   Eubie Blake National Jazz  Institute and Cultural Center
                   847 North  Howard Street
                   7pm-11pm   : DRESS ATTIRE SEMI-FORMAL....DRESS TO IMPRESS
                   Lite Buffet, Open Bar, Live Entertainment and Dancing
                   Donation $50.00

 October 9  Sunday Spiritual Service
                   Unity Fellowship Church of Baltimore
                   Sermon by Rev. Sam Offer
                   Featuring Artist : Mezzo Soprano Tona Brown
                   UFCB Mass Choir and special guest
                   Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center
                   847 N. Howard Street
                   11am- 1pm

James Craig Anderson Was Killed Because He's Black Not Because He Was Gay

TransGriot Note: A guest post from Renee of Womanist Musings.



Hopefully by now you have heard about how James Anderson died but for those who haven't,  seven White youths in Mississippi decided to beat him while yelling racial slurs, and then drive a truck over his body. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a racial hate crime. I found his murder incredibly triggering and that is why I didn't write about it before. I have however been following this story very closely.  As a Black mother with Black sons, what happened to Anderson represents my worst nightmare.

This weekend as I was going through my reader, I noticed that several gay blogs have finally gotten around to writing about this story. Please note that Black blogs have been writing about Anderson's death since it happened, and I doubt that without their constant attention, that this story would have made the national news.  At any rate, reading these gay blogs I learned that Anderson was Black and gay. A light bulb clicked on, and I realized why his death had suddenly been deemed worthy of coverage - his sexuality.

When Anderson was just another Black man, who was a random victim of White supremacy, none of the GLBT blogs had a damn thing to say about it.  I suppose it was considered not to be a gay issue. Now that it has been revealed that Anderson was a gay man, being beaten and then driven over by a truck is suddenly deemed horrifying.  To that I say fuck you - fuck you ten thousand times over. They weren't screaming gay slurs at Anderson, they were screaming racial slurs at him and believing  that you can appropriate his death to advance the cause of gay rights is repulsive.

The moment that it was revealed how and why Anderson died, it should have been an issue for every single social justice blogger, because his life was worth something.  It should never have been about what group he did or did not fit into, because looking at any individual is never enough to know exactly what oppressions they have to negotiate on a daily basis.  Social justice is supposed to be about intersections, because most people will negotiate multiple site of oppression throughout their lifetimes, but for the GLBT blogs that decided to ignore what happened to Anderson, until it was revealed that he was gay, apparently that is not a truism.

As I read the commentary about how horrified these writers were about how he died, and the racial slurs aimed at him while he was being beaten, the bile rose in my throat. Only caring when it was revealed that Anderson was a part of the LGBT community is a reflection of White privilege. This coupled with the fact that Blacks are continually framed as uniquely homophobic and the fact that Black LGBT members are constantly erased made me absolutely sick.

I don't believe that these White GLBT bloggers represent the entirety of the BLGT community, but they most certainly represent a faction that is determined to place their oppression over and above the oppression that others face.  This kind of appropriation is something that we have seen repeatedly, because it serves a political purpose. It manifests in things like Gay is the new Black, or the outright appropriation of the civil rights movement and civil rights sheroes and heroes. Caring about racism, only when you can redirect it or make false analogies is racist.  I say again for emphasis, it's racist.

Since the first Black person set foot in the new world, we have been the victims of White supremacy. From slavery, to Jim Crow, to the present day, Blacks are still under assault.  It does not always manifest in brutal murders, but it is an everyday occurrence, which effects life chances, health care, education, the media etc,. There isn't a single social institution that is not effected by racism, because White supremacy is insitutionalized.

Ignoring any kind of ism because it does not directly effect your life, only encourages the idea that under certain circumstances, oppression is not only natural, but good.  Deciding that just because you would never yell racial epithets or run over a Black man with a truck, does not erase the fact that your daily actions directly support the institutionalization of racism, or that you benefit from such oppression on a daily basis. Silence in the face oppression is participating in the marginalization of another human being. 

The moment it was revealed how Anderson died people should have been horrified and waiting until his death could be used political is absolutely disgusting.  I found myself wondering how these people sleep at night?  This is not ally behaviour and I would have much preferred them to completely ignore Anderson's death, than to twist it for their own ends.  In instances like this, silence and erasure is a good thing.

I know that some of these blogs have justified their failure to talk about Anderson's death by wrapping their commentary around the fact that James Bradfield, Anderson's partner is unable to file a wrongful death suit.  To me this just stands as more proof that they viewed his death as irrelevant, until it could serve their purposes.  I cannot begin to properly express my rage at all of this.  I will however say, the very next time I hear that Blacks are uniquely homophobic, Anderson's name will cross my lips because he is the perfect example of the various ways in which some members of the White LGBT community fail the very same people they claim to want as allies and the way in which some members of the White GLBT community fails to realize that they are not representative of their communities. There are Black GLBT members, and if you had not spent so much time framing gay rights as a White issue, you would have realized that oppression, no matter how it manifests is a terrible thing. Finally, Anderson died because he had the nerve to take up space as a Black man, and any speculation beyond that or an attempt to insert yourself in his death, only cheapens your fight for justice. Homophobia will never trump racism, but they are each in their own way a terrible blight on humanity.